Our baby is finally home

We made it home safe and sound yesterday afternoon. Julie did very well on the plane, sleeping a good portion of the trip. She had a much rougher time on the way home, strapped into a car seat. But I don't want to get into that.

It's been a little over 24 hours since our return and I am a bit tired. Julie has had a great day and enjoyed a brief visit to the park with her aunty Nancy. Julie is an adventurous spirit and enjoyed swinging much higher than I thought she would. She really is our pride and joy.

When I have fully recovered from my jet lag I will post one more time. Please visit us in the meantime. I have a feeling we won't be going on any long drives soon.

US Approved!

This is Julie in her USA outfit.
















This is Julie sleeping in her stroller. For her it was quite a feat!


We had a rough start this morning. Julie was very constipated and in a lot of pain. We had to use a suppository. She was screaming in pain and I shed a few tears myself in sympathy. But after the suppository worked, all was well and now she is playing on the bed with Daddy.

We had our US consulate oath this afternoon and finished up all our shopping. We actually got Julie in the stroller. She used to hate the stroller, too confining we guess, but she is tolerant of it now.

Tomorrow we are off to the airport in the early morning. Home, here we come! Watch out US, our "spicy girl" is hitting the shores. "Spicy Girl" is the term used to describe the girls from Julie's area of China. When we tell locals where our daughter is from they all say, "Ohhh, a spicy girl!" And then laugh like we have our work cut out for us. Fine by us.

This is our last post from China....

Recovering

This picture was taken yesterday right before the red couch photos with all the babies.

Today we have been trying to relax and help Julie recover from her illness. I was fortunate enough to get a massage and I can honestly say it was one of the best ones I have ever had. Probably because my body really needed it. Spencer will be going on the Pearl River cruise tonight, but I will be staying in with Julie just chillin'. I think Julie has learned to recognize a few English words. One of them is "clap". When I tell her to "clap, clap, clap" she CLAPS!!! But she only really does it for me and Daddy. When others are looking she just stares at them. Be prepared for that when you first meet Julie. She probably won't smile at you at first. She will stare you up and down to see what you are all about. I think that's pretty clever of her.

I am so ready to come home. It is so hot and humid outside. And I am getting bored in the hotel room. Please tell me it's nice and cool in the Bay Area????

Ready to come home

Greetings from Guangzhou. We're in the home stretch now and excited to come home and show off our new baby girl. Julie is doing great especially considering that we have learned that she has a sore throat and "the beginnings of bronchitis". We have taken her to two doctors. The hotel doctor gave her an antibiotic and some unknown syrups plus 2 homeopathic powders. Julie hates taking the medication and screams bloody murder every time we put the syringe in her mouth. She has learned to spit it all out so we have to be very crafty.

We learned yesterday that Julie weighes a "hefty" 14.5 pounds. And that was with a wet diaper. :-)

The area around our hotel caters to adoptive parents and this hotel is swarming with families with babies from China. We are pretty much shopped out. If you want something in particular from China you better let us know now or forever hold your peace. We did do a bit of touring today and in about an hour is the famous red couch photo taken at our hotel. This is where all the adopted babies are placed on the red couch for a photo.

Getting to Know Julie

Julie is eating congee!!! Yeah!
Hi! It's our last day in Chongqing. We will be leaving for Guangzhou in about 4 hours. We have had a great time here in Chongqing and it will be sad to leave our daughter's first "hometown". Julie has been doing great. She is active, curious, and alert. I don't need to mention ADORABLE. As previously mentioned she can crawl, but I don't know if we mentioned that she can also pull herself up and cruise along furniture. It's really odd looking at such a small baby (can wear 3-6 month clothes) moving like that!! She still wakes up about 3 times a night (teething?). She has started to eat solids (thank you makers of Cheerios) and is learning games like "peek-a-boo". Her favorite activity is moving and looking at people move, her favorite toy is the remote control, and she is good at screaming when she doesn't get her way-- a trait that must have served her well at the orphanage. The squeeky wheel gets the oil, right?

Yesterday we explored Old Town Chongqing which was really cool. We bought a bunch of souvenirs there. A shop was selling framed paintings for $1.50 each. We splurged and bought 3. OK, but now I wish I had bought more. Next time.... Last night we also saw about 500 people dancing in front of the People's Hall. All of them were dancing in a line-dancing type manner. Very entertaining.

Baby BM!!!

Yesterday at dinner Julie had her first BM since we got her on Sunday! For the un-initiated, BM means Bowel Movement. Julie followed up with another one today at the Zoo so I think we are okay on that front.

Today we went to the zoo and saw Giant Pandas, Tigers, and little tiny monkeys. They also had an art museum/exhibition that had a lot of nice paintings, embroidery work, and carved jade and wood.

After the zoo, we went to the new WalMart. They have some unique items like live (and dead) fish in tanks.

They also sell cute little toilets for kids. Here is Julie on her new friend!

Tonight Spencer and a few of the other brave Dads are going to try a local favorite; the hotpot.

Tomorrow an evening visit to the 'old town' for more shopping is in order.

Bye for now.......

It's Official!

Today we filled out the paperwork for formalizing the adoption from the Chinese side.

Later in Guangzhou we will finish the US paperwork.

We are still learning how to make Julie's formula so she will drink it. So far we have managed about one out of 7 :-(


Here is one picture of Julie playing in the 'Play Room' at the hotel.

Just in case you can't tell from the picture, Julie is in motion non-stop!

When You Wish Upon A Star....

Dreams do come true!

Needless to say we are both overjoyed and very busy right now.

We got our 'star' around 3:30pm today, which was 4 hours ahead of schedule. (Mommy was very happy about that.)

It was extremely emotional for all involved. The babies were very good. No crying or separation problems. (yet?)

Xing-Xing is a very happy baby. She was described as very curious, strong-willed, mischevous, and good tempered. She has a reputation for taking other kids toys, nannies, and socks!

We put her on her stomach to see how her strength and motor skills were. We were not expecting this.....

That is our daughter CRAWLING!!!!!

She is very active and looks like she will be walking soon!?!

Of course we think our Xing-Xing is the smartest, cutest, most advanced, most adorable, etc...

Well that is it for now. Stay tuned for more pictures and updates.

Greetings from HONG KONG

We made it to Hong Kong safe and sound yesterday morning at about 6 am. We met up with a lot of the families at SFO, and met the rest of them this morning for our organized tour. The above picture was taken yesterday on the "Star Ferry" which took us around Victoria harbor. Don't you think the name of the ferry is appropriately named? Yvonne, if you are reading this we are both wearing our best "quick-dry" clothing. The weather is actually not as hot as I expected it to be. It reminds me of Hawaii. Yesterday it rained off and on, but today was gorgeous. Today the tour took us to Victoria Peak, Stanley Market, Aberdeen Jewelry Factory, and the Aberdeen fisherman village where we got to take a ride on a sampan boat. Tomorrow we are off to Chongqing, another step closer to Julie. Until next time.....