We had a great Christmas day yesterday. It was nice to be home and not traveling on Christmas. While we missed seeing our extended family it was very nice to have a quiet first Christmas home with Halle. I don't think she realized anything was too different from an ordinary day. She got a Dora kitchen set that she saw first and didn't really get into the other presents. She helped open a few but I still don't think she got it. We didn't try to introduce her to Santa partly due to time, not wanting to mess with the crowds at the mall and mostly because I think she would have been terrified. She was saying ho, ho, ho when she saw pictures of him and trying to say Merry Christmas but I think only a loving parent would be able to recognize it :) Halle also received a miniature trampoline that Paul & Jacob set up in the basement. She seems to be enjoying it. The weight limit is 100 pounds so none of us can demonstrate it for her! The big kids did fairly well considering it was supposed to be a smaller Christmas due to the trip to China. I'm afraid Jacob was a little less than thrilled with all the clothes he received. He is growing so fast that he is outgrowing everything. He and Paul are going to see the Buckeye's basketball game tomorrow so hopefully that will make up for the socks and at least I didn't buy him any underwear!
Halle's vocabulary continues to increase every day. She is starting to put together simple sentences now. She says good girl to herself and the dog quite a bit. Yesterday she didn't really take a normal nap so around 4:30 she was tired. She was trying to tell me something but I couldn't tell if she wanted to go to the bathroom or she wanted a bottle. We walked into the kitchen and an old bottle was sitting there. She pointed to it and said - there it is!
Her favorite activity continues to be dancing. She knows how to turn the radio on and will start waving her hands. Now she has added a pretty cute bottom wiggle too :) She's still not too interested in books I'm afraid. I'm trying to get her to look at them when she is sitting on the potty - a very long process sometimes so I've got a captive audience! She loves her cartoons. The Noggin Channel is very good. They have lots of singing and dancing. Most of them are above her level but she definitely gets her groove on with some of them. They even have a new cartoon out about a little Chinese girl. The show incorporates words in Chinese. I've only seen it a few times. I hope it catches on more.
We are hoping to get to the zoo to see all the lights. Unfortunately it has been too cold. Today it has finally warmed up but now we are getting a ton of rain. It was even thundering today much to Keisha's dismay.
We are heading to Elyria for a late Christmas dinner with Paul's siblings. It will be nice to see everyone and introduce them to Halle. With all the cousins it should be quite a gathering. I wish we lived closer to everyone so we could see them more often.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Home for a month
Hi,
It's been so long since I posted and so much has happened I don't know where to begin. We've been home for a little over a month. It is amazing how far Halle has come. She is starting to settle into a semi routine sleep wise. She is only taking one nap a day for a little over an hour. When I'm lucky and catch her right when she is waking up I can usually rock her back to sleep for about half an hour more. Luckily she has an early bed time. We get in the "tub tub" around 7:15 and she is usually asleep by 8:00. We've started with a lotion rub down after her bath due to her very dry skin. She seems to really enjoy that and her skin seems much better.
We went to Children's International Adoption Clinic on Friday and Monday. So far she has gotten great reports. We met with a doctor, nutritionist, physical therapist, audiologist, psychologist and had blood drawn and gave 2 lovely stool samples. All the doctors think she is doing great. I have to agree. Her vocabulary is increasing daily. But what amazes me is how much she comprehends.
Last week was a struggle. Paul's first week back to work and I had a big work project and a sweats order. Grandma Sue came for a few days to help out. She and Halle did great for the first hour or so and then she only wanted Mommy. I'm finally becoming the preferred one although whenever Sami or Paul spend time with her it's all them - love the one your with is her philosophy. It was a struggle to try to get all the work done. Luckily I had a very understanding client and a great big kid. Sami gets home from school a little after 1:00. I don't know what I'd do without her help! Everyone said that sometimes "the wait" was because the perfect child wasn't ready for our family yet. While I tend to agree that Halle is the perfect child for us, what I think now is that the wait was necessary for Sami & Jacob to grow up. If we would have gotten Halle 3 years ago Sami & Jake would be 3 years younger and in much more need of mommy time. They wouldn't have gone with us to China which would have been a travesty. I keep saying it was an amazing adventure but that of course is an understatement. It is hard to describe it. Now it seems almost like a dream. I feel bad that I'm not spending as much time with the big kids but Halle takes up so much time. I get to see Sami more because she is home more in the afternoon. It's Jacob that I worry about most. We talked briefly about it the other day but I'm sure he feels left out. Hopefully we can have some good quality family time together over Christmas break.
Jacob has his first basketball game on Saturday. He is playing in the community recreation league. It seems funny that both kids aren't at basketball practice and/or games every day. It has been great for me that it means I'm not running every where every day with Halle in tow but we do miss the games, especially Paul. Jacob is also playing on a club volleyball team. They practice twice a week and have tournaments. I think that will be kicking into full swing in January. Sami has her soccer practice twice a week and she is hopeful to play on an indoor team in January. I think January is going to be a blur.
We had a very nice visit with Paul's sister and nephew and his family (Linda, Johnny, Erin and Lauren). Lauren just turned one year old last month. Halle was definitely territorial with her toys, especially the stuffed dog they brought her. She put all of her toy's on her lap or behind me. When the baby came near she would cry and try to gather all the toys. I'm guessing she had to fight for what was hers in the orphanage. That makes me so sad to think about. By the end of the visit she was offering her toys to Lauren so it seems she is starting to understand the sharing phenomena.
Last weekend we went to Westlake for Christmas with my whole family. My dad and step mom flew up from Florida for the gathering so almost all the gang was there. The only one missing was my nephew Gary who lives in California. I think that made 27 in total. It was a nice chance for most of my family to met Halle. We had planned for her to nap on the trip up. Unfortunately she had other plans and decided to fall asleep 2 minutes from home when she was coming home from shopping with Paul & Sami. We couldn't wake her up until just before we left. She did pretty well on the trip, just a few minutes of all out screaming. Paul has taught her that gummy bears come out of her ear and that seems to be her best treat that helps settle her down. Halle did amazingly well considering so many new faces were so eager to meet her. She had a good time rolling around the floor with her cousin Blake that had just turned 10 the day before. She loved the swimming pool. It was so warm that I even got in and enjoyed it. Halle had fun swimming with many of the teenage cousins.
It has been an incredible month. Never a dull moment in our household any more and I wouldn't change a thing! I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful family.
It's been so long since I posted and so much has happened I don't know where to begin. We've been home for a little over a month. It is amazing how far Halle has come. She is starting to settle into a semi routine sleep wise. She is only taking one nap a day for a little over an hour. When I'm lucky and catch her right when she is waking up I can usually rock her back to sleep for about half an hour more. Luckily she has an early bed time. We get in the "tub tub" around 7:15 and she is usually asleep by 8:00. We've started with a lotion rub down after her bath due to her very dry skin. She seems to really enjoy that and her skin seems much better.
We went to Children's International Adoption Clinic on Friday and Monday. So far she has gotten great reports. We met with a doctor, nutritionist, physical therapist, audiologist, psychologist and had blood drawn and gave 2 lovely stool samples. All the doctors think she is doing great. I have to agree. Her vocabulary is increasing daily. But what amazes me is how much she comprehends.
