At around 2:30 pm this afternoon, we arrived in Newark, New Jersey and crossed through immigration and Elizabeth became a US citizen at that moment! Pretty exciting stuff.
But let's back up-yesterday in Guangzhou, China we left our hotel around 2:30 pm and headed for the US consulate for our swearing in ceremony. We arrived at the consulate and slowly like a trickle and then like a river people started flowing into the room we were waiting in. These were all adoptive families coming for their swearing in ceremony as well. After a greeting from the head adoption officer and acknowledgement of birthdays in July (of course, our girl was included) then we had a brief(like 20 second) oath and then we were given our brown envelopes to show at the airport check in counters and with immigration here in the US and then we were free to leave.
Our very good friend Debi Callahan had arranged for a private driver to take us to Hong Kong last nite and we stayed next to the airport and flew out of Hong Kong this morning. The ride to Hong Kong was shall we say-interesting. First, it took almost one hour just to get out of Guangzhou for the traffic, then once we approached the border of Hong Kong there was alot of inquiry with our passports and Elizabeth's passport Visa. They made me wake her up and show her to the border officer to prove that the picture in her passport matched the baby that I was holding. Now I don't think her passport photo looks anything like her, but apparently, they did and after scanning our heads for temps we were allowed through. We arrived at the Marriot Sky City directly next to the hotel around 7:30 pm and checked in and ordered room service and pretty much went to bed. Just a word for all the other travelers out there-this Marriott is VERY nice, the price was reasonable and literally the shuttle took like 4 minutes to take us over to the terminal.
We checked in at Continental and thank the good Lord the ticket agent took mercy on us and put us in seats together and it was also a bulkhead row so we had some floor space for Elizabeth to play and did not have to hold her the entire time. That in itself was a God send as the flight today was 15 hours! I never want to do that again. She was a great traveler, only cried seriously when it was time for bed (her regular bed time) and entertained the flight crew everytime they walked by waving and smiling at them. We arrived in Newark and cleared immigration and then customs and Patrick's brother, Mike, picked us up and took us to his wife's office for a quick check-up. Mike's wifeGrace, is a pediatrician and we have been anxious to have Elizabeth "checked out" officially. The exam in China lasted about 15 seconds and the immunization record is also a little confusing.
Elizabeth weighed 13 lbs 15 ounces today and she measured at 28 1/2 inches. So a little different than the exam in China, particularly the length part, but she otherwise checks out ok. We need to concentrate on getting her to eat and have caloric intake. We are going to try to switch her over to american formula and whole milk and see what we can get her to eat from the table as well. Grace suggested we don't force her to eat-we have held her down at times to eat, and just let her eat at her pace. The first few days we weren't feeding her enough, now we feed her enough but maybe not in the best manner. We are still learning everyday and Elizabeth takes our nonsense quite well.
We are all exhausted but Elizabeth is handling the time change, lack of sleep a heck of alot better than her dad and I. We are all trying to stay awake until 8 pm and try to get on East coast time fairly quickly. Don't know how that is going to work, but we'll try. The jet lag was the pits in Beijing-took about 3-4 days for the correct time to kick in and the fatigue to go away. Now we have to reverse everything back. In fact, with our flight today we basically lived July 31st forever. We left Hong Kong at 10:30 am on July 31st and arrived in Neward on July 31st at 2:00 pm. And believe me the flight was alot longer than 4 hours!!!!!
We will be coming home on Sunday for good, and honestly, we can't wait. We are anxious to sleep in our own beds, eat our own food, get Elizabeth into the real world and on our schedule. We will continue to keep everyone posted on our transition home and will also post some more photos later.
Until next time.........................................
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 28th
Patrick spent this morning going to the US Consulate here in Guangzhou with one of our guides, Bob. Since it was decided after we received travel approval that we were a Hague family there were some additional documents that needed to be signed to complete the adoption of Elizabeth. Thank goodness Patrick graciously went because I was really nervous about having to go as it is a 30-40 minute cab ride with crazy Chinese driving and I get carsick real easy. Patrick said the driving was just unbelievable and he was scared sh--less most of the time. But after a 2 hour visit to the consulate everything regarding our case is now completed and we will have the big swearing in ceremony tomorrow and then be free to leave for the US.
Elizabeth and I stayed back this morning. She was up a couple of times during the nite, but no return of the fever again. Once when she woke up it was just because her diaper was soaking wet and once changed she went back to bed and slept until 7:20 am. That is a record, the latest morning yet! Most every other morning it has been between 4-5 am. That is not going to cut it at home but we were going to wait until we were home to try and get her on a more normal schedule. Who knows maybe the 7:20 wake up call today could be the start of something new????? Once she was awake we got dressed and ventured down to the breakfast buffet just her and I. I was a little worried doing the whole breakfast thing by myself but we did great. I put her in the baby bjorn and then set our table up with the highchair, bib, her feeding spoon and napkins and then took her down the buffet line with me and got food for myself and her. She ate some congee in the restaurant and I had some toast and bacon. We headed back up to the room and then put her in the stroller and went walking. We stayed out and about for around one hour. She was the hit of the walk this morning. One of the shop keepers gave her a chinese flag and she was waving it and clapping her hands. Usually she falls asleep in the stroller but not today, she was having a grand old time! In fact, she figured out how to take the actual flag off the stick and is now just waving the stick, no flag around and hitting everything in her path with the flag stick. Cheap entertainment, I doubt I will be so lucky for her to play with something easy like that for the plane ride home!!
Patrick came back around 11 am and then at noon the entire travel group met at the White Swan Hotel-which is about a 5 minute walk from our hotel-to do the infamous "red couch" photos. This is kind of a tradition with adoptive families for the babies in the group to line up on one of the red couches and have their pictures made in their traditional Chinese wear. The babies looked adorable and the White Swan is beautiful where we were making pictures. I have heard their rooms are quite small and the price is alot more than our suite at the Victory. In fact, our entire travel group this time is staying at the Victory. I like the space the Victory offers. Our room smells a little damp and musty but overall it is not bad. However, it does not compare to the mack daddy suite we had at the Dolton Hotel in Changsha, now that was a sweet room. Absolutely huge, separate living area, separate office area, small foyer coming in to the room, small foyer going into the bathroom and a HUGE bedroom with a sitting area in it. I swear that room in Changsha was as big as our master bedroom, living and dining room combination at home. And to think we were questioning spending the money on a suite versus a regular room??!?!?!?
We are headed off to our last group dinner tonite. After the swearing in ceremony tomorrow afternoon Patrick and I are headed off to Hong Kong for the nite and will fly out at 10:30 Friday morning for Newark. 3 other families are also leaving tomorrow headed for their respective homes. I am quite sad to be leaving and also must tackle the dreaded packing. I am looking forward to going home but I also know when we leave China on Friday morning that our daughter is leaving a piece of her heritage behind. That is not fair to a child to leave the only thing you have ever known, but we will make the transition as smooth as possible and she will thrive in our environment in Florida as well as she has thrived here. I never expected to enjoy myself as much as I have and would not have traded this experience for the world. At the beginning of the trip I said to Patrick that I didn't know if I had it in me to come back to China to show Elizabeth where she came from, but I have changed my mind completely. Heritage tours are quite popular for adoptive families where you come back to China 5-7 years after your adoption to show your child where they came from and to experience the real Chinese culture. I saw families doing these tours in Changsha, and in fact XiXi, our guide also does Heritage tours-and thought to myself "I am sorry but I don't think we will be coming back and doing this anytime soon." I think I might have to eat those words. China has been absolutely fascinating and while uncomfortable to step outside the box sometimes, it was definitely worth it. Knock on wood, I did not encounter any squatty potties (but the trip is not over yet) and everything else I can just chalk up to life experience.
After our White swan red couch photos we walked down to the one italian restaurant on the island and had bruschetta and pizza for lunch-it was divine. As we were walking back we got caught in a rain storm and guess who was laughing and babbling to herself- yep Miss Elizabeth. She was having the time of her life. A nice young Chinese girl started walking next to us and she spoke english and put her umbrella over Elizabeth so she wouldn't get wetter. It was just the nicest gesture. She asked if we had adopted Elizabeth and when we said yes, she said "that is a very lucky baby." She walked all the way back to the front door of the hotel holding the umbrella over our girl. It was just sooooo nice that honestly we were left speechless. This young girl who did not know us from Adam, takes time out of her day to try and keep our child dry and gets soaking wet in the meantime, and also tells us how lucky our baby is to have us as parents.
Well, we will probably have one more post in the morning before we have to pack up the computer and cables, etc for the trip to Hong Kong. I hope you have enjoyed our travel logs as much as we have had doing them. We will continue to update once we get home and post photos so you can watch our little miracle grow.
