Sleep and baking cookies

Alana has spent the last couple of nights sleeping in her own bedroom. She had been sleeping in a crib in our room, but recently Victor getting ready for work in the morning has been waking her up. She used to be the deepest sleeper and waking her was very difficult, but that seems to be changing. She was actually really excited when I pointed upstairs for her nap the other day. I borrowed Collin's CD player and put on some Chinese kid's music for her. I stayed in the room until she fell asleep and she did great. That afternoon we went out and I bought her a CD player of her own. She was so thrilled! That night I put her to bed and tried to leave the room (when I tucked her in she waved and said bye-bye). She played and came out of her room a couple of times. When I put her back in bed the second time she started crying, so I stayed with her until she fell asleep and she woke up happy the next day morning. So far so good!

It has been raining for the last couple of days here, so we haven't been able to go swimming or to the park. We've set up the bouncer in the living room a couple of times and we've watched too much TV. We also baked cookies yesterday. I let each of the kids have a turn using cookie cutters to make the sugar cookies. They all had a blast. It is so much fun to see Xin Yi doing these things for the first time in our family. What a joy she is!

Everything is still going amazingly well with her adjustment. She is understanding more and more English everyday. She still isn't using a whole lot of English words. I will say something in English and she will respond in Mandarin, but somehow we usually understand each other. Yesterday, Collin was watching "Bridge to Terabithia" and he kept watching a scene over and over where an older student bullies the younger kids into paying $1 to use the bathroom during recess. The kids revolt while chanting "free the pee". Xin Yi kept trying to say "free the pee" all afternoon. I thought this was way too funny! It sounded more like "fribee pee" when she said it, but it was hilarious! I really need to get out more!

Family Pictures

We had our family picture taken yesterday to mail out with our adoption announcements. I had very low expectations going into the session. I just figured that if we could get all three kids looking in the general direction of the camera, I would be happy. I wasn't prepared to get smiles at all, so I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. The family shots were actually the easiest to get because we were holding the two little ones on our laps. The shots of the kids together and of Dylan individually were difficult because Dylan and Alana kept moving around. It was a lot of fun though and I am so pleased with the pictures. Alana had a great time posing for her photos and getting lots of attention. It turned out that one of the women at the studio spoke Mandarin. She talked and played with Alana for quite a while. I thought this would be an ambitious project resulting in lots of frustration and tears, but it went really well!

Shoes

I finally went shoe shopping for Alana yesterday afternoon. She's been mostly wearing the same cute little pair of shoes I bought for her in Nanjing since I got her almost one month ago! It was hard to find shoes in her size in Guangzhou and I'm notoriously picky as well. We bought four pairs of shoes yesterday and she was thrilled beyond belief. She kept pointing to the boxes of shoes and then pointing to herself asking if they were for her. She did that at least 10 times. She wanted to carry two boxes of shoes in the store and wouldn't let me help her. She dropped them several times and would let me take one for a minute or two and then wanted it back. She even took a pair out as we were leaving the store and kissed them. It was sweet to see her so excited, but a little sad at the same time. She wanted to wear the little tennis shoes all last evening and even put them on first thing this morning as well.

Things continue to go amazingly well. Alana is using more and more English every day. She even said her first phrase on her own the other day. She was eating cake and sharing with Dylan. She kept saying "Do you want more?" to him although it sounded more like "Do-ooh-wuh-mo". It was beyond cute! At night before bed she likes me to count in Mandarin and throw her in bed. The last couple of nights she has started saying I love you repeatedly in English and Mandarin to me. It is mostly a stalling tactic to avoid going to sleep, but it is really sweet anyway.

Mmmmm -- cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory is yummy!!!

Cutie pie in one of her new Disney shirts and her new tennis shoes

We had to try on the sandals as well.

Bouncing

We finally got Alana in the bouncer we bought for her and Dylan for their birthday this year. She was trying to figure out what the heck it was when I started blowing it up, but she wanted in immediately after seeing the boys go in. They had a great time playing as you can see from the pictures. Our little girl has no fear! We'll probably try to get to Pump It Up some time this summer and see how she like that!

