Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Finally new photos~
A member of our MN Red Thread group, Laurie, is (luckily for all of us) a fantastic photographer. She took these awesome photos of Aidan and Lily about two months ago and I am just now getting them up on line. Laurie ROCKS!!!!
Christmas is a week away, and I have been having the time of my life getting ready with the kids. TWO kids. It's so wonderful to have our family complete for Christmas this year. It seems like so many years that we kept saying, "next year we will have Lily....." only to not get Lily the next year! But, now that Lily has been with us for one full year, it feels like she has been here all along. She and Aidan are INCREDIBLY close and love each other dearly and play together all the time. It is so endearing to watch them hug and kiss each other goodnight each and every night, or to see Aidan try to teach Lily how to climb up on something, or to see Lily run to Aidan just to give him a hug and a pat. I find myself smiling each day. No matter how horrible I look, how tired I am, or how messy my house is, I am filled with happiness because I just feel so blessed that that I have such a wonderful family-two healthy and happy kiddies and a fantastic hubby.
So, this year Brian and I have been exhausting ourselves with Christmas joy. The house is decorated to the hilt, we make different cookies each weekend, and the countdown is on! Yet, the greatest gift of all is the one we already have...our loving family of four.
Christmas is a week away, and I have been having the time of my life getting ready with the kids. TWO kids. It's so wonderful to have our family complete for Christmas this year. It seems like so many years that we kept saying, "next year we will have Lily....." only to not get Lily the next year! But, now that Lily has been with us for one full year, it feels like she has been here all along. She and Aidan are INCREDIBLY close and love each other dearly and play together all the time. It is so endearing to watch them hug and kiss each other goodnight each and every night, or to see Aidan try to teach Lily how to climb up on something, or to see Lily run to Aidan just to give him a hug and a pat. I find myself smiling each day. No matter how horrible I look, how tired I am, or how messy my house is, I am filled with happiness because I just feel so blessed that that I have such a wonderful family-two healthy and happy kiddies and a fantastic hubby.
So, this year Brian and I have been exhausting ourselves with Christmas joy. The house is decorated to the hilt, we make different cookies each weekend, and the countdown is on! Yet, the greatest gift of all is the one we already have...our loving family of four.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Autumn Wonders
It is fall now, and Lily and Aidan seem to be finding their way with each other finally. Although there are times when she is pulling his hair and being the loud toddler messing with all of his "stuff," there are more times when he is playing with her, cuddling her, and trying to carry her around the house like a puppet. It's beautiful to watch their relationship unfold. Lily is absolutely CRAZY about her big brother, and always wants to be with him (to his dismay at times.) But, Aidan is equally crazy about his little sister (he just shows it in a quieter, older way.) He runs into her room when she wakes up from her nap and strokes her hair and says hello to his little "mei mei" (mandarin for "little sister.")
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Ok, ok...so it's been three months since I added new photos to this blog. Sorry! But, having a new baby in the house seems to have put blogging last on my priority list. But, here I am, and I'm downloading new photos for all of you!
...now back to chasing a toddler around.....
-Heather
...now back to chasing a toddler around.....
-Heather
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
My most perfect Valentine!!!
Tomorrow is Valentines Day, and we will have been home from China for 2 1/2 months so far. It has just FLOWN by. Having Lily here with us, and having our family completed now, is the most wonderful thing in the world. Sometimes Brian and I just sit and stare at each other and say, "Wow, we have TWO children--a boy, and a girl. Perfect." Just amazing....
As Lily attaches to us more and more each day, we also attach to her more and more. She now reaches up for us to pick her up, she crawls to whatever room we are in so that she can always be near us, and she tightly hugs us around the neck when we hold her. She is a little tiny snuggle bunny of a girl and she endears me to her more and more each day.
She is starting to get a little dimple when she smiles, and she is getting more and more teeth with each passing moment it seems! She pulls herself to standing, giggles, laughs, smiles, coos, and is the happiest baby I have seen in a long time. We are truly blessed.
Heather
As Lily attaches to us more and more each day, we also attach to her more and more. She now reaches up for us to pick her up, she crawls to whatever room we are in so that she can always be near us, and she tightly hugs us around the neck when we hold her. She is a little tiny snuggle bunny of a girl and she endears me to her more and more each day.
She is starting to get a little dimple when she smiles, and she is getting more and more teeth with each passing moment it seems! She pulls herself to standing, giggles, laughs, smiles, coos, and is the happiest baby I have seen in a long time. We are truly blessed.
Heather
Friday, December 7, 2007
We're Home!!!
Hi all-
It's been awhile since I posted, and that is because it has been while since I have had any energy to post! We traveled home last weekend and it was pretty miserable. Little Aidan spent the entire time throwing up on the plane, which kept the rest of us jumping out of our seats to run him to the bathroom to clean up, which meant that Lily wouldn't/couldn't sleep the whole way either. We were stuck on the Tarmack in Guanzhou for a few hours before takeoff, and thus we had to RUN through the Tokyo airport to make our connection to the states. Picture this--one crying, sleep deprived infant, one barfing 5 year old, three horribly tired and still sick adults, tons of gear, and we're RUNNING through the Tokyo security systems trying to explain our way through the carrying of bottled water and baby bottles and why they are soooooo necessary for our trip right now because of state of both children's health, etc......It was pretty rough.
We arrived home to cold and snow (typical MN) and a very distraught cat and dog. Lily was pretty much afraid of everything...the dog was a giant yellow lion in the living room, the cat was a rat that was running by her lickety split, and the snow was a giant cold scary carpet outside our house. So many new things for this little one--I felt so badly for her.
Noone slept at all for the first few days--the 14 hour time change kept all of us up all night, and then we had to fight to stay awake all day--and then the more sleep deprived we got the harder it was to sleep since we were overly-tired and couldn't sleep at all anymore.....what a mess!!! So, we spent the first few days just trying to get our barings, get Lily used to her crib, the house, the sights and sounds of MN and the weather of course. We took her to the doctor to get blood work and shots--just to make her life even MORE miserable--the poor thing.
Only today does Aidan seem to be more like his old self--and he got to go back to pre-school and see his friends (despite his tiredness) and this helped get his normal routine going again. Lily still has no routine, but, that is to be expected. If we can just get at least one nap our of her during the day and at least 8-10 hours of nighttime sleep, I will be happy. So far, Brian and I take turns sleeping with her in her room so that the other person can be in our room to sleep with Aidan when he comes running in there in the middle of the night. This way, we at least can get SOME sleep. The first few nights we had both kids in our room since neither one of them wanted to be away from us, and it was rough having Aidan and Lily both in our bed. It was cute, it was snuggly, but, noone slept very well.....then you add the dog and the cat in the morning and we had a pretty crowed bed! So, we take turns sleeping with each kid until we all get back into a routine, and then Aidan and Lily will eventually be in their own rooms. Aidan has said that he wants Lily to sleep in his room with him, and we are not opposed to this at all, but, until she stops waking up so much at night, we are going to keep them seperate or else he won't get any sleep himself.
I finally have all the pics of the trip (and some recent ones) put onto a CD and I will download some this weekend since Brian will be here with me to watch the kids while I do computer stuff. So, if you want to see updated photos of Lily, check back in a couple of days.
Its good to be home. It was pretty horrible the first few days, and it still is pretty hard, and at times Brian and I kept asking each other, "What did we DO to our lives????" It is very hard having an infant again after not having one for 5 years. Yet, as we slowly get more attachted to Lily, and she slowly starts to bond with us, we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel of sleep deprivation. It still hasn't hit us that three years of this whole nightmare is now over. Three years of writing checks for huge amounts, doing fingerprints, giving interviews, and doing mountains of paperwork....it's all over now. The only thing left is just to "be." To just sit and "be" a family. No more work to get Lily. No more traveling. We can finally just "be."---and this is something so foreign to us right now that it doesn't come naturally. But, once our jet lagged fog burns off and the sun shines through into our lives, I know we will wake up from this long 3 year dream, and just smile. How tired I am on this day--not just from jet lag, a new baby, and a sick son, but from 3 years of all of this..... How long I have waited for this time to come, and here it is. I am right here; right at this time that I have been long waiting for. And soon, I will be able to look out at the sky, and just relax.
Thank you God, thank you mom--we are now, finally, a family of four. We're done.