Last week was a struggle. Paul's first week back to work and I had a big work project and a sweats order. Grandma Sue came for a few days to help out. She and Halle did great for the first hour or so and then she only wanted Mommy. I'm finally becoming the preferred one although whenever Sami or Paul spend time with her it's all them - love the one your with is her philosophy. It was a struggle to try to get all the work done. Luckily I had a very understanding client and a great big kid. Sami gets home from school a little after 1:00. I don't know what I'd do without her help! Everyone said that sometimes "the wait" was because the perfect child wasn't ready for our family yet. While I tend to agree that Halle is the perfect child for us, what I think now is that the wait was necessary for Sami & Jacob to grow up. If we would have gotten Halle 3 years ago Sami & Jake would be 3 years younger and in much more need of mommy time. They wouldn't have gone with us to China which would have been a travesty. I keep saying it was an amazing adventure but that of course is an understatement. It is hard to describe it. Now it seems almost like a dream. I feel bad that I'm not spending as much time with the big kids but Halle takes up so much time. I get to see Sami more because she is home more in the afternoon. It's Jacob that I worry about most. We talked briefly about it the other day but I'm sure he feels left out. Hopefully we can have some good quality family time together over Christmas break.
Jacob has his first basketball game on Saturday. He is playing in the community recreation league. It seems funny that both kids aren't at basketball practice and/or games every day. It has been great for me that it means I'm not running every where every day with Halle in tow but we do miss the games, especially Paul. Jacob is also playing on a club volleyball team. They practice twice a week and have tournaments. I think that will be kicking into full swing in January. Sami has her soccer practice twice a week and she is hopeful to play on an indoor team in January. I think January is going to be a blur.
We had a very nice visit with Paul's sister and nephew and his family (Linda, Johnny, Erin and Lauren). Lauren just turned one year old last month. Halle was definitely territorial with her toys, especially the stuffed dog they brought her. She put all of her toy's on her lap or behind me. When the baby came near she would cry and try to gather all the toys. I'm guessing she had to fight for what was hers in the orphanage. That makes me so sad to think about. By the end of the visit she was offering her toys to Lauren so it seems she is starting to understand the sharing phenomena.
Last weekend we went to Westlake for Christmas with my whole family. My dad and step mom flew up from Florida for the gathering so almost all the gang was there. The only one missing was my nephew Gary who lives in California. I think that made 27 in total. It was a nice chance for most of my family to met Halle. We had planned for her to nap on the trip up. Unfortunately she had other plans and decided to fall asleep 2 minutes from home when she was coming home from shopping with Paul & Sami. We couldn't wake her up until just before we left. She did pretty well on the trip, just a few minutes of all out screaming. Paul has taught her that gummy bears come out of her ear and that seems to be her best treat that helps settle her down. Halle did amazingly well considering so many new faces were so eager to meet her. She had a good time rolling around the floor with her cousin Blake that had just turned 10 the day before. She loved the swimming pool. It was so warm that I even got in and enjoyed it. Halle had fun swimming with many of the teenage cousins.
It has been an incredible month. Never a dull moment in our household any more and I wouldn't change a thing! I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful family.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
We have so much to be thankful for this year! It is still hard to believe we are a family of 5 now. I keep thinking that maybe all this has just been a dream. It does seem like a dream in a way. Halle is doing wonderfully. Sure, we have some rough times but all in all she is doing great. She is such a character she just makes me smile so much. She has the best belly laugh and little personality that is to die for.
She is spreading out her affection to the whole family now. Sami is probably still The Chosen One but Daddy is the only one that can put her down for a nap. She and I have had some good play times together at the park. She likes the slide and the swings. Jacob's time with her is when she is taking a bath. She is starting to call for him now when she goes in.
Halle's English is picking up a little. She has added kitty and goodbye to her vocabulary the last few days. When we went on a walk today she waved at every car that went by and said goodbye. She continues to pick up new words every day. She still does a lot of Chinese jibber jabbering through.
She loves to dance. Whenever there is any music on TV or the radio she is up swinging her hands and tapping her feet. We may need to do that for exercise purposes if she continues to eat the way she has been. We call her our little Buddha Baby due to her quite large tummy. She eats almost everything in sight. I'm a little concerned about it. I've heard lots of stories about adopted kids hording their food. We have our big work up with the International Adoption clinic at Children's Hospital on the 12th so hopefully they can give us some answers.
Halle's pediatrician said it would take about 13 days to recover from the jet lag. Today is day 13! I feel like we are all pretty much back to normal. We still haven't gotten into any type of routine yet. The last 2 days she has only taken 1 nap but she has gone down for the night at 8:00 so I think I could live with that. Again, we are just trying to figure things out on the fly. It's hard to remember what kind of nap schedule the big kids were on because it was sooo long ago :) It's past my bedtime now so I'll wrap it up now. I hope to have all the pictures transferred over to the PC this weekend so I'll post new pictures then.
We are so thankful for all our friends and family. We couldn't have done this without you!
She is spreading out her affection to the whole family now. Sami is probably still The Chosen One but Daddy is the only one that can put her down for a nap. She and I have had some good play times together at the park. She likes the slide and the swings. Jacob's time with her is when she is taking a bath. She is starting to call for him now when she goes in.
Halle's English is picking up a little. She has added kitty and goodbye to her vocabulary the last few days. When we went on a walk today she waved at every car that went by and said goodbye. She continues to pick up new words every day. She still does a lot of Chinese jibber jabbering through.
She loves to dance. Whenever there is any music on TV or the radio she is up swinging her hands and tapping her feet. We may need to do that for exercise purposes if she continues to eat the way she has been. We call her our little Buddha Baby due to her quite large tummy. She eats almost everything in sight. I'm a little concerned about it. I've heard lots of stories about adopted kids hording their food. We have our big work up with the International Adoption clinic at Children's Hospital on the 12th so hopefully they can give us some answers.
Halle's pediatrician said it would take about 13 days to recover from the jet lag. Today is day 13! I feel like we are all pretty much back to normal. We still haven't gotten into any type of routine yet. The last 2 days she has only taken 1 nap but she has gone down for the night at 8:00 so I think I could live with that. Again, we are just trying to figure things out on the fly. It's hard to remember what kind of nap schedule the big kids were on because it was sooo long ago :) It's past my bedtime now so I'll wrap it up now. I hope to have all the pictures transferred over to the PC this weekend so I'll post new pictures then.
We are so thankful for all our friends and family. We couldn't have done this without you!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Settling in
I can't believe we have been home for 10 days already! Things are going remarkably well. When Halle walked in our front door she just walked in like she had always lived here. She wasn't at all afraid of Keisha. Keisha is a little jealous but also doing well. She has discovered the treats that Halle leaves in her highchair when she is done eating. The cats don't have it quite as good. Halle likes to pull their tails! Needless to say they have been lying low.
I'm happy to report that we are all pretty much healthy now. Paul still has a cold. Halle is finishing up her antibiotics and I am over my stomach crud, just trying to regain my strength now. We are all also adjusting to the time change. The big kids really had it rough last week. They were getting up between 12-2am, doing homework and then going to a full day of school. It was a good chance to catch up on some of their homework but I'm sure they would have preferred to do it during daylight hours!
The Chosen One is loosing some of her status because of school. I became The Acceptable One the first few days but I too am moving down the list. Paul and Halle are starting to bond nicely now. As I start doing more work Paul has become The Go To Guy. He is enjoying spending time with Halle down the basement. They like to play air hockey together. Our neighbors just gave us a big plastic slide that we have down there now too that Halle plays on. Jacob, while remaining nameless, still gets a huge smile from Halle when he comes into the room, especially when he gets home from school.
Grandma Sue came down for the second time. She has been a great help shopping, cooking and doing a gazillion loads of laundry. She is planning on coming back in December when Paul needs to go back to work and I have a big project coming.
We are starting to get the chance to introduce Halle to our friends/neighbors. After being couped up in the house from sickness and jet lag it is nice to get the chance to see some familiar faces. We took Halle for a walk yesterday. It was cold but the sun was shining and it was nice to be outside. We saw several neighbors. I took Jacob to a volleyball practice and then Halle & I went to visit the Culley's. Halle is doing great with the car seat. I was worried it would be a struggle but she doesn't seem to mind it too much. She even sat in it with no one sitting next to her. I just put the mirror down and we played peek-a-boo on the way home.