She is a great baby. Very happy, very active, and knows how to make her daddy just melt. They speak "chinese" to each other and it is hilarious. She loves to hold her pointer finger up at him and babble loudly as if to say "listen here mister, I am in charge and you will do what I tell you to do." Then she gets the biggest grin on her face and laughs hysterically. What a cutie!! She really only cries if she is hungry or tired, smiles at all the people on the street but must be able to see her mom from wherever she is. Not the greatest sleeper, but oh well-we waited 4+ years for her and had plenty of time to sleep. She loves the stroller and LOVES being outside and just walking around. She does not seem to like anything sweet at this point-we have tried bananas, birthday cake and syrup and she turns her nose up at all of them. Good thing probably because Patrick and I obviously have not said no enough to sweets and junk food! Overall she is a perfect fit for our family.
Well stay tuned for the last post tomorrow morning from Guangzhou, China
Until next time...............................
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 28th
Today has not been such a great day. As you know from our post yesterday, Elizabeth had to get some immunizations yesterday at her medical checkup. We thought she was such a trooper yesterday, only cried for just a few minutes after the shots (until she got her cookie and the crying stopped immediately). We took her out shopping all day and she held up well. Well, unfortunately, that all came to a crashing halt at 4 am this morning. She woke up very suddenly screaming her head off and when I picked her up she was very warm. She was very difficult to hold and the best I could get of her temperature was 100.5 degrees. I actually think it was higher than that but she was crying so hard and moving so much I am not sure how accurate the reading was. Anyway, she got an immediate dose of motrin and I walked and rocked her, but she just would not settle down. Patrick then took her and got her to fall asleep on him and they slept in our living area of the hotel room for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
We were supposed to go to the Banyan Temple today but decided to pass since it was obvious at this point that we overdid it yesterday as well. We took her down to breakfast around 9 am and she ate just a couple of bites of congee. She did have about 4 ounces of formula around 7 am so we wasn't completely starving. When we finished breakfast they happened to be cleaning our room so I took the opportunity to walk her and rock her up and down the halls and she did go to sleep. By the time I tried to put her in the crib she woke up and was screaming again. We then put her in the stroller and walked around the room and she fell asleep for almost one hour. Great parents, letting her sleep in the stroller but it was the only way she was staying asleep and since she felt so bad she needed to sleep. Just before she fell asleep I took her temp again and it was 101.7. She was hot and miserable and also got another dose of Motrin.
After she woke up we were able to play with her some and eventually left the room and went and had lunch at Lucy's. Lucy's is the "western" restaurant on the island. They serve hamburgers, french fries and milkshakes etc. We had eaten breakfast late so I got by with just a baked potato and Patrick had a grilled chicken wrap with french fries. Elizabeth was still not intereseted in eating at this point. After lunch we went by a few shops to pick up things we had purchased and needed to pick up. Elizabeth then fell asleep as we were walking and Patrick took her back to the hotel and she again slept in the stroller for about 45 minutes. Her appetite is just terrible today, but I know that I don't feel like eating either when I have fever and am under the weather.
Not much else going on today so I'll take this opportunity to tell you a few things we have observed during our travels around China. The Chinese are very active people. They are always out and about and doing things in the parks and recreation areas around the country. XiXi has told us that they live in very small apartments, like 800 sq feet, so they really have no choice but to go outside and socialize and get out of their cramped surroundings. Each nite after dinner when we walk, there are all kinds of kids and adults using playground equipment, roller blading, playing badmitton, etc. The streets are very busy we people just getting out of the house. Another thing is the Chinese live very simply. No fancy cars (cars and vans are recycled after 10-12 years of being in service, they must get a new vehicle at that point and the government salvages their autos for scrap and parts), small apartments, no fancy clothing. You see alot of people talking on the cell phone and playing games and listening to music but it does not seem to be as much as we do in the US.
A few words of advice for adoptive parents or anyone traveling here in the future. This applies to most all of China not just Beijing or Guangzhou. Bring napkins-they really do not use napkins and if they do they are the size of travel tissues. With a baby this just does not cut it. Diapers are hit and miss over here. Pampers vary widely depending on where you shop. Walmart over here sold good Pampers, the local store right next to the Victory hotel sold a poor plastic version of Pampers. I think if you a bring a small pack or half of a large pack from home and then get to Walmart or Carrefour over here you will be fine. I had read that all the hotels had hairdryers in the bathrooms. Well, only the Victory has a normal hairdryer, the other hairdryers were the old fashioned, hang on the wall with a vacuum cleaner type hose and just could not quite do the job a regular hair dryer could. I have a very small dual voltage hairdryer (came from Brookstone I think) that has saved me many of day of bad hair days. It is so small and can almost fit in a shoe and you just turn a knob to the correct voltage of power and it has been used in the UK, France and now China without any problems.
Tomorrow we have our consulate appointment and since we are a Hague family one of us has to actually go to the Consulate with our guide. The other families get to wait out the time in their room. I really do not want to go because it is a 40 minute taxi ride in crazy China traffic and I tend to get carsick. I am hoping they will let Patrick go but not sure at this point since I am the one who filled out the paperwork for the consulate. If all goes well tomorrow with the consulate then we are on track to leave on Thursday afternoon around 4:30 pm and head to Hong Kong for the nite. Then we fly out of Hong Kong on Friday for the huge 15 hour flight to Newark. We will stay in Newark on Saturday and then fly into Orlando on Sunday arriving around 5:30 pm (Newark to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Orlando). We are anxious to come home, but also can not believe how quickly 2 1/2 weeks has gone by. On the other hand I am absolutely dreading the flight. 15 hours with a baby and Patrick and I are not even seated together. We had to be separated in order to get a bulkhead seat with a bassinet. I think it is important to keep this seat since ladybug is so small and when she needs to sleep it is not pretty. It will be so much easier to have a bassinet to put her in for sleeping instead of having to hold her or fit her into the small seat between the two of us. Please pray for us, and all of the other people of this flight-honestly, before getting Elizabeth I would have rather put a hot poker in my eye than sit in a section of plane that had screaming babies on it.
That is it for now-please pray Elizabeth's fever goes away and she begins to feel better and has a good nites sleep
Until next time.................................
Monday, July 27, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH!!!!!
We want to wish our daughter a very happy first birthday today!!! It is now 4 pm here and she has been celebrating all day and will have a cake party at the conclusion of dinner with our travelmates tonite.
We started the day with her having to go to her medical appointment as part of the adoption process. We knew before we came over here that she was going to require some immunizations as part of this visit and were prepared for it. We were the first family to go to the medical appointment since we required shots and a checkup. Elizabeth was given a very brief exam and was considered "normal", just small. Our girl weighs a whoping 13.7 lbs and is 27 inches long. The doctor found no problems at all with her, so the big homestudy addendum we had to do before we left on this trip was for nothing. However, Patrick and I knew that if we decided to do the addendum then we were not going to need it, and it we did not do the addendum then we would need it and it would delay our trip home. She did the usual screaming that any kid would do if you have to get shots, but our guide XiXi was there and gave her a Chinese cookie and the crying stopped almost immediately. Mom didn't break down like I thought I would but I did ask to see the syringes to make sure they were new and clean. Our guide explained to them that I was a nurse and a good mom and wanted to make sure the baby was well taken care of. The clinic also gave me the boxes of all the meds that were given to her so I could review the literature that is printed in English inside.
After the medical appointment, we came back to the hotel and backed up the diaper bag and baby for the day and headed off to the electronics market and jewelry market. I won't tell you everything we bought because there are gifts in there for family members and also gifts for Elizabeth as she gets older. These markets were just unbelievable. I have seen them on other people's blogs but you just can not understand the magnitude of their size until you see it in person. The electronics market was about 5 stories tall and just packed with small stores selling all kinds of good. Big screen TV's, appliance, MP3 players, Wii, Playstation, DVD's, CD's, GPS systems, you name it, they had it. We all met back up at McDonald's and had our first Western lunch since being in China. It looked like McDonald's at home and everyone said it tasted like McDonald's from home too. I didn't eat it since I don't eat McDonald's at home anyway and was still full from breakfast. Patrick and Elizabeth had french fries and the Elizabeth also had jarred apples and chicken and rice.
After McDonald's, we all headed down the street to the pearl/jade market. Loved that part and definitely spent some money there too. Again, many stories tall, this market was probably 7 stories tall just packed with stores selling pearls and jade. The one thing I don't understand about the Chinese people is they have these big malls and you can feel light a/c blowing but nothing too special and the inside of these malls is HOT!!! I am talking 90+ degrees with almost 85% humidity and it is HOT!. We are all drenched but no point in taking a shower yet because when we walk to a restaurant for dinner we just start pouring sweat all over again.