Hanging Out

Not too much going on here. Xin Yi is finally well again after her immunizations on Tuesday. It really took her a full 48 hours before she was back to herself. She lost her appetite Tuesday night and all day Wednesday. Thursday morning she got her appetite back, but unfortunately her system wasn't ready to accept food. So, we rested most of the day Thursday. We went out for Chinese food Thursday night to celebrate two weeks home! In some ways it seems like we've been home forever. Xin Yi just blends so perfectly into our family that it seems she has always been here.

Today we went shopping at the Disney Store. I bought Alana a couple of cute Minnie Mouse shirts, a princess plate and bowl, lots of cups, washcloths, and beach towels. They were having some really great clearance sales and I went a little crazy. She had a blast though. We also rode the new carousel at the mall. Xin Yi rode a panda bear and Dylan rode a seal. I forgot to bring my camera, so no pictures unfortunately.

Tonight we went to Collin's baseball game with my dad and Marilyn. It was a beautiful night for a game and Collin played really well. I am so proud of my baby! I can't believe what a big boy he is becoming. I think I am starting to embarrass him some now (probably need to stop calling him baby in front of his friends!). He asked me to drop him off at vacation bible school after the first couple of days instead of walking him to his group. So it begins!!

Drama

The last 24 hours have been filled with the drama that only a little girl can provide. Poor Alana did not tolerate the immunizations well yesterday and that is putting it mildly. She just hasn't been herself today at all. She started yesterday evening with the pain in her legs (she was fine at the park in the afternoon). She couldn't walk and wanted to be carried everywhere. She didn't get a nap yesterday, but was crying over going to bed last night. I rocked her to sleep and she was out pretty quickly. However, she started waking up every 20 minutes crying and would only go back to sleep if I picked her up and rocked her. I did that a few times and gave her more pain medicine, but soon realized we couldn't go all night like that. So, I brought her into bed with us, but 20 minutes later she was crying and couldn't be consoled. I ended up going out to the couch with her and holding her while she slept. I couldn't get to sleep though, so an hour later I laid her down on the couch and I laid next to her. Yep -- 20 minutes later she was crying again. I ended up just holding her hand, stroking her cheek and telling her mommy was here. She cried for 5-10 minutes, but finally settled down and went to sleep for the rest of the night. She was cranky all day today although she was up and playing by late morning. She took a good nap today, but was tired and fussy immediately after getting up. She didn't even have fun in the pool tonight! It was just a rough, rough day. I am so hoping that she feels better tomorrow!

I've included some pictures of the kids at the park today. Xin Yi did swing for a little while, but she wanted nothing to do with the slides today or anything else at the park for that matter. She also got some toys today from a friend, so tonight she was playing dress up. She actually perked up when playing with that barbie outfit right before bed, so that gives me hope that we are getting over the shots. Dylan wanted to play dress up too, so I got out an extra set of butterfly wings for him. Too cute!

Appointments

Today we had a couple of appointments. First, Dylan had an evaluation with Infants and Toddlers. I thought this eval was just a formality -- no way would he qualify for early childhood special education services. However, my little boy refused to cooperate for the testing and now may end up getting services. He was very independent today and didn't want to do anything the teacher asked him, although some of the requests were things he could not do. She was asking him to match colors, stack blocks, pick animals by sound, do puzzles, imitate drawings (dots, lines), pick shapes by name, and give her the correct number of objects. He was able to do some, but not all of these tasks. It was a frustrating time for him and I think after the first or second test he was done and just wanted to play. He has an occupational therapy eval next week which is the real reason we are having Infants and Toddlers evaluate him.

Later, Alana had her first doctor's appointment. It also didn't go as planned. I waited for almost an hour and finally had to tell them that I had to get back home so Victor could get back to work for a meeting. Then they rushed me into the room and looked her over. We decided to wait on the vision and hearing tests until her next appointment in two months because of my time crunch. I had asked to be referred to the Children's Mercy International Adoption clinic, but the doctor acted like that wasn't necessary and she would just refer us to the doctor's needed. I also thought they would do some blood work to see which immunizations she needed, but the doctor wanted to give her all immunizations again. That meant getting four shots today. She screamed during the shots, but quieted down as soon as she got candy. Later in the evening her legs were really sore (even after two doses of pain medicine), so she was whining and wanting to be carried everywhere.

