Not Home Quite Yet

We are sitting in the Denver airport right now. Yes, Denver; yes, Thursday, the day after we planned to be home. The parts of the trip we were most nervous about (getting from Guangzhou to get to Hong Kong on time; going through Immigration, customs and security in San Francisco all within our narrow time frame) went smoothly. Before we left China, we said we'll be happy once we get to Denver so we'll know we're safely on our way home. Well, the folks at United decided that wasn't to be. The flight was late leaving San Francisco and we only had an hour connection in Denver. The flight had already left for Tampa by the time we arrived even though there were 11 families on our flight going to Tampa.

Part of the fun was dealing with United Customer Service (or lack there of). They didn't want to do anything for us at first, but after 2 hours of Allen and Dad dealing with customer service, we finally got booked on the flight we're waiting for right now. Flight 1472 at 10:51 should get us to Tampa at 4:09 pm - wish us luck!!

Amelie has been a trooper during this whole thing. It's just been us adults that have been difficult to deal with. We're having fun with her at the airport though. She is really practically walking (okay running) on her own. We still use our fingers, but she is barely using them.

Okay, so I'm going to try to sign off with some bonus pictures and hope to back in good ole F-

L-A today!!

Here are the pictures:

Family Picture on the Red Couch

Nana and Amelie

Amelie likes her food

Too cute

Really too cute

Last days in Guangzhou

Today and yesterday were mostly about shopping in Guangzhou. Mama, Baba, Papa, and Nana have all been buying everything in sight, from little pearls, pieces of Jade, countless outfits, other curious items (we even bought a little mogwai, but Maile must have bought another one because now there are two in the room). Being a new father, Baba even found a need for a 100 year old Japanese sword. Papa has a particular affecion for antiques and cheap watches.

Today is a random thoughts kind of day because there really hasn't been an agenda for the past couple of days. We did take the famous "red couch" picture yesterday, which involved all the parents propping their children up on the couch, and then running away just in time for the camera to snap. Soon afterwards, the children began to wobble all over each other. Amelie, thankfully, was propped up in the corner, so her wobbling was kept to a minimum. Little Victoria did wobble on top of her, and Amelie took it as an opportunity to have a taste of her arm.

The baby next to Amelie in the "2 baby" shot is Emma. Emma and Amelie were roommates in the orphanage. Emma is the daughter of Chris and Lisa Abston, who live in Alabama and are extremely nice people. We are definitely going to have to keep these girls in contact with each other as they get older.

Amelie is saying Baba pretty consistently now, but we're still not certain if she means it in the context of "daddy". She was running a little fever this morning, so we gave her some medicine and put her down for a nap. She seems pretty good right now, and has happy and energetic as ever.

We leave for home tomorrow. We have an early morning flight to Hong Kong, and then on to San Francisco, then Denver, and then Tampa. Amelie is a very strong little girl for her size, and she constantly wiggles her body in any direction at random. So last night at dinner, 3 adults accompanied Amelie to the bathroom for a diaper change. Fifteen minutes later, they all returned. Amelie was clean, however every adult was exhausted. We can't wait for the 18 hours worth of flying that lay ahead.

We love China, but it's time to come home.

Here are the pictures:

• Shopping with Amelie and Nana


• Red Couch photo with Victoria wobbling on Amelie


• Amelie in the wobble proof corner


• Roommates - Amelie and Emma


• Superstar!

Day to Visit the Temples

Poop (n): An icky substance that all babies, even cute ones, produce en-mass. The elevator was full of people all going to different floors, however when they noticed the smell of poop from Amelie, they all got off at the fifth floor. Of course, she is smiling and giggling about it the whole time. The more foul the diaper, the happier the child.

(Allen) Today was a great day, though we started a bit rushed. Amelie woke at 4am, and then again at 8:30am which made us a little late for breakfast. Breakfast at the White Swan is not as good as breakfast in Changsha. The eggs are put into a large catering pan and are too runny. Also, the place is packed so for anything you want from the buffet, you can bet there are already 2 people ahead of you. The trade off, of course, is the wonderful view of the Pearl River and the massive waterfall that occupies the two floors of the double-decker lobby.

