Listening to Music this morning

Here are some more pictures:

It's 5:00 am and the girls are up and ready to go. Melanie is playing with a balloon again and Harley is fascinated with the MP3 player with Melanie's B-Bop songs :) Too cute. I think she likes changing the song and pushing the buttons as much as hearing the music. She has now been introduced to Hannah Montana, The Backstreet Boys, Kelli Clarkson, High School Musical (1 & 2) songs, Jessie McCartney, Aaron Carter and a handful of other artists. Now they're sharing a piece of paper and drawing pictures. Melanie is thrilled to finally get to play with her. Harley even let held hands with her while they were walking at the park or stand with her arm around her. Such pretty girls we have!

Mike and I both tried to download a movie clip of the girls feeding the fish but it wouldn't work so here are some regular pictures to look at.

The best day yet!!!

After the episode at the end of the day yesterday it has been relatively smooth sailing for the Nicholsons. Last night was the first night that Harley has slept through the night without crying for her foster mom. We had breakfast as normal and then met Mei-Ru and the Dias clan for our AIT appt.(American Institute in Taiwan) Since Taiwan is not officially recognized as a country there cannot be an American Consulate as there is in Guangzhou, China. At the AIT they have toys to keep the children occupied while you are waiting. Harleys only setback was when she saw her social worker from Cathwel, I'm sure it brought back memories of FM. After the appt. we went to a pay by weight Taiwanese buffet which cost my family of four around $4 USD, it was delicious. Then we visited a Chinese Handicraft Mart where we purchased matching pink silk dresses for the girls, and handbags among other goodies We then visited the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, which was beautiful even under construction. Mei-Ru brought small packages of floating fishfood for the three girls, Melanie, Bobo and Harley so they could feed the Koi in the ponds on the Memorial grounds, It was so cool!!! Tomorrow we travel to Miao Li on the west coast of Taipei (Harley's hometown) to visit some biological family members. We don't believe it will have a negative effect on Harley, we worry she will recognize landmarks as her foster family lives in Miao Li.

Fun day with a rough ending......

Well, I knew better than to let this happen after all the reading I've been doing but I let it happen and I'm upset with myself about it. Harley has been grieving and asking to go home and we've been telling her that we are a family now and she's staying with us forever, we will love her always and that everything will be okay. We've had the ups and downs but more ups than downs so I let my guard down. The much needed break I got yesterday was a non-stop barrage of whining and wanting to leave directed at Mike instead of me. This was in a different form than I got with the crying and clinging. She was just plain saying it and waiving off anything we even tried to say back to reassure her that this is the way life will be now. I guess she thought she was talking to a brick wall with me and Mike and went on to the next "victim"-- Mei-Ru our facilitator. We hung out at the zoo with her all day and actually had a really great time. Harley really came out of her shell and was enjoying the animals and freedom to run and have fun away from "those people" that won't listen to her. Well, the end of the day was extremely rough for her. Mei-Ru was telling her that she had to come back to the hotel with us.....sorry babydoll, that's just the way it is. At the zoo, she was able to be away, pull away and talk Mandarin with Mei-Ru and feel somewhat normal. A non-frustrated communication issue that she has with us. That consistency that we started took a big step backwards but I hope it's one we can recover from pretty quickly. We managed to literally unhook her fingers and arms from Mei-Ru and decided to take a walk around the block past the hotel entrance but Harley recognized the entrance, pointed to it and we realized that she knew exactly where she was and that we were supposed to be going there. Once we were in, she was quiet and clingy again and went down pretty quietly, sleeping very soundly still even with one butt-cheek exposed because her poor tiny little butt is too small for the 2T/3T panties I got for her before we left thinking they would fit just fine :)

Enough - all in all it was a really fun day and she smiled more and laughed and had some fun with Melanie, too.

Taipei City Zoo

Today we went to the Taipei City Zoo. It's a lot bigger than I expected. If you have a chance to see it while you're here, I would highly recommend going. We will be going back to ride to the top of the hill on the Maokong Gondola. That should give us some excellent shots over the city if the sky is clear.

Today was a day off for our family!!

