Category: China Trip

Hi all. Today we had to hang out in the room for a couple hours while our guide Michael went to the American consulate with all of our documents. Once we were cleared we went out and did some more shopping then came back and ordered lunch while Nadia took a nap. Right now I am taking a break from packing to get ready for tomorrow.

It should be an easy day, we have our bags out by 2 pm. Leave the hotel a 2:45 and have our consulate appointment at 3 pm. From the consulate we go directly with 3 other families to the airport to catch our flight home.

I ask you now since you are all just waking up to please pray for us that Nadia is able to sleep tonight so that we can too. We are 13 hours ahead of you and she is having her night-time bottle right now with Daddy. She has a little cold and we were up and down for hours at a time last night because she was just feeling sad and miserable. We got enough sleep to function today, but we really need a solid amount of sleep before tomorrow. Our flight leaves at 9 pm, then we fly for 12 hours and arrive in LA. So we will arrive in LA at 7 pm on Tuesday and will most likely be beat up! There are 3 other families on the flight with us, so at least we won’t have the only crying baby.

Getting through customs takes a couple hours I have heard and then we have a reservation for a hotel in LA. So thanks to all who are willing to pray for us and our travel adventures getting home. I don’t know if I will post again before we are home.
Love, Louanne

It’s Sunday again in China and we have had Nadia for a full week now. We can’t even believe that this wonderful, sweet girl is in our family. She only got up once overnight and I was feeling like a new woman to get a solid amount of sleep in one session again 🙂 As we were getting ready to join our group on a tour I picked Nadia up to change her and she felt fiery hot. We took her temp and she was 99.9. We immediately gave her some baby Tylenol and she fell asleep. She also seems very congested now and has been sneezing like mommy and daddy. Something really got Mike and I since we got to GZ and we have just been stuffed up and sneezing, but no coughing or other issues.

We of course skipped the tour and hung out around the room. Nadia’s fever was down by the time she woke back up from her morning nap, but she was not as perky as usual. I ran our laundry over to Susan’s Place by the White Swan and also ordered chops while I was there. The guy tried to get me to buy a million other things, but I had already decided that we were going to spread our shopping dollars around the island. They all sell essentially the same stuff, but some shop owners are more friendly than others. I don’t mind the haggling, but I don’t like the pushy salesman stuff.

We ordered lunch in from Danny’s Bagel again and it was great like yesterday. It’s just so convenient to have it delivered and not pay the room service prices. Once Nadia was up from her 3rd nap of the day we decided to head out and wander around the city because she was doing so well. We had a nice stroll and we bought her 4 pairs of the CUTEST shoes in various sizes. Only one fit her right now, but they were such a good deal that we couldn’t resist. Now I understand why everyone talks about the kids shoes in China. WOW. The chops are really cool too and the fact that they hand carve them for you is really neat.

We borrowed a stroller from Susan’s Place and tried it out with Nadia. She was fine unless you stopped moving. She doesn’t like being in a highchair either, so we just hold her at meal times since she is still bonding with us. Tonight Mike got take out from Lucy’s and I had left overs from my lunch and we just came back to the room. We are on the 21st floor and we have great view from out window. We can see all the neon boats that do dinner cruises down the pearl river. This place is lit up like “Chinese Vegas” and from the other side of the hotel you can apparently see a really cool light show at night with Chinese music playing. We can hear the music, but not see the lights. And the White Swan is just baby central. There are people from all over the world here to adopt children of all ages and all needs. I met a guy yesterday and asked him where he was from and he said, “Crazyville.” I said, “No really.” And he said, “Anyone who adopts a 13 year old boy is from crazyville.” Then he started cracking up and you could just see how much he was in love with the boy. It was really cute and an example of the kind of people we have been chatting with. There are also 3 sets of twins here right now which is fun.

Nadia is so sweet and just wants to explore and examine everything you put in front of her. She tries to scoot her way towards stuff or climb over you if she wants something on the other side of you. She really like to roll around and we have been putting her on her tummy so she can get better at the scooting. Her little back and leg muscles are really getting stronger by the day which is awesome to see.

I think some people might be wondering what kind of condition Nadia was in on Gotcha Day. For one thing, she was just blazing hot and sweaty in the Civil Affairs office. Once we were able to change her, she had the worst diaper rash. I nearly started crying it looked so painful. After 2 days with A&D ointment, we had it all cleared up though. She was very skinny and I could see a couple ribs, but not all of them. Now she has a little pooch sticking out and is eating a good amount. We have decided to just keep her on the formula and rice cereal until we get home and then work on some new solid foods. She doesn’t know how to hold her bottle (which I don’t mind since it’s good bonding time, we just don’t want to leave her with her food like they did at the orphanage) and she doesn’t put it together that she can move food like her Gerber Graduates to her mouth. She just opens up and lets us put them in. Then she makes the cutest smacking noises as she tries to figure out how to use her mouth in this new way. She had a lot of heat bumps on her forehead that looked like big bug bites. She had those in various places all over her body in various stages of healing. The worst ones are nearly cleared up now and the ones on her forehead have gone down a lot. A couple Chinese ladies came up to me and pointed to her head and said, “Hot baby, hot baby.” She had several large scratches on her legs and I can only guess those came from the walkers they put them in. She has bald spot on the back of her head which I think must have been where a large boil was on her head. They are very common for babies from her orphanage and we were told that their electricity goes on and off and they can’t keep the babies cool all the time.

We got the photos back from the disposable cameras we sent to the orphanage and she is cute in the photos of course, but a couple photos show one of those boils smack dab in the middle of her head. It is just a small bump now. I cried when we got those photos back. It was heartbreaking to see her in those photos with all the little metal cribs lined up. But I am glad that we have them and will have them for Nadia when she grows older and asks about where she was until we became a family.

New photos of Nadia are 2 posts down.

To anyone willing to pray – we have a very sick baby in our group and she was Nadia’s crib neighboor. We were given photos of them together at the orphange (holding hands while sitting in their walkers and playing on the floor). They have already been to the hospital once and it was a terrible experience. Please pray for the parents and how rough this is on them. Pray for the healing of the baby so that she is ready to fly home to her new life.

To Karen M – Tell David I am up to 4 so far and P-Mates for the WIN!!!

To Jen & Shell Bell – what can I say, but I love you!

To Joy and Janis – It’s going to be hard for you to get babysitting in because we won’t want to leave her. Hee hee. Can you add a 100 count box on Playtex Drop Ins 8 oz liners to the list? I bought them at Target. Thanks!

To Sindy- I am so excited that you might see your sweet girls face next week. WOO HOO!

To Terri – the joy in your posts makes my heart happy. And upgrading to the executive suite at the WS is worth every penny!

To Kim and Eddie – tell the kids they made my night with their “I love you’s” and the Nadia beach plans.

To all the grandparents – you are gonna love this girl so much! Get ready to snuggle.

To Lina and Jeanette – Nadia LOVES other babies and I know she will love to meet your kiddos.

To all the people of FWPCA – we love you and are so grateful for all the prayers you have covered us with.

To all waiting families – Once we are home I am going to post about all 3 hotels, places to eat & shop and my thoughts on my packing list.

To all who have posted and sent us heartfelt emails- thanks, these will be a joy to share with Nadia when she is older!

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