As we were leaving the markets, headed for our bus to go back to the hotel, we passed some street vendors and Patrick and all the other guys in the group today had squid on a stick. It looked kind of like calamari and had special seasoning on it. Patrick said it was very good actually and could have had a second if the bus had not arrived to pick us up. I found Vanilla Coke at the 7-11 while we were waiting-pure heaven! I haven't been able to find Vanilla Coke at home for some time now!
We came back to the hotel and then went and picked up our laundry. It is almost 100 yuan cheaper here than in Changsha. That is a difference of about $14-$15 american dollars and we had ALOT of laundry. Baby girls make big messes on themselves and mama and daddy.
We are now waiting to go to dinner as a group and our guide, XiXi, was kind enough to get us a birthday cake for Elizabeth for us to enjoy tonite after dinner. XiXi says we are a bit of an unusual group as we like to go to dinner as a group and we like to get out and about and see the sights. She says many times the travel groups get to the hotel and just want to stay there and all she really has to do is help with paperwork. I have thoroughly enjoyed China and seeing the sights. Who knows if we will get a chance to come back but I am trying to soak it all up and enjoy every minute. This is my daughter's country and I need to understand and appreciate the culture in order to understand and appreciate her fully.
Tomorrow we are going to Six Banyan Temple where the babies can receive a blessing. Apparently, this is a very pretty sight in the city and I am looking forward to seeing it.
It has also been one week since we first received Elizabeth and it is just amazing to see how far she has come and how far we have come. We, as parents, finally have a clue and are doing a better job of meeting her needs. She has also come out of her shell and is very comfortable with us now and acting like a one year old. The appetite has increased, she is now interested in eating and she is sleeping fairly well too. I don't think the 15 hour flight will be any fun at all but we have to do it to get home.
Well that is all for today, stay tuned for more!!!
Until next time............................
We started the day with her having to go to her medical appointment as part of the adoption process. We knew before we came over here that she was going to require some immunizations as part of this visit and were prepared for it. We were the first family to go to the medical appointment since we required shots and a checkup. Elizabeth was given a very brief exam and was considered "normal", just small. Our girl weighs a whoping 13.7 lbs and is 27 inches long. The doctor found no problems at all with her, so the big homestudy addendum we had to do before we left on this trip was for nothing. However, Patrick and I knew that if we decided to do the addendum then we were not going to need it, and it we did not do the addendum then we would need it and it would delay our trip home. She did the usual screaming that any kid would do if you have to get shots, but our guide XiXi was there and gave her a Chinese cookie and the crying stopped almost immediately. Mom didn't break down like I thought I would but I did ask to see the syringes to make sure they were new and clean. Our guide explained to them that I was a nurse and a good mom and wanted to make sure the baby was well taken care of. The clinic also gave me the boxes of all the meds that were given to her so I could review the literature that is printed in English inside.
After the medical appointment, we came back to the hotel and backed up the diaper bag and baby for the day and headed off to the electronics market and jewelry market. I won't tell you everything we bought because there are gifts in there for family members and also gifts for Elizabeth as she gets older. These markets were just unbelievable. I have seen them on other people's blogs but you just can not understand the magnitude of their size until you see it in person. The electronics market was about 5 stories tall and just packed with small stores selling all kinds of good. Big screen TV's, appliance, MP3 players, Wii, Playstation, DVD's, CD's, GPS systems, you name it, they had it. We all met back up at McDonald's and had our first Western lunch since being in China. It looked like McDonald's at home and everyone said it tasted like McDonald's from home too. I didn't eat it since I don't eat McDonald's at home anyway and was still full from breakfast. Patrick and Elizabeth had french fries and the Elizabeth also had jarred apples and chicken and rice.
After McDonald's, we all headed down the street to the pearl/jade market. Loved that part and definitely spent some money there too. Again, many stories tall, this market was probably 7 stories tall just packed with stores selling pearls and jade. The one thing I don't understand about the Chinese people is they have these big malls and you can feel light a/c blowing but nothing too special and the inside of these malls is HOT!!! I am talking 90+ degrees with almost 85% humidity and it is HOT!. We are all drenched but no point in taking a shower yet because when we walk to a restaurant for dinner we just start pouring sweat all over again.
As we were leaving the markets, headed for our bus to go back to the hotel, we passed some street vendors and Patrick and all the other guys in the group today had squid on a stick. It looked kind of like calamari and had special seasoning on it. Patrick said it was very good actually and could have had a second if the bus had not arrived to pick us up. I found Vanilla Coke at the 7-11 while we were waiting-pure heaven! I haven't been able to find Vanilla Coke at home for some time now!
We came back to the hotel and then went and picked up our laundry. It is almost 100 yuan cheaper here than in Changsha. That is a difference of about $14-$15 american dollars and we had ALOT of laundry. Baby girls make big messes on themselves and mama and daddy.
We are now waiting to go to dinner as a group and our guide, XiXi, was kind enough to get us a birthday cake for Elizabeth for us to enjoy tonite after dinner. XiXi says we are a bit of an unusual group as we like to go to dinner as a group and we like to get out and about and see the sights. She says many times the travel groups get to the hotel and just want to stay there and all she really has to do is help with paperwork. I have thoroughly enjoyed China and seeing the sights. Who knows if we will get a chance to come back but I am trying to soak it all up and enjoy every minute. This is my daughter's country and I need to understand and appreciate the culture in order to understand and appreciate her fully.
Tomorrow we are going to Six Banyan Temple where the babies can receive a blessing. Apparently, this is a very pretty sight in the city and I am looking forward to seeing it.
It has also been one week since we first received Elizabeth and it is just amazing to see how far she has come and how far we have come. We, as parents, finally have a clue and are doing a better job of meeting her needs. She has also come out of her shell and is very comfortable with us now and acting like a one year old. The appetite has increased, she is now interested in eating and she is sleeping fairly well too. I don't think the 15 hour flight will be any fun at all but we have to do it to get home.
Well that is all for today, stay tuned for more!!!
Until next time............................
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 26th
We have now been in Guangzhou almost 24 hours. We are all settled in at our hotel and Elizabeth has had a great day so far. We were fortunate to run into some of our travel mates at breakfast this morning who told us we could buy diapers and water right next door instead of down the street at 7-11. And we also found jarred baby food so we bought a chicken one and an apple one and she enjoyed both at lunch today. She also had 4 ounces of formula as well. I think we have quickly come to the realization we have not been feeding her enough and when she is full she is VERY happy and playful.
We went out walking around the island some this morning and spent some money to pump up the economy but have alot more serious damage to do. Patrick also went to the catholic church service this morning at 8 am. He said he did not understand a word of it but figured out where to say amen. He also thinks he sat in someones spot and he kept getting stared at. I also think it was because he was the only white guy in the crowd and was sweating so much they couldn't not look at him. He said it was extremely hot in there and they only had about 12 fans running as well. In fact, when he came back from church we ran into some other travel mates in elevator and they asked if he had been swimming! I am used to his sweating so I just ignore it but most people just have to look a little.
Today is just a relax day, do nothing or just do what you want. As long as the weather holds off (it kind of looks like rain at the moment) we will probably take her down to the playground later. We are meeting the group at 5:30 pm for dinner tonite.
Tomorrow all the babies have their medical checkup. Because we are considered a Hague family we were told that Elizabeth will require between 5-8 immunizations. This is just not fair. She gets shots because of paperwork and tomorrow is her birthday. No baby should have to get shots on her birthday. I am planning on keeping her medicated with Motrin most of the day. We are also a little worried for other reasons for the medical appt. Some families recently went to the medical appt and the physician found "problems" and because they were not initially approved for a "special needs" baby they were stuck here in country until a homestudy addendum could be done and sent to the consulate. We have tried to prepare for this and did a homestudy addendum for special needs, just in case. We were having such trouble with even getting the OK to travel that we thought if there was a problem with a medical issue it would definitely happen to us! Please say a pray for tomorrows visit and also that it will not be too traumatic for Elizabeth and all of her immunizations she will be having.
The island that we are staying on is very nice and the people and shopkeepers are so friendly. Business has really died down for them as international adoptions have decreased and they are trying to stay afloat. We'll see what we can do to keep the money flowing in their shops!
I guess that is all for today. Kind of nice to not have to go anywhere or do anything, just let ourselves plan our day.
Until next time......................................
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Saturday, July 24th
We left Changsha this morning for Guangzhou, which is in the southern part of China, and is the third and final part of our trip. We all met in the lobby of our hotel around 8:30 am and headed for the airport. There were 15 adults and 7 babies and our guide XiXi, all packed up on the bus and headed for the airport by 8:40 am. We looked like a herd of cattle walking into that airport with all of us, luggage and babies and the misc equipment that comes with having a baby.
