Picture Gallery of Homecoming

We made it through our first night home without too much of a problem Linda fell asleep about 8pm last night. She was so uneasy about the whole transplant thing, but she finally fell asleep. At around midnight she started to fuss (love the baby monitor!) so we checked on her. She did fall asleep without a bottle, so we knew she had to be hungry; we fed her. Mel and I discussed the plan and she took the first shift and I went back to bed. We both thought that she may be on China-time, so we expected some oddities in hours. The next thing I know is I am up about 8am with Mel sleeping and no sounds from the baby's room. Wow! Linda woke up at about 9am this morning!

Today was good. Linda was quite relieved that we were still here and not much has changed. I had her fed and diaper changed while Mel slept away the morning. At about 10:30 Linda and I decided to wake mom up, so off to the bedroom. Linda and I sat down and watched Mel sleep which was too much for Linda; she started to laugh! Mel woke up with a smile as dad and Linda were right there . Mel told me that they were up for about an hour before Linda nodded off again. Now that was a good night.

Here's a gallery of some photos taken when we came home yesterday. Enjoy!
We arrived quite tired, but still vertical.
Let me go! Let me go! Where am I?
Wow it's bright here! Where the heck am I?

Just out of the car where she fell asleep. I know I will be wasting a lot of gas in the future to make her sleep. This is also her first sight of the dog, Amber.

Still not sure of the dog, nor is Amber sure about the kid!

Send your own caption!

Good night!

Time To Go Home

Today was a big day in Linda’s life. Time to head to her permanent home with Mel and myself. From our last post you know we had a little issue getting Linda down and the night was pretty uneventful until about 4:00am. She became a little whiny so I got up and talked with her and stroked her hair to sleep the last half hour or so before real wake-up time. I wanted to do as much as possible so Mel could sleep as much as possible since her cold made it difficult for her to sleep. (Now that is one run-on sentence!) We got up at 4:45am as our check-on bags had to be outside at 6am and we were on the bus by 7am. I checked out, returned the Panda phone, and we had breakfast. Linda was still a bit fussy since it was a bit early.

Guangzhou airport is big. It is clean. It is pretty easy to get through though it would have been helpful getting there a half hour earlier. We had to stand in the checking line for a bit. Three lines and it became a little contest to see who would get through first. Our single mom and her mother got stuck. For some reason they could not find Grandma’s assignment in the system. They did find it finally. Phew. We all pretty much got on the plane at the last minute.

Hong Kong has a mighty big airport. After arriving on Chine Southern, we had to exit and transfer to Cathay Pacific. One family arrived to the transfer counter before the other 3. We slackers almost got to the counter before the first family got through! When they left the counter we gave them an ovation. Mel and I pulled a winner by walking to the gate when we find out later there was a train that ran there. We were tired and my shoulders were hurting after carrying Linda such a long distance. What are we, nuts? Being that we were going to be on a 12 hour flight, we thought the walk was justified. Since the US is being the US we had to go through another security check right at the gate! They made us toss Linda’s water. We boarded a 747-400 which was much more comfortable than the 747 we took going.

The flight was tough on Mel. She never really could sleep on planes and with the cold it complicated things. She did take care of the dirty work changing Linda and getting the fixin’s together for feeding. I had the easy job of sitting there and holding Linda and having Linda sleep on me. For some reason I was the pillow of choice and with my luck we estimated that Linda slept at least half of the trip! Talk about luck.

We arrived at LAX and got through immigration and customs without a hitch. Then came the worst part of the trip; we had to stand in line for our boarding passes. This line was not overly long and it moved like molasses. On top of it there was this couple with two boys that kept pushing their cart into me. It was a pain, and then they left the line. Go figure. We finally get through and now our flight is delayed due to weather! We departed at 3:30pm instead of the 2:30pm scheduled flight.

Linda has been on 3 plane flights before this one without any issue. Well, our luck ran out on the commuter flight from LAX to SAN. Linda was asleep when we boarded the little plane and was doing fine until the engines started and the cabin was pressurized. Instant wailing! Oh, talk about the embarrassment and classic parent moment when it comes to air travel. She would not suck on her sippy cup nor chew on a veggie puff. Just prior to take-off she stopped and fell back to sleep. The flight was fine and sure enough on decent about to land she begins to wail again! Conclusion: no more small plane flights for her.

When we arrived at the gate of the commuter terminal my Dad and Ellen were there waiting along with a surprise from our friends Jack and Carol. Oh the picture taking session began. It was nice since we have not had time to take many pictures in the last two days. Hopefully we will be posting a few in the next couple of days.

At home we finally found a little relief. Home. What a fine feeling. Linda was not too sure of the whole thing though she did enjoy her first car ride in a car seat. The strangeness of the place was bothering her along with the stress of being moved once again. Amber, our doggie, was taking everything in stride and came up to Linda and kissed her. Needless to say Linda did not like that one bit as it is probably the first time she ever saw a dog. The rest of the evening she was wary of Amber and when around would just stare. I think she will come around soon. We had a nice dinner that Ellen prepared and got some food into Linda. Dad and Ellen took off for the motel to let us settle down. Linda fell asleep just before 8pm and we hope will be a good night, but being in a strange house and a strange room does not bode well.

We hope to get some sleep now and start a new day at home with our new family.

Later!

Consulate and then Some

What a fine night. We made it through the night without incident once again. The bummer part is Linda just fell asleep 10 minutes ago: 9:15pm. We have to get up at 4:30am and have our bags ready by 6am tomorrow. We are in soooooo much trouble as we feel Linda will not be a happy camper. This forebodes a long flight. No optimism here.

