And Here We Go...

Yesterday was a down day for us.  Hannah was on the mend and we were all tired from the loooong day the day before.  So we spent most of the day hanging in the hotel room and walking around Shamian Island doing some shopping for gifts. 

The other thing we did was take Yue Lan swimming in the hotel pool.  The cool thing about the pool is that it is a rooftop pool that overlooks the city.  I bet if there wasn't so much smog, we could see for miles!  Unfortunately, that was not the case, besides, we had better things to watch right there with us.  I'm not sure, but it seemed it was Yue Lan's first time swimming or at least she hasn't gone very much.  She was super excited and after a little while even tried jumping into Baba's arms from the side.

Today was the opposite of yesterday.  It was the Medical Exam Day - a not so popular day among adopted children.  Basically we were bused to a clinic on the other side of town (for those of you have been here before for adoptions, you will be sad to know that the convenient walk to clinic on the island has closed!) and spent several hours in the overcrowded and loud facility. 

Check out all the people at the clinic!  Yikes!

We are happy to say that Yue Lan did fabulously at the clinic and didn't even cry when they gave her the TB test! 

I loved the sight chart...the kids would turn their hand to match the picture...very clever!

She was very brave, wasn't she?

I wish I could say the rest of the day went as well.


On the way back from the clinic, Yue Lan was especially over excited and obnoxious.  It got so bad that Eric decided to give her the Parental 1-2-3 Countdown when she refused to come back to our room.  This led to her first Time Out, which led to her first crying fit, which led to her first time being mad at us.  It was all a bit stressful, but probably needed to be done.

 The orphanage workers told us that Yue Lan was stubborn and they were not kidding!  Not only is she stubborn, but she can be soooo obnoxious - pulling on people, hitting in a playful, yet still painful manner, licking, etc.  You get the picture.  I suppose it is time to set down some boundaries and establish some rules.  I am sure there will be more Time Outs and crying in the days, weeks, months ahead.  But isn't that all part of raising kids?

      

Good Bye, Nanning

Yesterday we left Nanning and headed for Guangzhou. 

Guangzhou is where the American Consulate is so all American families who are adopting spend the last part of their trip there.  This time around, because of that huge Expo in Nanning (they got all the adopting families out before it officially begins on Friday), we are spending 9 days in Guangzhou.  This is actually quite a long time, but we are looking forward to it.  Guangzhou is a lot more modern than Nanning and offers a lot more places to visit since it caters to American tourists and business travelers. 

Yue Lan was excited to leave, too.  She asked our guide, Cindy, if she was going to America now:)  She was a bit disappointed to learn it was not time yet.  She also told Cindy that she is excited to go to America because right now she is a Chinese girl, but soon she will be an American girl!  How cute is that?

We spent our last few hours in Nanning shopping for pearls - Guangxi is famous for it's ocean pearls.  Supposedly, ocean pearls are better quality than fresh water pearls.  They are rounder and have better colors. 

They all kind  of looked the same to me...guess I am a disappointment to (Chinese) women everywhere.  Oh well...

Any way, Yue Lan had a great time at the Pearl shop.  The sales women were offering her EVERYTHING!  We couldn't understand them, but it's quite obvious when a salesperson is trying to get your kid to ask Mama and Baba to buy them things!  Luckily, Yue Lan handled it like a pro and was happy for the things we did buy and didn't get upset when we told her "no" to other things.  Whew!

Could not get a picture that did not have a glare...Sorry!

Lady selling eggs outside the Pearl Shop.  It reminded me of a book we have at home by Jan Brett called "Daisy Comes Home". 

After shopping we went to lunch with Cindy who wanted to take us to a restaurant that served local specialties like lemon duck (it took me forever to figure out what she was saying...I thought she was saying "lemon dark" which I took for a type of cooking technique!).  The food was really good and I am happy to report I have now learned to hold my chopsticks near the top so that I look more Chinese like.  And poor Eric has had to learn to use chopsticks this trip.  He's getting better everyday!

The Lemon Duck is the dish in the silver pot.  It was quite good, but a bit hard to eat - you had to eat around bones which is hard when you are doing it with chopsticks!

Being the 12 year old boy at heart we all know he is, Eric quickly found the duck feet in the pot and made this beautiful centerpiece for us to enjoy for the duration of our meal!

It was a long day.  And Hannah was sick. 