It's been awhile since I posted, and that is because it has been while since I have had any energy to post! We traveled home last weekend and it was pretty miserable. Little Aidan spent the entire time throwing up on the plane, which kept the rest of us jumping out of our seats to run him to the bathroom to clean up, which meant that Lily wouldn't/couldn't sleep the whole way either. We were stuck on the Tarmack in Guanzhou for a few hours before takeoff, and thus we had to RUN through the Tokyo airport to make our connection to the states. Picture this--one crying, sleep deprived infant, one barfing 5 year old, three horribly tired and still sick adults, tons of gear, and we're RUNNING through the Tokyo security systems trying to explain our way through the carrying of bottled water and baby bottles and why they are soooooo necessary for our trip right now because of state of both children's health, etc......It was pretty rough.
We arrived home to cold and snow (typical MN) and a very distraught cat and dog. Lily was pretty much afraid of everything...the dog was a giant yellow lion in the living room, the cat was a rat that was running by her lickety split, and the snow was a giant cold scary carpet outside our house. So many new things for this little one--I felt so badly for her.
Noone slept at all for the first few days--the 14 hour time change kept all of us up all night, and then we had to fight to stay awake all day--and then the more sleep deprived we got the harder it was to sleep since we were overly-tired and couldn't sleep at all anymore.....what a mess!!! So, we spent the first few days just trying to get our barings, get Lily used to her crib, the house, the sights and sounds of MN and the weather of course. We took her to the doctor to get blood work and shots--just to make her life even MORE miserable--the poor thing.
Only today does Aidan seem to be more like his old self--and he got to go back to pre-school and see his friends (despite his tiredness) and this helped get his normal routine going again. Lily still has no routine, but, that is to be expected. If we can just get at least one nap our of her during the day and at least 8-10 hours of nighttime sleep, I will be happy. So far, Brian and I take turns sleeping with her in her room so that the other person can be in our room to sleep with Aidan when he comes running in there in the middle of the night. This way, we at least can get SOME sleep. The first few nights we had both kids in our room since neither one of them wanted to be away from us, and it was rough having Aidan and Lily both in our bed. It was cute, it was snuggly, but, noone slept very well.....then you add the dog and the cat in the morning and we had a pretty crowed bed! So, we take turns sleeping with each kid until we all get back into a routine, and then Aidan and Lily will eventually be in their own rooms. Aidan has said that he wants Lily to sleep in his room with him, and we are not opposed to this at all, but, until she stops waking up so much at night, we are going to keep them seperate or else he won't get any sleep himself.
I finally have all the pics of the trip (and some recent ones) put onto a CD and I will download some this weekend since Brian will be here with me to watch the kids while I do computer stuff. So, if you want to see updated photos of Lily, check back in a couple of days.
Its good to be home. It was pretty horrible the first few days, and it still is pretty hard, and at times Brian and I kept asking each other, "What did we DO to our lives????" It is very hard having an infant again after not having one for 5 years. Yet, as we slowly get more attachted to Lily, and she slowly starts to bond with us, we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel of sleep deprivation. It still hasn't hit us that three years of this whole nightmare is now over. Three years of writing checks for huge amounts, doing fingerprints, giving interviews, and doing mountains of paperwork....it's all over now. The only thing left is just to "be." To just sit and "be" a family. No more work to get Lily. No more traveling. We can finally just "be."---and this is something so foreign to us right now that it doesn't come naturally. But, once our jet lagged fog burns off and the sun shines through into our lives, I know we will wake up from this long 3 year dream, and just smile. How tired I am on this day--not just from jet lag, a new baby, and a sick son, but from 3 years of all of this..... How long I have waited for this time to come, and here it is. I am right here; right at this time that I have been long waiting for. And soon, I will be able to look out at the sky, and just relax.
Thank you God, thank you mom--we are now, finally, a family of four. We're done.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
My favorite photo of all time--sweet Lily admiring her new daddy!!!
We bought this silly hat for Lily to wear for when it was chilly in Chongqing--it is now hot and sunny in Guanzhaou, but, it was fun to wear while we could. I love this photo so much....Lily looks so sweet, young, and full of interest in Brian.
Shout outs-just for fun-
Hello to those in my family who are scattered across the world yet still keeping in touch with me via this blog--to Cristina and the boys in Mexico, Helen in Australia, the gang out in California-including little Anna who was just born, everyone in MN and Illinois and New York and to and Kate out in England.... I never realized that we were scattered across four countries (while I'm in China) until now--and still talking via computer. Now if we can just keep this thing from getting flagged (blocked), I'll be ok!
FINALLY hacked back onto the internet! We're in Guangzhou now!
Hello from Guangzhou, Guangdong, China—
FINALLY able to get back on the internet! Man oh man has this been frustrating. I’ve tried to post so many times, but we keep getting blocked…..perhaps it’s my comments about Tibet that put a RED flag (get it, red flag—haha) on the Chinese filtering systems. Oh well.
So, hang on for a huge purge of China info here. First of all, if anyone out there is reading this and is about to go to China to adopt, feel free to PM me and ask me anything. I can give you a wealth of info about what to bring or not bring, essentials, and so forth.
Ok, general stuff—first of all, Lily dear….. My dear, sweet baby girl. I am sooooooo in love with my little sweet pea! She has developed several different smiles. She has what Brian calls the “two tooth grin” where she only smiles with her bottom lip and shows her tiny little two teeth on the bottom, and then there is the “dumpling grin” where she smiles so wide her already pudgy cheeks look even pudgier, and so on and so on. She, knock on wood, sleeps through the night a good 12 hours. We have noticed that she seem sleep deprived, and found out that her schedule from the orphanage was pretty lax in the sleep department. She was put to bed at 9pm and had to get up at 6am and only got one hour nap in the afternoon. This really upset me. Aidan took a morning AND afternoon nap for one year and then a long one in the afternoon for two years after that….let alone at least 10 hours at night. So, for a little ten month old, this is not enough sleep in my book. Plus, I’m sure her senses are in overload and thus she needs more sleep at this time, too. But, we have been letting her totally dictate her schedule to us, and she sleeps every afternoon for three hours, every morning for one, and from 8 pm until 7am each night. We are realllllly lucky! Of course, when we get back to the states and put her in a cold climate and turn her days and nights around, I’m sure she will be as much of a mess as we are.
She doesn’t cry at all—and that kind of worries me a bit. It’s almost as if she is TOO easy going. I’m not complaining at all, this is great having such a easy going baby, but, she doesn’t cry or get fussy for ANYTHING—we can cart her around, mess up her schedule, nothing. Not a peep. She won’t even fuss if she’s hungry—and, this is actually a problem. She seems to have an aversion to taking a bottle so we need to practically shove it in her mouth and then when she realizes it is food, she guzzles it in a millisecond. If we didn’t offer her bottles on a regular basis she would probably just continue to go on and on with no food in her. I’m amazed that she isn’t starving all the time. She won’t take any solids, nor a spoon, but, this is to be expected since she was never exposed to them in the orphanage, so, we are just going to keep her regressed by using only bottles until she is comfortable enough to try something new. After all, she has had a LOT of new things this last week!
Aidan is a trouper and is trying to teach Lily how to crawl, but is getting nowhere slowly. I bet when we get home, however, she will be running after her brother in no time. We have noticed a ton of self soothing that she does—sucking on her hand—which we were told she did because she was hungry and couldn’t eat because it wasn’t the right “schedule,” so, we try to offer her food at all times, but, she still won’t take it unless it is on “orphanage time.” This makes us fearful that perhaps the children were scolded if they wanted food at the wrong time or something. Too sad. On a brighter note, she is plump and happy, so, it couldn’t have been ALL that bad I suspect….but, who knows. She can sleep through a train wreck, too. The maid was vacuuming the room while the radio was on while aidan was playing loudly while daddy was talking---all the while she just slept in the stroller right in the middle of it all—most likely from learning how to sleep through tons of babies crying in her room on various occasions.
Ok, back to the trip—we left Chongqing and had a horrible travel day. We got stuck in the airport waiting for a flight to Guangzhou and we were stranded there all day—with no luggage since had already gone through security. Our group was planning on being gone for two hours tops so we only packed one change of clothes and bottles for the babies. We were there all day…all day….all day…. Picture this—it is terribly hot and there is no air conditioning. It is the middle of China and we are the only (seemingly) Americans in this commuter airport. Many angry China men are yelling at the airplane people. Five hungry babies are crying. Five stir crazy and starving and bored four and five years olds are having major melt downs, and ten parents are pulling their hair out and melting down themselves. It was horrible times a hundred. No, it was worse than that. I literally got so tired that I lay down on the tile floor and tried to sleep using my shirt as a pillow. Horrible. We ate noodles, tried to watch a TV show in Chinese, and prayed to get out of there. We finally arrived late at night without even enough time to unpack and get ready for a very very early start the next morning. Ugh.
