Pictures

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. I asked Little T to throw her diaper away and she threw it in the toliet - hence the diaper in the toliet picture. We'll have to remember to keep the toliet lids closed.

Visa Picture, Medical exam and Red Couch

Yesterday was busy with the visa picture and medical exams. Little T did fine until they laid her down to be measured and weighed. She didn't like that one bit. She also didn't like it when they tried to stick a tongue depressor in her mouth. Notice I said tried! She clenched down her teeth and wouldn't let anything in her mouth. She does that when I brush her teeth too! She weighed in at around 20 pounds. We also took our group pictures on the red couch. Our travel mates little girl is just precious and when we sat them together she took Little T's hand.

She is starting to sound a little better - still congested though in her chest. She's also becoming a little bit more vocal - no words yet though. Her little smile will brighten up the room and her laughter is just too precious. We are so in love with this little munchkin!!

Last night we ate at the Cow and Bridge again. I had fried rice with pork and L had some dish that was very spicy. He ate most of it and I tried some too. The other day when we went to the pearl market we also went to a Chinese restaurant. It was pretty interesting. L tried everything and Little T ate everything I gave her. When we finished L asked if we could stop by McD's. hehe - he tried everything but didn't like much. I did too but ended up going pretty hungry!!

Today we are going to a park and then meeting some friends at Lucy's for dinner. L isn't going - he said today is a "free day" and he wants to sleep in.

Blogger is giving me a hard time posting pictures - I'll try again later.

Amusement Park and Pearl market

Yesterday we decided to be brave and go to the amusement park Chimelong paradise. We had to ride 45 minutes in a taxi which was fun in of itself! Very interesting to watch the people drive. Where there are 2 lanes they will make 4 lanes! Bikes, motor scooters, cars, and people all share the same road.

We got to the ausement park around 12 and it was very busy. L had to wait an hour for the most popular ride - a roller coaster that inverts 10 different times! After that we walked around and rode quite a few more rides. People came up to us and would ask about Little T and say that she looked Chinese! We also had our picture taken quite a bit. I have a card that I wear around my neck that explains that we are Americans here to adopt Little T and that she is from Dongguan City. Once they read that they understand. We were just about the only Americans there. Oh - one more thing, while waiting in line it was not unusual for the kids to try to get ahead of us. J and L went on a water ride and said that about 10 people got ahead of them when they let 1 person go. When I was in line with L I didn't let anyone get ahead of us.

Little T enjoyed the park also. A parade went by and towards the end they put a ton of little streamers in the air. Little T would grab these off the ground after they fell and put them in the trash can. This occupied her for at least an hour! She's very neat and knows to wipe her face and hands after eating.

The park started to close around 7 pm (on a Saturday!) so we headed to the exit. We got a taxi again but this time he wanted to charge us almost twice as much as it cost to get there. We paid 80 yuan to get there and he wanted 150 to get back. I told him no and he says 120 and again I told him no and started to walk away. He then yelled out the window 100 and I said fine. The trip back was just as interesting as going with the cars and all.

Today we went to the Pearl market where I bought 3 strands, one for me, one for T and one for our granddaughter. I'll give T hers either when she gets married or turns 18, I'm not sure yet. I also had to fill out some more paperwork for the adoption today.

Little T is really starting to show her little personality. When she doesn't get her way she'll cry and she loves to laugh. She has such a sweet laugh and her little cry just breaks my heart. When she puts that pout face on she can have anything she wants!! She's already spoiled!!

City Tour

This is the bed they used to sleep in 100's of years ago. The mattress was wood and the pillows were made of porcelain!!




This is our travel mates little girl!



Today we went on the city tour. We visited the Chen house where I got some paintings, another temple with a pagoda, and a shopping area. At the shopping area I got a beautiful hand painted tea set, a bottle with 100 children painted on the inside and a beautiful marble screen with the 4 lucky ladies of China hand painted on it. Sorry Big T - I just couldn't help myself. They were beautiful. I could have spent more than I did but L kept telling me we are broke!!