She bravely made it through shopping for pearls - she even perked up enough to pick out some things for herself.  But, lunch was not so good for her.  At one point she made me go to the bathroom because she was sure she was going to throw up.  We spent about 15 minutes crammed in a squatty potty stall together with her leaning over the hole.  I kept praying she wouldn't pass out and land face first in that thing!

Happily, she did not.  She did however, end up puking in the taxi cab on the way back from the restaurant.  In a paper shopping bag from the pearl shop.  And it leaked.  All over her and me.  We had to stop on the side of the freeway to get rid of the evidence and clean her up as best as possible with baby wipes.  Yue Lan, who had wanted to sit by Hannah earlier, avoided her like the plague after that!  

The good news is we still had our suitcases so once we returned to the hotel where they were being kept for us, we were able to change and clean up better in the bathroom.  Eric went with Cindy to pick out some medicines for Hannah to help calm her stomach.  Chinese medicines are quite different and we had to trust Cindy that she knew what to get.  Seemed to work out fine - even though Hannah hated the taste!

Then, it was finally time to go to the airport where Hannah finally made her dream come true and got to vomit in a squatty potty.  At least I wasn't crammed in there with her this time!  After that, we boarded the plane, grabed every puke bag we could find for her and headed for Guangzhou!

I am happy to report that she did not get sick on the plane.

And Yue Lan had a great time flying for her first time.  She was super excited!!! 

So, now we are in Guangzhou, on Shamian Island staying at the Victory Hotel (the White Swan is closed for renovations).  Hannah is on the mend and all is well.

Playing at People's Park

Yue Lan Helps Eric buy tickets for a ride. 

One of the best places to go to in NAnning is The People's Park.  It's like Central Park in NYC...only a bit more Chinese!  And by that I mean there are no rules or regulations for rides and such.  So, of course we love it!  The only thing...it occurred to me as we were pedaling this crazy bike-like contraption on a track that was fifty feet in the air, that we were the only people riding the rides.  I wonder if there is something the locals know that we do  not!  Oh well, we survived...

Riding the Carousel.  You can't tell very well, but Yue Lan chose a pink unicorn...very girlie!

This is how the locals steal your money...the vendors lure kids in to play games one after the other and then, at the end when your kid is done, they demand payment.  Luckily they are only about .$75 a game.  Still, it adds up!  You have to learn pretty quick how to say a firm "No" or they will pester you FOREVER!

This is the crazy bike contraption I talked about earlier...kind of crazy!

After we rode all the rides we felt were okay for a child with a still undetermined heart condition, we decided to explore the park.  It is HUGE and has everything: play grounds, a petting zoo, an aquarium, a bird feeding place, lakes you can take boats/paddle boats on, walking trails, and even exercise areas which we played on for, like, forever!  It was all too fun! 

Yue Lan "won" a bottle of bubbles after playing a bazillion games, and I could not believe how much she enjoyed them!  Seriously, you would think she had just won the lottery or something.  She even found some little kids to blow them at to triple her fun!

Walking around the park was okay for her, but after climbing a few stairs (like 8), she was panting and loosing energy FAST!  So, Baba came to the rescue and offered to be her personal mule.  At first she was hesitant, but after she tried it, she had a great time!  As a matter of fact, she kept wanting to be carried the rest of the day!

The exercise areas really were a blast.  And there was this one piece of equipment (which Hazel is posing on below) that was great for stretching my back on!  I tell you, the beds in China are HARD - like, why don't we just stop pretending and just sleep on the floor, hard!  Thankfully, my back felt great after sprawling out on this thing!

Hannah is doing the back stretch, too!

She may be part Monkey like the rest of the kids in our family considering how much she liked climbing all over everything!

After about 4 hours of playing in the park, we were all very hungry.  So, we decided to take Hazel to Pizza Hut for her first pizza, EVER!  Now, I have to tell you, the Pizza Huts in China are really nice restaurants.  They have a really large and diverse menu, but we decided to stick to the basic pepperoni pizza.  And she really liked it!  Although, I think she liked the chicken wings better.  No worries, we have plenty of time to train her in the fine art of pizza appreciation.  

I haven't told you about the best part of the day yet.

It occurred as we were winding our way through the park heading towards an exit.  We stopped to look at something and I said "Wo ai ni, Yue Lan" (I love you).  Trust me, it was not the first time I said that.  I probably say it 50 times a day.  She usually just looks at me and turns away.  No worries, I expect that.   