Immediately after the appointment we went to the park to meet up with a fellow CHI family who just adopted an 8-year-old girl from the same orphanage in China. Xin Yi and Yu Jie were excited to see each other! They were a little bashful at first, but quickly warmed up and they started talking in Mandarin and Yu Jie was hugging and holding Alana on her lap by the end of the playdate. It was so incredibly cute to watch. It is amazing to me that these two little girls came from the same area of China and have been adopted by families living less than 10 miles apart within two weeks of each other. It was definitely the highlight of the day seeing them together.

It looks like this weekend will be filled with baseball games. Collin has a game Friday night, team picture Saturday afternoon, game Saturday night, practice Sunday afternoon and game Monday night. Whew! I am exhausted just thinking about it! We'll probably spend the remaining weekend lounging by the pool to make up for all the running around we'll be doing! It will be fun though and he doesn't have many games left after this weekend.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! We had such a nice weekend with our family and a wonderful Father's Day today. Alana Xinyi continues to blend into our family as if she has always been here. I'm expecting to have some bumps in the road at some point, but so far everything is still going great.

I want to take this opportunity to say how grateful I am to have such a wonderful husband. Victor is an amazing father to his three children. He loves to get out there and chase the kids on the play ground, splash with them in the pool, ride roller coasters with them at amusement parks, and play catch with them in the backyard. He is such a "hands on" dad and the kids and I are all so blessed to have him in our lives.

We went to the Royals game today for Father's Day. Xin Yi just snacked and drank her way through the hot and sunny game. She didn't pay much attention to the game on the field (if we are being honest -- I didn't either), but she was amused by the music, fireworks, singing and cheering. It was great fun to watch her take it all in. We took her over to meet Slugger and she wasn't at all scared (we were relieved since a trip to Disney is right around the corner).

Xin Yi is starting to parrot more and more English words and even phrases now. Someone asked her on Saturday "What is your name?" and she repeated the phrase back to them. She is still only using a handful of words on her own, but she is understanding more and more and I'm even picking up more Mandarin as we go along.

Home One Week!

It is hard to believe that last night marked one week home from China with Alana Xinyi. I still wake up in the morning and wonder if this has all been a dream. Then I look over to see her sweet sleeping face in the crib in our room and pinch myself that I am really this lucky. The last week has had some high and low moments, but overall it has been beyond wonderful. It has been amazing to watch Alana explore her new world. She is delighted by things that make the boys groan. We pulled up at the grocery store yesterday and she just squealed with delight!

We are looking forward to introducing Xin Yi to more relatives this weekend. What a wonderful father's day it will be with our daughter here to hug and kiss!

I'm still amazed at how incredibly she has done during this time of enormous transition. I think how different her days must have been in the orphanage. I try not to think of that too often or too long, because it is so heart wrenching to think of her living for 3 1/2 years without a family. She has such a beautiful soul and we are so blessed to be able to parent this precious child.

To celebrate last night, we went to Winstead's and ordered a skyscraper chocolate shake. Xin Yi was mighty pleased and it was so sweet when we were all circled around the ice cream drinking at the same time. We just kept giggling it was so fun.

My children are the light of my life and I live to make them happy. I've been busy planning a trip to Disney World later this summer. Victor and I can't wait to see Xin Yi's face as she sees all the magical sights, sounds and smells the Disney parks have to offer. She loves being spinned around and thrown in the air, so I'm sure she will love the rides at Disney as well. The characters I'm not so sure about. We'll have to get her over to Chuck E. Cheese's soon and see how she handles that mouse.

Life is great here!

Play Ball!

Today I took the kids to the court house to request a KS birth certificate. On Friday we go back to request her legal name change. That is all that is required for the readoption in KS. We then need to get her a SSN, passport and a certificate of citizenship. We're moving right along though.




Tonight Collin had his third baseball game (first one I've been able to attend). He fielded a ball while playing short stop and was able to throw it to second and force an out. He had two at bats and swung at every ball pitched to him, but no hits. They kept trying to get him to wait for a good pitch, but he was too eager to swing. It is so fun to watch them all learning and improving with every game. Collin loves to play baseball and wants to play catch with daddy at any opportunity. Now that I am home Victor will try to get him to the batting cages occasionally. He is already hooked on sports just like his dad!