This is the first time any of the babies had been on a plane, much less out of the Hunan province. We all got seated together and just before take off the steward asked me to move as there were only 4 oxygen masks but 5 people sitting in the row if you counted the adults and babies. So I got up and moved to the back of plane all by myself! I was paniced being back there by myself with Elizabeth, but we actually managed fine and had a row to ourselves. She was sound asleep by the time we took off so the ear thing did not end up being an issue at all. She did fine on the flight, but we did hit a bit of turbulence about 5 minutes into the flight and the guy sitting behind me started to get sick (ie: vomiting) and continued to be sick for a large part of the flight. That sounds dramatic but the flight was only about 55 minutes in length. All I was worried about was he better not have anything contagious!! We landed and as we taxied to the gate they started to play music throughout the plane via the intercom. Well, Miss Elizabeth heard Usher singing one of his songs and she was swaying and rocking to the music. It was soooooo cute!! I know she is my daughter as I am a R & B music fan and that just cracked me up that she liked the song. Last nite while we were getting her ready for bed we decided to turn the TV on since we had heard they do alot of TV watching at the orphanage. Somehow we managed to find China MTV and they were showing the making of a video so there was music playing in the background and she was swaying and moving to that as well. I am not a big fan of TV for kids but she is very obviously mesmerized by it since that seems to be about the extent of her activities prior to coming to us. Kind of sad huh?
hou
We arrived in Guangzhou around 2 pm and made our way to our hotel. We are staying in a suite at the Victory Annex building. It is OK, but I think our room in Changsha was much nicer than what we have here. Oh well, there is plenty of space for us to play with Elizabeth and Guangzhou is very pretty and reminds me of St Augustine or Savannah. It is fashioned after British Colonial times so the buildings look very familiar and the temperature and climate is much like Florida. I was kind of euphoric walking around on the island today because it seemed so close to home. Guangzhou is a very large city, like 9 million people, and 75% of the manufacturing of goods that say "made in china" come from this area. We are staying on a small island in Guangzhou called Shamian Island. It is pronouced with a silent "h" so it sounds like "samian" rhymes with Damian.
We took a brief tour around the island to get familiar with 7 eleven (for supplies like water, diapers, etc), Starbucks coffee, the catholic church and the parks on the island. Of course, you know we also had to know where the shopping was too! We found out all of this information and then as a group we headed over to Lucy's for lunch' Lucy's is a local restaurant that specializes in "western" cuisine aka: hamburgers, french fries, pasta, milkshakes, etc. It was good, but I tell you I kind of came accustomed to the Chinese food we have been eating. To me the Chinese food seemed like a healthier alternative than the processed junk we tend to eat in America. On our walk today we just have seen about 10-12 brides and grooms having their wedding photos made. XiXi, our guide, says that everyday of the week you will see at least this number of couples having their photos made and it is very expensive, but widely accepted norm now for the younger generation. They also apparently have their photos made up to 6 months ahead of the actual event and their clothing is all rented and looks just like the brides and groom in the good ole USA. In fact, when we were out walking I think we walked past at least 2 companies advertising doing wedding photography.
After Lucy's we just walked around some more and picked up some supplies and headed back to the hotel room. We have been up since 4 am and I just could not get in the mood to shop today. We have all day tomorrow and half days on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to shop as well.
Elizabeth is doing well. She is understanding things we say to her. She can now wave bye-bye since yesterday. It is so cute, she turns her hand around and she is waving to herself when she does it but she gets so proud of herself when she does it and then starts going crazy clapping her hands. I think we are understanding her schedule a little better, but we are both concerned that we are not feeding her enough. She has been having "meltdowns" between 5 and 7 to 8 pm every day since we got her. We thought it might be related to all the activity of going out for dinner with the group, the noise, the hot weather, just the craziness involved with dinner each nite. In fact, some nites it is overwhelming for me. Today we kind of realized maybe she is melting down at that time because she is hungry. So we gave her a bottle around 6:30 to 7 pm and she became her usual animated self. We also had a fun time in the bath tonite and she would actually splash and bang her stacking cups together. The previous nites she has been clingy and whiny and just not sure of herself. Tonite however, she enjoyed herself the most of any nite yet. We also had hair washing nite and that went better too. I made it a point to cover her eyes when I was pouring water on her head, which helped, but she also did not freak out as much either.
She is now fast asleep and Patrick and myself are only minutes behind. I now know why people say you should sleep when the baby sleeps and we may try to do just that the next couple of days.
Until next time........................................
Friday, July 24, 2009
Friday, July 24th- 1:00 pm
Today has been a good day with Elizabeth getting more into a routine and us understanding her wants and needs better as well. She is eating better today, but we still have to deal with the tantrums when it comes time to eat. If you are persistent after about 1-2 minutes she will give in and finally take a bottle at least. Table food is hit or miss-depends on what is going on, what her mood is at the moment, etc. Oh well, if she at least takes formula it is better than nothing.
Several of our travel group, including us, left the hotel around 9 AM this am, and rode our bus out into the countryside of Hunan province. It took over one hour just to get to where there were no high rises and alot construction going on. Once we cleared the "big city" the countryside was quite pretty. We turned down a road and it looked like the canopy as you ride down Beach St headed towards Tomoka State Park. Within just a few moments the driver pulled over to the side and we saw a rice field and water buffalo and people working in the rice paddies. We got alot of stares and traffic slowed considerably when they passed us. I imagine we look kind of funny to them, a bunch of different sized Americans with Chinese babies! The other thing that is funny is the bus driver decides he wants us to look at something so he just stops the bus right in the middle of the road and everyone goes around us. If we did that in the US we would get killed for sure.
It sure is humbling to ride out into these places and get an idea of what a Chinese farmer and poor person has to deal with and what little they have. According to our guide, the government of China provides alot to the people so they have very little worries overall. Many of the high rise apartments we passed Chinese people can buy for like $3000 US dollars and have a home for life. They also get many subsidies to help them with everyday life as well. For example, the rice field land is owned by the Chinese government but the farmer farms the land and can build a house on the land. Usually they start with a small one story home and as the family grows they add second and third levels onto the house. In the countryside the one child per couple rule does not apply as the extra hands are needed to run the day to day operations of a farm.
After the bus ride, which took about 3 hours to go out to the country and back, we came back to the hotel and all had lunch in our room. Thank goodness I am a snacker and pretty much backed at least half a suitcase of "snacks" for the trip. This has made us able to just stay in and avoid the heat of the day and just have lunch in our room as a family. Then like many of the post said before we meet our travel group and go out for dinner around 6 pm.
Elizabeth is now napping and looks just like an angel. She is so tiny and petite and when she is out, she is out. But when she wakes up you better have a plan for something to eat or the howling begins!!!! If you have food pretty much ready to go and she gets to eat then the smiles really start, the hands are clapping and she is babbling at you like crazy. She says DaDaDaDa-we are not sure if this is Daddy or if she is cussing us out! She likes to get her voice really deep when she says it and loud too. She has also discovered she can take her mom's hand and put it up to her mouth and make the AHHHH sound and it comes out like an indian chant.
Tonite is our last nite in Changsha. We will be flying out tomorrow morning for Guangzhou. The flight is about 1 hour so we will all get a taste of what the babies will be like for our flights home. Not much of a taste but some idea. Since our flight is 15 hours coming home I don't think this will scratch the surface!
I am kind of sad to be leaving Changsha as this province is where our daughter is from. This is the only part of the world she has ever known and now we are taking her away from it. We know it is for greener grasses, but she does not. I am very thankful that a set of parents somewhere in the Hunan province knew they could not keep a precious little girl and have now given us the opportunity to raise her as our own. Someday I hope she realizes how much we wanted her and how much she has already changed our lives for the better. I never could have imagined how such a little person could affect ones life so much, it is just astounding. This part of the trip has been very enjoyable, not just because we now have Elizabeth but also because we have truly experienced things that we never would have been exposed to otherwise. The traffic, the food, the smells, the people, the shops, the culture, the language, and just everything in general.
Well our next post will be from Guangzhou, one step closer to home
Until next time...............................
Thursday, July 23, 2009
THURSDAY, JULY 23rd
Hello to all! I want to first start by wishing my parents a very Happy Anniversary! Today is their 43rd wedding anniversary!!! WOW! That is a long time you know.
Today was a pretty good day overall. We pretty much had "down" time today with no real activities planned that we had to do. That is not to say we didn't do anything, just nothing on a schedule. Elizabeth started her day around 5:20 am with her morning bottle and then play time with Mom and Dad on the floor. We do this most mornings to help her wake up. So far it seems she is just like her mother and does not "do" mornings well at all. She tends to fuss and whimper alot for the first 30-45 minutes after waking up. Now, who knows today was only 72 hours since we got her so I am sure things will change some.
