the Journey (tm) to China

The end of Poot Gone Bad, Pre-School, and Ear Infection

Wow! What a busy couple of days its been! Aubree BiXiu's poot issue is all cleared up and she was gracious enough to pass it on to Mama. Wasnt that nice of her! Now the poor lamb has ear infection and is antibotics that will hopefully not make her have another poot issue.

The child kills me! She says to me this morning 'Mama... I's dont feel good - I need to lay in your bed with you.' Will that make you feel better Love? 'Well noooo Mama! You need to take me to Dr Jon so I can get stickers... that will make me feel better' God help me when she turns 3... she surely cant get any more articulate can she?!?!?

Shae HongQi has 2 afternoons of Pre-School under her belt - 2 WHOLE AFTERNOONS. I stayed with her the entire time yesterday and she did great! But today I had to suck it up and leave her there all by her little lonesome! Oh how I worried for the entire afternoon - Baba very nearly had to sit on me! And to think all that worrying was for naught... the kid did fabulous! She worked all the stations, she painted, she sat for circle time, she made an invite to Dessert with Dad for Baba, she rode bikes, climbed climby things, she got her stuff together to go home (with help), and she played 'Duck, Duck, Goose!'.

Not a tear was shed that Mama had left her all alone... and this was the same girl that cried for me pitifully this morning when I left for a little bit. She was so freaking proud of herself and what she had done that she took everything out of her bag at Pre-School to show me, again at Gramma's to show it off, and then was just beside herself waiting for Baba to come home so he could see it too. We were all so proud of her too... my goodness what a brave, brave girl she is!

So to celebrate the worse of the sickness being over and Shae doing so good at Pre-School today - Baba and the girls went to go get McDonalds :D

Oh my lord... the poot!!!

Yesterday was not a terribly fun day at our house. Sure we got to go to mall to run around but it went downhill after lunch.

B woke up crying at 1:30pm... I thought it was because her sis and I went downstairs and she got left upstairs to finish her nap. She does this on occasion so I told her to go back to sleep. The crying went to screaming and I came upstairs to investigate.

M: Whats wrong B? You need to go back to sleep honey...

B: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I cant!!

M: Oh yes you can - just close your eyes

B: I've got to POOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

M: Well why didnt you tell....

And thats when the stench hit me like a brick wall. What the heck crawled up that tiny girl and died?!?!? I hustled her into the bathroom but it was already too late... but I didnt know how late it really was. B hates to go poot in her pull ups - hasnt gone poot in her pull ups since she switched to pull ups from diapers. It was sagging it was so full. I took all of her clothes off of her before I ventured a look inside... JMJ what the heck is that!?!?!?!

It was the color of pea soup... and the consistency of soft serve ice cream. There must have been a whole soup pot full because it was absolutely everywhere! Poor B... she's crying because she poot in her pants and she's doubled over in pain. But that wasnt the worse part about it. The worse part was her weakly sobbing 'No Mama... I no want CeeCee to come over... no want CeeCee to see my poot!'

Damn it CeeCee - you tramatized my poor tiny infant!! You POOT NAZI you!

B spent the rest of the day/evening in my lap eating crackers, banana, popsicles, and drinking gatorade/water. She spent last night in our bed because there was several other very serious poots before bed and I didnt want her to be all alone and in pain if it started again. We had one more bout about 1am but its been poot-free since. I've got tiny B footprint bruises all along my ribs (she sleeps sideways) but I was glad to have her in with us :)

Whatever it was... please dont let the rest of us get it!

The word of the day is 'No'

Shae's favorite new word is 'No'. It doesnt really mean NO all of the time... she's using it like a baby would learning how to speak for the first time.

M: Its a beautiful day outside!

S: no

M: Gamma is coming over to take you to walk the girls to preschool

S: no

M: Would you like to wear your chukka boots or your princess tennis shoes

S: NO!! (as she reached for the chukkas - its an enthusiastic and happy no... she hasnt gotten to wear her chukkas very much)

M: Hey - Gamma's here!

S: Something in Mandarin... Gamma.... CeeCee... NO!!!

M: Be good for Gamma - I'll see you in a bit!

S: No... bye bye

A hearty NO! NO! NO! NO! was given at the appearance of her new Cabbage Patch Doll... Thank you M, K, and K - you made Shae HongQi's day! The clothes look like they're gonna fit great!

TaaaDaaa I can See!

Shae HongQi has now gotten her covetted(sp?) Cat Eye inspired glasses.

She just looks so precious sitting beside her equally precious widdle BiXiu. She is so proud of them, and has just been darting around looking and studing everything she can find again and again to see how it looks now. We know it will take her eyes and brain to adjust and sync up again(day or two) but after that Watch out she should really start to explore and continue to learn with blazing speed.

Please excuse the slight fuzzy picture. Its incredibly difficult to get a close picture of HongQi without either drowning her poor face out(washed out from the flash), or in this case, not using the flash and not having to time to dig out the tripod, so the camera can be dead steady. I could probably adjust the levels with Photoshop with the flash but we just are to eager to post the pictures and enjoy that smile.. She seemed to response to Chee-Ow(smile in mandarin, or at least i think it was. I am trying to type from memory, I know I said it right at the time, but the book is in another room at the moment to verify it phonetically for you). I will though eventually. I think I'll try to post a small set of mandarin that we think have worked for us as well so far sometime soon as well..

cheers everyone!

oh man am I pooped!

I'm a tired little monkey tonight but after being home a week... we finally got the house cleaned! The floors are lovely for the next 12 hours, the bathrooms are sparkly, the kitchen gleams, the playmats in the sunroom are no longer gross, and every bit is dusted. The girls helped with the dusting... running around the house waving their swifter dusters around. Just about got an eye poked out but it was fun!

Shae HongQi also helped me with laundry... put stuff in the washer dirty... take it out wet... put it in the dryer... it comes out warm and dry! It was a party... let me tell yah!

Aubree BiXiu was in absolute heaven because she got to stay home today and tomorrow... doesnt seem quite fair that she has to go to school when the rest of us are running amuck. She really seems to enjoy having a sister around to play with... its just hard to share!

SQH got something today that we've been waiting for... I'll let Dana tell you about it when he posts the picture :D

Morning, Afternoon, and Night

Quick note, if you get errors or strange things in the picture gallery please wait a day or two and try again. I am upgrading and revamping the gallery so we can get new and updated pictures in there.

Now on with the latest pictures

Morning...

BiXiu and HongQi now are taking turns giving each other rides..

On another day, in the afternoon after everyones nap, school, and etc.. The girls helped Baba make cookies..

Night - The girls were trying on Shae's dress we got cheap from our poor downtown Younkers that closed months ago. It had been open for over a 100+ years..

First HongQi

Then BiXiu

Aren't they BOTH so cute in it..

Then it was off for bed, snuggles, etc.. Our nightly ritual as long as each girl behaves then they get snuggles, and keep their stuffed aminals in their bed with them to sleep..

Let the games begin!

This post is for those of you that are adopting older kids so you wont freak out when they act considerably younger than their age :D Those of you that have older biological children need to especially consider the post below... I'll explain why later! Disclaimer... I'm just Mama... this has worked on so far on my adoptilogical children, my sister's adoptilogical child, and her biological children. None of our children have sensory issues, attachment issues, nor glaring mental issues... of course it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH US - we just got DAMN LUCKY when God picked out our children. Seriously...

My little pumpkin peanut brittle is move move moving along with her attachment/adjustment! We have now reached the 'testing' phase of our groovy relationship! Hooray! Let the games begin!

I'm serious folks - I've been waiting for this phase and I'm glad for its arrival! I embrace it with open arms, a calm head, and a warm heart :D SHQ is getting WAY comfortable and is starting to test her boundaries. Boundary testing is begining to show itself in the form of 3 year old behavior.

What?!?!? 3 year old behavior?!?!? Whatever do you mean Oh Bloggy and Serene Mama?!?!? For those of you new to older child adoption OR adoption in general - children regress to younger ages as they adjust and try to find their way in family. Domestic adoption or International adoption - its all the same... kids need to do this... and you need to let them do it! I dont know how many times I have told other adoptive mothers that you CANNOT expect your newly adopted child to act like what they consider a 'normal' child. AND DO NOT COMPARE THEM TO YOUR BIOLOGICAL CHILDREN!! NO! NO! AND NO! Example: Your new child chews with its mouth open and they refuse to stop after pleading with them until you're blue in the face... oh my gosh! Our other children dont do that!!! Whats a person to do?!?!? Suck it up!!! Your new child is NOT YOUR OTHER CHILDREN!

Sorry to shout - passionate you know ;) Children from orphanage environments are developmentally delayed no matter how good an orphanage they came from. Heck some biological children are delayed, but lets stick to the adopted ones. There is a rule of thumb that says something to the affect that for how many years your child was in an institutional setting, expect your child to be delayed that many months or equivalent years. And then they're going to regress further as they adjust... and THEN your children that were already in the household are going to regress. Its a domino affect as the people in the household try to work out where they fit now.

Lets take Shae and BiXiu as an example... SHQ = new; B = existing. S is 5 years old (shup people!) and has regressed to 3 year old behavior as she adjusts. 3 year old behavior consists of throwing fits, throwing things, throwing themselves down, taking things away from, fake crying, ignoring requests to stop unfavorable behavior, etc. B has regressed back to early to mid 2 year old behavior - she's nearly 3 years old. Bigger fits, more throwing, more crying, more ignoring requests to stop unfavorable behavior :D

Okay... so how does one deal with this? Well, I dont know how you would deal with it, but WE = Mama + Baba, are working on it THIS way. We work under the assumption that we ARE NOT going to be phased by our children seemingly going insane. You want to throw a fit? Thats fine... but you're going to do it in the other room where I can see you while we continue to play. You're going to throw yourself down in the middle of Walgreens? I needed a rest anyway... why dont you stretch all the way out on your back so your comfy while I sit down beside you. Be sure to kick your legs and flail your arms around like thusly! You arent going to stop doing something I've asked you to do? Its Time Out City for you while I sit beside you and discuss why you are in time out.... I will count to 20 on my fingers when I'm finished with our discussion and then you are free to go about your business again. You want to cry so loud that the windows threaten to shatter... okay with me too, but you need to put way more feeling into it! More tears! More Drama! Here - I will show you how!!!

After each transgression, there is always a baby cradle-ing session in Mama or Baba's arms. This lets you know that we still love you and will be more than willing to hold you until you get your angries out!

The moral of the story... be drinkable... dont let your child's behavior now cloud your love or judgement on how they will be 6 months from now... because believe me, that child will be an entirely different person in that time frame with consistant love and boundaries! Taking it personally is not going to help anyone - this is a child... its acting like a child... it needs understanding that you love it and will take care of its needs no matter what it does.

Happy Parenting!

Shae's busy Monday!

We got SHQ into the preschool down the street! I am sooo relieved! AND we're first on the waiting list for a spot for next year if we need it - the director told me that its was pretty much a given that we'll get in if we need to send her to preschool again... people move/change plans all the time!

We went and visited preschool yesterday - it was AWESOME and Shae seemed okay with me walking around and showing her all the stations. She starts next week in the afternoons MTW - I will go with her on Monday and stay - but Tuesday and Wednesday she's on her own! Its going to be worse on me than her... trust me!

