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!