After we got back Little T took an hour nap and then we went swimming. The little 2 piece swimsuit I put on her is too big and she kept showing her little crack to everyone, just like her daddy!! She loved the water, kicking her feet and putting her face in it. I hope Big T got the pool fixed because it looks like we'll be using it quite a bit this summer.

Little T has not cried today at all. She is very happy as long as I hold her or she can see me. If someone else picks her up she will start to cry. Last night I went potty and shut the door. She sat right down and cried those big alligator tears! Poor baby!

We leave in one week. We can't wait and wish we were leaving tomorrow! Today's weather was beautiful and I hope it is nice tomorrow too - we've seen enough rain!

Zoo Visit

We all (well, not me) slept until 7:30, got up, ate some breakfast and met our group for our zoo visit. I'm glad we went at 9:30 because within 1/2 hour of walking around the zoo my head was soaked! ugh - it's hot and humid here! Nothing like back home. We saw elephants, bears, pandas, lions, tigers, girafes, monkeys, rhinos, and a hippo. They were all laying down though because it was just too hot to do anything else!

Oh - here's the poop, I mean scoop on the poop. Little T is a perfect match for our family because from day one she has been full of it! Infact, she pooped 3 times today. Her daddy will be so proud!!

For lunch today we went to a new restaruant - Lucy's! Oh wait - we've been there! Actually, we just had some onion rings and fries because we were going to meet some of our group at the italian restaurant. Yes, I wrote that right - we went to an Italian restaurant here on Shamin Island in China - how funny is that?!! It was actually very good.

Little T is doing great. She did grieve a little today during her nap. She cried for about 20 minutes and kept her eyes closed the whole time. Poor little thing - I ended up just holding her and rubbing her little belly. Other than that she smiles most of the time. She has the cutest little personality - loves to play games! Right now she is playing with her glow worm - by stepping on it so that it plays music.

This morning I had L put her shoes on and when we got to the White Swan I looked down at her feet in the stroller and busted out laughing...he had them on the wrong feet!!! Oh my....

Tomorrow we are going to go on the city tour in the morning and then relax in the afternoon. I think we get to go to the Pearl market on Saturday or Sunday - I can't wait!!!

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment!!

Better late than Never!!

Sorry everyone! We've been busy with appointments. Yesterday we had 2 interviews. They asked me if I was happy with T - umm...yep, think so!! They also asked why Big T didn't come and if he agreed that we adopt her. It wasn't too hard to explain why.

Today we went to get her passport. She did very well for me. She loves her squeaky shoes and will run the minute I put her down. We also ate some local food tonight. It was very good. J had the noodles and I actually like them. Little T did too - she eats so well. Anything I give her she'll try.

She is coming out of her shell now. It's great seeing her laugh! Every where we go people comment on how good she is and how tiny she is. Like I said, she is wearing 12 month clothes - very small. We'll work extra hard to get some weight on her! She's not talking yet - just some little grunts and laughs. I learned tonight that she knows cantonese and not manderian. Hmmm...no wonder when I say boo (no in manderian) she just looks at me and smiles!

Oh - would you like to see some pictures of our little cutie pie?? Well, I guess I'll go ahead and show you some.

Litte T running to me




Big brother playing with me - see that tongue? Wonder who she reminds me of D??!!



This is L - she is the beautiful daughter of a friend I met on line and now in person. She loves hats! This is her smile when I put the hat on her head:

And this is what Little T looks like when I put the hat on her...not too happy!!

Here's one last picture - our angel sleeping! Everyone say awwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!

She's in our Arms!!

What an amazing day! We spent the morning walking around the island and getting a foot massage. Then we met our guide and the other family and traveled over to the Civil Affairs office where we went up to the 8th floor. There is a little play room there and there were nannies and babies playing. We couldn't see anyone but we could hear them. When our turn came they walked Little T out. She just came to me and just looked around. No tears, no nothing. She's very quiet and very very tiny. After signing some paperwork we went back to our hotel and I showed her the stacking cups which she absolutely loves. She also loves her glow worm!!

She's very tiney - wearing 12 months and she's also already had her heart surgery. This occured a few months ago.

