We are home and safe and sound. The trip really wasn't bad. Went much better than I had feared, but was of course long and tiring.
Tian did not sleep a lot last night and seems pretty confused by the time change. She was up for the morning about 3:30 a.m. and now is sleeping probably thinking it is night. I plan to wake her after about two hours and try to keep her awake for awhile. Clio did pretty well and was in bed by 9 p.m. last night, but up around 5 a.m. She should adjust pretty quickly, I think. Dane and I are planning to take shifts. I take the last nights and he takes the early mornings until Tian gets adjusted. All three of them are actually napping right now.
We took the girls out for a walk and to the park early this morning. The more sunlight they get, the easier it is to adjust their internal clocks. I can't say the swing was a big hit with Tian so far.
I'm going to keep this short as I've got lots to do and a rare opportunity with the rest of the household asleep.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Heading Home
Hello everyone! We are in the final countdown to our journey home. I can't wait to be back in the states and get Tiany settled into a regular schedule...however, I can't say I'm too excited about the flight. Many of the folks we've been hanging out with here leave tomorrow, so we may be a bit lonely. We leave way too early in the morning on Sat. Have to be packed and in the lobby at 5:20 a.m. Ick. So this is likely to be my last post from China. We take the oath tomorrow for Tian's citizenship and have a bunch of last minute shopping to do, and then packing in the evening, so I don't imagine I'll be on the blog much. I'll probably do a final email check for the great adventure home begins.
I have more photos of the girls, and we are heading over in their matching outfits to the White Swan tomorrow for some red couch photos. But internet is seriously slow again this evening, and I just don't feel like fighting to get the photos up here.
I also got our cameras that we had sent to the SWI developed and have some additional LYG photos. Many have different kids in them, most I don't recognize, so it will be interesting to see if some of the rest of you do.
I wanted to do an update on Tiany (as Clio and I like to call her) before signing off. She is really blooming before our eyes. Despite the update that she wasn't sitting up, wasn't crawling, basically wasn't doing anything...she does all that and more. Each day she shows us a new skill. She crawls very well, both army style and a full crawl when she wants. She can pull up and balance a bit, but is wobbly still. With daddy's assistance she's has taken some tentative assisted steps. She grabs everything in site and flings it to the floor. She will eat anything and everything we put in her mouth and while she hadn't demonstrated this before, tonight she started putting food into her mouth, only big items, but it is great progress. She smiles and giggles a lot. And while she still is fairly fixated on mommy, she's decided that daddy is not such a bad guy after all. In fact, she won't go to sleep easily for mom, so that's become dad's job. While originally she wouldn't let me put her down, she graduated to sitting next to me, to crawling around in the area I'm in. She has also tolerated a high chair and stroller for brief periods. She is babbling all the time and we believe we heard both mama and dada come out of her mouth today. She loves her sister and wants to imitate everything she does. We are so happy with her progress and her pleasant happy demeanor. She is a great addition to our family.
She reminds me so much of her big sister in many ways, and yet is her own unique self. If you cover her mouth she looks so much like Clio, but then she has those pouting Angelia Jolie type lips. And she has the cutest, charming giggle. Very different from Clio's belly laugh.
Clio is still having a rough time. She has been eating better here in Guangzhou, but is now refusing naps which makes for very tempermental evenings and afternoons. She desperately needs to be back home and on a schedule and back with her friends. It is hard for her to not be the center of attention all the time anymore and she really misses interacting with kids her age. She's been a trooper, but her patience is gone and the novelty has worn thin. She's learned that she can exploit the fact that we are in a hotel room and many public places, so our discipline has gone down the tubes. Today she was throwing a huge fit in front of our hotel and I couldn't get her to calm down at all. A police man came over and waved his finger at her and that scared her a bit and she settled down. I was grateful to him actually. Everything was different here, the schedule, the rules, the bathrooms (she is terrified of the Chinese style ones), the food, the kids...so who can really blame her for being on edge. We just have to survive the 24 hours of travel and I think we'll be able to get back to normal.