As for today, we had a pretty good start, and then we saw what looked to be dried blood in her left ear. Mel began the concerned mother mode. We cleaned the little bit up and did not see much else. After a good breakfast and noticing that Linda was not concerned or bothered by anything, we had time before the temple trip to check a store we wanted to go visit. Once outside, Linda turned her head and Mel saw the ear and almost went into panic mode. In the light it looked pretty bad and really baffled us. So much for the temple trip; we headed to the Holt office (yes, they have an office in the hotel) and told Catherine. Mel was obviously concerned since we fly out tomorrow, so an appointment at the clinic was quickly set up. We finished our trip to the store before the appointment.

Mel and I were both very concerned and continued to be baffled as there was no sign of anything at all prior to this morning. At the clinic Linda entertained the staff and was measured and weighed. Linda showed them how she is trying to walk, etc. The doctor was quite nice and we explained the situation. I had the honor of holding Linda’s head while the doc swabbed the ear. Oh, Linda told us she was not very happy. After the cleanup, it turned out that Linda had a scratch that was just inside the ear, not the canal, and was a little infected. The doctor let Mel look and he showed her how the ear was clear and clean. What a relief! We can fly! Catherine was amused on how happy Melissa was and pleased that we were able to appease her. Mommy needed the extra vote of confidence.

We arrived at the hotel just in time for lunch, so we decided to head over to Lucy’s. It was good. As we have been informed it is one of the few places that serve “western” cuisine. Linda enjoyed her mashed potatoes. We had a good time and relaxed after the morning’s ordeal.

This afternoon was our trip to the US Consulate where we received Linda’s visa. The consulate office is next to the new train station and was a 30 minute bus ride. Leave it up to the US government to put a consulate office near a public transportation depot. We arrived with 57 other families to take our oath and receive visas for our daughters, and I think I saw at least one son. I watched as the others arrived, and I may be biased here, but Holt seemed to have a very well organized way of doing business. The oath was basic swearing that we filled out all forms as truthful to our knowledge, and then we waited for our brown envelopes and passports for the little ones. All was good and off we went back to the hotel. No pictures are available as the US Consulate does not allow cameras or phones or anything that is not essential to baby within the facility. Today turned into a no picture day. Bummer.

We are all packed, mostly, and ready to go. I will get very little sleep and Mel just nodded off. It will be a wild and wacky morning and one long flight back. We are due in San Diego sometime around 3:30 or so in the afternoon. We so look forward to coming home. See you soon!

BTW, we want to thank you all for you wonderful comments. They were all quite helpful. We will continue to blog our experiences as Linda grows and may add elaborative posts of things during the trip that we may wish to divulge after we return.

Good Night!

School Day, Shopping, & BBQ

Another uneventful night! We must be lucky, and I bet that changes soon. Linda woke up about an hour early, so I played the sneaky dad and picked her up, paced a bit, and then lay down with Linda on my chest. It worked; she fell right to sleep again and squeezed another hour out of her! Payback was not as bad as I thought it would be, but there was a little tonight as she did take a little bit to get her asleep tonight. Needless to say, this trip isn’t too bad since we are getting some sleep.

Today was very “busy” as we chose to take the optional trip to the school down the road. We visited a class and those kids were sharp and quite excited to see us. It was a 5^th grade class and they have been learning English, so this was part of their study and test to see how well they did. We had a blast. At first we were divided into sections so a family had about 7 children to ask questions and in turn be interrogated. Yes, there were more boys than girls, but not as bad as you may think. This little session was quite interesting as the boys really liked the sports talk, either about basketball or football (soccer), and the girls were not too interested in that. Both were quite good with Linda who soaked up as much attention as she could stand.

When we completed the classroom session the children got to show us their school. I must say that it was one nice place. The classroom we started in was pretty Spartan until you notice the little computers built into the desk and the pull-up section for the monitor. Their main classroom had desks very similar to what I remember and they were grouped in 4s or 5s. We had the opportunity to watch the classes come out and do their mid-morning exercises. Their library was not bustling with books, but it was stocked pretty well and nicely laid out. Then the kids were so excited to show us the “animals”, so we trekked up the stairs, 6 levels from my count, onto the roof. There they had plants growing and on one corner had some animals! A monkey, a goat, an emus or ostrich (I can’t tell the difference), some chickens, and a couple of other critters I did not get a close look at. The garden had a variety of plants. These kids get a pretty good all round education from what I could see. Before we left, two boys just had to show the swimming pool. It was a 3 lane pool, enclosed, and pretty well maintained. All 3 boys claimed they could swim the length of it at what I guess to be 25 meters in length. Phew, too bad they don’t have AC because we were sweating profusely from running up and down stairs!

We spent some time walking up and down some streets and doing some shopping. It looks like
we will be heading back to a couple of places since I did not have the cash on me when we went browsing. There are some incredible prices to be had around here and I bet if we were able to take time and travel a bit further away from the hotel it would be much better. Alas, we will have to stick with our local area do to time constraints. We leave early Friday morning and we have a trip to a Buddhist Temple tomorrow morning and our trip to the US Consulate for Linda’s visa!

Before dinner we had the Holt customary group photo by the red couches located in the hotel. We dressed Linda in a dress we acquired in Nanchang. The other girls were also dressed similarly. Oh, how darling they all were. We definitely had a nice batch of children. (Bias, I am.)