Cousin Cassie came down to Columbus to see some friends and stopped over for a visit. Halle warmed up to her very quickly. So much in fact that when she bumped her head she didn't want me or Sami, she wanted Cassie! Aunt Kathy & Uncle Gary also came down to watch the OSU vs. MU game - go BUCKS - and had a nice visit.
I'm sorry to say that we don't have any school basketball games to go to this year. Sami has decided not to play and to focus on soccer instead. She is in a tournament next weekend, yes outdoors! The coach from Kent State is coming to watch her so we are pretty excited about that. It is a showcase for college coaches so I'm hopeful others will be watching too. Kent is high on her list right now because they have their own bathrooms :) Jacob is going to play in the community basketball league this year. He may also be playing on a travel volleyball team. We are trying to work out those details now.
I'm happy to report that we are all pretty much healthy now. Paul still has a cold. Halle is finishing up her antibiotics and I am over my stomach crud, just trying to regain my strength now. We are all also adjusting to the time change. The big kids really had it rough last week. They were getting up between 12-2am, doing homework and then going to a full day of school. It was a good chance to catch up on some of their homework but I'm sure they would have preferred to do it during daylight hours!
The Chosen One is loosing some of her status because of school. I became The Acceptable One the first few days but I too am moving down the list. Paul and Halle are starting to bond nicely now. As I start doing more work Paul has become The Go To Guy. He is enjoying spending time with Halle down the basement. They like to play air hockey together. Our neighbors just gave us a big plastic slide that we have down there now too that Halle plays on. Jacob, while remaining nameless, still gets a huge smile from Halle when he comes into the room, especially when he gets home from school.
Grandma Sue came down for the second time. She has been a great help shopping, cooking and doing a gazillion loads of laundry. She is planning on coming back in December when Paul needs to go back to work and I have a big project coming.
We are starting to get the chance to introduce Halle to our friends/neighbors. After being couped up in the house from sickness and jet lag it is nice to get the chance to see some familiar faces. We took Halle for a walk yesterday. It was cold but the sun was shining and it was nice to be outside. We saw several neighbors. I took Jacob to a volleyball practice and then Halle & I went to visit the Culley's. Halle is doing great with the car seat. I was worried it would be a struggle but she doesn't seem to mind it too much. She even sat in it with no one sitting next to her. I just put the mirror down and we played peek-a-boo on the way home.
Cousin Cassie came down to Columbus to see some friends and stopped over for a visit. Halle warmed up to her very quickly. So much in fact that when she bumped her head she didn't want me or Sami, she wanted Cassie! Aunt Kathy & Uncle Gary also came down to watch the OSU vs. MU game - go BUCKS - and had a nice visit.
I'm sorry to say that we don't have any school basketball games to go to this year. Sami has decided not to play and to focus on soccer instead. She is in a tournament next weekend, yes outdoors! The coach from Kent State is coming to watch her so we are pretty excited about that. It is a showcase for college coaches so I'm hopeful others will be watching too. Kent is high on her list right now because they have their own bathrooms :) Jacob is going to play in the community basketball league this year. He may also be playing on a travel volleyball team. We are trying to work out those details now.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
We made it
After 30+ hours we made it home. Halle did well. She had about a 2 hour nap earlier in the flight and then sleep the last almost 6 hours of the long leg. I stood in the bathroom on the plane to get her to sleep. I felt bad having her scream while others were trying to sleep so we just hung out in the port-a-potty :)
Our flight from Newark to Columbus was cancelled so we had to wait almost 4 hours until the next flight. We got in around midnight. Grandma Sue made scrambled eggs for us. My first real food in 3 days. It sure tasted good. The scrambled eggs there weren't so good in China.
Sami & Paul are at the doctors. Paul for strep and Sami may have pink eye. Jacob is headed to a friends to watch the Buckeyes. I'm hopeful that Halle and I can have a nice long nap. She didn't have a very good first night. We didn't go to bed until after 2:00 and then she didn't want to sleep in the crib. I was so tired I brought her in bed with me twice.
Thanks for all the comments. We enjoyed having a little news from home. Can't wait to see everyone.
Our flight from Newark to Columbus was cancelled so we had to wait almost 4 hours until the next flight. We got in around midnight. Grandma Sue made scrambled eggs for us. My first real food in 3 days. It sure tasted good. The scrambled eggs there weren't so good in China.
Sami & Paul are at the doctors. Paul for strep and Sami may have pink eye. Jacob is headed to a friends to watch the Buckeyes. I'm hopeful that Halle and I can have a nice long nap. She didn't have a very good first night. We didn't go to bed until after 2:00 and then she didn't want to sleep in the crib. I was so tired I brought her in bed with me twice.
Thanks for all the comments. We enjoyed having a little news from home. Can't wait to see everyone.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Final days
Hi, sorry I'm behind in posting. The stomach crud really got to me and I was down and out today. We had a great trip to the zoo yesterday and took our oath at the US Consulate today. We leave at 5:50am tomorrow so I'm trying to get everything organized.
I'll add details of the last 2 days when we get home. Wish us luck on our final journey home. I'm afraid it is going to be a doozie!
Happy birthday to Becky & belated birthday to Tommy.
Love to all. Can't wait to see everyone.
I'll add details of the last 2 days when we get home. Wish us luck on our final journey home. I'm afraid it is going to be a doozie!
Happy birthday to Becky & belated birthday to Tommy.
Love to all. Can't wait to see everyone.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Guangzhou-11/11
Today was a turning point for Halle I think. She is really starting to open up to us, even to those lower on the totem pole. She would run to us and give us hugs. She is starting to give kisses. She is also getting much more vocal. She babbles a lot in Chinese. I wish I knew what she was saying, maybe it is just baby talk, we'll never know. She also sings at times. She is starting to mimic English words now too. She has said Mama, Daddy, I see, thank you and goodbye (after hearing it when we sign off from AOL :)
Today we had Halle's physical exam. Nothing too complicated. The ENT doctor played a note on a toy keyboard. She turned her head to see it so that means her hearing is fine. They tried to look into her mouth but I don't think they got a good look because she just bit down - hard - on the tongue depressor. The doctor even laughed. They also weighed her, measured her height and looked at her body. As I said, nothing too advanced. We'll save all the fun stuff for home.
We also went to the pearl market. We took taxis. That was an adventure. Paul tipped the driver $5 US for getting us there alive. To get to the market we had to walk through a 6 story mall. It was huge. I would have liked to spend more time there but we just headed for the pearls. The area was very busy with lots of people around. When we first got to the square there were 3 other families in our group. People stood around us and were just staring. They sort of circled us. It was a weird feeling. Now I know what the zoo animals feel like! Our guide said we were starting to cause too much attention and moved us on.
After shopping we went to McDonald's. Jacob was very excited to get a quarter-pounder. Halle & I shared an ice cream cone. As you can see she enjoyed it. When we got home we took Halle to the play room again. She is opening up more with the other babies too, although it looks like she is going to be the brute. She is much bigger than all the other babies in our group. She will give another baby a block and then another one and then want the first one back :)
We went for a walk around the island at night. It is so beautiful here. The weather has been perfect. Halle fell asleep while we were walking so I was afraid she would be up all night but she did fine. She even let me put her to bed when Sami was in the same room. As I said earlier, it was a good day!