But this time, she looked at me, then kind of buried her head in Hannah's side and said shyly "Wo ai ni, Mama".  

I was too happy!

Then, Eric jumped on the bandwagon and got one too.  So did Hannah.  We were all thrilled!  Looks like we just took a giant leap forward.

I love the miracle of adoption!

Shopping WithYue Lan

Well, it looks like I messed up...again.

When we adopted Emmett all the clothes I brought were too big.

Now, it appears all the clothes I brought for Hazel are too small.

I brought size 6 clothes and she is at least an 8 - maybe bigger in somethings.  She and Lilly are very close to the same size!  What a surprise!!! 

One of two outfits I bought that fit!

So, off to Walmart and the mall we went.

 Unfortunately, the clothes at walmart were as ugly as I remembered and there was nothing in her size anyway (thank goodness). We did find one t-shirt at the mall that was the correct size, was short sleeved (everything was for the fall/ winter and it is still upper 80's here), and didn't look too ridiculous with some goofy character on it!  We are still looking...

One happy clothing find was this GREAT shirt Hannah and I found at Walmart.  It was too good to pass up so we bought not one, but two of them!  (Happy Birthday Julia!)

We also had fun spotting all the American fast food joints at the mall.  We even ate at KFC because the orphanage worker told us it was Yue Lan's favorite place to eat.  Eric was especially happy to oblige!  Of course not everything was the same as we soon discovered when Eric was grossed out that the chicken sandwich Yue Lan orderd in her kids meal had peas and carrots in it!  She seemed to like it though:)

  

Gotcha Day!

I started the day around 5 am - who could sleep on a day like today?

She would be here in just a few hours.

Because of a huge China and ASEAN (Association of South Eastern Asian Nations) Expo taking place in Nanning this weekend, our adoption process is getting sped up.  What took two days last time with Emmett is being done in one afternoon.  So, because of all that, they were actually bringing Yue Lan directly to our room!  We didn't have to go to some civil courts building or anything, we just waited here.

It actually made me more nervous in some respects.  I was fretting that it would be awkward to have a bunch of Chinese officials hanging out in our teeny tiny room.  And there would be no other families there for support.

But, it turned out just perfect.  We could here the other families around us being introduced to their children.  It helped to know there were others close by!

(Side note:  About an hour earlier while we were waiting there was a knock on our door and we thought it was them.  We opened the door, all excited, to see a hotel maid asking if our room had already been cleaned.  Talk about a let down!!!)

They brought Hazel to our room last.  She just walked right in and waved to us.  She looked a bit nervous, but so brave!  She said "Ni Hao Mama, Ni Hao Baba" and we were in love!  We asked if we could hug her and she said yes:)  I can't explain how I felt.  It was like literally having someone in your dreams materialize before your eyes.  I know that sounds mushy, but it's true.  It was a miracle!

It turned out that it was actually pretty great having two orphanage workers and the orphanage doctor right there to answer all of our questions.  We learned a lot about Yue Lan:

1.  She has only had one surgery ever - when she was 6.  That is good news!
2.  She does not take any medication, and hasn't since her surgery.  More good news!
3.   She is in her 2nd year of school ( they start kindergarten when they are 7 in China), but knows how to
read and write simple words!  She wrote her name for us:)
4.  She likes to do art, watch cartoons, play Barbies (Lilly was excited about this!) and dance.
5.  She loves to eat and is not picky!  (She tried pizza later that day for the first time!)
6.  She loves to shop:)

I am sure there was more, but that is all my overloaded brain can think of right now.  She seems to have been well prepared for having a new family.  She had the scrapbook and clothes we sent her and she said we looked just like our pictures!

We spent the first half hour or so watching as she showed us all the things she had in her backpack - mostly candy and treats.  Then, the next half hour showing her all the stuff we had for her in the backpack we brought.  She was really excited about all the new little goodies.  She especially liked the Squeekies Lilly picked out for her.  I guess girls are girls no matter where they come from!

Then the officials left and we went down for lunch.  (We had about an hour before we were bused over to the notary building and the adoption center).  Lunch was super fun.  Hazel discovered a love of our camera and took about  a million pictures of her new family.  She thought I held chopsticks funny since I hold them so low, and she thought Baba was interesting because he was using a fork.  She said she had never used one before, but gave it a shot and handled it like a pro...the knife on the other hand... 

