Christmas in review

We had a really nice low-key Christmas this year. We've been so busy with trying to work on the basement that it was nice to stay home this year and just relax. We celebrated with close friends on Christmas Eve and then had Christmas day all to ourselves. We opened presents, played, had a Christmas morning picnic by the tree and fire, and then played some more. It was nice to celebrate quietly and really absorb our last Christmas as a family of three.

Claire had the pleasure of opening Ren's gifts. I tried to emphasize that once he's here, she won't get to open his presents anymore! Here's a picture of his loot, followed by a photo of an ornament I forgot to include in the first shot:

Most of the gifts are from friends and family. The little silver fortune cookie, though, is from us.

We gave one just like it to Claire too, when we were waiting for her. Ren's fortune, just like Claire's says, "You will soon meet your forever family who will love and cherish you always". Once, while dining together at a Chinese restaurant, my dad suggested to me with some degree of seriousness that if I didn't get into law school (which thankfully I did), I could use my English degree to write fortunes for fortune cookies! I scoffed at him then but who knew that 10 years later, that’s exactly what I would be doing - for my children at least!

My mom is visiting us right now, which has been absolutely wonderful. Claire is enjoying her company so much. With Mom watching Claire, I've been able to catch up on some chores around the house. I had such a productive day yesterday - something practically unheard of in my world lately!

Today is day 91 of our wait for our Letter Seeking Confirmation. Our good friends (and travel-mates from our 2007 China trip for Claire) who sent in their LOI a week ahead of us got the call TODAY that their LSC is in. Such wonderful news! I am so happy for them, and am feeling optimistic that our LSC should arrive somewhat soon too (though who knows whether the week that we are behind them in terms of our paperwork will amount to a week in waiting time - probably not.) At the moment, I'm not too stressed: just revelling in our friends' good news.

Tomorrow Paul and I are actually going to have some alone time! Mom is going to watch Claire while Paul and I go for dinner and a movie. I better sign off this post so that I can look up the movie listings right now!

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas to all our friends and family, especially our newest little family member, Ren!

In the review room

I've been trying to guess when we'll travel. If we received our Letter Seeking Confirmation very soon, it'd likely be February. However, I got this note from our coordinator yesterday:

I talked to CCAA this Monday, I was told that your file is still in the reviewing room. It will take some time to pass to the office who will issue the Letter Seeking Confirmation.

Based on that, I'm guessing the earliest we could get our letter is a month from now, with travel in March. And that's the earliest. Darn. I have to keep reminding myself that we knew our window was probably anywhere between February and May.

I guess this just gives us more opportunities to send care packages to Ren. I'm gathing his next one now. His orphanage is in the process of moving and they aren't sure of their new mailing address but apparently, waiting families can use the 'old' address and their mail will be forwarded. I'll post a photo of the package when it's ready.

The tradition continues

We have already received many special gifts for Ren and we appreciate every gift and gesture so much. We can't wait to see Ren enjoy all his new things! There is one gift in particular I want to mention on this blog. By way of background, here's an excerpt from Claire's blog, dated January 20, 2007:

When [my friend] Kelley and I were young, I always admired the home-made care bears her mom, Elaine, crafted. When I mentioned this to Elaine a couple of years ago, she obviously made a mental note of this because about a month later, I received my very own bear! Much to my surprise, we received a parcel from Elaine and Dennis today [January 20, 2007] that contained a bear for Claire, as well as a matching blanket. (Elaine must have been worried that I was too attached to my bear to share it with Claire!) Claire's bear is named Lacie Daisy and I know Claire will love her!

***********************************************

Well, Elaine and Dennis never cease to amaze and surprise us! Last week, we received this bear in the mail for Ren!

This little bear couldn't be more perfect for Ren - and Paul, since that's a Saskatchewan Roughrider logo on its belly! Also pictured are some Roughrider shoes / slippers that Kelley and Paul sent for Ren. Paul is in his glory!