Today we had Halle's physical exam. Nothing too complicated. The ENT doctor played a note on a toy keyboard. She turned her head to see it so that means her hearing is fine. They tried to look into her mouth but I don't think they got a good look because she just bit down - hard - on the tongue depressor. The doctor even laughed. They also weighed her, measured her height and looked at her body. As I said, nothing too advanced. We'll save all the fun stuff for home.
We also went to the pearl market. We took taxis. That was an adventure. Paul tipped the driver $5 US for getting us there alive. To get to the market we had to walk through a 6 story mall. It was huge. I would have liked to spend more time there but we just headed for the pearls. The area was very busy with lots of people around. When we first got to the square there were 3 other families in our group. People stood around us and were just staring. They sort of circled us. It was a weird feeling. Now I know what the zoo animals feel like! Our guide said we were starting to cause too much attention and moved us on.
After shopping we went to McDonald's. Jacob was very excited to get a quarter-pounder. Halle & I shared an ice cream cone. As you can see she enjoyed it. When we got home we took Halle to the play room again. She is opening up more with the other babies too, although it looks like she is going to be the brute. She is much bigger than all the other babies in our group. She will give another baby a block and then another one and then want the first one back :)
We went for a walk around the island at night. It is so beautiful here. The weather has been perfect. Halle fell asleep while we were walking so I was afraid she would be up all night but she did fine. She even let me put her to bed when Sami was in the same room. As I said earlier, it was a good day!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Guangzhou - 11/10
Today we went on an optional trip that included vi sting the Six Banyan Pagoda. It is a Buddhist temple. At the entrance there was there was a statue that you try to throw money through a hole. If you get it in and then go around and touch the 6 dragon's heads it will bring you good fortune. Jacob and I are going to be very fortunate this year (hopefully :) Inside there were 3 bronze Buddhas that were 6 meters tall. They were huge! We were blessed then by a monk. There were several other Buddhas in other buildings too.
We then went to the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum. It had some beautiful pieces of art work. My favorites were the carvings in ivory and camel bones. The detail is incredible. From there we went to a government run shopping center so no bargaining there. The prices weren't very good so we didn't buy much there. We did watch a young man create some really neat pictures using different parts of his hand. We bought two bookmarks of his work.
For dinner Jacob, Halle & I went for the American food again and went to Lucy's. Paul and Sami went with several of the other group members to a Thai restaurant and had a really good meal.
We then went to the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum. It had some beautiful pieces of art work. My favorites were the carvings in ivory and camel bones. The detail is incredible. From there we went to a government run shopping center so no bargaining there. The prices weren't very good so we didn't buy much there. We did watch a young man create some really neat pictures using different parts of his hand. We bought two bookmarks of his work.
For dinner Jacob, Halle & I went for the American food again and went to Lucy's. Paul and Sami went with several of the other group members to a Thai restaurant and had a really good meal.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Guangzhou - 11/9
We are very happy to be in Guangzhou! The sun is shining and it is a much "cleaner" area and they have American food! The hotel is beautiful. There is a 2-story high waterfall on the first floor with lots of coy fish swimming through a beautiful fountain/pond area. The rooms are nice. We even have adjoining rooms with the kids now. It is much more convenient than walking down the hallway. My only complaint is the bed. It is so hard and the pillows aren't much better. I woke up today with a very sore neck. I'm not sure if it is because of that or because I am finally able to hold/carry Halle when The Chosen One isn't around :)
Halle had a really good day - all but an hour or so she was great. Jacob & I had a great time with her pushing her stroller around the hotel hallways. She was pushing the stroller, barely able to see over the top of it and running into Jacob. Jacob would act like she hit him and fall down. Halle was laughing and squealing like you would not believe. Several people came out to the hallway to see what was going on. Two of the younger brothers of another family in our group took part in the fun.
Paul took lots of walks yesterday - one with Sami, one with Jacob and one with all of us. He saw several people doing Tai Chi. He also saw some older people playing a hackie-sack type game and said they were really good.
One of the places we walked to was a nice little courtyard/play area for an elementary school. Again, it is a beautiful place. We saw probably 6-7 brides getting their picture taken in the park. Paul keeps saying they must hide the ugly people in China because everyone we see is so good looking.
I had to fill out all of our American paperwork to get Halle's visa. That took over an hour. I think we are finally about done with that though.
We had a low key evening. Paul fell asleep before dinner. Halle had a melt down around 5:00 so after Sami finally got her to sleep Jacob and I went to Lucy's for take out. After dinner Jacob & I took Halle down to the playroom. It was really nice. It is sponsored by Mattel. There were several push toys and riding toys that Halle liked.
Halle had a really good day - all but an hour or so she was great. Jacob & I had a great time with her pushing her stroller around the hotel hallways. She was pushing the stroller, barely able to see over the top of it and running into Jacob. Jacob would act like she hit him and fall down. Halle was laughing and squealing like you would not believe. Several people came out to the hallway to see what was going on. Two of the younger brothers of another family in our group took part in the fun.
Paul took lots of walks yesterday - one with Sami, one with Jacob and one with all of us. He saw several people doing Tai Chi. He also saw some older people playing a hackie-sack type game and said they were really good.
One of the places we walked to was a nice little courtyard/play area for an elementary school. Again, it is a beautiful place. We saw probably 6-7 brides getting their picture taken in the park. Paul keeps saying they must hide the ugly people in China because everyone we see is so good looking.
I had to fill out all of our American paperwork to get Halle's visa. That took over an hour. I think we are finally about done with that though.
We had a low key evening. Paul fell asleep before dinner. Halle had a melt down around 5:00 so after Sami finally got her to sleep Jacob and I went to Lucy's for take out. After dinner Jacob & I took Halle down to the playroom. It was really nice. It is sponsored by Mattel. There were several push toys and riding toys that Halle liked.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Halle's first plane ride...
and she slept right through it. We are definitely hoping that is a good sign for our long, long, long ride home :) She was sitting on Sami's lap, of course. She was trying to look out the window as we were taxiing. When the engines flared up she just leaned back against Sami and didn't make a peep. She fell asleep quickly after that and slept until we landed.
We were very excited to see the sun when we landed in Guangzhou. We haven't seen it for 8 days now! We got to the hotel around 5:00 and ordered Papa John's pizza for dinner. It wasn't the same but it sure was a nice change of pace. I've been having some stomach problems and am glad I brought along 5 boxes of Pepto :) I should have just started eating them after every meal as orginially planned. I'll probably start that now. I'm sure (hopeful at least) that I've lost quite a bit of weight.
After dinner we went for a walk around the hotel to do a little exporing and to get some snacks and water. There is a 7-11 across the street! The scenery is just beautiful here. We are on an island so the view from our hotel room is looking down to the river. Everything is lit up with all different colors of lights. There were a ton of boats that look like cruise ships. I'm hopeful we can do something like that. They also have some very nice gardens along the river by our hotel.
We were very excited to see the sun when we landed in Guangzhou. We haven't seen it for 8 days now! We got to the hotel around 5:00 and ordered Papa John's pizza for dinner. It wasn't the same but it sure was a nice change of pace. I've been having some stomach problems and am glad I brought along 5 boxes of Pepto :) I should have just started eating them after every meal as orginially planned. I'll probably start that now. I'm sure (hopeful at least) that I've lost quite a bit of weight.
After dinner we went for a walk around the hotel to do a little exporing and to get some snacks and water. There is a 7-11 across the street! The scenery is just beautiful here. We are on an island so the view from our hotel room is looking down to the river. Everything is lit up with all different colors of lights. There were a ton of boats that look like cruise ships. I'm hopeful we can do something like that. They also have some very nice gardens along the river by our hotel.
