'Cause It's All About The Poo

As anyone who has read anything about China adoption knows, you anxiously wait for that first poopy diaper. They told us to make sure Sera did not go more than 48 hours between poopy diapers even if we had to resort to drastic measures. When we first received Sera, we were right up on the deadline when we decided to use the suppository. She was obviously miserable, and the prune juice wasn't doing a thing.

After that, I set mental deadlines. No poopy diaper by such-and-such time and she'd have to have another suppository. She always went to the limit, but would have one just in time. She was averaging every other day.

Yesterday marked the third day in a row where we had a daily poopy diaper. Woo Hoo! Now to totally embarrass her when she reads this some day, I have to say that I love the face she makes when she's taking care of business. She scrunches up her eyes and nose and her entire face turns red. She then gives a little grunt and smiles. It's hysterical.

If you read my last post before Jim came in and edited, I apologize. I usually proofread myself, but time was short and sleep was shorter. When Jim saw what I mess I had written, he cleaned it up for me.

We've turned a corner, and today is starting out wonderfully. Jim and I didn't really feel jet lagged as we were more than willing to sleep on the US schedule. Sera, on the other hand, was all discombobulated. It peaked on Saturday. Friday had been a beautiful day so we were able to get out and about all day in the sun. Saturday was gray, cold, rainy, and snowy. We spent far too much of the day napping and lazing around. We had been invited over to our friends', Doug and Laura, house for dinner. It was great to get out of the house and have a home cooked meal. Sera had a great time playing with, or watching, their children and fell asleep around 7. We left at 9 because it wasn't as cute when I started falling asleep on their sofa. By the time we got home, gave Sera her last bottle, and got her to bed it was 11 pm. We went to bed at 11:05. At 2 AM, she woke up. Jim tried to get her back to sleep for 30 minutes. Then I tried. After an hour, I got her asleep and 10 minutes later she was crying. We gave up. She wanted to get up.

Around 6ish, we headed out. We knew she needed more sleep and she'd sleep in the car. We hoped she'd fall asleep and we'd get some breakfast and then find a 24-hour store because they'd be open at dawn o'clock on a Sunday morning. The plan worked, except for the sleep part.

At 9:30, we decided that a long drive might do the trick. We wanted her to get a long nap in early in the day. We decided to drive up into Michigan to look for Tigers stuff. The drive would be about 40 minutes each way. On our way, we decided just to head up to Kalamazoo. She slept for about two hours. We got to Kalamazoo and went to Meijer's, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and Babies R Us. Yes, all of these stores are in our home town, too. We then headed back home. She slept for another hour on the way home.

Once home, Jim and I played with her on the floor of her nursery. We kept her playing hard. We were all fading. She was ready for sleep, Jim was operating on 3 hours sleep, and I had one more hour because I fell asleep on the way home from Kalamazoo, too.

We decided we needed to leave the house again. We went out to a neighborhood restaurant we like. Chinese food, can you believe it??? We got home at 5:50. I heard Jim snoring in our room by 6pm. Sera was down by 6:15, and I was asleep by 6:30. She slept until midnight. Her longest single stretch since we've gotten home. I tried to get her back to bed, but she wouldn't go back into a deep sleep and kept crying. I took her into the guest room and we slept until 4 am. TEN HOURS!!!! What a wonderful morning. Jim played with her while I got to shower, start some laundry, plan her clothes for the day, and just have a minute to myself. Then I took over play duty while he got ready for work.

At 6:30, she went down for her morning nap. I was able to eat breakfast, fold a load of clothes, fill the washer and dryer again, get the paperwork ready for her doctor's visit today, and write this. I'm letting her sleep as long as she wants as we have a busy afternoon planned and she won't get a long afternoon nap today.

It really is about the basics right now, eating, pooping, and sleeping...and not necessarily in that order.

If you tried calling or emailing me this weekend, I apologize for not getting back to you. If we were home, we were probably asleep.

I Just Flew In From China, and Boy Are My Arms Tired!

Wow, it seems like forever since I last posted. A lot has gone on since then. Let me start with our last days in China.

I believe I left off just before we left for the U.S. Consulate. That was some experience. Wouldn't you think a U.S. government building, even in another country, would be ADA compliant? Well, no. A huge flight of stairs and then five floors of escalators with a stroller. Good times.

Once there, we were escorted into a large room filled with chairs. In the middle was an Ikea children's table, chairs, and some toys. The vast majority of the children being adopted were too young for these, but they sure came in handy for the big sisters and brothers. The room was standing room only as we learned that there were 55 families there waiting to be sworn in and receive their visas. There were around 20 or so with my agency as the rest had their appointments scheduled for the next day. We waited for about 15 minutes before getting in line. When we reached the front, the attendant verified that the child we held matched the photo on the passport and visa application. We then returned to our seats.

After another 20-30 minutes, an official came out. Before beginning the swearing in ceremony, he made an announcement saying that he had bad news. A computer glitch in Washington D.C was preventing the approved visas from printing. All 55 waiting families had been approved, but only 8 visas had printed. The problem had started the previous Monday and was affecting U.S. Consulates around the world, not just in China. He explained a few more details and then performed the swearing in ceremony.

He asked us all to raise our right hands and repeat what he said. Sera had just learned within the day or two prior to wave to people. When she saw a room full of people raise their hands, she did too. How cute is that!!

After we were sworn in, the family sitting with us told us that Tracy had just told him that "you two are fine, your visas came in." He took that to mean his family and ours. Jim was more cautious and thought she might have meant John and his wife, Jen. We hunted her down to confirm and learned that we did have our visa. She handed the brown envelope to us that we'd have to turn in to Immigration in Chicago. She was visibly upset because she hadn't been warned at all. Her cell phone number was on every one of our applications. If she'd known in advance, she could have prepared our group. This was devastating news as you can't leave China without that visa. Tracy and a couple of parents stayed behind while the rest of us returned to the hotel. The other coordinators were frantically working to change everyone's travel plans as most were scheduled to leave Guangzhou before 8 the following morning. 8:00 AM was the time the official gave us as most likely to receive the rest of the visas.

