Lazy Day

A picture of the apartment building next to the building where we applied for our passports. I just thought it looked interesting.

These banyan trees are all over the island. They are so big and beautiful.

"Made in China"

Another awesome statue. My sister-in-law Xu tells me that they were made to remind people to be happy and enjoy life. Kevin didn't catch the fact that this lady is walking her dog. See the tail in the corner.

Traffic is amazing here. People just walk out into the middle of the street. There don't appear to be any real traffic rules. It is truly amazing to witness. The cars are so close together and merge on each other in ways that would make westerners freak out. And although drivers love to use the horn people all seem to take the seeming chaos in stride. I find it amazing and I appreciate the skill that it takes to drive in these circumstances. Our drivers have been wizards at getting us around town.

Tonight we went to a fabulous restaurant. Our guide had recommended it to us. Kevin had sizzling steak and I had pork ribs. We also had some delicious green beans. There were not many westerners in the restaurant. I think the giant fish tanks out front scare them off.

Our hotel room. It is very large and comfortable. We have been spending a lot of time here and so it is nice to have the room to spread out a bit.

Haylee enjoying her oatmeal. Yummy!

How Haylee spends most of her time. This girl sleeps ALOT!!!

Today we didn't have much going on. It would have been nice to sleep in but me and Kevin can't seem to sleep past 4:00 am. It is driving us crazy. We went down to breakfast and met some of the couples from last night. I am a bit jealous because they are all heading home in the next day or so. I am loving the experience but anxious to return home and see my kids. I miss them so much! After breakfast we came back and tried to skype with the kids. It is driving me crazy because it isn't working well. (Thanks mom and Ty for trying so hard to get it up and running.)
I had a little break down while talking to them. I wish I could reach through the computer and hold them in my arms. (But don't worry mom, I'm doing okay now.) We went out and walked around a bit and then came back and ate lunch and took a nap. Afterwards we met our driver downstairs and he took us to a government office to apply for Haylee's passport. It was all very short. We then returned to the hotel and did a bit more shopping. We found something cool for mom, but I won't tell you just yet - it will have to be a surprise. We then went to dinner at a lovely restaurant Cordelia recommended. It was yummy! I wish I had taken a picture of the giant fish tanks out front. Me and Kevin are doing a bad job of taking pictures. I'm so used to my mom being with me. I can always count on her to get the pictures that I miss. I will try to be more vigilant in my picture taking. The next few days should be a little bit more fun. Tomorrow we go to QingPing Pearl Market and then on Thursday we are off to Dongguan. I was also hoping to visit Haylee's finding spot, however, it is another hour away from the orphanage so we are still trying to decide. If we do go that will be a very LONG day for our baby. We will have to see.

Haylee is doing really well. She continues to eat and sleep well. However, lately it has been hard to actually get her to go to sleep. She will cry and cry although we can tell she is very tired. I am feeling a bit like I am hitting a little of the "not so rosy" part. While she delights and intrigues us it is becoming a more difficult than I had first imagined. While we are falling in love with her more and more each day -it is a process. I am anxious to get her home so we can be together as a family.

She is ours!

The front desk of the adoption affairs office. Today we completed the China side of our adoption. As far as China is concerned - She's ours!!!

Sitting on the red couch at the White Swan.

All over the island there are these interesting statues. I'm not sure if they are ones that were added by the many foreigners that lived on the island or if they were originated by the Chinese but they are pretty funny.

The streets are all lined with trees. All the roads are one way. It creates a very nice oasis in the middle of the large city. Just across the water is downtown Guangzhou.

This is on the opposite side of the island looking out onto the Pearl River. This is a nice little park. I like walking through it because there are always interesting people. There is music coming from loud speakers and the couple on the left side of the picture were dancing. There are lots of older people playing badmitton or sitting around tables playing games. I always see the same woman standing on the waters edge doing exercise.

This is the view from our hotel window. These trees are so beautiful. They have large red blossoms on them.

Today we met Cordelia at 10:00 and headed to the Adoption affairs office of Guangdong. There we completed the adoption paperwork. First they had us take a picture together. Then we had an interview with the director. They asked us if we were satisfied with the child, which sounded strange. We said, "of course." Kevin tried to add another year to each of our ages. I had to set him straight. The director just watched us argue over whether he was 37 or 36. We had to promise to never abuse or abandon her and to provide an education for her. Then we went in to the notary who asked us a lot of the same questions. It was all really short. But now she is our baby officially. Yay! Tomorrow we will meet a driver to take us to apply for her passport.