Thanks again, Elaine and Dennis, for thinking of our newest addition and creating something so special and meaningful for him. We are blessed to have you as our children's honourary grandparents!

Here in spirit

Although I wish Ren were here with us for Christmas, I'm happy he is at least here in spirit: that we know about him and will meet him soon. We were in the same situation when we were waiting for Claire - a referral before Christmas with a travel date in the new year - and I remember the bittersweet feeling of hanging a specially chosen ornament with her photo on the tree. This year, Ren's referral picture joins Claire's on the tree. Bittersweet as it is, I know we are blessed to at least be matched with a wonderful little boy on the other side of the world. My heart goes out to the families still waiting to be matched with their little ones.

As Christmas cards come in from friends and family, it is wonderful to see so many of them addressed to "Paul, Monica, Claire and Ren". Clearly, Ren is already viewed as part of our family - by ourselves of course but also by others. When our friend Marianne invited Claire and I over to decorate a gingerbread house last weekend, I was delighted to see five little figures representing our family: Daddy, Mama (with curly hair!), Claire, Kitsya and of course, little Ren. Here's a 'family photo' (Ren is just right of centre):

Today is day 78 of our wait for the Letter Seeking Confirmation. I have my heart set on a February travel date but I'm afraid if our letter doesn't arrive soon, March will be the earliest month we can travel. I know things will unfold the way they are meant to and that we will be together very soon regardless but an extra month at this point seems like a long time to wait.

Nesting, with help from our parents

With the help of our parents, we've been getting ready for Ren's arrival.

Paul's dad Wally recently stayed with us for a few days to get a jumpstart on a mini reno in our basement. We're carving out a little space in our basement (from our family room) for an office. Currently, we have filled-to-the-brim bookshelves in our spare bedroom in the basement and in Ren's room, with other office stuff located in Ren's room and our basement familiy room; we decided it was time to consolidate all the office stuff in one space so that we can actually get into Ren's room and furnish it for his arrival.

This reno gave Paul the excuse to rip out the circa 1970s fireplace and mantle that he was itching to get rid of. It really was a hideous thing. The guys then framed the walls, did the electrical, put in a pocket door frame, and put up drywall. Paul is now doing the mudding and sanding. Next steps will be to paint and put in cork flooring (throughout the entire basement living space). Once the flooring is in (at least in the office), I can then get to work moving our books into there, etc. I can't wait till it's finished because I'm incredibly anxious to furnish and decorate Ren's room. But I have to say that I'm thrilled with how much progress has already been done on the new space. Paul and his dad worked so quickly AND tidily! I expected our basement to be a complete mess during this whole time but they neatly cleaned up after each step.

Claire really loved having both of them working here; she often called out to them, "Hi boys!", or "Nice work, boys!". Sometimes, before they had a chance to tidy up a mess, she'd walk over and spout out a line from one of her favourite TV shows (Big Comfy Couch): "Hey, who made this big mess?!" Her answer was always, "The boys!".

On the weekend while Paul and his dad were working, Paul's mom took Claire to our community centre to enjoy a Christmas party. Together, they coloured, went on a wagon ride, shopped and met Santa! I met up with them in time for Santa's visit, and then together we perused the tables of handicrafts. I left them for a few minutes to make a purchase and found them shortly later buying little bracelets! Claire got two, Joanne got one to match one of Claire's, and then Joanne treated me to a bracelet as well! It was really sweet to see Joanne and Claire pouring through a basket of toddler-sized bracelets until Claire found the ones she liked best.

My mom is also helping us prepare for Ren. She is an experienced and passionate quilter and of course, only too willing to make a quilt for her new grandson. I had been searching for the right quilt pattern for a while and finally found it online. Ren's referral said he likes cars, so that's what he's getting!

I had a chance last week to pick out the quilt fabric:

My mom will be visiting us after Christmas so I'll send this all home with her. It won't take long before we have the quilted product back; Mom often sews and stiches from morning till night. I can't wait to see the finished product! I feel so fortunate that both of my kids have / will have beautiful quilts made with love by their Grandma.