Alana is doing great as usual. She is picking up English slowly but surely. She understands many words (potty, eat, drink, more) and is repeating words and phrases. She isn't using any words spontaneously (other than hi and bye), but is signing some (eat, more, all done). She was so sweet at the game tonight and was telling me that she loved daddy, mommy, big brother, and little brother in Chinese. Such a sweetie! She has been a bit of a mommy's girl today and even followed me into the bathroom at one point. I know my mom is getting me back on that one. I was terrible about not letting my mom leave the room when I was little!





Here are a few pictures from today.




Cheering on Collin!


My baby playing baseball.


Collin fielding the ball.


Popcorn after the baseball game. It was a hit with Xin Yi!!

Hibernating

We are getting out a little bit, but I still feel like we've been hibernating since we got home last week. It is a good thing though. We are feeling settled and Alana is getting more and more comfortable every day. She even gave me a couple of spontaneous kisses today (hasn't really done that since the early days in China). She's given Collin and Dylan kisses, but none to me and Victor until today.


I don't think I've mentioned how petrified she is of our dog, Katy. It doesn't help that Katy is very old and has no patience for kids. Xin Yi yells "xiao gou" (puppy) when she sees Katy and leaps into mommy or daddy's arms.


We went to our adoption agency's monthly meeting last night and introduced Xin Yi to the group. Then we went back to the daycare room to drop Collin off. Dylan ended up staying back there for the first time as well. There was a woman taking care of the kids who spoke Mandarin and she talked to Xin Yi for a little while. I was surprised that Xin Yi didn't jump at the chance to talk to someone, because she talked to everyone in China. However, she answered this woman quietly and seemed to be withdrawing a bit. The lady tried to get Xin Yi to stay and play with the other kids. Xin Yi said she wanted to play, but when she realized that meant saying goodbye to mama and baba she wasn't up for it. I didn't want to leave her anyway (way too soon for mommy), but I think this woman really wanted to play with and talk to Xin Yi. Alana ended up sitting with us during the meeting and did great.


Today we went to the park and I tried Alana in the swings again. This time I started swinging Dylan first and then put her in and pushed her very, very softly. She likes it now! She is also climbing stairs much better now. In China, she always wanted me to carry her up and down stairs, but I never made the connection that she had a hard time with them. She just liked to be carried a lot in China. When we got home last week, she really wanted to go upstairs, but clung to the rail and only made it up 4 or 5 stairs before coming back down. This surprised me because she lived on the second floor of her orphanage and there was a playground on the first floor. I'm wondering if the kids every used it and if so, how did they get down there?


Food hasn't been as much of an issue as I thought it might be. As picky as she was in China, I didn't think we had a chance with western food. She eats a pretty good breakfast every day though. She likes apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, cereal, oatmeal and yogurt. Lunch and dinner have been a bit more difficult. I found a box of Simply Asia noodles with peanut sauce that she really likes. She also ate a bunch of vegetarian spring rolls and sweet and sour sauce at dinner the other night. She even ate an entire piece of cheese pizza on Saturday. Other than that she hasn't eaten much. She tries things, but I've been keeping the noodles on hand in case she doesn't like what we are eating. She won't eat any vegetables other than peas, but hopefully that will change soon.


Here are some pictures of the kids eating lunch today.






Xin Yi eating her noodles with Hello Kitty chopsticks.





Dylan tries to use chopsticks, but they are so much more fun to drum with!



Collin says heck with Chinese food -- give me a burrito!

Showing off our little girl

We've spent a pretty quiet weekend at home getting to know our little girl. There have been some highs and lows, but mostly highs. We are amazed that Xin Yi is adjusting as well as she is. I know that we have a lot of work left to do and will have hard times, but I think her outgoing personality is serving her well. Language is currently our biggest issue and it is just going to take time and patience for us all to understand each other. Xin Yi keeps talking to us in Chinese, hoping that eventually we will figure out what she wants. We just keep shrugging our shoulders and smiling. She is starting to take our hand and show us what she wants if possible. Discipline has been a minor issue, but when it comes up it is difficult to explain why she shouldn't do something.

