Settling at home

Been a rough last few days transitioning to a new size family.  Lots of learning going on: how to be a big brother, how to be a little sister, how to manage two jealous and possessive kids, how to manage two kids, how to like a daddy...

Seems like we've now mostly transitioned to our 13 hour time difference, thank goodness.  Last night I got some sleep!  Greg was able to take the night shift with little concern from Audrey. 

Timmy has had a tough time learning to like a new sister.  He's said, "She doesn't belong here!".  Lots of tears and outbursts of frustration.  With some time and attention he's slowly getting used to sharing his mom and dad.

Yesterday went to see the train exhibit at the US Botanical Gardens, an amazing exhibit if your children like trains.  Timmy was transfixed, Audrey not so much.  She did like the people-watching and listening to Christmas music.

Every day life gets a little more normal and a little less dramatic.  Looking forward to a wonderful Christmas with my two beautiful kiddos.

Safe and Sound at Home

We're home!

Caught a huge break in Newark and were able to return home almost 2 hours early on an earlier flight.

Got to see our man Timmy and I swear he's huge!  I was desperate to see him but he was exhausted from his day of fun and was crying from waking up too early from his nap.  Many many kisses later he was a little more comfortable and playing and sharing with his little sister.

Both of them went to sleep around nine at night.  Audrey got me up again around midnight and slept a bit with me.  Then around 3 AM she was up and we've been playing in our bedroom since then waiting for Timothy to wake up. 

It's so good to be home with my family, including Mamaw for a few days to help us with the time change.

More pictures soon, promise!

Consulate Appointment

Had our consulate appointment today.  Now all we need is Audrey's visa which we expect to get on Friday afternoon before we head to Hong Kong for our flight home.

Lots of Smiles

Audrey is playing with her daddy, each day she drops a little of her resistance to him.  Yesterday she even let him hold her!  She wasn't happy about it but tolerated it!  She now notices when he goes somewhere and will talk about it.  She's smiling all the time and all in all is a very happy girl.  Especially when you do exactly as she says, right now.  Did I say right now?  Because she means RIGHT NOW!  Often there is urgency that the world will end if she doesn't get what she wants when she wants it, kinda funny most times.  Except at meal times when we are in a restaurant with Chinese patrons staring at us, wondering why we aren't dealing with our baby?

She loves to put items into ziploc bags and then take them out.  She loves the kleenex wipes packages and will take them out, unfold them and them shred them.  She loves music and will lift up her hands and then wave them around.  She will also turn in a little circle.  She loves other children and today followed the two older boys in our group all around the beautiful Guangzhou gardens.  Molly, our guide, bought all of the kids a little pinwheel which Audrey would switch from hand to hand.

She loves books and will read them to herself, again and again studying the pages.  She is walking around more and relying less on the baby carrier.  She used to throw a fit if I took her out when we are at places.  Now if there are children there she knows she appreciates being able to walk.  Then she will protest getting back into the carrier.  We are letting her tell us what's comfortable for her right now but we love seeing her independent side.  We can see her confidence grow each day.

Walked through some Guangzhou markets yesterday.  Saw some interesting things for sale, differents herbs and medicines.  One thing I wish I hadn't seen was two puppies - dead and being wrapped in newspaper.  That was a big bummer. 

It's a bit cold here (50's) but nothing like at home!  If we have to be away at least it's in a warm climate!

Timmy is happy and healthy and having a great time in Cincinnati. 

Pictures!!!

I told Jill & Greg we needed more pictures, and they complied!  Here she is:

Lots to Update

As we may have mentioned, Audrey doesn't like to stop for anything - she wants to be outside and on the move constantly.  Our guide Hannah spoke to our foster mom regarding some questions we had.  It turns out some of the behaviors she does with us she also did with her foster mom.  One of our biggest challenges with Audrey is regarding eating - as she only likes to stand to eat.  Turns out her foster mom had lots of trouble with this, she would chase after her to get her to eat.  Also the foster mom mentioned that Audrey would stand at her door and point to go outside much like she does with us.

