Happy 3rd Birthday Chloe "Sun Sun"!!!

We celebrated Chloe's 3rd Birthday today, her first with our family! The day started off with Avery very excited and antsy to show her mei mei the gifts waiting for her in the living room! She of course offered her services in opening said gifts...she semi-politely declined as any good 3 year old would with a quick shove of Avery's helpful hand, away. They do love each other at some points of the day, I need to capture the hugs and kisses exchanged that would melt your heart!

Chloe and I then headed to her first official play date at the home of our friend's the Murphy's with her new friend Jack who is 3 1/2. Jack's mom Amy shared with me that Jack was so excited about our visit and that he told her that he would share all his toys with Chloe, and he would even share his bed! ;) Cute now, not funny about 15 years down the road! ;) They had a great time, Chloe playing with all Jack's cool toys and Jack enjoying feeding Chloe's new baby doll her bottle. They were too cute! Jack and Amy were also so sweet and made Chloe some delicious cupcakes for her birthday! Thanks Murphy's!

Here are some photos from the day! Sorry some are "sideways", this is my first time posting and I am too tired to fix it tonight! :) Good night!

Back a Month and life is good

Time has flown now that we are home, and day to day life has overcome the ability to post very often (or at all). The occasion tonight is that Kendall and I must keep Chloe from sleeping for more than 5 hours since we are taking her to a pediatric neurologist tomorrow morning for an EEG to study the brain and see if there are any signs of the epilepsy she was diagnosed with at one year old. She has (knock on wood) not had a seizure since that time and whatever symptoms she had have been controlled by daily medicine to this point. It is now almost midnight, and Chloe is still going strong-we have played Wii, cards, lettter and number toys, played with beads (Pixos-her dexterity was surprisingly good for such small beads), with the kitchen, computer games, and for a good period of time I have had to pretend to either be hurt, crying, or a baby (what is it with kids wanting to see their parents cry?). The follow up MRI is in early May, but the good news is she can sleep for that one (although she can't eat or drink, and its at 6 am-so much for sleep. To make up for it they will actually have to put her under so she stays still-we'll take sleep anyway it comes).

Anyway, over the past month Chloe has adjusted to us beautifully-she has fit right in and her personality is off the charts. She is a tremendous eater, very playful, and she understands most of what we say now (needless to say her English is better than our Chinese). She is repeating words quite a bit, and knows a few staples with the list growing by the day (good morning, yummy, i love you, uh oh, be patient...wonder where she got that one from...) and most of her words sounds like she is a little Italian (she adds an A in the middle of most words-too cute). She eats just about everything, and has no hesitation in trying new things-the best is when we get one right, as I did earlier this evening letting her try a pop tart-there is no better smile. She has a great sense of humor-surprising us by pretending to pout and then bursting into laughter as if it was the funniest thing ever (and when I say burst, I mean it-she falls to the floor laughing because she lacks the ability to hold herself up when she gets going). She loves to ride bikes and trikes down the street, has just started enjoying riding on a swing (Avery's favorite), loves playing dress up, loves to "talk" on a phone (and anything ill pass as a phone-iphone, deck of cards, banana...and she typically says the same thing over and over-"way...Holly Holly..." which means "Hey...ok..." as if she is having a real conversation). She still rattles off long diatribes in chinese which we have no idea what she is saying, but always get the same response from us..."Yeah?!?"

Avery meanwhile is trying very hard to be a great big sister, and has some moments that make us sooo proud, and then others that drive us off the wall. While most kids have to adjust to a new sibling, Avery's task has been even more difficult because her younger sister showed up walking, talking and able to play with anything and everything. The most trying times are when Chloe picks up something Avery hasn't played with in a decade (yes, I know she is only 5) but at that exact moment it has become the most important toy since the first pet rock. All in all though they are finally getting in a rhythm after a fun week of spring break together-couldn't hve been timed better-capped off by big hugs tonight at bedtime (for at least one of them). Chloe (who still answers to Sun Sun most of the time) has also come around on me, and will let me hold her, give me hugs and will even give me kisses (although when I kiss her she wipes them off without fail...again to see me cry).

Chloe is also getting the wrong impression of her new home-two weeks ago was Easter, where she had four Easter egg hunts, candy out her ears and lots of gifts. This week is her birthday (April 15th) which I'm sure we won't overdue (it would be a first if we didn't). Needless to say, she may be a little disappointed after this week when she doesn't get treats and presents until Halloween.