The highlight of the day was the Holt BBQ at the restaurant by the pool. Here you select your choice of meat and/or vegetables to be grilled and they grill it up. Not a bad fair. The fun was when you finished or close to finishing a wait person would swoop in and take your plate. On one occasion I had gotten up for another round and left a small plate with cantaloupe all cut up for Linda. Mel was feeding something to Linda and they swooped in and snatched the plate. I had to get another slice of cantaloupe for her. Amazing! They tried a second time, but everyone at the table stopped them. At the beginning of the meal, they brought out these little dishes of steamed eggs of which we decided not to feed to Linda until we returned home. At first we had two at our table as we had two children. I came back from the buffet and we had another one and I was informed they had to turn down two others! What’s with the steamed eggs?! Towards the end I was finishing up my salad and I had maybe two bites left when staff came by and asked if I was finished. Jeez, can’t a guy finish what’s on his plate? As soon as I had taken the last bite, I commented, “Now they can take my plate.” Sure enough, the plate vanished. Amazing! This annoying sequence happened all through dinner and turned into a joke. At least we enjoyed what was served.

Have a great day, all. We can’t wait to be home!

Paperwork, Pictures, Medical & Fun

Linda, Linda, Linda. I sit here with a bottle of Jack and Coke. You read that right. We hit the 7-Eleven for some simple stuff and I saw this bottle of premixed Jack and Coke. I’ve never saw that before, but I digress….

Linda had an interesting sleep last night. Three times she woke up with a little whiny type cry. I would get up and rub her chest or stroke her hair, and once held her little hand. She immediately went back to sleep. This told me she never really woke up fully, but was like in that half awake state. Other than disrupting me sleep and Mel’s, who was already having a tough time with the cold, Linda had a pretty good sleep overall. She was up about 5:30am which is pretty much right on schedule for her.

We had a nice breakfast and met Susan and Jim who adopted a waiting child and you may know through the FCC. Molly, their recent addition is very cute. They also brought Hailey along, whom they adopted 4 or 5 years ago. She is 7 years old and very outgoing.

I drew the short straw and got to do the paperwork meeting while Mel got to go get the visa photo session. We actually had a pretty good time in the paperwork session as everyone would chide each other on what mistakes we made. This session was only just over an hour as Holt had us pre-fill out the paperwork before we even traveled. Our poor Holt representative had fun as some of the instructions changed slightly because there were 4 different provinces that she had to cover in one group. We all managed to get through it and we all have our fingers crossed we didn’t miss something the US Consulate will not like.

11:00am and we head off for the visa medical exam. Mel was treated with a free, yes free, stroller rental from the laundry place earlier, and I received help from Hailey on the walk over to the medical offices. Our exam went just fine. No obvious problem with our little one, her weight is still about 20 pounds, but she has grown 2cm! She is now 72cm long! Linda was a trooper through the ordeal. The only time she cried was when she had to drop trow and get checked out. This cry lasted about as long as the doctor check her belly, heart, and make sure everything was in place, if you know what I mean. That was it. Done. We headed back to the hotel.

Mel was craving Mac n’ Cheese, so a call to Danny’s was made and we ate good. We watched a little TV. and played with Linda. All day Linda seemed to be a little needy. She had minor fits here and there while we are in the room, and seemed to squirm more when held. This could also be her trying to become more mobile. We wanted her to nap, but that was not going to happen. Crazy kid.

This afternoon we took a trip to the Pearl and Jade markets a short bus trip away. We wandered the Jade market a bit. Some very beautiful stuff was to bee seen. We ended up buying a jade bangle for Linda which we plan on giving to her on a future birthday. On hindsight it was a little fun bargaining with a wholesaler. To kill the rest of the time, we crossed the street and entered the pearl market. We were beat, so I hung with Linda while Mel took a quick walk around one floor of the market. The jade market was 5 levels and a long block. The pearl market looked to be 7 levels and setup like an indoor mall.

Once we returned to the hotel we made our for mentioned 7-eleven trip. On the way back another couple asked us about this Danny’s place. Then Paul from another family we told about the place saw us and asked us for more information. We have become the information source for laundry and food. By the time we got back to our room 3 families were planning an order from Danny’s. Thanks to you all who did the reconnaissance mission earlier this year! When things settled down, our phone rang and another family asked about where we were having our laundry done. We chose Susan’s, btw. I answered the phone, “Bill’s Bait and Beer”, and the guy was laughing at the other end. His name is Bill, too.

Once this little party ended, we had time to bathe Linda. She is now quite content to sit with one of us in the tub and play with the stacking cups. (Another good call, gang!) She whimpered a little with the head wetting and rinsing, but overall it was a successful bath. While waiting for the time to pass I need to exchange some cash to pay for said laundry and prepare for the next day, so I headed to the lobby. Mel entertained Linda, who once again was in needy mode. Oh, we are not be talking about being held needy, just plain be in the room needy. A bit of retraining between Nanchang and here I guess. We proceeded to prepare and feed Linda who was showing signs of hunger and we were trying to hit the “regularly scheduled time” mark. A feeble attempt at some order in her life, but worth the effort. Guess what? Linda fell asleep while sucking down the bottle. It must have been right at the end as she did finish the bottle. Poor thing must have been wiped out from her two days of over-stimulation.

Now it is time for Mel and I to unwind and get this stuff posted! Sorry, no pictures today as we did not have the urge or drive to carry the camera. I guess this tells you how tired we really are and we can’t wait to get home. Tomorrow is our exit meeting with Holt and group picture at the red couch, and a BBQ at the pool! We will get pictures for you on those! Have a great day!

