Happy Thanksgiving

We have a lot to be thankful for this year!

Home!

Yay! We are home! The flight was just fine. Clara slept for almost half of it and cried for just a couple of hours total through the almost 15 hour flight. She was very happy meeting her big sister and other family who met us at my dad's house. She really was all smiles and seems very happy with her life right now. We continue to get acclimated to our time zone. She fell asleep last night at 7:00 p.m. and slept straight through to 11:00 p.m.! She woke up ready to start her day... we were not so we traded on and off for the rest of the night. She needs time to get used to our routine but hopefully this will happen soon.

Liah is being a very good big sister and Clara stares at her and laughs at her all the time. Liah is a huge help and is being very sweet to Clara and that makes us all very happy. Liah told me yesterday that she did not feel like a big sister and we talked about how this will take time and as long as she keeps doing what she is doing, she will feel like a big sister in no time.

Clara's personality continues to be outgoing and happy. She fusses when she is tired and hungry, other than that, she is a happy baby. We feel so lucky this holiday season!

Last Update Before Heading Home!!!

Day 13

Big day at the zoo. Saw the traditional zoo fare, plus some pandas. Layout was linear, with a south gate and north gate. Perfect if you go by bus – dropped off at south gate, picked up at north. Not sure if they run a shuttle or something if you go by car.

Met Jason in his room later to go over final departure information. Did learn that because our Saturday flight is within 24 hours of our flight to Hong Kong, we’ll show them our itinerary in Guangzhou and check our bags straight through to Detroit. This also allows us to follow international luggage guidelines, so our extra weight and checked bag is free. So we bought a carryon to get us through the night in Hong Kong for $11. Probably could have got it for $10, but what the heck. No liquids whatsoever on Chinese flights, though. So no hair gel, baby food, nothing. Only thing I’d like it children’s Tylenol, but maybe we can get some at the airport before leaving for Detroit.

Had a final group dinner at Lucy’s. As usual, the food was hit and miss. Clara loved her mashed potatoes, though. They are instant, but she wolfs them down. We all talked about getting together in a few years maybe, but we’ll see what comes to pass. It’s a nice idea, but these kinds of things tend to fizzle as people get on with their lives and new families. I hope not, though.

Clara is the kind of baby who lets you know the moment she wants something… she immediately begins to whine and fuss with no leading up to it. It is at that moment that we try to figure out what she needs. On a scale of 1-10, she will be uncomfortable on let’s say a 1… but we will know about it. She is quick to give positive reinforcement though when we get something right. Most of the locals talk to her and she smiles readily… giggling and drooling all over herself. They all call her a ‘happy baby’. They seem to recognize her from one day to the other too.

 

Day 14

Have to have the bags in the hallway by 5, and we depart for the airport at 6:45 pm. Can’t get here quick enough. Tired of the hard bed, small hotel room, smelly toilet, and questionable food… having said that, we are also equally as thankful for this restful time getting to know Clara. She is sweet, outgoing and so much fun. We’re both predicting a trying plane ride, so hopefully when it’s not so bad we’ll be grateful. I’ll be grateful to see Liah, the dogs, drive a car, and drink tap water. And make our own coffee. We’ll need to get Clara on a schedule, but this certainly won’t happen overnight as we’ll all be jetlagged and have our nights and days mixed up. Hopefully Liah will be a help, but she’s going to need her own babying.

Went shopping and bought a few more gifts for people. Everything is ridiculously cheap. (Note: if you received a gift from us and are reading this blog, yours was not cheap).

See you all soon!

Consulate Day

Consulate day, when we all go down to the US Consulate and swear on behalf of our infants, that we will become law abiding American citizens, or something like that. But first, you sit in a huge room with 100 other people for an hour or so until it is readily apparent that your infant is anything but a law-abiding citizen. They we are called up individually to sign something and show our passports for the 16^th time. Then back on the bus.

We have Clara on a decent schedule, which entails three naps per day. She only got two today, though, so was asleep by 7:00. Andrea still not feeling well either. Went to dinner at Lucy’s, mostly due to lack of reasonably priced choices. Andrea got a baked potato. When she asked for more butter, she had a healthy dollop of Butter-flavored Crisco, which she of course discovered after slathering it on her potato.

Clara is doing well developmentally. She is ready to crawl and turns herself over again and again with ease. She is curious and loves making eye contact with just about anyone and smiling at them. She still prefers us when she is stressed or upset… so that is good.

The other day, the 9 babies is our travel group got together for the Red Couch photo. This is a big thing in China adoption. Before families leave for the states, all of the babies get their traditional Chinese dresses on and sit a red couch for a photo shoot. Clara was one of the first to start crying and the first to be rescued from the couch.

day 11

Seems like day 111. Not sure if that is a lucky number or not. 8 is lucky, and 9 means long life. 4 is unlucky, because when you say it, it sounds close to the word “death.” I don’t know why they don’t rename it to something that sounds like “butter” or something.