We also went to the eye doctor yesterday and scored some glasses! Hooray! The dr said she'll need to come back in 3 months to have another full evaluation after she's had her glasses awhile. Her pretty pink tinged cat-eye shaped glasses should be done by the end of the week.... when I handed the Rx to the frame lady - all she could say was 'Oh my...' - yeah, I knew it wasnt going to be a good Rx... not with her lack of pigment. SHQ and BaiYu will be going to the low vision clinic put on by the University of Iowa Vision Specialists on April 26 - the drs that put this clinic on once a year specialize in non-verbal/non-english speaking children with severe vision issues.

Hoot!

Another night of hoots!! After the necessary daily poot from the BiXiu at the designated time and other regular bedtiime routines of potty, teethbrush. Bath if needed and then of course a slathering of lotion. We all adjourned to snuggle in SHQ's bed tonight since we had mostly been in BiXiu's bed all previous nights sans last night when we couldn't get the two to stop giggling and essentially saying 'Will yew stawwp tooouching me!' We scooped SHQ up and she finally slept in her own bedroom. We all piled into the SHQ bed tonight. Mama, SHQ, BiXiu, and then Baba in that order stuffed in like a pack of sardines (Olive oil packaged of course, the best). We snuggled and sang songs. Surprizingly SHQ chimmed in own quite a few. She did great at keeping up with the Hand gestures for Itsy Bitsy Pider, Little Bunny FooFoo, Twinkle Twinkle. I could actually hear her voice pronouce some of the words in unison with the rest of use. It was amazing. We are so proud of her. Two things thought, I an required to tell you that your mileage may vary and adopted kids behavior and progress aren't always this rosey, and 2) She does continue to slowing test her boundaries in little ways which is normal as well and she grows more comfortable with us.

Lastly, dog issue is still progressing into a NON one, with minor exceptions of immediate morning freedom for pottying of the dogs, they are roaming free and SHQ is mulling around amongst them as BiXiu buzzes around. She still is attempting to play with them now getting even braver in trying to pull the Kong away out of Java's mouth, and then throw it. Java is actually quite gentle with the little ones and fully aware to easy on them when they try to play with him and the dog toys.

Bearings!

Been home not quite a week and doing great. SHQ is continuing to open up more and more. She giggling more, showing she is actually a little ticklish much like BiXiu.

So since its a new work week its time to get down to more business of getting SHQ more documentation like we did for BiXiu. So while Mama and SHQ went to the eye doctor, Baba took MiMi BiXiu to school. We are trying be cautious with telling BiXiu that SHQ isn't taking home the whole time and that she too is going to school. Its a stretch at best for this week but next week should be ready. Since BiXiu is barely 3, don't want her to feel that we are trying to push her out of the way of her new sister, or feeling left out. We try our best to give thme equal time.

Ok back to the errands. So after I dropped the B off, then it was off to one of the Iowa state buildings to go get her an Iowan birth certificate. We need one of these to help establish other things. Once that was submitted with a quick form, a talk from the lady in charge of adoptions, and copies of all our passports. In Iowa, the parents can submit copies of their passports (made by the personel) rather than certified copies of their birth certifications. Its just easier. Then a quick stop at the bank to exchange what was left of our travelers checks, and finally to the courthouse. Of course anyone that knows me will know that I had to make a quick stop at the coffee shop for a bit of joe. As well as I had to make a quick drop of my small Squirt (mini-leatherman tool) before entering the courthouse. You know metal detectors and hair-trigger overworked female guard running said gamatron :)

Ok So why did i have to go the courhouse. We are not re-adopting SHQ in Iowa just like we didn't BiXiu. For those keeping score at home, 1) Its not required by Iowa law since 2001, and 2) China adoptions with 2 parents traveling are already finalized and fully legal including INS the minute we touch down anyway. I needed to go, so we could try to figure out how to legally change SHQ birthdate from 1998 to 2000, since we have overwhelming evidence to suggestion that she is really 5 and not 7. I ended up basically with a contact to i think a by student law firm (free) near once of the university to try to ask advice on what exactly is needed to legal change someones name. The ladies at the filing department in the courthose really didn't have much of a clue. It seems to them and us that it might be a slightly bigger hoop than a name change like with did with BiXiu. So i spent a good 20 minutes talking with ladies and describing that I was looking to find out. That lead into talking about why we were choosing not to re-adopt state-side, and then describing the finer points of what it means to have Albinism. Anyhoodle. long story short is that All we know is 1) We don't necessarily need legal representation to petition for the court to change the birthdate(similar to that of name change), however we do need to get advice on what and EXACTLY how to petition for it. We do need the letters from our dentist and doctor we just need to know the wording and presentation to submit for the judge. I have a call into the contact, which coincidently has also adopted from China and was recently featured in an article that talked about adoption as well as the Lunar New Year, in this case the Chinese New Year(Spring Festival). I will be following up with her if she doesn't return my call tomorrow.

update on the dog trama

Thank you all that wrote me personally about what to do about the dog trama at my house. The majority of responders suggested the 'full immersion' method so thats what we did today... but with MAJOR help.

I had my sister, her 4 year old daughter, her 3.5 year old daughter, her 8 year old son, and my mom come over this morning. Shae settled down on Grandma's lap while I sat on the floor waiting for the hounds to bound in. The other kids and Sis stationed themselves around the room and DH unleashed the hounds from their kennel. The terror lasted about an hour...when Shae looked around and realized that the other girls were happily playing with the terrifing creatures with no worries of being eaten, Talen was picking them up and carrying them around, Grandma was patting her back and laughing at the dogs, Mama was sitting close and loving whatever dog came near, Sis was letting one of them drown her in slobber, and DH telling her they were good dogs and not to be scared in Mandarin...she got this look on her face that seemed to say 'whoa... everyone thinks those evil furry things are great!' She spent from late afternoon until bedtime chasing the dogs around the house and telling them to come to her (the word sounds like lay... Ex Boosey lay! Boosey LAY!!!). She'd grab them from behind and give them a hug, she'd pout when they got tired and wouldnt pay any attention to her, and she'd giggle when they licked her hand.

She has talked non-stop about the dogs for hours now... its just so weird that the dog trama would be over just like that...I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Boosey is currently her favorite (the bouncy-est one), followed by Java (calmer yet still bouncy), and then Chloe (calmest of all). The cat she still wont go near...I dont know how she'll do with Mom's dogs. We'll see if she remembers ours are okay in the morning.

Thanks again for the advice... I really appreciate you guys!

Is she a dragon or a tiger?

Look what happens when I am fully rested/recovered from jet lag AND there arent two little people chanting at me! I blog up a storm!

Since we're changing SHQ's birth year, I wanted to compare the Chinese Zodiac animals for 2000 and 1998 today. If Shae really is 5 yrs old, she would have been born in 2000 and would be a Dragon. If she were 7 yrs old, she would have been born in 1998 and would be a Tiger. I have a lot of respect for the Chinese animals - they are right on for 95% of the family... they are totally off for Big G, but she's just special! I've read several animal descriptions this afternoon, but the ones below are from The Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco (www.c-c-c.org)

Here's the description for 1998 Tiger:

Year Of The Tiger

1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998

Tiger people are sensitive, given to deep thinking, capable of great sympathy. They can be extremely short-tempered, however. Other people have great respect for them, but sometimes tiger people come into conflict with older people or those in authority. sometimes Tiger people cannot make up their minds, which can result in a poor, hasty decision or a sound decision arrived at too late. They are suspicious of others, but they are courageous and powerful. Tigers are most compatible with Horses, Dragons, and Dogs

------

Okay - she sounds sort of like that...My brother Tony is a Tiger and he fits that description to a T with everything but the great sympathy :P. BUT she sounds more like the Dragon:

1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000

People born in the Year of the Dragon are healthy, energetic, excitable, short-tempered, and stubborn. They are also honest, sensitive, brave, and they inspire confidence and trust. Dragon people are the most eccentric of any in the eastern zodiac. They neither borrow money nor make flowery speeches, but they tend to be soft-hearted which sometimes gives others an advantage over them. They are compatible with Rats, Snakes, Monkeys, and Roosters.

I vote for Dragon - she's sensitive and brave, excitable and short tempered, soft hearted and energetic. Maybe thats why I bought the dragon wall hanging in Guangzhou... it reminded me so much of Shae HongQi.

An opinion about the beds in China

Several people sent me emails asking what I thought about the beds in China.... I will take a few minutes to express my opinion on the subject.

As a rule, beds in Chinese Hotels are A. very VERY small and B. rock hard... not just hard... ROCK HARD. The first time we went to China we were blessed with king size accomodations because Big G went with us and for some reason, the staff in all of the hotels thought that one small yet crabby old woman deserved a king size bed in her room even though she was the ONLY ONE SLEEPING IN IT. Needless to say, Big G didnt get to sleep in the king size beds... it was a democracy you know and majority ruled :D The king size beds were firm but not hard and they were wonderful for me because I am likely to end up sleeping cross-ways in any bed that is of good size. Dana gets his standard 3 inches of bed no matter how big it is and he's happy.

Well... this time we requested the travel agency to book us king size beds in the 2 hotels we were going to stay in. We figured if they were as big as last time that we could all sleep in it and get no where near each other. In realilty every room we stayed in had 2 beds... rock hard and smaller than a full size bed. Think super single and you'll get the picture... so hard that they felt like you were sleeping on a slab of marble. Was this a terrible thing?!?!? Not in the least! Dana and I got in some quality cuddle time and slept great! Even though the bed was hard - it was the best thing I could have slept in to get my neck strain to stop killing me. One night on granite - I was as good as new and off muscle relaxers!

Now that we're home... I think our pillow top queen size bed is TOO BIG and TOO soft... I want my cozy, granite bedrock back! Where oh where can I order me a standard Chinese Hotel room bed?!?!

One thing to note that really bothered me though... where was the darn top sheet? Every hotel... there was a fitted sheet on the bottom and a nice blanket but no top sheet... what gives with that?!?!?

Mama?? Baba???

The girls are starting to sound completely alike... I cannot tell which one of them is chanting 'Mama! Baba! Mama! Baba!' - B has SHQ's inflections down pat already. It was driving me completely crazy last night because they were in different parts of the house and I didnt know which way to run to assist!

Last night the girls helped Baba make pizza... oh my did that make SHQ's happy pudding face come out. CeeCee said that she could see the girls waving their spoons and talking up a storm through her dining room window last night. This afternoon they helped Baba make grilled cheese :) SHQ liked both very much!

The dog situation is better today. We had the whole gang from next door come over and then we let the dogs out into the melee. 3 little girls happy to show Shae how much they loved the dogs, 1 nice grandma lap to cuddle in, 1 smiling boy carrying small pooches, and 3 other adults giving comforting words and actions made a HUGE difference. SHQ's has her 'BOO HOW NO NO!' and shove down now - there were no tears about the dogs when she got up from her nap.

