Feng Lu Yao
aka Zoe LuYao Sharp

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Elmo Plots to Take Over the World... With Elmo!

We took Zoe to the local Borders Books on Saturday. She had a great time. They had some large (bigger than Zoe) Elmo dolls on sale. Zoe, completely unprompted, went to the shelf several times, each time taking an Elmo doll and sitting it up in one of the chairs at the reading table. Here's the result (sorry about the poor image quality):


Speaking of pictures, sorry about our image gallery being down - we have a new firewall in place at work and websites running our our desktop computers are now out of bounds. I'm working on a solution...

Monday, January 28, 2008

Happy Gotcha Day

Gotcha Day was a year ago today (give or take a few hours for the time difference between here and China). A year since we were handed a curious little bundle named Feng Lu Yao, soon to be Zoe Lu-Yao Sharp.

This year has been a blur, and it's a bit mind-blowing to consider how far Zoe has come. From here:

to here:

When we first brought her home, she could barely hold her head up. Now she's walking (running!), climbing stairs, and doing tumblesalts! She's learned sign language for "milk", "food", and "more". She's starting to talk, and to prove that she's every bit our kid, her first spoken word used in context (along with the sign for "more") was "cheese".

But along with all these developmental milestones, she's still the same Zoe who came home with us last February - curious about everything, willing to try anything, wanting to know how everything works. She'll examine a toy one minute, seemingly as analytical as an engineer, and then in the next minute display a prop comic's sense of humor, putting the toy on top of her head while reaching over to honk your nose. (I know behavioral psychologists will cry bullshit - claiming that babies don't develop that level of personality that early - but I know what I know.)

From the very first day, we looked at Zoe and knew she was somebody special. And while the year has had it's rough spots for all of us, that hasn't changed. We can't wait to see what this next year will bring, but we already know this: we couldn't possibly love her more.

Happy Gotcha Day, Zoe. Love, Mama and Baba.

Friday, January 04, 2008

Happy New Year!

Our photo gallery will be back up after the weekend, in which we will post pics of our family holiday in Florida! Zoe had a ball celebrating Chanukah, Christmas, & New Year's Eve in Sarasota with 2 sets of grandparents, 2 great-aunts, 1 great-uncle, 2 cousins, a great-grandfather, and dozens of other friends & admirers. Not to mention the flamingos we got to feed at Jungle Gardens! Fun, sun & surf--what more could an active girl ask for? Well, maybe her Uncle Craig & Aunt Cinzia from Rome. Cinzia caught a terrible case of the flu, and regrettably couldn't travel. We were really heartbroken we wouldn't see them, but they'll try again in the Spring to come to America to see their new niece.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Wha- Happened?!


I am amazed at how quickly the summer passed. Now we are almost past autumn, and Zoe has pretty much passed into toddlerhood. I know I shouldn't be, but I am also a bit embarassed at how long it's taken me to blog again. I had such good intentions and lots of milestones to recount. But it all happened so fast!! No sooner do I set a single thought down in my little "baby's first year" calendar, when something else happens! A waiting parent in the blogosphere told us how inspired they were by our story, and I felt a little awestruck that someone was still reading. I vowed to get something new down right away! That was almost 3 months ago. Oh, well, I hope my friends and family feel I am keeping them posted on the world of Zoe in other ways. Not everyone has time to read e-mail, right? My mother and father-in-law don't even have a computer. We have been focusing on keeping up with new pictures to post in our gallery: http://www.stanford.edu/~ksharp/gallery2. That in itself has required much time and effort (more than you would assume in the age of 1-2-3 instant digital technology). As it is, we only got as far as Zoe's first Halloween. Next, it's on to post our wonderful Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara!!

And meanwhile, Zoe has reached her 18th month, is expressing herself in every way except spoken language (and doing it well, I might add--that doesn't mean she isn't noisy. She also signs for the basics), has been walking expertly, going up and down stairs, does tumblesaults (mostly intentional), blows kisses, waves bye-bye, feeds herself solid foods, can follow directions (when she wants to), puts on her own shoes, helps take care of Kitty (dispenses her treats), and keeps growing taller and more beautiful all the time.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Sorry, got lost in Zoeland for awhile...

Hi y'all,

It's June, Mama Lorin is back at work, and while she's on the computer all day now, she happened to go to the blog, and is finally getting disgusted enough with the state of the website to post a quick update! Although I'm not sure who is still checking, I thought I'd throw you a bone if you are. And if not, at least for Ken and me!

Sorry to keep everyone in suspense. But, predictably enough, Zoe has grown and developed tremendously since February, and it takes more and more energy to keep up with her! She's had visits from grandparents, traveled to New York and met more relatives, and turned 1 in May-OMG!! She is pulling/pushing herself up onto everything in sight, decided she really likes crawling but may decide to walk any minute now, is eating some solid food (tries new things all the time), decided the bath is fun, and just gets cuter, sweeter and funnier every day.

(By the way, Ken has set up a new picture server at work - more Zoe pix than even we know what to do with! Check it out at:
http://www.stanford.edu/~ksharp/gallery2 )

She shares a nanny during the weekdays in San Mateo with a little boy just 4 days older than her! As they have been getting used to sharing time and toys together, they've begun to learn all kinds of neat stuff from one another! Such as, the crawl-chase, who can eat more of Olga's food, and who can yell the loudest for attention. Unfortunately, naps, which had become more routine at home, have once again become a challenge, and we're always concerned she isn't getting enough sleep. Of course, it's also hard for Ken & I to get enough sleep these days. Ah... parenthood!