The White Swan is filled with other families from other agencies as well, so if you can imagine, Caucasian people seem to outnumber Chinese people on the island. As a result, the entire economy of this tiny island is built around China adoption. There are endless stores filled with tiny traditional uniforms and dresses. Do you need a stroller? No problem, you can borrow one from any of the shops. Heck, you can borrow 50. Anything to bring you in to look at their wares. Most of the shops sell the same stuff, and most of it is a pretty good deal by US standards, though you are still expected to bargain with the merchant. It doesn't take much to knock 30% off the price and is almost expected. We have been shopping for Amelie's "gotcha day" gifts, and have been finding some good things for her. Today, I bought her a little wooden comb with Chinese painting on it. In addition to birthday celebrations, adoptive parents sometimes celebrate "gotcha day" with a gift for the child for the first 16 to 18 years. They are typically symbolic gifts to celebrate becoming a family.

After a hurried breakfast, we took a trip to the Chen Family Temple. This temple, which is now a folk art museum, was a private school dedicated to the Chen family - an ancient and prominent family in Guangzhou. The temple was interesting enough, though we missed much of the tour as we are still learning the ropes of efficiently moving around a stroller, a baby (who is not in the stroller), a diaper bag, and ourselves. When looking at the temple, the carvings on the roof are much larger and ornate than those we saw in north China (in places such as the Forbidden City). We later learned that carving is one of the specialties of the Cantonese people.

Guangdong, the province we are in, used to be called Canton. Its people are still called Cantonese, as is their language, which is very different from Mandarin. Mandarin has 4 tones, while Cantonese has 6. Cantonese people represent the majority of Chinese who live abroad. The people in your local Chinese restaurant are likely Cantonese. Our guide joked with us that Cantonese people are the most adventurous people when it comes to food. She said there is a saying in China about the Cantonese - "Cantonese eat everything in the sky except airplane. Cantonese eat everything on the ground except automobile."

Our next stop was the Temple of Six Banyan trees - a Buddhist temple centered in Guangzhou. Now in China, people are free to practice whatever religion they wish, Buddhism is the most common religion. Our guide told us there are two primary and distinct types of Buddhism - Han Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, with the Lama being one of the distinguishing traits of the two. There are two Roman Catholic churches in Guangzhou (including one on the tiny island we are staying on). There are mosques for Muslims. There are Taoists. And there are agnostics (mostly the communist party members who are forbidden to practice a faith).

The temple was filled with the smell of incense and Len unburdened himself of some money to the beggars outside the temple (which should bring him wonderful luck). Most of the families received a blessing from a Buddhist monk who chanted throughout the blessing – he had such a wonderful voice (Amelie was mesmerized during the whole thing -- can we take that monk on the plane with us?). This was certainly an experience that we will cherish from this trip.

Amelie is progressing so quickly! She is so much more talkative now, and a smile is an easy thing to get from her. She crawls long distances which is a big change from the beginning of the week when she was dragging herself across the floor on her belly. And she is starting to stand flat on her feet instead of on her tippy toes! So may be damage from the walker is finally being undone. She eats quite a bit (she growls when we don’t feed her fast enough for her liking), though we don't give her as much formula as her original schedule stated.

Here are the pictures:

• At the Chen Family Temple


• Altar at the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees Where the Families Receive their Blessing


• This girl likes to eat - she's definitely one of us!


• Daddy does well feeding Amelie eggs with chopsticks


• Amelie gets time in the playroom

Guangzhou Day 1 - (Updated Pics!)

(Allen) I'm sitting in Nana and Papa's plush hotel room at the luxurious White Swan hotel in Guangzhou. The White Swan is known as the baby hotel, as all of the agencies seem to enjoy booking their clients here. It is a 5 star hotel, and the first one I have stayed in since my brief stay in the Ritz in St. Louis (where I stayed in the same room Jay Leno did only a day before, and was in the elevator with several members of the New York Knicks -- but that's another adventure to share). We have an attendant who is literally standing next to our room door. Her job is to push the down elevator button for you and when the door opens, she says politely "this way please." When you get to another floor, there is another attended waiting for you when the elevator doors slide open. Again, she says politely "this way please," pointing us to the proper exit of the elevator. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This way please.