After play time we all got dressed and went down for a leisurely breakfast and met up with several of our travelmates. It is so nice to be able to get together and rehash how everyone is doing and how the babies are. It is comforting to know that the issues we are dealing with are also very common and that other families are having their own issues and challenges as well. After breakfast we came back up to the room and Elizabeth had a 30-40 minute nap. Then at 11 am we had to go sign some paperwork to get her birth certificate and passport.
After the signing of the paperwork we decided to walk around a little and kill some time. Well, today the temp was only 99 degrees farenheit so we got a good 50 feet down the sidewalk today before we were drenched in sweat. This is an improvement however, since most days once the doors of the lobby open up to let you outside we are already drenched! We had to cross the street to get over to the side where we wanted to shop. I have read on other people's blogs about traffic and trying to cross the street is very similar to the game Frogger. I now say I believe them. Thank goodness there was a crossing guard on duty for this particular intersection to help us make the "right" decision about when to start to try to cross. Now the traffic lanes we were crossing were about 6 lanes across, but remember what I have said in other post. Rules here are just suggestions, so just because the light is red does not mean that you have to stop your car, it is just a suggestion. Well long story short, we did make it across the intersection without getting killed or tapped by a bus or car.
Once we made it across the street we went to a local optical shop and I got myself some new glasses. We had heard that glasses were extremely cheap in China so we both brought prescriptions from home to see if we could get new glasses. Well I lucked out-I got a nice new set of frames and lenses for a big total of $42 american dollars! Patrick and the other hand is going to have to wait to we get to Guangzhou as his prescription is very complicated and we need to be able to converse with someone in English about the specifics. In fact, buying my glasses was a chore. I am using hand signals and a calculator, the optical shop people have a pre-printed list of questions in English and then I point to the response that is then translated into Chinese. Very high tech I must say! Well none the less, we figured things out and I got a new set of glasses for about 1/3 the cost of my last pair that I bought at Walmart.
Then we just walked up and down a few store fronts and came back to the hotel. Elizabeth was not really in the mood to eat today and she was making alot of funny noises with her tongue and clicking on her gums. We think she had a slight temp this AM and gave her Motrin and she was quite sweaty about 2 hours later so I think she did have a temp and when she was sweaty it was because her fever had broken. I did borrow some teething tabs from one of the other moms and this made her very happy for a little while but within a couple of hours the clicking and tongue motions had returned. I finally just broke down and gave her my finger to chew on and she did just that. She was pretty gentle and did not use her 1 tooth to bite me thank goodness! We went to the playroom here in the hotel for a little while and our tiny little peanut is definitely a fighter when it comes to toys and Cheerios. There were 2 other little girls in the playroom and Elizabeth just crawls right over and takes whatever they are playing with and goes on her merry way with playing with it. Then one of the other little girls, her mom had some Cheerios that she would set on the mat for her daughter and a few for Elizabeth as well. Well, Elizabeth had her Cheerios and the other little girls Cheerios in both of her hands and was shoving them in her mouth like it was her last meal. I promise we do feed her, just not when it counts apparently!!
Then we were off to our group dinner at 6 pm and it was good as usual. I really wish I could get over my fear of getting sick and just really tear into these dinners because everything looks and smells good. I do sample very small amounts and have pretty much liked everything I have tried. But the fear of travelers diarrhea really prevents me from digging in like I normally would. After dinner we came right back to the room and Elizabeth and I got in the bathtub together to help with bonding. She does not like the bath when the water is running out of the faucet, but once the water was off she settled down and enjoyed herself. She did have to get her hairwashed again as she had formula, Motrin and other assorted items stuck in there tonite. I was a little more careful and tried to avoid letting water run down her face and she tolerated this hair washing alot better than last nite.
We then played on the floor again. She is a roller. Her medical information sheet we got with her referral said she spun alot on her belly. We now think maybe they meant that she was a roller. She starts at one end of the living area and just rolls and rolls until she hits something. Sometimes it is one of us, sometimes a chair, sometimes the diaper bag, just basically whatever gets in her way will stop her and then she starts rolling back the other way from which she came. It is pretty cute. She is climbing on me and puts her head and face right up against mine and laughs and claps her hands. This is all a good sign of bonding and trust. We already know she does not like us to leave the room and now these other things she is doing each day helps with the bonding as well. After about 45 minutes of playing, she drank a bottle and I rocked her to sleep in about 2 1/2 minutes. Let's hope she sleeps most of the nite like she did the last 2 nites.
Tomorrow we are off on the bus at 9 am to try and drive outside the city limits and get an idea of what the countryside of Hunan province looks like. Just the downtown area alone of where we are staying now has 2 million people. We wanted to be able to see what the majority of Hunan province looks like, not just this metropolitan area. Then on Saturday we are flying to Guangzhou for the last 5-6 days of our trip. Looking forward to going there, dreading the flight-it is only 1 hour but with 7 babies and 15 additional family members for these babies, it could get noisy and stressful!
A couple of things people need to know that are traveling here for adoption:
Changsha is the "real" China-this is what we have been told over and over. One important fact to know about Changsha. None of the shops or restaurants take foreign credit cards so you pay Chinese yuan for everything. You can exchange money in the hotel lobby and there is a foreign ATM machine that will accept most debit cards from the US, but I was shocked to find that absolutely NO foreign credit card can be used here in Changsha. No Visa, No American Express, No Mastercard.
If you come in the summer it is just HOT! Plan on 2 changes of clothes daily. Laundry is available and a lady comes here each afternoon around 5 pm to deliver and pick up laundry. I guess it is reasonably priced. Our bill yesterday was around $25 and we both had about 3 complete outfits (shirts, shorts, underwear, socks, etc) and some of Elizabeth's clothes as well.
Another aside-I did not mention this in the blog on the day we received Elizabeth. However, when we were at the Civil Affair office they gave us a clear plastic sleeve as we boarded the bus. Once we got on the bus we realized it was the clothes that she was found in almost one year ago to the day. They are the tiniest little pink and white pajamas with bunny rabbits and a little hat and socks. It is very special and it really tears me and Patrick up to think how she was just left on the side of the road, literally, and that this tiny little outfit is all she had to her name. In some of the paperwork we signed today her abandonment information is in there and even though we know she was left at an intersection, it is very hard to read that information and be reminded of it again. A policeman found her that morning and took her to the Chenzhou City orphanage where she lived her entire life until Monday. What a difference a few days can make in someones life huh?
Well we are all off to bed, hopefully there will be some more pictures for you guys to enjoy later today.
Until next time................................
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
And now Wednesday comes to an end
It is now 8:50 pm here in Changsha and our little girl has just gone to sleep. We all had dinner as a group just around the corner from the hotel at 6 pm. It is much more affordable to eat locally than to eat at the hotel. For example, our dinner for the both of us and what little Elizabeth eats totals 100 yuan, or $14 american dollars for dinner for all of us. The hotel buffet is 138 yuan person, or about $16 or $17 dollars PER PERSON. So as you can tell, most nites we all go out as a group. We have been to 3 different restaurants and have never walked further than about 20 storefronts down from the front door of the hotel.
Elizabeth was very restless again tonite while we were at dinner. As I stated in the earlier post as well, she was very reserved and quiet and still when we were out in the park. We are beginning to think that she has these meltdowns because she is just sensory overloaded. We were told that in the orphanage the babies just lay in the crib, watch the ceiling or watch TV and there really is not much more interaction. So, we are assuming that all this activity that we do everyday, getting up, going down to breakfast, hopping on a bus, driving all over, getting on and off the bus, etc is just a little too much come 5-6 pm each day.
Thank goodness tomorrow is an "off" day. Meaning no scheduled activities, do the day at your pace. Hopefully we will avoid this end of the day meltdown and may beg off dinner with the group just to see how she does and if staying out of the streets and all the people being around will make a difference in how she reacts. One family in our group is having the same experience but their baby is just the opposite, she just sits there and has very little reaction to anything at all. All babies function differently and the behaviours we are seeing are just part of their little personalities coming out.
We had our first head to toe bath tonite. The first day we had her we just did a body bath and avoided hair washing since that is usually traumatic anyway. Then last nite because she was just a mess and inconsolable and could not get her to settle we avoided the bath all together. Well after rubbing congee, formula, rice, noodles and fruit in her hair today and sweating with the rest of us at the park and the embroidery factory, the girl needed a bath. She did well until it came time to wash the hair. She did not like having water poured on her head one bit. However, once the hair washing thing was over she was back to her chatty, smiley self. I was a bad mommy however, after the bath I cut her nails and unfortunately, got a little close on the thumb and nicked her. First the orphanage director tells us we are starving our baby, and now I cut her finger just trimming her fingernails. I think they may keep us in the country until we can prove we are not a bunch of dumbasses!