Okay - I know what you guys want! Pictures!! Here you go!

Last day in Hong Kong

Yesterday we went on a tour with our CCAI group. We visited a fishing village, a jewelery factory, a shopping area and Victoria Peak. It was all fun and we enjoyed ourselves. Before our tour we went to a Dim Sum lunch. This consisted of may different types of dumplings. Some had shrimp in them, some beef, and one even had some crab eggs on top of it. L wouldn't even try that one. They also served some sweet and sour pork along with some fried rice.

At the jewelery factory I was looking at some jade for Little T. L kept coming over to me and saying "no mom...we're broke mom...no, she doesn't need it". I was really thinking about getting a bracelet for her and as I'm looking at it another salesman calls L away from me, puts his arm around him and whispers something in his ear. I thought he was just getting him away so that I would maybe buy the jade. I ended up NOT buying it and as we got on the bus I asked L what they guy said to him. He just smiled and said he that his fly was down! hehe....that's my L!!

Right now we are in Guangzhou waiting out the rain. Our flight over was very short, just 30 minutes! We are staying at the Victory and I'm so glad we got a suite. It's nice and roomy. It has 2 separate areas, one bedroom and the other a sort of living room. J and I just finished up getting the money and gifts ready - oh, I ended up buying some more lotion while in Hong Kong. Our guide said that would be fine.

I've got so many pictures (yes, I bought a card reader yesterday for 10 bucks - great prince)that I've decided to put them on flicker. Just click here for the slideshow or here if you want the thumbnails.

Tomorrow we get Little T!! We are sooo excited.

Kowloon Tour and What else did I forget??

Today we decided to splurge and do a tour of Kowloon since we tour Hong Kong tomorrow. We visited a Buddist temple, Kam Tin Walled Village, Lok Ma Chau Lookout (we were able to see China from here), the Wishing Tree, and a jewelery factory. Calm down Big T! I only spent a little. L kept telling me to remember that we were broke! You taught him well!!

For dinner tonight we decided to get adventerous. Oh man - that was fun. We were seated and noticed right away that there were only chop sticks. Then we were served tea, our drinks, and some peanuts with a side of some type of hot sauce. J tried the peanuts with the sauce and almost lost it the sauce was so hot. She even used her chopsticks! I was so proud. After we all decided what to get (hey Big T...guess what I was going to get?!!) we sat there and played with our chopsticks and waited...and waited....and waited...and, yep, you guessed it, waited some more. At one point I looked down at the plate in front of me and noticed a live fly on its back...lovely! Well, after we waited some more we decided to just forget it and leave. I told L to finish up his drink and went to say something to J and she was gone!! That girl booked out of that restaurant so fast and left me and L just sitting there with our jaws dropped. We finally ended up at another restaurant and then came back to the hotel. L is already asleep and we will be following closely behind. Tomorrow we tour Hong Kong.

I know you guys want pictures but as the title of the post foretells I forgot the card reader! I'm sure someone in my group has one but I'll have to wait until tomorrow. Oh, I also forgot all of the gifts at home!! Hey you BTDT folks - what am I going to do?? I'm just a tad bit stressed about that. Any suggestions?

Shops and Drivers

It's amazing to me how we can go into one small doorway and it opens to a whole new shopping area. You would never know that there were many different shops in a building just from looking at the outside. We are in Kowloon with Hong Kong Island across the bay.

This morning I woke up at 4 with J following quickly around 4:30. We just laid in bed wide awake and talked and giggled until L finally woke up. Once we all took showers we went down to breakfast which was very good but pretty expensive. We will NOT be eating there tomorrow! After that we started to explore. We walked down by the bay, watched the boats, and learned Tai Chi (well, we attempted to learn it!) There were not a lot of people around at 7 or so am. We ended walking down to the end by the ferries and went into the New World center which is just a huge shopping mall. Of course, it was before 10 so nothing was open. After cooling off for a bit we ended up going back to the hotel.

