July 26th, 2011: Picture Day

Today, we meandered through the shops, had one last get together with our travel group at Lucy's, surrounded by all that is stereotypical America - James Dean and Marylin Monroe, Elvis, and...Alf? Posters and framed pictures dress the walls attempting to create an at home feeling for the westerners who stop through for a few days. A menu that covers a myriad of choices from french fries and burgers to pasta to a more Asian fare meets everyone's fancy. It is good to be together as a group again. We have shared a great deal of incredible moments over the last week and now it feels like we have known one another so much longer than that. Each of the little girls is changing so much. Morgan sits at the table with a huge grin while playfully wearing Chris's hat. Stella is eating...everything in sight and giving orders around the table. And little Jenna is a mama's girl through and through....it is so sweet to see how in love she is with her mama. Emma is sleeping....She is still sleeping most of the time with little spurts of time awake.

We end our days' outing bargaining for 7 dresses that match for our little babies and their big sisters. Today is the red couch day and how cute will these Jie Jies and Mei Mei's be? Pretty cute.

We enjoy our afternoon of wandering about from shop to shop and visiting some of the charity organizations' places along the park. But I am distracted. A good kind of distraction. Emma wraps me into her little world and I am happy to just be with her, doing nothing in particular.


Already, she has changed. She watches and her eyes focus on faces more now. Her aspirating is improving slowly and she smiles so much, especially when she looks into her sister's face. She is so, so joyful. She may struggle with following movement with her eyes or focus on objects, but when she looks into my face...she looks so deeply as if there is nothing or no one else in all the world. I love that. I am drawn right into those beautiful dark eyes and everything is right with the world.

The Consulate ~ Congratulations, Emma!

The big day all our months and years of I171H renewals have finally brought us to. The visa and subsequent citizenship of our little Emma. With our paperwork in hand and Emma and backpack readied, we head out to the US consulate for our appointment to approve our adoption, visa for Emma and approval for her citizenship to be granted upon landing in the US.

Nina, Ellie and Gracie stay with Rose and Audrey while we take our little ones for their visit to the consulate.

We gather in the room where an American flag hangs in front and a row of windows with officers of the consulate sitting on the other side peruse families' paperwork. We wait and finally are called to stand and take the oath that we will care for, love and never abandon our new little ones. And then, we are congratulated and there are claps and cheers. This is our final step. After each family is interviewed, we slowly leave the room. We are nearly the last to leave and we leave with a sigh of relief. We are finished. It is official. Now, we await our visas that will be processed and delivered to us in a day or so.

All that is left is to enjoy Guangzhou, relax and soak in more of life with Emma. We head back to the White Swan to find the girls have had a lovely morning out at the pool with Auntie Rose and Audrey. How grateful we are for them. They have been an enormous help and support to us and the other families with us.

And now, we relax and just soak in the rest of our time here.



Pictures from our day:

Touring Gunagzhou

Guangzhou has grown. It is quite a city...much bigger than NYC in both size and population. Today, we head out with Jason and Maggie for a bit of exploring of the city. A tour of an art and craft museum and a visit to a local temple are on our agenda.


Our first stop takes us to the temple where prayers are being given up throughout.

A monk offers up a prayer on behalf of the children. Emma, like every day, sleeps most of the time with little bits awake for a bottle or a bit of reassurance.


The heat is sweltering and Emma doesn't respond well to it. The baby ergo is set aside and the stroller we purchased earlier in one of the many baby friendly shops on Shamian Island is a welcomed help.

We move from exhibit to exhibit taking in the intricate craftsmanship from carvings to paintings to silk embroidery and then we stop and rest by the giant fans and again under trees that bring a welcomed shade.


The heat exhausts us all and I am ready to get Emma back to the hotel for a quiet rest this afternoon while the girls swim with Audrey and Rose. As I have been everyday, I am grateful for my sweet sister and cousin.

Health Clinic

The morning began early with Emma awaking and quietly moving and gurgling in her crib beside me. Like each morning since Emma entered our world, the ordinary and extraordinary intersect. A quiet morning, sun rising, baby awaking, a hot bottle all ordinary everyday routine...this incredible gift, this little sweet one in our lives now- her life and ours so changed. This is the extraordinary. Life with Emma has been just under a week and her progress astounds me. I go about fixing her bottle with only sounds Emma's moving patiently about in her crib and the tinkering and soft whistling of the water boiling for her bottle.

We snuggle up in the chair beside the window for her morning bottle. Like every morning since the day she entered our lives, she stares deeply into my eyes while I feed her with one hand on my arm patting it while she drinks. That she looks into my face so deeply is another of the extraordinary things. Her eyesight so weak and her inability to focus or move her eyes to people and objects hint to her sight challenges. But when you are holding her and she sees your face...your eyes, hers focus with all their energy and without distraction on your face...and make you feel like nothing or no one else exists to her in that moment. This morning, we share another of those moments as she finishes her bottle. I hold her up and soothe her to help the aspirating and watch as the sun slowly turns a dark sky into morning grey that casts a soft early light across the river where the morning boats head out to sea.