Nanchang 11/7
Another rainy day. I need to start apologizing to my fellow group members about bringing the Atkinson/Ely/White vacation curse along with me! It has been so gloomy here and on top of the depressed living conditions and being trapped in a small hotel room we sure are ready for a change.
We went to the porcelain market today. We saw lots of beautiful pieces of artwork. Too bad we have to worry about things breaking otherwise I would be bringing a ton of it home. We had to skip the zoo due to the weather. We had another group dinner. Jacob is amazing with the chop sticks. He and one of the other dads had a contest to see who could eat the entire dinner with using only the chop sticks. They both did it! They also both ate peppers thinking they were green beans. I guess they were pretty hot as you could see by their red faces.
Sami continues to be The Chosen One although I feel I am making good progress. As long as Sami isn't around Halle is doing well with me. She's got the cutest/devilest squeal you have ever heard. The big kids can really get her going.
We leave for Guangzhou in the morning. We are definitely looking for a change of scenery and the weather is supposed to be much nicer.
We went to the porcelain market today. We saw lots of beautiful pieces of artwork. Too bad we have to worry about things breaking otherwise I would be bringing a ton of it home. We had to skip the zoo due to the weather. We had another group dinner. Jacob is amazing with the chop sticks. He and one of the other dads had a contest to see who could eat the entire dinner with using only the chop sticks. They both did it! They also both ate peppers thinking they were green beans. I guess they were pretty hot as you could see by their red faces.
Sami continues to be The Chosen One although I feel I am making good progress. As long as Sami isn't around Halle is doing well with me. She's got the cutest/devilest squeal you have ever heard. The big kids can really get her going.
We leave for Guangzhou in the morning. We are definitely looking for a change of scenery and the weather is supposed to be much nicer.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Nanchang 11/6
Finally a day with no rain :) Halle woke up without much of a fuse and seemed pretty happy. We had a nice big breakfast. We started putting Halle in a highchair and she is basically feeding herself. It can get a little messy when she eats her congee (rice & water). She has started to feed all of us too - lots of ABC food - but they say it is a good sign towards bonding.
We had a great visit to the Prince Teng Pavilion. It was an awesome sight. The temple is 6 stories high and is spectacular. There are several other buildings and nice grounds surrounding it with lots of bronze art pieces. You'd love it mom! We started at 6th floor with a short show. It had singing, fan dancing and a musical instruments piece. Halle was mesmerized with it. She even stopped eating her Cheerios which is significant. We put them in a little red purse to make it a game. She likes to dig them out. Her fine motor skills are much better than I had expected them to be.
We continued down the Pavilion stopping at every floor to see the different art work. Each floor had little shops with souvenirs. We bought a couple things. The guide said we should haggle/barter over the price but Jacob didn't think we should. On the bus ride over they told us how much the average person living in Nanchang makes - about 1150 RMB or about 170 US dollars a month. He said it didn't seem fair to ask them to sell their things for less when it only amounted to a dollar or so to us. Aunt Kathy will be glad to know that she will have something in common with her niece - she was born in the year of the pig!
Sami continues to be the Chosen One of the day. She definitely received her workout for the day climbing all the steps while carrying Halle.
After the Pavilion we walked over to have another family style lunch with all the food on a big lazy Susan in the middle. We all really enjoyed the lunch. When we were leaving the restaurant there were lots of big tanks with live fish, crabs and shrimp in them that you could pick out for your meal. I'm glad our lunch was picked for us and not currently in the "living state" when we arrived.
We didn't do too much in the evening. We mainly hung out in the room and went up to the 11th floor for a little while for Halle to run around. I had everyone leave the room while I gave Halle a bath and put her to bed. We did well.
Today is a trip to the zoo and a porcelain market. We are looking forward to that. Take care everyone. We miss you!
We had a great visit to the Prince Teng Pavilion. It was an awesome sight. The temple is 6 stories high and is spectacular. There are several other buildings and nice grounds surrounding it with lots of bronze art pieces. You'd love it mom! We started at 6th floor with a short show. It had singing, fan dancing and a musical instruments piece. Halle was mesmerized with it. She even stopped eating her Cheerios which is significant. We put them in a little red purse to make it a game. She likes to dig them out. Her fine motor skills are much better than I had expected them to be.
We continued down the Pavilion stopping at every floor to see the different art work. Each floor had little shops with souvenirs. We bought a couple things. The guide said we should haggle/barter over the price but Jacob didn't think we should. On the bus ride over they told us how much the average person living in Nanchang makes - about 1150 RMB or about 170 US dollars a month. He said it didn't seem fair to ask them to sell their things for less when it only amounted to a dollar or so to us. Aunt Kathy will be glad to know that she will have something in common with her niece - she was born in the year of the pig!
Sami continues to be the Chosen One of the day. She definitely received her workout for the day climbing all the steps while carrying Halle.
After the Pavilion we walked over to have another family style lunch with all the food on a big lazy Susan in the middle. We all really enjoyed the lunch. When we were leaving the restaurant there were lots of big tanks with live fish, crabs and shrimp in them that you could pick out for your meal. I'm glad our lunch was picked for us and not currently in the "living state" when we arrived.
We didn't do too much in the evening. We mainly hung out in the room and went up to the 11th floor for a little while for Halle to run around. I had everyone leave the room while I gave Halle a bath and put her to bed. We did well.
Today is a trip to the zoo and a porcelain market. We are looking forward to that. Take care everyone. We miss you!
Nanchang - 11/5
Yea to the election results!!!!
Today was another rainy day. We have yet to see the sun since we left Columbus. It rained most of the day and we are getting cabin fever. We went for a short walk and even crossed the street! We just got in the middle of a group of people and dodged the oncoming traffic with them. There are lots of bakeries, produce and flower shops. We saw the first chicken feet in a deli sort of shop. It was hard to determine what the other meats were. It's amazing people can earn a living in their little shops. We were out in the afternoon so we saw lots of children. Most of them said hello. We continue to get lots of stares. Paul was told he was very handsome today. After that and the free beer at the buffet he said he may not want to leave here. Seriously though, we are all ready to come home and we still have over a week left. We are hopeful that the next city will have more to do close to the hotel.
We tried to take Halle swimming today but she didn't like it. I wouldn't have blamed her because the water was really cold. Instead she sat on the side and played with her stacking cups like she does in the bath tub. She also had fun with the Cowen "miracle" bubbles :)
We found out that they have western food at the restaurant downstairs. We were pretty excited. We feel like we haven't had a full satisfying meal yet. The kids got cheeseburgers. I had a Hawaiian chicken salad and Paul got the Chinese buffet. Gail - he tried the octopus and wasn't too thrilled with it. It was on a stick. You could see the tentacles on it! I was going to get a chef salad until I saw that it was served with ox tongue ;)
We took Halle to the 11th floor again where there is a play area for the kids. Halle decided she has a new best friend and wouldn't leave Sami's side. She wouldn't even go to Paul. Sami gave her a bath again and put her to bed. I'm still hoping she will come around to me eventually. It is getting better. She will let me hold her if she is in the mood and she only pushed me away a few times today. I'm trying to give her space. It's just hard. There are several others in our group that are experiencing the same thing. From what others have said we definitely don't have it the worst. I'm just grateful that she has started to bond with at least one of us. Halle is the oldest of the 14 babies in our group. I'm sure it is harder for her. I think it would be easier if we could communicate using the same language but that too will get easier I'm sure. She said daddy today and Sami thinks she said ball too.
