Here is the video I put together of Dani’s Gotcha Day. It was such a different (and more relaxing) experience to have her brought to our hotel room.

Nadia loved this art Robot in the lobby.

We woke up with the end of our trip in sight! We got up and made sure that our bags were packed, and we headed downstairs for the buffet. After breakfast we checked out and waited around in the Hyatt lobby for the bus to take us back to the airport.

Nadia said she was the queen in this seat in the back of the bus.

The family bathroom in the Seoul airport even had a tiny toilet for little kids.

Once arriving at the airport we went to the Korean Air counter to check our seat situation and the woman said that 10 people bought tickets overnight, but the middle seats were still open with 2 hours to go. We got through security and let the girls play in one of the play areas inside the airport. We boarded the plane first with the other parents of small children and waited to see if anyone would take the seats in between us. They didn’t, so I did a little Snoopy dance in my seat! Our flight took off at 11:35 am on Friday the 14th.

Ready to get home.

Dani happily sat in the seat next to me for the entire flight. She only wanted me to hold her one time, but for the bulk of the flight she was content to sit and play. She slept for about an hour and enjoyed all the meals, snacks and juice that was offered by the flight attendants. She had three small crying fits/tantrums – two when I went to the bathroom and one when I didn’t cut up her tomato fast enough to feed it to her. Amelie sat in the row behind us with Mike and watched movies, colored and slept. Nadia sat on the other side of Dani and watched “Frozen” 6.5 times. She didn’t sleep at all   We landed in DFW at 9:27 am on Friday the 14th, about two hours before we took off. We explained to Nadia about the time change one more time, but I would have rather just said the airplane was like the TARDIS. We got in the immigration line and after half an hour made it to an officer. He scanned our passports, took our brown envelope, from the consulate, and took us over to a waiting room. In the end it took us 2 hours to get through immigration because there were so many people who flew in around the same time as us.

This is what Dani thought of the wait after only having 1 hour sleep.

We were so happy to see Roger and Paula at the airport. They brought our car so we could drive right home.

First time in the car seat. She was asleep before we got 3 miles down the road.

We got home and the girls were thrilled to see all their stuff and their rooms. We took Dani into our room and just laid her down on a blanket by the bed. We didn’t want her to wake up in her room in a new crib and not know where we were. Then the rest of us changed into our PJ’s and took a nap too since it had been a really long day.

After naps we all went into the backyard to enjoy the sun. My friend Sarah and her girls showed up with fresh veggies, fruit and milk and had a little playdate for the big girls. Once they were gone we took Dani into the house to see her room and play in there for a while so she could get used to it. She was really cute checking out all the new stuff in her room to play with.

We had dinner and got everyone to bed. Dani screamed quite a bit in her sleep and jet lag woke us up so we brought her down with us to play for a bit. She quickly found the Radio Flyer car and had a blast giggling and laughing as she played. Then at around 3 am we tried to get back to sleep at least for a little while.

As always, I was SO HAPPY to be home. I was thrilled we made it through the trip with no one getting sick (a first for us on an adoption trip) and it was so nice to be able to sleep on our nice, soft beds. The girls were happy they didn’t have to worry about the tap water any more, which made me laugh and agree with them. To quote Mary Poppins, this trip was practically perfect in every way. We are so grateful for those who have followed along and offered prayers on our behalf.

Goodbye China! Our last morning at the Garden.

We got up on Thursday morning and made sure everything was packed except the final stuff in our carry-on bags. We were amazed to see the sun trying to peek out from the clouds so we went down for breakfast and took the camera to try and get some outside shots. I told the girls to eat as much as they possibly could because we wouldn’t have time to eat again until we were on the flight to Seoul.

Dani wanted no part of this photo because sitting down was not her idea.

The Garden has two cool waterfalls and it was nice that we could see one of them from our room.

After taking some more photos of the Garden with the sun shining we headed back to the room to finish packing. Our guide Lily was waiting for us in the lobby to finish checking out and load up in the van. The girls had been asking for photos by the statues at the entrance and I almost forgot so the three of us ran back in while the driver loaded our luggage.

We got to the airport pretty quickly and said goodbye to the driver. He was really kind throughout the week and even though he didn’t seem to speak English he seemed happy all the time which was nice. Lily helped us get all checked in and walked us all the way to security. At the Korean Air counter we asked about the long flight home and getting two rows if possible. They told us there were open seats so they went ahead and booked us in the aisle and window again on two rows. They told us that we just needed to hope that no one bought the seats in between by tomorrow. I told them thanks over and over and that we totally understood, and we were on our way. We checked our bags through all the way to DFW so we wouldn’t have to touch them in Korea during our 16 hour layover.