She has now gone off with Baba to drop the movies off and go to the store for a night light. Its freaking cold her so she is all decked out in brand new snow pants that were too big for B but fit her great AND new boots. Do you know how hard it is to find warm boots and shirts in February in Iowa?!?!? Let me tell you its next to impossible! Target has all its spring stuff out... even the flip flops. Kohls - a few long sleeve knit shirts that arent the warmest... neither had snow boots still out. We finally found something that would pass for warm boots at Payless... SHQ doesnt have a whole lot of room for growth in them but maybe spring will come before she out grows them! Thank God for CeeCee's friend Joy and her bag of warm little girl clothes - I dont know what we would have done if Shae hadnt fit in everything in that bag!

Speaking of clothes.... my newest daughter has absolutely NO BUTT. All of her jeans bag so bad in the bum that I am trying to figure out ways to make them fit better. What I should have gotten was that fanny lifter I saw advertised a million times a day on Chinese TV - that would have gotten her some booty back there I bet! BaiYu came home with no bum either - she's got a nice round tushy now so there is still hope for SHQ's to fill out!

The joy that is Shae HongQi

My goodness I love this little child to pieces... she is an absolute joy! She's loving, sympathetic, curious, and willing to try. She doesnt have any food issues so far other than she's not crazy about the Cleveland/Fisher standard of oatmeal in the morning OR about the frozen waffles we tried out. Taco Johns seems to be her favorite at the moment! Shae is totally in love with her sister Aubree BiXiu and the feeling is mutual :D B, Mya, and BaiYu are still freaked out that she wont talk to them... B runs over to me chanting 'Mama! Shae talked! I cant understand what she said but SHE TALKED'. They've all been playing really good together and there have been no fights... yet. Shae has really enjoyed helping - she puts the potty seat on the toliet for her sister and gets a pull up ready for her. She loves to help unload the dishwasher but we confused her last night when we emptied it and then went to fill it back up! She wants so badly to go somewhere every day - today Shae got to go to the mall and she absolutely loved it! And why wouldnt she? She got PRINCESS tennis shoes and Hello Kitty shirts today... she is tickled to death :D I havent seen so many smiles on her than I've seen today - I cant wait to see more!

Shae HongQi is COMPLETELY freaked out about the dogs but she tries every night before bed to get over her extreme fear.... the cat is another story and she wont go near her with a ten foot pole. The only crying we've had since we've been home has been about the dogs and the cat... yesterday afternoon she let out a blood-curdling scream that had me bounding up the stairs three at a time to get to her. I guess the cat was meowing outside of the girls' room and Shae freaked! B (she's 2.5 yrs old) was sitting calmly on the bed trying to pat her and tell her it was okay. B told me 'I dont know whats wrong with her Mama... she's just crying for no reason... can you make her stop because its LOUD'. Every night before bed we do 'learn to love the dogs' sessions... first we pull out Chloe (she's the calmest) and work with Shae with her. Then we pull out Butters... he's a little quicker to lick and bouncy-er. And last is Boosey... she's just so damn happy and perky that we couldnt have her go first... Shae would be completely tramatized.

Since she's been home, Shae has done the following for the first time:

1. Had McDonalds and Taco Johns
2. Had a bath with her sister - she loves that!
3. Had hairbows in her hair... she loves that too!
4. Been to the dentist - that went AWESOME! No cavities!
5. Learned to ride a trike - you should see her bomb around the house!
6. Played puzzles... this was a little perplexing at first but she's got the hang of it now
7. Had x-rays - her left hand and a full head x-ray

Some of you are going to read #7 and think... Whoa what happened to her! Nothings wrong... the x-rays were for the age determination study. They both came back conclusive for her being 5 yrs old instead of 7... so now I've got to get the legal wheels rolling to make her birth year officially 2000 instead of 1998.

More later... must finish the taxes!

Now!! She looks like a Girl!

Click on Image to make it bigger..

We're HoMe!!!!!

I cant write much... I am so jet lagged its not even funny. We made it home last night... Shae was AWESOME on the flights home... just a litttle bit naughty on the last one but that is to be expected! She slept 3 different times, colored, walked the aisles, and listens to the headphones the entire way home.

Shae was introduced to McDonalds last night and it got a big thumbs up! Today we went to the dr to get checked out. Dr J says that there is NO WAY THAT KID IS SEVEN YEARS OLD. No... really?!?!? Damn I could have told you that months ago! I trust that he's right when he says he thinks she's just 5 years old... he ordered a bone scan on her just to confirm. He works with International Adoptees all the time so he knows his stuff! Once I have the results back from the bone scan... I'll have to tell school that Shae's not coming and get her into pre-school instead. I knew in my heart that this was going to happen but I didnt have a fully formed Plan B waiting in the wings... pray with me that I can get her into the awesome preschool down the street. I've also got to figure out what legal stuff I've got to do to make her birth year legally 2000.

D-Day baby!

Dude - tracking flights on the internet - the pig has landed in Chicago. Repeat, the pig has landed! I need a phone call as soon as they get through immigration! This is probably my last post unless something goes terribly wrong and they don't make it home tonight. THEY HAVE TO! Bad weather is scheduled to arrive late tonight. If they don't make it today, they won't. Hoping the rest of the day goes a lot better than my morning so far. God must be laughing his hiney off at me right now doing my best scurrying ant impression. Yesterday when I got home, my 3 kids were peculiarly hostile to each other and everyone else. Talen thought the teacher at sign language class was picking on him so he promptly burst into tears. The poor woman felt so bad! We get home and big G is at her absolute wits end with the fighting and the excessive whining. Hmmmm... This can only mean one thing - back to the doctor on the AM pdq. Yes, folks, my kids are weird about being sick. Turns out they all have ear infections, with varying degrees of severity. Talen's right lymph node in his neck is about the size of dumdum sucker. It would be nice if my kids would cut me some slack and just say "Mom, my ear hurts, could you help me out here?" BUT NOOOOOOO. The only way I know something is wrong is when they start seriously bitch slapping each other and acting truly obnoxious. No fever, no ear tugging, no nothing but demonic behavior. So this morning I get the kids up a little bit early, stuff breakfast in them, start B on the nebby, throw their coats on, and fly down the interstate to the ped's walk-in. We are first to arrive so the kids proceed to slim the window next to the waiting room's locked door until they are ready to open up. Everyone is happy until the dr says Mya needs a throat swab. Mya says "Hey, I had one last week! I don't like those!". Why yes you did sweetheart, exactly a week ago but mama's going to get her money's worth out of this trip and you are the lucky winner. Much gagging insues and screams of protest are only quieted with the promise of stickers. $30 down, scripts in hand, and children in tow, we proceed to the pharmacy where the children turn into these multi-handed whirlwinds, touching every single item they aren't suppose to. Scripts finally filled, I scrape them off of the walls from which they are bouncing from and head to the car. Talen is dosed before he sits down and I head east, quizzing him every 5 minutes about his condition. He is already allergic to one family of antibotics so it always makes me a little nervous. We stop quickly at home, kick the little girls out, dose them, grab B, and head for school. I talked to Mr. Schott while siging Talen in. He thinks they are going to put Shae in a different kindergarten class because Mrs. A has 29 kids. The other 2 classes have 26 or less a piece. Playing it all by ear here - they just want to do what is best for Shae, bless their hearts! With Talen off, I stuff B back in the car and head to daycare. The child sang at the top of her lungs all the way there. I guess she was totally into the Wiggles before I picked her up. 8) She goes flying into class and I run down the sidewalk to work. An hour and 30 minutes left and I blow this popcicle stand until Friday. Looking forward to a very sloooooooow weekend and a little bonding time with Shae! God protect them until they get safely home....

Merry V-Day to ya!

This morning the house was filled with joyous squeals as the kids discovered their valentine sacks Cupid the Valentine bunny brought them. YES the valentine bunny. SHUT UP! My kids still believe in Santa, the valentine bunny, and the easter beagle and you aren't telling them anything different. 8P Everyone got a sparkly red bag with candy of their liking, a pop-up card and a sponge bob book. All of the girls got a pink beanie bear with red X's and O's. Talen being a mature 8 got a magnetix set instead of a bear. Before I had kids, I never liked holidays - specially Christmas and Valentines day. Christmas sucked because my family was dirt poor and I felt guilty about getting gifts because that meant money spent that we didn't have. Valentines - well let's just say this girl has always bought her own flowers, chocolate, and diamonds. If I had to wait for someone to shower me with gifts of adoration, I would still be waiting... I love holidays with kids because the littlest things make them so darn happy. Easter - you sneak out and fling eggs around the yard. A couple of hours later they are still squealing with happiness as they ask you to fling them out just one more time. Plastic eggs = loads of fun. It is absolute magic I tell ya!

Last night when we dropped Talen off for piano lessons, we were informed that it would be open class the last 20 minutes of the lesson. Oh great! I was going to take the girls to petco to pick up some dog food but we didn't have time. We settled for a car wash instead. It was in the upper 40's and my van was in desperate need of a hosing. Everyone and his brother needed a wash. There is a great place just across the street from piano that has 7 stalls. Each stall was at least 3 cars deep with one in the stall besides that. We would just barely have enough time to get the wash, get back, hit the potty, and get to open class. We are one car away from pulling into the wash bay with 3 cars behind us when BaiYu announces she must poop. WHAT!?!?!?! Deals are made with the clear explanation that there would be no wash if mom had to get out and plead with the people behind us to let us out. She decided to hold it and our van is now back to its lovely shade of plum. I'm not sure how often B has been through the carwash but she was soon hooting and giggling with the other girls. It must have been a combo of too much swishing water and cockeyed pull-up - B leaked. Thank goodness it wasn't bad and I had spare pull-ups in the car. We got everyone peed and sat down in Talen's class just in time. The girls were absolute angels while we listened to all of the boys play their pieces. They are having a contest between the boys in that the first one to rack up 3000 minutes of practice time gets a gift certificate for ice cream. Talen's teacher ran down the totals for each boy - Talen already has over 2000 and is about a 1000+ minutes ahead of the next highest boy. You can really tell the difference in the quality of Talen's playing versus the other boys - proud mama moment here! Talen could practice way more than he does but I try not to be a huge nazi about it. He's to the point now where he can just sit down and play something he has heard. Played Happy B-Day for big G on Sunday without even hesitating. THAT'S MY BOY! I told the other boys they did their job - they all got the little girls bopping and swaying while they played. The girls were super good and a gracious audience.

We've got one more day people! As big G told you yesterday - you better get your a$$ on that plane or else! I don't want to give up B - she has been angel. This time with her has been an absolute blessing and one I will cherish forever. I just hope she still likes me after you come home. 8) I'm going to miss my mornings at home - morning time is my absolute favorite but I miss it when I go to work at 6:00am so I can be off in time to pick up Talen from school. Thursday I am going to be parent helper at preschool - I can think of no better way to spend a couple of hours than being surrounded by little kids who think I'm the coolest. 8) BTW - I have gotten big hugs from 3/4ths of the kids in Aubree's daycare class every day and Leslie talks to me. Yep - I am a kid magnet hear me ROAR!!!

Going home

Tomorrow we're going home... presently we're waiting for goodies from Danny's Bagels... formerly we were at the consulate this afternoon. Let me tell you, the WORSE part of an adoption trip is the visit to the consulate. It was bad enough when it the consulate was ON the island... its 10 times worse now that its hell and gone.

