She's Chinese not stupid.........

Ahhhhhh, I needed a good laugh.
Today while getting lunch ready, Alex was in her high chair and wanting something we were not going to let her have.
CANDY!!!!! She had spotted the glass bowl on the counter that we shamefully keep stocked with candy.
I commented to Darcie, "How does she know that's the candy?"
Darcie's reply, " Honey, She's Chinese not stupid....."
I am still laughing at this moment.

Alex's first play date

Today friends of ours, Jodie and Allison, brought their little boy Cameron over to meet Alex.

They got along famously and we took them to the park to play on the slides and swings...As you can see they got along great.

Insomniacs anonymous

...what's worse than an insomniac three year old?????

No seriously, someone please tell me...
The bug woke up around 1 this morning and is still wide eyed and wired at 20 minutes til 5 am....I was hoping mama would get some more sleep but not gonna happen. I been up with the bug since I was awake too.....I guess we are all trying to get over the jetlag.......
PS, thanks to Margie for the little cell phone......I have heard that thing about a million times this morning.........just wait til yours gets home, she'd getting a drum set from Uncle Dan

ahhhh Detroit

...never thought we'd be glad to see Detroit Michigan, but we are.....
After a 12 hour flight from Tokyo and Alex being the only one who got any real slep on the flight we are now sitting in the Northwest Lounge waiting on our 9:43!!!!!!PM!!!!!! flight outta here.....Gary and Wendy, we owe you guys some really good coffee....
Alex is wired go figure and making new friends all over the place. Gonna have to watch her....
no pics to add to this post, right now mama, babba, and popo are just trying to stay awake long enough to climb on the last flight.........

Red Couch Day, Last Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently there is some red couch here at the rich swan, I mean White Swan that is a tradition for families to take pictures on. We dressed Alex in her finest traditional outfit and took her down with her new friend Sedina, daughter of Mike and Angie......

And I think Alex has figured out she is either going to be a ear nose and throat doctor or a gold miner, not sure which.......

Can we come home now?

It is our second full day here, and we are ready to come home. I know most people love the White Swan, but we are finding it hard to follow the "rules". First thing this morning, Dan loaded up 2 bags of laundry to take down the street. He waited down stairs for his Mom to bring hers and decided to sit on the steps out side. He was immediately told to move. Later, we went to the pool with Alex. Once again, Dan the rebel, got in trouble. He got in the pool with his shirt on!!!!! Needless to say we don't have warm fuzzies about the hotel. I will say the the lobby is a thing to behold. I'll take pictures before we leave.

As for Alex, today she had her physical which was fine. They seemed very concerned about her feet and spent a lot of time poking at her back. She did great and laughed during the whole exam. However, when we got back from the exam, Alex points out to me that her lymph node on her neck is swollen. She doesn't have a fever, but she seemed to indicate that something in her mouth hurt. I don't know is she has a tooth coming in, or something else wrong.

We did have a bit of a 3 year old day. She threw her usual tantrum for the stroller ride but thankfully it didn't last long. She had her first time out today too, she hit me in the nose and I told her NO which she laughed at and then tried to hit me again. Well, I moved her off my lap, and made her sit on the bed beside me. She cried like I had just killed her best friend. Later today, she was playing with Dan and when he told her NO because she was trying to write in a book, she cried. I guess the 3 year old had to come out eventually.

Well, after all that, here are some adorable pictures.



Alex wearing her first traditional outfit. This one isn't silk, but still cute.

Us eating dinner at Lucy's. It is an "American" style restaurant near the hotel.

Alex in the play room at the White Swan. She is wearing BaBa's favorite shirt.

Laughing at Baba...he is SOOOO funny.

And...finally...just being too darn cute.

park pics and sleeping off a tummy ache

The other day, our last day in chengdu we got to visit a temple and a little park next door. Alex met a new friend, Olivia, daughter of one of our yahoo group friends, Alyson. She immediately called Olivia her big sister and they had a blast.

Right now the little angel is sleeping off a tummy ache that set in last night with the regurgitation fairy....hopefully she will feel better when she wakes up......

if your squeamish, skip this

.....got a visit from the regurgitation fairy tonight....
poor little Alex started coughing earlier and I sat her up to help her clear whatever it was and the next thing I know I was getting a second showing of dinner....
two towels and some wipes later we were all better and ready to try it again....
Did I mention that had washing a blankie in the tub was not mentioned on the itinerary???
Darcie is sleeping next to Alex right now and I am on watch.........
which probably explains the ridiculous nature of this post.....
dont worry though we skipped the pictures on this one

Pandas and tantrums

Yesterday we visited the world famous panda research center here in Chengdu. Alex had a blast and we did too. It's really amazing to see these animals up close the way we did. Alex did great in her stroller all day which gave Mommie a much needed break from carrying her. Especially since she doesn't want Baba (daddy) to carry her.....