Around 12:30 or so we ended up walking back outside and all the way back to the New World Center. We ate lunch at McD's (yeah - I know, not very adventerous yet!) and looked around abit. L wanted to go to ToysRUs to check out how much a WII would cost. He was surprised that it was actually more than what it would cost in the US. He then looked at the Xbox 360 and saw it was less than it would be in the us.

We came back to the hotel again and took a quick nap and went back out for a bit in the evening. The traffic here cracks me up. I swear that J almost got hit a few times. There doesn't seem to be any type of speed limit here and the cars, taxis and buses zoom by you. We've learned pretty quick to run across the street and pray that you make it. I'm told that this area is pretty tame and nothing compared to mainland China. Hmmm....I'll have to hold J's hand walking across when we get there.

Tomorrow the rest of our group will get in. We have to check out of our room and then check back in. On Saturday we tour Hong Kong and Sunday we fly to Guangzhou so we can finally get Little T on Monday!!!

Sorry no pictures. I'll take more when the group gets here.

Hong Kong!!

Well, we made it to Hong Kong after a day long day of traveling. All 3 of us are pretty tired and getting very silly. We are at the Regal Kowloon and went for a little walk around tonight. There is so much going on even here in this little block!! I think there was a 7-11 on every corner. There were a few Starbucs and an Outback. Feels like home. L cracked me up though. While we were walking it kept going "ewwwwwwwwwwwww" it smells like turd, then his very next step he'd say "oh, now it smells like sweet tarts" and then on the next step he'd say "nope, now its turd again." I tried to warn him that the smells would be different here.

Poor J had a rough trip over. I think she got sick once and her head was killing her. Plus we weren't able to sit together on the plane. I'm hoping we can when we fly to Guangzhou and then back home. She cracked me up on the train over from the airport. She said that she has to keep reminding herself that in less than a week we'll be 4 instead of just 3! :) J is a trooper and I just love her to death!!

L slept a lot on the plane. Not only that but he slept ON ME! He would put his pillow on my shoulder and lay his head down and sleep. At one point he even drooled on me! yuck! I really didn't mind though - he's 15 so when I get a cuddle like that I grab it! Right now he's watching tv and about asleep. It's almost 11 at night here so I'm going to sign off. Tomorrow we'll check out the weather and if it looks good we'll head over to Guangzhou and check that amusement park.

Itinerary for China

Ok everyone, here's the where and when of our China trip.

June 10th - Fly to Hong Kong
June 11th - enter Hong Kong (6:50pm)
June 12th - possible amusement park - tour Hong Kong on our own
June 13th - meet with travel group
June 14th - tour Hong Kong with group
June 15th - fly to Guangzhou
June 16th - Little T day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 17th - paperwork (registration/notarization)
June 18th - passport for Little T
June 19th - physical
June 20th - FREE DAY!
June 21st - FREE DAY!
June 22nd - notary certificates
June 23rd - FREE DAY!
June 24th - receive passport
June 25th - Consulate appointment
June 26th - take train to Hong Kong
June 27th - fly home

Whew - that will be a very long trip!! Here it is almost midnight and I'm still up doing last minute things. I'm all packed, documents are ready, got tickets and reservations, so it looks like I can go to bed and try to get some sleep...yeah right!!

4 more days!

That's 4 days until we leave to go to China and get Little T!!! Wow - this week has really flown by. We've been busy getting ready for the graduation party tomorrow, busy getting ready for the trip, just plain busy!! L has baseball on top of all this so we are out in this awful heat cheering him on. T graduates tomorrow at 9 am (thank goodness it's early and it will only be about 80 out). Then everyone is coming to the house for the party! The pool is ready, the deck is ready and we're ready.

I also got his graduation gift today. I think he'll be very surprised. I can't say what it is here because he checks the blog out but I know he'll like it - plus I'm going to take it to China with me...!!

Big T said he'll be lonely for the next few weeks without us...yeah, right! He's going to putter around the house, paint Little T's room a very pretty pale yellow, set up her crib, and enjoy the peace and quiet while he can. I just set up a short cut for him for the blog so he can keep track of it. I named it "T CLICK HERE!" - he can't miss it! :)

Ok - time for another ballgame and then back home to vacuum one last time!

So Sweet