Why is it bad... its just bad because its so very unnecessary. We all file in, we get a copy of our passports handed back to us, we queue up, we shove the copy back at the consulate worker so she can see all three of us, we take a little oath, we get our brown envelopes that we MUST NOT OPEN, and we file out. Its a complete waste of time IMHO! Its also in a VERY not great part of town now... I cant believe some agencies are having their families stay by the consulate... I would have had a fit if we had been told we had to stay there. There wasnt even an elevator for one lady that could have really needed it... OH NO.... she had to go up all three escalators like everyone else. I will never figure out why our US government has to be the worse part of this whole process, both at home and abroad. Dont get me wrong... I love my country but JMJ the crap we have to go through is ridiculous!

Anyhoo... we're all done and are going to the airport at 5:30am tomorrow... so good night... good luck to us... and pray we make it home okay!

Happy Valentines Day Aubree BiXiu and the gang at home! Mama, Baba, and SHQ are coming home!! WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!

P.S. We met the MOST BEAUTIFUL 13 year old Chinese girl with Albinism today at the consulate! She was there with her new adoptive mother... she had light brown hair and dark eyes... she was just a lovely young lady!

Peaceful but sleepless weekend

In a word: on-call is seriously kicking my butt. I have been up until 1:30am for the past 2-3 nights for work. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to get up at 5:30/6:00. I'm going to thank Dana for making me have the pager for the month of February with a nice sucker punch to the gut. 8) All of the chitlins are sleeping all night now that they are on the mend - THANK GOD! Antibotic is finished for everyone so now we just have the nebby left for B. BaiYu still has some snot but that started drying up nicely Sunday. I think we are finally out of the woods and still keeping my fingers crossed that big G and I don't get it!

Saturday morning was a pancakes and cartoons lovely kind of morning. BTW - B LOVES big G's pancakes and hoots when they are placed in front of her. She also loves pineapple, blueberries, orange juice, and chicken. 8P Talen had a birthday party at noon to go play lazer tag. It was suppose to last until 2:00. What was I going to do? I can't go home, the girls are asleep. Don't really want to drive clear back and stay with the stinky dogs at the other house... I know - I will go to Walmart. Let me tell ya - it wasn't any fun. The parking lot was stuffed to the gills, the aisles were poorly stocked, and the checkers were
S L O W.... I think part of my problem is that I am programmed to shop with kids. When I am by myself, I just don't how to act. I am comfortably in the 4 kid groove right now and loving it. I won't know what to do with myself when B's parents come back and I will be down to 3. *insert evil grin here* I am of the "the more the merrier" mindset. There are those of you who fall into the category of "just don't get it" - my older siblings and my dear cranky mother otherwise known as big G. Then there are those of you (hi Wendy!) who totally get it! I love kids, love everything about them. When they are naughty, when they aren't, the way they smell, what they say, little looks, big accomplishments, you name it I love it! Big G had 5 kids - my 3 older siblings and then us, the twins. She has always said she was never mother material nor did she particularly want kids. 5 kind of negates having them accidently doesn't it? I love the cranky old woman, even if she doesn't understand me and I don't understand her. Poor lady gets stuck living with me who would have half a dozen kids if I thought I could get away with it. 8) The powerball is up to 300 million - Mama needs to adopt a couple more! But I digress...
Sunday was a donut holes and bath day. It took me about 2 hours to get every one bathed, cuddled, and dressed after breakfast. I love Sundays! We got Mustards for lunch in honor of big G's birthday. Still have a few ribs left over. I picked up a small white valentine's cake with bright pink buttercream frosting at Walmart on Saturday. YUMMERS! Mya was really impressed big G didn't cry on her birthday. Big G had told her a couple of weeks ago that we weren't going to celebrate her birthday because it was sad to get old. I say it is better than the alternative. The girls did a little valentine craft and made cards for someone they love. B is really proud of hers - hint parental unit - act surprised when you see it. Can't wait until you get home so I can squeeze the livers out of Shae! I hope she likes me as much as B is liking me right now. I lost count of how many times I got fly by B kissings and "Hey CeeCee, I lub you!" over the past few days. 8)

Shopped until we dropped!

Before I start with the shopping stories... I would like to make an observation. Every morning when we go down to breakfast, I am astounded at the faces of the parents around us. So stressed out... so overwelmed... I feel so bad for them :( I never felt that way on either adoption trip - I dont know how I could help the folks I see feel better, but I sure wish I could!

We are completely done shopping. I'm serious, we are done. No really!! I dont know what we'll do tomorrow besides the consulate appointment, but the goods are bought, un-sacked, sorted, and packed in a huge hard-side suitcase from Sherry's. Dana is awesome about figuring out how big of bag to get and at $15 its a great buy!

Yesterday we went to the Pearl Market and bought our girls each a pearl necklace - white and pink pearls on a silver chain... very pretty! Dana also got some little white stone lions and a jade turtle dragon. On the way out of the Pearl Market, there is an embrodery store.... I'm nuts about Hunan embrodery so we HAD to go in there. Bought outfits for SHQ (green), BiXiu (yellow), Mya (red), and BaiYu (blue). I told BaiYu on the phone last night that I got her a blue outfit and she said 'Oh LaLa... blue is my FAVORITE color in whole world (she's 3.5 yrs old :D)... me loves you. Me loves Dana too - you tell him!' Also bought a little something for Big G, a lovely picture, and a white scarf with flowers for SHQ like B's.

We then fought our way through the crowd (and I mean FOUGHT) to the Women's and Children's department store. Found some simple knit t-shirts and pants for SHQ so she didnt melt here in Guangzhou (its 70 degrees today... cooler than yesterday!). Fought our way back through the crowd to a taxi (I WONT tell you about the ride either way there... it would just scare you too bad!) and collapsed in our room until it was time to go on the River Cruise. The cruise was very fun... the food wasnt the best but we werent really there for that. Dana will post more pictures later of the cruise - SHQ liked being on the boat very much!

This morning we had the medical appointment... that was very uneventful other than the doctors were VERY concerned that SHQ wouldnt participate in the eye test, she wouldnt react to the hearing test, and she absolutely refuse to talk to any of them! They made me swear that she could hear and talk *giggles*

Hung out in our room until we got the consulate all clear from Daniel...after we called all the other families... we headed out for adventure! First we ate at the deli shop (yum!), then a walk down by the river, a spin on the play equipment, and then Day 2 of shopping! Last time we were here, I liked shopping at Sherry's... I didnt even get down to her since we hit the shop street on the opposite end from the White Swan. We busted a move at Jessica's this time! She's got a very nice shop... lovely clothes, bottles hand painted by Jessica herself, and just a nice selection of goods. I HIGHLY recommend her shop in you're in the neighborhood! I wont tell you all of what we got, but it *just* fit in the suitcase Dana bought :) Yahoo!!

SHQ continues to do great! She threw several fits today while we were outside running around... all were met with a time-out and a hearty BOO HOW! After each, she was an angel until the mood struck her again.... I think its AWESOME that she feels comfortable enough to get a little sassy! She's coming over for loves now without being asked and she really hangs on tight when we carry her. She absolutely will not talk to ANYONE but us now... she was quiet before but she's really quiet around people now. She eats up praise like nobody's business... gets such a sweet smile on her face when we tell her how good she makes spirals or colors her pictures!

Tomorrow is the consulate appointment at 2:30pm... we're going to take a red couch picture at 2pm with the other families. I think we're going to have SHQ wear her green jammies since she doesnt have anything real girly to wear :) I've got to get this poor girl some more pink clothes... everyone thinks she's a boy... people keep telling her what a handsome little man she is!

Wednesday we're leaving the hotel at 5:00am to go to the airport... we'll post Tuesday night and then wont post again until we've smothered BiXiu in love and gotten some sleep at home :D

White Swan and war stories!

We have finally made it to the White Swan. Just a quick introduction for anyone new, the White Swan is *usually* the hotel that *most* of the families adopting from China use as their final stop before heading back to the states. Some other agencies, or veteran families may choose the Victory or similar. So when you have made it to the White Swan then you are only a few days away from going home, besides you get a chance to sample Danny's Bagels, real bacon again, and deoderant of course. As well you meet up with families from your same agencies for the final pull of medical and consulate appointments among some fun in between.

We got in some what late last night, and room service became our haven since we could not get Dannys' Bagels to answer the phone. We probably will try for them again on monday night, since tonight we took the boat cruise/dinner.

Heres how the morning began, as usual with HongQi hoping in with Mama and Baba, of course MaMa took the picture and once were home BiXiu will be back in the mix in a bed that can fit all four of us.

We tried on the dress we brought with us for Shae HongQi. Doesn't she look beautiful. Its humid, and just on the verge of being chilly some times so she had some mult-colored pants to boot. Then BaBa stopped in downstairs and exchanged a bit oh change for the impending Shopping spree :)

Ok So remember that mult-colored pants in the previous picture? Well after we par took in the pearl/stone market (5 floors worth), we headed through the streets and practically hundreds of more stores to a department store to pick up a few cooler outfits for SHQ since we didn't have much cool clothes for her, since we packed mostly for cold weather for her and didn't know her exact size we ended up being short for Guangzhou side of things. We had not been to this market area our first time around and we could have spent hours wandering and plotting for all our buys, however btw this time SHQ was getting very tired, so we beelined some pearl necklaces, a little embroidery, a couple of cooler tops/bottoms, and other odds and ends and grabbed a taxi back to the White Swan. Heres a very as we walked down the market area.

As well here is SHQ showing off one of the dresses we got her in the market area.

Did I meantion that SHQ was running low as we got back from the market. Well we took a small rest. We freshed up a bit, and then took a winding bus ride to the docks on the river and jumped on a glitzy dinner/cruise boat of sorts. As we ate our buffet and talked to the other families, comparing and sharing our experiences in our respective provinces (6 families, 6 provinces). We cruised up and down the shoreline and saw all the glitter of the lights on the buildings.

Now is time for Baba to get his butt to bed, because the medical appoint is durn early and we have to squeeze in breakfast, coordinating the 'all clear' to the rest of the families(involving waiting by the phone), and then more shopping.

A HUGE Happy Birthday Shout-Out to Big G

Its Feb 12 here in China and I want to give a HUGE Happy Birthday Shout-Out to Big G. Happy 67th Birthday Mama!! Its been a rough year for you - hips hurting bad... losing your remaining breast to cancer... but you're ALIVE woman and still kicking! I hope you have a happy day tomorrow when its Feb 12 at home... I know it wont be easy when you're covered in stinky dog slobber, but hopefully CeeCee will get something yummy for dinner and it will be sunny/warm :D

Love you Mama... we'll be home soon! Thank you for being my sweet grumpy Mama :)

Deodorant be thy name

Hullo from Guangzhou! We winged in last night from Yinchuan and are happy to be here. Not that Yinchuan wasnt fun... because it was... its just after a week it was time to move on!

Guess what they have here in Guangzhou?!?!?!?! DEODERANT!!!! OMG I am bowing down and lighting incense to the Deoderant God today - WOOWOO!! No more smelly pits! Its WONDERFUL not to be able to smell myself 15 minutes after showering!