With our facilitator/guide/interpretor, Mei-Ru, taking today to help bring another new family together, we had a free day. Harley is still having a difficult time being seperated from her foster mother but I think there was less crying today than yesterday. Each day seems to be an improvement. She also found a new buddy, PaPa with an emphasis on the second "Pa". I think it gave Nancy a well deserved break from the very difficult wailing heartbroken crying that we had experienced. The only place we traveled today was to a small park maybe 500 feet from our hotel, but well hidden (see photos).

Back to the new family, Randy and Jessica Dias met their daughter Fei/Bobo today and we wish them an easy transition. We plan to meet them tomorrow to visit the Taipei Zoo, hopefully Bobo will be up to the trip, I bought two little gifts today one for Bobo and one for Harley.

The girls love to swing, Harley would say something in Mandarin and then get off the swing while it was still moving, only landed on the back of her head once and just giggled and ran away. In the photo with my three girls Harley is spinning her finger beside her heaad and calling the cameraman "Loco" at Melanie's urging.

Still sad but in shorter spurts.....

Harley continues to grieve but we are also beginning to see a side of her that is playful and she does like to eat--especially when we find something she obviously likes a lot. She definitely likes consistency. We can tell this by the way she puts things back into place when she's done brushing her teeth, changing her clothes or folding a towel that isn't "just right" on the bathroom counter. I told Melanie that she won't have to worry about keeping the room picked up, Harley will probably do it for her without any encouragement. I told Melanie to be glad, Betty (my little sister) was the one always moving furniture, organizing and putting stuff away while we were growing up, no problem on my part :) Of course, that's once she grew out of her own pack-rat phase.....

Melanie continues to show her loving/caring/nurturing side wanting to hug Harley when she's crying or asking if she can hold her :( They have fun playing volleyball with the balloons.

Pictures of the girls are what you come to the site for, so here they are:

See you all soon,

Mike, Nancy, Melanie and Harley

A few more pictures

Mike already posted about going up Taipei 101 but I just have to say, it's a long way down when you're looking out the window (Betty, you would cry). Its awesome! You can see all directions from there, it's like stacking 3 Space Needles on top of each other - WOW! The elevator is way cool and especially nice (meaning fast) with a crying child.....

I don't get much of a chance to post nowdays. It's been really hard for Harley, she's very sad and missing her foster mom so much. She gets distracted and forgets that she's having fun and the next thing you know she's grieving again. It's so hard and we hope she can get through this with a lot of patience and love from her new family. She has the hardest time when she's tired and ready for her nap. Going to sleep at the end of the day was easier last night and not bad again tonight. That bath really helps - it gets the girls relaxed and ready to close their eyes.

We're seeing as much as we can while we're here. Today we bought a crystal with their 3D picture laser etched inside along with today's date.

Oh, and I do dress them in matching outfits. The first morning we all got up and I pulled out the matching denimn skirts that I picked up last minute before we left. Harley leaned against the bed, put each foot in and pull the skirt up to her waist - she let go and the skirt fell straight to the floor :) It was hilarious, it didn't even touch her hips. For obvious reasons, I pulled out a different set of clothes for them to wear and we'll have to save the skirts for Spring :^)

I haven't had very many pictures of Harley smiling for the camera, she has no idea what I'm talking about when I say "say cheese" before the click :) We have had some really great belly-laughs from her that just crack us up! When she falls asleep, she goes into a deep and hopefully very restful sleep.

Happy thoughts being sent to Randy and Jessica, meeting their daughter tomorrow morning! I'm so excited for them - I pray all goes well and they play all night long! I understand they have lots of Polly Pockets to stay busy and will likely have a great ol' time!

Day 2 as a family

It has been another tough day with a very depressed 4 YO, especially for mommy, who is the only one she wants to be with when she has her meltdowns. It is fine for me, my time will come but it is a little harder on Melanie who has to share her mommy now. When Harley gets over her heartbreak things will be better, I wish the pain would go away for her now, it breaks my heart to hear her cry.

This afternoon we met Randy and Jessica Dias from Sacramento, they were just trying to adjust to the loss of a day and the sleep factor, they will meet their daughter Fei/Bobo on Monday, we wish the the best. Then we visited a flower and jade market today that had some wonderful Bonsai and jade pearls etc. I only got lost from the group once but it was for a good cause, I wanted to pay $10 US for a teapot that was unlike anyone I have ever seen or will ever see again, and she wanted to sell it to me for $15US. Wait! that's not a good cause, that's just dumb!!!