To make matters worse, and I have been saving this part for last just so that my dad won’t be worried about me—I came down with the worst case of Chinese crud that you can imagine. It started slowly in Chongqing, so, I fought it off and didn’t take any drugs. Just the usual “get water in the mouth” crud—you know, everything coming out of both ends all the time, ache all over, feel miserable, so tired you can’t move, don’t eat for days, can’t hold your head anywhere but over a toilet…you get the picture. But, I fought it for the sake of trying to take care of my little ones—only to have it catch up with me just in time to get me stuck in the airport. Yes, not only were we stuck in the airport all day, but I was sick the entire time, too. Eeeeee Gad!!!! No words can tell you how hellish THAT was. Nothing like trying to use a squat toilet when you have diarrhea and have to try to aim where you go for fear of getting yourself soiled! I don’t need to say anything more to give you an idea of my misery.
I tried Cipro, Z-Pacs—every medicine the doctors told me to bring to fight bacterial infections like Salmonella and Diphtheria and such. Nothing worked. I have been in bed for the whole time we been here in this last city. Finally I decided to toss out all western medicine and trust in the Chinese medicines that have worked for 3000 years. I went to a traditional Chinese medicine doctor late last night—it was dark, it was late, noone spoke English, I was alone—seriously! It had all the makings for a Lifetime movie! Through various gestures indicating that I was barfing and miserable the doctor then looked at my hands, tongue, feet, --every place that DIDN’T hurt, and then produced several powders for me to mix up 4 times per day, some liquid to drink 3 times a day, and some pills to take 6 times per day. She then indicated that she wanted to give me an IV since I was so terribly dehydrated and I insisted on NO. I didn’t want to risk it. I did allow her to give me a shot in the behind since I knew from my vet tech work that the drug she would give, and the place she would give it, and the disposable needle I would give her —would all be safe. So, we did that. Needless to say, tons of western medicine—still sick all week. Three hours of Chinese medicine, and I feel like I could run a marathon today. I feel great. I want to ship this old lady doctor back to my country and keep her in my guest room for the rest of my life! Fabulous! No wonder everyone here looks so great all the time!
Now that we are in Guangdong and I am finally able, as of this morning, to get out of bed, life if good again. I LOVE this place. We are Shamian Island—literally an island in the southern most part of China. It is sunny, tropical, warm (around 78-80) and there is a nice breeze. Our window looks out at the water and we see huge HUGE ships traveling by all day. We have floor to ceiling windows and it is beautiful. The White Swan hotel, where we are, is absolutely breathtaking. It is 5 star times ten. I am in heaven. They have water falls in the lobby and tropical gardens outside—it totally reminds me of the Hyatt in Maui, Hawaii where we stayed for our honeymoon. Same décor, same weather, same gardens. Unfortunately, I have been sick for the first 4 days of our 6 here, so, I have not been able to enjoy any of it until now, but, at least I get two days of happiness here in this paradise. Everything here on the island is gorgeous and upscale in an old world kind of way. The gardens are amazing. For those of you wondering why we are here—no no no—it not for a vacation at the end of the adoption trip. This is where the US Consulate is (which is one reason for so much money floating around) and this is where we get Lily’s passport and get sworn in as her parents-so to speak. That ceremony is tomorrow. Earlier in the week Lily had to pass a physical to allow her to leave the country and she passed with flying colors. She is 19 pounds too! She had to go through three medical stations and get all checked out and she did fine. Brian, on the other hand, who had to take her through this by himself since I was laid up in bed, might need a beer or two after this trip!!!
I need to end this post since it is way too long, but I have to tell you the most wonderful thing that we did, however. We took Lily to the Six Banyon Tree Temple here. It is a 1600 year old temple—one of the oldest in all of China. We got her blessed by the monks there, and they did a little ceremony kind of like an American Baptism. This is very important for us (and will be to her) since people come from all over the world to come to this VERY temple since it has so much history and importance. To get her blessed, prayed for and dedicated to by the monks there before leaving her homeland is like the equivalent of a Catholic person getting their baby baptized in Rome. This was so special to us. I took Aidan up to the monk with me and Lily and he knelt down on the little pillow and got blessed, too. I was bawling. Lily did great. We got it all on film. Truly amazing. Buddhist monks blessing my children at the oldest Temple in China---a lifetime experience of monumental proportions.
I’ll finally try to get those photos on tonight now that we finally got on to the Internet again. So sorry for those of you who thought we forgot about you! Not our fault for not getting on line! Sorry!
I must close by saying that I am sooooooooo ready to come home. Although seeing China and learning about Lily’s heritage is very important, I am tired of the air, which smells bad, the beds, which are way too hard, and I’m craving chocolate and my dog and cat. I also want to start to feel like Christmas, and it is hard to do when I am wearing shorts and a tee shirt sitting by a palm tree……but, I’m not complaining. This is a wonderful experience. It’s just a really looooooooooong trip for all of us. We’re tired. We just want to get home and be a family in our own home—without having to boil water, wash undies in the sink, and try to find food for a 5 year old that he will actually like to eat.
See ya
Heather
FINALLY able to get back on the internet! Man oh man has this been frustrating. I’ve tried to post so many times, but we keep getting blocked…..perhaps it’s my comments about Tibet that put a RED flag (get it, red flag—haha) on the Chinese filtering systems. Oh well.
So, hang on for a huge purge of China info here. First of all, if anyone out there is reading this and is about to go to China to adopt, feel free to PM me and ask me anything. I can give you a wealth of info about what to bring or not bring, essentials, and so forth.
Ok, general stuff—first of all, Lily dear….. My dear, sweet baby girl. I am sooooooo in love with my little sweet pea! She has developed several different smiles. She has what Brian calls the “two tooth grin” where she only smiles with her bottom lip and shows her tiny little two teeth on the bottom, and then there is the “dumpling grin” where she smiles so wide her already pudgy cheeks look even pudgier, and so on and so on. She, knock on wood, sleeps through the night a good 12 hours. We have noticed that she seem sleep deprived, and found out that her schedule from the orphanage was pretty lax in the sleep department. She was put to bed at 9pm and had to get up at 6am and only got one hour nap in the afternoon. This really upset me. Aidan took a morning AND afternoon nap for one year and then a long one in the afternoon for two years after that….let alone at least 10 hours at night. So, for a little ten month old, this is not enough sleep in my book. Plus, I’m sure her senses are in overload and thus she needs more sleep at this time, too. But, we have been letting her totally dictate her schedule to us, and she sleeps every afternoon for three hours, every morning for one, and from 8 pm until 7am each night. We are realllllly lucky! Of course, when we get back to the states and put her in a cold climate and turn her days and nights around, I’m sure she will be as much of a mess as we are.
She doesn’t cry at all—and that kind of worries me a bit. It’s almost as if she is TOO easy going. I’m not complaining at all, this is great having such a easy going baby, but, she doesn’t cry or get fussy for ANYTHING—we can cart her around, mess up her schedule, nothing. Not a peep. She won’t even fuss if she’s hungry—and, this is actually a problem. She seems to have an aversion to taking a bottle so we need to practically shove it in her mouth and then when she realizes it is food, she guzzles it in a millisecond. If we didn’t offer her bottles on a regular basis she would probably just continue to go on and on with no food in her. I’m amazed that she isn’t starving all the time. She won’t take any solids, nor a spoon, but, this is to be expected since she was never exposed to them in the orphanage, so, we are just going to keep her regressed by using only bottles until she is comfortable enough to try something new. After all, she has had a LOT of new things this last week!
Aidan is a trouper and is trying to teach Lily how to crawl, but is getting nowhere slowly. I bet when we get home, however, she will be running after her brother in no time. We have noticed a ton of self soothing that she does—sucking on her hand—which we were told she did because she was hungry and couldn’t eat because it wasn’t the right “schedule,” so, we try to offer her food at all times, but, she still won’t take it unless it is on “orphanage time.” This makes us fearful that perhaps the children were scolded if they wanted food at the wrong time or something. Too sad. On a brighter note, she is plump and happy, so, it couldn’t have been ALL that bad I suspect….but, who knows. She can sleep through a train wreck, too. The maid was vacuuming the room while the radio was on while aidan was playing loudly while daddy was talking---all the while she just slept in the stroller right in the middle of it all—most likely from learning how to sleep through tons of babies crying in her room on various occasions.