On Friday evening we left for the Nanning airport to fly to Guangzhou.  After a very slow security line with poor Audrey overheated and crying we just made it through by our boarding time -- only to find our flight was delayed two hours.  No matter -- after getting some water (like in the U.S. no liquids through security so lots of fun with a young one) Audrey was happy as can be and was running around the waiting area weaving in and out of people and especially watching and interacting all the other kids waiting for our flight.  Once we finally made it on the airplane for our 1 hour flight Audrey did great -- one lollipop lasted most of the way there -- and on her hands, hair, airplane window and mom's sweater too but it was worth it.  She finally started to doze on the van ride to the hotel and we finally made it in and to bed around midnight.

5:30 the next morning she was ready to start the day.  So we were the first folks down to breakfast and ready well ahead of time for her morning visa pictures and medical exams.  So along with the other (50?  1000?) families here today we all packed in to the Shamian medical office and spent the morning waiting in one line after the other for the perfunctory exams.  That finally done we eventually made it back to the hotel and after a few grumpy protests Audrey took a long nap, almost an hour in the crib and even longer on my lap in bed.  Did i say she's very mommy focused?  If Greg tries to hold her, walk with her or even get between Audrey and me she immediately gets very scared and starts crying.  Maybe she's afraid she's going to lose another Mommy?  She seems ok with other men who interact with her.

Other adoptive parents out there?  Any suggestions for how to get her to interact more successfully with Greg?

First bath.  A few small protests, but she got in the tub and we washed her hair and even had a little fun splashing.  Then a very sweet time reading on the bed. She was reading the book to herself - adorable.  We get lots of smiles  these days!

Last Day in Nanning

We leave for Guangzhou tonight.  Here is a picture with Hannah, our host here in Nanning, taken Wednesday morning at the People's Park just behind our hotel.  Audrey is happy as a clam in the Ergo carrier with Jill -- and fell asleep as we walked.

Great Morning!

Yayu has had a great day so far.  Woke up smiling and playing with Greg.  Great eye contact with me, responding to playing, wanting me to kiss her, very good stuff.  She played with us before demanding that we go outside the door but understood she needed to get dressed first.  She still doesn't want Greg to hold her, but she let him feed her without me having to hold her - big first!  I even got to eat a whole meal, yes!  Also she will very sweetly feed Greg bites of her already chewed food. 

The ergo's been great - earlier had her frontways but she wanted to ride in the back, great with me as it's the easiest way to carry her.  I think we are okay enough on early attachment that we won't lose too much back there.  Like Timothy she loves to look around and see the world.  She got up a bit early so took a cat nap when we were walking in the park and is now taking her mid day long nap.  She's sneezing a bit so may have a cold coming on but doesn't feel hot or seem irritable.  Been sort of expecting this - we've been lucky with health so far!

There's a great restaurant nearby that we've finally started to figure out after the third time there, great, fresh food, very good.  Yum!  Love People's Park went to a different section today saw people playing all sorts of sports - badminton, volleyball, a type of hackysack, tai chi, dancing.  People seem to take exercise very seriously here.  Going out to explore more with our guide afternoon.  I'm so perky right now because I've finally had my daily allowance of caffeine.  Plus we all had a great night of sleeping.  Much to be thankful for and counting our blessings.

Taking it Day by Day

We are so happy as we just got to Skype with Timothy for the first time and it was great to see him.  I can't wait to kiss him all over.  I'm glad he's so well taken care of and having so much fun with his Cincinnati cousins.  Thanks Amanda!

Audrey has very expressive eyes that dart all around as she's looking at the world around her.  She's either really happy or very mad - not so much in between.  Yesterday when she was in the Ergo -which she loves for the first hour - she was talking talking talking, lots of vocalizations and happy sounds, very precious.  She's so tiny, with a long torso, short legs and a big poochy stomach.  She's looks so cute in the little outfits we brought and fits into a size 12 month pretty well, except for the footies in her pj's.  Very similar to Timothy when we first got him.

