Who's having More Fun?

For Noah's first family/friend birthday party we rented out the carousel pavilion at the Roger Williams Park. It was absolutely a magical night. I got there early with the girls and my parents, while Doug and Noah went to pick up the food. The carousel was just closing to the public and we had the pavilion to ourselves. Sophie, Avery, and Papa got the first ride of the night all by themselves!!!!!!!!!! The carousel didn't stopped spinning for the next 2 hours. It was so much fun we almost forgot about the cake! We were so blessed to have friends and family from near and far come together for such a wonderful night. If I had to pick someone who had the most fun.....I'd have to say Papa.

Having His Cake and Eating It Too!

More Carousel Pictures

Happy Birthday Noah!!!!!!!

"Birfday!". Noah woke up this morning with a big smile, points to himself and says, "Birfday!" He is a very happy birthday boy! It's easy to get teary eyed to think that we are celebrating such a big milestone- our first of many birthdays together. This time last year, I had no idea what God had in store of us. We put paperwork in for a healthy girl in February- 13 months later we're celebrating our son's first birthday together. I can't even imagine a life with 3 girls or a life without Noah.

Noah's birthday celebration is going down in true Mulholland-Bower fashion. What does that mean? Birthdays in our home are celebrated like no other holiday- they last for days and days. His birthday party started on Easter with a small family cake. Today was his school party. Saturday is big, big party with everyone. I am a true believer in the celebration of life and making sure my kids know just how precious their life is.







Here are some pictures from his party at school. He started the day putting his birthday on the calendar, played outside with his friends (check out Romeo with his girlfriend of the day), and ended the day with birthday cake and nap. Phew!

Easter Fun with Friends

Today we had over a few family friends to help us celebrate Easter. Our good friends The Nash's and The White's from our Chinese playgroup came. Our newest friends, The Shaunessey's, joined us as well. We ate pancakes and quiche, colored eggs, and had a huge Easter egg hunt. Noah even had his third (supervised) date with Caroline. Do they still do arranged marriages these days? It was such a fun way to kick off the weekend.

Painting Eggs

Egg Hunt Pictures

Orphanage Pics

Although Thea's pictures turned out not to be Noah, I was able to contact Noah's orphanage doctor who was able to send me pictures from before our referral. My best guess is that he is about a year old. They were definately taken before 18 months. Those who know Noah well will immediately see a HUGE difference in how far he has come. Even though these pictures make me a bit sad, I see them as a real gift. I feel it is my job to provide Noah, and the girls, with as much information or connection to their lives in China as I possibly can. We do our best to celebrate the holidays, participate in our Chinese playgroup as often as possible, and provide the girls with Chinese lessons- I always pray that we are giving them what they need. With that said here are our newest pics...

Going on 6 new pictures

I couldn't be more excited. I just recieved an email from this woman Thea from Neatherlands. She adopted her son Qiang May 2006. (Noah was 3 months old then.) She recognized Noah's picture from the yahoo group - she has 3 pictures of Noah in addition to my new friend Donna's 3. I've ordered Donna's pics and Thea should be emailing hers soon. I can't wait!

Thank God for Internet

Over the summer I joined a yahoo group for families that adopted from Noah's province of Fuzhou. I wanted to learn more about the province that Noah was from and also try to connect with people who have had similar experiences. Over the 6 months that I have belonged I never heard anyone mention the city Noah was from. You'd read about the bigger cities, Fuzhou and Xiamen, but never Putain City. It started to make me wonder about his orphanage. Why hadn't hadn't one mentioned it? Noah recieved the most wonderful care. Earlier this week I posted and simply asked if anyone else had adopted from Putain City. Low and behold I got an email from this very nice woman Donna. Her daughter Libby was the 5th child ever to be adopted out of Putain City SWI. Donna had just traveled in August 2007 and had taken many pictures of the nursery. I posted some pictures of Noah for her to see if she recognized him from her visit. Not only did she recognize him but she has pictures too!!!!!!!!!!!!! Noah was pointed out to her as being a future adoptee. Imagine that! I have ordered the pictures and will scan a copy to post next week. What an amazing gift! I cannot thank Donna enough.

Frosty Bower

Snow Much Fun!

What initially was supposed to be 1-3 inches of snow throughout the day- quickly turned into 3 inches before breakfast. The girls could not have been more excited. By 10 o'clock they were raring to go. As soon as Noah saw the girls getting on their snowsuits he was looking for his. So out came the new bibs and Spiderman snowboots, dogs were barking, kids were squacking ... 20 minutes later we were on our way out the door.

Despite everyone's excitement there were a few tears - Barnacle ate Avery's carrot nose for her snowman and Noah was a little surprised that snow was so cold. With a new carrot and some sand toys everyone settled in and had a great time.

Look Mom No Hands!

In the past few days Noah has been full of surprises. He's been cruisin' for some time now, but always afraid to walk without holding on with two hands. Over the weekend he started the one handed walk and trying to balance for a few seconds. Noah has always been very tentative and easy to cry when it came to walking or stepping outside his comfort zone. So today came as a complete surprise when I turned around and Noah came flying across the kitchen at full speed on two feet! He was walking behind his school bus, pushing it around the kitchen. Then he procedes to stand up and clap because he's so happy. Who is this boy?????? I was so shocked I had to take pictures because I figured no one would believe me. This reminds of when we were in China and out of the blue he started crawling and jumping. What other tricks does this boy have up his sleeve????????

Happy New Year!

It's hard to imagine a year ago we were just completing our dossier for a healthy girl. We were getting ready for our very first Chinese New Year and we were very excited! We even bought a big blow up Money God to put in the front yard to bring wealth and good fortune. Those who know us, know that we are not exactly the blow up lawn ornament type of people. Little did we know what fortune it would really bring.

Fast forward 3 months and we got the call about reading a file on a 14 month old little boy. Were we interested? That one phone call changed our lives and brought us much for then wealth and fortune of the Money God. Never in our wildest dreams did we ever imagine that we'd be going to China and adopting a little boy so soon.

Noah is such an amazing little guy. He wakes up in the morning with a smile on his face and goes to bed smiling too. He is full of giggles and hugs. Every day he's learning new words and showing us more and more of his personality.

Here are a few pictures from our first 3 months together: