Adventures with two...

Where does the time go??

I swear, once you hit Guangzhou, the time simply evaporates. It must have something to do with the humidity and rain that has plagued us since we arrived. Guangzhou is a sub-tropical city and it has been just as drippy and hot as Guilin and Nanning, though after a rain it feels rather nice.

Anyway, we got some fun shopping in, good eats and we are MORE than ready to be on our way home tomorrow bright and early. Tom says he's never looked forward to a 4:30 wake up call so much!

We did the red couch photos this morning and photos with our whole travel group. Then three families went to the Six Banyan Trees Temple and had a blessing for our kids. It was really neat, just like last time. We came back for lunch and then tried to get the kids down for a nap to no avail!

We then headed to the American Consulate and had our swearing in ceremony, where we took an oath promising that what we had filled in on our paperwork was true and that we would never harm or abandon our lovely child. An easy oath to commit to.

We had the evening off and tried to finish up some last minute shopping, but we are so done with buying trinkets and such that we didn't really buy that much. Yesterday a few of us took a bus over to the "Up and Down Number 9 Street" and I found some good buys and of course some pearls.

A few random photos from the last few days...no red couch photos yet, it's too late to download and I need to reconfirm our tickets!! One photo is of Eli thinking he is funny by sticking Em's undies on his head. Another is of the welts on Em's legs from bug bites. Ouch!

If you would like to meet us at the airport tomorrow...Wednesday, July 2nd at 12:35 in the afternoon we will be arriving on Northwest Airlines. We will also be having people over at our house so if you would like to stop by to meet Elijah and share some words of wisdom with his big sister, we would love to see you! We are hoping to keep the kids awake for most of the afternoon, so that we can get on a good schedule and work off the jet lag!

Can't wait to see everyone again. xoxo

The Jeep

A post by Daddy!!

To paraphrase Elaine Benes, the male body is no thing of beauty. It’s made for gettin’ around – like a Jeep. After a coupla days with this little fella, I’ve come up with no better term to describe him than “Jeep”. The kid bounces around like a pinball, with no regard for life or limb (his own or those of others), and all the while smiling and laughing like a damn fool. Spills and wipeouts that would have Em bawling and requiring a minimum of 3 Elmo band-aids and 5 “Miyagi’s” don’t even register with this kid. I swear to God, he’s like the terminator crossed with the 4th stooge. We’ve already accepted the fact that there will likely be multiple trips to the ER – we’re just crossing our fingers that we can at least make it back to the States before the first.

For those of you who know Em, you know that this is not exactly her style, to put it mildly. So there have been a few ups and downs. At times she is absolutely disgusted and horrified with his displays of unbridled primal behavior – imagine Strawberry Shortcake sitting in the front row of WrestleMania. In the long run, I really think it will be good for her, having a rambunctious little brother to toughen her up a bit. But for now, his maniacal fits of exuberance invariably end with her slightly over-dramatized and tearful pleas to “give Eli a timeout” or to simply “get him away from me”. So our new family dynamic has become a balance between trying to tell a 19-month old Jeep to simmer down and telling a 3-year old Princess to grow up. Needless to say, we’re 0-for-2 at this point …

All that being said, there are definitely times when Em cherishes her new role as big sis. At least a dozen times each day she instructs mom and dad to “tell Eli to watch his big sister (fill in the blank – peel her own banana, do a somersault, take off her jammies by herself…” And it is obvious that little brother adores his big sis, and could just eat her up (literally). And Mom and Dad are doin well, too – adjusting to the new lifestyle, and for the most part getting a big kick out of it. We’re traveling with 3 families who are well beyond our paltry 2-kid stable – so that keeps us pretty grounded and aware of the reality that this really ain’t so crazy after all.

Oh yeah – we went to the Guangzhou Safari Park yesterday. Gotta be one of the best zoos around. Unfortunately (or fortunately, from a memorable-event standpoint) we got stuck in an absolute monsoon rain while we were there. At this very moment, there are no doubt countless families across Guangdong Province telling their friends and families about the crazy herd of white folks with Chinese kids running around in the pouring rain without even the good sense to open up a stinking umbrella. And I’m proud to say we were part of that crazy herd …

Guilin to Guangzhou

(The monkey photo should have been with yesterday's set of photos...oops! Poor monkey...poor Tom, the monkey's behind left a little something behind. (Think Gracie the cat at Christmas!!)