Ok, back to the trip—we left Chongqing and had a horrible travel day. We got stuck in the airport waiting for a flight to Guangzhou and we were stranded there all day—with no luggage since had already gone through security. Our group was planning on being gone for two hours tops so we only packed one change of clothes and bottles for the babies. We were there all day…all day….all day…. Picture this—it is terribly hot and there is no air conditioning. It is the middle of China and we are the only (seemingly) Americans in this commuter airport. Many angry China men are yelling at the airplane people. Five hungry babies are crying. Five stir crazy and starving and bored four and five years olds are having major melt downs, and ten parents are pulling their hair out and melting down themselves. It was horrible times a hundred. No, it was worse than that. I literally got so tired that I lay down on the tile floor and tried to sleep using my shirt as a pillow. Horrible. We ate noodles, tried to watch a TV show in Chinese, and prayed to get out of there. We finally arrived late at night without even enough time to unpack and get ready for a very very early start the next morning. Ugh.
To make matters worse, and I have been saving this part for last just so that my dad won’t be worried about me—I came down with the worst case of Chinese crud that you can imagine. It started slowly in Chongqing, so, I fought it off and didn’t take any drugs. Just the usual “get water in the mouth” crud—you know, everything coming out of both ends all the time, ache all over, feel miserable, so tired you can’t move, don’t eat for days, can’t hold your head anywhere but over a toilet…you get the picture. But, I fought it for the sake of trying to take care of my little ones—only to have it catch up with me just in time to get me stuck in the airport. Yes, not only were we stuck in the airport all day, but I was sick the entire time, too. Eeeeee Gad!!!! No words can tell you how hellish THAT was. Nothing like trying to use a squat toilet when you have diarrhea and have to try to aim where you go for fear of getting yourself soiled! I don’t need to say anything more to give you an idea of my misery.
I tried Cipro, Z-Pacs—every medicine the doctors told me to bring to fight bacterial infections like Salmonella and Diphtheria and such. Nothing worked. I have been in bed for the whole time we been here in this last city. Finally I decided to toss out all western medicine and trust in the Chinese medicines that have worked for 3000 years. I went to a traditional Chinese medicine doctor late last night—it was dark, it was late, noone spoke English, I was alone—seriously! It had all the makings for a Lifetime movie! Through various gestures indicating that I was barfing and miserable the doctor then looked at my hands, tongue, feet, --every place that DIDN’T hurt, and then produced several powders for me to mix up 4 times per day, some liquid to drink 3 times a day, and some pills to take 6 times per day. She then indicated that she wanted to give me an IV since I was so terribly dehydrated and I insisted on NO. I didn’t want to risk it. I did allow her to give me a shot in the behind since I knew from my vet tech work that the drug she would give, and the place she would give it, and the disposable needle I would give her —would all be safe. So, we did that. Needless to say, tons of western medicine—still sick all week. Three hours of Chinese medicine, and I feel like I could run a marathon today. I feel great. I want to ship this old lady doctor back to my country and keep her in my guest room for the rest of my life! Fabulous! No wonder everyone here looks so great all the time!
Now that we are in Guangdong and I am finally able, as of this morning, to get out of bed, life if good again. I LOVE this place. We are Shamian Island—literally an island in the southern most part of China. It is sunny, tropical, warm (around 78-80) and there is a nice breeze. Our window looks out at the water and we see huge HUGE ships traveling by all day. We have floor to ceiling windows and it is beautiful. The White Swan hotel, where we are, is absolutely breathtaking. It is 5 star times ten. I am in heaven. They have water falls in the lobby and tropical gardens outside—it totally reminds me of the Hyatt in Maui, Hawaii where we stayed for our honeymoon. Same décor, same weather, same gardens. Unfortunately, I have been sick for the first 4 days of our 6 here, so, I have not been able to enjoy any of it until now, but, at least I get two days of happiness here in this paradise. Everything here on the island is gorgeous and upscale in an old world kind of way. The gardens are amazing. For those of you wondering why we are here—no no no—it not for a vacation at the end of the adoption trip. This is where the US Consulate is (which is one reason for so much money floating around) and this is where we get Lily’s passport and get sworn in as her parents-so to speak. That ceremony is tomorrow. Earlier in the week Lily had to pass a physical to allow her to leave the country and she passed with flying colors. She is 19 pounds too! She had to go through three medical stations and get all checked out and she did fine. Brian, on the other hand, who had to take her through this by himself since I was laid up in bed, might need a beer or two after this trip!!!
I need to end this post since it is way too long, but I have to tell you the most wonderful thing that we did, however. We took Lily to the Six Banyon Tree Temple here. It is a 1600 year old temple—one of the oldest in all of China. We got her blessed by the monks there, and they did a little ceremony kind of like an American Baptism. This is very important for us (and will be to her) since people come from all over the world to come to this VERY temple since it has so much history and importance. To get her blessed, prayed for and dedicated to by the monks there before leaving her homeland is like the equivalent of a Catholic person getting their baby baptized in Rome. This was so special to us. I took Aidan up to the monk with me and Lily and he knelt down on the little pillow and got blessed, too. I was bawling. Lily did great. We got it all on film. Truly amazing. Buddhist monks blessing my children at the oldest Temple in China---a lifetime experience of monumental proportions.
I’ll finally try to get those photos on tonight now that we finally got on to the Internet again. So sorry for those of you who thought we forgot about you! Not our fault for not getting on line! Sorry!
I must close by saying that I am sooooooooo ready to come home. Although seeing China and learning about Lily’s heritage is very important, I am tired of the air, which smells bad, the beds, which are way too hard, and I’m craving chocolate and my dog and cat. I also want to start to feel like Christmas, and it is hard to do when I am wearing shorts and a tee shirt sitting by a palm tree……but, I’m not complaining. This is a wonderful experience. It’s just a really looooooooooong trip for all of us. We’re tired. We just want to get home and be a family in our own home—without having to boil water, wash undies in the sink, and try to find food for a 5 year old that he will actually like to eat.
See ya
Heather
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
lily is a dream come true...
Hello from the future (since I am one day ahead of most of you reading this!)
Lily becomes more amazing each and every day. God truly blessed us with the most wonderful baby. She is so easy to care for, not high-maintance in any sense of the word, and hardly ever fusses. The only time she cries is when we change her diaper, and that is because she has never worn them before and does not like them. She is just a doll. She has many happy faces, too, but, the one we love the most is her "two teeth" grin, where she grins and you can just see her two little bottom teeth showing. Way too cute. She plays independently, snuggles when you hold her, and eats and sleeps well.
It appears that she is bonding with us a bit, but, it does concern us that she has not yet "grieved" over her nannies at the orphange, and we hope that she is able to attach to us fully. It will be a waiting game I guess.
Chongqing is by far my most favorite city so far. Although it does not have the "cool" stuff like Beijing does (Great wall, Forbidden city, etc) it has mountains, rivers, and really wonderful people. It is a very poor area mixed in with tons of money in the city. Yet, despite the lack of money on the "side streets" the people have an immense pride in keeping their town clean and pretty. There are people cleaning the streets and stores constantly. Men who smoke and put out their ciggarettes bend down to pick up the butts EVERY time--so unlike America. The cars drive wild all over the place, yet there is a natural rythm to it all, and there is never a back up at an intersection and very few accidents. There is a constant flow, rather than the stopping and starting that we have in the states--we could learn a lot from them traffic wise!
The people are wonderful. They see me and help me to: cross the street, find something in a store, ask a question, take a picture, and open doors for me with such respect. Unlike America where people are generally closed off, the people here start up conversations in the elevators, asking where we are from, and what our state of MN is like. They are genuinly interested in us and why we are here visiting them. They guide me when traffic is rather "speedy" for me to figure out how to cross the street, they help me to figure out how much to pay for something, and they gladly carry my bags for me....all with me EVER ASKING! They just do this because they are--NICE. What a concept. Today I went out exploring (and Chongqing is a larger city than Beijing) and I had hundreds of dollars in cash on me, a very expensive camera, and i was a blonde tourist by myself down in the subway system. I never felt so safe in my life. The mear presense of armed military everywhere makes this such a safe country to be in since no one dare do anything wrong because they will be caught in a second and most likely lose their freedom forever. Thus, here I am walking around a huge city in china all by myself, and instead of feeling scared, I had people helping me and guiding me everywhere, and the general overall feeling I had was one of complete awe and respect for these gentle people. I just gotta say this, and this is not because my daughter is from here, but, I really love Chongqing.....