We then came back to the hotel and tried to get Haylee to take a nap. The first few days that she was with us she would just lay in the crib and fall asleep. I was thinking it was a piece of cake. But now she doesn't go down so easy. She stood up in the crib and started to cry. It is hard to know how to handle this as I'm worried about bonding. She finally went down. I decided to go out and look around a little while Kevin stayed at the hotel with her. It was fun to explore and everyone is so nice. Many brides come to Shaiman Island for their wedding pictures. We see a half a dozen brides every day. It is fun to watch them in their beautiful dresses. Many wear very western looking dresses but there are also many that wear more traditional dresses. I bought a few things. There are so many shops and hard to know if you are getting the best price. When I got back we went to the White Swan to meet up with some other families. We took pictures on the red couch and then walked down to Cow and Bridge - a Thai restaurant. It was okay but not as good as yesterday. Our guide, Cordelia, brought her two year old daughter. She was really cute. She liked to mix the water and noodles and stir it up. Fun to watch her work. Haylee is showing more of her personality. She is very stubborn and does not like to be told "no". (But honestly - who does?) Last night she was acting silly and crazy. She is really walking around and wanting to get into things. Today she was a little weepy and sad. It broke my heart because there was not much I could do for her but rub her back and try to comfort her. I wish I knew what was going on in her little head. This whole thing must be so confusing. But I do feel like she likes us. Today at the adoption office she was looking for me. When she turned the corner and saw me a big smile came across her face. She ran over to me and put her arms up for me to carry her. One of her favorite activities is to get the stacking cups we brought and bang them against the furniture. We are trying to nip that in the bud because it certainly won't fly at home. At times she is restless and I can't blame her - there isn't much to do in the hotel room. However, when we go out she is really good. Day by day we are learning more and more about her.

Touring Guangzhou

Our lunch time feast! So yummy!

Entrance to Liuhua Lake Park

Watching fish in the pond at the art store

At theSix Banyan Tree Temple grounds

With the Master at the buddist temple after the blessing

During the blessing at the temple.

300 year old bronze buddas representing past, present and future.

Pagoda at the temple. It started leaning about 10 years ago after it had been refurbished so people can no longer go to the top. Kevin really wanted to.

In front of the pagota.

I felt bad because I had wanted to try and visit the LDS branch in Guangzhou. It would have been a really neat experience however, it would have required hiring a taxi to take us off the island and we aren't quite brave enough for that yet. In addition our guide had already prepared another excursion for us and so we decided to play it safe and go with her. Our first stop was the Six Banyan Tree Temple. It is right in the heart of the city. The grounds were beautiful and full of the scent of burning incense. People light the incense in the hopes that is will carry their prayers to heaven. We went into the temple and removed our shoes to kneel on the carpet. A master sprinkled us with holy water and said a prayer blessing our adoption. I don't know if it shows in the pictures but those bronze buddas were huge! We walked around the grounds and took a few more pictures. Haylee seemed really tired although she had slept late. So far she is an excellent sleeper. I hope that continues even after we return home :) As we left there were several beggars. Kevin gave them some money as I got into the van. They were very sweet and waved at our baby. It made me sad to notice how many of them had disabilities. Our guide said that they make alot of money there. I hope that is true.

Then we travelled to a government run store offering goods from China. Me and Kevin looked around but didn't see anything that we wanted. So we played with Haylee near the koi pond. She seemed really interested in the fish. Then we went to Liuhua Lake Park. It was the grounds for a palace of an emperor. It was beautiful and serene. The older people here are very active. I love to see them playing hackey sack and doing tai chi. (sp?) They also have these areas that at first glance appear to be playgrounds for children but as you get closer you realize that it is actually excercise equipment. I wish I would have gotten a picture of that. It was fun to walk and talk with some of the other adoptive parents. They are all very nice and their babies are beautiful. Afterwards our guide took us to a lovely restaurant. It was amazing with bright green and red colors. We had a private room and our guide, Cordelia, ordered for us. It was so delicious. The best was this breaded fish in a sauce. I could have eaten the whole thing. For dessert there were these pastries with bananas inside. I loved everything and it was the best food we've had so far. And there was so much of it! It was a very fun day. Now we are back at the hotel and Haylee is sleeping. She was so tired after our trip. Tonight we will probably just relax. Tomorrow is our appointment with the CAB to finalize our adoption paperwork for China. Everyday brings us a step closer to coming home with our beautiful baby.

