Pigtails

I'm so excited! I was able to put little, and I do mean little, pigtails in Olivia's hair. The guys didn't like them - said she looked like a martian - but I don't care. I'm thrilled that I can put pigtails in my daughter's hair!

What do you think? Too cute, right?!

So Much For Weekly Updates...

Is it just me, or does time just fly by these days?! Obviously I've not updated in the last two weeks. Sorry, Taylor.
I'm here now though so here goes....
The kids are well. Connor and Chris are preparing for Boy Scout Summer Camp. They'll spend next week in the Shenandoah Valley. Lucky ducks!!
Olivia, Glen and I will hang out here and get some work done. We'll also have some fun going to the pool and playing games. We may even have a bike ride or two.
Glen is ready for school to begin. He misses seeing his friends and he's looking forward to being a third-grader!!
Olivia has been active and sassy, as usual. She's constantly moving and "talking." Her newest word is, "Miiiiinne!" Said with a frown on her pretty little face. She is not shy about telling us what she wants. Fortunately she recovers quickly when she is told, "No!" ;-)
Chris' Mom, sisters, and step-dad visited us last month so I'm including some pics from their visit. We really enjoyed having them here. Maybe it can become a tradition. Hmmm.
Food for thought, Debbie. :-)

Can you belive it's been over four months?!

That's right, it's been four months, two weeks, and six days since Olivia was first placed in our arms! Time has really flown by and Olivia has changed so much. She's grown bigger

and she has more hair now. Kim is loving the hair bows!

She's full of personality and she's actually quite strong-willed.
She is now a confident walker (and runner), she's eating almost anything placed on her highchair, and she's learning new words and communicating effectively most of the time.

She LOVES to squeal loudly. Glen will tell you that's not much fun for the rest of us. :-) She loves her brothers and the feeling is mutual. She's pretty attached to all of us and doesn't always feel comfortable with others holding her. She is, however, a social butterfly from a distance. She likes to wave and say, "HI!" to people, even if we don't know them.

I will make an effort to update this blog at least weekly. It seems some of you (Hi Taylor! ;-) enjoy looking at it and feel a little disappointed when there are no new pictures posted.

That's it for now. Enjoy the pictures

In Him,

The Buchanans

Just a Quick Update...

Hello all. We are very busy and doing well at the Buchanan house. Olivia continues to adjust to her new family/life. Our main difficulty is sleeping. She wakes up several times a night and really dislikes taking a nap. She feels afraid and needs a little reassurance and then she goes back to sleep usually.

The boys adore her. I am often found de-escalating arguments over who should hold her or feed her. Strangely, they never fight over diaper duty...they leave that to Mom and Dad. :-)

My mom is in town this week. She was excited to get to met her granddaughter. Olivia has charmed her and they have become fast friends.

Mark and Kay, my brother and sister-in-law, will be arriving this evening. This is their first visit and we're excited for them to meet Olivia. I'm sure she will love Uncle Mark and Aunt Kay as much as Connor and Glen love them.

Chris has been on a couple of job interviews. Our plan is for him to get out of the Marine Corp in September but actually begin a new job in August. We know that God will open the appropriate doors and close the others. He has been so good to us and we know we can trust him with everything, including this. We'll share with you His plans for us as soon as He reveals them to us.

I'm including pictures of our three beautiful kids. Connor enjoyed holding Olivia while she slept. Glen was watching TV while wearing his Chinese outfit. The pic of Olivia and me was taken on the first day she went to church. The other pictures were taken while she was trying on some new clothes...little girl clothes are addictive!!

Take care and God Bless.

Olivia Walking

I remember 3 weeks ago when she could barely walk the two feet between the beds in the hotel room. I guess all those laps in the hotel are paying off.

Mommy and Olivia enjoying some time

Feeling human again

Besides an inevitable awakening at 4:30 every morning, we're pretty much back to normal. Olivia is thriving here. She has a new best friend... Dakota (our dog). Lets just say the relationship is symbiotic and centers around meal times.

Two more Thursdays!