Tonight I will post more photos of Lily!!
Lily becomes more amazing each and every day. God truly blessed us with the most wonderful baby. She is so easy to care for, not high-maintance in any sense of the word, and hardly ever fusses. The only time she cries is when we change her diaper, and that is because she has never worn them before and does not like them. She is just a doll. She has many happy faces, too, but, the one we love the most is her "two teeth" grin, where she grins and you can just see her two little bottom teeth showing. Way too cute. She plays independently, snuggles when you hold her, and eats and sleeps well.
It appears that she is bonding with us a bit, but, it does concern us that she has not yet "grieved" over her nannies at the orphange, and we hope that she is able to attach to us fully. It will be a waiting game I guess.
Chongqing is by far my most favorite city so far. Although it does not have the "cool" stuff like Beijing does (Great wall, Forbidden city, etc) it has mountains, rivers, and really wonderful people. It is a very poor area mixed in with tons of money in the city. Yet, despite the lack of money on the "side streets" the people have an immense pride in keeping their town clean and pretty. There are people cleaning the streets and stores constantly. Men who smoke and put out their ciggarettes bend down to pick up the butts EVERY time--so unlike America. The cars drive wild all over the place, yet there is a natural rythm to it all, and there is never a back up at an intersection and very few accidents. There is a constant flow, rather than the stopping and starting that we have in the states--we could learn a lot from them traffic wise!
The people are wonderful. They see me and help me to: cross the street, find something in a store, ask a question, take a picture, and open doors for me with such respect. Unlike America where people are generally closed off, the people here start up conversations in the elevators, asking where we are from, and what our state of MN is like. They are genuinly interested in us and why we are here visiting them. They guide me when traffic is rather "speedy" for me to figure out how to cross the street, they help me to figure out how much to pay for something, and they gladly carry my bags for me....all with me EVER ASKING! They just do this because they are--NICE. What a concept. Today I went out exploring (and Chongqing is a larger city than Beijing) and I had hundreds of dollars in cash on me, a very expensive camera, and i was a blonde tourist by myself down in the subway system. I never felt so safe in my life. The mear presense of armed military everywhere makes this such a safe country to be in since no one dare do anything wrong because they will be caught in a second and most likely lose their freedom forever. Thus, here I am walking around a huge city in china all by myself, and instead of feeling scared, I had people helping me and guiding me everywhere, and the general overall feeling I had was one of complete awe and respect for these gentle people. I just gotta say this, and this is not because my daughter is from here, but, I really love Chongqing.....
Tonight I will post more photos of Lily!!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Tons of photos for you finally!
Hello , from Chongqing, China. Sorry it has taken so long to get on line--everything is five times more difficult to do in China. The mere fact that we cannot even brush our teeth without boiling the water first gives you an idea of the challenges of this trip. And, of course, the needs of my son come before getting on line, and he is not eating a thing, so, getting adequate food and drink in my little 5 year old is becoming quite the chore.
We went to Tianamen square and the Forbidden City on the last day in Beijing. It was amazing. I saw a ton of armed military guarding the building holding Chairman Mao's body, and they wouldn't let me photograph them (but I did anyway of course.) I also photographed all the Forbidden stuff in the Forbidden city, but got away with that, too. Of course, my "free Tibet" sign didn't go over too well, so, my hubby insightfully told me to get rid of it before he had to get ahold of Amnesty International! (haha)
We left Beijing on the 18th and it has been a whirlwind after that. We arrived in Chongqing, the city of our daughter's orphanage, and we had tons of legal paperwork to do, we needed to get our room set up for a baby, boil a ton of water, get out diapers and bottles etc. We ran around like crazy for the first 12 hours--and then, the moment came...gotcha day!
At 2pm on the 19th, Lily was placed in our arms. I, of course, was bawling. After three years of a wait, I couldn't contain myself anymore. And, of course, once I started to cry, she started to cry, and then all the babies and parents were crying... Little aidan was holding his ears because it was so loud....
At first we didn't recognize who she was since she was bundled up so much. iI China they keep their babies bundled up like crazy, and she looked huge. Once we got back to the hotel and unbundled her, she was still huge, but, just not SOO huge. We examined her from head to toe, counted ten fingers and toes, one nose, and two ears. She was perfect. I, of course, worried that she has such a flat head in the back, and since her face is totally flat, this makes her head look like a retangle rather than a circle, but, given that she was still pretty darn cute, and very snuggly and appeared healthy, a little retangle head is fine with me.
The first day was pretty overwhelming, so, we didn't even get on line. Today was our first FULL day with her(since we just got her yesterday afternoon.) She is a dream come true so far. All the other babies have been crying non-stop, fussy, wiggly, and a mess. Lily is perfect. She has only cried once (when we tried to give her a bath and found out she is terrified of water since she has never had a bath) and she never fusses, screams or melts down. Of course, it is day 2, and we have a lot of time left, so, I'm holding my breath, but, the nannies at the orphanage said that she was very mellow and an easy baby that they all loved, so I'm hoping her disposition continues.
She has already taken to daddy and prefers him over me--but I was told that my blond hair and blue eyes might scare her. I don't think it scares her, but, she does seem to gravitate to the dark haired folks like Brian. Aidan has been super cute with her--fetching diapters, trying to teach her to crawl, walk, hop, and hold a toy. So far she has mastered holding the rattle he gave her, but, given that she is just ten months old, I'll settle for the rattle hold any day.
I need to sign off now, but, tomorrow I am planning on doing NOTHING for the first time this whole trip, so, we will have some down time to post some awesome pics of her with us that we took in our hotel room today.
The trip is very hard--both emotionally and physically, and although China is an amazing country, I already year for my sleep number bed and free drinking water (and a toilet would be nice, too--although I'm getting some good quad workout having to use squat hole toilets!)
Heather
We went to Tianamen square and the Forbidden City on the last day in Beijing. It was amazing. I saw a ton of armed military guarding the building holding Chairman Mao's body, and they wouldn't let me photograph them (but I did anyway of course.) I also photographed all the Forbidden stuff in the Forbidden city, but got away with that, too. Of course, my "free Tibet" sign didn't go over too well, so, my hubby insightfully told me to get rid of it before he had to get ahold of Amnesty International! (haha)
We left Beijing on the 18th and it has been a whirlwind after that. We arrived in Chongqing, the city of our daughter's orphanage, and we had tons of legal paperwork to do, we needed to get our room set up for a baby, boil a ton of water, get out diapers and bottles etc. We ran around like crazy for the first 12 hours--and then, the moment came...gotcha day!
At 2pm on the 19th, Lily was placed in our arms. I, of course, was bawling. After three years of a wait, I couldn't contain myself anymore. And, of course, once I started to cry, she started to cry, and then all the babies and parents were crying... Little aidan was holding his ears because it was so loud....
At first we didn't recognize who she was since she was bundled up so much. iI China they keep their babies bundled up like crazy, and she looked huge. Once we got back to the hotel and unbundled her, she was still huge, but, just not SOO huge. We examined her from head to toe, counted ten fingers and toes, one nose, and two ears. She was perfect. I, of course, worried that she has such a flat head in the back, and since her face is totally flat, this makes her head look like a retangle rather than a circle, but, given that she was still pretty darn cute, and very snuggly and appeared healthy, a little retangle head is fine with me.
The first day was pretty overwhelming, so, we didn't even get on line. Today was our first FULL day with her(since we just got her yesterday afternoon.) She is a dream come true so far. All the other babies have been crying non-stop, fussy, wiggly, and a mess. Lily is perfect. She has only cried once (when we tried to give her a bath and found out she is terrified of water since she has never had a bath) and she never fusses, screams or melts down. Of course, it is day 2, and we have a lot of time left, so, I'm holding my breath, but, the nannies at the orphanage said that she was very mellow and an easy baby that they all loved, so I'm hoping her disposition continues.
She has already taken to daddy and prefers him over me--but I was told that my blond hair and blue eyes might scare her. I don't think it scares her, but, she does seem to gravitate to the dark haired folks like Brian. Aidan has been super cute with her--fetching diapters, trying to teach her to crawl, walk, hop, and hold a toy. So far she has mastered holding the rattle he gave her, but, given that she is just ten months old, I'll settle for the rattle hold any day.