The tantrum came today in the middle of a department store when Darcie tried to put her in her stroller since her arms were jello....little Alex did not like that at all, but we persevered and let her have a tantrum....she calmed down soon enough and we ate lunch which consisted of McDonalds yet again.......we have tried the local food several times but with a rowdy three year old some times it is just easier to eat the Micki D's.......

Alex & Her Mommy

Darcie sent this to me earlier today to share with everyone here. The internet is hit or miss there so it is hard to upload videos.

If you weren't smitten before, you will be now. What a beautiful little girl!

~~~~Margie

More pictures from yesterday.

As promised, here are some more pictures. Yesterday afternoon, after Alex took her nap, we took a walk to Starbucks and a near by pedestrian mall. It tried to rain, but finally, for the first time, the sun came out. As you can see, Alex is happy in her new stroller.

The beautiful sun...I missed it.
Here we are at the Panda statue next to our hotel. Since this is the home of most of the worlds remaining pandas, they are every where.


It is about 3pm on Wednesday now. We picked up our official adoption documents today, and then went to Alex's finding place. it was very near her orphanage. The funny thing was, when we started out towards the place, Alex asked the guide if we were going back to the orphanage. Somehow she recognized the area. She seemed happy to be told we weren't going back. There was a small cry early this morning. We aren't sure what caused it, one minute she was playing and laughing, then she got quiet and started to cry. When our guide asked her why she was crying, she wouldn't tell her so we think she may have just had a memory that made her sad. Dan's friend, Hettie, who is from the area, meet us today for lunch. She ordered and everything was delicious. Tomorrow is our trip to the Panda research facility. Expect lots of pictures.
I better run now. Alex is napping and I want to get somethings done before she wakes up.

Day 2 and a few more pictures

Today was our official adoption day. We were asked all sorts of questions like were we satisfied with our daughter. ..... how could we not be. Dan is to say the least smitten and she loves her BaBa as well. This afternoon when he left the room, she blew him a kiss. Alex slept well last night, but we did not. She seemed to wake up every so often and reach out to touch us, as if to reassure herself we were there. After we finished all the official paperwork, we went to a huge store to by a stroller. Alex prefers to be held by me, which is nice, except that after a while my arms are killing me and we tend to do a lot of walking. Dan also picked her up a package of Winnie the Pooh pony tail holders. She is so tiny, she is wearing them as bracelets...ha ha. Below are a few pictures while we waited to sign the official papers. Most of the time Alex was laughing and talking. The first picture is of her pulling her hat down and laughing.


Tomorrow we will finish up paper work and go to Alex's "finding spot". I'll try to do better on the pictures, but she is just so amazing sometimes we forget about the cameras.

Here she is!!!!!!!!!

Things are going well. Right now, Dan and she are playing on the bed. Hopefully we can upload video later.

Our Day in Beijing

View from our hotel room in Beijing.


Our travel group in Tianamen Square. (there is not enough anti-frizz stuff in the world to help my hair)

Sorry I missed a post yesterday. For those of you who have been here and those of you who are coming here, you know that the Beijing tour day is a LONG one. We went to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. I do have some pictures of the day to post, but I forgot to charge up the camera so it died early into the trip. Dan took a lot of pictures with the video camera, but forgot the cord to down load the pictures. We are a pair. The day was amazing. Even our guide kept commenting on what a beautiful day it was. The Forbidden City was amazing but huge. We thought Dan's mom wasn't going to make it. She has at least 2 asthma attacks during the tour. She did recovery enough to walk on the Great Wall, but that was it. I walked part way up and Dan made it all the way to the 3rd tower, which was way way way up there. He says he took some good pictures. I guess we will post them when we get home or sooner, if we manage to find a usb connector that will work with the video camera. As I sit, we are trying to cool off in our hotel room in Chengdu. We had to get up around 3:30 this morning to leave for the airport by 4;45. Our flight wasn't until 7:55 but our guide was concerned about possible delays due to the increased security. We did manage to find the KFC and the grocery store today. I don't know what we will do tonight. I'm looking forward to a nap soon. We get Alex tomorrow at 10am. Pray that it all goes well. According to our guide, she knows we are coming.

Good Morning from Beijing.