Jim and I felt so bad for our fellow travellers. Many of them had children waiting at home. When you're at the end of a long trip, the last thing you want to hear is that you can't go home. There were tears and the Consulate official definitely had his ear turned by a few parents.

I had finished the majority of our packing before we left for the consulate. Our plan after returning to the hotel was to get an early dinner, finish up our shopping, buy a suitcase, and finish packing. The families who were flying to Beijing or Tokyo had to have their luggage packed and ready that night for pick up. The two families, including us, flying to Shanghai had to have our bags packed and ready by 6:30 AM.

On our way out to eat, we ran into many of the families who had not received their visas. We felt so bad that we knew we were heading home when they were still unsure. I know they didn't blame us, but it still felt awkward.

The Cow and Bridge was our favorite restaurant on Shamian Island, so we returned there for our final meal. We then went to Jordon's and bought some final gifts and a suitcase. Sera was getting cranky so Jim took her back to the hotel while I went and picked up a gift we had made and to spend the rest of our yuan.

When I got back to the hotel room, Jim headed to Tracy's room to pick up our paperwork. It was probably around 8:30 by this point. Tracy and the other coordinators were there. She had just received the call that all the visas had come through. Jim said the room was filled with people waiting to hear and that they just started cheering. We were so happy to hear they'd all be going home. The only problem now was they hadn't packed and luggage pick up was scheduled in one hour! I'm sure they were given an extension. We were especially pleased because we had travelled with one particular family for the entire trip. We met in Chicago and had been together the whole time. We now knew we'd travel back to Chicago with them.

Since we were flying to Shanghai again, we were still limited to the one checked bag of 44 pounds per person. We knew we weren't going to make it. We were supposed to have a seat on the flight for Sera, but our travel agency had only gotten us a lap ticket. We weren't concerned because it was a two hour flight, but really needed the extra suitcase her ticket would give us. Between the group pictures and the consulate visit, Jim and Tracy took a taxi to China Southern and bought Sera a seat ticket. It was a great experience for Jim to see a little more of the real Guangzhou.

We didn't have enough to fill a third suitcase, but having it allowed me to spread things out a bit more. After I packed all our bags, Jim weighed them on the bathroom scale, and we were actually underweight on each bag. If there is a luggage packing competition, I want in.

Our travel day started very smoothly. We were driven to the airport with two other families. One would stay with us, while the other was catching a flight to Hong Kong. We arrived in Shanghai and headed towards American Airlines. We had to wait in line for almost two hours before they finally started checking us in. We got to the counter, and I pulled our tickets from my passport holder and Sera's ticket was missing. Jim's and my tickets were e-tickets, and we had the confirmation number on the itinerary. Sera's ticket had been paper. The guy checking us in was obviously new and struggled with our problem. It took two supervisors and over 40 minutes before they had us checked in. They wouldn't, however, give us the boarding passes until we went to the ticket counter and filed for a lost ticket. Jim waiting at the check in as they finished up. Sera and I headed to the ticket counter. There we ended up with two people working on it as they couldn't find her ticket in the computer. They suggested I contact my travel agency when I explained that my agency was in San Francisco where it was then around midnight.

By this time, Jim had joined us. He started digging through the adoption paperwork because he remembered that he'd pulled all the used boarding passes from our holders and put them in the portfolio in case I wanted to scrapbook them. Sure enough, there was Sera's ticket. By this time, I was tired, hot, dehydrated, and starving. I was so happy to see that ticket, I almost cried. The agents looked at the ticket and remarked how funny it was they couldn't find it. They then handed it back to me and said we could return to check in as we didn't need them now.

We grabbed our boarding passes and headed towards security. When we finally made it to our gate, we met up with the other family and a new one we'd met on the flight from Guangzhou. They had twin girls around 11 they'd adopted from Russia and their new 3-year-old daughter. I got Sera, who was also starving, fed and changed while Jim went on a food hunt for us. He brought back these club like sandwiches that under other circumstances might have disgusted me. I thought they were the best thing I'd ever eaten. Hunger truly is the best seasoning.

When they finally started boarding our flight, I heard those words I'd longed to hear during our trip. Families with small children may now board. It is sooooo much easier to settle in on a plane when you're on early then when you're being pushed and shoved by everyone else. I had Sera in the carrier and she actually fell asleep as we went through the boarding procedure. I had to take her out of the carrier as we started to taxi, but she still slept through it. She would have probably slept a couple of hours, but the PA announcements went on forever and woke her up. She was a little tired and clingy for about half an hour and then went into full play mode. By putting the backpack on the floor of the seat between Jim and me, we were able to create a level surface from the back of our seat to the back of the seat in front of us. We used the airline's blankets and pillows to create a baby-safe area in that seat. She played and laughed and giggled for several hours. When she went to sleep, we lay her there and she was able to stretch out and sleep. She slept for 8 hours and woke up about an hour before we landed. She was a trooper, and we couldn't have asked for an easier flight with her. Jim and I slept very little, Jim less than I. I did, on the other hand, watch three complete movies: Charlotte's Web, Miss Potter, and The Pursuit of Happyness.

It took about an hour to get through Immigration and Customs. When we finally got to the end we hugged our friends goodbye. They went in one direction to re-check their luggage, and we went another to meet our friend, Eric. We were soooo happy to be home. We stopped at one of the travel oases on the toll road and got a large Mountain Dew and a large Dr. Pepper with lots of ice and two Subway sandwiches filled with lettuce and other fresh veggies.

We got home around 9:30. Sera and Shadow are adjusting to each other. We think they'll end up best of friends. Sera is having some small sleep issues while adjusting, but relatively minor. Her normal 2-3 hour afternoon nap yesterday was more like 6 hours. We got up and out early to try and start adjusting. We ate breakfast out, went to the grocery store, and came home to try for a morning nap. It wasn't happening, so we went to Jim's school and made the introductions. She feel asleep in the car within 5 minutes on our way home. We decided to run errands to let her sleep. By the time we got to Target, she'd been asleep for an hour. We thought it would be safe to transfer her to her stroller if we reclined it. She barely woke up. We wandered around Target, letting her sleep while we shopped and window shopped.