Thank you, grandparents, for your contributions! You have each contributed in a way that is unique to you and your personal talents. We are so grateful for your help and involvement in our lives and the lives of our kids.

Two more pics of the celebration

I think these two photos, as well as the first one in the post below, were taken at the orphanage. The furniture in the background looks like the standard government office furniture we saw in China.

Pictures of Ren's birthday celebration

I am so incredibly thrilled to say that Adele at Blessed Kids was able to get us some information about Ren's birthday celebration!

Get this: his caregivers took him to KFC for his birthday celebration and "he had a great time"! I love it! I can just picture him enjoying some finger-licking-good chicken! The funny thing is that we were thisclose to ordering KFC for us on Ren's birthday! I have no idea why we considered KFC (other than because Paul loves it) but it was between that and Chinese; in the end, we thought "Well, there's no KFC connection to Ren so let's get Chinese food". But there was a connection after all! This KFC birthday celebration may have to become a yearly tradition.

Adele was able to get us something else equally precious and priceless: new measurements and pictures of Ren! Adele's father who lives in China contacted the orphanage before sending the package to confirm that the address was correct. While they were speaking, he mentioned to the orphanage staff member that it would be great if they were able to take some digital photos of Ren and take new measurements, which of course he and Adele could pass on to us for a small fee. As a result of his and Adele's wonderful entreprenurial spirit, we now have the pictures you see above.

Ren's measurements for height and weight are the same as the ones we received in November through our coordinator but we also received head, chest and foot measurements this time. Yahoo, let the shoe-shopping commence!

We are so comforted to know that our little boy was treated to a celebration on his birthday. I'm really surprised (but elated) by the fact that the orphanage caregivers took him (and obviously some other kids) out to a restaurant. I also love how a caregiver in one picture has her arm draped around his shoulder while she is feeding him. Seeing our little one receive attention and care like this definitely helps with the wait.

This Mama's heart is happy.

Ren got the cake!

I received confirmation today from Adele at Blessed Kids that our letter, birthday card and disposable camera arrived at Ren's orphanage on November 21 and that his cake was delivered on his birthday! Please keep your fingers crossed that the orphanage used the camera to take a bunch of photos of the birthday boy with his cake, his friends and his caregivers. From other parents who have adopted kids at Zhuhai, it sounds like the caregivers will indeed use the camera and return it to us on Forever Family Day. Yet another reason to look forward to that amazing day!

I feel so fortunate that Blessed Kids provides this service (and many other amazing services). Check out their web site at www.blessedkids.com.

I also learned from Adele that the orphanage hasn't moved yet. I'm waiting to hear back from her about whether they were informed of the exact date for the move.

A sister's birthday song

Don't ask me why she's wearing rubber boots.

Happy Birthday, sweet boy

Happy birthday to our sweet boy who turns 2 on December 3. I'm posting this today (December 2) because with the time change, it's already his birthday in China.

Ren, we love you and will be there soon.

Mama, Daddy and big sister Claire
xoxoxo

As Ren's birthday approaches ...

I'm drawn back to what we were doing two years ago on December 3, when Ren was born.

Paul and I had just spent an amazing weekend in Jasper. We went there to celebrate Paul's birthday but it turned into a different sort of celebration when, on the drive there, we received the call we'd been waiting nearly two years for: we had been matched with a baby girl in China! Claire Caiwen entered our reality that day - December 1, 2006 - and life has never been the same.

What we didn't know at the time is that we actually became parents twice over that weekend. As we revelled in the joy of seeing Claire's face for the first time, the boy who would become our second child was born into the world. In hindsight, it's no wonder our joy was so great and the weekend so magical to us.

And yet I can't help but consider that at the same time we were preparing to accept our beautiful little Claire into our lives, Ren's birth family was faced with the opposite situation. How strange that our two children's lives were changing enormously at the same time in nearly opposite ways, unbeknownst to them.