After that we visited Taipei 101 and took the worlds fastest elevator ride, this elevator is so fast it has a spoiler on the top and bottom to cut the wind resistence.

The girls are resting wonderfully now and Nancy has just had the time to shower and relax, tomorrow we will leave at 9:10 a.m. Tan Sul Fishermans Wharf and take the girls for a boat ride.

We're all here!

We're all here at the hotel :) She's pretty wild - lots of energy in this little spitfire! We're going to have to keep this one busy. She's so sweet and loves to talk and sing. She sang the Chinese version of "Twinkle Twinkle little Star" on the way back from Cathwel. So adorable!!!





Here is a picture - will post more as the day goes on.


Take care!
Mike, Nancy, Melanie and Harley!!!!!

Welcome to Taipei

It's hot, humid and a beautiful day. Melanie lasted most of it on just a few hours of sleep, poor baby. She's such a trooper :) We had an awesome time at the National Palace Museum and found out that there is a documentary coming out about these fascinating artifacts on the National Geographic Channel this weekend.



Melanie fell asleep while we were out and will probably sleep through the night. I'm glad since tomorrow is such a big day for the Nicholson Family ;) We are counting down the hours to meet Harley. It's still hard to believe that tomorrow is the day - tomorrow! Still, until she's in our arms, I won't rest well......


Good night all! Next time we post, it will include a picture with Harley :-)

We're HERE!!!

We landed in Taipei on time at 5:30 am. The flight was uneventful and Melanie traveled really well again (no surprise). We're meeting Mei-Ru at 2:00 to go to the Palace Museum then back for the night to rest up for our meeting tomorrow morning. Harley will be with us soon! We're scheduled to meet at 11:00 am. We'll post pictures as soon as we get back to the room.

Have a great night,
Mike, Nancy, Melanie and soon Harley in the pictures with us :)

Last night as a family of three at home

Well Melanie and I just got out of the hot tub, and unless we jump in tomorrow before the trip to the airport (not probable), it may have been the last time with just the two of us.












Tomorrow evening we leave home at around 10:30 p.m. to catch the 1:55 a.m. flight to Taipei.

Take a deep breath Harley my babygirl!!! Daddy, Mommy & Melanie are coming to welcome you to our family, FOREVER!!!! 72hours and counting.

WE LOVE (((((((YOU)))))))

We will meet Friday (10/26)!!!!

We are busy getting ready to travel. I've been wanting to write that for SO long! We come home from work on Tuesday (10/23), load ourselves into the truck and head to the airport for the 1:55 am flight on Wednesday (10/24) morning :-) We arrive on Thursday morning at 5:30 am (Taiwan time) then we finally, finally, finally get to hug Harley for the very first time on Friday (10/26).

Tien emailed us some pictures of her getting the last package we mailed. She put on the outfit and held her Stuffed Animal tight for the most awesome picture we've got so far! Oh, if I could only be there right now........

We stay to visit, relax, site-see, and just play around until Sunday (11/4) then we head for home. Don't worry, we'll post photos and stories every single day we're there.

Waiting for the Final Ruling

Yesterday we received another update on Harley. My caption on the front page is probably more true than I thought it could be :) Princess Harley is quite the little handful and seems to insist on getting her way or there's a tantrum on the loose :( Uh-oh - if you have advice on handling a toddler with an attitude - specifically tantrums - please email me at nnicholson6@aol.com or call me so we can talk. I have to be as prepared as possible and would appreciate advice from those who have been through this with your toddler.




I get the impression that they talk to her a lot about moving and living in the USA. It's all got to be pretty overwhelming for a 4-year old to deal with. We're still being asked to make arrangements to travel around the week of 10/29. We're planning on leaving several days early (around the 24th or 25th) and coming back the first week of November. I can't help but think of the holidays knowing we'll be celebrating together!



I'm pretty tired again today - still not getting the sleep I need but a couple extra hours of sleep over the weekend went a long way.

Take care everyone and stop by the blog to say hello anytime!