Today, we head to the health clinic where it is wall to wall adoptive families with their little ones awaiting their turn to have go through the various checks by doctors. We see three different doctors completing a series of test and exams. After a long morning, we head out for a walking along the gardens and a stop at the Starbucks for scones. We sit out in the courtyard, watching families walking back from the visits to the clinic and we munch on Guangzhou's version of a scone while catching up on our email and blogging. Still a bit of a difficulty here. There is a sense of relief that the health exam is behind us and we have only one more big appointment to go...the consulate. For now, we relax and move slowly as the heat is sweltering.



Nina and Gracie hang out at their own table sipping smoothies and chatting. How wonderful they are able to share this experience together. And how surreal to see them here in this place, experiencing it from a different perspective.

We are off for a nap and a rest until our much anticipated dinner this evening.

Guangzhou

Oh, Guangzhou. We have missed you. We arrive to Guanzhou late in the evening after an interesting flight from Changsha. Our tickets for the flight had our families and children scattered throughout the plane. The dads played a game of rummy with the tickets attempting to get some tickets somewhat near each other.

First flight with new babies completed, we meet Maggie, our Guangzhou coordinator and guide. She assisted us with our first journey 7 years ago and after a long day of travel it was a relief to finally see her and her signature smiling face. Maggie and Jason are the wonder team here with their daily newsletters that include the weather, schedule and upcoming tours or sage advice in all things Guangzhou.

We arrive at the White Swan on the Shamian Island, a adoption friendly little island where adoptive families stay, complete their paperwork and doctor's visit and eat at the best Thai restaurant anywhere outside of Thailand (and Mee Thai in Brooklyn) and Lucy's, a place for all things considered stereotypically American. And of course, shop - shop at about 20 different shops stuffed with squeeky shoes, faux hangbags, baby clothes, artwork, and trinkets for baby and mama.

Beautiful gardens of flowers, ornamental bushes, fountains, and statues of children grace the islands center thoroughfare where couples pose for pictures and children play among the statues and fountains. It is a beautiful place to enjoy for a few days with our little ones.

The White Swan looks exactly like it did 7 years ago with ornate jade carvings and statues decorating the lobbies that surround a waterfall oasis in its center. The Matel baby playroom designed for adoptive families is filled with a few less little ones as adoption isn't as frequently filling the hotel. It is beautiful here. I am reminded of that as we guide our sleepy little group of travelers to our new rooms. Our travel group is spread about on two different floors and the days of hanging out with our room doors open and our girls in their own room is over. We fall into bed with Jason and Maggie's newsletter reporting all the appointments for the following day. Pictures for their visas and a visit to the health clinic promise to make for a long morning.

But for tonight, we rest in our new home for 4 days. I am happy to be here. And sad. I already miss the time in my daughters' province. But I am looking forward to strolling my way to that delicious Thai cuisine down the avenue.

Emma sleeps softly in her new crib. Another change in environment and surroundings. But the important part remains the same...her family. And tomorrow morning, we will return to our routine of a hot bottle and a quiet cuddle with a new view of a new place.

Goodnight from Guanzhou.

Leaving for Gunagzhou, July 22nd

This journal was made and unable to post until now.

It is Friday in Changsha and we are packing our bags. The morning was spent at the Buddhist temple on the other side of town where Daphne took us nearly seven years ago with our Gracie. It was much cooler then, although we thought it a bit warm. Today, it was stifling. And today, we went on our own. Amy, our rep, wrote out the directions and off we headed with the Braddocks and Weinbergs. Awaiting taxis in the entryway to the hotel our friendly gentleman from the elevator who appears at all hours from every corner of the hotel with a giant smile and a heavily accented greeting in broken English, jumped out of a cab nearly bounding toward us with "hello, friends!". He appears everywhere and always with a smile and happy greeting. We jumped in three old cabs and drove across town to the temple. After purchasing entrance and walking the gardens and looking at the hundreds of turtles safely protected within the walls of the temple (no turtle soup for these guys), we found shade while worshipers and monks walked passed barely breaking a sweat.

I stood with Emma under a tree fanning her watching ladies carefully place cut leaves and fruit out in various places in the garden area. They live, eat, and work here inside these walls and their quiet manner drew my attention and thought while I beat off the flies and fanned Emma's face.

So quiet and simple here and the streets outside so crowded and busy. A few nodded at the babies and several ladies inside the small shop selling small jade pieces and incense lit up at the sight of the little ones and played with them, cooing and talking to them, nodding to us and giving us greetings in English. I tried to return my greetings in Mandarin, but I am not very confident in my words, always worried my tones are not correct( and that could be disastrous in some cases.) But they were kind and responded.

After an hour or so in the heat, we grabbed taxis and drove the long hot trip back to the hotel to pack our rooms and head for the airport. It had been a last minute decision to go to the temple gardens, but we had taken our girls to see little of the area they were from and we were leaving so soon.