We set off early this morning, early as in 5:00 wake up call. Our flight was only about 45 minutes, the shortest flight ever for us. Which was a really good thing because Eli was a SPAZ with a capital S!!!! He squirmed and wiggled and hollered the whole way. I’m happy that airplanes are noisy and for the most part people can’t hear you more than a few aisles away. It made me super nervous to know that we have 17 hours of flying ahead of us on Wednesday. Gulp!

When we got in to the hotel, we dumped our bags and ran down the street to the medical examination. There weren’t any families in the room at the time and our guide began to explain the procedures. Little by little other families were filing in and within 10 minutes the place was a zoo. You see, when newly adopted children need to lay on tables naked for doctors/strangers it causes great alarm! Everyone in the place knew the wonder of our son’s lungs by the time we finished with the doctor. I remember Em looking at me the same way he did, like “Mom, why are you letting them do this???” Poor thing!

Afterwards, we had lunch and got the kids down for a nap. I then went down and filled out the rest of the paperwork with other parents from the group. We had to complete all of the paperwork for the American Consulate, line by line, and there are about 15 papers and forms to complete. It took us 2+ hours!!

When I got back we set off to enjoy Shamian Island and ate some dinner. We did dinner at “Lucy’s” an American-style café, even though we weren’t that impressed the first time we were here. It was fine tonight, and we learned that Eli likes spaghetti, which is great because it’s a staple at our house.

When we got back to the hotel we took a dip in the rooftop pool overlooking the city of Guangzhou. The kids loved it! We decided however that we will always be completely wary of taking Eli to the lake or pool. The child has no fear and wants to jump in with or without us. He just walked to the end and stepped in. Luckily I was hanging on to his hands! Life jacket for that one for sure.

We laughed because there was a little “foot pool” where you basically walk through to get to the big pool. I’m sure it’s just to rinse of your feet before you get in. Em was saying sweetly to us, “You guys can sit here in this little pool with me and swim around, want to?” Meanwhile, Eli is shrieking with glee about the pool. Shrieking, LOUDLY! He’s bombing into the deep end and she is quietly flitting about in the two inches of foot bath water. Tom looked at them and said, “Yep, this pretty much sums up our children!”

I hope those who are close to us realize that there will be no more peace and quiet when we come to your homes because we will be arriving with Trouble!! You will love him to pieces and he will dazzle everyone with his charming personality, but quiet? Calm? Relaxed? Nope!! Not gonna happen!

I feel like he was really grieving more today when I put him down for a nap and for bed time. He is also really not wanting Tom to hold him. Which is difficult and a bummer. He is however starting to call us and use some English words. He says, “Daddy” “Emmie” “Mama”…more like “Maa,MAAHHH!!” (again with the loud exuberance or tearful screaming, depending!) He also says, “tickle, tickle” and “I did it!” which Tom taught him to say when he does a trick, but he says it whenever anything is funny. Which makes us laugh to no end.

Em had a great day today, even though she struggled at the airport for a bit…lack of sleep I’m sure. A few more minutes and I would have been close to a tantrum too. But later she got to sit by the big kids in the bus and that made her day. Luckily she also got to hang out with Riley, another new friend, during the medical exam. She’s acting more and more like her true self, which is great.

So far we are enjoying our time at the Victory, loving our big suite, although we are so excited to be making our way home soon. Even more so, we’re still in awe of the two most amazing children that fill our hearts to the brim!

Guilin, day two

Sorry I didn’t post this on the actual day…things are a bit busier with two and we had to pack up again last night, so blogging was cut from the to-do list!

Today we went to Elephant Trunk Hill and the Reed Flute Caves. Guilin is an amazingly beautiful place, everywhere you look it is breathtaking. It is actually a “resort town” destination for many Chinese people. There were little shops and street markets outside of our hotel and it was fun to walk and see the wares for sale. The sales people were very aggressive however, so it began to drive us a little batty. We never mind when people want to talk with us about our kids, but often it is very patronizing, just because people want a sale. I bought a print on rice paper of three Chinese women playing traditional instruments and a few other trinkets.