Shae HongQi did just wonderful on her first plane rides yesterday... all with the exception of trying to bean the people behind us with her water bottle. The child played with a barf bag and a water bottle for almost the entire time of both flights... she'd put the bottle in the bag... dump it out... and repeat! Did you know there are a hundred different ways to try to stuff a water bottle in a paper bag?? Neither did I but the array was just astounding! *giggles*

Shae is extremely even tempered... dear God that cannot last can it? We cant have been blessed with 2 mild mannered children can we?!?!?!? OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Not another one that likes pickles!!!!! (Shae and Baba just brought home deli sandwiches... they are slucking down slices of pickles like they're going out of style!) She has started to like it when Baba lays on the bed and gives her airplane rides, she loves to be tipped upside down now, and is starting to let us throw her up in the air with a hearty smirk on her face. OH!! and today was the first day that she let herself giggle when Baba tickled her. She still hides her smile sometimes but its starting to grin more openingly.

Shae is starting to feel comfortable enough with us to start testing boundaries - this morning she threw watermelon at breakfast.... it bounced off the window over looking the river! Our displeasure was made known and she settled down... I knew we were going to rue the day we showed her how to throw the Uno cards in the air like a rain shower :D

Guess who we saw downstairs?!?!?!? Nelson Le our guide from BiXiu's adoption!!!!!! He gave me a big hug and was glad to see us! Hopefully we'll see him again before we leave - he asked us what our room number was... but he looked like he had his hands busy with a BIG group!

Dowp! Shae just had her first time-out as I type... she decided to throw her colorbook across the room. 5 minute time out was completed successfully... we'll see how the next one goes!

Okay - so down to what we're doing today! This morning we got up early, had breakfast, and went for a lovely walk around the neighborhood. Stopped at the grocery store to pick up some water and juice - came back and filled out a mountain of paperwork. Had lunch from the deli near the White Swan - yum!! This afternoon we're going SHOPPING with our group!!! Mama is going to shop til she drops - we're going to have to buy another bag again :D Tonight we're going on the river cruise - dinner is included :)

Tomorrow we have to be down in the lobby at 8am so we can go do Shae's medical stuff... after that, we must stay in our room until our guide calls with the all clear!

Thats all for now - hopefully Dana will be able to post pictures later!

On the mend - hooray!

Everyone slept ALL night last night - THANK YOU GOD! All little children are buzzy, feeling tons better, and off to their destinations this morning. No more wheezy B just a juicy cough when she gets to giggling too hard. No more nasty snot and green eye goo for BaiYu. Talen's cheeks (both sets) are rosey and he is singing/flipping around today. Mya is thankfully not the major grump this morning that she was yesterday. I need to purchase tylenol by the case I think. I have been through at least 2 bottles in less than a week for the little girls. I'm out of 2 year old advil as well. Big G and I are not sick yet but our butts are dragging mightly low. I was up until midnight with various on-call items - I could really use a nap right about now... So looking forward to you guys getting home! If you are sick - don't bother coming. I love ya, but I don't want to start over from scratch here. We did valentines last night - kids had a great time. B colored and did puzzles - mama did her's before she left. It was also bath night and a good night at that. Any night I don't get peed on is a good night! Everyone is silly happy and getting along well despite being sick.

I want to make sure I tell you how proud big G and I are of B. She has dealt with this whole separation with such a great, happy attitude. So happy, loving everyone, no tears at all over missing parents, and eating like a champ! She fell into our routine without even batting an eye. She digs her CeeCee like crazy - I hope she still does when the evil mama comes back. She loved her day yesterday with big G. We talk about her parents and new sister all of the time as well as have a "look at the new pictures" session whenever there are new ones posted. This morning on the way to daycare, we talked about how CeeCee won't take her to school when her parents get home. She pipes up and says "Dadee take me to the bean store!". I think she is going through green ink withdrawl. 8) Then she goes through a huge listing of "stay at my house, mama hold my hams, wear my nightie at my house, play with my toys", etc. and then shouts I LIKE YOU CEECEE! Thanks baby, I love you too!!!

CeeCee

Back from Dinner

Just a quick msg that we made it back from dinner without MaMa.. we missed her very much!!

BaBa and HongQi managed to do ok, and get enough to eat, all with only one potty break, and of course we had some broccoli and desert..

Our last full day in Yinchuan

Well... its 6:15pm and I'm sitting here blogging and waiting for my oatmeal to finish cooking. Baba and Shae HongQi have gone down to supper. Why hasnt Mama gone down to supper with them? Because our darn door is broken AGAIN and I dont feel like sitting in the hall while they try to fix it again. Why didnt we just get room service? Because its kinda difficult to talk to the staff AND they've given us such fits about charging stuff to the room. Besides.... I like oatmeal and havent eaten very much of it while we've been here... might as well lighten the load!

We've been here a week as of today and I think today was the most beautiful yet. The weather was warm and pleasant today - we took a huge walk in just our hoodies and put the floppy sun hat on Shae HongQi. Man am I going to have to keep sunscreen and hats on that child... her little swirly in the back of her head is going to get burned!

We went back to the orphanage today to take pictures and pick up the director so we could go to the passport office. I had Frank tell her that we were going to visit on last time and that she was not staying just so she wasnt freaked out. When we got there she wouldnt talk to the nannies and stayed glued to my side with a death grip on my fingers. She loosened up after a bit but she refused to talk to her little friend or give her a hug. She told the nannies that she had only come back to visit and that she was going to America tomorrow with her Mama and Baba. The nannies asked her if her Mama and Baba were treating her well and she told them 'yes' :)

She opens up more and more each day... she's starting to body mold when we pick her up and will give hugs/kisses when we ask. The kid dearly loves her workbooks but today she wanted to sit with Mama and Baba on the floor and watch ping pong on TV. I think she was a tad wierded out this morning when I had her help me pack up. She was following me pretty close while I fluttered around the room... trying to figure out just how this activity was going to pan out. I talked non-stop the entire time we packed up... first showing her what she would wear tomorrow, what I was going to put in her backpack, that her backpack had the same kind of tag on it that all of our other bags had. Yesterday I drew her a picture of an airplane and told her all about it - not that she understands but I was animated, loving, and inclusive of her as we discussed it. Today I was in the potty for a extended length of time (no... I'm not going to discuss what I was doing in there!) and I keep an 'open door' policy. She would run in every few minutes to make sure I was still in there... bringing me pictures she had drawn, my antibacterial cleanser, my sunglasses, bits of cookie, sip of juice, a kleenex, my passport holder, my sunglasses, and just every once in a while she would show up empty handed and just smile shyly at me. Dana said she just wanted to make sure I didnt get flushed down the drain :)

We had quite the interesting little episode last night. Shae wanted to sleep with her head at the foot of the bed with just her fleece blanket to cover her up. No dolly or stuffed elephant allowed... which was a change from every night before that. Soft dolly is being used as a transitional item... she was really attached to it the first few days but as she gets more and more comfortable with us, she doesnt want it as much. I've got no problem with her sleeping at the foot of the bed... as long as she doesnt fall off, she cant sleep sideways if she wants!

She had been laying down for about 10 minutes when the phone ran. It was the front desk saying that they had our plane tickets and wanted to bring them up. Sure! Come on up! It slightly freaked her out that the phone rang and then a strange man came to the door (not strange strange... just a stranger) and talked to Baba. After we looked at the tickets, Dana called Frank to tell him that my name was spelled wrong and we wondered where Shae's ticket was. Frank said that he would take care of the mis-spelling in the morning and that he had Shae's ticket. Okay... got no problem with that! Mama goes to bed and is asleep maybe 10 minutes when Frank calls again wanting clarification on how my name was mis-spelled. 2nd phone ringing in a short span is starting to concern my little child.... she starts mumbling.

Not 10 minutes more again the phone rings again and its Frank saying he's in the lobby... could Dana come down. Okay - baby girl is officially freaked out that the phone has rang twice and now Baba is leaving the room with the door key and its DAMN DARK IN THE ROOM (have to have the room key to run the lights). She tells me she has to peepee so we feel our way into the bathroom and have a go at it. We finish and start back to the bed when Baba comes back through the door... scaring the shit out of said little person. She starts to whimper and shuffle back and forth in front of the tv. I cant get her convinced that its okay and that she can go back to bed by talking to her so I scoop her up in my arms for a good strong cuddle. That makes her feel tons better and she is then open to going back to bed... but now she wants to sleep at the head of the bed :D

We leave the hotel at 11am tomorrow for Guangzhou. Our flight is at 1pm, we have a 1 hour lay over in Xian (yick!) after flying 1 hour and then we take off for another 2 hours of flying. We wont make it to Guangzhou until 5:30pm-ish... no telling how long its going to take us to navigate the new airport and find our 'new and improved' guide :D But I can tell you this... Danny's Bagels is gonna get a call from us tomorrow night!

Peace...

Sickness is thy name part 3

Oh yes - it just keeps getting better and better!

1. Talen - strep throat, a little snot, and explosive diarrhea. Got to love those antibotics.
2. Mya - strep throat and an extremely short temper. Tears abound at the slightest upset.
3. BaiYu - strep throat, major snot with nose congestion, ear infection, and now pink eye. Yes, I said pink eye. Thank goodness I knew exactly where Talen's old antibotic eye ointment was. AND it still has a good date. Her eyes looked pretty darn good this morning. Hopefully I caught it quick enough the other kids won't get it. She's not sleeping - doesn't deal well with not being able to breathe.
4. B - the wheezing is actually getting way better after just two doses of pulmocort (sp?). She still has a pretty juice cough if the kids get her wound up giggling but she is doing much better. Can we also say MAJOR CLEAN OUT? Yeah antibotics!

Everyone stayed home with big G today. My kids would not have met the "on antibotics for 24 hours" target by the time they needed to be at their perspective schools. B stayed home just because I thought she would love to have a little time hooting around with the kids and could get a better nap at home. Pray that big G and I don't get any of it!

Other notes:
1. 3 little girls not amused with me because I won't take them to China to play on the cool looking slides and things Shae got to play on. Grrr... I am just sooooo mean. 8) You just wait until she comes home and gets dumped in with this gaggle! She will quickly learn to play on that stuff like a pro!

2. Did you tell B you took her counting bears? "HEY!" she exclaimed this morning. "Those are MY beers! Shae no play with MY beers!" Oh yeah, she's going to need a little work in the sharing department.

3. I think of Shae every night when I am cracking the whip, trying to get everyone to help pick up the toys before bed. What a disaster area! Shae will either learn to be slovenly from the girls or she will have a nervous breakdown.

4. My friend Joy brought over a HUGE sack of clothes Ceora has grown out of. I had just enough time to poke through the top few items - warm shirts and pants. Might be a perfect fit for Shae! Everything I looked at was a little big for Mya, being our resident biggest girl at the moment, so it may work out that Shae could have an instant wardrobe when she gets home. All of it is really nice stuff too. Joy likes to shop at Children's Place and Kohls. I will go through it more tonight and take stock in what is there. THANK YOU JOY!

