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..............................