Guess Which Baby We Got?

When we arrived in Chongqing, our guide told us there were four types of babies: the happy baby, the crying baby, the quiet baby, and the baby who only liked one parent. The babies eventually adjust, it's more a matter of how your first few days together are going to go.

As you saw from yesterday's pictures, Sera was smiling and giggling within 45 minutes of returning to our room. We were pretty sure we had a happy baby. Even when she started crying, she cried herself to sleep and slept 11 hours. When she woke, she was a happy baby. She guzzled down her first bottle. She had missed her last bottle the night before. She wouldn't take one from us when we first tried and then she fell asleep early. I kept thinking she'd wake up hungry, but she didn't. After her breakfast bottle, we put some clothes on her. She's not fond of diaper changes, but once she's off her back, she calms down, and went down to the breakfast buffet. She was neither comfortable or happy in the high chair. She wouldn't touch the cheerios or puffs or scrambled eggs I tried to feed her. We may have the only baby in the world who does not see the fascination with Cheerios. She wants nothing to do with them. She has eaten a few of the Gerber Puffs in the sweet potato flavor, but just not at this meal. She seemed to wait until Daddy finished eating when she started to fuss and cry. Jim took her out of the chair and held her until I was finished. All and all, she'd had a good morning. She'd played with her toys, eaten her breakfast, and smiled and giggled for us.

Our plan was to meet our guide in the lobby at 10 AM. We were going to go on a shopping trip to buy more formula and whatever else our babies or we needed. One thing we wanted to buy was an umbrella stroller. We have a mei tai carrier, but it is so hot here that I'm not sure I want to use it. I also have a sling that I planned to use to go to the store. At first, Sera looked like she was going to go to sleep. I had second thoughts about going, but decided to go for it. While we were waiting in the lobby, I realized it wasn't going to work. The sling was cutting into my neck. I couldn't imagine how I was going to walk to the store, shop, and walk back carrying things when it already hurt. I headed back to the room, and Jim went on without me. In our group of six, three moms went and three stayed back with our babies.

When I came back upstairs, housekeeping was cleaning our room. I dropped off the diaper bag and went to the sofas by the elevators to wait. Within minutes of sitting down, Sera was sound asleep. I made the right decision in not going. According to the paperwork we received, she takes one 1 1/2 hour nap from 1 pm - 2:30. This was early, but then she's had a rough few days. Well, she slept from shortly after 10 until 1:30. She woke up groggy and discombobulated and just downright grumpy. We gave her another bottle, but she basically cried from 2:00 until 5:00. We had brief respites, but for the most part she just cried. I hadn't given her a bath the previous evening as I figured she'd gone through enough. After hours of crying and sweating (yep, she's my daughter. she's a sweater!), she needed a bath. That poor child was just sticky with sweat. I figured since she was already miserable, we might as well torture her.



As soon as I lifted her out of the tub and wrapped her in the towel, she stopped crying. She then started again as I diapered and dressed her. She was just inconsolable this time. Even though it was a little early, I went ahead and made her bottle and Jim fed her. She, the master at guzzling hot lava in 60 seconds, drank about half her bottle and then started playing with it. It was really interesting to watch as her fingers moved up and down and all around the bottle learning its curves. Jim took his hand away and she was holding it on her own. She was no longer drinking, but didn't want to let it go. We want her to know that the food is there when she wants it, so we didn't take it from her. We let her keep it and find comfort in holding her bottle. Soon, the crying baby left and the happy baby came back. She laughed and giggled and flirted with daddy. We had another small bout of tears and then she was out.

Sera and I only left the room once today and that was to eat breakfast. Tomorrow, we plan to visit the Chongqing zoo. I hope we have the happy baby back, and we find a stroller. Jim didn't find one yesterday.
More Updates

adaptors/converters - We're in our second hotel and still didn't need either. The only items we have to plug in convert the voltage on their own. The hotels seem to have outlets that will accommodate all types of plugs. The one here in Chongqing even has a surge protector in the room.

Gifts - Everyone fixates on gifts. We did. And everyone who has BTDT says it's no big deal. They're right. You pile all the gift bags up and never see who they're going to. I planned for a dozen, we needed four. I pulled some things out to make separate gifts for our coordinators and just gave the rest to the nannies. I brought a few Notre Dame t-shirts which I gave to the registry official and the notary. The third I'll give to our male guide. I also brought a dozen chocolate bars from a locally owned candy company, a dozen bags of Jelly Bellys, a dozen packets of sunflower seeds, about two dozen travel sized deodorants, and a dozen bottles of red nail polish. For the orphanage director, I bought a bottle of
Scotch at the duty free store in the airport. I also brought eight blankets for the orphanage.

Free time - The baby does sleep. You will have time to do other things. Bring your laptop, or bring a book.

I've been to the store here, and it's true. Anything you need is easily available. We didn't bring a lot of snacks, and I don't regret it. I've seen anything we could want here, including Oreos, Snickers, and Haagen Dazs bars.