When we put her back in her car seat, she went right back to sleep. We made a few more stops where I waited in the car with her. When we got home, we wanted to try and wake her up so we got a bottle ready. Nothing doing. This girl was down for her full night's sleep. I ended up falling asleep with her on the reclining sofa. I slept two hours; she ended up sleeping six.

My sisters had sent a wonderful barbecue pork dinner through Honeybaked Hams. I heated that up for dinner, and we had Sera back down for the night by 9 PM. She slept until 1 AM. Jim tried to get her back to sleep for almost an hour. At 2 AM, I took her in the guest room and surrounded us with pillows. She slept fitfully and played with my face and hands while I pretended to sleep until 6 AM.

It's now 9 AM, and she's crying as she fights a nap. She sounds so exhausted. Our poor baby needs some sleep, but she's handled the rest of the adjustments to her new home beautifully.

Oh, and regarding this post's title: My arms really are tired, but it's from holding Sera for all those hours on the plane!

Keeping My Promise

Here are the photos from yesterday and this morning as promised. We leave in about an hour for our consulate appointment. Then we'll finish our shopping, packing, and have our final dinner in China.

What do you do when you're stuck in your hotel room on a rainy day? Why play with an abacus,

or cheese for daddy,

or sing with daddy,


or play with daddy.

The entrance to the Chen Family Temple.
An embroidered screen.
Our entire group. There should be 33 families in there. We're in the middle. Our friend, Kevin, is on Jim's right.

The Chongqing Six. Sera's on the far right.

Our coordinator, Tracy, with all six babies, plus two older sisters.

Family red couch photo

Kevin swooped in and picked up Tracy for a red couch shot.

Countdown

I know, I know. What good is a post without pictures?

We did take pictures yesterday, but it's 3:30 in the morning here. I don't want to turn on the lights to find the camera and download them.

Let me start by wishing my sister a happy birthday. Even though it's the 11th here, it's the 10th back home, so today is her day. I also want to send a birthday shout out to Colleen. You will see your Hannah's face, soon.

Yesterday was a long morning and fun afternoon and evening. We woke up to rain, lots of rain, steady soak you to your bones rain. We went down to breakfast hoping it would let up as our plan was to walk the streets, take pictures, and shop. It never let up, so after breakfast it was back to our room. When Sera went down for her morning nap, I snuck out and did a little shopping. Jim and I brought jackets that we bought on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. They're reversible with fabric on one side and rain gear material on the other. I like the fabric side out better, but never wear it that way as I can't stand on that plasticy rain gear side feels. Anyway, no matter how you wear it, it's hot. It may have been raining, but it wasn't really that cold outside. With that jacket zipped up and the hood up, it was super hot.

I managed to find some things and headed back to the hotel after an hour. Just in time as Sera woke up about 5 minutes later. Now Jim is more than capable of taking care of her, but she is showing the slightest preference for me. It's easier if she sees me in the room, too. I have to say that Jim has turned out to be an amazing dad, not that I ever doubted it. I don't feel like I'm parenting Sera, and he is helping. I feel like we are parenting Sera. Granted, I've changed more diapers, but he's changed some. He spends every afternoon mixing up her formula and cereal mixture in this neat container he bought in Chongqing. It holds up to 4 bottles worth in a segmented bowl. You twist the top, remove the cap, and pour the contents into your bottle. Add hot water, and you have a bottle. He's also washing and sterilizing the bottles and nipples daily, and he's sherpa dad. He lugs around the cameras, diaper bag, and shopping bags and always keeps an eye out to help me when I'm carrying Sera. Buying that stroller in Chongqing was one of our best decisions. it's a great place to stash a lot of this stuff. She didn't care for it too much at first, but now enjoys it. I think it will help her adjust to the long ride home in a carseat, too. He also puts her to sleep so much better than I do. Jim has a good singing voice, and Sera loves music. He'll start singing to her and she is just mesmerized. She also joins in. It may not sound like singing to anyone else, but we know it is. I hope she has a good singing voice because it's already obvious that she loves it. We've been very lucky as she's bonding to both of us beautifully. I know we have a long way to go, but we're off to a good start so far. Knock on wood.

We played with Sera for a while before cabin fever hit Daddy, and he took his turn shopping. Okay, he really spent his time preparing for me to shop some more by going to the bank and changing money. He also picked up a snack at the deli for us.

After another nap, a shortened version of her afternoon nap, we met our group in the lobby for our last day of tours. We visited the Chen Family Temple. It was built at the end of the Qing Dynasty around 1890. It was not built as a place of worship, but rather for education. Chen is one of the largest family names and had around 70 families in the Guangdong Province with that name. They all donated money to build this temple, which was used to educate their children.

When the revolution happened and the government took over the building, it was turned into an art museum. The grounds and architecture as well as the art work itself are just breath taking. I hope the pictures do it justice.

While riding on the bus, our guide, Tracy, was catching us up on today's itinerary. She let us know that everyone's visa applications had been approved, except for Kevin and Jim's families because the consulate had heard about the April Fool's joke they had played on her. When Kevin's wife and I threatened to leave them with her, she promised to make sure their paperwork sailed through without problem. Tracy has been great. She's put up with the teasing and dished it right back.

