July 28, 2010

Well, we are winding down on our trip in China.  We leave tomorrow.  We are SO ready to come home.  As much as we have lovedour time here we are craving normalcy and a routine for our Mali.  She is doing MARVELOUS!  She wakes up smiley and happy.  She has quite a thing for her daddy and only goes Chernobyl when he has to go out of the room.  Yesterday we played for a good half hour just Mali and I while Mark went to the market to buy water and she did great.  I think she's realizing that I am here to stay and she's slowly letting me into their twosome.  Two days ago we went to the the Gaungzhou Zoo and the Six Banyon Tree Temple.  We are lucky enough to have Mali blessed by one of the monks.  It was such very a special honor.  The Monk even blessed Mark and I.  The zoo was pretty cool.  We got up close and personal with lots of the animals, we even got to see a white tiger. Of course the living conditions were a bit small for my liking and the poor animals seem to pace back and forth.  We also visited the Pearl Market, where we had a set of pearls made for Mali for her 18th birthday.

Yesterday we had the oath taking ceremony at the American Consulate.  This was our last step in the adoption process.  We just wait for Mali's visa (which will be here today) and we are oficially free to bring her home.  As soon as Mali's feet touch down in LA she is an American citizen!  Last night we went on a cruise up the Pearl River.  It was pretty fun, especially the much needed bottle of wine I shared with a fellow mommy!  The view of the city was fantastic.  It was a great night.

Today we are planning to go to the island and do some shopping.  We need to buy an extra peice of luggage for Mali and to hold the many treasures we plan on bringing home.

Well, this will be my last post from China.  Next stop USA!

Our LOVE to you all!

July 25, 2010

Not much happening here.  We have had a few free days and we have taken advantage of this by laying low at the hotel and just letting Mali have some kind of schedule.  Yesterday she had her first dip in the pool.  She was a bit leery at first but them warmed up to it.  We have spent some time on Shamian Island.  It really is a fun place to hang out.  We have eaten at Lucy's Bar and Cafe a few times (pretty mediocre western food, but the beer is cold and good).  I could eat Chinese food all of the time while here.  It is going to be hard to eat our version of Chinese food when we get home. 

 

Today we are going back to the island with our group for a tour of the jade market and to try some interesting foods such as scorpions and seahorse on a stick. 

 

Sorry no pictures today.

July 24, 2010

Guangzhou

We finally got to Guangzhou after the flight known as "The flight that was shot out of the boughs of Hell".  First, we get there in plenty of time only to find out our flight was delayed, no biggie.  We proceed to our gate where we are told that the flight has been delayed yet again.  We get settled in and wait for another 2 hours.  Mali is handling it all pretty well, but homegirl needed a nap, and the seat at Gate 49 was just not cutting it.  Finally they call to board the aircraft and when we sit down we find out that due to air traffic we are delayed take off.  We sit there for another half hour.  At this point Mali is in full meltdown, poor thing was hungry and bored, plus she was WAY over tired.  I see the flight attendants wheel out the beverage cart and I almost lost my ever lovin' mind.  We are so delayed they decide to serve the meal while we are sitting on the tarmac.  It only got worse from here.  Another hour and we finally take off.  Mali's ears are bugging her so she cannot get any sleep, so she cries pretty much the whole flight.  Our flight was full of Chinese businessmen so we got stink eye pretty much the whole flight.  Some lady even had the nerve to ask us "Why that baby cry so much?", I had to hold back a few choice words for that woman.  I have never been glad to see land in my whole life.  Our poor baby was a trooper!

We get into Guangzhou and check into our room where we will call Casa de Mehtlan for 7 days.  Today we had the medical exam.  Three stations where they measure her head and take her temp and call it a medical exam.  As long as it satisfies the American Consualte, I'm good with it.  The rest of the day was spent napping  for the two M's and I got to fill out 1 1/2 hours worth of Visa paperwork.  Tomorrow we have a free day and I think we will take advantage of the beautiful pool here at the China Hotel and teach Mali the basics of beginning her life as a water girl.

Mali is turning a corner and starting to adjust to her life with us.  She still wants Mark 75% of the time and now lets me in about 25% of the time.  We played together today and I held her a lot without her looking for Mark to help save her.   She sat on my lap while Mark fed her dinner tonight.  She is absolutely the sweetest girl.  She is not talking much at all and calls every thing "Ayah".  We have gotten oodles of smiles out of her in the past few days.  She loves to be tickled and her laugh melts your heart.  Her favorite place to be is on Marks shoulders.  I'm really glad we lugged the stroller a half million miles for it to sit in the hotel room.  Each day seems to get better and better for her.  We are falling in love with our little girl even more every day.  Did I tell you how sweet she is?

Until tomorrow......

July 22, 2010

Hangzhou: LingYin Temple, Jade Market and Silk Factory

Today we had a free day, finally!  We took full advantage and hit the ground running to do some sightseeing in Hangzhou.  The first stop we made was to the LingYin Temple.  This is the most famous Temple in all of Zhejiang Province.  It is absolutely beautiful.  I am so glad we had a chance to visit.  Our guide, Savor explained all of the different statues and their unique history.  My favorite story is the story of the Monkey King, I would go into it, but it is late and I am beat so it would probably sound like an episode of South Park if I tried to re-tell it.  Next we went to a Jade Market where Mali got her first piece of Jade, and Mommy picked up a little jade for herself too.  Oh, and the owner who personally took us on a tour around his store and gave us a lesson on jade, said at the end of our visit that I was sexy!  After the Jade market my sexy self and my crew headed on over to the Silk Factory and saw how silk is made.  I bought a silk duvet and 3 dresses for Mali.  We were worn out and came back to our hotel for a nap and dinner of noodles and beer.  Tomorrow we head to Guangzhou.  Wish us luck on our first plane ride with Miss Mali.