Overall, this has been a great experience, exhausting but great. However, I must remember that no matter how we feel at the moment, it is Elizabeth who has been through the worst. She was just taken from the only place she has ever known and is now being showered with attention like she has never had before, and honestly, is likely just too much at this point. She is handling it fairly well and we know each day we will make more and more gains as she comes to love us and feel comfortable and not have to worry that every thing will be taken away.
I never could have imagined what this experience has turned out to be. More rewarding than I ever thought, have fallen head over heels in love with someone I just met less than 72 hours ago, physically taxing and mentally challenging. I have actually enjoyed China more than I thought I would, and am glad for that. That is not to say I am not looking forward to going home, just that I have been able to sit back now from the whole "getting ready to go" frenzy of last week, and now appreciate what we have in the US and what we have come here to do. It really is not about the details that I was so worked up about, it is about Elizabeth.
I think we are doing well overall and certainly enjoy being a family of 3. There were many, many, many days I thought this dream would never happen and now look at us. We have a beautiful little girl that is starting to bond with us, trust us and will hopefully one day know just how much she was wanted from the very beginning.
Well it is time to turn out the lights, you never know what the nite will bring. Stay tuned for the next update
Until next time..........................
ANOTHER DAY AS A FAMILY OF 3!
Well today is Wednesday, July 22nd in China and we have officially had our girl just over 48 hours. She has already changed alot in that time and you can tell is really starting to feel comfortable with us.
As I said before she goes to both Patrick and myself fairly equally. She is content to play with him and also just as content to play with me and if she can have both of us at the same time she is even happier.
Unfortunately, she did have a very rough late afternoon, early evening yesterday. It started around 5 pm and she just got fussy. No matter what we did she continued to whimper and fuss, no real crying, just yelling out and whining. This lasted for the next 3 hours, including during dinner. After dinner we came back to the room and tried to keep her up for as long as possible but finally gave in and let her go to bed around 8 pm. We also just went ahead and went to bed since we figured we would be up most of the nite anyway. She slept pretty well, she does cry out in her sleep some and I usually get up to check on her. Normally she is just sleeping and making noises. I changed her 2 times during the nite and actually had to pick her up and rock her for about 10 minutes one other time, but other than that she slept until 5:30 am. Then she woke up and had a bottle. That is the routine she was on at the orphanage-get up at 5:30 am and have a bottle then go back to bed for about 1 hour.
After she had her bottle, we all got dressed and had breakfast, and then went downstairs to meet our group at 9 am for a bus ride to a local park. Today there was an eclipse of the sun here in China and we went to see this event. Pretty much from the moment we arrived at the park the eclipse was in full effect. It did not get totally dark, but was like dusk, and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees instantanously! Thank goodness! We then hung out at the park for the next one hour, just walking around taking in the site, drawing ALOT of attention-very unusual for this part of China to see white people, much less white people with Chinese babies. We all have cards that we carry that are translated into Chinese and tell people that we are adoptive parents. They all read the card, smile and then give you the thumbs up sign. The Chinese are very inquisitive people and when we were at the park the women would just come up and lift the cover to the stroller and pick up Elizabeth's hat to look at her. They would freely take her picture and then show it back to us. And if more than one person wanted to look at the baby, they would just push each other out of the way! It is hilarious!
After the park, we went to the local Hunan Embroidery factory to see how they embroider these beautiful works of art. I believe on a perfect day the tour would be fascinating, however, the museum was locked up tight when we got there so they opened the doors for us and then started the A/C system. So as you can guess-it was about 125 degrees in there and none of us could concentrate. All we wanted to do was get back on the air conditioned bus! Surprisingly the babies were good for this part, but they are used to the heat and lack of a/c, we are not! In our travel group there are several families from the south so are exposed to heat alot, but we also use a/c liberally, where the Chinese people do not. And if they have a/c it is run fairly warm and usually a window is also open nearby.
After the tour of the sweat factory, oh sorry, I mean embroidery factory we came back to the hotel and feed Elizabeth lunch and played with her some more. She was extrememly reserved the whole time we were out this am, but once we come through the doors of the hotel room she cuts loose and is laughing and clapping her hands, and babbling etc. The trust issue is there with us but she does not have a good sense yet for being out in public.
Later we will all go to dinner as a group again, just around the corner from the hotel. We are also going to do massages this week. Boys go one nite and girls stay home with the babies and then the next nite is girls nite for massages and dads stay home to watch the kids. And you know what a body massage cost for one hour here in Changsha? $10 US money!!! Now that is a bargain!!!!!!
On last thing, about Changsha-this is a fairly big city, alot of traffic just like elsewhere in China. Alot of people walking around, plenty of shops around (just can't read the signs so I have no idea what they sell). However, our guide XiXi, keeps reminding us that this is "real" China. So therefore what you have heard about bartering for prices of goods does not apply. You pay what the price is marked. Caucasian people hardly ever travel to this province so we all get stared at ALOT. Smoking is a huge problem in China, they do it everywhere! Even on airplanes, and for example, I went to the bathroom in the hotel lobby just before we left for the park and in the bathroom stall was an ashtray-give me a break. If you can't wait for a cigarette to finish your business then you have a serious addiction.
Food here is VERY SPICY!! For those that are traveling here 2 things I would suggest-1. last travel group here ate pizza (not sure if it was Papa Johns or Pizza Hut) and half of their group got sick. So we are avoiding those places and eating locally 2. Even if they say the food is non-spicy-do not believe them! I ate something the other nite that was non-spicy and I still could not feel the middle of my bottom lip when we went to bed that nite. I personally have been VERY cautious with what I have eaten as I just do not want to get sick on this trip. We brought snacks-plenty of them and I am glad we did. Since I am being so careful with what I eat, there are "options" in the hotel room for when dinner is just not what I was wanting or expecting. You will always have white rice with dinner but sometimes you do need a little something else besides rice, I don't care if the people on Survivor live off rice for 6 weeks, you still sometimes need more than rice! Our guides are with us for meals so they explain what we are eating and handle the special dietary needs of the group, and they also try to get as little spice in the food as possible.
Well that sums up things on our end for today. I think we have finally worked out a system for getting photos to the blog. So sorry for the delay! Internet has been very unpredictable and photos that I had emailed to be posted just did not go through. So thanks for your patience
Until next time..............................
Just a few facts about Elizabeth:
She is tiny-very tiny-like 13.5 lbs tiny. We bought her diapers yesterday and they are size small, that is just one step above newborn. I also only brought clothes 6-12 months and only 1 set of pajamas fits. All of her other clothes are huge and thank God I remembered to bring 4 diaper pins because her shirts and pants need to be pinned
She has a cute dimple in her right cheek that is really noticeable when she chews her food.
She has alot of hair compared to the other babies in our referral group. The Chinese people say this is a measure of good nutrition.
She likes both Patrick and myself fairly equally. This can be an issue with newly adopted children. Often times they tend to go to one parent or the other but at this point she is going to both of us equally. If we are both in the same room and one of us leaves, she gets very upset and really cries until we come back into the room.
When she is hungry she likes to eat, if she is not in the mood to eat, no matter what you do you can not get her to eat.
She LOVES stacking cups and LOVES banging them on things and on us.
She crawls very well and quickly and can pull up on things, but is not walking as of yet.
She has one tooth on the bottom and another one right next to it just starting to break the skin.
She is very loving, putting both arms around your neck when you hold her. She loves to put her hand in your mouth.
I guess that sums up what we have figured out about our girl over the last 2.5 days. But you know what, we have a lifetime to continue getting to know her even better.
Until next time..................
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Sorry again for the delay folks!
So sorry to everyone about not posting as regularly as I promised. We have been VERY busy getting to know Elizabeth and our group has been on the go big time since we got the babies.
Yesterday, we all boarded the bus at the hotel at 10 AM and headed back to the Civil Affairs Office to complete the Chinese side of our adoption. We went back to the 3rd floor room where we received Elizabeth and then went in for a one to one meeting with an affair official to go over our paperwork, then we went into another room and met with another official who interviewed us and wanted to know things like how long have we been married, how much money do we make, why did we want to adopt from China etc. When we were in the first room completing paperwork they did Elizabeth's footprint in red ink and we have our own copy of her footprint as well. So tiny and cute!