Today was another rainy day. We have yet to see the sun since we left Columbus. It rained most of the day and we are getting cabin fever. We went for a short walk and even crossed the street! We just got in the middle of a group of people and dodged the oncoming traffic with them. There are lots of bakeries, produce and flower shops. We saw the first chicken feet in a deli sort of shop. It was hard to determine what the other meats were. It's amazing people can earn a living in their little shops. We were out in the afternoon so we saw lots of children. Most of them said hello. We continue to get lots of stares. Paul was told he was very handsome today. After that and the free beer at the buffet he said he may not want to leave here. Seriously though, we are all ready to come home and we still have over a week left. We are hopeful that the next city will have more to do close to the hotel.
We tried to take Halle swimming today but she didn't like it. I wouldn't have blamed her because the water was really cold. Instead she sat on the side and played with her stacking cups like she does in the bath tub. She also had fun with the Cowen "miracle" bubbles :)
We found out that they have western food at the restaurant downstairs. We were pretty excited. We feel like we haven't had a full satisfying meal yet. The kids got cheeseburgers. I had a Hawaiian chicken salad and Paul got the Chinese buffet. Gail - he tried the octopus and wasn't too thrilled with it. It was on a stick. You could see the tentacles on it! I was going to get a chef salad until I saw that it was served with ox tongue ;)
We took Halle to the 11th floor again where there is a play area for the kids. Halle decided she has a new best friend and wouldn't leave Sami's side. She wouldn't even go to Paul. Sami gave her a bath again and put her to bed. I'm still hoping she will come around to me eventually. It is getting better. She will let me hold her if she is in the mood and she only pushed me away a few times today. I'm trying to give her space. It's just hard. There are several others in our group that are experiencing the same thing. From what others have said we definitely don't have it the worst. I'm just grateful that she has started to bond with at least one of us. Halle is the oldest of the 14 babies in our group. I'm sure it is harder for her. I think it would be easier if we could communicate using the same language but that too will get easier I'm sure. She said daddy today and Sami thinks she said ball too.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Nanchang 11/4
Today was mostly a free day. The only thing we were required to do was to have the agency pediatrician an check Halle. She received a very good report. The doctor's only concern was that she still has her soft spot on her head. The doctor thinks her calcium is low. We can take care of that when we get home. We are all totally craving milk. I've had a tiny amount in my cereal in the morning but that is it. Our guide told us that he won't let his wife give his son any milk from China. He is now 7 years old drinking American baby formula.
We had quite a lazy morning. We were up early again at 4:00am. Halle had 3 naps before lunch. After lunch we went for a walk around the hotel. Jacob was very concerned about going somewhere where we would have to cross the street. I think I wrote earlier about the traffic. It is just crazy. We are usually traveling in a big bus and can just look down and see walkers/bikers/cars/buses/scooters come within inches. It is just wild. Anyway it was very interesting. We are definitely the celebrities here. People are very curious about us. It is okay to stare in China. I just try to smile. Most of the time they smile back. We had the first people give us the thumbs up which I hear is very common here. We have a Buddhists/Daoist/Confucius temple right outside our window. We walked over there. We couldn't go inside but were able to walk around the gardens around it. There were several other buildings around it too. In the first building there were two Chinese girls there that wanted to take our picture. They took several pictures of us and we took some of them too. In the next building they pulled Paul into a back room and asked him to pray. Then they wanted $100! He gave them $10 instead.
For dinner we went with most of our group to a restaurant next door to the hotel. It was fun. Lots of interesting food. I tried most, no, make that some of it ;) The rice with pork shoulder was the best. Again, the big kids did great. I think they tried everything, even the really spicy stuff. Sami's face got bright red and her eyes were watering. It was pretty funny.
After dinner we went to a place in the hotel that is a wide open space with some toys for the kids. Halle really let loose. It was first time where she really showed her little personality. She was scampering and belly laughing with the kids. They would go around the corner and you could hear her squeal in delight. She is really taken with her bigger siblings. She is still most definitely a daddy's girl. He is the only one she wants when she is upset. For the most part she has taken on the philosophy of "love the one your with" other times. When she latches on to one of us that is it. They are the only one that is allowed to hold her or walk with her. Luckily she is very fickle and it changes quite often. It is very hard not to be able to comfort her but I keep telling Paul he is the one that is going to have to deal with her for 16 hours on the plane ;)
We had quite a lazy morning. We were up early again at 4:00am. Halle had 3 naps before lunch. After lunch we went for a walk around the hotel. Jacob was very concerned about going somewhere where we would have to cross the street. I think I wrote earlier about the traffic. It is just crazy. We are usually traveling in a big bus and can just look down and see walkers/bikers/cars/buses/scooters come within inches. It is just wild. Anyway it was very interesting. We are definitely the celebrities here. People are very curious about us. It is okay to stare in China. I just try to smile. Most of the time they smile back. We had the first people give us the thumbs up which I hear is very common here. We have a Buddhists/Daoist/Confucius temple right outside our window. We walked over there. We couldn't go inside but were able to walk around the gardens around it. There were several other buildings around it too. In the first building there were two Chinese girls there that wanted to take our picture. They took several pictures of us and we took some of them too. In the next building they pulled Paul into a back room and asked him to pray. Then they wanted $100! He gave them $10 instead.
For dinner we went with most of our group to a restaurant next door to the hotel. It was fun. Lots of interesting food. I tried most, no, make that some of it ;) The rice with pork shoulder was the best. Again, the big kids did great. I think they tried everything, even the really spicy stuff. Sami's face got bright red and her eyes were watering. It was pretty funny.
After dinner we went to a place in the hotel that is a wide open space with some toys for the kids. Halle really let loose. It was first time where she really showed her little personality. She was scampering and belly laughing with the kids. They would go around the corner and you could hear her squeal in delight. She is really taken with her bigger siblings. She is still most definitely a daddy's girl. He is the only one she wants when she is upset. For the most part she has taken on the philosophy of "love the one your with" other times. When she latches on to one of us that is it. They are the only one that is allowed to hold her or walk with her. Luckily she is very fickle and it changes quite often. It is very hard not to be able to comfort her but I keep telling Paul he is the one that is going to have to deal with her for 16 hours on the plane ;)
Election day
Election day in the US today. We are very hopeful our school levy passes today. I'll avoid comments on "other" issues for now except to say - sorry Kathy we did vote before we left so your vote was cancelled :)
Our media exposure is limited to the computer in Nanchang. We only have 2 English TV shows in this hotel - Cinemax and HBO. I have yet to see a show that I recognize or am interested in.
Our media exposure is limited to the computer in Nanchang. We only have 2 English TV shows in this hotel - Cinemax and HBO. I have yet to see a show that I recognize or am interested in.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Wally World
What an experience! Wal-Mart is two stories tall. To get from one floor to another you go on an escalator that is like a moving sidewalk except slanted. You take your cart on it. Typical of our Wal-Marts, it was very crowded. We got lots of stares. Unlike Hong Kong where almost everything is in English too, there wasn't anything in English. On my list I had lunch meat and cheese. We all thought a nice sandwich would taste really good. Wrong. The meat was hanging from the ceiling. It is hard to describe the smell - just use your imagination - we had to take a mad dash out of there. Peanut butter and jelly didn't sound too bad at that point. We finally found some sliced white bread. I brought some peanut butter from home. No luck on the jelly, even with the help from our guide. I found some little jelly containers at our breakfast buffet this morning. We had left over pizza for lunch so that is probably what we will eat tomorrow. We are going out to eat with the whole group for dinner tonight so I've got my Pepto Bismol all ready. So far so good and no one has gotten sick.
New pictures
I was finally able to add the Hong Kong pictures. Scroll down to see them. Here are some new ones of Halle too.