I awoke this morning at around 4:00am and was surprised to see Amelie still snoozing deeply. On this, of all mornings, Amelie elects to sleep the entire night. We have to wake her if we are going to be on time for the bus and the plane. As Maile wrote in the last update, I was appointed "Veronica II" for the morning. My job was to talk with the cashier and ensure that all families had properly settled their bill before departure. Thirty minutes of having housekeeping manually check each room whittled away Baba's brief breakfast window, but Maile kindly brought me some mushed up muffins. All families were on board and the bus was pulling out at exactly 6:30am -- mission accomplished.

The flight was smooth, and all of the babies did really well the entire time. We were all proud parents. Amelie continues to draw oogles from people, western and chinese alike. We sat next to a chinese lady on the plane, and another in the seat in front of us turned around to play with her. Amelie still reaches for chinese women in a social manner, as if to say "hold me." This bothers me a little, but I don't think this bothers Maile because she has so clearly bonded with us, but our guide told us that we should limit Amelie's physical interaction with chinese ("don't want her to always prefer chinese face"), and that is what we are doing. So we try and distract her and play with her. I hope it is not obvious or offending to chinese women if we redirect our daughter during their attempts to connect with her. I know they mean no harm, and we really do love the people and the culture. Sigh, Amelie is most assuredly going through a confusing time in her life, but our bond with her grows every day.

When we landed, we went directly to get Amelie's visa photo (*snap* *flash* seconds before the frightened meltdown), and then next door for her health exam. Amelie is perfectly healthy from what the doctors over here can tell. She currently weighs 16.84lbs. She is a long, thin, noodle of a girl. We had to undress Amelie for the physical, and so we thought it an excellent opportunity to change her diaper. Both Maile and I carried our individual diaper bags on the plane, and there were lots of cool things in there, such as the portable dvd player, old laundry, bibs, and our paper work. Neither one of us thought to actually store a diaper in this bag, however. Thanks to Heather from our travel group for lending us one at just the right time.

The White Swan was 10 minutes away. To continue from the first paragraph, the White Swan is situated on Shamian Island in the city of Guangzhou. Guangzhou is as western friendly as most any city in the US. We ate twice at a close by restaurant called "Lucy's" which is popular both in its western cuisine and its proximity to the hotel. It is very laid back here, and you could almost imagine yourself in a small Florida beach town. It reminds me more of Sanibel than China.

More random Amelie observations -

She can stand by herself when she forgets that she can't do it.

She has the most wonderful smile. When I see it, I can't move. How do I keep her from harm for ever and ever? I now know that being a parent is hard not just because of the late night feedings, diaper changes, meltdowns, etc. It's also hard because you love this child more than you love yourself, and that is a vulnerable feeling that doesn't go away.

Maile is going to update the blog with pictures when she can, including yesterday's entry. The *very slow* upload speed from here makes that a longer task than it should be, so we have to plan a little better for it.

(Maile) Here are some things that we, as first time parents have learned:

- Unless you want a very poopy diaper flung across the room by a squirmy baby, you must keep it out of arms reach of said baby when changing her diaper.

- How to eat with all of the food a foot away from you.

- Even if the food is a foot away from you, if it is on a placemat, it can still end up in your lap.

- When you have an active and restless child (which is an understatement in her growth report by the way), you can pretty much cancel your gym membership.

Here are the pictures:

• Pooped after her first plane ride


• Amelie's first traditional Chinese outfit


• Amelie gets a physical


• I think Nana might be smitten


• New outfit from Nana and Papa
  

Last Night in Changsha (Updated Pics!)

Many of you have been wondering if Nana and Papa actually exist because I have not been very good about adding pictures to the blog entries. I do have some great pictures of Nana and Papa now with their new granddaughter. I will have to update this entry tomorrow with photos since I'm experiencing technical difficulties with adding photos and I'm quite tired. Please stay tuned...

First of all, we want to thank everyone for all of the great messages we have received in response to our blog. We had no idea how much this journey would mean. We avidly read all of the wonderful encouraging emails that come through even if we don't have time to respond. It does mean so much.