Well gotta go, 45 more minutes and its getting tougher by the minute-like that guy on man versus food-sure the first 8 pounds of meat are no problem, but the last 8 are when the meat sweats start and you can't feel your appendages...I wonder if Chloe is feeling anything?

Back in the US, Back in the US, Back in the US...well, that's it

We finally arrived home Saturday morning at roughly 7am after just over 24 hours of travel (12 hour flight from Guangzhou to LAX, 5 hour layover and then a 4 hour flight home)-probably wouldn't have been so bad except we didn't leave until 9pm China time-needless to say this did not bode well for the girls sleeping. Thankfully Avery slept nearly the entire trip from China to LA, while Chloe struggled to get comfortable and looked more like a gymnast on the uneven bars trying to get comfy in the airline seats-with Kendall acting as spotter to ensure on several occassions she didn't wind up on the floor. Chloe had a difficult time sleeping, and the crankiness followed suit. We were able to get the girls to fall asleep for a little bit at the airport, Avery on the floor with dad, and Chloe in the stroller) but both were awake the entire trip back from LA to Atlanta. Kendall's mom was nice enough to pick us up from the airport (saw our second "celebrity" at the airport today-Dikembe Mutumbo, the first? Kevin Spacey in China-no kidding"). We arrived home to a stocked fridge with essentials and a few dinners in the freezer waiting thanks tp the kindness of our neighbors, and sum of the yummiest goodies from Flying Biscuit (THE best breakfast place in Atlanta)-I have never had a better muffin (not sure if it was the timing, how good it was, or the combination of both...). As we arrived home, we all wanted to crash but found ourselves chasing chloe and Avery around playing in every room in the house. Chloe ran from the front to the back of the house with the biggest smile, and while I'm not positive, I believe she has played with every toy in the house (she is either trying to make up for lost time, or wants to live the life of a 3 year old all in one day). Dress up, playing witht the stroller, bikes, trikes, baby dolls, etc-she has tried them all. She remains a momma's girl, and while Kendall wanted to take a nap, Chloe would not let it happen without her (Avery fell asleep almost immediately upon being told to hop in bed). We all slept (including grandma Kathy) for a few hours in the middle of the day (6 hour power nap or so) although I woke up earlier to watch Georgia Tech play in the ACC Tourney semifinals they won-Championship tomorrow against Duke tomorrow at 1pm-no one tell Avery, as she is a big Duke fan-don't ask...I'm still working on that one).
I also had time to finally get a chance to read the comments on the blog (remember we were just able to post to the blog, but couldn't actually see it). Thank you to everyone for your wonderful comments and we can't wait for you all to meet Chloe. Anyway, finished up with dinner (enchiladas - thanks to our neighbors), and are trying to get everyone back into bed at a reasonable time-girls are back to playing dress up.

Welcome Citizen Chloe

Today was mostly about getting Chloe sworn in at the US consulate, but we managed to sneak in some play time at the park for the girls, as well as some more shopping. We met at 2:15 and drove roughly 30 minutes to the consulate (it used to be walking distance from the hotel, but was no longer big enough to handle all of the traffic). No pictures are available since we weren't allowed to take cameras (or any electronics) with us up to the 5th floor where all of the swearing would take place-so we just added one with the girls sleeping on the way over. It was a very informal ceremony, shich began with each family being called up to one of the windows (DMV style) and then the entire group being sworn in by one of the 100 or so consulate employess-she had a few interesting tidbits-there were 3,000 children adopted to the US from china last year, and for the first time ever they had more special needs children adopted than healthy babies (roughly 57% of adoptions were for special needs children) and it was amazing to see some of the families that were officially coming together today-one of the families was adopting 2 children (one was a 14 year old girl who was barely adopted in time before she was forced to finish her time as a minor in an orphanage, and their second daughter who was 8 years old who had the most severe clubbed feet I had ever seen)-this marked the 5th and 6th adoptions for this family-truly some remarkable people surrounding us. As we left the building after promising to uphold and defend (on behalf of Chloe) Chloe reached over to Kendall and planted a kiss on her for the first time, almost acknowledging what had just transpired. She then spent the busride home singing a song that she had made up but that we had no idea what it was-turns out she was singing "Daddy is happy, daddy is happy"-a much better result than what i had presupposed.