PS: Congrats to all who have just received their match! We are very excited for you!

Trip to Guangzhou

Sorry readers for missing a day of blogging. We had a very uneventful trip from Nanchang to Guangzhou; pretty amazing if you ask me. Don’t ask, please. Our day was filled with a trip to pick up Linda’s passport. All members of the family had to attend so we can be sized up. Actually, they wanted to see if our pictures matched on the Adoption Registration. That’s the red book which we received a week prior. Can you believe we have been parents for a week now! Wow!

At the hotel we had to make sure our bags for check on were ready for pickup at 2:30pm and we had to be ready to hit the bus to the airport at 3:20pm. Linda was quite wary of the situation. She could tell that something was up and we knew it could be a long day since there will be more change in her life. Off to the airport we went!

The flight was quite comfortable and we were surprised to find out that a little “meal” was served for a flight that was just over and hour in length. Linda was showing off her moves at the airport. She so wants to walk, but just doesn’t have the balance or the strength just yet. We are in sooooo much trouble in a few months. On the plane she was quite interested in everything tray or latched. She even tested the window for sturdiness. Good girl! When served our snack Mel did all she could to keep the poor gentleman next to her safe from wandering hands. Linda loves the water bottle. Who needs toys when you have a partially filled water bottle! After I was done, it was all I could do to keep Linda’s hands out of Mel’s snack. Oye! We finally began our decent into Guangzhou and not soon enough as Linda was becoming quite miffed at being cooped up for such a long time. Darn it, she did not sleep. Once on the ground and luggage collected wouldn’t you know she was passed out cold. Ugh, now we will have trouble putting her down for real. Another Oye!

We are staying at the White Swan Hotel of which some of you are quite familiar. What a place! It is beautiful. This is definitely a 5 star hotel. Of course I am a bit perturbed that I have to pay for internet access when at the Gloria in Nanchang it was free, but I will get over it. Errrrrrrrr. Anyways, we got to our room and scored, once again, a king size bed and a wonderful view. We are 3 for 3 on king sized beds. Oh, and I forgot to mention that on the flight in we were in row 6! We were so beat. Our flight arrived at 6:30pm and we got to the hotel about 7:30pm and in the room and somewhat settled a little after 8:00pm. Linda was bouncing off the walls. We ordered room service we were so tired and it was worth every penny. It was that good. Ravioli and French Onion Soup. Yum. Linda continued to bounce off walls. She was also quite needy, so the trip and change was making her uneasy. After many attempts to tire her out, and she was over-tired now, we finally gave in and put her in the crib. It took about another half hour before she finally passed out. We are talking 10pm now. Mel picked up a cold so she was really out of it and I knew she was not going to sleep well either. Will we make it through the night?

Good night.

The People’s Park

Today we took a trip to the People’s Park. It is similar to a Central Park in that many people go here to hang out. It was very interesting to see so many people congregate in a single place. Some were doing traditional Chinese dance and some were doing dance similar to ballroom dancing. Others were doing their Tai Chi. There were ponds were kids where feeding the fish. An amusement area towards the back had rides similar to carnival rides. Some elderly folk were playing instruments and having a good time. Children were running around with their parents and grand-parents. Family fun was had by all.

The amazing thing was how friendly the people were. Being Americans with Chinese children we drew the looks of many. Some of them even practiced their English on us. The talk of the granny patrol was known long before our trip and you wouldn’t believe it until you were in the middle of it. We never did get reprimanded for “not covering” our child, but we did get the “beautiful” and “very pretty” from them. As our Linda is large for her age, we got the “very healthy” comments from a few. The best one I thought of the day was from an elderly lady who told us how smart Chinese girls are. It was pretty funny. Even our guide got a chuckle out of that one.

The other highlight of the morning occurred while we were resting on a wall before leaving. Linda has the drive and wants to walk. With support she makes the motions for walking. Today she actually was doing quite well. It won’t be too much time before we have a little motor baby running around. One family still can’t believe that Linda is only 9 months old!

Back at the room we played with Linda and she took a good healthy nap. This time when she awoke, she did a little yelp, but no crying. She did want to be held right away and would not let us put her down for awhile. Not bad, I’d say. We took a walk down the street and checked out the shops along a “walking” street. This is a street blocked to all vehicular traffic lined with shops. Today people were out in force. As with the park, people would turn and look at us as we strolled by. It is weird being the center of attention and in some cases Linda soaked up the extra attention.

For dinner the staff arranged a group dinner at the same place we had lunch yesterday! Woohoo! On the bus back from the park, they asked if we would like to have a group dinner, and everyone was all into it. Then they mentioned a family that had eaten there already and asked if it was all right. We responded with two thumbs up and the others in the group were surprised we had wandered to a place on our own. Of course we confessed that we had assistance from one of our guides yesterday. After dinner one family agreed this was some of the best food we’ve had on this trip.

Well, Linda is asleep now and Mel is watching the tube. We are getting ready for our trip to Guangzhou tomorrow. Actually tomorrow we pick up Linda’s passport in the morning and we travel in the afternoon. We arrive in Guangzhou in the early evening. This starts the last leg of our trip which will consist of more paperwork! It also will be interesting to see how Linda responds to yet another new environment and her first plane flight. We’ll let you know how it goes!

Goodnight!