We're wrapping up the end of our trip to Changsha in the Hunana province where Amelie is from. Tomorrow (way early) we fly to Guangzhou in the Guangdong province. Guangzhou is the city with the American consulate. This is where we'll take Amelie to her first medical appointment to get her checked out. I know this will be hard for us as first time parents. I imagine Amelie will not be thrilled with this part of the trip. Guangzhou is where we will also get Amelie's visa so we can bring her back home to the States with us. We just got her Chinese passport today. When we get back home, we will re-adopt her so we can get the U.S. version of all of these documents - passport, birth certificate, etc. This will make it much easier in the future when we do any kind of travel or check her into school, among other bureacratic processes.

So today has been another big day for Amelie's development. She has completely warmed up to her Nana and Papa and deliberately reaches out to them. Now we'll just have to work on getting Nana and Papa to share nicely. Amelie has a way of hooking parents and grandparents when she goes to them and puts her head on their shoulder and looks up at them with those deep, expressive eyes. That bright smile will go along way to wrap us all around her tiny little fingers too.

Some other developments she has made, has been to stand up completely unassisted for several seconds. She even took two steps toward me this evening. We've decided we are absolutely not getting her a walker when we get home. It seems as though she has spent most of her time up until now in a walker. Her growth report states that she walks with support. When you support her and she walks she tries to thrust forward with her hips and her legs go rubbery. In four days without a walker, we are so impressed with the progress she has made. My next goal is to get her to say Mama (or Baba) by the end of the trip. It sounds like she is already saying Mama, but I'm not sure if she is saying it in the right context.

Today, we ventured off, just the 5 of us, to Martyr's Park here in Changsha. It is a beautiful park and quite large. There was a very large new car show going on today and it was very interesting to see the makes and models that are sold over here. Hyundais and Volkswagens seem to be much cheaper here, while Toyotas and Mercedes are a lot more expensive. Once we past the car show, we got to see how beautiful the park really was. All throughout, were beautifully designed Asian gardens and landscapes. Part of the park was actually an amusement park with some rides like roller coasters that looked like they had never been through a safety inspection and bumper cars as well as midway games.

Well, it's late and we head off quite early. Our guide, Veronica, heads off to the airport ahead of us to check in our bags. Man are we getting spoiled! Allen was nominated to be the group leader in her place to make sure everyone settles their bill and gets on the bus on time. So far, he is running a tight ship.

Talk to you soon from Guangzhou!

Here are the pictures:

• Nana and her Baby Girl Valentine
• Ah, that face!
• Papa just chillin' with Xiao Xiao
• Amelie is ready for the park
• Chinglish - Does anyone know what this sign says?!?!

Our Little Extrovert

It's Day 4 of us having our little Xiao Xiao and
we're starting to see the evidence of the little extroverted child that was described in her growth report. The past few days have been wonderful. Amelie has been a trooper in all the tours and new experiences we've been exposing her to. She takes it all in stride and quietly observes all of the people around her when we're out and about. When we're in the room as just the immediate family, her fun, extroverted personality shines through. Today, that personality showed when we were out on a tour of a famous university up on the mountain of Yue Lu, also a famous mountain. It is an old school where famous scholars, including Confucius came to lecture. We got to see a performance of Chinese classical music. Amelie just loved this part of the tour and really started dancing and hopping around in my lap and making very appreciative, somewhat loud noises to show she truly does like music.

Early this morning outside of our hotel, we took a little detour on the way to breakfast. There was a large group of people in the courtyard all doing ballroom dancing. Old and young were out either learning or teaching the art. Off to the side was a group of older people doing Tai Chi using large, bright red fans and swords as part of their art. What a thing to get to go out and see. Baba and Xiao Xiao got to dance with the ballroom dancers and even Nana and Papa gave it a shot. The whole group of us were quite a spectacle as being the only non-Chinese people out there dancing. Xiao Xiao is quite popular around here, and you can see part of that by the crowds of people around Baba as he is holding her.


Living out of a hotel room does have it's challenges with a new baby, but I will miss being around Amelie's culture and people who have a true appreciation for what it means for these girls to have a family. When we were at the school, a group of Chinese people came and oogled over Amelie to exclaim how beautiful she was. One woman probably doesn't know how much she made my day when she said in genuine surprise how much Amelie looked like me. Another lady said that Xiao Xiao is "lucky girl". I smiled and told her we were the lucky ones. Someone else said how we have big hearts. It was wonderful to have such a positive reaction to us adding China's children to our families.