Eli and Em both had a great day. Em is slowly warming up to him and learning to tell us right away if he is pinching, “nibbling” or being too exuberant with his displays of affection. She still quite often just stands there whimpering and we keep reminding her to say what she needs quickly and loudly so that he knows where she stands and so that we can hear her!

She is helping a lot with different things, but quite often regresses a bit and wants to be held if he’s being held. Plus, we know that she is processing everything about China and being adopted. She has expressed to us several times, “I don’t like it when everyone is looking at me.” We can totally understand her point of view since the people in Guilin have been very up front and in our faces asking questions and lifting up the stroller canopy to peer in at her.

Ironically, she has taken to what she calls her “fanner”, the “Do not disturb” sign from the hotel and she has been wearing it as a bracelet while being wheeled in her stroller. She uses it to cover up her eyes…even though she doesn’t realize that it says in English and Chinese “Do not disturb!” How appropriate, no? I think you can see her fanner in the photo of her sitting on the cement pigs.

Li River Cruise

Sorry I didn’t get around to posting yesterday, we were all SO tired! I couldn’t keep my eyes open to get any photos downloaded. I got half way through typing and couldn’t see straight. So I’m posting two posts today!

Today we did the Li River Cruise in the morning. The most stunning scenery I’ve seen in quite possible my whole life. We have many photos, yet each one seems to not be able to do it justice. It was remarkable. We saw many water buffalo in the river, cooling off. Cormorants on boats with men out fishing, the birds diving to get fish too.

We just got back and the kids are napping, they were both so tired! We still haven’t had a poop yet from Eli, so we’re worrying about that and will be off to look for prunes this afternoon! He is still eating well, but I’m not sure how he’s packing it in.

He is sleeping well, though it takes some rocking and coaxing to get him to sleep, which is normal. He is also “searching” still, which means when we are out on the street he is constantly scanning faces and often calling “Mama! Baba!” trying to find his foster parents. Heartbreaking, even though he’s not sad when he does it, just hopeful I think. The ladies on the street flock to him when he starts hollering and laugh at all of his antics. The guide told us that he is saying “Hi” when he plays peekaboo, too.

He does not want strangers to take him or touch him much, which is a good sign, but he is comfortable with our guide who is Chinese. We are very much looking forward to getting home and settling in with our boy. He will need the stability, even though he is still the boy with the biggest smile this side of Nanning!

Em had a much better day today, she enjoyed the cruise and took many pictures, which are actually quite good. She also bought a watch today with the money her Grandpa R. had given her and she thought that was awesome! She has also had fun with one of the other boys on the trip who has kept her entertained on the train and the bus ride.

I might just post more later…we’ll see!

Nanning to Guilin

We took the train this morning to Guilin. It was a beautiful ride passing the lush countryside of Guangxi province. If you imagine China 100 years ago, this pretty much sums it up…wide-brimmed straw hats, water buffalo leading the plows, one person working a field which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. It was breathtaking and amazing.

It took our group about 20 minutes to get from the bus to the train, which was very interesting considering we have about 20 suitcases and plenty of bags. I’m sure we were quite the sight for the locals as we were schlepping up stairs and sweating like mad. We were all ready to sit on the train for a while.

After we arrived we went out to eat and ended up meeting up with another CHI family in our group for a tasty meal. We were so exhausted and so unprepared to have two tired and hungry kids, so I’m sure we weren’t the greatest dinner companions! We don’t quite have our system of parenting two children down quite yet.

Em continued to have a pretty hard day, wanting to be held when Eli was being held, wanting to eat if he was eating, everything you’d expect from a big sister whose brother isn’t just sleeping all day like a newborn would. She hasn’t had any major tantrums yet, just LOTS of whining. Little by little it is getting better and she is letting him into her world. Poor girl, we feel bad for her and yet want her to be a “big girl” at the same time. We’re trying to let her have some things that only “big kids” can do…so chewing gum is her new thing, as is using our smaller digital camera. Scary, yes, but it has helped her a lot.