 

We celebrated by walking over to an Italian restaurant that actually had pretty good pizza, and not bad lasagna. We are getting excited about returning home (we leave friday night) and can't wait for such simple pleasures as drinks with ice, cold milk, and the ability to brush teeth without bottled water. And believe it or not, I can't wait to get chinese food when we get home-trust me-not the same

Red Couches

Adoptive parents stay at the White Swan in Guangzhou for several reason-its 4 star status, its proximity to the US consolate (our visit is scheduled for tomorrow), the Swan (Mattel) room, the giant coi pond for the kids to watch the fish, but the the thing that we look forward to the most at the White Swan are the pictures on the Red Couches. All of the families from our group assembled today to take both family pictures, pictures of all girls together on the couch, and then a giant group picture (although not all of us could fit on the couch, so we shot it in front of the waterfall). Needless to say, it is a circus trying to get kids anywhere from 1-14 to sit still together without their parents long enough to get 1 good picutre (unlike Avery's group which had sub 1 year olds that couldn't move away once we put them down). See the pictures-some great shots of the girls, the family, and some comical trying to get the group together.

Also near Guangzho are quite a few shops that have some neat items to shop for including traditional chinese dresses (as seen in the red couch pictures), squeaky shoes (shoes that squeak when you walk-Chloe was beside herself ecstatic when we put them on-in fact, we don't know if she likes the style, or the fact that they squeak...), trinkets, toys (that last a solid 20 minutes out of the store), silk quilts (handmade) and some other items that are good for future gifts for the girls (wedding boxes, jewelry, etc.). We spent a good deal of time over the last two days shopping and checking items off our list-the best part is usually the price, which although not as cheap as last time (dollar has lost about 15%-20% of its value versus the yuan since our last trip) but is still very reasonable.

We leave Friday and I would say the entire group is ready-despite a wonderful thai dinner, I think we are all ready for the comforts of home-gotta go, more shopping tomorrow.

Monday in Guangzhou (I think)

Woke up this morning to the Oscar Red Carpet interviews, but had to get down to breakfast and ready for our tour before we could watch any awards given out-a very sureal site at 8am in the morning. We had a quick bite in the htoel and then spent 45 minutes waiting for the bus which was stuck in traffic (the biggest complaint of everyone waiting? No one told them they would have time to run to the closest starbucks). We then went to a Buddhist temple (see pictures) with a bigg Buddha and three of the biggest sidekicks I have ever seen (sorry, lost the pamphlet they gave out to dazzle you with little known facts...best I've got-the rumor was this was Jackie Chan's temple, and that he changed his name from Chen to Chan...I can confirm neither).  We spent roughly 30 minutes rushing through and managed to only donate money to the temple without purchasing anything (I'm not sure if I'm getting better or worse at this). We then mosied over to a folk art museum which was in an incredibly detailed building, and had some wonderful art along side of several areas for gifts (for the record Avery and Chloe got stamps with their names etched in them, and Avery received an art set with Chloe getting a little baby doll). We spent some time walking around admiring, but I think we are getting a littel weary of the tours and would prefer some more time to wander on our own (we will be skipping tomorrow's tour of...I forget exactly, but the words I heard on the bus from the guide were "dried seafood"-something definitley lost in translation, but we aren't going to find out). As evidence of the weariness we realized most of the group had already given up the tour and were either playing hacky sack (with some feather stuffed spring action ball-can't do it justice) or had headed off to McDonald's for lunch. So for the second time in as many days, we had McD's (although we ate it on the bus). When we got back to the hotel we invited avery's friend Ainsley down for a playdate since her sister has been battling a fever since the vaccination (hit 104.9 at its peak-great number for a slow jazz radio station but lousy for a four year old's temp)-not unexpected since she receveied 7 vaccinations in one day-criminal. Its also interesting to know that Ainsley's little sister Sienna that was adopted this trip was also spoiled by her foster parent's (good to hear right?) but they way in which she was spoiled is a little strange-her foster parents didn't brush her teeth and let her fall asleep with chocolate on her teeth-not surprising their is a tremendous amount of decay and discoloration-a dentist back in Minnesota has no idea a little girl is going to ruin his weeken in about two weeks. Sienna's trip to the the hospital today was also a little hard to hear about, as her parents said whn they arrived with the guide they said it looked like the site of a disaster and the Red Cross had just popped a tent-people with IVs running into all sorts of the body (the forehead was mentioned) and there were hundreds of people fighting to get seen-they said it would take half a day before anyone could see them-so they bagged it...and this was the good hospital! Thankfully Sienna was feeling much better this evening and her fever is normal. Avery, Ainsley and Chloe meanwhile had a great time down in the Mattel play room for a few hours. We finished with a nice dinner at Lucy's (western style) dining and a nice glass of wine with Ainsley's parents back in their room while the kids continued to play (Chloe was especially happy to play with a baby doll and legos-who knew?).

