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! 

 

Quick update-Day 2 with Chloe

Day one ended with a scared and timid Chloe asking us to put all of her clothes (including the shoes and coat) back on her to go to bed, but then not letting us put her in bed. She stood at the end of the bed leaning her head on the bed until she fell asleep. It was at this point we took off her coat and shoes (which was a tactical mistake) but later when she woke up she wanted everything back on and made a beeline for the door, but fell asleep on the coauch with Kendall sleeping on the floor in case she fell off the couch.

When she woke up the next morning she was back in the bed (a good sleeper, she slept until almost 7-Avery is still waking up around 5ish here in China). We finally started to get some smiles and laughter as we played some silly games with the water bottles and mimicked her movements-she has quite a little personality and is going to be a wild child...or as the locals say "spicy". She has taken very well to Kendall so far, and thinks BaBa is "silly" but also a "smelly rooster" (through our translator)-we are not sure what presence a father figure has had in her life, but she is still a little leary of dad (anyone who knows me is nodding their head that this is probably the right move). She is a little more likely to hit and we have repeatedly had to remind her to be gentle. She is a very good eater, and tried nearly everything at breakfast, lunch and dinner (chicken, toast-she ate with a fork, eggs, rice, banana, pork, congee-rice soup, cheerios, turnips-our guide had her try that, ice cream-shocker, and several other chinese type foods that our guide threw her way). She is also very meticulous about cleaning up after herself, and keeps all of her things in a little corner of the room. We also discovered that she had a little "walking money" in her pockets and keeps her berets in them at all times when not in her hair. She knows how to brush her teeth, chew gum (found that one out accidentally-she came across a pack of Avery's gum and helped herself), and took a bath very well-even let us lotion her. She was obviously taken very good care of, and taught very well. Off to breakfast-more in a bit

Gotcha Day for Chloe

Well, after 3+ years of waiting, dreaming, hoping, paperwork, and more waiting we were finally blessed with Chloe Xue Shan (pronounced Sway Sun much to our surprise), who arrived a little late at the government office, but aparently fully briefed about what was about to happen as she was very sad and scared and didn't no what to make of the situation. We had the opportunity to spend probably 30 minutes with her at the government office (adoption service in the afternoon, foreign marriages in the morning), where she sat quietly but cried most of the time, and was also battling a runny nose (wiping a 2 year olds nose constantly is no way to make friends with said two year old). We asked the foster representatives a little about her likes, dislikes, etc. and found out her schedule (still naps, good sleeper), likes rice and pork, a little about her history (she was with the foster family for nearly 2 years which is why this is so hard on her), she is a big fan of TV so she and I will get along fine...Avery has also been super about her new baby sister, and immediately handed Chloe her dog-the first sign of life we had from Chloe was playing with her puppy with Avery. We then took her to McDonald's to try and get her a treat and she was a big fan of the ice cream we had (and if you thought we drew stares with one Chinese daughter, you should see the stares with two and one scared out of her wits).

She arrived at the office wearing the pajamas we had sent her, a sweater and flannel pants and a ski jacket...and it was 60 degrees out today (this is apparently commonm with the chinese and their children)-what is even funnier is when we got her back to the hotel room and started to take off the jacket, sweater, pants and shoes, she kept fidgeting with her pajamas until she finally told our interpreter she was cold, and proceeded to put everything back one by one and then announce to us that she would like to go outside (probably the best way in her mond to find her foster family...all pipes lead to the ocean). She also staryed to cry and finally told our guide that she had to go potty and no one was doing anything about it. Our guide could not have been more helpful (this being roughly her 400th adoption or so) and took us to some chinese fast food and proceeded to mix rice, eggs, pork ad corn much to Chloe's liking-fantastic eater (Avery made me run down the street to get her fried chicken for dinner, and is still waiting for our first trip to subway in the Chongqing province). After dinner we came back and tried to get everyone ready for bed, but Chloe had other ideas-she didn't want to remove any of her clothes, but did an excellent job of brushing her teeth (Avery showed her like a good big sister) and she took to it very well (excellent spitter, if that is something you can compliment a 2 year old on). As we tried to focus her attention on bed, she would get as close as putting her head on the bed while standing beside it, but would not climb in-she finally passed out in Kendall's arms (with everything on) and we were finally able to get her down to her PJs and sweater (don't want to freak her out too much). I'm attaching photos so hopefully they will show some of the good and bad...my mom was excellent about getting all sorts of the camera work done today.