After the 2 interviews we met with the assistant orphanage director so that we could ask questions about our babies. As we were talking to her she told us Elizabeth was crying because she was hungry. Now didn't that just look fantastic-us adopting a child and can't even tell that her crying means she is hungry! Wow! I had found several spots on Elizabeth that I thought looked like she had an IV and the director confirmed she was sick with a "cold" about one week ago and had an IV. I found 4-5 IV sites so I am not sure if these were IV attempts or she actually had to many IV's. She does have a runny nose and eyes, and a bit of a hacky cough, but no fever.
After finishing at the Civil Affairs Office we hopped on the bus and went to .........WALMART!!! Don't you just love the fact you are 8000 miles from home but you can still go to Walmart. Well, it is not quite like Walmart in the US, and the smell is definitely not like Walmart in the states but we got the things we needed and headed back to the hotel. We played with our girl and then she fell fast asleep in the floor with her butt in the air and both arms out at her sides. So cute!!!!
Then around 5 pm the meltdown began. I will post more about that later.
My mom is trying desparately to get photos onto the blog for you guys, we might just have figured this out.
We are leaving for the park to view the eclipse and will try to post more when we return
Monday, July 20, 2009
GOTCHA DAY!
Well after a long 4 years of labor we finally have a baby girl named Elizabeth. She was officially handed over to us on Monday, July 20th at 11:30 am.
The day started with our group meeting in the hotel lobby at 10:30 am and then we boarded our bus for what was supposed to be a 10 minute ride to the Civil affairs office, where we would get the babies. Well, in typical China fashion, there was traffic, construction,etc and the 10 minute ride took about 30 minutes. We were supposed to be at the office at 11 am but we were still on the bus at 11:05. I am very punctual so was starting to panic at this time. We did finally get there about 11:10 am and quickly went upstairs into a room where a group of nannies and babies were sitting. Some families were talking to their babies and some babies were sitting in their nannies. After walking around groups of people and scanning the room we saw Elizabeth sitting with one of the caregivers on the bench. She was very quiet but checking everything out. Very quickly the action started to happen and the "hand off" of babies began.
It basically went in alphabetical order. So we were #3 in the group to be called and they handed her over to us and we made our way to a bench to check her out. She did not cry or fuss, just was watching everyting about us. Some of the other babies started to cry and eventually when I looked at her face she had big crocidle tears but had not made a sound. She whimpered for just a minute and then settled right back down. Just as quickly as it all started, it ended. The hand off of babies and signing of paperwork was over in about 30 minutes and we were back on the bus and headed back to the hotel by about 11:50 am.
Once we boarded the bus Miss Elizabeth had to check out the seat covers, the curtains on the windows, her dad and generally everything within a 10 foot radius. Then she laid her head on my shoulder and fell fast asleep. Once we got to the hotel she was still asleep and we came up to the room where she continued to sleep for another 30-40 minutes. She woke up very quickly, kind of with a startle, but looked right at me and grinned.
We then played a little bit in the floor and then ordered some congee and steamed eggs from room service for Elizabeth. She ate some but did not really tear it up. She didn't want anything to drink either. Then around 3 pm she went down for a nap. That took a little effort as I think she was just scared and did not recognize the surroundings. I rocked her some and she got really sleepy, and then I put her in the crib and just held her hand and rubbed her tummy and she did fall asleep for about 1 hour 15 minutes.
We then just spent the rest of the afternoon getting to know each other. She was very tired by the time 9 pm rolled around but we kept her awake so we could Skype with the family. After getting off the phone/video she went right to sleep and slept until about 4 am.
She is VERY tiny. We have not weighed her yet but I do not think she weighs 15 lbs like we were told. I put a 6-9 month outfit on her yesterday and she was swimming in it. The diapers we brought were for 14-21 lbs and they could almost wrap around her twice. She has alot of hair-all the Chinese people say that is a sign of good nutrition and she is just tiny naturally. But she is very active, crawling, pulling up on things and will walk holding onto Patrick's fingers.
She is adorable, I have attached a few pictures. I have gotten several posts back saying the file was too big so I am trying to keep the pictures somewhat to a minimum so I don't keep getting the post back.
Just keep checking and I'll put pictures on as I can.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
4 HOURS AND COUNTING!!!!!!!!
Well guys-it is now 6:51 am China time-we are scheduled to get our girl around 11 AM. That just made my stomach do a flip flop when I typed that.
I slept very well last nite (with a little help from the medicinal variety) and Patrick slept fitfully. I am strangely calm now (probably left over effect of my meds last nite). Today will be quite busy as we leave the hotel around 10:30 am and will get the babies starting around 11 AM. We will come back to the hotel and then the orphanage director and some of the caregivers will be here at the hotel for us to ask questions about our baby and her schedule, likes and dislikes, etc. Then we will have some quiet time this afternoon for Elizabeth to check us out and us to check her out. She is probably scared to death and quite honestly, we are too.
We were told the babies may have come to the hotel last nite since it is a 3 hour drive from the orphanage to here, but we never saw any babies. They also could have left their area very early this morning and come right to the civil affairs office. That could be interesting. They could be very hot, tired and maybe carsick at that point. We'll find out soon enough.
Please pray for us for a smooth transition and that Elizabeth will not be too traumatized by today's events.
There are major internet issues in China right now due to some civil issues in Western China. Our internet connection has been limited at best. I think the only reason I am able to post now is it is still rather early. We will get as much info and photos to the blog as we can but if there is nothing there it is because of the internet delays and outages. Just be patient-we will catch up with you guys.
Well off to shower, and then try to eat something. By the way, we are going to starve here this week. This province is known for its spicy food. We went to a local restaurant for dinner last nite and asked for non spicy food. Well, safe to say I only had one or two bites and my bottom lip was numb, Patrick was sweating and even he said the food was too hot for him and he is able to handle alot more than I can! Our guide keeps telling us that this province is the "real" China. Not big city like Beijing where things are alot more westernized and not Guangzhou that has been set to cater to adoptive families. There is no bartering of prices, no McDonald's, no KFC (if there is we haven't seen them) and apparently there is a Pizza Hut. However, the last group through here ate at Pizza Hut and a big portion of their group got sick, so guess what-no Pizza Hut for us!!!!!
Well, the countdown if really on now, stay tuned for more......................
We are in Changsha! Meeting place for Elizabeth Grace MacDonald and her mom and dad!!!
Hello from Changsha, China. We have made it to the province in which our daughter resides. We left Beijing around 12 noon and flew to Changsha, which was about a 2.5 hour flight. Very interesting flight I might say. First, we walked out onto the tarmac-don't know when the last time was that I had to do that to get on a plane. Then the flight attendants were introduced before our flight safety video. The attendants walked up and down the aisle frequently and instead of telling you to put your tray table and seat back up, they would reach across and do it for you, nicely, but none the less you knew they meant business. Let's see we were also served lunch on board-don't know what it was, didn't eat a bit but did save my peanuts for a snack later!!!! Then the cigarette smell started to fill up the cabin. Now this was a non smoking flight and they said it throughout the safety video and there were the usual signs for no smoking. However, you find in China that things here are merely a suggestion. Like traffic lights, directional arrows, instructions on how to fasten your seat belt, etc. just suggestions nothing enforced.
We have now checked into our hotel which is the Dolton. Very nice indeed and we have the mack daddy room of all with a separate sitting area, bedroom and office area and then a bathroom with a small foyer leading into the bathroom. Very nice indeed and plenty of room for Miss Elizabeth to spread out.
We are fortunate enough to be here for record setting heat. Our guide, XiXi, has told us that this is the hottest summer in over 5 years. Lucky us!!! Feels alot like Florida when it is 103 in Florida. That is the temperature here today-103! Nice huh!!!
We are meeting everyone downstairs a little later for dinner and just a quick tour of the surrounding area. I am not sure we will be able to get out much due to the heat, but we still need to know where things are at just in case.
We were also told we will have Gotcha around 11 am tomorrow. We will gather at 10:30 in the hotel lobby and then be off to the Civil Affair office for Gotcha around 11 am. Apparently, the Civil affairs office closes around noon so the officials and some of the caregivers will come to the hotel in the afternoon to answer questions about our babies. Then on Tuesday, we will return to be interviewed by the government officials and do the paperwork to keep Elizabeth.
We were also told today that the Article 5 we have been waiting for was expressed to Beijing on Friday so we should be all set as far as paperwork goes at this point. Let's hope we have no issues with our medical exam in Guangzhou, but I think we have that covered as well.
Well say a prayer for us tonite-we are excited and nervous all at the same time. We will have our girl in about 29 hours! WOW!
Until next time...........
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Sorry we missed a day in blogging!
Also I need to apologize for the double post about us arriving in Beijing. I can not see our blog here so I was talking with my mom after I sent an update to the blog via email and after about one hour the post was still not there. So I emailed her another post and low and behold about one hour after that my original post was there! So sorry if you had to read duplicate postings.