Waiting to board our flight to Korea. I went into the gift shop to see how much the airport charged for Amelie’s Panda vest. We paid 70 yuan on the island (about $11 USD). They had it for 300 yuan (about $49 USD)! They also had a guy there making name chops while you wait. They were charging 380 yuan (about $62 USD) for the size we bought Dani on the island for 50 yuan (about $8 USD). Made me feel good about my haggling skills and I know the people on the island still made money

We boarded the plane and had 4 seats together in one row. Dani did fine sitting on Mike’s lap most of the flight. The only issues she had were if he moved her an inch or two to the left or right. The girls were excited to find Frozen on the in flight entertainment and they immediately plugged in their headsets. Korean Air gave all 3 girls a toy and we had lunch on the plane. Once arriving in Seoul we headed to wait in line for immigration.

The girls decided to chill out while waiting in line which made the other passengers laugh.

Once we got to the window and handed over the passports the woman was acting like she wouldn’t let Dani through on her Chinese passport even though we knew she could. Then Mike realized that I didn’t say we were “In Transit” – that was the key phrase to get us through. Whew. I was nervous there for a second. We went through customs after that with our carry on bags and worked our way over the the Korean Air customer service desk to find out about our hotel night. They had all of our documents prepared and the man at the desk said, “Here are your room vouchers and we also arranged for you to have dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow.” I nearly started crying it was such a surprise. We loaded up on the shuttle for the Hyatt and once we got to registration they told us they had two rooms for us so everyone could have a bed. I was once again surprised and then she said she could give us adjoining rooms and that they would send a baby bed up. After they brought the bed for Dani we headed down to eat at the buffet which was delicious. They even had a cake and gelato bar which we went back to three times.

We went back to the room and got ready for bed since we had PJ’s in our carry on and the girls were just so excited that they had their “own” room. I was SO thrilled that we had a hotel room to sleep in to break up the travel home and wish we had been able to do something like this on prior trips. I was so excited to think that we would just have one flight and it would go straight into our home airport.

Before Jaime and Chris left we tried the group shot one more time and Dani looked at the camera. Yeah!

Today started like all the rest – with the breakfast buffet. Nadia told me, “I am really going to miss the buffet when we go home. At home I just have to order from you.” HA! We wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens like we did on Amelie’s trip, but the weather just didn’t cooperate this trip. It was foggy and misting rain all day long. After breakfast we took the girls exploring around the Garden Hotel and took a lot of photos which I am going to put up as a separate blog post. It’s a really cool hotel with nifty decorations.

The girls pretending to take reservations at one of the Garden restuarants.

Our suite had a shower and bath set up that is one big area that you can close off with a door so I put them in the room with Playdoh and let them have at it. The big girls had a blast and Dani was going between looking through the window at them and coming back over to wherever Mike or I happened to be. I started looking at what we needed to pack and googled the cost of overweight baggage on Korean Air and knew we needed to buy another bag. We walked over to Subway for lunch and then I haggled with a street vendor to get us a new bag. We ended up with hot pink which thrilled Amelie and she asked if I bought it for her.

I love Dani getting in the mix here with her sisters. I asked them to try and get all the plastic off our new bag.

First shot of them all looking at the camera (sort of).

After the girls had a long nap they got up and we decided to brave giving Dani a bath in the sink. Our first 2 tries were a major fail because she was hysterical. Even just washing her hair was an ordeal. But we pushed through this time and by the end she calmed down a bit. A little while later I put both big sisters in the tub and she watched them through the window laughing, but didn’t want to watch when they were getting their hair washed. It’s one of the hard parts of being an adoptive parent – you just don’t know what they have been through in their short lives and why things freak them out. But we just keep on loving and trying to help their sweet little hearts.

I went over to the Trust Mart before dinner because I didn’t think we had enough diapers to make it home. What an adventure that was! Complete with a family of beggars desperately trying to get me to give them money saying, “Baby hungry. Baby hungry.” Sure, as if I am going to open my wallet in the middle of a busy China street. The craziest thing at the Trust Mart was that a pint of Hagen Das was $13 USD!!!!! Once back from my trek in the misty rain I heated up water and we had noodles and other food in the room and I set to work packing the bags with Dani’s help. Then it was time for bed on our last night in China.

Dani is like, “Hey people! My shoes are on, it’s time to go. Why are you making me wait?”