Saturday at the Tengwang Pagoda

Our day started out without incident. Linda slept through the night as always and woke up right on time. She appears to be fine after yesterdays little episode.

Only 2 more days in Nanchang and we went to visit the Tengwang Pagoda. To the people of Nanchang and the Jiangxi province, this is a very special place. Originally built in 680, the pagoda has been rebuilt 29 times. I guess if you are that old you need a face lift every so often. Mostly it has been rebuilt due to some destruction, usually fire. The latest rebuild has it mostly made of concrete, but it sure is one nice structure. The Pagoda is walking distance from the hotel, so the group marched off at 9:30am. Of course, by the time we get there, about 5 minutes, Linda was just dozing off. Go figure.

We walked the “yard” around the pagoda. There were reflection ponds and statues. Some ponds had coy (sp?) swimming around like mad as children fed them. We found out that it is about 50 Yuan a day to visit and residence of Nanchang can pay 80 Yuan for a year round pass. It is a pleasant place to be.

As I mentioned, Linda missed most of it sleeping and we did our best to keep her out of the sun. She will not wear her hat. Nope. Nada. She refuses in every way imaginable. I guess it is because the hat did not match her attire. Oh, boy, here we go! There are statues around the pagoda that are of the Chinese zodiac. We had to get our picture taken by the rooster as this is Linda’s sign.

At the top of the pagoda we were treated to a performance of Chinese dance and music. After the “main” performance there was a special performance for our group. Using traditional Chinese instruments they played Swaney (sp?) River which cracked me up. I doubt they were mocking us, but it sure is funny to think this is how we are perceived. Everyone is different. When we are out and about I wear my Tilley hat. To the locals it looks like a cowboy hat.

After we left the pagoda, we ate at a restaurant that is right near the entrance. It came highly recommended by our hosts. Most food here in Nanchang and the Jiangxi province is hot and spicy, so our host wrote down some dishes that would not be flaming. The wait staff had fun with Linda and we enjoyed our meal. It must have been the best on the trip yet.

We returned to the hotel and spent time with Linda. We gave her a bath, of which she is slowly becoming accustomed. We lay on the bed with her and play. Our hidden motive is to tire her out for her afternoon nap. This seems to become a chore these last two days. Finally we got her tired enough and put her down.

Like yesterday, she did not like to wake up from said nap. Today she managed to roll onto her belly when she woke up. She did not scream like yesterday, but she definitely was frightened and started crying. It took a bit to calm her down, but once relaxed and her afternoon bottle was downed, she is back to being the happy playful Linda. Fascinating. Of all the toys, which we did not bring many, the water bottle has become this afternoon’s favorite. Kind of makes you chuckle.

That’s all for now. Take a look at yesterday’s posting as I have uploaded pictures of our trip to the village.

A Bonding Type of Day

A very uneventful day. Well, if you call going to a local village uneventful. I really did not catch the name of the village. It was over an hours drive to get there. It was warm and muggy. The road that looked well maintained shook the living daylight out of us, and almost breakfast. Though it sounds remote, the village is really not very far outside of Nanchang; an hour or so depending on traffic and road conditions. (There was road construction that narrowed to two lanes, one in each direction.) The countryside is very nice. Green. You may have heard from “propaganda”, lots of rice paddies. Yes, Jiangxi province is an agricultural province, and rice is the main staple. September the rice is close to harvest so many of the paddies glistened in golden waves as the breeze blew across them.

We turned off the main road and came to a stone arch where we disembarked from the bus. I should write a blog on Chinese traffic and drivers someday. Our guide in Beijing gave us the low-down on drivers’ licenses there, but I digress. The arch has writing on either side and marked the entrance to the village. The village is over 1200 years old! The people are ancestors of the original inhabitants, a young man who escaped from war and wanted to start anew. The family did quite well for themselves and the village grew. We walked among the houses. Saw how these people lived and how they still live today. It is amazing the mix between tradition and technology. We saw no electrical for this place, yet we did see motor-bikes and cars come through. Their main source of water is a well that still exists today. You can look in and see the water 30 feet down. The structures are all built of wood and mud bricks. You can see where repairs are made and where other areas are not kept up. It was a step back in time. We met a man, 91, and his wife, 87. I believe they have been married at least 70 years. We saw children. We saw some women playing Mahjong. For a seemingly poor village, it felt prosperous. It is difficult to describe, but prosperous is the proper word.

I know this is more than you really want to read as I have not mentioned Linda once, till now. As a trooper, Linda slept most of the way there on the bus. The sun and heat did not agree with her, but she did enjoy meeting the people of the village. At one point I was sitting next to an elderly lady from the village while I fed Linda. Others were there and you could tell they were talking about her. Smiles all around. We took a break by a huge tree that supposedly has been there since the beginning of the village. Linda had to show off her new found love of trying to stand on her own and make attempts at walking. She was all giggles here in the shade and the breeze. On the bumpy way back to the city, Linda fell asleep once again. It is almost a natural instinct to shut down and conserve energy until later.

Back at the hotel room Linda was as chipper as ever. She was all into her new game. While sitting up, I would give her a little push with my finger in the chest. She falls back and laughs. Non-stop fun and games! I found her ticklish spot, so now I have a weapon to use on her for later. I had to leave for a paperwork checking session. Linda and Mel continued to play. Basically we took advantage of the slow afternoon and began to get some good bonding time in. Mel took some clothes that were too small for Linda down the hall to unload and I began to try and get Linda to calm down for her afternoon nap. This took quite and effort, but finally I managed to get her asleep. About a half hour into her nap, Linda shot out a hell of a scream and started to bawl. I picked her up and held her close to calm her. Once calmed, she held out her hands to Mel, who took her and cuddled her. Linda must have had one hell of a dream. Some nightmare? Who knows.