Afterwards, we headed for the pearl market. This was an experience. It's a mall with about five stories. Virtually every store in the mall sells pearls or jewelry. Our guides took us to a particular kiosk where they vouch for the quality and ethics of the store. They were definitely used to getting large groups of adoptive parents. They pulled out all these little stools and a couple of cases of water. They lined the stools up just outside the door for the dads and babies, and then handed them water. The moms swarmed the store. You literally had to step over bags of pearls. Their quality varied, but even the least expensive were real pearls with natural color. They just weren't as perfectly round or had tiny discoloration marks or pits. Barely noticeable. I bought a few small gifts and an 18-inch strand of pearls that we'll give to Sera some day. They strung and knotted in between each pearl as I watched. I also picked out a silver clasp with the Chinese symbol for long life and happiness. I came out of the store quite pleased with my purchase when Jim had me return and pick out something for myself. He wanted me to get a necklace for myself, and I almost did. I then thought about the fact that I rarely wear necklaces and would actually prefer earrings. I found a lovely pair of blush tear drop earrings with a Chinese symbol on the post part. They symbol is actually for Chinese New Year. I would have preferred something more general, but it will be our secret when I wear them any time of the year. They give us wholesale prices, so we did amazingly well on pricing. I'm sure all agencies have a similar arrangment with stores as I've read many accounts of people going to the pearl market. I do kind of wish now that I had bought a few more things there though.

While we were waiting for the bus, one of our fellow Chongqing families suggested we do a hallway pizza party night. On the ride back, they borrowed our guide's phone and ordered pizza. Papa John's recently opened a few locations in the Guangzhou area. The pizza was great. I honestly couldn't tell a difference between it and the one at home. Food-wise, I would probably have preferred another night at the Thai restaurant, but companionship-wise, it couldn't be beat. We've made some wonderful friends, especially with the Chongqing part of our group. We have a special bond as our six girls all spent the first 9-12 months together. Our girls were all born within three months of each other. Towards the end of the evening, one of the dads went around the room asking everyone to describe their most memorable moment. Last night is now one of mine.

Today, we meet at 10:30 am for our red couch and group pictures. We then meet again at 2:40 pm for our consulate appointment. After breakfast, we plan to do the packing that didn't happen last night. Inbetween our appointments, I plan to spend the rest of our money. I'm buying Asian style outfits for several years worth of Chinese New Year celebrations, plus I have to load up on the squeaky shoes. They are just adorable, and you can't beat $3 a pair. At some point, we'll be buying another suitcase to lug our loot home. Our guide will be taking Jim by taxi to the airline office to try and upgrade Sera's ticket. If not, we'll be spending the amount of a plane ticket on overweight fees for our luggage without the luxury of the extra room on the flight.

My plan is at some point this afternoon to load up some more pictures, hopefully including the red couch ones. I doubt we'll have time to post another entry before we return home.

China has been an amazing experience, a rare few bad moments with a tremendous amount of good moments, and several that were just life-altering. We're ready to come home, but we'll always have fond memories of our trip to China.

Freedom!

One thing to keep in mind when adopting in China is the pace. Just about every minute seems to be scheduled. It doesn't look like that when you see the itinerary, but when you factor in two naps the day is filled. Yesterday, we had Sera's physical at 9:30 am, and then nothing was scheduled until 3:00 pm today when we tour the Chen Family Temple and the Pearl Market. What a relief to have over 24 hours with nothing planned.

For the first time since our first night in Beijing, Jim and I actually ate three meals yesterday. We'd been returning from morning tours with one hungry and tired baby, so we'd skip lunch. In Beijing, lunch was part of our tours, but we ended up missing dinner. One night because Jim was so tired he fell asleep that early and the other was the night I wasn't feeling my best. I think that was our jetlag.

We finally got to do a little shopping on Shamian Island. The prices are amazing. We're a little worried because even though we had requested a seat for Sera on each plane ride, our travel agent made arrangements for a lap ticket from Guangzhou to Shanghai. The domestic limit is one check in bag of 44 pounds per passenger. We get about an extra 20 pounds with the lap ticket. Our guide thought we'd be okay because most airlines are somewhat forgiving if it's part of an international leg. Unfortunately, we've learned ours isn't. They are very strict about the luggage limit and will charge us about $3.00 per kilo that we go over. We're looking now into changing her ticket into a regular child's ticket. We may have to taxi to the airlines office today to do this. The only concern seems to be whether or not our ticket is changeable. It doesn't say it isn't. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Last night for dinner, we went over to the Cow and Bridge Restaurant. It is Thai-style food, and it was delicious. I heartily recommend it.

A few more tips for those heading this way:

I have mastered the White Swan bed and actually had a good night's sleep. Overlap your two pillows and push them up the headboard. By sleeping on a slight incline and having a pillow underneath my shoulders, I was cushioned more. It was wonderful.

Sunkist! On our first night when we ate at Lucy's we saw they had orange soda. Eager for something different, Jim and I both ordered it. It's nothing like Sunkist Orange at home. This version is made in China. If I could, I'd buy cases and send it home. It tastes more like Orangina, but better. It's actual fruit juice with slight carbonation. The grapefruit flavor is even better.

We didn't get new pictures yesterday. I promise we'll have more tomorrow. In the meantime, let me dig through what we've taken and see if there are any good ones I haven't posted yet.




UPDATE: I should read a little before I post. Congratulations to the new families who received referrals yesterday, especially Alyson, Kristi, and Erin. To all of you still waiting, I can't believe only two days made it into this batch. My thoughts are with you all as we hope for another quick batch, especially you, Colleen!

The Hardest Part Is The Bed

Our first night at the White Swan. How exciting to know that we were following in the footsteps of so many other adoptive families. We got back to our room, got Sera settled in bed, which wasn't easy as she was overtired, and got ready for bed ourselves. Lay back and...OUCH...a cement bench would be more comfortable. Now all the beds we've experienced in China have been much, much firmer than we're used to, but this is an all-time high for hard. Honestly, this truly is the hardest part of the trip. They keep us busy each day with tours and paperwork, plus taking care of Sera is very time-consuming, wonderful, but time-consuming. I'm experiencing aches in parts of my body that have never ached before. Climbing into a comfortable bed at night would be wonderful. Alas, it's not an option. It's also why I got up at 4:30 this morning to read and blog. It was too painful lying in bed. I'd rather be tired.

Anyway, enough whining because I'm really having a wonderful time.