If we were to come again, I don't know if I would bring Clio or not. We are traveling with several families who left kids behind and it's been really tough on them in a way we haven't experienced. Despite the challenges for us, I think overall it's been good for her to be here. I think the bottom line is that it's a hard trip anyway you do it.
Like when we returned home with Clio, I think it will take a while to settle into a new routine with Tiany in the mix. For instance, we had getting ready with the three of us down to a science and were pretty quick. Now we can't seem to do it in under 2 hours. It's more than doubled, because we can't trade off the way we did before and we end up each watching the kids while the other gets ready and then each getting a kid ready. Not very efficient, but we haven't learned how to have one of us get two ready at once. And with Tiany refusing to be put down most of the time, it's tough. So my hat is off to all you moms reading this with 2 or more...I've got some learning to do!
I'm not sure what else to add. There's been so much this trip and I've only captured a small part of it here. Dane is off getting a hair cut and massage. I had a foot massage last night which was GREAT! And about $10 for 90 minutes! We love China and feel so fortunate to be able to bring these little girls into our lives. But the trip also makes me realize how blessed we are to live in the US and how very much we have to learn about the Chinese culture. I find myself wondering what our girls will make of all this when they are grown and how they will feel about their birth country and their new home.
I'm going to call it a night. Thanks to all for the support, prayers and wishes during our journey. We can't wait to see you back at home and introduce our beautiful little girl to you!
I have more photos of the girls, and we are heading over in their matching outfits to the White Swan tomorrow for some red couch photos. But internet is seriously slow again this evening, and I just don't feel like fighting to get the photos up here.
I also got our cameras that we had sent to the SWI developed and have some additional LYG photos. Many have different kids in them, most I don't recognize, so it will be interesting to see if some of the rest of you do.
I wanted to do an update on Tiany (as Clio and I like to call her) before signing off. She is really blooming before our eyes. Despite the update that she wasn't sitting up, wasn't crawling, basically wasn't doing anything...she does all that and more. Each day she shows us a new skill. She crawls very well, both army style and a full crawl when she wants. She can pull up and balance a bit, but is wobbly still. With daddy's assistance she's has taken some tentative assisted steps. She grabs everything in site and flings it to the floor. She will eat anything and everything we put in her mouth and while she hadn't demonstrated this before, tonight she started putting food into her mouth, only big items, but it is great progress. She smiles and giggles a lot. And while she still is fairly fixated on mommy, she's decided that daddy is not such a bad guy after all. In fact, she won't go to sleep easily for mom, so that's become dad's job. While originally she wouldn't let me put her down, she graduated to sitting next to me, to crawling around in the area I'm in. She has also tolerated a high chair and stroller for brief periods. She is babbling all the time and we believe we heard both mama and dada come out of her mouth today. She loves her sister and wants to imitate everything she does. We are so happy with her progress and her pleasant happy demeanor. She is a great addition to our family.
She reminds me so much of her big sister in many ways, and yet is her own unique self. If you cover her mouth she looks so much like Clio, but then she has those pouting Angelia Jolie type lips. And she has the cutest, charming giggle. Very different from Clio's belly laugh.
Clio is still having a rough time. She has been eating better here in Guangzhou, but is now refusing naps which makes for very tempermental evenings and afternoons. She desperately needs to be back home and on a schedule and back with her friends. It is hard for her to not be the center of attention all the time anymore and she really misses interacting with kids her age. She's been a trooper, but her patience is gone and the novelty has worn thin. She's learned that she can exploit the fact that we are in a hotel room and many public places, so our discipline has gone down the tubes. Today she was throwing a huge fit in front of our hotel and I couldn't get her to calm down at all. A police man came over and waved his finger at her and that scared her a bit and she settled down. I was grateful to him actually. Everything was different here, the schedule, the rules, the bathrooms (she is terrified of the Chinese style ones), the food, the kids...so who can really blame her for being on edge. We just have to survive the 24 hours of travel and I think we'll be able to get back to normal.