After lunch, it was off to finalize the paper work.  We got to meet up with the other families at the notary building.  There are 8 families here all together.  We are the only ones from Wasatch, but there were 3 from Holt, and the other 4 from various agencies.  We were so happy to meet up with Jane from Holt again!  We were hoping to see her here!  She was excited about our new adoption, but reprimanded us for not using Holt again:)  She also kept telling us that one more would be good!  Ah, maybe not...

Anyway, the other families are really nice.  There were 2 single women, and the rest traditional husband/wife teams.  One family especially touched my heart.  They had this teeny girl that I thought was about 8 or 9 months old but turned out to be 2!  I didn't ask, but I hope she will be all right now that she has a family!  There were also two mentally challenged girls - one with down syndrome and the other with cerebral palsy.  I am always amazed at the love people have to open their homes to children they know will be a challenge for them.  Makes you realize that despite what the media implies, there are still wonderful people in the world!  And I am so blessed to be associated with them!

Well, all went well and the paperwork is complete.  Hazel's pass port should be here on Wednesday and we leave Nanning on Thursday before the Expo begins on Friday.  
 
The rest of the day was spent eating dinner and getting acquainted in our room.  We called Lilly and Emmett and they had the chance to talk to Hazel for the first time.  The kiddos were so excited to hear their new sister.  They practiced saying "hello" and "I love you" in Chinese and Hazel practiced her" hellos" in English.  It was all very fun to watch!

After, I showed Yue Lan pictures of her new room and more pictures of Lilly and Emmett.  She soon took over the mouse and looked at the pictures over and over naming the kids and pointing to her new bedroom and saying "Yue Lan."  Looks like she is really understanding things even though we don't speak the same language!

Finally, I am happy to say that Hazel loves taking baths (just like Emmett) and was thrilled to see her new pink polk-a-dot nightgown.  I can't wait to dress her up and do her hair tomorrow!  Until then, enjoy some pictures...

A photo slideshow by Smilebox

Deja Vu

Ever had that feeling that you are repeating something you have done before?

Well that is what it is like being back in Nanning!

Hazel and Emmett are from the same orphanage, so our trip to China to get Hazel is very similar to the one we took to get Emmett. 

We are staying at the same hotel in Nanning: The Majestic.  As soon as we pulled up we all were hit with a wave of memories.

"Oh look!  There's the fountain that Emmett tried to swim in!"

"There's the Baby Restaurant.  Remember the first time we ate there?"

"Hey!  This is the same floor we stayed on last time.  There's the spot we had our Pizza Dinner on the last night."

"There's the famous Walmart and Pizza Hut!"

And so on, and so on!

It has been a bit surreal.  Especially since we had only 4 days to absorb the fact that we were finally going to get Hazel. 

Tomorrow morning is her Gotcha Day and I am so excited!  I know it's a bit sappy to say, but I have literally had this little girl in my heart since I was 17 years old!

I finally get to meet her after all these years!

Off the Beaten Path

Last time we were in Beijing we had a tour guide who took us around to all the great historic and interesting places - The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, etc.  They were all amazing and fabulous!

This time we were on our own in Beijing.  And we only had one day to explore.  So, we decided to walk down to the REAL Beijing.  The place where real people live real life.  It was soooo worth it!  Check out some of the pics:

Some men playing a game on the street corner - check out that famous Asian squat!

Market down a crowded little alley

These buns looked so good and it was amazing watching the guy roll/knead the HUGEST ball of dough I have ever seen!!!

Other fun things we discovered today:

A high school track

I can't believe she touched that thing AND put it up to her ear!  Yuk!

Life saving mask to be used in case of a fire - there was one in our room, but we had 3 people.  Good thing there was no fire, I would have felt bad leaving Eric and Hannah behind...

And....The big highlight of the day occurred when we stumbled upon a local park.  It first caught our eye because there was a bunch of elderly people exercising on random pieces of equipment.  Hannah called it "the old people playground."  We couldn't resist seeing more, so we went into the park.  And soon we came across the table tennis courts filled with people happily playing ping pong.  Eric did a good job of appearing like a poor begging puppy waiting for scraps, so a nice man motioned him over to play.  He was like a kid in a candy store - completely gleeful.

 Even though he got seriously schooled.

 He loved every second. 

It made up for the horrible impending BYU defeat.