Ever since we received Claire's proposal on December 1, I've thought of early December as a magical time where our family became a reality. That still holds true, especially now that we know our son was born that same weekend. But now I also think of another family - Ren's birth family - who experienced a great loss at the same that our family was forming. They will always be in our thoughts.

The countdown continues while Paul's head swells ...

We are now on day 51 of our wait for the Letter Seeking Confirmation.

In other news, Paul's head continues to swell as comments come in that Ren is so very handsome, and oh, doesn't he look like Paul?! Paul has of course inferred that y'all think HE is stupendously handsome. What a guy.

Zhuhai City Social Welfare Institute

Through the yahoo group I belong to, I was able to get these pictures of Ren's orphanage. Once again, I am so grateful to the families who have already adopted children from Zhuhai SWI. Many have visited the orphanage themselves with their kids. These families are a wealth of information, support and PICTURES!

This is the entrance to the SWI:

From the 15 or so pictures I have, it looks like several buildings make up the SWI. This is the infant building: Here's a view of some of the little beds at the orphanage. It sounds like Ren is probably sleeping in a bed like this, not a crib, so we'll be setting up a toddler bed for him.

The SWI playground:

This is a photo board outside the SWI. I'm not sure if all kids who live at the orphanage have their photos there, or if only kids who have been adopted are featured on the board. If any of my Zhuhai friends know, I'd love to hear! I can't help but wonder if Ren is currently pictured on the board ...

The orphanage is moving in December to a different location so it's unlikely we'll ever be able to tour this place - Ren's home for the first two years of his life. Knowing this makes having these pictures all the more special.

Recent photos of Ren thanks to FOI!

This morning we awoke to a beautiful blanket of snow on the ground (our first of the season) and an incredible gift in my Inbox: an email from our coordinator with new pictures of Ren and answers to some questions we wanted asked of Ren's orphanage! I LOVE Family Outreach International! Thanks, Yulin!

According to the properties of the photos, they were taken on November 11, 2008 - that would be 'yesterday' in China! I am stunned that they are so recent. Ren looks so sweet in all of them.

He is now 29 lbs and 35 1/2 inches tall. Such a big guy compared to our sweet peanut, Claire. I think my arms are finally going to get the workout they need!

We were also given a couple of examples of words he is saying. One of them is jie jie (big sister)! How perfect is that?!

Today is day 42 of our wait for the Letter Seeking Confirmation. In the past, people have had to wait a half a year or longer but with a new electronic system in place, things seem to be moving much, much faster now. Oh, please let our letter arrive soon!

For the boy who was 'almost' Pablo

Today, we sent off a care package for Ren. Our coordinator will take it to China for us when she accompanies a group to China later this month. Since she has to pack this in her suitcase (as well as any other care packages), we could send only a Kleenex-sized box. The contents may therefore look a little meagre but the love that goes with each item is huge.

Check out the stuffie we included! When Claire and I were at the toy store looking for Ren's care package contents, I couldn't find an appropriate stuffed animal; either the stuffed animal was too big or the animal was wrong (we have no connection to a Zebra!). As we continued to shop, inspiration suddenly struck! Ren needs his own little Pablo! Claire, who adores Pablo from the Backyardigans, quickly agreed that Pablo was the right choice.

I realized as I was cramming everything into the little box that we had space for this book after all so it's included too. I know it's in the wrong language (!) but I thought the touch and feel aspect of the book would be nice. Besides, the cute little animals speak for themselves!

I feel so fortunate that Paul works with a great guy who translated our letter for us. Thanks, Bing! Thanks also to FOI for carrying over our care package.

This package will probably not arrive at Ren's orphanage in time for his 2nd birthday on December 3, so we've also arranged for a birthday cake to be sent to his orphanage, along with a disposable camera and a birthday card. We really fussed over Claire when she turned two and it feels strange not to be able to do the same for Ren. With this cake and card, at least we'll know there will be a little celebration for him at the orphanage. Hopefully on Forever Family Day we'll get the disposable camera back with pictures of him and his birthday cake!