If we were to come again, I don't know if I would bring Clio or not. We are traveling with several families who left kids behind and it's been really tough on them in a way we haven't experienced. Despite the challenges for us, I think overall it's been good for her to be here. I think the bottom line is that it's a hard trip anyway you do it.
Like when we returned home with Clio, I think it will take a while to settle into a new routine with Tiany in the mix. For instance, we had getting ready with the three of us down to a science and were pretty quick. Now we can't seem to do it in under 2 hours. It's more than doubled, because we can't trade off the way we did before and we end up each watching the kids while the other gets ready and then each getting a kid ready. Not very efficient, but we haven't learned how to have one of us get two ready at once. And with Tiany refusing to be put down most of the time, it's tough. So my hat is off to all you moms reading this with 2 or more...I've got some learning to do!
I'm not sure what else to add. There's been so much this trip and I've only captured a small part of it here. Dane is off getting a hair cut and massage. I had a foot massage last night which was GREAT! And about $10 for 90 minutes! We love China and feel so fortunate to be able to bring these little girls into our lives. But the trip also makes me realize how blessed we are to live in the US and how very much we have to learn about the Chinese culture. I find myself wondering what our girls will make of all this when they are grown and how they will feel about their birth country and their new home.
I'm going to call it a night. Thanks to all for the support, prayers and wishes during our journey. We can't wait to see you back at home and introduce our beautiful little girl to you!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
A few last LYG photos
The beach...
And park...
Our travel mate Rebecca and her son David with Dane and Tian. At the SWI we learned that these two kiddos had cribs next to each other. David's family lives in Castle Rock so we thought it was pretty cool that they were "neighbors" in the SWI and will be neighbors back home!
Tian's bed. I forgot to add in the post about our rough day getting to LYG, that when we arrive we discovered that our hotel only had one crib. The first room they wanted us to go in had one bed about the size of double and they expected all 4 of us to sleep in it! There was no room for a rollaway and even a crib would have been tight (had they had one). We did manage to get moved to a bigger room with two single beds and more room and got a rollaway for Clio. We let our travel mates take it as their son was more likely to climb than Tian and made her this little bed by pushing two chairs together, stuffing pillows into the arm holes and covering with a comforter.
And park...
Our travel mate Rebecca and her son David with Dane and Tian. At the SWI we learned that these two kiddos had cribs next to each other. David's family lives in Castle Rock so we thought it was pretty cool that they were "neighbors" in the SWI and will be neighbors back home!
Tian's bed. I forgot to add in the post about our rough day getting to LYG, that when we arrive we discovered that our hotel only had one crib. The first room they wanted us to go in had one bed about the size of double and they expected all 4 of us to sleep in it! There was no room for a rollaway and even a crib would have been tight (had they had one). We did manage to get moved to a bigger room with two single beds and more room and got a rollaway for Clio. We let our travel mates take it as their son was more likely to climb than Tian and made her this little bed by pushing two chairs together, stuffing pillows into the arm holes and covering with a comforter.
Around LYG Nov. 11
Again, I've got this blog and narative totally out of order. I hope you guys are able to make some sense of it. I can't view it due to the "Great Firewall of China" but can tell from the editing screen that it is hopelessly out of order.
Here are some more photos of our hotel and the construction around LYG. This area around the harbor is set to be a real resort community and they are building tons of villas and other vacation homes. The beach area is really lovely with a nice park, trails, and convention center.
Here are some more photos of our hotel and the construction around LYG. This area around the harbor is set to be a real resort community and they are building tons of villas and other vacation homes. The beach area is really lovely with a nice park, trails, and convention center.
Guangzhou at last... (Nov. 13)
We slept very well in the lap of luxury last night. Even Tian slept though the whole night until after 7 a.m. It was glorious. I woke up with a whole new attitude. Happy to be back in familiar territory as we spent 2 weeks here when we adopted Clio.