Before we went to the school, we went to the Hunan Embroidery Museum. Embroidery is famous in Hunan as it really became known and well organized here. The artwork that is done with the silk embroidery is truly amazing. We saw such large pieces of artwork of people that really looked like photographs and animals that looked like they had real fur on them. Some of the most famous artwork is the embroidery that looks beautiful on both sides of the silk. We saw one that when you looked at it from one side, you saw a beautiful panda. When you rotated it to the other side, it looked like a tiger. Both sides were exquisite.

Baba is quite happy because he has gotten a lot of quality time with Amelie today and she is definitely smitten with her father. Mama had to learn to share and let Baba carry her around. It's amazing how you can walk around for hours with your new baby strapped to you and end the day with every muscle in your body being sore. What a wonderful ache to have! I think we can cancel our gym memberships though!

We are very curious to see how Xiao Xiao's personality evolves over the next few days. She is already so popular here. One man at the concert was even trying to get pictures of Amelie. I can see how much the local people are taken with her. She is really starting to turn on the charm too and flashing her beautiful 4 tooth smile more readily now. Hopefully Baba will be okay when Amelie gets to be a teenager...

Here are the pictures:

• Xiao Xiao and Baba go ballroom dancing
• Xiao Xiao is very popular
• Who can resist this face
• What a beautiful smile
• Xiao Xiao loves her Baba

Kindergarten Cop.. er.. Stop

(Allen) Last night, Amelie made it to 2:30am before waking up. I should mention however, that we have not been calling her Amelie this entire trip. When we address her, we call her "Xiao Xiao". Xiao Xiao was her nickname at the orphanage, and if you call to her using that name, she will turn her head and look at you. When Xiao Xiao wakes up, she is usually wet and she is usually hungry. After a dry diaper and a bottle, she lives up to her reputation as a restless baby. I don't know if it is because she has spent a lot of her time in a walker, but her legs, while very strong, are not used to try and walk, but to plant herself and then launch her body into space. Both Maile and I have taken a headbutt to the face so far on this trip. You have all been warned - our kid will inadvertently give you a fat lip if you aren't careful. After a couple of hours of WWF Smackdown with mama and baba in the bed, we got her back to sleep and she zzzz'd until around 7:15am.

Xiao Xiao has a blue mark on her fanny and lower back that kind of looks like a bruise. Being the concerned parents we are, we asked our guide about them and she informed us that they are "mongolian spots". Mongolian spots can be anywhere on the body, but are common among asians and american indians on the buttocks or back. Over 90% of American Indians are born with a mongolian spot, and 80% of Asians. If you would like to learn more about them, I did a quick google search and found this very good explaination -> http://www.drgreene.com/21_833.html

Needless to say, we are going to confirm this diagnosis when she has her physical in a few days. It does not hurt her at all. It does have daddy a little paranoid about whether American doctors have sufficient experience with this, or will jump to conclusions, so we are going to go into our American appointment fully armed with information.


Today we went to Walmart. I will say this - I do not generally like Walmart. I have always been a Target man. However Walmart in Changsha is the best Walmart I have ever been in (and in a country of 1.1 billion people, it is suprisingly less crowded than a typical American Walmart). We bought some more formula for Xiao Xiao and we picked up a walker to donate to the orphanage and a few other things. It is a two story Walmart, the food selections are wonderful and varied, and they have a lot of nifty inventions that I wish existed back in the states (such as flat ramp like escalators so you can take your cart or baby stroller from floor to floor without a problem -- and get this, the cart will automatically lock down on an incline or decline so you don't even have to hold onto it). As long as we're talking about nifty inventions, the stop lights have a large LED hanging next to them that counts down how much longer the light is red or green or whatever. Outstanding idea and something I've never personally seen in the States.