The day started with the girls sleeping late and then going down for breakfast. We had a relaxed morning in the room and I ran out to get some food at a little bakery across the street to go with the noodles we were going to eat in the room.

Dani decided to stop screaming every time we got in an elevator

In the afternoon I had plans to go shopping with Ann from Red Thread. Mike stayed back in the room with the girls to have a nap and wait for Lily to bring our paperwork from the Consulate. I gave her my list before we left the Garden and we hopped in a cab and were on our way.  I had so much fun with Ann. We laughed and laughed and she told me that I was a fast walker for a non-Chinese. HA HA! I was on a mission to buy some more of what we purchased in the past and things that I regretted not getting in 2011. First we went to the warehouse part of town that sells toys, silks and hair bows and clips. We started with the silks and I bought one of each size dress going up to teen size for the girls to wear for things like the Chinese New Year party at Chinese school. I also picked up a couple of silk tops for myself. Then we went to the bottom floor to the hair clip place that she took me to in 2011. I totally stocked up for our girls and for gifts!

From there we took a cab over to the area of town where the wholesale jade stalls are set up in a bunch of winding alleys. I wanted to look for some specific ornaments and bracelets for the girls and for gifts. That was really fun because you could tell it was not a place that Westerners usually went. I was asking about different designs and the woman agreed to take us down to her store house underground. Ann told me I was very lucky because most people don’t get to go down there. Ann took several photos of me and she said I was just having fun wherever I went

Way underground. Ann said, “Pretend you got kidnapped.” Then I just started laughing.

Ann and I at the end of our adventure!

After picking up the items there we went to our final stop which was the children’s wholesale district. I picked up a bunch of TOTALLY awesome unique shoes for the girls. Ann told me to stop acting like I liked the shoes so much because she didn’t want them to make the prices higher. Then I picked up some Hello Kitty clothes for the girls and a Batman and Superman shirt for Nadia. Last, we took the subway and after 3 hours of fun I was back at the hotel. Mike said Dani slept the entire time, and the other girls napped and then watched “My Neighbor Totoro” on the Kindle.

I made Nadia laugh hysterically.

And Nadia laughing so hard made Dani laugh extra hard.

For dinner we decided to head over to The Italian Restaurant to have a full meal, not just take out pizza. It was American prices but AMAZING. We started with garlic bread and here was Dani’s face after the first bite.

Then she just kept asking for more!

We had the very best broccoli of our life – even Amelie kept asking for more. Then our pasta dishes came out. The girls and I shared two different dishes and Dani went wild for the Pesto Spaghetti. I finally had to cut her  off because I was afraid she might get sick from eating so much.

We walked back to the hotel and then got the girls into bed. Our trip is almost over and we are all ready for home. Nadia is in dire need of a chance to be somewhere quiet and alone. Amelie is in need of her routine. It’s been good, but on these trips, once the American documents are delivered to the hotel…we are ready to be home.

March 10, 2014. Swearing-in day at the Consulate.

The girls had a HORRIBLE night! They got us up a combined 10 times crying, thrashing or having bad dreams. We blame Pizza Hut! HA HA HA!! We all woke up late and scrambled to get ready for the consulate and scarf down some food on the buffet so we could meet up with our group on time. We loaded up in the van and stopped at the medical place across the street from the Consulate to get some needed copies. Then we walked across the street and went through security at the Consulate. The new building is really nice and super fancy! I started joking about our tax dollars being at work since it used to be inside another office building and it’s now on it’s own land with barricades. We have no photos to show except the one above because we couldn’t take in cameras or even our watches.

We took a number when we arrived at the correct floor and waited for the rest of the families that would be sworn in. We received our instructions and then we took the oath for the kids as one big group. Then we waited to be called to the window to take care of all the paperwork. Once that was finished we went back outside and met up with our guide to take us back to the hotel. We went back up to the room for a bit and changed Dani out of her dress. Later on we went over to Subway for lunch again, because we wanted something quick and familiar and Dani LOVES tuna subs loaded with veggies. She is such a great eater and I don’t want her to lose that once home.

The girls playing on the 4th floor of the Garden after our consulate appointment.

After nap time the girls played in the room and just relaxed after our long night. At dinner time I took Amelie with me for a walk and some mommy time. We saw “The Italian Restaurant” with a take out window just for pizza. I went ahead and order some for us and then took Amelie walking around the streets while we waited. She was so happy to be alone with me, just like Nadia was in Nanchang. After pizza we put on jammies and got our very tired girls to bed.

