One more week!

Every morning when Haylee gets up she goes to the cabinet that has her toys on top of it.

Ready for the bath!

Enjoying breakfast

View of part of the breakfast buffet from the staircase balcony.

Haylee loves to look at herself in the mirror. She will spend a lot of time making faces at herself.

We sent some of our clothes out for laundry. They returned them to us nicely folded in these individual bags. It was fairly cheap but it still adds up. Definitely less expensive than baggage overcharges.

Fish tanks at the JM Chef restaurant. This is the second time we've been there and we never see any other westerners. I think they are afraid of the front window.

Haylee eating in her "high chair". It is not very secure but it works.

Kevin's meal. It was pork with a very crispy skin. It was good but it was not a favorite.

This was mine. It was fried pork and vegetables. It tasted just like bacon only better. So yummy and sooo not good for you.

Another interesting statue of women. Not sure if it is supposed to be grandmother, mother, daughter or the same woman in different ages.

We did some more shopping this evening and as we walked out of the shop we heard what seemed to be fireworks. It was actually this guy in one of the courtyards whipping this top. It was really interesting to watch and very loud.

Haylee walking but not really wanting to. She kept standing in front of us and lifting up her arms for us to carry her. She is starting to get heavy.

Just being cute.

So today we didn't have much to do. We were supposed to do our consulate paperwork but Cordelia called and asked us if we would mind doing it with some of the other families in the morning. It was fine but these lazy days are kind of hard. It makes me think about home and miss my kids. It is much easier when we are kept busy. I think it has been hard because there have been so many families arriving and departing at different times that it has been hard on our guide to accomodate us all. This morning after breakfast we were able to skype with the kids. They are having a good time with grandma and grandpa. My mom has finally had to get tough with them and things are seeeming to go well. It is such a long time to have to ask someone to watch your kids and I'll be forever grateful for their willingness to help us out during this time. We spent most of the time in our room, resting and playing. There are only four channels that are in English - CNN, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel and a movie channel. We are glad for the entertainment. We have been living lives of leisure. The hotel has maid service twice a day. I don't know what we will do when we return home and have to make our own beds and wash our own towels. We've been spoiled having a driver and a guide to do all of our paperwork and plan our days for us. Tonight we went out to dinner at that restaurant that we really enjoyed. It is so funny because they don't speak a lot of English there so they keep trying to communicate with Kevin in Chinese and they are so confused when he doesn't understand. The food was good again but close to the end of the meal the table next to us started smoking. Surprisingly so far, the smoking hasn't bothered me too much, but this time it was too close. I couldn't wait to get out of there. We did a bit more shopping. Kevin is getting so used to people trying to speak Chinese to him that he doesn't understand when they are speaking English. At one store the girl said "I have good quality"really fast. Kevin said, "English only." I had to laugh because he hadn't understood what she was saying but I had. I told him that she was speaking English and he felt a little embarrassed. We have bought a lot of stuff and it is fun shopping. A lot of it is probably junk but it is fun junk. I feel so bad for all the shop owners. It doesn't seem very busy right now and there is a lot of competition.

Haylee is doing great! She is very funny. Right now she is sitting in her crib just talking to herself. She makes us laugh. Sometimes it is hard to know what she needs. We are just trying to get to know each other. We are feeling like we are in the home stretch and hoping that time will fly as we complete the last steps necessary to bring Haylee home.

PS Stephanie in OK - I'm hoping you might be reading this. I got some pictures for you. I don't have your email but I sent a message through chinaadopttalk.com with my email. Please contact me so that I can forward them to you.