The best part of the day was a visit to a local Kindergarten. The children there were so friendly and excited to see us. Seldom to they get visitors, especially "big noses." They gave us gifts, put on dance and singing shows, and displayed their art. Some of the children stay (and sleep) at this kindergarten all week long, and see mom and dad only on the weekends, as sometimes mom and dad work far away. The children were beautiful and welcoming and we were amazed and completely impressed with each of them. Yes we have pictures of Walmart and the funny escalator, but these children deserve the bulk of the picture space today. I tell you seeing them has only deepened our love for our own little girl and for China.


To the wonderful children of China, thank you so much for sharing with us. You've certainly touched our hearts.

Here are the pictures:

• Recess #1
• Recess #2
• Art...by a six year old. Yes, a six year old!
• Dance Class #1
• Exchanging gifts and greetings

It is official! (Updated Pics!)

(Allen) The day began at 4:00am for Maile and I as little Amelie awoke to what are still very unfamiliar surroundings to her. She is a very sweet little girl and extremely affectionate, and yet at the same time she is still very fragile when it comes to her ever changing world. When she wakes up, she is a little frightened and somewhat inconsolable at this point. From the crying I hear in the hallway from the other babies (they put all of the families in one corner of the hotel to spare the other guests :), it would seem that each child is having her own transition challenges.

She has 100% bonded with Maile, no if's, and's or but's about it. She still doesn't fully know what to think of Daddy at this point as she doesn't have a lot of experience with men at her orphanage (she has only seen females in her entire life). She still clings to me or prefers me to a stranger, but (as it should be) if Maile is close by, then Maile is where she wants to be. So I've been focused where I should be - running baths, preparing bottles, running out for supplies, giving mommy a break for as long as possible before little Amelie begins to miss her too much.

Today we traveled back to the Notary office where we picked Amelie up. Here we went through 4 different offices and answered questions about ourselves. "Will you promise never to abandon, abuse or discriminate this baby?" - We promise. "Will you promise to love her and educate her?" - We promise. "Why did you adopt this baby?" - We fell in love with China, its people and its culture and we wanted to grow our family through adoption. We will teach her about her heritage so that she will love China too.

And with a thumb print each from Maile and I, and a cute little footprint from Amelie, "congratulations, your adoption is final. You are now her legal parents." Baba teared up a little.

Today we also met with the nannies and orphanage director. Maile delivered our gifts and also a photo album from previous Yongzhou families which was promptly devoured by the nannies as they looked at current pictures of the children they used to care for. Meanwhile, Baba and Amelie were taking a nap, until Amelie awoke, again still on unfamiliar ground, and without Maile there. Yadda Yadda Yadda - I changed my first diaper, still crying, still sad. "Oh baby, it's gonna be alright. We are never going to leave you. We love you very much." Still crying. Baba decides to make a bottle. "Where's the thing? And that other thing?" Baba stays calm (though I was in a slight panic on the inside). I made a bottle, but she didn't want it, so we took a walk out in the hallway, which seemed to calm her down. Amelie hates elevators. Tracking current history in a non-scientific manner, Amelie has a 60% chance of making a sad face (where her pouty bottom lip pokes out) when on an elevator. Mainly because the elevator is usually full.... of strangers... who are a little too close... and oogling at her. So naturally, Baba decides now that things are going so well, why don't we just get in the elevator and go up and see Maile in the play room. Sigh.

Amelie had congee and steamed eggs tonight at a local restaurant. I had a bite of rice and a bite of a little pork rib. Maile had about the same. But Amelie ate good. We'll grab something more substantial later.

Signing off as I'm currently missing the after bath play time. I will put some pictures up with this post later, maybe tomorrow. Sleep well all.

Allen

Here are the pictures:

• A tender moment
• Amelie's official signature
• Baba smelling her wonderful head!
• The embarrassing photo for when she's a teenager
• Nannies and Director oogling over the Yongzhou photo album

Gotcha

Well, today went better than we could have ever hoped. We left for the Civil Affairs office around 9:30 and got there where there was a group from Spain who were getting their babies just before us. It was chaos with all of the families and all of the crying babies. Veronica prepped us on the way over how it would all go down. The babies would be in a back room and they would call out a babies name and the girl's family would go up and get their baby, show passports to make sure everything synced up and be give their baby. Luckily, the Civil Affairs office was only 20 minutes away so we didn't have a lot of time to dwell on the trip over there.