Dani appears totally comfortable with us now and has a lot of temper tantrums. Here are the reasons we have found that she has them:

• Pick her up, don’t pick her up.
• Put her down, don’t put her down.
• Give her a toy, don’t give her a toy.
• Wave at her, don’t wave at her.
• Kiss her, don’t kiss her.
• Plus 100 other things. You get the idea. It’s so unpredictable that I just laugh.

Here are the times she never has a tantrum:

• Giving her food or milk.
• Putting on her shoes.
• Going outside.

This was given to us at check-in, from the Garden Hotel. I think it’s a really nice touch, and the straw sippy cup has come in handy since Dani doesn’t like the ones we brought with us.

This sign just makes me giggle when I see it.

My Panda and Spidey… oh how I love them. 

After breakfast we went to Shamian Island, because it’s tradition and I wanted to look for some fingerprint paintings and a name chop for Dani. I also found some really COOL shoes for the girls, and I picked up a pink Jie Jie (big sister) shirt and super cool Panda Vest for Amelie. She has been wearing it non stop. The rain stopped and the girls had a chance to run around the island and we took a bunch of photos of the statues around the place. It looks so much like Louisiana on the Island. We had a quick lunch at Subway and then walked around some more until it was time to meet up with our group.

These paintings are awesome and I am glad I had a chance to buy more.

Dani is not a fan of group photos. Here she was just starting a massive tantrum that included some Rockette Kicks.

Amelie loves elephants.

Happy in the stroller with her new toy. Mike got all 3 girls some really cute frogs that are also musical instruments.

Eating makes this girl so happy.

After we left the island we headed back to the hotel and put the girls down for a nap. Once they woke up we headed downstairs to exchange some money and hunt down the indoor playroom. When we found it and opened the door Nadia squealed with delight and said, “I don’t care if it’s small!!!!” Her and Amelie were manic going around the room playing on stuff. They are so accustomed to playing outside for hours at a time creating their own made up worlds that all this hotel time has made them a little stir crazy.

After playtime and talking to another family in the playroom we met up with Jaime, Chris and Sawyer to head over to Pizza Hut for dinner. Mike and I decided that it was the worst service we had ever received in a sit down restaurant. And for China it was sort of a surprise since they usually have exemplary service. It got so extreme with us trying to flag down help that Jaime and I finally gave up and went to the 7-11 downstairs to buy drinks for the family. The staff didn’t seem to notice or care. Mike ordered a drink that never came and after I flagged down a few people we got a piece of cake to go for Jaime. I can’t help but laugh about it because it was like they had the most apathetic staff in China.

By the end of all that the girls were beat and we decided to skip showers and put them to bed since we had to be ready to roll early in the morning for the Consulate appointment.

Dani kept herself busy putting her socks on and taking them off.

The day started with the breakfast buffet of course. Then we came back up to the room to make sure we had everything we needed for the medical exam. Dani didn’t freak out when we got in the van, but she did scream in the elevator when so many people got on. We knew that she was going to flip out during the medicals because you go from room to room and she just likes things to stay the same. She was so hysterical that the doctors and nurses ended up laughing. She had a female doctor, but for you adoptive parents reading the blog, I did see the male doctor that seems to have done 10,000 medical checks over the years

“Don’t you people know I don’t want to be weighed and measured?”

Accepting some comfort from Mommy after some of the drama.

They move the kids from station to station to have each item checked. So she would freak out, calm down, freak out, calm down. Then in the middle of that Amelie didn’t like something Nadia said so she sucker punched her in the belly. Nadia moved to another seat and then Amelie started crying because “Nadia doesn’t want to sit by me any more!!!!!!!!!!!!” Oh mercy. After the medical clinic I had to go with the other parents to do paperwork to get ready for the consulate appointment. I grabbed lunch for us from the deli in the lobby and it was nap time.

After the nap the big girls did their sticker books and colored a lot. Dani went back to putting socks on and off. She grabbed Amelie’s at one point and had two socks on each foot.

To make things easier I ran over to McDonald’s to bring dinner back to the room. I started to put my shoe on and Dani flipped out and had a full on tantrum. Thrashing all over the floor and kicking the furniture. At that point I knew she was comfortable with us

Group photo before leaving Nanchang. No cooperation from Dani  

Nadia and Dani when they first woke up.

Play-Doh was a big hit for the big girls when we were trapped in the room due to rain.

The girls and our guide Maggie in Nanchang.