Mao's Revenge...Arrival in Guangzho

A lot to catch up on, but only a short amount of time to do it tonight as the girls are fighting sleep and I (Todd) am still exhausted from my 4 day bout with Mao's Revence (similar to Montezumas, but with the added pleasures of fever/shivering and complete loss of appetite (darn ice in my Pepsi refill at Pizza Hut of all things). BM (Before's Mao's but the initials probably work on several levels) we were still in Chloe's province Chongqing, with all 34 million people tirelessly moving around there non-stop-the driving remains chaotic at best, snd yet there is a certain language the cars use (I call it horn and speak it fluently) and a big game of chicken that somehow allows it to all make sense. Chongqing is one of the hilliest provinces, and there is little bike riding around the province due to the hills. Chongqing is also home to the "spicy" girls, which according to our guide are girls whose mood changes quickly and they have short tempers, which describes our little nugget to the hilt. We have enjoyed playing games with her and laughing hysterically (she has an amazing sense of humor and will laugh at the drop of a hat most of the time) but can go from 0-60 with a frown in no-time flat. She has truly taken to Kendall, was very attached to our guide Sophie (we were quite fearful when we left Chongqing it would either be without Chloe or with Sophie against her will) and has even warmed up to me a little, but is still very independent and still wants to hit me from time to time (we have learned the words NO and DON'T very quickly in Chinese).

 

So to catch you up on the activities-our second to last day in Chongqing we went to the Fighting Tigers Museum, nearly brand new and a testament to the volunteers from the US military that went over to aid the Chinese Air Force against Japan. It was also a great opportunity to look around at the artist gallery, which included paintings, jade works and several other items specifically placed to seperate the tourist from his dollar (its amazing how there always seems to be the big gallery at every stop...what are the odds). After that I started to not feel well and quit caring what happened so the next few outings went something like this...girls go to dinner, I stay at hotel and sleep but can't get warm...girls go to breakfast I stay home and sleep but sweat through the sheets (and apparently get the bed all 'yucky and germy" according to Avery"), we have to check out of the hotel and go on more tours, something about 2000 year old temple and the people's republic museum (I stayed in the van and slept through both,sweating and freezing- not kidding)-had to check out of hotel which is why I even went. Poor Kendall had to juggle two girls both wanting to be held and Grandma Kathy looking for any Starbucks-not an enviable task, but certainly one made easier by Sophie our guide from heaven.

Once we got to Guangzho we were reunited with some of the families we met in Beijing (although I slept on the plane and on the bus to  the hotel) and were relieved to arrive at the White Swan, certainly the nicest hotel we have stayed throughout this trip. We have a wonderful view overlooking Guangdong ("only" 10 million people) and are only a $3 roundtrip cab ride to the nearest 2 mcDonald's (right across the square from each other, as well as KFC, Papa Johns, and those pesky ice happy Pizza Hutters...). We spent our first day here getting Chloe checked out by physicians with all of the other newbies, and they basically just want to make sure we are aware of the children's health. All of the kids had to get TB tests (we go back for the readings tomorrow-should be a hoot walking back into that building) and several had to get a lot more vaccination shots-apparently when kids are over the age of 2 and in foster care, they get the choice to get their shots-seems logical to ask a 3 year old if they want pain inflicted upon them for their own health and safety why can't they see the logic...

 

We have tried walking around a little-the first day the weather was in the 80's (expected) but the rest of the week will be dipping down in the 50's (not expected, at least for packing purposes-I brought way too many shorts...although thankfully Kendall made me leave the sleeveless shirts at home, sorry, no gun show today). 