We experienced the White Swan breakfast buffet yesterday morning, and it is everything you've heard it to be. A large loud baby filled room with every kind of food imaginable. Jim and I ate. Sera threw cheerios and spoons on the floor, and we ran off to the lobby for what we thought was going to be a quick meeting to get our itinerary for the week. We got there and learned that there had been a miscommunication and we were actually about to leave on a tour. We, of course, had no diaper bag, no stroller, and no mid-morning bottle with us. Jim and Sera stayed there while I ran back to the room to get our stuff.

We ended up going to the jade market. It's a mall-type building. We were taken to the second floor into a room filled with kiosks selling artwork, cloisonne, embroidery, carvings, tea sets, a ton of other things, and, of course, jade. I spent way too much money there but we got a lot of gifts, including a bone china tea set that we'll give to Sera one day.

Then it was back on the bus. We were the last ones one the bus, I think we won in the who-has-the-most-shopping-bags contest. From the market, we headed to the Banyan Temple, a beautiful Buddhist temple. At the temple, we, and most of the other families, had our babies blessed by the monk.



Jim held Sera for the blessing while I tried to take pictures. The lighting was a bit dark, so you'll have to excuse my photography. He had to remove his shoes before entering the area. After the crowd faded away, there remained one tiny pair of shoes. Jim, sounding slightly panicked, started asking where his shoes were. I looked around and couldn't see them either. Then we heard a voice call Jim's name and we turned around. Erin, one of the Chongqing moms, had slipped her feet into Jim's shoes. She actually has her shoes on already in there.


We had a good laugh over it. When she apologized for scaring him, Jim admitted that his first thought was where was he going to find a pair of size 15 shoes in China?

We walked back outside, lit some incense, and chatted with our local guide about the differences between Mandarin and Cantonese. During the bus ride, she shared a saying with us, the people of Guangzhou will eat anything that flies, except airplanes, and anything that runs, except cars. The history of the area includes some difficult times when food was scarce and they ate anything to survive. They enjoyed these foods and still prepare them to this day. The foods include monkey, mice, snakes, cats, etc... I'll pass, thank you.

Sera started getting cranky because she was hungry, so we got on the bus early and fed her. Then it was back to the hotel where she went down for a 2 1/2 hour nap. After her nap, I tortured her by giving her a bath and putting on her Easter dress, which I immediately covered with her sweater since it's freezing! Jim delivered the last of our paperwork and fees to our coordinator and then we met for visa pictures.

After that, it was off to Lucy's for a beer and appetizer with the Chongqing group and then we met up with several families from the Guangdong group for dinner at the Station House, a restaurant inside train cars. It was a laughter filled evening. We have some great travel buddies.

We stayed a little too late and Sera started getting anxious for bed. Jim and I had finished eating, so we asked for our check to take her back to the hotel. There was some computer problem, so we ended up having to wait for about 20 minutes. During that time, Sera fell asleep in my arms. When it was time to go, we put her in the stroller. She fussed until we got moving and fell back asleep.

The restaurant is on the opposite end of the island, so we strolled down a road that's closed to traffic. It's for pedestrians and bicyclists only. There is a park in the median that was empty when we passed it earlier. It was now filled with local people. There was a playground and excercise equipment. Each was filled with someone working out or playing. I saw a lot of young people. It seemed like a place they hung out and visited in the evenings. It was just getting to be 9:00 pm, so it wasn't super late. When we got to the street where we needed to turn towards the hotel. Jim and I stopped to sit on the bench and watch the people for a few minutes. It was such a lovely night.

We got up and walked just a few steps when we saw a young child on the sidewalk. Jim had just mentioned that he wondered where her parents were when she headed towards the street. We were too far away to stop her. We then saw her parents across the street. It was such a blur, it happened so quickly. The child, about 3 or 4 years old, started to cross to her parents. They gestured wildly and were screaming in Chinese. We could hear a car racing down the street. Jim bellowed STOP in his loudest teacher voice and that child froze. The car sped past and the parents ran across the street to get her. They were the shopowners for one of the shops right there. I think they had left her inside and hadn't realized she had wandered out. Jim's yell scared Sera and woke her up. The couple came over and thanked Jim over and over and kept apologizing to me for waking Sera. We calmed Sera down and told them we were just happy that their child was safe. They invited us to come visit them today at their shop and promised us a "good deal." Jim and I were both shaking as we walked away. That was just too close.

Anyway, back to the room and another night ends. This morning we take Sera to get her physical and then we have nothing scheduled the rest of the day. Sounds like time to do some more shopping.

Sera in her too big and falling off Easter dress and a very tired Daddy.

Hazy 7:00 am view from our window.

A Sack Full of Puppies

A few last words about Chongqing. I can't remember if I've mentioned this already, and I'm too lazy to go reread my posts. Chongqing is an amazing city. The sidewalks are quite literally made out of marble. It makes San Francisco look slightly hilly. To cross the street, you either climb two flights of stairs up to a bridge or down to an underground area. The citizens don't need to buy a stairmaster. They just need to cross the street. This is a large city, and we only saw a small portion of it, but it definitely has character. The park outside our hotel lit up like Times Square at night with flashing lights. The fountains and buildings all had light shows and music played. I'm guessing it all stopped around midnight, but I never stayed up long enough to see.

Saturday morning, we all met in the lobby, once again, at 8:40 to head to the airport. While a little sad to leave Sera's home place that was tempered with the idea that she had actually spent less time in Chongqing than we had. The area she is from is about three hours to the north. Let me tell you...this is the way to travel. We are being so spoiled.

We had to have our checked bags packed and outside our room door by 9:30 pm on Friday night. When we left Saturday, we just had our carry ons. The man who took our luggage the night before headed to the airport about an hour before we did. He checked our bags, checked us in, and got our boarding passes. When we arrived at the airport, we just had to walk through security and on to our waiting area.

Now Sera has really blossomed the last few days, but I was worried that a big transition like this would throw her for a loop. We climbed aboard our plane and settled in for our 1 1/2 hour flight, which included lunch and two rounds of beverage service. For a 1 1/2 hour flight!!!