Two tasks today – doctor visit and paperwork for the consulate appointment. The doctor visit was pretty short, with four stations to visit that took about two minutes each. We went to the ENT guy first since she had had an ear infection. He looked in her ears, mumbled a something that sounded an awful lot like he was concerned about something, then said everything was fine. Good enough for us. She does seem fine, except with teeth starting to poke out about everywhere, she is drooling and trying to chew on anything she gets her little hands on.

Andrea did the paperwork in the afternoon while Clara napped. No big deal, just sign some papers and fork over more cash. Most of the cash forking is done, however. There is a river boat tour tonight, but doesn’t get back until 8:30 and has so-so food, so nobody is going. I think Jason is a little put-out that nobody is going, but that’s an hour or so after Clara usually goes to sleep and kind of pricey. We went to dinner at Lucy’s again, and once again the food was not that good. Andrea doesn’t feel too hot after her fried chicken. She ran on the treadmill that morning, and it was incredibly hard. Another runner from our group was there too, and she had trouble as well. It was the same in Kazakhstan. Will have to take it easy until we get home.  Tomorrow we are going to a pearl market so we’ll see if we can get Clara and Liah some earrings. Liah says she wants a necklace too. I’d like a fake Rolex, but only if I can find one real cheap. The only price I’ve heard to far is 200 RMB, which would be about $30 US. I’m not being cheap, that’s just what stuff costs over here. Little girl dresses go for about $5, but when you start negotiating they’re about $10. But they always find a reason to give us a “special price.”

I’m remembering something Evelyn told us in Nanchang which I didn’t write down at the time but seems noteworthy. China has changed its one child policy somewhat and many can now have two. The reason, according to Evelyn, is that in the next 5 or 10 years China is facing a crisis with its seniors. When girls marry, they become part of the extended family of the husband, and take care of his parents when they are older. Since families can only have one child, that leaves nobody to take care of the parents of a girl, which is part of the reason they want boys so much. So by having two children, I guess they think this will give them a better chance of having a boy to take care of them later.

Leaving Nanchang, going to Guanzhou

 

Outta here! At Nanchang airport we were to board at gate 9. The problem, though, is that there are really only 5 gates. Numbers higher than 5 have just a door that leads out to a bus which drives you out on the tarmac to your plane. After getting settled in, Clara started screaming her fool head off. Only lasted about ten minutes before takeoff, but of course it seemed like an hour. Towards the end a stewardess came over and asked what was wrong with our baby. Some responses immediately popped into my head like “Why don’t you ask her?” or “I’d say poor communication skills,” or “She just does that when I pinch her.” She was winding down by then, though, so I replied something civil. She slept the entire flight and woke up smiling. We think it’s the three teeth that are just starting to poke through. She’ll be getting a dose of Tylenol before the next flight.

Guangzhou is mid 80’s and sunny. Our guide, Jason, is a hoot. Very excitable, helpful, and funny. Genuinely seems to enjoy helping us. The White Swan is on a small island which is kind of its own little city. Starbucks, Papa John’s, Lucy’s, and a bunch of small shops. Vendors are more aggressive than we’ve seen which is probably due to the fact that they speak English. When you politely decline, though, they leave you alone.

We had dinner at Lucy’s which has a lot of Western fare, as well as Heineken. Most importantly, it’s cheap. Clara had her first helping of mashed potatoes and could not eat enough of them. She must be used to feeding herself so we are regressing her a bit and insisting that we feed her most of the time.  The White Swan itself has many restaurants and shops, selling lots of high-end pottery, carvings, etc. There is a gym too and I am excited that I can go for a run later today! With the Asian games going on, security is tight. We get our bags checked every time we leave the hotel. It’s fine, though. Compared to our last room, this one is much bigger and has drawers for clothing. The bed is FIRM. More like sleeping on a box spring.

Clara slept o.k. last night. She woke up several times, probably because of her teeth. We gave her some pain medication and she was good to go. She is sleeping again now. She takes about 2-3 naps per day. She wakes up happy and ready to go out. She seems very comfortable outside and seeing new things. There is a big play room at the White Swan and she is having fun with the new toys. She can roll over both ways and sit into a crawling position but has not crawled yet. This will come soon, I hope. It is likely that her foster mother carried her most of the time.

Today, we had an option of going on a 3.5 hour bus tour of Guanzhou or staying here and resting. We are staying at the hotel and going shopping when Clara wakes up. We want to get her a traditional Chinese dress to wear for a group photo of all of the babies in her group. There are 9 total that came from Clara’s orphanage. All of the little ones look like they were matched perfectly with their families. The families in our group are all very nice people and all of the babies seem to be doing well, except for some sniffles, coughs and ear infections. Only 6 more sleeps until we are home! We miss Liah so much.