Nanchang
Hi,
Sorry we didn't post yesterday. It was quite a busy/long day. Paul & I were up around 2:00am and Halle and the kids were up around 5:00. Yesterday was the paperwork day. After eating breakfast we had to make three stops to complete all the adoption work for China and to apply for Halle's passsport. We are pleased to announce that in the eyes of the Chinese Halle is officially our baby now. We got home from that around 12:00. We had our guides order a pizza for us and had that for lunch. At 1:00 Jacob, Halle and I met with the orphanage director. We found out that Halle had been in foster care until April not August like the previous paperwork had stated. The director answered questions from all the parents. He gave us the newspaper with her finding ad and a picture from when she was just a month or so old. After that we took a wild trip to Wal-Mart. I'll talk more about that but it was an adventure to say the least ;) We got home around 5:00. I think I started falling alseep around 6:30 and everyone else was shortly behind. Needless to say it is 5:30 and we are all up and ready to go, except for Halle, she is already back asleep.
Halle is doing great. She is definitely a daddy's girl. She will tolerate me some of the time but not always. It looks like she is already potty trained. She hasn't had a dirty diaper since the night before last. You just hold her old the toilet and she goes. She loves her stacking blocks and cheerioes. She will transfer them from one block to the next and then eat some and play again. She hasn't taken a bottle since yesterday morning. She just isn't interested. I tried putting formula in a sippy cup when she woke up this morning and she chowed on that. She also ate some raisons and banana. She ate everything at the breakfast buffet yesterday morning. Paul has nick named her the chuncky monkey as she is definitely quite a handful. It is hard to hold her for very long without your arms giving out.
The big kids are doing great too. I am so proud of them. They are trying new things and are great with Halle. Although Sami taught Halle how to throw blocks at Jacob's head and now it is a game to throw them at everyone. She definitely has a good throwing arm! Needless to say we went out and bought her some soft balls! Sami gave Halle a bath last night and got her to fall asleep on our bed. Jacob went to the director's meeting. He tried to leave early and Halle just started to cry - twice. She didn't want her big brother to leave her.
Today is almost a day off. The only thing we have to do is have Halle checked by the peditrican at 9:30. I hope we can get out exploring a little today. I'm a little worried about walking though. The traffic/driving is just amazing here. I can't believe there aren't more accidents. Jacob asked yesterday why they have lines painted on the roads because they definitely aren't used. People just drive/scooter/walk right in the middle of the intersection and don't think twice about it.
Sorry we didn't post yesterday. It was quite a busy/long day. Paul & I were up around 2:00am and Halle and the kids were up around 5:00. Yesterday was the paperwork day. After eating breakfast we had to make three stops to complete all the adoption work for China and to apply for Halle's passsport. We are pleased to announce that in the eyes of the Chinese Halle is officially our baby now. We got home from that around 12:00. We had our guides order a pizza for us and had that for lunch. At 1:00 Jacob, Halle and I met with the orphanage director. We found out that Halle had been in foster care until April not August like the previous paperwork had stated. The director answered questions from all the parents. He gave us the newspaper with her finding ad and a picture from when she was just a month or so old. After that we took a wild trip to Wal-Mart. I'll talk more about that but it was an adventure to say the least ;) We got home around 5:00. I think I started falling alseep around 6:30 and everyone else was shortly behind. Needless to say it is 5:30 and we are all up and ready to go, except for Halle, she is already back asleep.
Halle is doing great. She is definitely a daddy's girl. She will tolerate me some of the time but not always. It looks like she is already potty trained. She hasn't had a dirty diaper since the night before last. You just hold her old the toilet and she goes. She loves her stacking blocks and cheerioes. She will transfer them from one block to the next and then eat some and play again. She hasn't taken a bottle since yesterday morning. She just isn't interested. I tried putting formula in a sippy cup when she woke up this morning and she chowed on that. She also ate some raisons and banana. She ate everything at the breakfast buffet yesterday morning. Paul has nick named her the chuncky monkey as she is definitely quite a handful. It is hard to hold her for very long without your arms giving out.
The big kids are doing great too. I am so proud of them. They are trying new things and are great with Halle. Although Sami taught Halle how to throw blocks at Jacob's head and now it is a game to throw them at everyone. She definitely has a good throwing arm! Needless to say we went out and bought her some soft balls! Sami gave Halle a bath last night and got her to fall asleep on our bed. Jacob went to the director's meeting. He tried to leave early and Halle just started to cry - twice. She didn't want her big brother to leave her.
Today is almost a day off. The only thing we have to do is have Halle checked by the peditrican at 9:30. I hope we can get out exploring a little today. I'm a little worried about walking though. The traffic/driving is just amazing here. I can't believe there aren't more accidents. Jacob asked yesterday why they have lines painted on the roads because they definitely aren't used. People just drive/scooter/walk right in the middle of the intersection and don't think twice about it.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
We've got smiles
Hi Everyone,
We are now a family of 5! After a rough half hour or so Halle is doing remarkably well. Daddy and Jacob got the first smiles and then daddy even got some smiles big enough to show teeth while doing a little dancing to her musical toy. She has played on our bed with stacking cups and cheerios for the last hour or so. I'll post more tomorrow. We are all sooo tired.
Love,
Liz, Paul, Sami, Jacob AND Halle
We are now a family of 5! After a rough half hour or so Halle is doing remarkably well. Daddy and Jacob got the first smiles and then daddy even got some smiles big enough to show teeth while doing a little dancing to her musical toy. She has played on our bed with stacking cups and cheerios for the last hour or so. I'll post more tomorrow. We are all sooo tired.
Love,
Liz, Paul, Sami, Jacob AND Halle
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Saturday – day 1
Hi Everyone! Today is the first full day in China. Our guide, Patrick, was right on the money. I woke up at 4:07am. Even Sami was up before our 6:30 wake up call. We had a very “western” buffet breakfast. The scrambled eggs were quite different. Sami & I had a bite at the same time and we both had to really choke them down. After breakfast we went sightseeing. We went up to Victoria Peak the highest point in Hong Kong. Unfortunately it was overcast so the view wasn’t quite as nice as some of the pictures I have seen but it was still unbelievable. They have so many high rise buildings. The highest is 89 floors I think and they are in the process of building one 100+ stories. We then went to the fishing village of Aberdeen. We went on a little boat called a sampan and rode around the harbor. We saw the biggest floating restaurant in the world. We then went to Stanley Market. That was an adventure. Unfortunately Jacob’s wish of getting an X-Box didn’t come to fruition. It cost more than $100 over the US cost. Bummer. Sami was looking at purses. I was getting money from Paul and turned around and she was gone. I walked up and down several stores and couldn’t find her. I went back to the place where we were and asked the sales lady where she went. She pointed to an alley. They had taken her back there to show her more Coach bags. It was definitely a back alley deal. The price was listed as 2100 Hong Kong dollars. That is about $280 in US. We said we weren’t interested. The man there kept trying to put the purse in the bag and hand it to us. He went down to $300 but we turned him down. Sami found another bag she liked better at a different place. It was set up sort of like a flea market with shop after shop. It was hard not to buy everything in sight. We are trying to hold off until we get to Nanchang for most of the stuff. We did buy chops for Halle & Sami. Chops are carved stamps that have their name in Chinese and English. They come in a nice box with an ink pad. The top of the stamp is the animal of the year you are born. Sami’s is a goat and Halle’s is a boar. Paul bought a Chinese scenery print.
After our shopping trip we went to a Chinese Dim-sum lunch at a restaurant around the corner from our hotel. Finally, our first Chinese food. We tried the chop sticks but didn’t have too much luck and went on to the emergency utensil our guide spelled as f-o-r-k. We had shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, spring rolls, sweet & sour pork, some other kind of dumpling with fish eggs on it, fried rice, noodles and some watermelon. The kids were great eating/trying everything and of course Paul was too. I ate most of it, although I did pass on the fish eggs. I’ll stick to my meat & potatoes cuisine.