See you in Guangzhou!

July 21, 2010

Wenzhou

Yesterday started out with a fast trip to the Wenzhou Federal Building to apply for Mali's passport and then we had a great Chinese lunch at a authentic restaurant, where you have such delicacies such as turtle and giant tadpoles.  I skipped the turtle and tadpole and went for the dishes our guide Savor ordered.  We sat down and the food just kept coming, dish after dish.  It was all so good.  I don't see how people who come to China survive on noodles and rice, there is SO much good food to be eaten here.  After lunch we started our journey back to our home away from home, the Merchant Marco Hotel in Hangzhou.

Mali is still only attached to Mark.  I am only food giver, sippy cup administer, booger wiper and on occasion when she lets me, bath giver.  Since we have no routine yet, we have quite an empress on our hands.  She has this little cry that is so cute you can't help but pick her up.  The first two nights she slept in her crib with just a little fussing, but last night she raised such a stink that Mark let her sleep with us.  Oh, man this is heading into SPOILED territory.  At 19 months Mali is very much a baby.  Her nannies fed them primarily so she does not yet feed herself.  She will not hold a bottle or sippy cup, we must hold it for her to drink.  We will work on these skills and others when we return to the US.  Since the day we received her we have been on the go going from one appointment to another.  She has been an absolute trooper throughout this ordeal. 

Until tomorrow......

July 20, 2010

Our first night together and Adoption Day!

First, I just need to say that we have ourselves a Daddy's girl.  She really only relies on me for food but other than that Mark is the go-to guy for everything else.  She lets me hold her for very short periods of time, but goes primarily to Mark.  It is a bit hard on the feelings that she prefers Mark, but I am just thankful she is attaching to one of us.  Our first night together went good. We had some tears when we we put her in the crib at 8pm and she held onto Mark finger for a good 35 minutes until she fell asleep., Every time he tried to move it she would cry so there he sat until she finally drifted off to sleep.  To say she is wrapped around his finger is an understatement.  She slept all night, not a peep from our girl until 6am He told me today that I will need to learn how to make surfboards because he's going to become a stay-at-home dad.

Today Mali officially became ours according to The People's Republic of China.  We went back to the Hangzhou Federal Building and filled out some more paper work and took our oath and officially become Mali's parents.  It was actually really nice the way they made it special.  We recieved a beautiful certificate and Mali was presented a stuffed Panda Bear.  We then started our four hour trip to Wenzhou, the city of Mali's orphanage.  We have some business to take care of at their Federal building, apply for her passport and then we will be done with paperwork.

Our little girl is having a tough time, and has been grieving pretty hard.  She has some good moments but then it hits her that she is in a new situation and just burst out into tears.  It is really hard to watch when you know there is really nothing you can do but show her that we love her.  She is the bravest little girl I have ever met.  We were eating dinner tonight at our hotel tonight and I thought to myself that how ironic it is that three days ago Mali was an orphan getting her basic needs met by a caregiver and tonight she is sitting in a posh hotel with a mom and a dad, eating french fries with a chandelier in the lobby bigger than her house in the USA, and just minutes before 4 housekeeping attendants fussed over setting up her crib with freshly ironed linens.  Oh, my girl is going to have a great life.....that I promise.

Sweet dreams are made of this...

We have our girl.  She is everything and more.  She is beautiful and has such a sweet little soul.   Let me just start at the beginning.  We met our guide at 8:45am and took a 10 minute ride to the Federal Building.  We went up the second floor where I heard the bustle of crying babies, and I assumed that was where we were heading.  We open the door and sitting on a chair was Li Xin Wa, our Mali.  She looked at me and I at her, and then the tears started, not for her...for me.  We had to sign some official paperwork before we could get to the introduction.  She sat in a big office chair eating a rice cracker two-fisted.  While I was signing my half of the paperwork, Mark got the cup of "baby crack" (Gerber Puffs) and started to feed her.  She loved them!  When I was done signing 800 pieces of paper I was able to go over to her.  I gently started patting her hand and saying hello in Chinese.  She was looking at me with those big brown eyes and I just lost my self in her and could not keep the tears from flowing.  I didn't want to scare her so I dried my eyes and began to play with her.  She is a brave little girl.  She drove down from a midnight train and still had the energy to play and not be too scared.  She and Mark hit it of right off the bat.  He being the giver of "baby crack" and all, he is the man.  She only cried a few times when another little girl started crying who was having a hard time leaving her caregiver.  Mark was able to hold her on his lap while I administered the goods, and we even got a few little smiles and chuckles out of her.  We finished up all the paperwork and it was time to leave.  She is a bit on the timid side and does not like new things.  The car ride back to the hotel was a little too much for her; good thing it was only 15 minutes.  Once back at the hotel the tears set in.  New people, new smells, new enviornment was a bit overwhelming for her.  I gave her a quick bath and changed her into some clean jammies and we began feeding her some formula and bananas.  She LOVES bananas!  We did a little playing and every 15 minutes or so she realizes she is in a strange place and the tears set in.  She is grieving and it is heartbreaking.  I walked her around the room until she fell asleep.  She is beautifully resting away right now.

Of course we left the battery to the camera back at the hotel so all we were able to get was Flip video.