At dinner, Mel and I noticed that Linda was back to her playful self with a little bit of a different twist. There was a point during our eats and she didn’t want any more big people food, she turned to me and spontaneously reached. I leaned down and she gave me a hug from her high chair, release, and continued playing along. While playing she would watch Mel, and then me, and back to Mel. It felt like she has come to realize we are not going away.

After dinner back in the room it was time for feeding. I had stepped out with a neighbor to pick some stuff up at the shop across the way. Oh, that would be Tiffany’s! When I got back, Mel told me she could not feed her yet, as she was not happy when Mel left the room to prepare the bottle. This is a first. And, during her play, Mel said that Linda turned around and held her arms out, Mel leaned over, and Linda gave her a hug and a pat. Could this be some positive bonding action?

Of course, both Mel and I are a bit uneasy about Linda sleeping through the night now. Whatever woke her this afternoon was not pleasant. We did our routine to put her down, but Linda was so restless. It took a bit to calm her down. Finally she fell asleep.

As I write this, Linda has been turning and moving quite a bit. I feel her sleep is not as deep as it has been. We will see soon enough. Good night all!

Shopping at Tiffany's

Let me tell you what a dose of antibiotics will do to Linda. She changes into a whole new person. Boy that infection must have bugged her. She was the star of the group dinner. She was so energetic, alert and full of smiles and conversation (of course we have no idea what she is saying).

The dinner was very nice. I can’t remember half the things we ate. Jiangxi is known for their spicy foods. The first appetizer they put on the table was a real kicker. It gets right in your throat and burns. I think it was tofu.

Today we took a little walk with our friends Nancy, Paul and little Drew. We went over to Tiffany’s. It’s a very popular place to people that come to Jiangxi to pick up their daughters. It’s very close to the hotel and they have all the touristy things we want like squeaky shoes and dresses. They will also do your baby laundry for free. The really neat thing about this store is that they will look for your daughter’s finding ad and make it in a nice presentation to take home. A finding ad is the add the Chinese government puts in the province newspaper when they find a child to see if the birth family will claim them. So basically it’s the youngest picture you’re going to have of your child. The people there are real friendly. The older lady wanted to take Bill to breakfast. Bill could of had a hot date, but decided to stay with us ladies.

We wandered around a little after that. No special place, just something to get out. The sidewalks and streets are very hard to get around here. The sideways are limited and you don’t want to be in a street for too long. It’s like a game of chicken.

Linda is taking her afternoon nap. She is just amazing! She no longer screams when we come back in the room. She sits up and plays with her toys and is doing push ups. She kinda does this shuffle thing backwards on the bed. And, she is starting to get the gist of using a sippy cup.

Well that’s it for today. Tomorrow we should be going to a local village.

Oh those teeth and infections!

Today was a very mild day. Our group went shopping at a local department store/grocery store for supplies. We picked up some things like socks, diapers and a couple of outfits that will fit her. Okay I’ll admit it… we broke down and bought a couple of toys.

Linda had a great time at the store. She loved all the music playing and all the attention she was getting from the locals. She also enjoyed climbing all over Bill since it was his day to wear the carrier. Sorry no pictures to show of this, my hands were too full.

Anyway, this morning I noticed that Linda was grabbing at her left ear quite a bit. Then I felt back there and sure enough, a swollen gland. Wow she takes after me. J Normally I don’t worry about those because I get them so often, but of course I’m a first-time mom and all the advisors have been talking about how kids here need antibiotics or it could get worse I decided to go ahead and have the doctor look at it. He was very nice and spoke good English. He works at the local children’s hospital. What did he say? It’s a swollen gland, don’t do anything. It’s being a policeman. It will cure itself in about 20 years. Go figure. Then he notice that lovely bump on her head (that the orphanage nurse said was a boil from the heat rash… don’t do anything) has a bacterial infection. He asked if we brought any antibiotics with us and I showed him what Dr. Dern prescribed and he was very impressed. Kudos to Dr. Dern. He also prescribed a local treatment for her bump.

We also noticed that she does this sucking thing with her tongue. Of course our first thought is that she is hungry. But, she doesn’t always want food (and trust me she is a good eater). We thought about it… she’s teething and doesn’t know how to put toys in mouth. Well when she had one of her fits today I got a good look in her mouth. I counted 6 have broken through and I think I see a molar coming in the back. Yikes! I’ll tell ya, she’s handling the teething pretty good if all those are coming in the way they are.

Well that’s it for now. We are going to a group dinner tonight.

And, here’s a lovely picture of Linda sleeping again!

Finalized in China

Okay we need to start this blog with Linda slept through the night. Wow is she a sound sleeper. Of course this is after crying her self silly about being in the hotel room with a couple of people she’s not sure about.

Today we “finalized” our adoption in China with a visit to the Jiangxi province Civil Affairs Office and the Jiangxi Province Notary. It is really not much to write about except for the fact that what happened today is it. We are the official parents of Linda! Well, of course we are, but we have the certificate to prove it. Now we wait for her passport and then the trip to Guangzhou for the Visa.