Two more photos of Ren, thanks to Tracy and Kate!

Yesterday, we received a precious gift from a family in the States: more pictures of Ren! Through a yahoo group dedicated to people who have or are adopting from Ren's orphanage, I was able to connect with Tracy. Tracy and her husband adopted Kate, a 13-year old, in April of this year. I learned from Tracy that Kate spent a lot of time with Ren. She told her mom that she remembers when Ren arrived and how skinny he was. But, she said he ate a lot and grew fast. She also said he is very funny and very happy when someone picks him up!

The photos were taken in March of this year when Kate was still at the orphanage. Without further ado, here they are!

Kate is the girl in the yellow, red and white. I am elated that Ren received attention from this wonderful young lady! The other woman is one of the nannies. Tracy is going to email me her name when she has a moment to look it up.

This is the same photo but cropped in closer because I adore Ren's hint of a smile:

And the second new picture:

I am so incredibly grateful to Tracy and Kate for these photos and this information. It's so precious to us while we're waiting but I'm sure it'll be equally important to Ren in the future. Thank you, Tracy and Kate!

Ren's finding ad

Orphanages in China are required to run a provincial newspaper advertisement for children that are found and brought to their orphanage. They are called "Finding Ads." These ads contain information about where and when the children were found and which orphanage is caring for them. They include a photograph of the child as well. These photographs are usually the earliest available pictures of the children.

We received Ren's finding ad today from a fellow in the States who locates them for a small fee. It was published in the "Yangcheng Evening News" on May 18, 2007. We're not sure exactly how old Ren is in the photo but he can't be more than 6 months old - our earliest photo of Ren so far!

Our family is complete!

Er, thanks to Photoshop ...

Paul couldn't resist photoshopping Ren into our latest family pic:

A new (old) photo of Ren!

We received the most amazing gift today: another picture of Ren! It was taken before his referral pictures - when he still had hair! - back in March of this year.

As soon as we received Ren's proposal, we joined a yahoo group dedicated to families who have adopted or are adopting from his orphanage. Families often receive or take photos of their children with other kids at the orphanage and I hoped we would be able to get more pictures of Ren that way. Well, today we did! A family who adopted their daughter in March contacted me to say they had a photo of their daughter with Ren!

Check out our cutie! (By the way, I've obscured their beautiful daughter's face to protect her privacy.)

How long until we have our Letter Seeking Confirmation?

Today is day 24 since we sent in our Letter of Intent to adopt Ren. It's hard to say how long it will be before we receive the Chinese government's Letter Seeking Confirmation (that we still want to adopt Ren) but it could be anywhere between 3 and 6 months. So far, the wait has been easy but I think that's because it's not even conceivable that we'd receive the LSC yet. When our wait gets to the 2 1/2 mark, I'm sure impatience will begin to creep in.

Here's a little family pic from last weekend. I'm used to seeing just the three of us in pictures but now it's weird - where's our other kid?! Oh yeah, in China!

A baby book of sorts

You can probably tell that I'm a fairly frequent blogger. I like it. It's quick, it makes me feel connected to our little guy on the other side of the world, and it keeps family and friends up to date on the adoption. But most of all, I do it for Ren. As with Claire's blog, I intend to turn Ren's blog into books for him. I used to do traditional scrapbooking but I just haven't been able to find the time to get out all my tools, get the photos printed, crop them, choose pretty papers, etc. This is a much faster way for me to capture our thoughts and memories leading up to meeting him and his life with us for the first year or two.

Very shortly after I ceased posting to e-Claire, I "slurped" it using a company called Blurb. Basically, the free software from that company just takes all your text and pictures and drops it into a book which you can then play with until you're happy with the format of your text and pictures. I now have two hardcover volumes of e-Claire for our little girl - at about $60 a piece - and an additional copy of each volume for Paul and me.