I need to sign off now, but, tomorrow I am planning on doing NOTHING for the first time this whole trip, so, we will have some down time to post some awesome pics of her with us that we took in our hotel room today.
The trip is very hard--both emotionally and physically, and although China is an amazing country, I already year for my sleep number bed and free drinking water (and a toilet would be nice, too--although I'm getting some good quad workout having to use squat hole toilets!)
Heather
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The GREAT, Great Wall and other adventures in China!!
Hi everyone-
What an amazing adventure this is. I've got a lot to say, so, bear with me. Yesterday the rickshaw tour was really great. We got to see the REAL China--no tourists, just the people. We went to a family's house and they made us lunch, and taught Aidan how to make some Chinese dumplings! They gave us a tour of their house and sat down with us for tea and talked (via translator) for an hour about life in china, letting us ask whatever we wanted to. We have a small adoption group, only 4 families, so, we get to pick and choose what we do while on this trip. Since we are "killing" time before our babies come, we decided on some tours--the Forbidden City and Tienamen square (tomorrow), the Great Wall (today) and the Houtoung tour (yesterday.) We are an amazing group of families--all very educated and really into the cultural and political aspects of China, so, we choose the Houtoung tour (meeting with a family, doing lunch, etc) after the Rickshaw ride because it gave us the best "real" picture of China....and it really did.. We learned that the average city income in China is 8k per year, but most families out in the country made only $700 per year--per YEAR! So, when we saw 5 families living together in 650 sq. ft., we knew why--not because of lack of space--China has TONS of open space, but because they could save money by living communally--sharing expenses and chores, and enjoying the communal childrearing and other family things. There is a huge sense of family values here, and I enjoy that immeasurably.
Today we went to the Great Wall and again I was blown away by this country. Everything is so old here. I'm so used to the modern America, but even when I have gone to Europe there is no comparison to the age of this country. China has a history of thousands of years, and, to their credit, they are proud of this history and try to preserve it. Today we walked on a part of a wall that was incredibly old and broken down, and it was truly amazing to see it keep going off into the mountains for 4000 miles.....
There were two parts of the wall that we could walk--one easy and one was hard. We, of course, choose to scale the hardest section--one that was straight up, with huge 2 foot high steps. Little Aidan was such a trouper. he wanted to go all the way to the top--and we did. I was out of breath a bunch of times, not only from the steep pitch and tall steps, but from the altitude. Yet, my little man kept on going all the way up--for two whole hours. He almost cried at one point, but insisted we keep going, and when we got to the top of the mountain, the view and the awe factor was magnificent. The wind was so strong that it nearly knocked us over, but we stood there and looked out for miles and miles of mountains---and wall--and were just amazed at the magnificence of it all. I took some amazing photos that I hope to get on line tonight if I can figure out how to unblock everything from China (they filter their internet.)
Anyway, the day was truly wonderful--and I'm starting to feel better (tummy wise), but the sleep thing still gets to me quite a bit. Tomorrow we do another tour of the Forbidden City and then we get on a plane and go to chongqing where we will meet our babies. When our guide told us that tomorrow was the last day that we would be tourists because after that our trip would become an adoption trip--I just cried. Although Lily has been foremost on my mind, when you are climbing walls and visiting kindergartens (which was great, by the way!), you forget that you are not just here on vacation, but rather, to pick up your baby. So, when he said that, it just hit me. We've been waiting 3 years to get our daughter. We've had red tape times ten, and we're finally here, all the way around the world, going to get her. Tonight I decided to pull Aidan into my bed with me so that I could have just one more night of snuggling with just him before he gets a little sister invading his space. What a day it will be when we get Lily--EVERYONE'S world, not just Lily's, but, everyone's, will be turned upside down.
I'm going to sign off and try to post a photo or two. If it doesn't work, no worries--I promise to get some up soon. This is, after all, an amazing, gracious, beautiful, and friendly country. Oh, and I wanted to say that Aidan is a Rock star here! Everyone loves his blonde, blue look. They all want their photo taken with him, they grab him and pick him up and snuggle with him and get photos like he was some famous child actor or something. Pretty funny. They see the two of us walking and say, "california!! America!! Photo!!" Then, we get lots of smiles, hugs, photos--pretty cute, and, little Aidan just goes along with it all without fuss.
see you tomorrow internet!
What an amazing adventure this is. I've got a lot to say, so, bear with me. Yesterday the rickshaw tour was really great. We got to see the REAL China--no tourists, just the people. We went to a family's house and they made us lunch, and taught Aidan how to make some Chinese dumplings! They gave us a tour of their house and sat down with us for tea and talked (via translator) for an hour about life in china, letting us ask whatever we wanted to. We have a small adoption group, only 4 families, so, we get to pick and choose what we do while on this trip. Since we are "killing" time before our babies come, we decided on some tours--the Forbidden City and Tienamen square (tomorrow), the Great Wall (today) and the Houtoung tour (yesterday.) We are an amazing group of families--all very educated and really into the cultural and political aspects of China, so, we choose the Houtoung tour (meeting with a family, doing lunch, etc) after the Rickshaw ride because it gave us the best "real" picture of China....and it really did.. We learned that the average city income in China is 8k per year, but most families out in the country made only $700 per year--per YEAR! So, when we saw 5 families living together in 650 sq. ft., we knew why--not because of lack of space--China has TONS of open space, but because they could save money by living communally--sharing expenses and chores, and enjoying the communal childrearing and other family things. There is a huge sense of family values here, and I enjoy that immeasurably.
Today we went to the Great Wall and again I was blown away by this country. Everything is so old here. I'm so used to the modern America, but even when I have gone to Europe there is no comparison to the age of this country. China has a history of thousands of years, and, to their credit, they are proud of this history and try to preserve it. Today we walked on a part of a wall that was incredibly old and broken down, and it was truly amazing to see it keep going off into the mountains for 4000 miles.....
There were two parts of the wall that we could walk--one easy and one was hard. We, of course, choose to scale the hardest section--one that was straight up, with huge 2 foot high steps. Little Aidan was such a trouper. he wanted to go all the way to the top--and we did. I was out of breath a bunch of times, not only from the steep pitch and tall steps, but from the altitude. Yet, my little man kept on going all the way up--for two whole hours. He almost cried at one point, but insisted we keep going, and when we got to the top of the mountain, the view and the awe factor was magnificent. The wind was so strong that it nearly knocked us over, but we stood there and looked out for miles and miles of mountains---and wall--and were just amazed at the magnificence of it all. I took some amazing photos that I hope to get on line tonight if I can figure out how to unblock everything from China (they filter their internet.)
Anyway, the day was truly wonderful--and I'm starting to feel better (tummy wise), but the sleep thing still gets to me quite a bit. Tomorrow we do another tour of the Forbidden City and then we get on a plane and go to chongqing where we will meet our babies. When our guide told us that tomorrow was the last day that we would be tourists because after that our trip would become an adoption trip--I just cried. Although Lily has been foremost on my mind, when you are climbing walls and visiting kindergartens (which was great, by the way!), you forget that you are not just here on vacation, but rather, to pick up your baby. So, when he said that, it just hit me. We've been waiting 3 years to get our daughter. We've had red tape times ten, and we're finally here, all the way around the world, going to get her. Tonight I decided to pull Aidan into my bed with me so that I could have just one more night of snuggling with just him before he gets a little sister invading his space. What a day it will be when we get Lily--EVERYONE'S world, not just Lily's, but, everyone's, will be turned upside down.
I'm going to sign off and try to post a photo or two. If it doesn't work, no worries--I promise to get some up soon. This is, after all, an amazing, gracious, beautiful, and friendly country. Oh, and I wanted to say that Aidan is a Rock star here! Everyone loves his blonde, blue look. They all want their photo taken with him, they grab him and pick him up and snuggle with him and get photos like he was some famous child actor or something. Pretty funny. They see the two of us walking and say, "california!! America!! Photo!!" Then, we get lots of smiles, hugs, photos--pretty cute, and, little Aidan just goes along with it all without fuss.
see you tomorrow internet!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Hello Fom China!!!
Hello from all the way around the world! After two grueling (and I mean GRUELING) days of travel, we made it to Beijing, China. It is currently Friday morning now, but, when I called my dad to tell him that we had arrived without incident, he said it was still Thursday afternoon--so, somewhere in the sky we got a day older....drag...I feel the wrinkles already. We have all been pretty much awake since 6am Wednesday, so, after two days of no sleep (except for the occasional 20 min. cat nap on the plane) we are all dead tired. Coffee does not help either....