5. Sarah M posted gotcha pics of Hannah on the Holt forum - what a beautiful baby girl!

6. Snapshot into my world. 7:00pm - big G at other house sitting the stinky dogs next door. I'm trying to set up the nebby and get little people pushed towards getting ready for bed. We have one bathroom downstairs and one up. I can't send the little girls up there because they can't handle it alone. B starts to cry that she needs to poot so I scoop her up and head for the bathroom. I no sooner get her settled when Talen comes winging in in dire need. Whisk B off and replace her on the training potty. Two going at once - joy of joys.... Speaking of Joy, just before I pass out from the methane fumes, the phone rings and it is Joy, wanting to drop the sack of clothes off since we didn't make it to dance class tonight. I look around at the chaos - two kids on the throne, another one half undressed, toys everywhere, and Mya doing her world famous scissor leg shuffle. Sure - come on over! Talen finishes with B close behind, Mya still shuffling in a holding pattern outside the doorway. I just about get Mya on the big potty and the training p cleaned up when Talen comes flying in again quite hysterical. Mya replaced on training p, B running around waiting for me to get her a pull up and now BaiYu is bent over screaming she must go NOW with her one eye totally covered in this nasty green goo! Pull Mya off, put BaiYu on with her hollaring that she doesn't want to pee on Mya's pee, wiping goo off of BaiYu's eye with one hand, with the other I yank the pull-up on to B, Joy is at the door with said clothes bag, and Talen is shouting "Mom don't open the door, I'm naked!" At least I had the presence of mind to lock the dogs up! After I got them all to bed, big G came strolling back over and asked me how the evening went. All she could say was she was glad she had dog duty. Thanks a lot Mom!

Tootles!
CeeCee

Lost in Translation...NOT

Another wonderful day! (again pictures get bigger if you click)

Each morning we still have our routine of bears, playdoh, colors, etc..

Before I begin I wanted to mention that some people have said that they get a bit of culture shock when then come foreign country like china. At the moment my wife and I are just not seeing that. I mean sure in our case most of the inhabitants speak very little if at all any english so getting some information exchanged is sometime difficult, but definately NOT impossible. We have been quite happy to go roaming around the area and visiting the local market almost everyday for snacks and noodles. Everyone seems very nice, and helpful, and let you go about your business.

Hong Qi is being so patience with us and is such a trooper as MaMa and BaBa run her all over town with Frank our guide.

Today we went back to the notary to look over our 12 sets of documents and make sure all the spelling and wording is correct before we binded them up and took them with us. The notary person was a very nice lady and very helpful. Frank doubled checked all the chinese copies as we checked the english.

And with those proceedings done we went for a walk in the park. The YinChuan City park was very big and amazing. Just at the entrance to the park we stopped and bought a small pinwheel for HongQi to enjoy. We walked around the frozen lake and stopped at down at the docks. Frank helped to see is HongQi would be interested in sliding across the lake with BaBa. MaMa decided to not risk her knees on the ice and at first Shae wasn't interested. However one of the persons running essentially the skating rink pulled out a cart.

onclick='window.open("http://www.scritchy.org/mt/china/archives/pictures/146_4645_1.JPG" ) ' />

Its basically a plank of wood with a small seat on it. There is a pair of skate blades bolted to the bottom and you then use a pair of sharp sticks with handles to pull yourself around the lake. Again Frank helped us translate to HonqQi how to do it while Baba helped push her around. After a couple of laps she was definately having fun and even cracking a few giggles and smiles. BaBa managed to stay upright the whole time as well.

After the skating we continued to walk around the park and saw a big mountain of snow that was in another part of the lake with a slide build into it. We were about to find another way to get to it other than having to walk on the lake ice (MaMa knees), we approached a section of the park that some of the people were playing....when not exactly tennis, it was the one that you play that has feathers attached to a ball. The name escapes me at the moment. Anyhoo.. there were also pigeons. As soon as we mentioned the pigeons and HongQi saw them across the way she stopped in her tracks and tried to turn around and go the other way. She was afraid. So 1) despite her albinism she seems to have pretty good eyesight to see the small white randomly moving and stationary objects from a good 100 yards away, 2) it will definately be interesting when she meets the woof-woofs and meow-meows that she will see when she gets home.

So off we went another direction around that park perimeter until we got to the amusement park side of the park. It doesn't seem to me that in the U.S. that many cities that had a one or more parks with as well combine a part of it with an amusement park. I don't know if anyone is familar with Des Moines, Iowa but it has the Adventureland Amusement park. The rides and things to do in the amusement side of YinChuan Park were about the same size. Ok enough comparison. They also had large area gated off that was for small children to play. Slides and bouncy horses, teeter-totters, jungle-gyms that type of thing. BaBa helped HongQi climb up and slide down many times, all the while seeing the smiles trying to come through in her. It took her a little bit to get the hang of some of them but she very much enjoyed herself.

After a good walk and play at the park, it was good time to take a quick break back at the hotel, drop off our documents and go back out for some lunch. Our guide had made reservations ahead of time, and after a small ride, we pulled into a courtyard with a huge beatiful building. The restaurant was literally called VIP. Frank asked us for a few suggestions, mentioning a few things that we had not had at the hotel restaurant and a short while later our couple of courses DimSum style came. Now let me back up, portion of the restaurant was setup to have small seperated rooms. We were in one of those rooms, each with a nice tall glass of fresh brewed tea. Once HongQi was convinced that the tea was suffiently cool she as well drank some. Our lunch included a nice beef dish, very tender, a dish of some plump dumplings, and finally some vegetables of mushroom and young green cabbage stalks. All was very delicious.

After lunch Frank explained what what was going to happen tomorrow and saturday and we went back to the hotel for a little afternoon nap. So while the girls nap, the BaBa blogs about the day! :)

I knew there was a reason I woke up bawling my eyes out!

Its almost 5:30am here... I woke up at about 4:15am bawling my eyes out. My baby BiXiu is terrible sick and I miss her so much. Its like a vital piece of me is missing and I dream about her almost all night. Its so hard to be away from her, but my God as sick as she gets how could I ever think I could bring her? It breaks my heart that she feels so bad and I'm not there to love her back to feeling better. Hang on... must stop and cry again... lots of waterworks this morning. Feel better my sweetheart... and all you cousins too!

Shae HongQi is doing great... still so quiet but interactive. She's gone into organize mode... everything has a place and it must be put back there when not being used. Yesterday she must have been extremely bored because she rounded us up twice in the morning to go outside. I think she wondered why we're gone some where several mornings in a row and didnt go anywhere until the afternoon yesterday. Its interesting to watch her try to pull Dana's coat up on the bed... the darn thing is so heavy and akward for her that it takes her several tries to get it all the way up. She makes sure everyone has there little bags and sunglasses... its like she's little Miss Tour Guide right now. I think she's doing it because she's afraid that if she isnt helpful that we wont want to keep her around... I think that is incredibly sad. This morning she's a little peturbed with us... we did our cuddle when she got up and before I'd let her go watch cartoons, we did a very gentle holding time session. She didnt cry but she wasnt happy that I wouldnt let her up when she wanted. She still hasnt cried, smiled/laughed much, or gotten very upset... I'm not worried about it - its coming soon I'm sure. My somber girl will open up when she's ready.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the pedestrian square for a little shopping. Shae HongQi got some new red shoes at the mega department store, Mama got a pretty new shirt on the womens floor, CeeCee got her boa at the local product shop, the various girls in the family got jade jewerly at a very nice store, and we went to a absolutely fantastic tea shop! Mama and Baba went a little crazy in the tea shop... we're tea snobs so we had to stock up n the good stuff :)

The NingXia Hotel is starting to tick me off. Every other hotel we've stayed at expects people to charge laundry and meals to their rooms and pay for it at the end. Not this hotel! They called Frank yesterday all concerned that we had laundry done and have been charging our dinners to our room every night. He told them to chill out! He said its because they dont get many 'out of towners' and are use to people paying as they go... that is terribly inconvient when we've got a new child we're trying to focus on. Its not like the room isnt already paid for - Frank paid for the entire stay the night we got here. BOIT also called him yesterday asking if we had already paid for our hotel rooms through them. Uhmmm - have we gotten to Guangzhou yet? Were we not told that we were suppose to give the traveller's checks to the girls in Guangzhou? Uhmmm YEAH!!! I like this hotel because the neighborhood is quiet but if I had it to do over, I would have had us stay at the Rainbow Bridge... smoke be damned! There are a ton more shops around there to wander through!

Thats all for now... must go call my Baby!

Loving the pics

Keep the pictures coming! I love those pics of Shae - my Lord that child is beautiful!!! I showed the new pictures to the kids/big G before the nap this afternoon. B saw the one of Laurie in that beautiful shirt, hugged the laptop screen and declared "I wub my MAMA! There's my mama!" with this huge grin on her face. There were also exclaimations of "There's my dadee" and "Hey, Shae no touch the puter!".

Tidbits:
Matt and Sarah's Hannah is scheduled to arrive at the airport on Wednesday. She is 5 months old and being escorted from Korea. Congrats to the Millards on her arrival!!

It snowed - I am soooo not amused. We were only suppose to get a skiff. The skiff turned into almost 2 inches. It could have been worse I suppose but still didn't need it. Long range forecast has it in the upper 40's on the 14th. Hoping and praying for good weather on the 15th!

Love ya!
CeeCee

Sickness is thy name part 2

Hey - I get a day off from work!!! Why you ask? Because every little person here had to be hauled to the doctor this morning. It was like clowns boiling out of a vw beetle! The receptionist thought I wasn't going to ever stop listing what little people I needed to check in. Strep, ear infection, and of course Aubree's prevalent wheeze was the topic of our visit today. The planets must have been in perfect alignment this morning because who should waltz in to our cramped little exam room but Dr Jon! Oh yeah - thank you GOD! Ever been to a good hockey game and heard the riotous cheers of the adoring crowd?!??! Dr. Jon is always greeted with such glee by all of the children. Aubree turns to me as Jon is washing his hands and says "Dr Jon CeeCee, I wub Dr Jon!". I told him it probably wasn't everyday he got such a greeting. He said it was a welcomed change from the last two kids he saw - screaming their heads off at the mere sight of him. Jon said strep, scarlett fever from the strep, and influenza are rampant at the moment. LOVELY.... My 3 munchkins get Zithromax - B's already on it as well as the nebby. Jon was definitely not pleased with B's wheeze so guess what she gets now???? That's right folks - steriod inhalent to go in the nebby. Once a day for a MONTH. Yep, I said a MONTH. She doesn't have to take the auburtol (sp?) that whole time if that is any consolation. I also have to make sure she drinks a bunch after a treatment because it could give her thrush. Nice huh? Jon asked me before he started looking at the kids if I could rank them from worst on down. Here's my order:
1. BaiYu - I looked at everyone's throat this morning before we left. I am a veteran here people and I know my kids. BaiYu is a hard one to figure out. She doesn't verbalize hurt if asked, she just cries and gets extremely naughty. She has strep and infection in her left ear. She never muttered a word about either.
2. B - wheeze queen. I just felt she should be lots better since this is the last day for her antibotic and had been on the nebby since Saturday. I don't have any experience with reactive airway so I'm playing this by ear.
3. Talen - he is no stranger to sore throats and I know red strep spots when I see them.
4. Mya - she was borderline. More slug woman than normal if that is entirely possible and definitely a short fuse.