Linda likes going out. Be it in the hallway or the lobby. Outside is outside. You know, freedom! ;-) So as you can imagine Linda enjoyed the trip to the breakfast buffet this morning. She was watching everybody and everything. She is very alert. I even got a small bowl of congee to try on her. Why this is significant is at 9 months her main diet is a mixture of formula and rice cereal given to us by the orphanage. I figured what is the big difference. None! Mel ran upstairs to get a little spoon as the restaurant did not have any little spoons out. I take a little scoop, and would you know, Linda munched down on it like it was nothing. She was even biting the spoon with her little front teeth. Well, the big people were wrapping it up and Mel wanted to try some fruit. I could not find a banana, so we decided on a peach slice. Mashed up real good, we gave Linda a little bit. She ate it, but you should have seen the look on that little face. Eyebrows furled slightly and a little bit of a scrunched up nose saying, “Hey, that was pretty good, but it didn’t taste like anything I’ve had before. Do I like it or not?” Another little scoop and down it went. Again, the look. The conclusion is she liked it but is not sure about it.

After breakfast was the trip to the Civil Affairs office to do our “interview” and get a certificate of completion. Oh, wait, this is not school! We received our Certificate of Adoption! On it is our first official family photo.

Next was off the Notary office. The notary asked a couple of questions and it was all finalized.

A couple across the hall from us, Nancy and Paul (and daughter Drew) said they were going to the supermarket so we tagged along with them. We also decided to look for lunch. Of course once we could all make up our mind we wound up at that gourmet place, McDonalds. There now I can say I had a Big Mac in China.

Linda was tired from all her journeys after that so we laid low. We did manage to give Linda her first bath. She wasn’t thrilled… but she smells and looks a lot better.

That’s it for now.

Gotcha Day!

9/18/06 Pre-Gotcha

After a really not so bad sleep, we woke up to Gotcha Day! It was an early start as our check-on luggage had to be outside our door at 6am. We took advantage of the early wake-up, along with all the others, to grab breakfast and discuss the excitement that is about to happen. We all seemed to be in that pre-gotcha daze. Unbelievable.

It is surreal. I write this, with Mel pacing behind, at 15.00 waiting in the hotel in Nanchang. It was a pleasant flight once again with a few bumps of turbulence. Some of us were reading, others were chatting. All in all it was your normal flight. Then the bus ride from the airport to the hotel. Meet here, be there. Do this and we’ll do that. Wow. Is this really going to happen? The butterflies are flittering and the nerves get a bit tighter. Are we ready?

Oh, yeah. It’s 15:00 now. Gotcha is at 16:00! OMG. OMG. OMG.

9/18/06 Post-Gotcha

16.20. We are waiting to get into the room. The babies were in there and we knew. We were then informed that we will be called individually to get our child. Our child. What a concept! It is still amazing. We were the 4^th to be called, and Linda was placed into Mel’s arms. Mel was tearing up, I was just awed. Happy just does not describe the feeling. Just freakin’ amazing. I knew this day was going to come.

Mel

got to hold Linda for a few minutes before I did, and both of us had the same experience. Linda did not cry at this time. Linda was more amazed at what was going on. You could see the fear growing in her little face. Blank stares began to take over the look of wonderment. I was now going to experience the beginnings of attachment. Mel also noticed this.

We headed up to the room as we only had a couple of hours before we had to return and do paperwork! Talk about moving the process! We were told the children were very hungry as it was a long trip for them to make. Linda began to shake a little. Cold? Scared? I placed my money on scared. She would not eat. She would be happy with Mel for a bit, then with me for a bit. This probably did not help much, but at the time it’s whatever makes her happy. Then the crying began. Crying and shaking, the poor thing was at her limit. I took her and began walking around. Out of the room and into the hallway. On my way out I asked Mel to give me a blanket. Linda snatched it immediately and I walked up and down the corridor. After a couple of trips she began to calm down, so I entered the room and sat down in a chair. Holding her, she fell asleep. (Yes! Score one for the new Dad!)

We had peace for about 15 minutes, and then she woke up. It did not take long for her to realize things have not changed and began to cry again. We tried to feed her again. No go. Again, back to the walking. I bit better, but still not good. We went for the Baby Bjorn carrier. Amazingly she was ok with it and we headed out the door. Whimpering and shaking we walked and headed down the elevator. In the lobby Linda calmed down a bit and started to look around. Outside we went. Linda was content once again. She was looking around and we had two Chinese people come up and look at her and give us a couple of big smiles. We headed back knowing we had a short time before the paperwork signing expedition. Linda started to whimper and shake again in the elevator. We got back to the room and she had settled down once again.

I sat on the floor while Mel was holding Linda on the bed. The little keys we had given Linda as her first toy seems to be doing a good job. The something caught our attention about the same time, and we got a bottle. Linda final decided to feed 10 minutes before the paperwork gathering! Nice timing, eh? Down she sucked that bottle. A bit too fast it appeared, as she decided to deliver a little bit of it back to us. We cleaned her up and took her downstairs.

At the paperwork signing, this is for the adoption registration within the province, I did the writing while Mel held and signed. I took breaks and soon discovered our little one is a wee bit ticklish. She broke a smile! OMG! It was amazing to see that and hear her giggle. Mel and I were so thrilled. By the end of the session, Linda was nodding a bit. Oh, she was so tired. You could see it in her eyes. We headed back to the room.