When we got there and into the room, we could see the nannies in the adjoining room with our babies. Luckily, someone handed me a tissue because it was definitely water works when I saw them back there waiting for us. My Dad had a problem with his allergies. There must have been flowers somewhere in the building hidden away I guess.

I couldn't tell you where we were in line with the other families, but it was definitely after a few families received their daughters. Allen spotted Amelie right away as the little girl in blue pajamas who was being so good and not crying at all.

Eventually, they called Amelie's name and just like that, handed her to us. She came straight away and still did not cry. We had brought her a toy of a little ducky rattle and I wore the homemade beaded necklace we made just for her to help soothe her amidst all the chaos. Seems like we didn't need to calm her down after all. She was mainly curious about all of the goings on and seemed focused on looking at everything and everyone in the room. Her eyes did keep coming back to Allen and I to try to sum us up. Soon, we sat down with her. Papa was making some phone calls to Gin Gin and Pop Pop (Allen's parents), Granny Great (my Nana), Amanda (my sister-in-law) and Micah (my brother). It was so wonderful to get to share with loved ones that we were finally holding our precious Amelie.

Amazingly, the nanny came back over to us and handed us the disposable camera that we had sent in the care package to the orphanage. Part of the care package was for the orphanage and part was just for Amelie. We cannot wait to get these pictures back and see Amelie during her life before we got to meet her. They also gave us the plastic key ring we gave to her in which we put a picture in each key (one of Allen, one of me and one of Amelie). She seemed to be very familiar with it and clutched it the whole ride back to the hotel. On the way back, we found that she loved to hold on to things in both hands. Her dilemma is, which object do I put down to grab the next object? We gave her some water on the ride back. She was clicking the bottle with the bottle top for a while. She seems to like the clicking noise. But then, we gave her the keys, so down goes the bottle top. Then, she spots the cell phone and wants to hold it from every angle.

We get back to the room and change her diaper right off. Seems like it hadn't been changed in quite a while. She started to cry when being on the diaper pad for a little while. As soon as I picked her up and held her, she quieted down. Allen read "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes" to her and she was riveted the whole time. She definitely likes being held and hugged me tightly which was just perfect. I was ready to stay in that position as long as it took. We then fed her about 4 oz. of formula, but she seemed pretty wiped out after that. We laid her down on the bed for a nap during which she slept for 3 hrs. I think she had had quite a day!

When she woke up, we got to play for a little while. Then, Allen had to go upstairs to handle some paperwork necessary to make Amelie officially ours. In the meantime, I got to spend about 1 1/2 hrs. playing with her where I got to see how truly active and restless she really was. She basically didn't stop moving, climbing, pulling herself up, rolling over and playing with toys in the room the whole time. She'd even play little games with me which just amazed me and reeled me in even farther. I gave her a biscuit to help her gnaw on her jaw where it seems like she is teething. She'd eat part of it and hand it to me like she was feeding me. When I would go to take a bite, she would take it away and just start smiling and giggling. She would do the same thing with holding her hand and let me kiss it. I never thought we'd be so lucky to see her smile this early, especially laugh and play little games.

She seems very well developed and a strong little kid. She rolls over and pulls herself up. She even crawls a short distance. She walks with assistance and I can imagine it will be a very short amount of time before she is walking on her own. She pulls herself up if she is next to a bed or piece of furniture low enough to do so. She'll pull herself up if you hold your fingers out to her.

We tried to feed her some dinner of congee and a steamed egg that we ordered from room service. She ate some, but was so wiggly and energetic that it was hard to get her to eat much. We've pretty much trashed the room by now and the little teething cookie that we gave her seems to be ground up in lots of little crevices. Thank you Laurie for her wonderful outfit with the butterfly jeans which seem to fit her so well. She wore it for a few hours, but looks like it has already been worn for a week. Just try and keep up with her, you'll wear yourself out!