We don’t have anything planned for this evening. It’s after 4:00 now. Paul is sleeping and the kids are resting. I was so tired at lunch but I can’t seem to sleep now. I think the 4 cups of Jasmine tea I had at lunch probably had something to do with it. They said there is a laser light show tonight that I hope we can get to. Tomorrow is the big day – when we get Halle – yea. We leave the hotel at 8:30am. We’re supposed to get into Nanchang around 1:00 but they haven’t said when we are getting the babies yet. We will be getting a new tour guide then.
I just found out we don’t have our cord to download our pictures to the computer so we’ll have to find one/borrow one before we can post them.
Just saw your post Kathy - thanks for the update on Keisha. We've seen a few dogs and we miss her. Our tour guide assured us that they don't eat dogs or cats in Hong Kong but you never know :)
Hope everyone is well in the USA :)
After our shopping trip we went to a Chinese Dim-sum lunch at a restaurant around the corner from our hotel. Finally, our first Chinese food. We tried the chop sticks but didn’t have too much luck and went on to the emergency utensil our guide spelled as f-o-r-k. We had shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, spring rolls, sweet & sour pork, some other kind of dumpling with fish eggs on it, fried rice, noodles and some watermelon. The kids were great eating/trying everything and of course Paul was too. I ate most of it, although I did pass on the fish eggs. I’ll stick to my meat & potatoes cuisine.
We don’t have anything planned for this evening. It’s after 4:00 now. Paul is sleeping and the kids are resting. I was so tired at lunch but I can’t seem to sleep now. I think the 4 cups of Jasmine tea I had at lunch probably had something to do with it. They said there is a laser light show tonight that I hope we can get to. Tomorrow is the big day – when we get Halle – yea. We leave the hotel at 8:30am. We’re supposed to get into Nanchang around 1:00 but they haven’t said when we are getting the babies yet. We will be getting a new tour guide then.
I just found out we don’t have our cord to download our pictures to the computer so we’ll have to find one/borrow one before we can post them.
Just saw your post Kathy - thanks for the update on Keisha. We've seen a few dogs and we miss her. Our tour guide assured us that they don't eat dogs or cats in Hong Kong but you never know :)
Hope everyone is well in the USA :)
Friday night – arrival day
After we arrived in Hong Kong we went out to explore a little. It was a beautiful night. For our first meal in China what did we eat? McDonald’s of course J We walked around several little parks and then down by the water. It was Halloween so many of the teenagers were dressed up. Paul even got his picture taken with one of the boys dressed in a very pretty dress. Unfortunately we forgot to erase the Washington DC pictures off first so we had to loose the few pictures we took. Even though it our bodies thought it was 11:00 am we turned in. We were all pretty tired.
Friday, October 31, 2008
We made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have arrived after 16 hours up and over Greenland and Siberia down through China to Hong Kong. The kids & I did better than Paul on the flight. He didn’t sleep very much. We had our own entertainment centers; too bad just not too much leg room.
40 people in our group. We tour HK tomorrow morning and then have the afternoon/evening to explore on our own. It is 9:45 pm HK time (12 hours earlier than most of you). We are going out to explore a tiny bit and grabbing a snack. We have a 6:30 wake-up call in the morning but our guide assured us we would be awake by 4:00.
Just wanted to let everyone know we made it safely.
Love to all,
Liz, Paul, Sami & Jacob
40 people in our group. We tour HK tomorrow morning and then have the afternoon/evening to explore on our own. It is 9:45 pm HK time (12 hours earlier than most of you). We are going out to explore a tiny bit and grabbing a snack. We have a 6:30 wake-up call in the morning but our guide assured us we would be awake by 4:00.
Just wanted to let everyone know we made it safely.
Love to all,
Liz, Paul, Sami & Jacob
Monday, October 27, 2008
3 days and counting...
We're down to 3 days until we leave! We are leaving Columbus at 10:30am on Thursday. We fly to Newark and then 16 hours later (!!!) we are scheduled to land in Hong Kong. On Saturday we have a tour of Hong Kong. On Sunday we fly to Nanchang and get Halle! We will stay in Nanchang until November 8th when we fly to Guangzhou for our US Consulate appointment. We stay in Guangzhou until 11/14 when we leave for our long journey home.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Introducing Halle Mae Chuan
Halle is 20 months old. Her birthday is 1/28/07, same as Grampa Ken!
Halle's Chinese name is Fu Chuan Zhi. Fu is actually her last name. All the children in her orphanage share this name. Chuan means "river" and Zhi means "place". She was placed in foster care shortly after she arrived at the orphanage. Our agency thinks she returned to the orphanage when she received her physical in August. She is in the Fuzhou City Social Welfare Institute, Jiangxi Province.
At her last physical (8/11) she weighed 23 pounds and was 32" tall. She has 16 teeth. Her primary foods are milk-based formula, rice and rice porridge. She can also eat egg, noodles, sweet potato noodles, meat soup, candy, snacks - all types of food. She especially likes to eat suan nai (a type of yogurt) and watermelon.
She can walk on her own with ease and can also scamper. She can go up and down the stairs when using the banister for support and can imitate the movement of adults. She can make the gestures for welcome, goodbye, congratulations, etc. In regards to language, she can now say phrases of one or two characters like "ba ba (dad), "ma ma" (mom), "nai nai" (grandma), and "bao bao" (hold). She can imitate the speech of adults and when she sees adults returning she takes the initiative to call to them. She likes to take the phone and make calls. She likes to go play in areas where there are a lot of people; she loves bustling places and likes to play outside. She also likes riding in cars. She plays with other children making games. She has a fairly open personality and is lively and active, however, she is shy with strangers and is a little timid. When in a familiar environment, she loves to talk and smile. She also likes to listen to music and watch TV. She is exuberantly energetic. She likes bathing and playing with toys. She has a fairly stubborn personality and is impatient and headstrong, wanting adults to follow along with her in order for everything to be okay. She is closest to the nanny and her family. She best likes to play in water and she loves to eat snacks.
Halle's Chinese name is Fu Chuan Zhi. Fu is actually her last name. All the children in her orphanage share this name. Chuan means "river" and Zhi means "place". She was placed in foster care shortly after she arrived at the orphanage. Our agency thinks she returned to the orphanage when she received her physical in August. She is in the Fuzhou City Social Welfare Institute, Jiangxi Province.
At her last physical (8/11) she weighed 23 pounds and was 32" tall. She has 16 teeth. Her primary foods are milk-based formula, rice and rice porridge. She can also eat egg, noodles, sweet potato noodles, meat soup, candy, snacks - all types of food. She especially likes to eat suan nai (a type of yogurt) and watermelon.
She can walk on her own with ease and can also scamper. She can go up and down the stairs when using the banister for support and can imitate the movement of adults. She can make the gestures for welcome, goodbye, congratulations, etc. In regards to language, she can now say phrases of one or two characters like "ba ba (dad), "ma ma" (mom), "nai nai" (grandma), and "bao bao" (hold). She can imitate the speech of adults and when she sees adults returning she takes the initiative to call to them. She likes to take the phone and make calls. She likes to go play in areas where there are a lot of people; she loves bustling places and likes to play outside. She also likes riding in cars. She plays with other children making games. She has a fairly open personality and is lively and active, however, she is shy with strangers and is a little timid. When in a familiar environment, she loves to talk and smile. She also likes to listen to music and watch TV. She is exuberantly energetic. She likes bathing and playing with toys. She has a fairly stubborn personality and is impatient and headstrong, wanting adults to follow along with her in order for everything to be okay. She is closest to the nanny and her family. She best likes to play in water and she loves to eat snacks.
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