I still haven't begun Claire's lifebook (either the toddler or the older child version) because I'm waiting for her history report from China Babies. Once I finally begin, I think I'll probably do those books electronically too.

I hope Claire and Ren enjoy perusing their books when they're older. At the very least, I think they'll be able to tell how much we treasure each and every moment with them!

This, that, and oh yeah, the shopping!

The day after we accepted Ren's proposal, I headed over to a nice little kids' shop in our neighbourhood and splurged on some items I had been eyeing up. I love the dragon fabric on the long-sleeved shirt. Since I'm a tiger in the Chinese zodiac, I had to get the green t-shirt with the tiger for my boy.

Last week, Paul, Claire and I had another great shopping adventure. I had been looking everywhere for toddler boys' shorts on sale (in case it's hot in Ren's home province when we get there) but I was having no luck at all. That is, until my friend Rae reminded me of the Children's Place outlet here in town. Jackpot! Great cargo-style shorts were on sale for $1.99 each! Isn't that insane? For that price, I decided to get four pairs in different colours in size 24 months and the same selection in size 18-24 months just in case he's on the leaner side. Usually Claire and I do most of the shopping on our own so it was really fun to have Paul there, helping to pick out his son's clothes.

In other shopping news, I now have all the items for Ren's care package ready, except for the disposable camera. Our coordinator will carry over our package to China in late November so I still have a little bit of time to get it ready. Claire and I picked out most of the items together - it was a lot of fun! I'll post a pic of the items soon.

On the topic of Claire, she is finally calling her little brother by the name Ren. It switched over from James to Ren on Thanksgiving weekend. I was actually starting to worry; what if she always called him James? Would we have to consider including that name in his string of names?

I'm still hoping every day when I open my email that I'll find an update on Ren there from our coordinator. Some families in the Waiting Child program get updated photos and even measurements just days after they send in their Letter of Intent. We sent ours in 2 weeks ago so I think if an update is coming, we could receive it anyday. We're dying to see his sweet little face in new pics!

Ren's jie jie (big sister) awaits his arrival

More about Ren

I get a kick out of the adjectives that appear on the Chinese development reports. They have a box next to each adjective so that the caregiver can check off whichever boxes apply to that particular child. The ones I find funniest are "obstinate sometimes" and "impatient sometimes". What infant or toddler isnt?!

Anyway, the boxes checked off for Ren are:

Active□√
Restless□√
Fond of listening to music□√
Fond of playing with toys□√
Having a ready smile□√
Getting along with others well□√
Fond of playing games □√
Obstinate sometimes□√

He is described as being closest to his caretaker and most fond of playing with peers and toys (particularly toy cars).

I just wish we knew more! I can't wait to see firsthand what his personality is like and how he interacts with his new family, particularly Claire. I'm sure that once we meet him, we'll have many and more descriptive adjectives for our little man.

The day we saw our son's face

Paul and I first saw pictures of Ren on Monday, September 29 shortly after 12 noon. Paul and I had hoped to be together when we saw our son's photos for the first time but we ended up opening the electronic images separately while we spoke on the phone.

I think one of the first things Paul said was, "He looks like me!" My main thoughts centered around how beautiful he is and how bright and alert his eyes are.

After Claire's nap, I dragged her to a nearby scenic spot to photograph the beauty of the river valley. It was a gorgeous, unseasonably warm, fall day - the temperature actually rose as high as 26.9 degrees Celsius - and I couldn't help thinking it was definitely weather befitting such a memorable day.

We weren't able to speak to our pediatrician about the referral until late the night of September 30 so we held off on telling Claire about her new little brother just in case there were any surprises. The morning of October 1, we finally told her and showed her his pictures. In a previous post, I mentioned how she said "aw" when she saw each picture. Here are a few photos of Claire perusing her younger brother's pictures.

