Our little one didn’t get to bed until about 10:45 after all the airplane drama and moving into the new hotel. She was up again about 1 and 3 and very fussy. We woke up in the morning to a new tooth! So she has gotten her first 2 teeth in time we have had her. The little cutie also turned 9 months today. We had to be up and moving early because all the babies were having their photos taken for their American entry visa and they had to have their physical exam with the Chinese doctors to confirm that they were okay to travel.
Most babies hate this and throw giant fits, but Nadia just got angry at a few points, but didn’t full on cry with big tears. I wouldn’t want to be poked and prodded either, so I understood her frustration. Finishing all of that took several hours because we were not the only families trying to get this taken care of. There are families from all over the place and just so many beautiful babies.
Guangzhou (GZ) is a very large city, but all of the adoption events take place on Shamian Island which is very picturesque. We have a lot of free time in the next couple days waiting on our consulate appointment and Nadia’s visa. We want to get out and get some more photos of the China and the people. I also have to finish shopping 🙂
For lunch we ordered a pizza and cheesecake from Danny’s Bagel (to the waiting families – it’s as good as you have heard) and I had to head over to our guides room at 2:30 to do more paperwork. Mike and Nadia just played and by the time I got back she was asleep for her afternoon nap.
For those who sent gifts for their World Vision children, I went to the post office yesterday and got the packages mailed off in one big box. The woman said that they should arrive in about 4 days, but I don’t know how long it will be until the Hong Kong office gets them to the children’s ADP’s. Hopefully we will get letters from the children in about 6 weeks.
For dinner we went with 4 other families to a great Thai restaurant called Cow Bridge. The food was really wonderful and most of the restaurant was filled with families from other agencies and their kids. It was a really wonderful sight. So many of the local Chinese just smile at the babies and say how beautiful Nadia is. Lots ask how old she is. We have been stared at a lot, but not so much that we are uncomfortable. I have seen other families get surrounded by people, but I have noticed that they have blond hair and that seems to attract more attention.
After dinner we went to Jennifer’s Place to check out the prices on clothes and squeaky shoes. They are really cute. Our guide told us that we need to haggle or we are throwing our money away, but the prices seem so awesome to start. Even me, the coupon girl has a hard time trying to haggle as they work so hard here for so little compared to America. Nadia was ready for a bottle, so we headed out without buying anything. It was bottle and bed time for the little cutie after her rough night of teething and airplane ride.
Once she was settled we went through the new photos to post to the blog and it was time for bed for us too 🙂 Nadia is such a sweet happy baby and she has just bonded with us so well so far. It’s so great to see her reach out for us and want us to hold her. She also just gets big smiles if one of us has been in the other room and we come in and say HI, she just gets all excited.
Thanks for following our journey and for all the wonderful thoughts and comments. We just know that she is going to love all of you. Love, Louanne