Taking a shower thismorning while trying to keep my eyes and mouth closed tight was quite the experience...heaven forbid one drop gets in and Diphtheria arrives! yikes! Brian and I spent some time thismorning (from 3am until 7am) boiling water in a hotpot so that we can brush teeth, drink, and do other necessities. We now have a few quarts stashed for our day trips.
The hotel has warnings listed in the "manual" telling folks not to be up past certain hours, not to wrestle, gamble, do drugs, and other such things that a police-state-country can warn you about. Pretty different from the USA.....I'm going to have to make sure that Brian and Aidan don't wrestle today...hmmm.
We're off to a small villiage today (via Rickshaw) to see the "real" China and visit a local family who will cook us a homecooked lunch. We are then privileged enough to be able to visit a local Chinese Kindergarten! Now THIS is what
Aidan is here for--how wonderful.
Gotta fly, we will update later after we have the Rickshaw guy pass out from hauling our large American bodies all around China....
Three more sleeps until we get our baby--I'm so excited I could cry all day!!! Mama's coming lily!!!! Hang on!!!
Taking a shower thismorning while trying to keep my eyes and mouth closed tight was quite the experience...heaven forbid one drop gets in and Diphtheria arrives! yikes! Brian and I spent some time thismorning (from 3am until 7am) boiling water in a hotpot so that we can brush teeth, drink, and do other necessities. We now have a few quarts stashed for our day trips.
The hotel has warnings listed in the "manual" telling folks not to be up past certain hours, not to wrestle, gamble, do drugs, and other such things that a police-state-country can warn you about. Pretty different from the USA.....I'm going to have to make sure that Brian and Aidan don't wrestle today...hmmm.
We're off to a small villiage today (via Rickshaw) to see the "real" China and visit a local family who will cook us a homecooked lunch. We are then privileged enough to be able to visit a local Chinese Kindergarten! Now THIS is what
Aidan is here for--how wonderful.
Gotta fly, we will update later after we have the Rickshaw guy pass out from hauling our large American bodies all around China....
Three more sleeps until we get our baby--I'm so excited I could cry all day!!! Mama's coming lily!!!! Hang on!!!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
I'm leaving, on a jet plane.......Goodbye America!!!!!
Hi everyone—
“I’m leaving on a jet plane!
I’m going to China and back again…”
This is my last post before I pack up my family (including my 5 year old son) and treck them all the way to the other side of the world to pick up a child that we have never seen nor met and bring her into our family. Wow. It sounds so insane when I say that. Yet, this is what we are about to do….in just about 12 hours.
I’ve packed and unpacked a million times to try to get each suitcase under 44 pounds. (Which, by the way, is no small feat when you consider we need to bring clothes, medicines, toys and food for FOUR people (me, hubby, son, infant) and can only use three suitcases no more than 44 pounds each. The suitcase that has Lily’s baby bottles, formula, rice cereal, diapers, wipes, bibs, spoons, clothes, and assorted bowls for sterilizing stuff in the hotel room, etc.—that ALONE weighed in at 50 pounds! Since Aidan is only 5 and his creature comforts come before mine (and my sanity is correlated to his happiness) his stuff (toys, snacks, etc.) gets next priority. Then whatever room was left over was for me and Brian…needless to say, I think mama and dada will be wearing the same clothes over and over on this trip…..
It was pretty rough getting ready today—cleaning the house for the house sitter, dealing with a broken sump pump in the lower level, Aidan getting sick at the last minute (and we haven’t even left yet), yet, right now, I am surprisingly calm. The last three years that seemed like Hell to us—getting delayed by china over and over again seem like nothing more than a bad dream. And, although this trip will certainly be no cake walk, and traveling with two small children to a third world country filled with disease is not easy by any means, the finality of this long journey is finally in sight, and that, if nothing else, gives me hope. Although the next 18 days will be very, VERY difficult, it has an ending, and seeing the end of a three year journey, is a beautiful thing. In just 18 short days, this ride will come to an end, and finally, FINALLY, after three years, we will be a family of four. After three years I will be the mother of a little girl, and Aidan will have a little sister.
I’m going to try to post some pictures of Lily’s room, and of the packing (nightmare) process for those of you friends and family who live out of state. This is also a trial run for me to see how to do this before I take off in the morning.
So, I’m signing off now for the last time on my home computer as the mother of one. Then, I’m off to Tokyo, then to Beijing, then to Chongqing, then to Guahnzao, and then to Tokyo and home. The next time I type on this keyboard, I’ll have a daughter in our home….a daughter that I’m traveling all the way around the world to get. Wow.
I've done all that I can, and now its time to just let it all go. So, God, our trip is now in your hands....I give it all to you-do with us as you wish.
“I’m leaving on a jet plane!
I’m going to China and back again…”
This is my last post before I pack up my family (including my 5 year old son) and treck them all the way to the other side of the world to pick up a child that we have never seen nor met and bring her into our family. Wow. It sounds so insane when I say that. Yet, this is what we are about to do….in just about 12 hours.
I’ve packed and unpacked a million times to try to get each suitcase under 44 pounds. (Which, by the way, is no small feat when you consider we need to bring clothes, medicines, toys and food for FOUR people (me, hubby, son, infant) and can only use three suitcases no more than 44 pounds each. The suitcase that has Lily’s baby bottles, formula, rice cereal, diapers, wipes, bibs, spoons, clothes, and assorted bowls for sterilizing stuff in the hotel room, etc.—that ALONE weighed in at 50 pounds! Since Aidan is only 5 and his creature comforts come before mine (and my sanity is correlated to his happiness) his stuff (toys, snacks, etc.) gets next priority. Then whatever room was left over was for me and Brian…needless to say, I think mama and dada will be wearing the same clothes over and over on this trip…..
It was pretty rough getting ready today—cleaning the house for the house sitter, dealing with a broken sump pump in the lower level, Aidan getting sick at the last minute (and we haven’t even left yet), yet, right now, I am surprisingly calm. The last three years that seemed like Hell to us—getting delayed by china over and over again seem like nothing more than a bad dream. And, although this trip will certainly be no cake walk, and traveling with two small children to a third world country filled with disease is not easy by any means, the finality of this long journey is finally in sight, and that, if nothing else, gives me hope. Although the next 18 days will be very, VERY difficult, it has an ending, and seeing the end of a three year journey, is a beautiful thing. In just 18 short days, this ride will come to an end, and finally, FINALLY, after three years, we will be a family of four. After three years I will be the mother of a little girl, and Aidan will have a little sister.
I’m going to try to post some pictures of Lily’s room, and of the packing (nightmare) process for those of you friends and family who live out of state. This is also a trial run for me to see how to do this before I take off in the morning.
So, I’m signing off now for the last time on my home computer as the mother of one. Then, I’m off to Tokyo, then to Beijing, then to Chongqing, then to Guahnzao, and then to Tokyo and home. The next time I type on this keyboard, I’ll have a daughter in our home….a daughter that I’m traveling all the way around the world to get. Wow.
I've done all that I can, and now its time to just let it all go. So, God, our trip is now in your hands....I give it all to you-do with us as you wish.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
We leave in ONE WEEK!
As I busily run around like a maniac trying to get ready to go, I think of Lily sitting over there in her orphanage--following the same routine that she has day in and day out for her whole life. She is completely unaware that strangers are about to invade her life and turn her world upside-down. Poor thing. She has no idea what is in store for her next week....
So, in my frantic state, here is my last minute check list:
So, in my frantic state, here is my last minute check list:
- Passports and Chinese Visa's? Check
- Crib set up in Lily's room? Check
- Enough medicine stashed into luggage to treat an army? Check
- Red, swollen eyes, sore throat, and exhausted look on my face? Check
- House a mess? Check
- Still too many things to do and not enough time? Check
- Desperate for sleep? Check
Hmmm...and I haven't even LEFT yet....scary.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
WE HAVE TA'S!!!!!
As of this morning, our agency told us that our TA'S have been issued by China! Yea!!! They should arrive in just a few days. This means that China has officially invited us to come to their country to get our daughter. :-) Next week a consulate appointment will be made in China, and then we book our plane tickets right after that. Then off to China we go!
Our VISA's have been hand delivered to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago via courier and are being processed now, so, those should get here soon, too.