Now, I hurriedly pack our bags throwing things in every crevice after two hours of organized packing and while I search for the last remnants of our stay here, I get a little sad. We are leaving Changsha, the place we first held both our daughters. And this room and these short 5 days here seem like a lifetime and yet over too soon. I grab the last bag and Emma and we head for the elevator meeting our friends on the way to the lobby. 5 days and we are all so close now, have shared so much and knowing the next leg of the journey, this is the end of a very surreal and precious 5 days...the place we bonded with our little Emma and where she spent her first birthday. We load up in the bus, and Amy shares her last thoughts for us as we drive to the airport. Then, after we present her with a gift of our appreciation, she breaks out in karaoke...on the way to the airport. Her favorite song? Country Roads. And we Americans only knew the chorus while she sings every verse with her lovely accent.

"Country road, take me home to the place where I belong...."

We join in on the chorus while she sings....
She sings every word and then joins the girls in the back of the bus.

Amy is quite the lady. She loves children, loves what she does and has such a heart. A beautiful heart and a beautiful spirit. I give her the remaining half of Emma's birthday cake she had delivered the day before. She promises to eat it as it will mean bad luck for many years for the baby if it is not all eaten, she says. We bid farewell after she has checked us in and she waits at the entry to security to give each of us a hug and final goodbye. What a gift she has been. What a gift to bring families together and make such moments go so beautifully. She says to not forget her and we won't. How could we?

Leaving Changsha means leaving the place where are our sweet daughters entered our lives. It also means leaving a kind of surreal living. Our rooms lined beside each other, our meals altogether sharing the progress of our little ones...no expectations, work or worry. A close knit little group just enjoying our babies. Guangzhou's beautiful island, baby friendly streets of Shamian Island and the community of families at that White Swan will all be a welcome change, but there something I can't really describe that we say goodbye to today. Something beautiful.
Farewell, Changsha...

Big Smiles

Emma smiles. When she does, it lights up the whole room and warms you to your toes. It has only been three days since she entered our lives and hearts. The first day, Emma slept most of the day and her greatest moments were gripping her sisters hand...she smiled only a few precious times and they were not yet the full face open mouth smiles we get now...they were timid....now, when she smiles her whole face and body smile...her eyes twinkle and curve upward into the sweetest smile...her nose crinkles, and her mouth..it opens and the smile stretches her beautiful red lips to show her toothless gums her mouth widely....her arms tighten and her legs kick with joy. When i think of the vacant look when we first held her and now see her eyes open and focus and her little heart have enough security to shriek with joy, I find myself smiling with my mouth wide open too.

Emma Turns 1!

Today, Wednesday July 21st, is Emma's birthday. It is a big day for more than the age milestone, but for the little/big developmental milestones Emma is making. Today, Emma held her head up all by herself for longer than a few seconds. We could see her concentrating, trying her hardest because she wanted so much to interact with the world around her. She lifted her head and watched what it was she wanted so much to see. Exhausted, she put her head back down, but we saw the big step. She did it again and again for longer and longer. Amazing...after three days. Later in the day, a very quiet first birthday of outings to the slim embroidery factory and the park she fell over on the bed while propped up on pillows. I went half way to her to help her up (she had face planted)....knowing she couldn't roll over and struggles to hold her head up, I wanted to pick her up immediately. But I stopped this time. And watched as she struggled and then with a might effort, pushed herself and made a half roll onto her side. Her eyes widened and her little head shook from all the effort and I ran over to scoop her up and give her proud mommy kisses.

Later in the evening the families gathered for dinner in the hotel to share in emma's first birthday and the traditional 1st birthday cake Amy ordered for her special day. I had no streamers or balloons...nit even presents to unwrap for her. We lit the single candle and everyone gathered around her to sing to her. Her big sister blew out the candle and we all had a piece of cake while she sucked down her supper bottle. And we shared in her big birthday victories. It was a quiet first birthday...no big plans...no bells and whistles...but big victories in quiet moments. Not bad for a first birthday!

Thrusday, July 21st, the Embroidery Facotry and a Walk in the park

It is Emma's birthday today and we are off to. A morning of touring and then a quiet afternoon at the hotel. The embroidery factory is a special visit and one we made with Gracie seven years ago. The beautiful silk of Hunan is an endangered art that China is trying to protect. It is increibly detailed and skillful and beautiful. We meander through the embroidery history where both Nina and Gracie seem quite interested in their heritage. The unassuming building is more like a traditional Chinese house that meanders and we meander with it from room to room until find the halls of silk embroidery pictures framed and ready for sale...a dangerous room to find. After an hour or so of families searching fir the right gifts and the right treasures to bring home for their daughters to have someday...we load up and head to the park. The heat is stifling and Emma doesn't have good body temperature control so I am somewhere between a sweat bath and fanning her at the same time. The baby ergo is great on the back, but in the heat it is deathly... Opting to leave the treasured ergo baby next time around.

Nina Ellie and Gracie feed the giant Koi at the funky amusement park and down ice-cream to before heading back to the bus. It is amazing how little outings wear you out so much and we are all ready for a quiet cool afternoon floating between one another's rooms.