We relaxed last night and took a stroll around the town, which is a tourist town, so the hawkers are everywhere and very pushy! We looked for a place to eat, but decided that the kids were just too tired and we went back to the hotel restaurant.

We gave the kids their first bath together and called it a night! Happy smiles from everyone.

Officially Adopted!!

I can’t believe we’re leaving already, but the suitcases are packed and tomorrow we’ll be on our way to Guilin. I’m excited and overwhelmed at the thought of sightseeing with two! Luckily there are many other kids in our group and everyone in our group is great. (MM I can't believe I'm admitting this, but we will leave Nanning without one pair of new shoes! I'm banking on the idea that Guilin is in Guangxi and they must have good shoes too?? eek!)

Eli was amazing again today! He romps around and loves to play, really hard. He is rough and tumble, no bumps or bruises will stop him. He shrieks and laughs to no end. He loves to be really dramatic; he’ll throw the stacking cups on the ground and fall on the floor laughing hysterically. He loves to be tickled and is always exuberant. Tom told me today, “He’s the workout plan we’ve been needing!” Definitely one we’ll have to stick with anyway. The good thing is that he does like to snuggle or sit and look at books, too.

Em has gone up and down with her thoughts on all of these changes today. She can be so sweet and helpful one moment, and in the next she is really frustrated with the whole scene. We’re only 24 hours into it, so we’re trying to just keep helping her along with her feelings and the adjustment. It's hard to be dethroned!

Eli did struggle a bit to go to sleep tonight. I think he was grieving a bit, which is good. I’m also worried that he needs to go poo and isn’t quite sure where to do that with us! It says that he is potty trained and I’m sure that he isn’t wanting to poo in the diapers we have him in which were necessary after getting peed on yesterday! We’ve tried the bathroom a few times, but have only gotten a wet foot, twice. He’s eaten lots of food, so I’m sure that he’ll need to figure things out sooner or later. Hopefully that doesn’t involve screaming on the train for 4 hours tomorrow morning!

As far as official business, we finished up all of the paperwork and made the adoption official today! You can see the photo below of me inking his feet, getting ready to stamp it on the page. Em is looking on carefully because I always tell her the story of how we stamped her foot too when we adopted her.

All the papers are signed and thumb-printed (as is customary on official documents in China, with red ink of course), all of the fees are paid, all the token gifts were distributed.

And so, it’s OFFICIAL, Elijah Si Yang is our beautiful son! How did we ever get so lucky?

He's HERE!!

He’s HERE and what a DELIGHT this child!

What a day! We gathered this morning to complete our paperwork and this afternoon at 3:00 all of the families boarded the buses to go to the China Welfare Lottery Hotel…didn’t quite understand the name of the hotel, but we all have some pretty amazing children with us tonight and feel like we’ve won the lottery!

They had us go into a room and stand to wait while they read the names of the children. They called Eli’s name third and Tom went to take him first with Emmie right behind him while I tried to videotape for a minute. After that it was all a blur, since we were just mesmerized and trying to chat with our boy.

He cried for a bit and called out “Mama, Baba!” Then it escalated a bit, which I later realized was due to the fact that he had to go to the bathroom…when it was running down my arm and leg! But, after that we talked with him calmed him down again, threw on a diaper and Em shared some snacks with him. She even had him laughing with some little dinosaurs. He has been bubbly and delightful since! Honestly, this child loves to play and make the crowd laugh. If we clap or tease him he giggles to no end. He has a completely infectious laugh and when he starts we all start too.

We stayed in our room a bit and played around and then we actually took him to the pool, which he LOVED! He splashed all around and wasn’t afraid at all. We came back up, ordered room service and put him to bed. He went to bed really easy, I’m sure he was exhausted after such a crazy, overwhelming day. We’re nervous to know what he’ll do when he wakes up and we are here in the morning.

We chatted with Em about the day and she was very excited to tell her Grandma and Grandpa R. that she had a baby brother. In fact, she said, “Grandma, you can come to my hotel to see him!”