First whole day together

I discovered that she likes to be tickled. She is very ticklish and funny.

Loved the bubbles that daddy was blowing.

Starting to laugh and show her personality. Such a cutie!

Looking cute in her bows that Aunt Crystal made her.

Bedtime. Just laid in the crib and sucked her fingers. Slept all through the night.

It is our first official day together. We didn't have anything scheduled today so we just relaxed. We slept well but I woke up at 4:00 am and couldn't go back to sleep. I suppose I'm still getting used to the time change. Haylee slept really well and surprising through the night. We just laid her in her crib and she sucked on her fingers until she fell asleep. This morning we went to breakfast and she ate a ton! She is good about trying lots of different foods. She had another bowl of congee and some eggs. She loves bread and pastries. She does not, however, like orange juice. The breakfast buffet here is really yummy. It includes all sorts of things that you wouldn't expect for breakfast like spring rolls, little breaded crabs and dumplings. Kevin loves it! We filled up at breakfast and so we skipped lunch. This morning we went out shopping and Mac we found your fan. We were so excited because it was definitely a search. There are so many fun shops on the Island. There was a man who owns a shop that wrote out Haylee's name in chinese characters. He says Haylee means "tender jasmine". It is really fun to go in and speak to the shop keepers. They all speak English and know how to flatter foreigners. They told me that I looked "very young to have children." This afternoon it rained - hard. It was also thundering and lightening. Can't seem to get away from the wet weather. It is very humid here so even when its not raining you are still very wet. The hotel provides umberellas so we braved the weather and went out to dinner. We to an Italian restaurant. It was good but expensive. I thought I had ordered a personal pizza but they ended up bringing me a huge platter. We brought home the left-overs. On the way home a taxi drove by and sprayed us completely with water. I was soaked. We are now in our pjs and ready for bed.

Haylee is doing so fantastic. She is really opening up to us. Today I was tickling her and she was laughing and giggling. She plays games with Kevin and she is talking more. She is so sweet and funny. I think she is starting to like us. On the way home from dinner I was carrying her and she kept looking up at me and then I would look at her and she would smile. She is eating wonderfully and took our bottle even though we had prepared it incorrectly. The instructions were in chinese and so we had to guess. This afternoon we ran into our guide and asked her and she said we were supposed to at 7 scoops. We had done two. So Haylee is pretty amiable to our mistakes. We were able to skype with the kids this morning and they met Haylee. It is so good to see them. I miss them terribly but we are having fun. I love China! The people here are so very kind and good. I will have to write more about that later. Emily - thanks for letting me borrow your carrier - it has been a life-saver. Will write more tomorrow.

Haylee Mei Guihong!!!

Haylee's first cheerios. She loves them! She liked feeding herself and was really good about it. For some reason she doesn't use her thumb on her right hand. Not sure if it because she hasn't practice or what but she does a great job of picking up small objects, even without it.

She likes this binky. She mostly just chews on it but it helps us keep her fingers out of her mouth. She has already has two teeth and another one just coming in.

I thought I might cry but I didn't. I suppose I've cried enough over this process. When I finally held her I just smiled and felt so happy to hold her in my arms. She is so beautiful. The pictures just don't do her justice.

What a day!!! First thing in the morning we had to go exchange money for our orphanage donation at the bank. It was a very interesting experience. We didn't have a guide but so many people here speak English that communication is okay. The highest bank note they have is 100 yuan. There were so many bills that we could barely zip up our money belts. Then we met our guide and headed to the CAB office. I was excited but also surprisingly calm. We went upstairs but Haylee had not arrived yet. Our guide called them and they were stuck in a traffic jam! (Driving here is very interesting but that is another subject). We ended up waiting for about an hour, talking to our guide. Finally the director arrived and we were able to meet our daughter for the first time. The director was holding her and we tried to talk to her but she immediately started to cry. She continued to cry as we attempted to hold and comfort her. But within a few minutes she stopped. She liked the toy keys we brought her. I held her while Kevin and our guide talked to the director getting her schedule, etc. She is so sweet but very reserved. Cordelia took us shopping for diapers, etc. afterwards. Haylee just looked at everything with wide eyes. She was a little nervous but she would only whimper occasionally. Once we got her back to the hotel we gave her more toys while we did paperwork and she just sat on the floor playing. She loves all the toys we bought her and she is very content just playing. We gave her a bath, which scared her at first but then we gave her the stacking cups and she played in the water for awhile. We were all very tired by that point so we took a nap, Haylee laying between us. She loves to suck on her three fingers to soothe herself. It was kind of sad to hear her whimpering a little bit as she was drifting off to sleep. We all slept for about three hours! Much needed rest. We went to Lucy's for dinner and she ate a whole bowl of congee(soft rice) with chicken! She was so good at the restaurant. Another couple that had adopted commented on how well she was doing for this being her first day with us. She looks really good. Her skin is great and she is walking, albeit very shakily. She tolerates my hugs and kisses and goes to both of us equally. Her lip looks great and when she was screaming I got a good look at her palate. She will indeed need to have an operation once we get home but she seems to deal with it very well. She was able to drink out of a normal bottle without any problems. She really likes food, which is great because I love to feed her. She is so wonderful and I have great hope that in the next few days she will warm up to us and show more of her personality. Tomorrow we are taking easy and getting some more much needed rest.