Anyway, Jim made her bottle after we boarded so it was ready to give to her during takeoff to help pressurize her ears. It was also time for her to eat. After her bottle, she played, giggled, performed her backbends, and giggled with Nora and Nora's mom across the aisle whom, by the way, I neglected to give photojournalist's credit for the hot pot pictures.

Which brings up another memory, so excuse me as I go off on a tangent. Sera is one of six babies from the Liangping orphanage. We found out when talking to the nannies that the other five babies in our group had all slept in the same nursery, but Sera had been in a different room. They did spend time together in the playroom. The first few days we had her, Sera didn't really want much to do with the other babies. That changed at the group dinner on our last night. We sat next to Samantha and her family. Samantha's mom was holding her while I held Sera. Next thing you know those two started reaching for each other and giggling. They'd get quiet for a minute and then one would giggle. That would set the other off. It was just precious. Then, to top it all off, they reached for each other and shared a big hug. I will confess that whole incident made me tear up.

Anyway, Sera did great on the flight though by the end I did compare to holding her when she's playful like that to trying to hold a sack full of puppies.

We arrived in Guangzhou to discover that the weather here is also gray, wet, and chilly. What happened to the tropical weather I had planned and packed for? On the other hand, I'm just happy it's not July.

The drive from the airport to the White Swan was quite sobering. We passed what seemed like hundreds, but probably dozens of immense highrise buildings jammed up together like dominos. The buildings all look old and in need of maintenace. Jim compared them to Cabrini Green (old projects in Chicago). Unfortunately, he's right. The level of poverty is just mind-boggling. The average income for many of the people here is less than we'd spend on good pair of shoes. Sobering.

Finally, we arrive on Samian Island at the White Swan Hotel. Rumors have it that it will be closing temporarily for renovations. The lobby doesn't need it, but the rooms are starting to look a bit tired. I recognize the fabric used to cover the headboard and bedspread as being popular in the 80's. The lobby area though...WOW! We'll have to get some pictures to share with you.

We had about an hour after arriving to regroup before meeting our guides in the lobby for a quick (10 minute) tour of the island. They told us you could walk completely around the island in 25 minutes.

After our tour we joined some fellow travellers for dinner at Lucy's. It started to rain, so we had to wait for a table inside. It was mainly filled with adoptive families, but there were three men smoking up a storm. We chose to wait a little longer to go to the non-smoking section. This caused our group to have to split. We ended up eating too late, but had a very enjoyable dinner.

One of them any buildings we saw on on way to the White Swan. They all looked about like this.


Here's a shot with bamboo scaffolding. Just amazing.

Where To Begin?

Here are the pictures from the hot pot restaurant. The restaurant was actually out of shrimp so they sent someone to the market to buy them for our dinner.

The next morning was the bus tour to the rivers and museum trip I already mentioned. If you want, I can add some pictures of the rivers and museum, but this one was my favorite from the day.


Our last full day in Chongqing didn't have any tours planned. We had a morning meeting to complete the consulate paperwork and then we had to be in our room that afternoon to receive Sera's passport. Inbetween, we went for a walk in the park in front of the hotel. It is literaly steps away. You don't even cross the street.

At the top of these stairs is the market. We didn't think we could bring in the stroller, so I sat outside while Jim went in. We wanted to load up on formula before leaving Chongqing. Within seconds of sitting down, I was swarmed by about 50 people. We had about three waves go through before Jim returned.
Here's Sera in the seconds before we were swarmed.
We had gotten away from the crowd and were almost back at the hotel when I saw these women walking really fast. They were trying to catch up to Jim to sneak a peek.
Here I am standing in front of the hotel. This is the Civil Affairs office where we received Sera.

The office is on the 14th floor, about two levels above the square.


Here's our attempt at a sofa picture of the Chongqing group. Sera is on the right end.

Here she's decided she's had enough.

And the group photo of the Chongqing crowd.

And at our group dinner afterwards.


The next morning, yesterday, we left for Guangzhou. More details to follow

Excuse This Temporary Interruption...

We're still here! We had dinner last night with the gang, and it took much longer than expected. Then we had to have our luggage packed up for pickup at 9:30 the same night. This morning we left Chongqing and are now at the infamous White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou. We're meeting our guide in a half hour to get the quick tour and lay of the land. More details to follow.

In the meantime, here's another picture of Sera at the silk museum. She's totally over it here and wanting a nap.

Getting To Know You, Getting To Know All About You

What an incredible day yesterday turned out to be.

As I mentioned, we had some tours scheduled. We boarded the bus and headed off to the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. It was about a 30 minute ride. In other words, just long enough for Sera to drift off into a nap. Now our paperwork said she only took one nap a day in the afternoon. All of our paperwork said that, but we've all discovered that our daughters like a morning nap as well. Sera had had such a rough night the night before and her nap schedule messed up the day before that I was wasn't willing to wake her up. I stayed on the bus while everyone else walked around the river and let Sera sleep. She slept for a good 40 minutes and woke up just a few minutes before the first person (Jim) returned to the bus. Jim and the other dads started negotiating with some of the peddlers through the closed bus windows. They kept lowering their price until someone would get out of their seat and go to the door to buy their wares. We bought a map of China, Chongqing, and the Three Gorges Dam, plus some painted fans.

Afterwards, we headed off to the Three Gorges Museum. To be honest, it didn't do much for me. Sera isn't really fond of her stroller so she and I went out to the entrance and sat while the others toured. It was all about the building of the dam and the archeological structures. Jim was a good dad and got photos and video. Then we rode the elevator up to the 4th floor and watched a presentation by the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute on calligraphy painting. Afterwards, we looked at their different crafts and bought some embroidery and banyan leaf painting. It was important to me to buy some of the local crafts for Sera.