Jon said there wasn't a one in the ranks that should not have been seen and he would have placed them in that order too. I love it when the mama instincts are right on. They have never failed me yet! Everyone is down for a nap now - even Talen. 8)

Giddily awaiting the nasty strep to visit me and big G.... NOT! Laurie/Dana - if you are sick when you get back to this airport, call me and I will have hasmat pick you up while I work on sealing your house in plastic. Oh yeah - feel the love!

Love ya!
CeeCee

Pictures Day 6

**Remember to click for larger image..**

The art of toys

Before I start the toy blog... CeeCee - no the boa does not smell and YES, I did get you one today... consider your self boa'd!

I want to talk a little bit about the toys we brought and why I think they are important. It might help others that are waiting think about how to engage their older child. It may seem common sense that we brought the items we did, but I know there have been several families that brought absolutely nothing for their children because they didnt know what to bring. Each one of the things we brought has purpose and a factor in bonding. Remember - the toys are absolutely worthless if you dont get down on the floor and INTERACT WITH YOUR CHILD!

Just a disclaimer - I am NOT a mental health professional nor a teacher... just a mother that wants to be prepared to help her children.

1. Playdoh - yes, its fun, squishy, and colorful but it is also a test of sensory intergration issues. Some children have issues with textures - playdoh is a smooth and squishy - it helps a child get use to the feel of a different materials that they may not have had an opportunity to experience in the SWI. Useful for gaging gross motor skill delays.

2. Counting bears - hard, plastic, small, and bumpy. Lots of them together are a lot like a bowl of hard beans - a wonderful sensory toy as well because its the exact opposite of the playdoh. Useful for gaging small motor skill delays because they are just an inch tall and hard to pick up. Also good for shaking up and making BIG NOISE!! Noise reaction iand tolerance s also something that can be sensory related.

3. Blocks - we didnt bring the blocks with us, but we did buy them at the local market for almost nothing. Wooden, colorful with lots of different shapes - these are sight/feel stimulators and they allow you to see your child use reasoning skills in building items. If you dont see your child interacting with them in an imaginative manner or is unable to stack them... get down on the ground and show them how!

4. My little ponys - used for imaginative play and sensory because you can comb the hair! You show child how to comb the pony's hair, child then combs pony's hair, his/her hair and then moves on to you... touch and interaction bonding!

5. Soft toys such as dolls - useful in gaging empathy in your child as you watch how they hold the doll. Do they throw it down roughly? Do they cuddle the doll like a small baby or child? Also an awesome transitional item for your child - something to hold onto in a world that keeps changing for them.

6. Colors, colorbooks, and workbooks - a wonderful way to interact with your child! The family that colors and does workbooks together is a family that is bonding!

7. Uno cards - colorful and useful for introducing your child to numbers. If your child already knows numbers - playing the card game together = bonding!

8. Small cars - good for imaginative play and touch. How touch? Roll cars on arms, legs, back, and tummy!

9. Fleece tag blanket - not quite a toy but good for touch, sight if colorful, and a wonderful transitional item as your child deals with the change thats going on in their lives.

I hope this helps and people dont think I'm being preachy. Your most important job in the whole process is helping your child through the transistion and bond. These few items can be of great help to you in this process :)

Drunken Chinese Business Men and being Played....

I'm mighty pooped today... the two business men next door to our room decided to get really shit-faced last night and yuck it up until almost 4am. There had been two ladies in the room too... but they got tired of the one guy giggling and decided to call it a night at 2:30am *snickers* I hope they had an EARLY meeting this morning... I was so tempted to run over and ring their doorbell throughout the really early morning! When they did finally go to sleep... the one SNORED LIKE A FRIEGHT TRAIN!!

Shae HongQi slept through it all - she was dead to the world and sleeping the sleep of the innocent :D When we woke up this morning, we did the same thing we did yesterday... went potty, got put in bed between the two insane people and had to endure kisses, hugs, and Mama's singing. Then it was up to sit on the end of the bed with a few melt-away cookies and a cup of milk while we watched cartoons. Then its off to the shower, lotioned within an inch of her life, and dressed for the day. Once Mama's hair is presentable, we mosey on down to breakfast.

But today was different than yesterday... she's starting to feel comfortable enough with is to start playin' us :D She's seen for 2 days now that we will take care of her and give her what she needs... this morning was time to test that theory out to see if it held water today. During supper both nights... she had to go potty and since Mama hadnt got anything to eat while Shae is chowing down... Baba got the honor of taking her to the potty.

Okay... before I finish telling the playin' story... for those of you that are adopting older children... pay close attention to what they say when they have to go because they may tell you two different things. The one thing sounds like NOW NOW... that means potty or peepee.... the second is a big long rambling sentence that will be repeated with increasing intensity as the situation becomes dire.... Its not important that you understand what the words of the sentence are... just remember the order and rhythm and you'll be fine!

Okay... back to the playin' story. So Baba takes her to the potty and brings her back. Mama is informed that Shae HongQi was singing, pooped a big one, and actually cracked a smile! Mama had asked her if she had to NOW NOW before we left the room but was was given a negative back... no matter, I'm just glad she can tell us and we're bright enough to understand. Mama told Baba that she was hopping and making happy noises as we wandered around gathering food. She even told me that she wanted cherry tomatos and that she wanted 5 of them... I got her to compromise at 3. Anyhoo... tomatos and watermelon was consumed by said Player.. but everything of substance was dismissed with a hearty chinese 'no way Jose!' 5 minutes after going to the potty... she asked Baba to take her to the potty again. More singing, more smiles, more peepee, and back they came but all food was refused once more. 5 more minutes later... same deal! On the 4th request, Mama and Baba had managed to finish eating and we told her we were going upstairs... some pouting was involved but nothing much. She did go potty again when she went upstairs but only because Mama insisted.... you ask, you go... thats the rules!

She's very bossy today, but I think thats wonderful! She's getting comfortable enough to let us know what she wants and what she would like to have happen. There are certain places in the hotel that she insists that one of us carry her... I think that is because of the floor transitions. If we go outside... she wants to be carried right away. We will carry her a distance but then we insists that she walk. She had a minor melty about that when we went outside, but I managed to get across to her that if she did not walk... we would go inside and that there would be no more outside. She walked along quite awhile before asking again :)

Her holding on when she's being carried is coming right along. She will wrap her arms and legs around the person carrying her with just a little prompting if she forgets... most of the time she's just doing it. She's also coming over more to show us things that she's been working on. Every trip earns her a huge hug and a kiss... that makes her smile ever so slightly :)

I do think she is grieving quietly... she hasnt cried since the first day but she has been very quiet unless we go down to eat. She's a little different today... more open...probably because we did exactly the same thing we did yesterday right away in the morning and she's becoming more use to us. I dont mind a bit if she does try to 'play' us... its steps in the right direction!

The next post I'm going to do is about the toys we brought and why we brought the ones we did.

Random rants from home...

1. Monday nights is piano lessons for Talen. Our normal routine is to drop Talen off and me and the girl(s) go off to fralala for an hour. Last night I thought it would be fun to take the girls to McDonalds and eat while Talen was at his lesson. B doesn't like it when we leave Talen somewhere - she thinks it is wrong and will tell me about it the entire time. At Mickey D's, we get our food and sit down at a nice big corner booth - girls on one side, me and coats on the other. I get their food all laid out and they dig in. I wish I had my camera to capture them sitting there, jigging to Cindy Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun/other jazzy 80's tunes while noshing. An old lady appears at my elbow and proceeds to tell the girls "My what big girls you all are out having supper with Grandma...". Yes, that's right - she said Grandma. For those who don't know what I look like - I am Laurie's TWIN sister. Yes I have salt and pepper hair. Yes, Laurie and I have been mistaken for Mother and Daughter at times but COME ON! What a blow to a girl's self-esteem! My fierce daughter Mya, God love her, fixes the lady with her classic evil eye and says "Are you crazy? We didn't bring Grandma, that's my Mama!". To which B says "Dat my CeeCee" and BaiYu replies "Wheere's Damnma?" Needless to say the woman was very embarassed and mutters, how did you get them all so close in age. They are triplets - here's your sign... Big G cackled about it until I pointed out that if I were their grandma, that would make her their great grandma - she was NOT amused!

2. B informed me this morning as we were spinnning around in the parking garage that she would like to be called Willis. She likes the name. LOL!

3. B loves pinapple and chortles for it - another item on her mother's "B hates" list. She also sucked down whole blueberries this morning in her oatmeal. 8P

4. Laurie and Dana - your dogs stink and why must they lick me with that foul breath?!?!? N A S T Y! I have never been able to go over to your house and leave there without my shirt full of hair and my pants covered in dirty paw prints.

5. Dana - why does crap fall apart when you leave work - it absolutely never fails.

6. Love the shearling boa! Does it stink and may I have one if it doesn't?

7. Can you come home NOW? I miss you and want to squeeze Shae's cheeks!

Love ya!
CeeCee

Ola from the homefront!

I didn't get a chance to write an entry yesterday so I'm taking my lunch to do it. I'm spread just a tiny bit thin as of late so I have to do things when I have the time. Here's an example of what transpired this morning. Forgive the graphic nature, those of you who don't deal with children on a daily basis. 8)

1. Up at 5:30am. Pass mom in the hall as she heads out the door to go tend to the pups/cats next door. She mutters a loving good morning/get out of the way/got to go deal with the damn dogs greeting as she shuffles past. For those of you who know and love big G, you know she is absolutely Mary Sunshine when stressed/tired/grumpy/etc.

2. Get the morning chow line set up and go downstairs to shower. Step out of said shower and have the distinct feeling I have forgotten something. Two things actually. Dropped my skivies on the stairs and forgot to wash my hair. GREAT! Now I am freezing and my hair is still a mess...

3. Go upstairs to get dressed, just start pulling on my pants and the phone rings. I got 4 kids still sleeping upstairs so I sprint to the phone as best I can with my pants around my ankles. Raven decides I need help and trips me. As I fall forward, I snag the phone before it squeezes out another ring. Phew! La is on the line asking me whazup and is her baby awake so she can talk to her. Well she wasn't before you rang the phone!

4. Chat with La while trying to hike up pants, all the while quizzing her about dear Shae. I saw the new pics on the blog site - she is beautiful!!! Finally I beg off, suggesting she call big G at the doggy house and talk to her cuz I've got kids to kick out of bed.

5. Trek upstairs poking hineys and insisting little people move. It is definitely not Saturday or they would have been up way before now. It is 6:45am.

6. Pull everyone downstairs and put B on the potty. I gave her the "Poop or else" speech to which she tears up and says "I don't like pository". Yes baby I know... Talen's dancing around needing to go, I send him upstairs. BaiYu comes dancing in shouting she has to go so I pull B off, BaiYu on, and then quick change them when they are done. Mya then wanders by doing her famous scissor leg shuffle so I exchange tiny butts once again. I pull clothes off of little people as they exit the bathroom and send them on to get dressed.

7. Big G comes breezing back in to help with breakfast. Thank goodness because B doesn't look like she is going to be moving from her throne anytime soon. Soon, bowls of cereal, fruit, and juice I had set out early wing their way to the table where they are gobbled up by happily chatting kids. I love mornings with the kids but only get to be with them on the weekends since I am usually at work before they get up.

