Archives for April 2010

Dear Evan, Ashlyn, and Drew – Daddy and I talked about you guys a lot today as we went to the safari park. We took tons of pictures and lots of video of the pandas and the other animals. Be good for Grammy these last few days. And, Ashlyn, clean up your room and get it ready for Lydia!

French toast, tater tots, eggs, bacon. Who could ask for a better way to start a morning? The breakfast buffet at the White Swan kicks. After having mainly fried rice and fried noodles and dumplings for breakfast for the last week and a half, we were pretty excited about the awesome breakfast buffet here. And, it was such a pleasure to reunite with the families from our travel group. I started to cry when I saw them each with their girls for the first time. Lindsay (3 in June) is doing great–she is bright and spirited and just bops all over the place. Her parents are overjoyed and wear that joy on their faces. And, big brother Jackson (7) and Lindsay have bonded just perfectly already. Ellie (2 1/2) is a real thinker, always looks very pensive and careful. She’s having a hard time with her routine changing. But, her parents Jeff and Julie are just great and are so patient with her. I look forward to seeing how she grows and is transformed over the next few days even. There’s one other family who is here with our group who wasn’t in Beijing. Their baby Caroline is 2 months older than Lydia. I haven’t been able to spend enough time with her yet to get a feel for what she’s like. But, she’s a real cutie pie and seems to be eating up all the attention given to her by Mom and Dad and her new big sister Nara.

We walked to a photo shop to get visa pictures taken of all the girls. Then, we headed over to the medical clinic. I had walked into that building expecting chaos just from following other families’ blogs. My expectations were pretty much met–though the pictures just don’t do it justice. You gotta see the video and hear the noise to really get it. But, we were fortunate that we were one of the first groups of families to arrive so we did get in and out of there quickly. We took Lydia to 3 different stations–general body check, ENT, and measurement check. I particularly got a kick out of how they checked her hearing–the doctor just hit “demo” on a small keyboard on his desk and waited to see if she’d look at it. As soon as she turned her head, her test was done. Her measurements were basically the same as the last ones we got from her orphanage except for her weight. We were told she weighed nearly 18 lbs. I’m guessing they weighed her with all of her puffy clothes on because even in her clothes today, she weighed not quite 16 lbs. She’s the size of an average 5 1/2-7 mo. old American baby (considering weight and height) which is why she looks pretty funny walking. Though many of the children at the clinic were screaming (poor Ellie was one of them. She was screaming before the doctors ever looked at her AND she needed a TB test and 5 shots. Poor baby.), Lydia was no worse for wear. She didn’t need any shots (though she’ll need all of them once we get home. She hasn’t had any.), and she promptly fell asleep in Mark’s arms afterwards. She seems to like a little morning cat nap.

When we got back, a “white swan fairy” had left a gift in our room—the famous going home Barbie that all adoptive families who stay at the White Swan receive. It’s a fun keepsake to bring home though I have to say that the baby really doesn’t look Chinese to me. Well, guess that doesn’t really matter since I look nothing like Barbie either. Mattel designs the dolls, one different for each year, just for the White Swan and sponsors a play room that families can use in the hotel.

Mark stayed back in the room to work on getting the internet working for us while I went with our travel group to the famous Lucy’s restaurant down the street which serves American food. I had my first taste of American food since we left home, a little pizza which actually was pretty good (Lydia thought so too!). Note to other travelers though—I ordered a coke too and it cost nearly as much as my meal. Bring your own drinks there!

The afternoon was then spent doing oodles of paperwork. It is crazy how much paperwork has to be done. Mark worked on it with our guide and the other families for over 90 minutes while Lydia and I walked around and played in the Mattel sponsored play room with a bunch of other kids and their parents. It was fun to see all the parents working hard to connect with their new children and see some of the children learning to play freely perhaps for the first time.

We had a group dinner which also included the Woods family, a family I’ve gotten to know over email who just adopted a 4 year old healthy little boy named Jake. Jake was a real kick–doesn’t speak a word of English but was super excited to to show off his picture album that his parents had sent him before traveling. And, my heart was warmed when he was calling me “ayi” (auntie) by the end of the dinner. We enjoyed Cantonese specialties of this region including (drumroll, please) roasted pigeon. We all tried it–tasted like the dark meat of turkey, not so great. But, I tell you what, those Chinese kids just went to town on it.

I’m looking forward to the week in Guangzhou–I’m still feeling “resortish” here, and I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the other adoptive families around.