The boys are adjusting quite well to their sister. Dylan asks for Xin Yi first thing upon waking. He also walks around the house saying "Xin Yi no!" and "xie xie" (thank you). He may learn Mandarin before Xin Yi learns English! Collin plays very well with Xin Yi, but he is having difficulty understanding the language barrier. He tries to correct her sometimes or explain what "good manners" are, but of course she doesn't understand a word of it. We just keep telling him that we have to give it time and everything will work itself out.

We went to a park on Saturday and Xin Yi had a great time playing on the slides. She wasn't fond of the swings though! We went out for ice cream on Saturday night and she had to sample everyone's ice cream. She decided that she like mine the best, so we had to trade. It is so fun to watch her trying so many new things. She is a girly girl most of the time and has loved finding all the dolls and dress up clothes in her room. She doesn't mind playing with boy toys though and was battling Collin tonight with lightsabers while wearing a pink tutu and lots of jewelry. She is such a joy and everyday seems to get better and better.

Swimming

Alana went swimming in our pool for the first time today. We went out to the pool after taking naps this afternoon. Xin Yi and I did not want to wake up from our naps, but I told Victor to be sure that we didn't sleep more than two hours. I had a terrible time waking Xin Yi up from her nap, and she started crying and was very, very unhappy with me. I put her swimsuit on and then we had to apply sunblock to everyone. She pouted and cried the whole time. I kept thinking she would snap out of it when we got to the pool, but she still cried for a while longer. Once she saw Victor, Collin and Dylan in the pool having a good time -- she stopped crying and watched from the sidelines. She sat on the side of the pool and then on the steps for a little while. She wouldn't play with the balls, but when the water guns came out she was interested. She started smiling and laughing as she squirted Collin. Collin went down the slide and Xin Yi followed soon after. That was the first time she had been submerged in the water and let me tell you -- the water was COLD! She wanted out immediately, but continued to play with Victor and Collin (I was helping Dylan to warm up after his swim). She had such a good time playing and was giggling and smiling a lot. It was so fun to watch her.

After swimming, we went out for Mexican food for dinner. I was pretty sure she wouldn't eat anything, but she surprised me. She loves chips and salsa!! She ate a ton of it and a little bit of rice. She wouldn't touch her bean burrito though. I was just excited that she ate something! She wanted to hold daddy's hand going in and out of the restaurant and she wanted to sit by daddy at dinner. I think she realized that daddy is a lot of fun after playing with him in the pool today. Victor was surprised at how messy she is. She got rice, chips, salsa and water everywhere. I was glad she was sitting by him and giving me a break for a change. It was not fun eating out twice a day with a messy four-year-old for 10 days straight! I'm sure it won't be too long before her table manners improve some. (I can hope!)

The rest of the weekend will just be getting to know each other and having a few visitors. Victor will be back to work on Monday, so wish me luck next week!

Homecoming

Wow -- that was a long 24 hours to get home! I can't believe that out of 8 flights in 2 weeks, the only one to be delayed was my very last flight home. It was only 1 hour late, but it was the last flight I would choose to be late!

It was so nice to walk off that plane in KC. Alana Xinyi was quite overwhelmed and just exhausted. Collin and Dylan were hugging and kissing her and she sort of shut down. She didn't cry, but she definitely wasn't excited either. Grandma and Grandpa Dunakin were there as well as Uncle Chuck. Xin Yi liked the balloon that daddy brought for her and it helped keep her from melting down in the car over the car seat. She kept asking me to hold and her motioning for me to take off the buckle. It didn't take long for her to start playing with Collin and the balloon though. There was even some tattling before long! I also broke out some M&M's and gummi bears we'd bought in Minneapolis to help keep the kids pacified for the car ride home.

When we got home, Xin Yi got really excited and she and Collin started running around the house. They were playing with the other balloons Victor bought and all of the toys. Xin Yi was screaming with excitement and she and Collin kept feeding off each other and the excitement just kept escalating. It was fun to watch them so excited to play with each other, but at the same time we had to keep them from tearing the house down! We finally put Dylan to bed around 10 pm, Collin around 10:30 pm and Victor, Alana and I went to bed around 11 pm. We put Alana in the crib in our room. I pulled it up next to our bed and I put my hand in the crib to hold Alana's hand until she fell asleep. She wasn't happy about not being in our bed (she's been sleeping in bed with me in China), but she feel asleep fairly quickly anyway. She woke up around 4 am, but went back to sleep and we all slept until after 7 am this morning. My bed never felt as good as it did last night! I'm hoping that we will slide right back into the correct schedule, but I keep thinking it can't be this easy.

