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.

Hangzhou, Day One

Today started out with an early flight to Mali's province.  Our hotel is really nice and we are able to unpack a little and get settled and eat some lunch of beef noodles which of course were very good.  We met our guide Savor and we did some money exchanging and went over some important stuff like when we meet Miss Mali!  We will be meeting her at 9am tomorrow morning.  I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that we will be meeting our daughter in a matter of hours.  I am nervous and excited all at the same time.  So many emotions.....

Tomorrow is the day!

Beijing, Day Two

Today we woke up bright and early and go hot on sightseeing.  We went to Tienanmen Square and The Forbidden City.  It was incredible, but incredibly hot.  By the photos you will see that there are thousands of people there as well as our measly little group of 33 people (including 6 darling little girls adopted from China, waiting to meet their new brothers and sisters!).  At one point I thought I could have had a full blown panic attack with the amount of people just trying to get into The Forbidden City.  The Chinese don't really follow the standard line procedure and tend to forget a little thing called personal space.  Just imagine thousands of sheeple taking tiny steps all at the same time going the same way.  It's comedy.  Despite the mere panic attack it was an amazing sight to see.

We then went to a yummy lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant for Peking Duck.  We were super hungry so when they came out with dish after dish of many kinds of food we all had big smiles on our faces.  There were about 7 different dishes and all of them very good.  I have to say that I have yet to have a bad meal.  The food is SO good here!

Next we headed up to the Great Wall.  You just can't imagine the beauty of it without seeing it in person.  I ventured about a quarter of the way, but with the heat, smog, and altitude I decided to park it and watch people.  Mark kept going and made it to the top.  So yes, Mark climbed the Great Wall!  All along the way he got stopped by Chinese tourists wanting to take pictures with him.  I think that people think he is Fabio with his blonde hair.  I have re-named him Flabio.

Tonight we are packing up and are heading out on an early flight to Hangzhou where we will call home for 5 days.  The time to Mali is getting closer, only two more days until we meet our girl!

Checking in.......

We had a huge day today and jet lag is setting in and I need to get some sleep. For some reason I'm not able to upload photos so I will post more tomorrow when I have more time and can sting together a proper sentence.

We have to be at the airport at 6am for our flight to Mali's province tomorrow. Two days until we meet our girl!!

Beijing, Day One

We started off this morning by landing in Beijing and hooking up with our guide and got checked into our hotel.  Took an hour to shower and wash off 18 hours of flight funk and headed out to meet our group at the Hutong Tour and rickshaw ride.  After that we went to the the Drum Tower and were able to catch the drum performance, it was amazing!  After that we went to a Chinese acrobat show and can I just tell you that these performers are nothing short of sub human.  What they can do with their bodies and strength is mind blowing.  Tomorrow, The Great Wall, Tienanmen Square and Forbidden City.  LOVING it here!