A huge decisions for us in the last week, has been whether or not we should change our mind and bring little Aidan along with us to go get his sister rather than leaving him here with grandma. It was an incredibly hard decision. Going to China meant we were exposing him to all sorts of possible illnesses--Hep A., Hep B., Typhoid, Malaria, Japanese Encephilitis, MMR, and etc. Furthermore, you cannot touch even just one drop of water in china--so, this would mean keeping an ever watchful eye on him to make sure he doesn't get Diptheria or other vomiting nightmares (and I know that I spelled ALL of those things wrong.) Also, we will have an infant with us that will need a lot of one on one attention right when we get her, and the plane ride to and from China is a grueling 27 hour day, with stops in Tokyo and date line crossings. Yet, despite this, we decided that he should be there to get his sister--to see where she lived, to see her country and to experience her culture. Thus, as of last night, its official--Aidan is coming with us!
And, since we may need help dealing with a 5 year old AND a squirmy baby on the trip in China (and I'll mention again that 27 hour flight/travel days to and from the states) we added Grandma Sandy to the mix as well. So, we now have 4 people going to China! (Me, Brian, Aidan, Grandma Sandy.) Anyone else want to come along? There is still time to expedite your VISA's and get a plane ticket!
So look out China--here we come!!! (and, in as little as 2 -1/2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Our VISA's have been hand delivered to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago via courier and are being processed now, so, those should get here soon, too.
A huge decisions for us in the last week, has been whether or not we should change our mind and bring little Aidan along with us to go get his sister rather than leaving him here with grandma. It was an incredibly hard decision. Going to China meant we were exposing him to all sorts of possible illnesses--Hep A., Hep B., Typhoid, Malaria, Japanese Encephilitis, MMR, and etc. Furthermore, you cannot touch even just one drop of water in china--so, this would mean keeping an ever watchful eye on him to make sure he doesn't get Diptheria or other vomiting nightmares (and I know that I spelled ALL of those things wrong.) Also, we will have an infant with us that will need a lot of one on one attention right when we get her, and the plane ride to and from China is a grueling 27 hour day, with stops in Tokyo and date line crossings. Yet, despite this, we decided that he should be there to get his sister--to see where she lived, to see her country and to experience her culture. Thus, as of last night, its official--Aidan is coming with us!
And, since we may need help dealing with a 5 year old AND a squirmy baby on the trip in China (and I'll mention again that 27 hour flight/travel days to and from the states) we added Grandma Sandy to the mix as well. So, we now have 4 people going to China! (Me, Brian, Aidan, Grandma Sandy.) Anyone else want to come along? There is still time to expedite your VISA's and get a plane ticket!
So look out China--here we come!!! (and, in as little as 2 -1/2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Friday, October 26, 2007
Visa's and other pre-trip squirmishes
After three grueling days just trying to apply for our Visa's to China, we finally have confirmation that they are now being processed. It seems like applying for VISA's shouldn't be such a big deal, but, they have to be hand delivered to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago--and since we live in Minnesota, this was difficult. We finally found an agency on line who couriers these things, we filled out the pages and pages needed, photocopied each page several times, included our extremely precious passports, a large sum of money, and put it all into a Fed. Ex envelope to arrive at the couriers office. They then process our stuff, take some money, and personally visit the Consulate and hand deliver our passports and applications. After reviewing and (hopefully) accepting our Visa app's, the Chinese Consulate then gives our new Visas and passports back to the courier, who then puts them back into a Fed. Ex envelope and they hopefully arrive back in MN next week. Although this may not seem like a big deal, having our American passports floating around out there in the mail for a couple of weeks is kind of scary (especially after finding out that they are worth about 50k on the Chinese black market.) Needless to say, by next week we should get our Visas. If all goes well, we will get an invitation to travel to China, too, and then the real rat race begins....
We haven't started packing-except to freak out about how we are going to get all of Lily's clothes, baby essentials, diapers, food, carrier, and all of our clothes, travel essentials, computer and snacks all crammed into just two suitcases weighing no more than 44 pounds each.
We have figured out that the only way this will be possible is to pack only about 2 outfits each, and have all the weight taken up by our "gear." So, its a good thing that China has polluted air since Brian and I will be a smelly mess for most of the trip.
We haven't started packing-except to freak out about how we are going to get all of Lily's clothes, baby essentials, diapers, food, carrier, and all of our clothes, travel essentials, computer and snacks all crammed into just two suitcases weighing no more than 44 pounds each.
We have figured out that the only way this will be possible is to pack only about 2 outfits each, and have all the weight taken up by our "gear." So, its a good thing that China has polluted air since Brian and I will be a smelly mess for most of the trip.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
IT'S A GIRL!!!!!
Our daughter’s name is Liang Xiao Rao, and she was born January 16th, 2007. She has just now turned 9 months old. She is at an orphanage in Chonqging, China. We are already deeply in love with our daughter and we are counting the days until we can go to China to get her. What happens now is that send our acceptance letter to China telling them that YES, we want to keep our daughter!! We then wait anxiously for a letter of invitation to travel from China (a Travel Approval-TA). This should get here in about 4 weeks. During this wait we are kept super busy by applying for our VISA’s, researching hotel and air fares, writing up packing lists, sending care packages to Lily’s orphanage, and other assorted legal requirements needed for international adoption travel. Once our TA arrives, we book a Consulate appointment in Beijing (which will be 1-2 weeks later) and then we GO TO CHINA TO GET OUR DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Where in the world is Lily? In Chongqing!
The province (municipality) of Chongqing can be found by clicking on the China province map on the side of this page. I have also found some wonderful information on Chonqging on the internet:Chonqging has a history of more than 3000 years. Its main ethic groups are Han and Tibetan. The Chongqing natives speak the dialect of Southern Mandarin Chinese. Chongqing has a tropical climate with two-seasonal monsoon variations. The summers are quite hot with temperatures reaching 112°F. Chongqing is known as a city of mountains, rivers, and fog. It has over 2,000 species of plants including more than 1,700 species of sub-tropical trees. There are more than 30 species of trees, more than 1,000 species of arbor and 17 species of bamboo. Chongqing is also one of China's important producing bases for crude Chinese medicines. Its cultivated plants amount to 560 kinds.
Monday, October 15, 2007
OUR REFERRAL IS HERE!!!!!
We finally got our referral!!! After three long years of almost everything going wrong that could possibly go wrong (including China’s monumental delays, our referral date getting skipped, and an assortment of other setbacks) we FINALLY GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!! Our daughter's name is Liang Xiao Rao, and today, Tuesday the 16th, is her exact 9 month birthday. She was born in Chongqing, China on January 16th, 2007.
I had literally started to loose all hope...and I was so tired of crying! So, I began "praying" to my mom (who died when I was 20) to see if she had any kind of "spiritual pull" (so to speak) to help things move along. I asked her to put in a good word with God, to help the Chinese find our stuff, to soothe my heart--whatever angels are supposed to do. Sure enough, two days later, without any warning, our referral arrived from out of the blue. Our agency was in shock. They were not expecting it at all, and neither were we. Somehow, the snafu was instantly fixed, and our referral arrived---and it arrived-get this-on MY MOM'S BIRTHDAY! Out of the 365 days of the year that it could have "suddenly"shown up, it came on the day my mom would have turned 70.... So, thank you mom. Thank you God. Thank you China.
If you were to ask me how I feel right now---my heart is melting, I'm a giant mush pile and I can't wait to go get my daughter and bring her home... pictures of Lily coming tomorrow...
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us". ~ Helen Keller
I had literally started to loose all hope...and I was so tired of crying! So, I began "praying" to my mom (who died when I was 20) to see if she had any kind of "spiritual pull" (so to speak) to help things move along. I asked her to put in a good word with God, to help the Chinese find our stuff, to soothe my heart--whatever angels are supposed to do. Sure enough, two days later, without any warning, our referral arrived from out of the blue. Our agency was in shock. They were not expecting it at all, and neither were we. Somehow, the snafu was instantly fixed, and our referral arrived---and it arrived-get this-on MY MOM'S BIRTHDAY! Out of the 365 days of the year that it could have "suddenly"shown up, it came on the day my mom would have turned 70.... So, thank you mom. Thank you God. Thank you China.
If you were to ask me how I feel right now---my heart is melting, I'm a giant mush pile and I can't wait to go get my daughter and bring her home... pictures of Lily coming tomorrow...
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us". ~ Helen Keller
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
bad news
Our referral is lost somewhere, somehow. Our agency does not know what to do, so they are waiting.....Thus, we do not know the status of our adoption at this time, if or when we could get our original referral, if or when we could maybe get a different referral, and if or when we will go to China.
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