Xin Yi poked me this morning and said "Hi". I had to focus for a minute, because I thought it must be Dylan. She smiled and seemed happy, but after we went out to join the rest of the family she got grumpy. We ate some breakfast and then she kept going into the bathroom as if she were going to be sick. I dug out some of the DVD's I'd bought for her in China and she wanted to watch Shrek again. That seemed to calm her down and she's been happy ever since. We went out by the pool while Victor was cleaning it and she put her feet in and happily splashed away. We are planning to take the kids out this afternoon once it warms up to go swimming. I'm sure she will have a blast!

Everything seems to be falling into place amazingly well right now. Language is definitely an issue, but we seem to be working with it as well as possible. We have been so blessed and are so happy to be starting our life as a family of 5! Everything will be so exciting the next few months as we take Alana Xinyi to all of our favorite family spots. I'll be sure to update the blog regularly so everyone can see pictures of her exploring KC!

So happy to be home!!

We made it!! I will post more details tomorrow morning because I am exhausted. I'm having problems with slide.com, so I'm just going to load a few pictures tonight and the rest tomorrow. Xin Yi did great with her brothers and dad (she even climbed up on Victor's lap at one point). The kids were really crazy and running around the house like wild animals, but it was a fun evening just watching them so happy to be together!

Signing out from China

Well, I'm almost finished packing and am ready to get on a plane bright and early tomorrow. I need to have my bags set out for the bell boy by 5 AM and be in the lobby by 5:30 AM. Ouch!! One of the other families in our group left on a train for Hong Kong already and the other two families leave just after 7 AM tomorrow morning.

We had a leisurely morning today. I started packing and we ran out and did a little more shopping. I opted not to give Xin Yi a nap today in the hopes of getting her to bed early tonight. It is 7:30 pm and she just fell asleep, but not without a lot of drama. She was just SO tired.

We met at 2:45 this afternoon to go to the U.S. Consulate. The oath only took about one minute, but there was a lot of waiting before and after and it took 20 or 30 minutes to get there from our hotel. So, the whole process ended up taking about 2 hours. I now have Xin Yi's passport with her U.S. visa and all the documents I need to get through immigration in Minneapolis. We have a 3 1/2 hour layover in Minneapolis, so we won't have to rush to get to our flight home.

As you can see in the pictures, I had our coordinator translate Xin Yi's finding note. I won't post details, but I was in tears it was so moving. We knew when we got her referral that there was a note containing her birth date, but it is a full letter with information on why she was abandoned and how her family felt about it. It is a priceless gift for our family and especially for Xin Yi as she gets older.

I also had our coordinator attempt to explain to Xin Yi what will happen tomorrow. I had her tell Xin Yi that we will be going on three different airplane rides and will ultimately reach home where daddy and her brothers will be waiting. The coordinator asked her who she wants to hug and she said mommy and daddy! I'm sure it will be a huge group hug as we have all missed each other so much. I also asked Elsie to explain that mommy doesn't speak mandarin and her daddy and brothers don't either. She explained that mommy with help her learn English. It was pretty funny when the guide asked her if mommy spoke mandarin and she said yes! I did learn to count to 10 in mandarin and I know a few simple phrases. I also have a book that I've used to say other simple words to her. I think she thinks I speak mandarin because of this and the fact that I usually can figure out what she is saying based on the situation and extra hand gestures by us both. I know the next few months will be hard for her as she will not be able to communicate at the level she is used to. I'm sure English will come quickly for her though as she has very strong verbal skills.

We had dinner at Lucy's again tonight with the Stinnettes and the Huangs. I hope that we will remain in contact with all three families. It will be so fun to see all the children growing up. This has been an amazing experience and I'm so grateful for the gift of Alana Xinyi and my time getting to know her here in China.