After dinner (if you can call it that), we found out that she likes to play a game of sitting up and then falling back into Mommy or a pillow. This makes her smile and giggle and, so far, seems to be her favorite game. Allen calls it WWF Smackdown. We've learned to strategically place pillows around the room to cushion the impact of our delicate little flower's playtime. Nana and Papa came over and hung out for a while. Nana got to play with her and really got her laughing when she started tickling her tummy. So far, she seems to thrive with all of the attention and just loves her family. I hope this is really the case, we'll see how the next few days go. So far, so wonderful though...

(Allen's edit) - Amelie likes to eat soap.

Here are the pictures:

• Maile's first moments with Amelie
• Amelie just taking in her new parents
• On the bus! She's a big city girl!
• Naps are fun with mama.
• Playing and enjoying a cookie!

In the Land of Amelie

We arrived this morning to Changsha, the capital city of Hunan at around 10 am. Hunan is the province where Amelie is from. Amelie is actually from Lengshuitan which is a good ways southwest from here. Each of the babies in our group are spread out over Yongzhou and will be brought tomorrow to Changsha to the Civil Affairs Office. We leave the hotel at 9:30 and the office is about 20 minutes away. We could have Amelie by tomorrow around 10am! We did get an update on Amelie's progress. Again, I got chills when Veronica told us she had called the orphanage to get an update. All the girls are doing well and Veronica translated their reports for us last night. Here is where Amelie is right now:

Routine:

- gets up at 6:30am; goes to sleep at: 8:30pm; takes naps at 9:30 - 10:30am and 1pm - 2:30 pm

Feeding (looks like our girl can really put it away!):

- 7:00am - formula 160-180mL
- 9:00am - formula 160-180mL
- 10:00am - steamed egg, noodle, vegetable, meat congee, juice
- 12:00pm - rice, soy
- 4:00pm - steamed egg, noodle, vegetable, meat congee, meat soup
- 5:00pm - formula 150 mL
- 8:00pm - formula 160-180mL

Gross Motor skills:

She can walk with support. Can feed herself crackers. Can hold bottle by herself to feed herself water or formula.

Personality:

Active, extroverted, laughs a lot, gets along well with others.

Others:

Poops (spelled pupu in report) 1 time a day; Urinates (spelled pipi in report) 7 times a day; takes 2 baths everyday (morning, evening).

Sounds like we'll have a lot to keep up with! It's hard to describe the wait. We got to the Dolton Hotel in Changsha today and there were no definite plans set. We did do some shopping to stock up on supplies (mainly water since we use it for drinking, brushing our teeth and soon, mixing with formula and sterilizing bottles!).

Mom, Dad, Allen and I did try our hand at a local restaurant. None of the menu was in English and there were no pictures. Oddly enough, Allen and I have been learning Mandarin over the past year, but have not learned any words for food. I did not realize this deficiency until we were on our own in a local Hunan restaurant where no one spoke a lick of English. It was fun and the locals got a kick out of the us trying to order something. We did pick up on the fact that the waitress was suggesting an item that was prepared for 4 people (actually it seemed like enough food for plenty more). Also, Allen and I do know how to order beer and wine in a restaurant. I guess we have our priorities straight. We were served 2 large bowls of noodles (wide and thin) and then smaller bowls with a wide variety of items such as vegetables, squid, eel (we think), beef, chicken and mushrooms. Most of it was very good, although, not sure if squid and eel have won the texture test for us yet, but at least we tried! That and the Yanjing beer made for a great meal.

We got back to the hotel with time to catch up on other things until everyone is ready to meet for dinner around 6. I just went out in the hallway and saw the cribs lined up along the wall. There is a girl preparing the bedding for the babies who will soon be sleeping in them.

Well, in less than 24 hrs. now, life will not be the same. We will have a beautiful, active, wonderful girl who will officially be ours. Veronica made cards for us that we can wear in plastic holders around our necks that explain to locals that we have adopted the children and we are going to love them and protect them and are so happy they are our children. Again, Mama Bear got verklempt at this. Break out the hankies tomorrow, I can't make any promises for how composed I will actually be.

Well, that's all for now. We'll have some very big news very soon!

Here are the pictures:

• Some of the food we managed to order at Gan Chang Shun restaurant
• Nana and Papa eating some local food
• Mama and Baba enjoy a lunch on Gotcha Day Eve
• Nana and Papa in front of the local restaurant
• They're getting the cribs ready for the girls!