Then it was back on the bus and back to the hotel, Sera just loved looking out of the window and watching the people and the cars. She was fascinated. We got back to the room, fed her another bottle and down she went for her afternoon nap. We had to wait in our room for our guide to bring back the notarized copies of our adoption for final inspection. Jim and I laughed as we realized that once again we were skipping a meal. The food here has been fabulous. We're eating breakfast everyday, but it seems like we only get a chance for one more meal in the day. This parenting stuff is hard work!

Sera woke from her nap slowly. She likes to ease into things, but soon she was playing and giggly. This is when we took the video that you saw yesterday.

At 5:00, we gave her another bottle and got ready to head down for dinner. We were meeting the group in the hotel lobby. Frederick and Tracy escorted us below the hotel into the underground where we had dinner at a hot pot restaurant.

Jim forgot the camera, but we'll get pictures from others in our group.

In the middle of the table there is a huge basin inset in the table. The outer ring is boiling liquid. It is fiery red and filled with chile peppers. In the center, is another small basin filled with what appears to be a chicken stock and slivers of ginger, and veggies. Small dishes of beef, pork balls, a funny bacon looking beef, mushrooms, tomatoes, potatoes, a tofu type item that looked like noodles, and cucumbers. We each had a bowl of sesame oil that we mixed fresh garlic, vinegar, salt, and msg to taste. You then took some raw food and cooked it in whichever basin you preferred. You then dropped it into your oil bowl and ate it. We also got some bowls of steamed rice. We were about halfway finished when they brought out skewer whole shrimp and placed them in the hot ring. We pulled them out after a few minutes, and they were delicious. Some at our table were a bit put off because they still had their heads. My first memories of eating boiled shrimp as a child in New Orleans included ripping their little heads off. That doesn't bother me at all. Jim and I had taken turns holding Sera during dinner. He had her when the shrimp arrived, I was ripping and peeling for both of us. It was fabulous. That outer ring is really, really spicy. Our entire table was just dripping sweat, but we kept eating. Even Frederick and Tracy, who are locals, said that this was a very spicy batch. I think they were impressed so many of us ate from the outer ring.

After dinner, a few in the group were going to head a few doors down to the market. Jim had Sera in the sling so he went back to the room while I headed to the market. I picked up a few gifts there and was standing to the side talking to one of the adoptive dads. We were watching the crowd gather to see Kevin. We really need to get a picture of him with Jim. I've never seen anyone make Jim look small before. Kevin is so good natured about all the attention he gets.

The others were ready to leave, but I still needed a few things so I headed to the other side of the market. I couldn't find what I was looking for and just start to feel weird. By now, I was the only non-Asian in the store, and I was getting all the attention. Not quite to the degree Kevin does, but double takes at the tall, large white woman were a little disconcerting. Everyone was very nice and polite, but it just feels weird to get that much attention. I gave up on my search and headed to the checkout counter and then back to the hotel.

On the way to the room, I passed the Japanese restaurant we'd eaten at the night before. Jim and I had been missing a bottle and thought we might have left it there. It took some pantomiming and a couple of people, but we finally figured each other out and they produced my bottle.

When I got up to our floor, some of the parents were visiting in the hall. I hung out there for a few minutes chatting when I heard a baby cry. I knew it was Sera. It doesn't take long to recognize the sound of your child, does it?

I came in the room and found Jim changing her diaper. His first! He had come upstairs and gotten her to sleep when he realized he hadn't changed her diaper. She was not pleased about being disturbed, but he didn't want her to get a rash from sleeping with a wet diaper. He's such a good daddy. He got her changed and we put a sleeper on her. She and I had a few minutes cuddle time, but then she went back to dad. He's pretty good about getting her to sleep, but she wouldn't have it last night. It was like we missed the window of her going to sleep easily by changing her diaper.

He held her for awhile and then gave her to me to see if I had better luck. She would lie in our arms, sucking her thumb, and would almost drift off when she'd squirm and open her eyes. While I was holding her, she started to explore with her fingers. She was running her hands up and down my arms and across my chest. She picked at my bra strap through my shirt and was just feeling her way around. I lay down with her and we lay face to face. She then started exploring my face. My dentist hasn't examine my mouth and teeth as thoroughly. She rubbed my cheeks and ran her fingers down my nose, and stuck a finger in my nose. She poked at my glasses until I removed them and then touched my eyes. It was a wonderful watching her get to know me. You could just tell she was learning my face. I would imitate her and do the same things on her face, and she'd smile and giggle. After a bit, she acted like she was going to get fussy because she could't snuggle in as close to me as she likes so I sat back up. She squirmed and tried to get comfortable, but couldn't so I laid her in the crib. It's probably not a good idea for her to think she can only go to sleep when we're holding her. She fussed for a minute, so I strked her back until she lay down. I sat on the bed where she could see me. She lay there sucking her thumb and watching me. I decided to lay down to see what she would do as I knew her view of me would be blocked by the crib bumper. After a minute or two, she raised her head, looked for me, saw I was still there, and put her head back down. I would love to say she fell immediately asleep, but I don't know because I did. I was fully dressed and still had things I needed to do, but it didn't matter. I was out!

I haven't added any pictures in because they're still in the camera. I don't want to turn any lights on as both Jim and Sera are still sleeping. I guess they're sleeping in today. The only thing on the agenda is a 10:00 am meeting that I will attend to do the consulate paperwork, so we're not in any rush. We want to go to the park outside our hotel and to the market to get more formula.

Here's an extra picture from the zoo. You know I love you when I post the shots that aren't the best of me, but I love them anyway because they're of us. Enjoy that Tigers cap I'm wearing as that was the last time it was seen. It was too hot, so I put it in the stroller basket and it was never seen again. I'll post the pictures from yesterday later.