She makes a very cute sound when she has food she likes - a joyful appreciation of food is something I love.  I often smell like ham as she likes these ham sausages that her foster mom sent with her.  As she was eating one in the Ergo I got little driblets in my shirt.  Audrey wants to be on the go, not stopping, not in the room - outside where the distractions help her forget about her sadness.  Mealtimes can be rough - she'll sit for a little while and then insist on standing so I'm often splattered with congee.  She'll also burst out crying - I'm not sure if it's because we aren't doing it right or she's impatient for it to be done or she's just tired of congee.  We will figure it out eventually. 

Yesterday she was mad at us because we put her to bed too early so she refused to drink her milk and laid in the crib while we watched with her back to us.  Her massive sleeping really is stress relief for her as she is emotionally exhausted.  She doesn't like for me to put her down, ever, or leave her sightline.  This leaves poor Greg to do everything else.

People's park is gorgeous, beautiful.  In the morning, the elderly and other in the city gather for fan dancing, music playing (not sure of the instrument), tai chi, modern dance. The park is green, lush with a big lake in the middle with huge carp that you can feed.  We've already been there twice.  I'm not doing it justice in describing it here.  It has an amusement park, with rides, not open right now.  We are in a very busy part of the city, lots of cars and scooters and motorbikes.  Lots of maneuvering around.  I had a Mandarin class before I left but haven't used it at all as I seem to have lost anything I learned.  China is such a complex place, very overwhelming at times.  I no longer feel sick think it was related to dehydration so I'm just trying to drink much more water.

Thanks Melissa for posting all of our updates!

Park Pictures

Here are a couple more pics from Wednesday morning at the People's Park just behind our hotel.  Audrey is happy as a clam in the Ergo carrier with Jill -- and fell asleep as we walked. 

It's Official

Spent the morning getting more paperwork done and Audrey promptly fell asleep in the car.  So far, knock wood, she is a champion sleeper.  Took a three hour nap today and went down for the count at 6:30 pm.  She is crying a lot as we do things wrong and she gets frustrated, so she gets pretty exhausted, our sweet little girl.  Turns out she had a diaper rash causing her some pain as she's not used to diapers and probably has sensitive skin.  Once we took care of that problem and getting the correct temperature of her bottle, she was gone.  You have never seen a cuter little girl in panda pajamas.  Will try to take a pic.

Her favorite thing is to walk, walk and walk.  Outside.  She LOVES to be outside walking up and down steps again and again.  She is twelve pure pounds of muscle. When you want to walk a different way than she does she will lean hard to help you understand which way you are supposed to go.  She heard a street musician today and had her had bowed to the side in the sweetest position and wanted to go back to the same spot later in the day although he wasn't there anymore.  There is a water fountain in the lobby that she loves and tries to get as close as possible.  We have a huge window on the 9th floor that she also likes to look from and see the world outside.  Did I mention she loves to be outside?  Conversely she does not like our hotel room one bit!  When inside, she will point to the door.  Tomorrow we'll go to People's park which she will love.

She's very curious and likes to figure out how to work her stacking cups.  She loves the mirror and will smile!  Especially the mirror in the bathroom where she can stand on the counter with mommy and laugh.  We turn the sink on and off, on and off.  She seems pretty attached to me and likes to watch Greg be very silly.  She likes to be kissed and will kiss her reflection in the mirror, pretty adorable.  We are trying to get her interested in the Ergo but so far no luck and didn't help that we introduced it to her when we weren't sure how to do it and it got her a little spooked.

We miss Timmy so much it hurts our heart but he is having a great time with his grandparents and all of his cousins.  He certainly loves the special treatment he is getting!

Friday night we leave for Guangzhou.  Audrey will certainly love all of the public parks and walking availability.

It's official

It's now official.  We spent the morning at the Guangxi provincial office to finalize the adoption.  Now we just wait a few days for her Chinese ID to be issued before we fly to Guangzhou.

A couple of pics -- exhausted from a long morning of paperwork.

Sad and Tired!