We went down to breakfast and ran into several of our friends from Hong Kong as well as some of my internet buddies. The buffet was all labeled in English! I was remembering so much from our first trip and getting excited about some of the restaurants and shopping in store. It really felt something like a family reunion!
Today we had Tian's medical appointment and did some additional paperwork. We have a nice relaxed schedule for the next few days. And here on Shamain island you can walk to everything you need. NO MORE VANS! Other than my total frustration over internet problems this afternoon, it's been a great day.
We had dinner at Lucy's, a sort of American restaurant. I had heard it had gone downhill, but I still swear by it. Really, how can you mess up a grilled cheese anyway? Just don't eat the mexican and the rest is all good. Clio even ate an entire casa dia, a first for her even at home. And as if grilled cheese wasn't good enough...they had sake on the menu. (I'm sure this blog is making me sound like a lush. I really don't drink that much at home.)
It amazes me that while the Chinese invented sake, we couldn't seem to find it on any menus and is considered very much a Japanese thing. Sake is my drink of choice these days...and it really isn't harsh like so many think or have experienced from a bad bottle. It's more like white while really, especially the good stuff. But in any case, my good friends at Lucy's had it on the menu and I ordered it and it was so good that I asked if I could purchase a bottle to take with me. In the states, it comes in something about the size of a wine bottle. They were happy to oblige...and it is a HUGE bottle. I mean HUGE. I will have to have a party in our luxury suite to get rid of it all. We will post of photo later, but I'm sure the staff are still talking about the crazy American lady...
So I'm going to bed happy this evening...my internet is working now, I've had a wonderful meal of grilled cheese and sake and the kids are both asleep!
We went down to breakfast and ran into several of our friends from Hong Kong as well as some of my internet buddies. The buffet was all labeled in English! I was remembering so much from our first trip and getting excited about some of the restaurants and shopping in store. It really felt something like a family reunion!
Today we had Tian's medical appointment and did some additional paperwork. We have a nice relaxed schedule for the next few days. And here on Shamain island you can walk to everything you need. NO MORE VANS! Other than my total frustration over internet problems this afternoon, it's been a great day.
We had dinner at Lucy's, a sort of American restaurant. I had heard it had gone downhill, but I still swear by it. Really, how can you mess up a grilled cheese anyway? Just don't eat the mexican and the rest is all good. Clio even ate an entire casa dia, a first for her even at home. And as if grilled cheese wasn't good enough...they had sake on the menu. (I'm sure this blog is making me sound like a lush. I really don't drink that much at home.)
It amazes me that while the Chinese invented sake, we couldn't seem to find it on any menus and is considered very much a Japanese thing. Sake is my drink of choice these days...and it really isn't harsh like so many think or have experienced from a bad bottle. It's more like white while really, especially the good stuff. But in any case, my good friends at Lucy's had it on the menu and I ordered it and it was so good that I asked if I could purchase a bottle to take with me. In the states, it comes in something about the size of a wine bottle. They were happy to oblige...and it is a HUGE bottle. I mean HUGE. I will have to have a party in our luxury suite to get rid of it all. We will post of photo later, but I'm sure the staff are still talking about the crazy American lady...
So I'm going to bed happy this evening...my internet is working now, I've had a wonderful meal of grilled cheese and sake and the kids are both asleep!
A fairly tale ending... (Nov. 12 still...)
So after our AWFUL day of travel, we check into our hotel, the Victory. Dane checks in while I sit on the couch with the kids. He comes back and says, "They gave us the best room in the place." I groan and say, "I won't believe it until we see it." In my cynical, dealing with kids screaming for hours mood, I'm thinking it must be Chinese hyperbole and we are really getting a dump.