Today (Sunday I think...don't laugh, we had an hour long debate about when the actual Oscars would be happening our time) we went one some shopping runs to buy some traditional presents for the girls for when they get older-grandma bout the girls jade, and we got Chloe some pearls to match the set we got Avery 5 years ago-they will be put away and given at special times in the girls lives. We also went down and played in the Mattel Play Room, a room sponsored (as you might imagine) by Mattel that has a lot of wonderful toys, stuffed animals, a tv with dvd, play horses and bouncy balls for the kids to play with...and Mattel also presents each girl with a special Barbie with her newly adopted daughter for each of the kids-both Avery and Chloe received one (Avery also received one last time) and so a special thank you to the good folks at Mattel (in case any one speaks to them this week). We finished the night catching a cab to McD's-have to keep grandma Kathy and Avery fed, and I needed something something familiar to get back on the horse of eating...I'm down about 11 pounds (although I am doing my own calculating from our kilogram scale...heck, I could have gained weight with my math skills) so should anyone ever ask how to lose weight without diet or exercise just answer (as David Letterman said years ago) "that pretty much just leaves disease".

Back soon-thanks for checking in.

Day 2 with Chloe-Update 2

Day 2's big event was having to go back to the office for adoption affairs and officially adopt Chloe now that the 24 hour "Harmonious" period was over-the period of time we had to make sure there were no mix-ups or problems with Chloe. There have been a handful of adoptions over the years that have not been what the adopting family was expecting, and have not gone through, so 2-3 years ago they instituted the 24 hour period. As we went back to the builkding were Chloe's life was thrown upsdie down, she began to get upset again, and fought back tears for most of the time we were there. We had transferred money to the orphanage earlier in the day, but had to bring money to the office for the legal portion. We also were able to purchase a photo/scrapbook of the day's events which included a swearing in ceremony (Kendall and I promised not to beat or abandon Chloe no matter what...seems like a  reasonable request). We also sent hung pao (red envelopes) back with the foster representatives for the foster family and the foster employees. So after that difficult period, we once again walked across the square and went to McDonald's (and Starbuck's for the adults-really roughing it here in China).

 

After tackling a bath this morning, we went to the Chonqing Zoo which had no less than 6 Pandas and several Red Pandas (known here as lesser pandas-that would give anyone a complex)-even though it rained we had a great time, and overheard quite a few funny things from Chloe:

 

When looking at a Siberian tiger she called him a giant panda

 

When looking at a south China Tiger she called him a little mouse

 

She told us to take a picture of a panda, and then when she saw the results said we needed to take another one

 

When she saw some hippos sitting up to their eyes in a pond she said they are already cooked (and they look like soup)

 

She also told our guide  that mommy said she had to take a bath or mommy would beat her (I'm pretty sure we signed something earlier saying we wouldn't do that)-quite a sense of humor on that one.

 

We also went to Wal-Mart to find some shoes for Chloe that don't look like they have been around since WW II, and picked out a few items including a backpack and purse for her (she can now hoard everything in that), some paper to color on, some dvds to help learn english and matching shirts for her and her jei jei.

We also found some shoes at a vendor outside wal-mart, and asked Chloe which shoes she wanted-when we found out they were only a few dollars, we said she could pick two pair-to which Chloe replied "why not three?"

We lunched at KFC and retired for naps-Avery had a tough time waking from that nap, but rallied nicely at dinner-the nicest Pizza Hut I have ever been to. However there are a few differences besides the menu items at Pizza Hut that are different than back home-when we ordered a cheese pizza (well half cheese and half pepperoni) the cheese part came out fine, but the pepperoni side was supreme. We also ordered a Toddy special (for those of you not in the know on that one, it is sausage, pepperoni, and extra cheese and is a staple at both home and on Friday's at Cornerstone) which also came out looking decidely like supreme-yet neither our guide nor our waiter could quite grasp where our issue was...oh well, Chloe loved the sausage (gaga) and went to town-pizza must just be the world's most perfect food because Chloe had never had it befor ebut is a huge fan now.

 

After dinner we walked around the courtyard/shopping area which was absolutely beautiful-christmas type lights were up everywhere, music was playing and hundreds of people were dancing (line dancing) and singing (older people mostly, according to our 28 year old guide). Then it was off to home and bed where the girls passed out fairly quickly, and Chloe for the first time fell asleep without her jacket on (the shoes were non-negotiable however, but at least they were a new pair we bought her for just around the house). Gotta go-bed is calling my name and there is no telling what time this party starts again tomorrow morning!