I think it'll take a few days for Claire to fully accept the name Ren. We had been calling our hypothetical child James for several months. Since we weren't totally sold on the name, we didn't mind letting it go in favour of Ren. However, when we told Claire about the new name and said that's what we'd call her brother from now on, she said, "Little bit James" as if to suggest that we have to allow some margin for error on her part. And sure enough, every now and then she slips and says James instead.

Right after we showed Claire Ren's pictures, Paul began explaining to Claire how she, as the big sister, could teach her little brother things, such as what a sheep looks like and what sounds various animals make. Claire's face took on a very serious look and suddenly she blurted out, "Mama Daddy help me too!" At that, we realized she thought it was her sole responsibility! Poor kid. We quickly assured her it was Mommy and Daddy's jobs to teach Ren everything but she could help if she would like. That seemed much more agreeable to her!

Ren Li Walter W.

Tonight at last, we named our son. We have decided to call him Ren Li Walter W.

Ren is part of his Chinese name (Zhengren), Li has special historical significance for him and Walter is in honour of Paul's dad.

We were conflicted about settling on this name despite loving the sound of it. These are the Mandarin pronunciations of the Chinese characters for his names, the names we saw on his proposal and immediately took to. However, once it occurred to us that the names he was actually called would be pronounced differently in his Cantonese-speaking orphanage, we fell into indecision. We like the Cantonese pronounciations and knew that they would be more accurate for him, but we were already hooked on Ren Li. Finally, after a lot of grade-school scribbling on notepads and pondering, we decided to go with what felt right to us.

We had a little celebration tonight in honour of our son. When Paul, Claire and I were in the Okanagan last fall, we bought a special bottle of wine from Red Rooster Winery in Naramata, with the intention of sharing it when we received the referral for our second child. This week was so hectic that today was our first opportunity to celebrate with this wine. As it turned out, I'm glad we waited until tonight because it was nice to be able to toast him using the name we had decided upon. To Ren!

It's a boy!

Paul and I are overjoyed to announce that we have a son! We accepted the proposal yesterday, October 1, for this exceptionally beautiful little boy: Yes, real men do wear pink ... and argyll sweaters!

Our son's Chinese name in Mandarin is Zhu Zheng Ren (Zhu being his surname). We've been told his nickname is Renren. His name in Cantonese (the more common language where he lives) is actually a fair bit different and it is likely that it is the Cantonese pronunciation of his name that he is familiar with. The main difference in the names is that instead of "Ren" it is "Jan" (pronounced something like "Yun") in Cantonese. Anyway, we won't know for certain what his caregivers call him until we're actually there but we're quite certain that it's Yunyun.

As for what we'll call him, we're still floating around various ideas. Once we decide, I'll be changing the address of this blog. If you don't receive an email from me about the new address, contact me and I'll send it to you.

Other details about our boy:

• he was born on December 3, 2006 which makes him 8 months younger than Claire;
  
• he currently resides in the Zhuhai Social Welfare Institute in Guangdong Province (southern China);
  
• the last measurements we have of him were at 18 months but he sounds like a good-sized lunker if they are at all accurate: 25 lbs and 81 cm tall (yes, heavier and taller than his big sister, Claire); and
  
• he is described as an active kid, with a ready smile who likes others to tease him for fun. He often shows his caregivers a "brilliant smile" in order for them to take him out to play.

Claire is really excited about her new younger brother (notice how I say "younger brother" rather than "little" brother ). Yesterday morning when we showed her his pictures, she let out a gentle little "awww" with each photograph. I know she'll be a loving big sis.

I should note that we already think of this child as our son but he is not officially "ours" yet. The process for adopting a Waiting Child is different from the one we experienced with Claire. Instead of the Chinese government matching us like they did with Claire, our coordinator matched us with him. The Chinese government still has to approve us as a family for him. We'll know he's ours when we receive a Letter Seeking Confirmation from them, in the next 4-6 months. Although there is always a very, very small chance they may not approve us for him, I'm not holding back. He's our son and we're already crazy about him!

We expect to travel to China anywhere between February and May of 2009.