Well, after a frustrating few minutes while the bell boy couldn't find the room...(???)...we open it up...and according to Clio, it's a princess palace. I guess we really were upgraded. We'd asked for a suite, but this one came complete with crystal chandieliers, a marble bar area, an automatic water boiling machine, two bathrooms, a jetted tub, a bidet and yes, a personal sauna. (I don't have a photo of the sauna as we didn't see it at first next to the shower. I'll try to put one up later so you'll believe me.) I just laughed and laughed because it seemed so nuts to be in this crazyily overdone luxury suite with two tired kids after the day we had had.
Well, after a frustrating few minutes while the bell boy couldn't find the room...(???)...we open it up...and according to Clio, it's a princess palace. I guess we really were upgraded. We'd asked for a suite, but this one came complete with crystal chandieliers, a marble bar area, an automatic water boiling machine, two bathrooms, a jetted tub, a bidet and yes, a personal sauna. (I don't have a photo of the sauna as we didn't see it at first next to the shower. I'll try to put one up later so you'll believe me.) I just laughed and laughed because it seemed so nuts to be in this crazyily overdone luxury suite with two tired kids after the day we had had.
Leaving Jiangsu
Our time in Jiangsu ended with a killer day of travel. After the visit to the SWI, we headed straight back to the Nanjing airport...about 5 more hours on the van. Then waited a few hours and flew 2 hours to Guangzhou. We got in after 10 p.m. (I was wrong before when I said our flight arrived at 11 p.m., it was actually 9 p.m., but late enough.)
The kiddos (and the parents too) were sick of the van. I'll do a post specifically about Tiany soon as there is so much to tell you, but she has started crawling everywhere and once started, certainly didn't want to be stuck in van all day where she couldn't flex her little muscles. She was crabby. Clio refused to nap and was really crabby. And mom was emotional and really really crabby.
At the airport we had our first real taste of trying to cart two kids plus luggage around. Not real fun. We said a sad goodbye to our guide Savor who had been with us for the whole week and we'd grown pretty close to. We frantically dumped out all our liquids prior to security, spilling a bottle of formula all over the airport floor, only to find out that China doesn't have the liquid restriction on in-country flights. Then Clio had a major meltdown in the middle of the security line and kneeled on the floor and refused to move. She refused to get in the stroller, so we had an empty stroller, 2 big carry ons and two screaming kids to contend with. Fun. Thank goodness Chinese security is pretty lax and we at least didn't have to remove shoes or laptops. I'm not sure we would have made it through and am still not quite sure how we did get through. It wasn't pretty to say the least.
Tian's first flight was not great. The flight attendants were overly helpful on the way into the plane and helped us with our luggage. Which was nice. Except that they put it all in overhead bins and we had no clue where it was. Including our bag with Clio's snacks and Tian's bottles. So the already cranky kids got even crankier and louder. Tian screamed most of the 2 hour flight and we were the most hated people on board. Dane tried to find the bag with their stuff and couldn't. The flight attendants kept passing him and making him move out of the aisle and no one was helping even though we obviously had a major kid issue happening. Our nice travel mates passed us some of their snacks and we tried to keep the kids happy with crackers. We got some food trays and I had Tian sucking on oranges...she clearly wanted her bottle. She calmed a bit, but then stated screaming again even louder. It was clear to the entire plane she wanted her bottle and wanted it NOW. I finally lost it and told Dane he had to find the bag NOW or I was coming over the seat and into the aisle myself. One of the flight attendants happened by and casually and so sweetly said, 'You bag is in that bin, I put some others on top of it. Good think I wasn't in the aisle. Like she couldn't have told us the at the first time we looked?
So we got a bottle and Clio finally fell asleep and things were OK. With the help of our travel mates, we drug two sleeping kids and the bags off the plane. I was really happy to finally be in Guangzhou! We weren't delighted to see another van to take us to the hotel, but there was no other way.
More van photos...
Saying goodbye to our guide and friend Savor.