As we expected, Audrey's grief has been considerable and increased as the day wore on and it became clear she wasn't going home.  She been pointing and standing at our hotel door sobbing and wants desperately to leave.  We've been using distraction and walking her around the hotel lobby.  If she could have she would have walked all the way to Liuzhou back to her foster mom.  She's smart and knows when we've come back the same way and gets frustrated but is interested and engaged in looking at the sites around her (despite everything).  When she wants to see something she makes a little excited sound, so cute.  She was exhausted and fell into brain shutdown at 7 pm and slept until midnight and is back down now.  She makes these cute little vocalizations as she sleeps.  She is fascinated with mirrors and talks to her reflection.

Her foster mom left her with three huge bags of items for her - clothes, formula, bottle, etc. and a present for Timmy.  She is wearing a little necklace and two bracelets.  It is easy to see why she is so sad and it's quite clear her foster mom loves her very much.

While none of this is unanticipated it's hard to see your baby so devastated. She insists I hold her constantly - maybe weighs about 12 lbs?  and likes to stare at Greg.  When we are silly it just makes her cry, so more walking and looking and talking.  We are happy she's been (and we've been) able to sleep off this traumatic day.  This may decrease so we're trying to get in as much rest as possible.

Yayu has a sweet little face and is so tiny!  She walks very well and likes steps.  Her cry is not very loud and she's now hoarse.  We've met lots of nice families also adopting.

Pictures!

Here in Nanning

 We are in Nanning after spending one night in Beijing.  Unfortunately we didn't see much as I fell asleep at 6:30 pm and slept until 7 am the next morning.  This is due to a muscle relaxant I took, so I've adjusted quite well to the time change but not sure I'll try that strategy ever again.  Really, I'm still tired and I've slept crazy hours.  I'm doing my best to be well rested while I can.  Also - I'm not eating a lot of the hotel food - irrationally - since I got so sick last time I'm determined to avoid it this time.  On the other hand, I look like a jerk that doesn't want to experience China when in China.  I'm suspicious of everything and I still feel a bit queasy.  But I don't want to spend two days in the bathroom like two years ago.

We meet our little girl today at 3:00 pm!  I'm so excited to meet her but sad for her trauma and shock.  Our guide, David, gave some good suggestions are we are going to try and stay outside where it's interesting and less confined.  Other families have children close to Audrey's age so we hope to have them play together, we'll take it as it comes.  We are willing to be silly as it takes to try and distract her.  But we know she will be grieving all that she has lost.

We are having trouble as our blog is blocked as well as facebook.  I'm asking my sister to post, so hopefully one of them will be able to.  Hope to have some pics to send soon.

Our Itinerary

It's kind of coincidental that we will be in China on nearly the same time frame as we were when we adopted Timothy in 2008. Last time we left on Dec 3 and returned on Dec 17. This time we leave Dec 3 and return on the 18th. But two years ago we also went sightseeing for 3 days in Beijing.

Guangxi is actually an autonomous region is located in the south of China and we will be meeting our daughter in Nanning, the capital city of this province. Guangxi is just north of Vietnam with Yunnan province on it's western border and Guangdong province to the east.

The CCAA came out with lots of approvals recently so lots of parents will be joining us in China hoping to finalize their adoption in 2010.

We leave Friday and will be meeting Audrey just a couple of days later.

Sat Dec. 4 : Beijing - just overnight for a short respite
Sun Dec. 5: Nanning - meet Audrey the next day!
Fri Dec. 10: Guangzhou - to finish paperwork

Sat Dec. 18: Hong Kong

Hello beautiful girl

Well here we are about to adopt our little girl - Timmy's going to have a little sister! This is causing him a bit of anxiety which manifests itself in hyperactivity. Our little easygoing man gets a bit nutty when he's anxious this time he was literally running around in circles. We made Timmy a book explaining that he's getting a little sister and that he'll be staying with his grandparents while we are in CN. He told me he wants to go with us and that China is scary. Break my heart! Poor guy! It took us a long time to decide whether or not to take him with us and feel like we made the right decision but we are going to miss our baby.