My next post will be from home with my family reunited!

Group Dinner

We had our group dinner tonight at the same Cantonese restaurant that we ate at the first night. The food was even better this time around! Elsie helped order our food and almost every dish was vegetarian and delicious! We had sweet and sour chicken, noodles with carrots, fried rice with egg, baked sweet potato dish, dumplings, bread with vegetables baked in the middle, bread with fruit in the middle and covered with sesame seeds, cakes with custard in the center, lemon tarts, some sort of vegetable dish, broccoli and spring rolls. Xin Yi wanted one of everything, but really only ate the noodles. Immediately after dinner she tried mooching bananas off one of the store clerks while we were shopping! I really don't understand why she doesn't eat more. The first day she ate a huge variety of food and every day since them she has eaten less and less. Now she hardly eats anything at meals and just snacks on crackers and milk in between. Hopefully we'll start to get that straightened out at home.



I can't believe that I will be home in 48 hours! I'm getting terribly excited now!

Tomorrow we go to the U.S. Consulate in the afternoon to take an oath. I've heard the appointment is very quick. The rest of the day is free, so I'll probably be packing and maybe making some last minute purchases. I hope I can fit everything in my suitcases!

Red Couch Photos

Here are the mandatory White Swan red couch photos. Most everyone from the U.S. adopting from China takes photos on the red couches at the White Swan (whether they are staying at the White Swan or not). The two girls in our group sat through the photos, but weren't particularly happy about it. The two boys in our group cried and cried (Samuel wouldn't even sit with the other kids). It was a rather amusing morning. Even though Xin Yi sat through the photos, she was pretty tired afterwards and has been a little cranky the rest of the day. She's napping now, so I hope she feels better when she wakes up. I think we are both getting tired and ready to go home now.

I will check in online for our flights tomorrow morning and pray that the Northwest e-ticket 1st class upgrade is available for us. If not we will survive, but it would be really nice! Our flight arrives Thursday evening and I am so anxious to see my boys!! Anyone who has the time and wants to meet us at the airport is welcome to. Just e-mail me for the details on the flight.

I'm looking forward to being able to post pictures of my three amazing children together at last. Not much longer now!

Medical Exam

Well, we had another great day yesterday. I'm feeling much better and Xin Yi did great at her medical exam.

I was finally able to get some sleep Sunday night after combining medications. I heard yesterday morning that others in our group have been sick as well, so it may even by some sort of bug and not the apple after all. Hopefully that won't happen again as I really don't want to be sick on the plane ride home. There is a little boy in our group with chicken pox and another family with sore throats, so it is going to be a miracle if we arrive home healthy.

We went off to the medical exam at 9:30 yesterday. It was only about a 15 minute walk, but it is so hot here that you end up sweating after only 30 seconds in the heat. Xin Yi played with the toys in the waiting room and passed them out to all the other children. Some of the other kids were screaming when they went back to see the doctor, so I was afraid that would stress her out. When we went to the first station and she saw the exam table she shook her head and said no, but I held her and the doctor talked to her a little and then she was fine. The doctor looked her over briefly and looked at her medical report and then sent us over to the ENT. She laughed and played with that doctor. Then we went to the height and weight station where she was practically pushing people out of her way to get on the scale. The other little boy in our group was screaming to get off the scale and Xin Yi couldn't wait to get on -- it was pretty funny. After we were finished she walked into the doctor's office area and started talking to the doctors. They all just loved her and were giving her toys and paper to color on. She is quite the charmer!

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a little playground. The equipment is actually mostly for adults and there were many older Chinese men and women exercising as we walked by. Xin Yi started thinking it was funny to see how far away she could get from me. She is just playing and laughing as she does it, but it was especially not funny when she almost ran into the street. I carried her back to the hotel and made her lay down for a little while. Then I had the guide explain to her why that is very unsafe and how it makes mommy worry when she does that.