The kiddos (and the parents too) were sick of the van. I'll do a post specifically about Tiany soon as there is so much to tell you, but she has started crawling everywhere and once started, certainly didn't want to be stuck in van all day where she couldn't flex her little muscles. She was crabby. Clio refused to nap and was really crabby. And mom was emotional and really really crabby.
At the airport we had our first real taste of trying to cart two kids plus luggage around. Not real fun. We said a sad goodbye to our guide Savor who had been with us for the whole week and we'd grown pretty close to. We frantically dumped out all our liquids prior to security, spilling a bottle of formula all over the airport floor, only to find out that China doesn't have the liquid restriction on in-country flights. Then Clio had a major meltdown in the middle of the security line and kneeled on the floor and refused to move. She refused to get in the stroller, so we had an empty stroller, 2 big carry ons and two screaming kids to contend with. Fun. Thank goodness Chinese security is pretty lax and we at least didn't have to remove shoes or laptops. I'm not sure we would have made it through and am still not quite sure how we did get through. It wasn't pretty to say the least.
Tian's first flight was not great. The flight attendants were overly helpful on the way into the plane and helped us with our luggage. Which was nice. Except that they put it all in overhead bins and we had no clue where it was. Including our bag with Clio's snacks and Tian's bottles. So the already cranky kids got even crankier and louder. Tian screamed most of the 2 hour flight and we were the most hated people on board. Dane tried to find the bag with their stuff and couldn't. The flight attendants kept passing him and making him move out of the aisle and no one was helping even though we obviously had a major kid issue happening. Our nice travel mates passed us some of their snacks and we tried to keep the kids happy with crackers. We got some food trays and I had Tian sucking on oranges...she clearly wanted her bottle. She calmed a bit, but then stated screaming again even louder. It was clear to the entire plane she wanted her bottle and wanted it NOW. I finally lost it and told Dane he had to find the bag NOW or I was coming over the seat and into the aisle myself. One of the flight attendants happened by and casually and so sweetly said, 'You bag is in that bin, I put some others on top of it. Good think I wasn't in the aisle. Like she couldn't have told us the at the first time we looked?
So we got a bottle and Clio finally fell asleep and things were OK. With the help of our travel mates, we drug two sleeping kids and the bags off the plane. I was really happy to finally be in Guangzhou! We weren't delighted to see another van to take us to the hotel, but there was no other way.
More van photos...
Saying goodbye to our guide and friend Savor.
A last LYG comment
One thing I forgot to say in my other post...in the confusion about our visit, I was originally told I could not take any photos of the SWI. Then only outside photos. That is why I don't have as many as I had hoped. When we finally got them to say it was OK to see certain kids I already had photos of, they first found Lu Wen and I asked again if I could take a photo for her mama back home. They somewhat reluctantly agreed. I took the first one while she posed. Then I turned off my flash and took more without really asking. I couldn't really hide the fact I was doing it, but didn't really ask either and tried not to be too intrusive about it. I didn't want to overdo it and upset them. I couldn't get my video camera out as I felt that would really be pushing it. One of our travel mates did take some video instead of photos and I hope to get a copy of his video when we return home.
Overall it was a pretty bittersweet day. I'm glad we visited but to be honest it was a very hard and long trip, particularly with a 3 yr. old also in tow. And while I was happy to finally visit, I was stressed about the confusion regarding our visit which made it more difficult to get info. for you guys, disappointed not to be able to see all the kiddos with waiting families and so profoundly sad about my interaction with Tian's nanny and of course the children who aren't matched yet. I hope as many as possible are home with their families soon.
Overall it was a pretty bittersweet day. I'm glad we visited but to be honest it was a very hard and long trip, particularly with a 3 yr. old also in tow. And while I was happy to finally visit, I was stressed about the confusion regarding our visit which made it more difficult to get info. for you guys, disappointed not to be able to see all the kiddos with waiting families and so profoundly sad about my interaction with Tian's nanny and of course the children who aren't matched yet. I hope as many as possible are home with their families soon.
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