Day 8

We leave tomorrow for Guangzhou, and it can’t get here soon enough. We’re practically packed by lunch. We went to a large city park today, which was wonderful. Lots of people getting exercise. On the way back we stopped at a row of shops selling porcelain. Incredibly cheap, all handmade and hand painted. Hard to choose with so many beautifully decorated tea sets, but we selected a few. We got Liah a plate with a little girl holding onto her mother’s robes. I hope she likes it.

We also got Clara’s passport today. She was smiling, so it’s actually a good picture. We’re very much in love with her already. She has quite the personality, loves to make funny faces, and is very interactive. Sometimes she goes to sleep quite easily, other times with a bit of a fuss. But even when she fusses, she’s usually sleeping in about 10 minutes. Last night she woke at 2am, had a bottle and slept until 6:30, which is a new record.

We looked up the White Swan hotel online, and it has 6 western restaurants and 6 Chinese restaurants. In Nanchang most restaurants outside the hotel don’t have English translations in their menus, so it’s hard here to eat out. We are ready to go!

Another Update

Today, Clara is feeling much better after being on her medication for her ear infection. She is such a good spirited little girl and is ready to play right when she wakes up. We went on a tour today of the countryside and the city where the Fencheng orphanage is. We were able to go to Clara's finding spot and took some pictures and spent a few minutes there. This experience was quite moving for us. We are so happy that her birth family made the decision to place her somewhere safe and where she would be found quickly. Our guides say that the birthmothers travel some distance when they abandon their babies, so it is likely that Clara's birthfamily is not from the city where she was left. Often the birth mother waits and watches until someone appears and finds the baby. It must be a horribly difficult thing to go through... Below are several pictures from the week. We will add more as we go.

An Update

Clara is doing great. She has quite the little personality and like Liah, she has no problems letting us know how she feels, which is great because there is no guessing to have to do! She is usually very happy and loves to be where the action is. Yesterday after breakfast we went for a walk around town. She smiled and cooed the whole time. She was in the baby bejorn with Jeff and they got lots of stares and laughs from the locals. The people here seem to stare at Jeff and look at how tall he is. We are in a rural part of China now and our travel group along with several others are the only Americans around. Clara loves to laugh and play. She is starting to do really well with Jeff and yesterday, she went to him very willingly. She is sleeping better. We saw a doctor yesterday (a service that our agency has) and the doctor told us that Clara has an ear infection. We are giving her medication and hopefully she will feel better soon. We think this is why she had such a hard time sleeping the other day. Clara eats well and when she is hungry we cannot give her her bottle quick enough. When she sees us making it, she begins to grunt and make other funny noises until the bottle is in her little mouth. We were told that she is eating table foods so we did give her some over the last several days and she has a very upset stomach so we are taking a big step back with this and sticking with formula and congee today and hopefully her belly will be better. Today, we are going on a tour of a local temple. We leave for Guangzhou on Saturday morning to begin our last leg of this journey. We are having a really good time but miss Liah so much. We have talked to her everyday and she sounds great. Her grandparents are taking very good care of her.

Day 3 - Gotcha Day

Day 3 - Gotcha Day
After another killer breakfast, we met in the lobby with everyone else - 21 adults total, to take a bus to the airport to fly to Nanchang. The flight was uneventful, although the seats were randomly assigned so that we didn’t get to sit together. So I read “The Lost City of Z,” which Andrea thankfully got me since all I brought to read was “Ulysses”.
Landing at Nanchang, a doctor wearing a respiratory mask watched us to deplane, looking for signs of sickness. We stopped at the restroom, where the urinals brought the stark reality of new China to life – the urinal brand was “American Standard.”
After negotiating customs, Evelyn and Karen met us for our bus ride to the hotel, Jin Feng. We noticed on the way that traffic was reminiscent of Kazakhstan, but more congested. Buses, cars, bicycles, motorcycles and mopeds largely ignored traffic lights and lane markings and pretty much used their horns to notify other drivers of their intentions. Beep, and they’d start merging into the lane next to them. We saw three accidents on the way to the hotel, although since traffic moves so slowly, people generally don’t get hurt, even the one involving the moped and van.
After arriving, we all met together at 3:30, and the babies were to arrive at 5:00. Of course they arrived while we were still in the meeting, about 4:15, so we scrambled to get our cameras ready. The babies were to come in one at a time, in a certain order. While they pretty much came in one at a time, there was no order. Xiu Xiu arrived and went to Andrea without even crying. With all the excitement going on, she seemed overwhelmed. Several other babies were screaming loudly, but Xiu Xiu held it together until we got back to our room. She took to Andrea, and would even laugh at me, but wouldn’t let me hold her. She would make this face my puckering her lips and blowing out her nose, laughing. We’d do it to her, and she’d do it right back.
After a bottle that evening, and Papa John’s pizza (ultra thin crust), she fell asleep between us on our king bed a little after 9. She woke about midnight, laughing and smiling, and went back to sleep after a bottle. Her bottles are a mixture of formula and rice cereal, so pretty thick. All in all it really couldn’t have gone any better. Another in our party, we found out the next day, got only an hour and a half of sleep. Clara seems engaged and generally happy. She’s eating well for us already, which helps (since if she wasn’t, she probably wouldn’t be sleeping either).