We then went to a huge market area that is the closest thing to a mall that I've seen thus far. There were two huge towers with six levels in each. One was full of clothing and shoe stores and the other was entirely jewelry. I bought a necklace and bracelet for Xin Yi and a rose quartz bangle bracelet for her as well (only spent about $20 total). I also bought her some shoes and DVDs in the other mall. I brought the stroller with me since she had been running off and was very glad I did. She took a late nap yesterday and then we went out and did some more shopping around the hotel. We ordered Papa John's pizza last night for dinner. It wasn't exactly like home, but it tasted really good. Xin Yi ate a little, but wasn't impressed. She is still a noodle girl right now. We also watched Shrek in Mandarin last night. She really liked it! I also bought Shrek 2, The Incredibles and Alice in Wonderland. I have another store ordering Mulan, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid for me -- those should be ready tonight.

I talked to Victor this morning and he said that Dylan is already swimming on his own with his life jacket. I can't believe how big my little boy is getting already. I'm really missing my boys and can't wait to get home on Thursday. I'll have to post pictures this weekend of all the kids swimming in the pool. They are going to have such a great time this summer.

I also haven't mentioned much about language yet. Xin Yi is starting to understand a little English and can say a few words (flower, open, bye bye, no). We are also using a little sign language (eat and done). I can also say a few things to her in Mandarin (I love you, sleep, later, goodbye, thank you, mommy, daddy, big brother, little brother, hello). We usually just use hand gestures for other things. I really haven't tried teaching her too much English here, but I'm sure she won't have any problem learning it once we are home. I'm actually most concerned about her retaining her Mandarin. I've already lined up a school for her starting in August with a preschool program that is taught entirely in Mandarin. That way she can continue to use her language and learn to read and write in it as well. They also have a conversation class for adults that I would like to take. I'm also going to check out more Mandarin CD's from the library to learn more. I wish I had learned more prior to this trip, but I was under the impression that she would speak a dialect and would only understand limited Mandarin. It turns out she is fluent in Mandarin and does not speak a dialect at all. I'm hoping that if I play my cards right she will be fluent in English and Mandarin and won't have an accent when speaking either one.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Today I have to hang around the room while our coordinator drops off our paperwork at the consulate. Then we will meet for our group picture and have a group dinner late today. There will also be more shopping!

Oops

I just realized why I am so sick. When we went to the supermarket yesterday, Xin Yi wanted to buy some oranges and apples. I bought two oranges, but didn't want to buy the apple because of the peel. Xin Yi is rather persistent though and I ended up purchasing the apple. I intended for Xin Yi to eat the apple by herself, but tonight she was eating it and offered me a bite. I took it without realizing and then kicked myself for it. It was only one bite though and I forgot about it until I had plenty of time to remember in the bathroom tonight. If I live through this, I will remember to never eat fruit that hasn't been peeled in China again!

Shopping in Guangzhou

Today we shopped, shopped and then we did some more shopping. I bought Xin Yi 5 dresses (4 traditional Chinese dresses in varying sizes). I also bought a bunch of other things as souvenirs and gifts for others. Xin Yi would play with the ladies in the stores while I shopped and then I would usually buy her a small toy before we left. I think the most entertaining part was watching her interact with the Chinese women. She is so verbal and would just talk and talk to them. Before we left every store they would tell me how smart she is.

We ate dinner at Lucy's tonight (a local restaurant serving American style food). We ordered a bean burrito, cheese pizza, french fries and vegetarian spring rolls with a chocolate shake. Quite the combination, huh? Xin Yi loved the french fries and the chocolate shake, but wasn't so keen on the other food. She got to the point at the end where she just held the bowl of fries near her mouth and was shoveling them in. It was so cute! It is somewhat humorous that I have a horrible stomach ache after eating my first western meal of the entire trip. Xin Yi seems fine, so I'm not sure if it is what I ate or just the strange combination of foods.

Tomorrow is the medical exam that Xin Yi must have before being allowed to enter the U.S. I expect she will do fine because she seems to have no fear of strangers. However, since she has had heart surgery in the past, she may have a fear of doctors that I haven't seen yet. So, tomorrow might be interesting.

After the medical exam, we are going to the Pearl and Jade market. I've already bought some pearls and jade, but I'm going to tag along for the experience. I'm probably going to do some more shopping locally tomorrow as well. I'm hoping to find some stores that have shoes for bigger kids. All the shops around the White Swan have the cutest shoes, but they are only for kids 2 and under -- nothing in Xin Yi's size and her feet are really small.