His feet look really good, and he is walking pretty well, a bit wobbly like toddlers can be. They didn’t give us a brace for his feet, so I’m glad we have an appointment with Dr. Ponseti when we return.

He is definitely talking in Cantonese and is very curious about everything. He weighs 23 pounds, but he feels like skin and bones to us compared to his big sister.

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings…must get some sleep! I’m sure we’ll both sleep with huge grins on our faces. We are truly blessed to be the parents of two amazing children.

UPDATE: Since I couldn't send this out last night, I thought I'd add that when I peeked in the crib this morning at 7:00 there was a HUGE grin on our son's face! DIVINE :0)

Finally in Nanning!

A very easy-going Sunday for us, we ate breakfast, packed up our suitcases and left the hotel at 11:30 to go to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It was a beautiful place, even though it was raining pretty hard. The pagoda is very well maintained by the Buddhist monks who live there. We heard the story of the Chinese monk who traveled to India to learn about Buddhism and brought it back to Xi’an.

At the end there was an awesome rack with thousands of prayers hanging on little wooden placards that people had written in the last months. We bought a little placard and wrote a prayer too. (I think you can see it if you click on the photo to enlarge it.)

Then we headed to the airplane to bring us to Nanning. The plane was delayed about an hour and a half, but it didn’t seem too long actually. The plane was the tiniest plane I’ve ever been on, 50 seats!

We are now staying at the Majestic hotel in Nanning. Upon arrival, Nanning seems to be a wealthier, cleaner city than others we have seen in China. It’s also more lush since it’s tropical. The hotel is great and our room is huge! We weren’t sure if we were getting a suite or not, but it feels like a palace compared to the small room we had in Xi’an. There was a crib waiting in our room when we got here!!

We got an updated report on Elijah and I cannot wait to meet this boy! He sounds like a real charmer and I hope that we don’t scare the bejeebbers right out of him!! It sound like the followed the Ponsetti protocol on his feet and now he is just in braces at night. They said that he is potty trained in the day and wears a diaper at night! We’ll see if we can figure that out…oh boy! He is talking in Chinese (not sure if it’s Cantonese or Mandarin, yet) and can show you where his eyes, ears, etc. are. It says, “Anyone who calls his name, he replies to them happily and smilingly.”

We also learned that he was in the orphanage for 5 months, a Hepu foster family from March-November 2007 and then a Nanning foster family since November. Poor boy has been jostled around quite a bit!

We meet the guide and start paperwork at 10:00 and will be meeting Eli in the afternoon! I’ll post later today after we meet him….after we are a family of FOUR!

Xi'an

The pink dress girl finished her day with a visit to a Tibetan restaurant for dinner, where she got on stage with our guide Nancy and they put a scarf on the singer, following tradition. The food was really good, we tried a pork dish, yummy rice, a garlic potato dish, a bean & beef dish and a yummy pumpkin pizza. It was all really good!

Then we drove over to a light and fountain show at the local park. The park was swarming with people! Everyone was out enjoying the fact that it was Friday night. We tried to push in on the ledge to see the fountain show, which is set to music, but it was so packed and so tight that I snapped a few photos and we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, Saturday, we headed out to the walk the city wall that surrounds the city. We saw several of the towers that they had built to protect the city. There is also a moat surrounding the city and a drawbridge that they still use today, on one side...though not for protection I imagine?!

We had the afternoon to ourselves and tried to get Em to take a nap at a normal time. Then we went shopping and it was BUSY out on the streets. We didn't find too much to buy, just took in all of the sights and in the end I found a beautiful scroll. We ate at a local restaurant, a chain I think, called "Ding Ding Xiang" it was really good, and luckily we had our handy-dandy translator card (thanks, Shannon!) so we could order things better than the last time we were here and ended up with raw chicken, feet included. The manager was very interested in Em, as was/is everyone, and in the end he gave her a bottle of juice. She was delighted and carried it to the hotel with two hands the whole way!

Today, Sunday we have packed up our room and are waiting to go see the Wild Goose Pagoda before we hop on the plane to Nanning. We think we will meet Elijah tomorrow, but won't be surprised if they show up tonight! Wouldn't that be fun!!