It is about 5 am here. We got in to town around 9:30, but didn't get to the hotel until after 10. We finally got to our room and then decided we NEEDED a Diet Coke. Well let me tell you, we paid about 30 us dollars for 2 waters and 4 diet cokes downstairs and it was worth it. ha ha The beds here are just what I was told, pieces of plywood with sheets over them. The room is nice and has 2 beds, but the beds are small so Dan and I slept apart last night like a 50's TV couple. Dan is still sleeping since he does not have jet lag. I have been up for a while. No pictures yet, but today is our day to sight see. We will leave around 8:30 and be back around 5. Hopefully, I can post and download pictures then. Sunday morning we have to leave very early, around 5:30, for the airport, so I'm hoping I sleep better after a day of walking around. Ta Ta for now.

And we're off...

It is 7 am and we are about to leave for the airport. "We" is my mother in law and me. Dan will meet up with us in Tokyo. My next post should be from Beijing. Talk to you then.

Disappointing news

Well, my Mom is still in the hospital. Unfortunately, she is not improving the way the doctors wanted. She is definitely not going to be able to go to China. As you can imagine, I'm terribly disappointed. We have been planning on both our mothers being with us for our forever family day for over a year. Now I'm just hoping that Mom is out of the hospital before I leave for China.

I'm almost done packing. I appreciated the comments with packing tips, however, with Dan already in Korea, it falls on me to pack everything in my luggage. I think I may be okay. Wednesday, I'm going to take my suitcase in to work and weigh it on the big dog scale.

Finally, I thought I would post our itinerary so everyone can see where we are suppose to be each day.

7/10 Leave the Ham at 10 am and fly west via Detroit

7/11 Meet up with Dan in Tokyo and fly to Beijing arriving at 9:35pm

7/12 Tour of Beijing (Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tian An Men Square)

7/13 Leave for Chengdu at 7:55 am and arrive at 10:30 am

7/14 10 am (9 pm CST) Get Alex!!!!!!!! Later on that day we will go shopping for Alex.

7/15 Do paper work...(official adoption day)
7/16 Tour of zoo
7/17 Tour Renmin Park
7/18 Go to Civil Affairs office to get Alex's passport
7/19 Leave for Guangzhou at 8:30 am and arrive at 10:25 am
7/20 Sightseeing of Chen Family Temple
7/21 Medical check up and visa photo
7/22 10 am appointment at American Consulate
7/23 Interview and pick-up Visa at American Consulate
7/24 8:20 am leave Guangzhou. Arrive at 10 pm CST in the Ham.

My Weekend and other stuff...

Happy 4th of July a day late....that seems to be the story of my life. A day late and a dollar short.
Anyway, just wanted to give everyone an update on my Mom and the packing.
Mom has been in the hospital since Thursday. She had a pretty rough night Thursday, but now seems to be slowly on the mend. Unfortunately, she may not be going to China. Since we leave in 4 days(....OMG 4 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!) she may not be ready to travel. Thanks to everyone who commented and prayed for her.
As for the packing..well it is going okay. Yesterday I did laundry and narrowed down the clothes I am taking for Alex to about 6 outfits. It was really hard to do this, because everyone has been so generous with gifts and Alex has about 50 cute little outfits. I made yet another trip to the Walmarts and bought snacks. I think I may be overdoing it however, so I'm waiting to pack the snacks until Wednesday. Tomorrow, I'm going to try to pack my clothes and the see how much room is left. Ta Ta For Now.

1 week left....

This time next week I will be finishing my final packing and trying to get some sleep. I think I'm in some sort of shock because everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited or nervous and I'll I can say is I don't know. I think I'm just focusing on one task at a time to keep from going crazy. Monday night, I did indulge myself in a movie to try and take my mind off things. I'm glad I did, since I have no idea when I will be able to go to a movie alone again. Tonight, I went through all the gifts for Alex again and tried to decide what to take. I don't want to take too much and I don't want to take too little. There has been two bumps in the road so far, one minor and one that could be potentially major. The first is that late this afternoon, I got an e-mail from our agency that said the needed one more piece of paper work. The bad news is, it needs to be signed by our social worker and notarized. Oh, did I mention they need it before we leave and that we are coming up on July 4th.....Hopefully my social worker did not decide to take a long weekend. The second thing is my Mom is sick. She has been sick for a week now. She came up for my shower this weekend, but ended up staying at my house because she was feeling so bad. Tomorrow she has to have an ultrasound and hopefully everything will be fine. I don't normally ask for this, but if you guys could pray that everything goes fine for my Mom and that she feels better quickly. She is scheduled to go to China with us. I guess that is all for tonight. I need to go lay in my bed and not sleep again. As always, I'll keep you posted.