We are beginning to truly understand why it's so hard for our parent-friends to get together. Hope we don't get too cut off from everyone! Always great to get e-mail from people, so "keep those cards & letters coming" and keep in touch!

Love, Lorin
((If you want to send "private" e-mail (not posted), use lorins@slac.stanford.edu or kensharp@pacbell.net)

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Valentine's Day


Love is in the air! We've made it to Valentine's Day 2007, and enjoying it with Zoe, who happens to be 9 months old today. The weather is beautiful now (it had been raining since we got home) so we can get our girl out in the California sunshine (fresh air! treated tap water! There's no place like home!). By now we are settling in, but so is the jet lag. Funny how the lag has a lag. Zoe is really struggling with the time change the most, I think. Here in the Western Hemisphere, day is night and night is day. Try setting your adult body clock (with your adult sense of reasoning) to that after 8 1/2 months of opposite time. Then imagine what it's like for an infant.

All things considered, she is really doing well. After her first visit with her pediatrician, we are assured her lungs are clear, and she is a robust, if petite, baby. Takes after her mother, I guess :).

February is the shortest and most packed month for us, and this one definitely wins the prize! Baby's first Valentine's day, first Chinese new year celebrations (Feb. 18), first visit with one set of grandparents, MaMa's birthday, cousin Hannah's 10th birthday (I can't believe I just wrote that, am I mistaken?), Zoe's first Adopt International (our agency) gathering, am I leaving anything out? Still, we are trying to keep everything as low-key and relaxed as possible, despite our own feelings of excitement and frantic-ness. Zoe needs her rest (and frankly, so do we!)

So, happiest of V-days to everyone from Baby Z, and her family -xxxoo

Sunday, February 11, 2007

A Chicken Pox Upon the Bureaucrats

I don't know if anyone is still following this blog, but we've been home for a few days and are still settling in. Zoe's cold seems to be finally getting better, but she isn't sleeping quite as well. We had one of those nights that all parents dread - when the baby starts crying and can not be soothed no matter what you try. We've always been able to calm Zoe down pretty quickly, so this was a little frightening. Lorin got her to sleep eventually, but we're all feeling pretty jet-lagged today.

But the sun is out (it's been raining since we got home), so in a little while we're going to take Zoe out for a walk in her new stroller.

In the meantime, there's more to recount about our time in China. Let's start at the end, on our last day in Guangzhou, with a bit of bureaucratic theater known as the "swearing in."

After going through the dossier paperchase and waiting 15 months for our referral, I knew that the Chinese part of the adoption (our week in Nanchang) would be an exercise in red tape. It never really bothered me, even when we learned that the notary would no longer take U.S. dollars and required the mighty sum of 4000 RMB (about $520) from each or our two families traveling together, a sum which was more than the first three banks we went to were willing to exchange. It didn't bother me because a) this was the process that many others before us had been through, and that it made sense in its own twisted way, and b) our guides Tom and Jim were more than able to guide us through the labyrinthine process. Having Tom and Jim around made the buracracy all part of the adventure.

Not so much adventure on the American side of the adoption. On our second day in Guangzhou, our guide, Ms. Liang, came to our room to help us fill out the paperwork required for the American Consulate to issue a visa to Zoe. On Wednesday, she delivered the documents and made sure they were all correct. (Turns out the U.S. gov't had issued a new form that needed to be filled out, and Ms. Liang had to come back to the hotel to have us take care of that.) Finally, on Thursday, we were all to go to the consulate for the mysterious "swearing in" that we had heard so little about.

Most adopting Americans in Guangzhou stay at one of two hotels - The White Swan or The Victory. Both are very nice and are in walking distance of where the American Consulate used to be. About a year ago, the consulate moved to the other side of the city. And Guangzhou is a big city, the 3rd largest in China. Still. most folks like to stay at the White Swan or Victory, so both hotels will bus the new families to the consulate. The bus ride takes 45 minutes to an hour through heavy traffic. There are about 50 families on 3 buses.

At the consulate, we all waited in a large room while we were called one-by-one to a window to show our passport, which the clerk compared to the xerox of the passport that we had already provided. Then we all waited around for a while longer, wondering what comes next. There are signs and instructions around for the "interview" process of getting a visa. "Just relax and tell the truth", the instructional sign says. Parents are yakking, kids are yelling, and it's not long before some of the babies, including our Zoe, are having major meltdowns.

An official notice is passed around advising us that a few of the kids at the White Swan had come down with chicken pox. We had all heard about this, and many of us were nervous about our kids being exposed. Then it occurred to me: the U.S. government was warning us about exposure to chicken pox by putting us all in the same room and thereby EXPOSING US ALL TO CHICKEN POX. It had been a long couple of weeks, our daughter was sick and crying, and I was starting to get a little pissed off.

Finally, a consulate official came out to administer our oath. She explained that the children would be getting temporary green card visas, and would become naturalized U.S. citizens as soon as they set foot on American soil. Then she had us raise our right hands and attest that all the information we had provided during the long process was true to the best of our knowledge. We did, and we were done, except for collecting our children's visa packets and the long bus ride home.

That's it? All that schlepping across town and waiting and crying and sweating (did I mention the sweat?) to verbally attest to something to which we had attested in writing for every document we had submitted? What a waste of time.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I'm glad to have Zoe home and I'm glad she has her U.S. citizenship. But would it really be so difficult to have the consulate official come to the hotel, look at our passports, and hand out our visas there? I bet most of us would be willing to chip in and pay her taxi fare.

P.S. There's a few new pictures at the Shutterfly link...