Mel gave Linda a quick sponge bath. Linda was fine and actually started to nod off. She was turning into that sack of potatoes. I took the handoff and began the drying process. I was christened with the first spontaneous pee attack! No major damage. We got her cleaned and dried. Once diapered, the little girl was lying there just about to get her jammies on when she passed out. Linda was dead tired. We dressed her up as she flopped around like a wet noodle. We put her to bed. (The “crib” or “bed” will be elaborated upon later, btw.) Asleep Linda is while I type this and Mel begins to doze off. Room service should be here shortly as we have not eaten since the airplane trip to Nanchang.

Pleasant dreams all! We had a very wonderful first few hours with our daughter Linda and cannot wait for more days and years to come. Tomorrow we got to the civil affairs office to get that adoption registration complete!

Orientation Day

Today we woke up from a very long and well needed sleep. I’d say about 14 hours worth. After all that walking and the long plane flight, we needed some shut eye.

It was a fun filled day starting with a 9.00 orientation. Holt has this orientation to help the group better understand what we are to do and what to expect in the coming days. It was quite informative. The Holt leader, Les, did tease us with the fact they had more information about our children! He then proceeded with the orientation. (Details about the orientation for those interested will have to wait until we get home!) The exciting part was the child information.

We received a beautiful red book that has new photos of our child along with an updated itinerary. The latest scoop on Linda is that she is being treated for heat rash. Many of the babies were since the weather has been so hot in the province. The picture says it all. (This is a picture of a picture, so the quality is a bit low.) Linda has cream on her face and they CUT HER HAIR! Oh nooooooooooo! At least that will grow back! ;-) Of the babies from the same orphanage, Linda is the monster of the bunch. She looks very healthy and the report says she has had at least one cold and a fever. Sounds like a normal child to me. As for her size, she is bigger than a child that was born in April! They must be feeding her well.

After the orientation we had a very nice lunch with the group. It was a dim sum setup with the classic dishes; orange chicken, Kung pao shrimp, and a beef dish. Once we finished lunch and had a chance to prepare, we went on a group outing. First stop was Tiananmen Square. This place can hold 1 million people. Tourists from everywhere were visiting. We ran into two people walking together. He was from Switzerland, and she from Beijing. They first met in Australia.

We regrouped after about 20 minutes to head off to the Temple of Heaven. Originally build in 1492 the temple was burned down 3 times all by “natural causes” i.e. lightning. The temple is built without nails and no supporting internal structure. This was quite a beautiful building along with the surrounding park.

The day wrapped up with a nice dinner, our last alone (OMG!), before our big trip tomorrow. We meet Linda tomorrow approximately 16.00, which is Monday 1am PDT. We are so excited and a bundle of nerves. The next time you read we will be proud parents of Linda!

Good night!

Day One: The Trip to China

The trip to Linda started with a fine trip to the airport. Bill Sr. and Ellen were the chauffeurs of the day. At the airport the lady at check-in was soooo polite. Somewhere in there we ended up showing her the picture of Linda. It turns out that it is the same as her mom’s name! Then I noticed the young lady’s name tag: Marci! Oh, well, an “I” for a “y” is ok with us. The next thing we know, she puts us on the standby list for the earlier flight from San Diego to LAX. Wow!

The flight over to Beijing was quite uneventful. Actually a very smooth flight. I actually slept a bit. Melissa slept on and off. The most she has ever slept on a plane before. The wacky part is eating at such odd hours; we had a dinner and a lunch! Where’s the breakfast? It was dark the whole trip. The only hint of daylight was when we were over Alaska where there was a slight glow on the horizon.

We arrived in Beijing this morning, Saturday, at 5:20am. Right on time. It is wacky being so tired and so excited at the same time. A 20 minute car ride from the airport to the hotel made for some interesting site seeing. We saw some old apartments and they are busy at work building new apartments. 13 million people live in Beijing!

At the hotel, the Peace Hotel located in the middle of downtown, is very nice. We are walking distance from the Forbidden City. There are tons of shops, too! Oh, that damned weight limit on domestic flights! Of course we spent a couple of hours walking around as our room was not ready. Yup, we walked on over to the Forbidden City. What a place. Unlike our western cities, there is so much history that you can see. At the same time you see them frantically working on the new, and with the ’08 Olympics just around the corner there is much cleanup.

Here’s the crazy part of today: It’s not even noon time yet! Oh, we will have so much to look at, and being so tired, who knows what more we will discover.

Later!

Child Update!!!

Days before we travel and what do we receive? An update! Unfortunately no pictures, but we do have an update on height and weight. Linda is now 70cm tall (long) and 9.2kg. This translates to 27.56in and 20.28lbs! She is right on target for a healthy little one. And the wild thing is the update says she has 5 teeth! I bet she bites.

We are so excited to travel that we get into little cat fights about stuff and quickly crack up laughing our a$$es off! Oh, this is going to be soooo fun.

Rollercoasters

Hello All:

I tried posting a blog in the past, but when I read it to myself... I was falling asleep! Here's to a new beginning!

Bill and I started our journey to adopt Linda in January 2005 and boy has it been a rollercoaster. We had good days and bad days. I think the only thing that has kept us sane was our family and friends. When I say friends I mean past friends and new friends we have made on this journey.

I'm going to relate this rollercoaster ride to "The Revolution" at Magic Mountain. (Yes, it's been a looooooooong time since I've been there.)

We are now getting ready to go on our next rollercoaster ride "The Colossus". We leave soon to pick up Linda in the Jiangxi Provence in China. We are very excited and scared... a good scared but still scared! If all goes well you will be able to follow us on our journey (complete with pictures).

Well that's it for now. Bill and I will post again soon!

Melissa :-)