More About Lia Kate's Name

I have a good friend named Linling who is Chinese but has lived in the States for years. We met while she was a post-doctoral student in Jackson. She now lives in Boston with her smart Harvard-scientist-inventor husband and precious baby boy.

Here is a pic of me and her on our last trip to Boston. Anyway, I am privileged to know her and am so thankful she was gracious enough to translate Lia Kate's Chinese name so that we know exactly what it means.

Lia Kate's surname (which actually comes first in Chinese) is the name of the city where her orphanage is. All of the children in her orphanage have this same last name. Her 2nd name is her "first" name or given name and it means "family" -- indicating their wish for her to have a family of her own. And her 3rd name means "capital" or "Beijing" and is pronounced "jing." Lia Kate was found and named just three days after the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing! And she was named for it. I love this! Another neat thing is that not only do she and I share a birthday, but we were also both born in the midst of the Olympics -- me the 1976 Olympics and her the 2008 -- and her Chinese name will forever reflect that.

Linling showed me that the Beijing Olympics logo ...

... is the character for Lia Kate's name. The running man is the Chinese character for "jing." I also found out that she is likely known as "Jing Jing" in her orphanage. Our little Olympic baby. I love it.

I remember exactly what we were doing on 8.08.08 ... we had friends over to watch the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. We ordered Chinese food and I even made Chinese dumplings just like Linling taught me. It was a fun night and I imagined we would one day have other nights like those once we had our daughter. Danny & I even said we needed to order a DVD of the very impressive Opening Ceremonies for our daughter to see one day. We had no idea that at that very moment, our daughter was out there ... just days old ... living with her birth parents who would soon abandon her in the streets. It's a little overwhelming to think about.

Here is Britton (such a baby he was) on that night watching the Opening Ceremonies:

We definitely need to find a copy of the Opening Ceremonies now. I can't wait to share it with Lia Kate one day ... to celebrate her heritage and tell her the story of her name.

Makes My Monday

This makes all my Mondays this year! This is me and my best friend from high school, Emily, sharing a few days together in beautiful, sunny California ... admiring and loving on each other's boys, talking, laughing, shopping, getting pedicures and catching up. It's been a fabulous, much-needed, long weekend! Back to reality today...

Happy Halloween!

Last year, it looked like this.


This year, it looked like this!

Our little boys -- Britton and his cousin, Will -- are lions this year and we got some precious pictures of them together.

Lia Kate's Adoption Site

Lia Kate is going to have her own blog to document this journey we are on. I am creating a new blog just for her so that I can turn her story into a book, through this site. I am in the process of creating a book documenting Britton's first few months of life, too. Lia Kate's blog will only be active from now until we get back from China and then we will be back on our blog as a family of four.

So ... without further ado ... here is Lia Kate's site.

Over the Moon

Today has been such a great day! First, we found out tonight that we got our Pre-Approval from the Chinese governement to adopt Lia Kate. This is the first official action that has to happen before we travel to China. The best part is that we got it only 5 days after we submitted our petition to adopt. And there was a weekend in there. Hope that is a sign of good things to come. Now we wait for our Letter of Approval, then our Travel Approval, and then we set up our appointment with the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. We found out that we can not travel during Chinese New Year which goes from February 14-28, so we are hoping that all the approvals come in and that we can travel between mid-January and mid-February. Most people in our shoes (who have already had their paperwork in China for a long time) usually go from being matched with their child to traveling in about 3 months. If that is the case for us, which we pray it is, we'll be heading to China in late January!

The second bit of great news is that we got an UPDATE on Lia Kate!!! I had asked for this at the end of last week. All of her referral information ended at 9 months, so I was dying for an update and new pictures. And, we got them tonight!!! I am so over the moon for this little, happy girl ...


Her update was short and sweet and said ... she is currently 28" tall, weighs 18 pounds, 12 oz., has 8 teeth and very tiny feet (size 2s). They said she walks alone and understands when you call her name. She loves to eat congee and soft rice. "She is always happy." Melt my heart.


Walking! And holding her pants up to do so.


I love seeing this smile!


Yes, we're over the moon! Can't wait to hold this precious child in our arms. Thankful that we have a busy holiday season ahead to take our minds off of this long wait.

All About Lia Kate

There is a lot more to tell you about Lia Kate. Her file had a good bit of information about her and I wanted to share it all in a post of its own.

Her Story
We don't know yet where or when Lia Kate was found abandoned. All we know is that on August 11, 2008, she was brought to the orphanage. Upon admission, she was 5 lbs., 12 oz. and 19 inches long. Her umbilical cord was gone and a mild heart murmur was heard. I am guessing this was the reason for her abandonment. Her date of birth was determined to be July 31, 2008 (how providential?) and she was given her name. We are not supposed to share her Chinese name or the location of her orphanage on a public forum.

Her Development
Her file says she has had good physical development and has "on target motor and intellectual development."
* At 1-2 months of age, she slept 17 to 18 hours a day and cried a lot. ;o)
* At 3-4 months of age, she began holding toys and would "look at you closely when you talked to her, as if listening attentively."
* At 5 to 6 months of age, she could roll over and support her upper body up with her arms and look around. She cried when seeing strangers (this is a good thing for orphanage children).
* At 7 to 8 months of age, she rolled over well both ways, could sit with support, smiled at the mirror, focused on far away activities, and could identify where sounds came from.
* At 9 months, she supported her body weight on her arms and began to do things with purpose, she passed toys from hand to hand, and started to crawl. She couldn't get her belly off the ground, so she "doesn't crawl well." ;o) "When you hold her in your arms, she will happily smile and look at you."

Tiny Girl
At 1 month ... she was 7.5 pounds and 21.7 inches
At 3 months ... she was 11.5 pounds and 23.6 inches
At 6 months ... she was 14 pounds and 25.8 inches and got her first 2 teeth
At 9 months ... she was 15 pounds and 26.4 inches and had 4 teeth

Her Schedule
At 9 months, she would wake up at 7 a.m., take a nap at 11:30 a.m. and go down for the night at 9 p.m. Supposedly she is a deep sleeper. I am hoping so, as she'll fit in well around here. Though, they said she only naps for 15 to 30 minutes in the morning and afternoon. I'm hoping that's a typo because that doesn't count as a nap in my house!

She has formula, rice cereal and congee (a rice porridge they eat for breakfast) four times a day, as well as "meat soup", bread and fruit.

She laughs out loud and is described as active, restless, fond of listening to music, and fond of playing with toys. She has a "steady smile" and a "quick reaction". She is closest to a caretaker and her favorite toy is bells.

We hope to get an update soon with Lia Kate's current height and weight as well as what she has been up to the last 5 months. Stay tuned ...

Makes My Monday

This sweet post from my sister-in-law's blog Makes My Monday! Britton and his cousin Will are the only kiddos on the Giffen side. Until our Lia Kate, that is. I just realized that the three Giffen grandchildren are all born within a year of each other -- Will in July 2007, Britton in January 2008 and Lia Kate in July 2008. This kind of parallels when the three Giffen brothers -- Danny, Scott and Ryan -- all got married within a year of each other! Anyway, I love the pictures of Britton and Will looking at each other ... so cute! Soon a girl will be be turning their Giffen boy world upside down. ;o) Thanks for the great post, Danica.