Guangzhou at last!

We are here!!! Yay!! I'm exhausted. The trip was brutal! We left Portland at 10:30 am on Wednesday and got to our hotel at 11:30 pm Thursday night. Since we didn't sleep very well the night before we left and sleeping on the plane was impossible we gone nearly three days without sleep. And last night wasn't any better. We get Haylee in just a few short hours and our nerves were frayed - so no sleep again.

Hard to leave the kids but they are doing well with grandma and grandpa. Thought I was going to loose it leaving Portland. Miss you guys so much. Can't wait to get Skype up.

Funny thing that keeps happening is people think Kevin is Chinese so they talk to him in Mandarin and he has no clue what they are saying. It has been funny because they look at me and say "juice or water" and then they look at Kevin and say the same thing in Chinese. I can't tell you it would have been helpful if he did speak the language.

Guide is fantastic - Cordelia. We will post later this afternoon when we have Haylee!

Itinerary!

Just one more day and then we are on our way. Here is our Itinerary:



March 25th Wed. 10:30 Portland to Seattle

2:00 Seattle to Beijing

March 26th Thur Arrive Beijing 4:15 pm.

Beijing to Guangzhou 7:20-10:30pm.

March 27th Fri. HAYLEE DAY 10:30

March 28th Sat. Rest and get to know our new daughter

March 29th Sun. Buddist temple (may also try to attend LDS services in Guangzhou)

March 30th Mon. Interview with Civil Affairs and do paperwork

March 31st Tues. Apply for passport

April 1st Wed. Orphanage visit

April 2nd Thurs. City Tour

April 3rd Fri. Pick up Notory docs and passport

April 4th Sat. Medical exam

April 5th Sun. Guangzhou tour (see if we can get conference)

April 6th Mon. Guangzhou tour

April 7th Tues. US consulate

April 8th Wed. Pick up visa and go to consulate

April 9th Thur. Guangzhou to Beijing 6:55 to 10:00

April 10th Fri. Beijing to Seattle / Seattle to Portland Arrive 2:50 pm



Because of our quick turn around we don't have exact locations for our tours. We'll decide once we get there. I'm not sure if I'm going to ever recover from this. We are going to be EXHAUSTED!!!!

While I'm Away

So while I'm away I wanted to do something special for my kids. I thought about it alot and finally came up with these mailboxes. Every day my mom is going to put something inside for my kids from us. Here are some of the ideas. (I know it's not completely creative but I was short on time.)

I found these little albums at Michaels. I told the kids to draw pictures of their favorite things they did while I was away.

"Give grandma or grandpa a hug...then have fun decorating this mug."

Some cute little toys from Michaels.

I asked the kids to use the stickers to make a

card for Haylee.

Picture of each child on they day they were born.

On the back I wrote about the day they joined our

family.

At Joann's they had these cute make your own

puzzles. I wrote - "without you a piece of me is

missing."

Online I found some fun things about China

and some puzzles. I also have some cards with

Chinese characters to copy.

"Bubbles, Bubbles... mind grandma and grandpa

and don't get in trouble."

"Even when I'm away you are still in my heart"

I also have a couple of other things that I didn't take pictures of. One is a card from their dad. That will be a treat because he rarely writes anything to them. And another is a gift card to Wendy's. I hardly ever let them get the kid's meal and they'll get a kick out of ordering and paying for it with their own gift card.