The Hong Kong Tour

Today we toured Hong Kong and although Jeff had a good experience, I had a different one... The morning started off great with breakfast with a couple from the Dallas area. They were very nice and excited about being in Hong Kong too. We boarded a large tour bus at 8:05 a.m. and we were off to see the city. It's funny that I had not given any thought to the geography of Hong Kong. It turns out to be a very mountainous place. The roads are narrow and the climb, sudden stops and turns on a dime caught up to me in just a matter of minutes. I was sick! A nice lady in our group gave me some dramamine at our first stop and thank the lord she did. After about 2 hours or so, I started feeling human again. There was a lot of unexpected traffic here and unfortunately we spent much of our day in it. We were able to travel to the very peak of Hong Kong but because it was raining, we could not see Mainland China... We also went to a jewelry maker and an outside place of worship. We wrapped the day up with a family style lunch called "Dim Sum". The food was great and after 6.5 hours on the bus, it was wonderful sitting down to eat. There are great people that we are traveling with and we talked about meeting our children soon. For dinner Jeff and I went to a restaurant in the hotel where they only provide chop sticks. After some clumsy mistakes, we both caught on and were quite impressive with them. The staff came by often to ask if we wanted forks or help...

At lunch today, I learned some information that I would have been happy to live without. It seems that to "break the bond" between babies and their foster families, about a week before were receive Clara, she was taken back to the orphanage to stay. This info. was heartbreaking to me. The descriptions of the relationship with Clara and her foster family appeared to be sweet and it was evident that she is loved by them. It makes me sad that she has to go through this difficult time but I am happy that we get to meet her tomorrow and begin our own relationship with her. We board a flight to Nanchang around 11:30 a.m. (China time) for an almost 2 hour flight. When we get to the hotel, we will wait to meet Clara. We hear that the babies may very well be there when we arrive so we are packing our backpack with Clara stuff to try to woo her. We have Cheerios, toys, a picture book Liah made her and more food.
We hope to update tomorrow evening but we are unsure of internet access at our hotel. We also need to pick up a USB port so that we can upload pictures because we forgot to bring one from home... so tomorrow there may be now pictures of our meeting. We will write when we can.

Waking up in Hong Kong

We made it! Our flight was wonderful (seriously, it was!). The flight was about 16 hours but we had a row of three seats to ourselves which was great because I could almost lay down and I think that I got a decent amount of sleep. There was a great selection of recently released movies, I think that we watched several each.

I am a bit concerned that I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and we have a full day tour of the city today but hopefully, I can sleep through the night tonight. We fly to Nanchang tomorrow and meet baby Clara when we get there! We talked to Liah and she is doing fine. She was unusually quiet but sounded good. I miss her so much. We hope to have internet access when we get to the next city and will continue to update as we go along.

One more day...

I cannot believe we our trip has come upon us so quickly! It is almost impossible to imagine what we are leaving in just 24 hours and we will be meeting Clara in a few days. We received a developmental report on her the other day and we feel like we know her a bit better now. It seems like she cries when she is sleepy and likes to fall asleep in a calm environment and she sleeps through the night!! As she falls asleep, she sucks her fingers. She loves to play with toys and her favorite it a rattle drum. After reading this, I went to Target and got her a Leap Frog drum, nothing like the rattle I am sure... but a drum nonetheless. The report says that Clara's personality it lively and she loves to talk and smile. She is gregarious and has exuberant energy. She is also occasionally stubborn. After dinner every night, her foster father takes her around the block for a walk and she likes being around people.
We are so happy that she seems healthy and content and feel for her that she will go through the loss of her foster parents who love her. I feel sad about this but in the long run, it will be just fine. We hope that we can comfort her through this transition.
Liah is doing ok. She is feeling a bit left out so we are doing a lot of spoiling of her lately. We also tell her that when she is with her grandparents, they will spoil her too. We hope to be able to update this blog while in China with pictures and reports of our trip... thanks for the support during this most exciting time!