8. Guess where B is? Yep, still on the throne. This is getting serious, 3 days down with nary a deposit. Time for the dreaded S. Administer the sinister S and replace B on the throne. Having no choice, I hold the nebby in one hand while I feed oatmeal to her with the other hand. How's that for multi-tasking eh? Deposit was impressive and we cheered at her success! She thinks we are nuts but big G and I take our kids' colon health very seriously. 8)

9. Talen, B, and I are out the door - on time no less, to get to our destinations.

What a morning!

Not all cupcakes and lemonade

Just so you know thats its not all cupcakes and lemonade.... here are a few things that could be better here... these arent in any order, but if I were to rank then, I would say the last one first and then the rest in the same order:

1. Its defcon 5 in the deodorant department... we packed everything BUT that and we cant find any to buy at the market. I am smelly people... cant hardly stand myself at the end of the day! Must.... take.... shower... twice... a.... day!!! I know we're missing one ziplock of toiletries and I bet its in that bag :(

2. There is no bacon on the breakfast buffet... its a crime against nature but this is a Muslim province and the piglet is NOT eaten. I keep hope alive that they will make an exception for me :)

3. Speaking of the buffet... it doesnt change. When we went to Changsha, the breakfast buffet changed breakfast and dinner selections daily... something new every day. Its really good food...dont get me wrong about that... but variety would be wonderful. I would do handstands if there was something different! We dont have to eat there but its so darn easy with Shae. What are we on now... Day 4... lets just say its going to be hard to make it to Day We Leave.

4. The hotel staff speaks only enough english to tell us that they dont understand a word the crazy americans are saying *giggles*

5. The adoption proceedings are ... different. So many different places to travel around to... we didnt do with with B's adoption trip... its just... strange.

6. Now that we've gotten rid (ie paid) most of the fees, I can now safely tell you how much we had on our persons. I dont want to EVER carry $4000+ on our persons again... thats just scary!! Made me extremely jittery to know that if we got 'rolled' that all of our adoption fees would have just ran down the street. :(

7. I burned my hand washing dishes and it hurts like a... you know what! We have to boil all of the water we use in the room's hotpot - water in all of China is extremely bad! I wont know what to do with myself when I get home and dont have to keep boiling pot after pot of water. Anyhoo... it was hot... I slipped up washing a cup, and I've seared from the middle knuckle down to my hand knuckles on my left hand. No blisters thank goodness and the hydrocortisene cream makes it feel some better. Dana said he was going to wash dishes from now on... I say go for it!

8. The pain I feel over leaving my Aubree BiXiu is terrible to say the least. Yes CeeCee and Grandma are taking good care of her, but she is my world and she's sick... terrible nebby sick... and I'm clear across the world from her.

Thats all for now... Shae and Baba just spilled a little bottle of water and need assistance!

More Pictures!!

Another beautiful day!

Good morning from another beautiful day in Yinchuan! I absolutely love it here... the climate is just like Colorado - brisk but not humid. If there was snow, it would be perfect skiing weather. Have I mentioned how awesome the mountains are? We saw them yesterday when we were out and about and they are lovely!

Baba and Shae HongQi are sitting on the bed together counting in Korean... they just finished counting in English and Spanish a moment ago. Shae is a wonderful mimic - I r ebbdzxsxxssdsxdsx...whoopsee! Shae came over and wanted to type :) She even figured out how to put the computer in hibernation mode!! She loved looking at the pictures on the computer this morning - thought it was really cool!
a\oswwwwwwwwwwwwss - back to Shae typing *giggles* Anyhoo... mimic example - I sat with her on the bed yesterday afternoon and read her 6 nice board books.. she repeated every sentence I said in every book.

Baba and Shae just took a quick run down the hall both directions... and when I mean run... they were booking it. Shae and I started doing it yesterday - we hold hand and fly like the wind down both directions! She even knows which one is our room even though I think the doors all look the same. Now they're playing blocks on the floor beside me.

The child is a wonder I tell yah... loves to color and play with us. We even had a small pillow fight this morning just to loosen her up after a good night's sleep! We had her cuddle with us this morning after we all got up and had a tinkle... I think she thinks we're insane! Mama does nothing but sing and talk gibberish non-stop... Baba chimes in on the choruses :D

I've got so much to tell you about her... I just dont even know where to start. We could not love her more! We've only had her 24 hours but its been grand so far! She will let us give her kisses and hugs but hasnt just come right up and planted one on us yet on her own. When we go downstairs to eat - she asks me to hold her up so she can see herself in the mirror in the elevator. As we eat, she will shout at Baba to come back to the table so she can give him a bite of roll. She wants to make sure we are all well fed! Shae knows exactly what it is she wants to eat and what is not acceptible fare for the Empress Shae HongQi. Noodles are a BIG NO NO! Rice is okay for awhile but dont dare give her brown meat! Chicken is okay and salmon will do in a pinch but she likes her veggies and her watermelon. Congee is good for about 2 bites only in the morning... supper is NOT the time for it when there are more interesting things to eat. Ice cream is not great but stand back if you have any chocolate moose (yeah... I know thats not how you spell it, but bear with me!) She thought it was AWESOME last night that we could run around and pick what food we wanted. She giggled and smiled last night when she'd reach for her glass with one hand and Mama would make her world famous 'det det DET!' noise. Breakfast went well this morning too - she remembered from last night that her napkin goes in her lap :D

When we go outside - she asks me to carry her... I will carry her as far as I can (she's heavy... probably 40 lbs or more), I'll set her down, and then she will ask Baba to carry her. Baba will carry her until he cant anymore and then she is happy to trot along holding my hand until she thinks I'm rested up... lather, rinse, repeat! She's getting the concept that she must use her legs and arms to hang on so we can carry her farther.

Today we went to the notary downtown - oh my is the downtown area cool! Can you tell I love it here?!?! If you cant - let me tell you I LOVE IT HERE!!! I sat her down in her own chair and she gave me this look that said 'you've got to be kidding!', hopped down, told me to move back, and crawled on up! She sat cradled in my arms the entire time we were filling out papers (I held her yesterday too when we filled out papers). I sat with my arms crossed on the table and she made sure she sat the same way. For those that know how annoying I am, I like to sway when I have little children in my arms... if I stopped swaying... she made sure that I knew that she wanted me to start back up. She likes it when I sing softly into the back of her neck.... BiXiu likes that too!

Shae thinks playdoh is the best thing since sliced cheese... and its even better with counting bears poked into it. Blocks are sweet too, my little ponies are lovely, hello kitty is a little hard to poke the accessories into... but coloring is her favorite. While I've been typing, Baba helped her trace letters for a little bit and then she would color the middles in. Now she's moved to playdoh and comes over every once and awhile to show me her playdoh circles that she's cutting out.... I give her a hug and a kiss and make sure she knows how awesome I think they are!

I think coloring is her favorite activity - we were told her favorite person was her art teacher. She can make shapes and colors really good in the lines... she seems to be able to see pretty darn good! Her eyes are the most lovely color of blue... much lighter than Mya Claire's but just as pretty.

She and I took a shower together this morning... she gave me this look that seemed to say... 'uhmm scary naked lady!! what the heck are those bumpy things?!?!?!?' She seemed to enjoy it after we got started - liked her hair washed! She's really good about letting me brush her teeth too... her gums bleed quite a bit so I've got to know that they're sore when I brush. Her teeth look pretty good... I'm sure they brushed them some in the orphanage.

Baba is feeding her oatmeal for lunch... Correction....now Mama is feeding her outmeal. Of course HongQi is negotiated for fruit naks rather than outmeal. We are attempting to compromise, 1st outmeal then, fruit naks.

Presenting Shae HongQi

Heres MaMa and HongQi lounging in the hotel room watching cartoons.

View image

BaBa felt left out so he had to get into the picture..

View image

As with most families that receive children from YinChuan City. We have a picture of us and some of the other children at the Orphanage.

View image

So far I think we have done pretty well. Mama and Baba were very nervous to meet you HongQi. We managed to keep breakfast down as we waiting for Frank to meet us to go do some paperwork at the orphanage and meet Shae HonqQi. The director is very nice and helpful. Frank translated and we signed documents and show some of our own. Then suddenly there she was peeking over in the window of the door to the conference room. She was beautiful and just as we thought she would be. She had the photo album we had given her as well as we had saw all the boxes of things we had sent for the rest of the children.

As you can see from the 4rd picture before we left, we got our picture taken and meet some of the other little children. So beautiful they are, and precious.

Then it was off to a local photo shop to get our family picture for the red book. We waited for them to develop and then we were off to go to the notary. Everyone got a fingerprint, and or handprint. Mama and Baba answered questions and boom it was done.

After a short drive we dropped the HongQi's nanny off and the waterworks began. She definately has a set of lungs on her and cried most of the way to the hotel as well as a short time in the room until Baba came up after talking to Frank.

Sickness is thy name...

SIGH.... Thank you little Leslie from Aubree's daycare. You share your crud well. 8) B joyfully cheers "Yeah Nebby!" whenever it is time to drag the nebulizer out. I checked the little box that was with the tubing - there were no refills left on that one. 8P Aubree is the proud owner of 60 units of nebby meds. That ought to do her for awhile. I don't know if she is going to be well enough to go to daycare tomorrow. She is certainly wheezy but wild/buzzy on the other hand. Its not that she feels that bad, she just sounds terrible. I think Mya and Talen may also be coming down with it. Mya's nose is running, Talen's throat is sore - his may be soda induced acid reflux. BaiYu is going strong but can come up with the most creative excuses to score some grape tylenol. It is weird - my kids practically beg for tylenol, Aubree hates it. She also cries when I give her the antibotic - my crew are all wondering if they can lick the syringe for her. She didn't have a fever all day but seemed a little warm when I tucked her in. She gets double snuggle because she sits with me while I snuggle with Mya and then it is her and Talen's turn. Today it took me until 11:00 to get everyone fed, bathed, and dressed. Sundays I like to give every child a little bit of their own time so I bathe everyone separate. There was just enough hot water left for me! I cleaned the house while big G did the laundry and looked after chloe and the butter twins. I had to go to Of Mice and Men this afternoon at the Playhouse so big G had to stay with the kids while they took their naps. I just got home in time for big G to go to adoration. She and I are both tired but hanging in. I talked her into not taking her tamoxifen last night and she felt so much better today - looked better too. She didn't get nauseous until late afternoon so I think I am on to something. If she quits the tamoxifen, she leaves behind the nausea, hot flashes, and the evil exeffor. She also opens herself up to another reoccurrence of cancer. No breasts left, so its anyone's guess where it may show up next. If it takes 12+ years again, that's better than living everyday with nausea for the 5 years she is suppose to take the tamoxifen. What's a girl to do????

All day long, we would say "I hope La and Dana are sleeping peacefully right now" or "I bet they are up and getting ready to go meet Shae". As I put the kids to bed, I carried the phone around thinking they would be calling any time now, telling me all about Shae. I imagine they have been together as a family for about 3-4 hours. I'm dying for details and praying hard everything is going well. Bless this first meeting - it is so very precious...