Anyway-the reason we did not blog yesterday was we left the hotel at 8 am and returned at 8:45 pm and we were exhausted!!! We met 2 other families with our group that arrived very late and only had 3 hours sleep and then they were up and touring with us yesterday. They were troopers!
We left the hotel at 8 AM and headed to the Great Wall. Along the way we stopped at a Jade factory to see how jade is made and carved and look at the beautiful craftsman ship. I also really admired the jewelry but am still holding off until we get to Changsha or Guaugzhou to make alot of purchases. After the Jade factory tour we were off to the Great Wall. Again, us and about 1 million other tourists arrived to make the climb. It is quite the site to behold and since it poured down rain on Friday the smog was minimal and the views were fairly good. We decided to climb the "easy" side instead of the "hard" side. Let me tell you something, we both would have had to be carryed down on a gurney had we done the hard side. The easy side was very steep in places-literally steps that came to my mid thigh, and then tiny baby steps, then very tall steps, etc. The sun was out so it was a little hot and when we started to climb it got REALLY hot!!! I am not sure you can say we made it to the first tower, but it was some type of big landing and it seemed like a good stopping point. We sat down and had some water and then panicked because we had to go back down with legs and thighs that were burning. Needless to say they felt like jelly but we did make it back to where we started. We have a nice group picture with the Wall in the background. One interesting thing we saw-there was an elderly woman that was taken in a seat with 2 long poles attached to it and 2 young men hoisted this seat up onto their shoulders and then carried her up the "hard" side. We were all in awe! First to do the hard side then to carry an old woman on a seat-Wow!
Then after the Great Wall we went to lunch back in Beijing-unfortunately this part did not seem to be too well orchestrated and we were ushered right in, fed quickly and then ushered us right back out. But, not to the bus-we then had to head over for a demonstration on freshwater pearl cultivation and, of course, a tour of the store. They hit up hard here to buy goods but everything I have read has said to wait and buy things in the province where our daughters live or in Guangzhou.
After lunch, we went to the Summer Palace. Kind of rushed through that, very pretty, but again as is the norm in China, ALOT of people and we were getting pretty tired at that point.
Then we went to the Chinese Acrobats show. Some of the performance is like what we see with La Nouba in Cirque de Soleil at Disney. But then they also had boys and girls perform in this show, what they can do with their bodies is amazing!!!
After the acrobats we went for famous Peking Duck dinner. It was very good and we learned more about authentic Chinese foods and were able to sample some dishes. Now I have to say I have been very conversative in what I have been eating, so I have not sampled a tremendous bit. Jet lag is not a bad thing for the appetite. My clock is backwards so often times I am not feeling hungry when we go for our meals. But after hauling my fat butt up the Wall yesterday losing a few pounds or more is definitely needed!!!
After the Peking Duck dinner we came back to the hotel and were dead dog tired. We both took showers and went to bed. And thankfully I was able to sleep through the nite. The first 2 nites we were here I was waking up at 1:30 am and not going back to sleep. Last nite we went to bed around 9 PM and I think I woke up around 4:15 am. Not too bad.
We are leaving for the airport in about 45 minutes and will fly to Changsha, which is where Elizabeth is from. Word is we get the babies tomorrow around 2-3 pm. Not official word this is just what other families adopting from this province have to say. I believe we will have some type of official group meeting today to find out these deals.
Well the countdown is on-probably only about 30 hours until we have Miss Elizabeth. Stay tuned for photos and more information. By the way, photos of our touring I will save to post until I have a little more time and we all know you really just want to see Elizabeth anyway-who cares about The Great Wall, etc-right????
Until next time.......
Friday, July 17, 2009
WE ARE IN BEIJING!!!!!!!
Not sure how our post are going to look as blogger is blocked in China. However, there are several ways to try and negotiate around this. None guaranteed to work, but we will give them all a try to get our post up and running.
We left Orlando International on Wednesday July 15th at 6:50 am, and flew to Newark, where we then bored a plane for Beijing. The flight was long-about 13 hours in length, and the plane was FREEZING! Even Patrick was complaining it was cold, so you know it must be cold. Two young men were escorted on to the plane with very serious looking NJ State police or TSA officials or some type of authority figure. Did not look good and both of these gentleman were also escorted out of their seats about 15 minutes before we landed, and then we never saw them again. We arrived in Beijing and DID NOT have to have the Hazmat team bored the plane for temperature checks due to the swine flu. That was a relief. We did go through several quarantine areas that Patrick said there were thermal scans being aimed at everyone forehead that went through these checkpoints. I was totally oblivious to that part!!
We were then met at the baggage claim area by our guide, Joe, who then brought us to our hotel the Novotel Peace just about 1 mile from the Forbidden City. We went to the supermarket and bought some bottled water and a coke then came back to the room and fought sleep hard but did manage to stay awake until about 6 pm-wow! By then the fatigue was just overwhelming and we went off to sleep. I personally woke up around 1:30 and was awake until 4 am. Then fell back asleep until about 5 am. Patrick slept from 6 PM until about 4 AM. Unheard of, but the boy was tired!!!
Today we left the hotel around 8:30 am and went to the Forbidden City in the pouring rain with about 1 million other Chinese locals and tourist. The rain does not deter these people from their vacations. We then proceeded on to a Tea tasting ceremony that was very lovely and the tea was delicious. From the tea tasting ceremony we went to the Hutong rides-this is a small rickshaw that holds up to two people and some poor little guy pedals you around the Hutong area. The Hutong area is a communal living space where generations of families live in the same area, and share comman areas like kitchens and baths. Then they have very small bedrooms and living areas that are theirs. We were served a very lovely lunch that was homemade while there and learned a little about Chinese traditions and family. After the visit in the Hutong area we made our way west of Beijing to the Silk factory.
Wow-is all I can say about the silk factory and works. Such beautiful linens, and dresses, and baby outfits. We did hold back and will check out silk in the 2 other provinces we are to travel to and we kind of need to know for sure what size Elizabeth is before we buy any clothing for her.
On that note, it is now Friday evening here, so that means we get our girl in about 2.5 days! Wow-the last 4 years seem like nothing now.
Tomorrow we are off to the Great Wall, Summer palace, traditional Peking duck dinner and Chinese acrobat show. It will be a busy day I think.
Until next time.......
Monday, July 13, 2009
We are leaving-let the countdown begin
Well, finally I can say we are leaving. The countdown has begun, and we have been crazy busy trying to get ready to go. The house has been cleaned, the yardwork done, laundry still being done, clothes packed and then unpacked, documents photocopied, etc. This is really happening!!
We are now just 6 days away from Miss Elizabeth and can not wait to meet her. Personally I never thought I would say this, but I am actually looking forward to our flight so that I can sit down and not think about the million things that still have to get done, and maybe, just maybe catch up on some sleep. For the last few nites, when I go to bed, I continue to lie there for about an one hour before I finally drift off, then no matter what time I go to sleep, I am awake again between 4:30 and 6 AM. This is VERY unusual behavior for me, that is for sure.
People have been asking what they can do for us. At this point all we ask is for prayers for a safe and healthy journey. I, in particular, have been very concerned about getting ill while we are away and will take plenty of precautions to try and avoid this. We also hope and pray that Elizabeth is relatively healthy and will adjust to us quickly and without too much trauma. We received an updated photo of her last week but I still have not figured out how to rotate the photo and save it to the blog all at the same time. Just wait though-in about 6 days this blog will blow up with plenty of photos of our girl!!!!
We will try to post to our blog as much as possible while in China. I know that Blogger was blocked in Beijing even as late as last week, so we will just have to see how creative I can get to post.
Likely our next post will be from China! Until next time..............
We are now just 6 days away from Miss Elizabeth and can not wait to meet her. Personally I never thought I would say this, but I am actually looking forward to our flight so that I can sit down and not think about the million things that still have to get done, and maybe, just maybe catch up on some sleep. For the last few nites, when I go to bed, I continue to lie there for about an one hour before I finally drift off, then no matter what time I go to sleep, I am awake again between 4:30 and 6 AM. This is VERY unusual behavior for me, that is for sure.
People have been asking what they can do for us. At this point all we ask is for prayers for a safe and healthy journey. I, in particular, have been very concerned about getting ill while we are away and will take plenty of precautions to try and avoid this. We also hope and pray that Elizabeth is relatively healthy and will adjust to us quickly and without too much trauma. We received an updated photo of her last week but I still have not figured out how to rotate the photo and save it to the blog all at the same time. Just wait though-in about 6 days this blog will blow up with plenty of photos of our girl!!!!
We will try to post to our blog as much as possible while in China. I know that Blogger was blocked in Beijing even as late as last week, so we will just have to see how creative I can get to post.
Likely our next post will be from China! Until next time..............
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