The Stuff Not Everyone May Want To Know:

baby clothes - according to our medical information, I was expecting Sera to be on the borderline of 9-12 month clothes. The 12-month outfits swim on her. The 6-9 month Gymboree outfits fit her perfectly as do the Carter sleepers. In the Carter separates, the 6-month onesis are a little loose as are the pants, but they're too short. Basically, she fits best into 6 month for her torso, but her legs are a little too long and do better with the 9 month. She's not as close to 12 month sizes as I first thought.

eating - our update also said that she was eating 1/2 an egg as a snack each day. I don't think this is true. She guzzles down her bottles, but didn't appear to know how to swallow food. She's finally started eating Cheerios and Gerber Puffs. When we finally got her to take them, we learned that she wasn't swallowing them. She had a cheekful of paste in her mouth that came out in one big drool. Fun stuff. She's now swallowing them and gets visibly excited when she sees them. If I hold a Cheerio up though, her mouth opens like a little bird. She has to lick anything we try to feed her and grimaces each time. The key is how she reacts when we do it again. If she likes it, she opens up. If she doesn't, she turns her head and pushes your hand away. We'll start slowly on the food thing, but she'll catch up.

moving around - Jim saw her crawl once on the first day. She hasn't again. She hasn't stood much either, but that appears to be changing. She's starting to reach for me. Yesterday, all three of us were playing on the bed when she got a little fussy. Neither of us reached for her. We waited to see what she would do. She reached over, grabbed my sleeve with one hand and pulled herself upright and into my shoulder. I think she can do more than she's shown us so far.

fine motor skills - she can easily pick up her toys and bang them together. She can even pick up the Cheerios and Puffs though she has not once brought them to her own mouth. She much prefers to throw them and anything else.

No Autographs, Please

Jim worked on some video today while Sera and I played. We'll get the moment we met up soon.

Like Clockwork

I guess I have some 'splaining to do.

Yesterday started out as a very good day. We had breakfast and headed to the Chongqing Zoo. The panda bears are from this part of China and this zoo has several of them. The grounds of this zoo are beautiful, though not very well kept. We only visited a small part of the zoo has we only had about an hour. After the zoo, we went to the silk factory and then back to the hotel where the fun really started.

Jim got many great pictures. I'll share a few with you.

This is a shot of Chongqing from the bus. This isn't pollution. The air is always this hazy. It was actually pretty clear.

Since Chongqing is all hills, this man has a pretty tough job right now. I guess I'd better quit complaining!

Sera is checking things out on the bus. She wasn't really sure about it to start, but she decided she liked bus rides.

Here are some panda shots. This one was having lunch.

Another panda shot.

This woman stayed with our group from pretty much the time we entered the zoo. She's 90-years-old. She comes to the zoo to walk around and look for cans and bottles. She "helped" a few of us push our strollers. She spent the most time helping push Sera.

These women were performing a type of tai chi with swords at the zoo. I'm not sure if they were entertainment or just exercising.
After the zoo, we headed to the silk factory. Here's a shot of Sera with daddy.

One unbroken thread from a cocoon can exceed one mile in length. This is the contents of a cocoon. Four people each grab a corner and pull.

They can pull this out to the size they need, even as big as a king-sized bed. They lay layers and layers of this silk together to form the insides of the quilts. The then make something like a duvet. You can buy one for less than $100.

These are the silk covers that you wrap around the silk quilts. These will cost you around $200. $300 will buy you a standard no frills king-sized comforter in the States. Here, you can get a 100% silk handmade quilt for about the same price.

We bought a baby bed set for Sera, 2 meters of fabric, and a tie covered with math symbols.

Shortly after returning to the hotel, Sera went down for a nap. It was really late. She fell asleep a few times on the bus just to awaken when we got to our destination. She slept about 1 1/2 hours. She was a little grumpy when she woke up, but not too bad. We decided to head downstairs to the underground. If you go to the basement level of this hotel, and then ride an escalator down, you are in a shopping & restaurant area. We went to check it out. It's not geared to tourists at all. We wandered around, but the shops were not what we were looking for. We headed back up one level where there are a few other restaurants and tried the Japanese place. Dinner was delicious, and Sera was hysterical. She was really coming out of her shell. She played and acted silly. We ordered steamed egg for her, but she wouldn't touch it.

According to the last update we received, she's supposed to be eating 1/2 an egg a day besides her four bottles of formula. Well, we've tried steamed and scrambled - no go. We've tried congee - no go. At the Japanese restaurant, we tried noodles. She liked sucking on them, but she didn't eat them. She wasn't really going for the Cheerios or Puffs either. Last night I realized that she doesn't know to swallow food. She was sucking on the noodle, we thought eating it, when she started coughing and out came the noodle whole. Today, she started showing interest and excitement over the Cheerios and Puffs, so we're going to stick with those for now. I don't think she was ever fed anything other than formula before.

Anyway, after dinner we came upstairs and she started fussing. I should mention that we added prune juice to her afternoon bottle as we hadn't had the infamous poop yet. Those of you "in-the-know" with Chinese adoption already know all about this. The transition is often traumatic for the babies and often they don't poop right away. We were prepared and brought some prune juice, prune puree, and suppositories. The prune juice didn't work. She fussed and fussed. She'd try to go to sleep and wake right up. Her tummy wasn't hard, but she was obviously uncomfortable. She would only stop crying if I held her, and only if I sat straight up. If I leaned back against the headboard, she'd cry out. We decided to skip the puree and went straight for the suppository. I basically held Sera from about 7 pm until 11:45 pm when Jim woke up. He found Sera and I both asleep. I'd found a way to hold her upright as I leaned against some pillows. He placed her in her crib and she slept until about 7:30 this morning. She woke up happy and with a poopy diaper. Yay!

Today, we went to the see the confluence of the two rivers and the Three Gorges Museum. We bought some banyan leave paintings and some local embroidery. These are the crafts this area is famous for, and we want Sera to have some things from her homeland. We haven't downloaded those pictures yet. I'll put some up when we do. I'll also try to get some video up. The connection can be spotty, plus we haven't had the time to get it ready for uploading. Hopefully, we can soon. Tonight, we're going out to dinner with the group for Hot Pot. More details later.

With Chinese adoption, they say it takes about three days and a poopy diaper before the babies start coming out of their shells. Sera followed this timetable like clockwork.