The girls got up at about 6:30 and we went down and had breakfast. Then we returned to the room to make sure everything was packed up for the airport and trip to Guangzhou. We got checked out and took some photos in the lobby and then loaded up into the van to go and get the babies’ passports. Then Maggie took us to the airport and helped us buy a lap ticket for Dani and it was time to go through security. They were super strict because of the train attack in Kumming last week and wouldn’t let us take the stroller to the gate or let Jaime take a milk box for Sawyer through security.

On the flight we got split from Amelie and Nadia. They were on the same row, but with other adults in between; Mike and I had the aisle (with Dani in Mike’s lap) and the girls had the window seats. There was an incredibly nice man sitting next to Amelie and he helped her open her water and even peeled her orange at meal time. On a side note, it’s just amazing that the Chinese airlines will give a drink and meal on an hour and ten minute flight. And as we have found on every flight in China, the Chinese eat really fast and they zoom through the cabin to collect the trash before I feel like I have even started.

Dani did well on the flight. We were totally expecting her to flip out because she doesn’t seem to like any sort of change at all. But she seemed okay while we were waiting to take off. When it was time to take off and she started to get fussy I pulled out some snack sticks and handed them to her one at a time. That distracted her enough to keep her from getting upset. By the time we landed, however, she had missed her nap and you could tell she was very sleepy.

They all fell asleep in the van on the way to the hotel.

Our guide, Lily, was waiting for us at the airport with a van and helped us all get checked in at the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou. After we had taken our stuff to the room, Lily took us on a whirlwind tour of the neighborhood stores and restaurants. After that we were beat and so Mike and the girls stayed in the room and I ran over to Pizza Hut for take out. I love the Pizza Huts in China because they set them up like an Italian restaurant at home with a full menu of items. I also ran by 7-Eleven for some milk and cokes.

Playtime in the hotel room before bed.

After dinner we got our bags unpacked and the girls settled in for bed. We were all beat but so happy to be in Guangzhou for the final stretch!!

Sisters looking at the crowds and cars below.

Here are some tidbits about Dani:

• She hates the elevator. I mean HATES it. Screams and cries for the entire ride. Doors open, you step out, and she stops.
• She loves her shoes that we brought from Texas. LOVES her shoes. She wore them over her footie jammies today and didn’t want to take them off for her nap.
• They have these “milk boxes” here that she sucks down in no time flat. Zoom and the box is empty.
• She likes all food so far except congee and carrots. Every other thing from veggies to cookies she has loved.
• She opens her mouth so wide to take a bite. It’s really, really cute.
• Her little voice is adorable. We are hearing it more and more as she gets comfortable with us.
• We saw more of her personality today. She showed us a little mischievous side and a stubborn side. Plus an actual tantrum.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcc5HRlQLhg

This was about 24 hours after meeting Dani.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOVLKGW_LQo

This was taken on 3.06.2014

Pretending to give Daddy food.

The day was very mellow for us because it was cold and rainy outside. In the morning we basically watched Dani play She is so meticulous and curious about the toys we brought. Mike put a coloring book in front of her and gave her a twistable crayon and showed her how to color. She didn’t like that and instead set up a couple stacking cups and grabbed an empty soda bottle and some of the crayons. Then she proceeded to pretend to pour some of the bottle into the cups. After that she used the crayons to stir and then pretended to paint on the coloring book. She looked exactly like an adult artist. It was so cute! A little while later she had the bag from the crayons and she would unzip it, empty the bag, zip it, fill the bag, zip it and repeat the entire thing. This went on for over an hour with her trying all kinds of combinations of crayons.

I knew that Nadia was in serious need of some “Mommy time” so after getting the big girls a bath I took her with me on a walk. We bundled up and borrowed an umbrella from the hotel and headed out. She talked to me every single second that we were gone. We needed to cross the street at one point and I asked to stop talking and hold on tight. We ran across the street, stopped in the middle and then ran the rest of the way. She screamed at the top of her lungs the entire way because of all the horns honking. Once we crossed the street she said, “We’re not Chinese Mom! We should have just taken a cab back!” We picked up more diapers and lunch and went back to the room. I didn’t take any photos of our adventures because it was raining and we were dodging so many people on the sidewalks.

Trying so hard to get her shoes on.

The girls had a nap and Dani didn’t cry at all when Mike laid her down. We gave her a bath when she woke up and she screamed like crazy, but she really needed to get clean. The rest of the evening all the girls played and we just watched. We ordered room service for dinner and I started packing up our stuff since we were going to leave in the morning. Dani was a lot more relaxed with us all day and let me feed her and hold her a little bit too.

*PS for those who have been praying for Amelie. She is getting a little better each day with the jealousy. We just keep hugging her and telling her how much we love her.