We are SO excited to get home. We are a bit aprehensive of the trip though. Our travelling (bus, plane, and automobile) will start at 6AM on Thursday March 8th and end at around 8:30PM the same day. So in one way the flight is only 14.5 hours. Unfortunately, at about 8PM on Thursday (1/2 hour before we are supposed to arrive at our house), we will cross the international date line and it will become 8PM on Wednesday again! That's right. In all, from the time we leave the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China to the time we walk through the front door to our house in Quantico, it will take about 27.5 hours (subtract 11 for the time change)! Here is our itenerary in Eastern Standard Time:

Leave White Swan: 5PM Wed 7 March

Depart Hong Kong: 11:50 PM

Arrive San Fransisco: 11:33AM Thursday 8 March

Process through US Customs - Olivia becomes a U.S. Citizen

Depart San Fransisco: 2:00PM

Arrive Washington Dulles: 7:01 PM

Introduce Olivia to everyone who shows at the airport 7:15-7:45

Arrive home: 8:30-9:00PM

Go to bed: 9:01PM

We can't wait to see everyone.

For those who are already addicts, here is your Olivia fix.

Red Couch Photo

Tickle Baby

What a wonderful laugh.

Ham Sandwich

Actually, it's BBQ pork... but it was obviously made by a ham.

Does This Look Like A Boy To You?!

Normally I wouldn't be bothered by one person asking the sex of my baby but when 4 people refer to my girl as a boy it begins to get under my skin! Did I mention she was dressed in a shirt with flowers on it, jeans with flowers on them, and shoes with pink bows on them?! Just to make sure it didn't happen again, I tortured my child by putting a head band on her the next time we went out. That will show them!! ;-)

Two BIG steps today

First big step... Olivia is crawling a bit around the room. I have a bit of video, but no pictures. Sorry. The second big step is the stroller. Boy do our backs feel better. She hated it at first... OK, so she still hates it, but as long as the wheels are turning, there's little complaint. If she seems angry, she is.

I added the gotcha video to a private group at youtube. Here is the link (http://www.youtube.com/group/FM5). Once you register and log on, you can request to join this group. If there any response, I'll post more.

Shop until the baby drops

'nuff said.

Into the White Swan

We have only a few days left here in China. Today we made our journey to Guangzhou. THE most important thing that happened today is picured here. That's Olivia... sitting on the floor... with nobody touching her... AND SHE IS NOT CRYING!!! Isn't that great! (the answer is yes in case you're not sure.

"Ok, but how was the trip?" you ask. Well, I'm glad you asked.

Here is Kim entertaining Olivia at the airport in Changsha.

After that photo, a bunch of stuff happened that I'd rather not remember, much less talk about. Let's just say if I knew she would be OK, the little one would take the plane ride in the cargo area.

Then we got to Guangzhou. This is Olivia saying "Get that camera out my face" (ala Nacho Libre).

This is Olivia playing with Kim's hair on the way to the hotel.

This is the hotel.

This is the view from our room in the daytime.

This is our view at night. (No that's not the same boat... well, it could be, but it moved. All the boats move here... except the big red one that you can't see in these pictures.)

Goodbye Changsha - Hello Guangzhou

Much has changed in the last 24 hours. Olivia is becoming more confident and the grins just keep coming. Olivia likes to tease Kim by biting her own toes which always draws a reaction worth a giggle or two (Yes that is food on her chin. I was feeding her... no, not her toes).

Last night I (Chris) was treated to dinner at a local restaurant by the parents of a foreign exchange student who is being hosted by Lisa. Thanks, Doris. Your parents were wonderful hosts, and I really enjoyed the "Long Happiness" restaurant where we ate. They were very thoughtful and ordered me a steak just in case I didn't like the local cuisine, but there was no need. I loved everything. We had cold boiled chicken, smoked fish, octopus soup, fish head porridge, chilli pepper salad, baked fish, meat dumplings, and many other things I don't really know what they were, but they were all delicious. Kim really wanted to go, but Olivia's table manners are not really very good yet, and it was close to bedtime before we left. She was especially sad to have missed it when I told her what delicious food we ate.

Today we went to the museum in Changsha where they have artifacts from several tombs that were dug here thousands of years ago. This is what Olivia looked like for most of the time at the museum: This is the lady that they found in the tomb as she looked over 2000 years ago:

This is her now (makes me think of a Budweiser commercial from a few superbowls back):

This is her stomach:

There is more of her to view upon request.

Tomorrow morning we leave Changsha for Guangzhou where we will spend the next 5 days. Guangzhou is the last stop in China before we return home. I am interested to see how Olivia does on the short plane ride, and with the change in scenery. Speaking of my favorite daughter... here are some more pictures...

Lastly... post a response, please. It is great to read words of encouragement and to feel like our freinds and family are with us on this journey.

Thanks,

Chris, Kim, and Olivia