Li'l Man's Medical

Our son officially weighs 15 kg (a.k.a. 33 pounds).  Told ya' he was heavy.

He also has pink eye.

Boo.

Our Trip: Halfway There

Naptime and internet: what a blissful combination. :)

Yesterday we flew from Shanghai to Guangzhou, where we'll meet our second son and go to our appointments for the U.S. Immigration side of our adoption.  Leaving Shanghai was bittersweet.  (We LOVE you, New Harbour Service Apartments.)  Our stay there was awesome, and it will always be a special place to our family since Li'l Man was born and spent the first two-and-a-half-years of his life there.  Plus, they make super delicious steamed dumplings.  (If you notice a little pooch around my waistline when I get home, please pretend it's because I got overly attached to my money belt.)

Guangzhou has been lovely so far.  We're staying on a beautiful little "island" with lots of gorgeous buildings, shops, and walking areas.  The weather is nice (70's-80's during the day), so I can finally pull out my T-shirts and flip-flops.  That's a really good thing, because I was starting to feel like the one hoodie I brought was going to become permanently attached to my arms. 

Li'l Man is doing awesome.  He's curious, silly, and cuddly.  He repeated his first English word on Monday and his vocabulary has taken off ever since.  He now says his sister's name, hi, bye-bye, no, and what.  He thinks the word what is hilarious and screams it randomly while riding on my back in the Ergo.  He's also picking up some signs.  He knows please, more, and all done.  (Mostly more...and more...and more...this kid can eat.)

I know the attachment process will be a long journey, but Li'l Man seems to be starting to attach to Jeremy and me.  He gets upset when one of us leaves the room.  (He's pretty darn scared of being left, period.)  He comes to us when we call and gives hugs and sometimes kisses (if you're really lucky).  He thinks Jeremy is his full-time playmate; he yells "Ba-BA" and points to his stacking cups about 47 times a day.

Li'l Man is a good sleeper (8:30pm to 8:00am last night), but he doesn't want to sleep on his own.  Jeremy and I lay with him until he falls asleep at naptime and bedtime.  We're going to have a full bed if Li'l Dude wants to sleep with us too.  Bathtime is not a favorite either.  He's only been bathed in a sink, so the tub and shower look terrifyingly huge to him.  His first bath brought on a total meltdown, but we managed a shower with only a few tears today.

Don't hear me say that things are all butterflies and rainbows.  I don't think I will ever go out in public again.  (And this is after only meeting two of my three children.)  Li'l Man is fast and strong.  Today he stole a D*ove Chocolate bar from 7-11 while on my back in the Ergo.  I noticed him chewing on something after we left the store.  Ummmm...no candy bars for lunch for you, you little klepto.  (We may or may not have wiped off the wrapper and put the candy bar back without saying anything.)

Here are a few things I've learned about my son...

-He wears 2T clothes and size 7 shoes.
-He sucks the first two fingers of his left hand and twirls his bangs when he's tired.
-He likes congee and steamed dumplings and dried peas and chicken and chocolate and...
-He SOOOOO-PER ticklish.
-He's all boy.  He loves being thrown on the bed, flipped upside-down, and running.

We have a busy day tomorrow.  Li'l Man has a medical appointment in the morning (part of the U.S. Immigration process), and then we meet Li'l Dude in the afternoon around 2:00pm.  (That's 1:00am EST and 10:00pm Sunday on the West Coast.)  Tuesday we'll have several appointments to finalize Li'l Dude's adoption.  Please keep us in your prayers.  I'll do my best to post pictures of Gotcha Day #2 ASAP.

Hugs!  

Oh yeah, and pictures...

As you can see, I've totally been stinking it up when it comes to taking pictures the last few days.  Thankfully, my mama is more than making up for my slackerly-ness.  (Definitely a word.)  I promise to upload some of her pics and post more soon...if I have extra time after breathing and peeing once I have three kids, that is.

Pajama Party

Catching both kids smiling...

...and looking at the camera...

...is a pretty good reason for a blog post.

Don't ya think?

A Note from Me

Dear Ch*na,

I've been here a week now, and there are a few things I think you need to know.

1.)  I <3 your food.  Every meal I eat here makes me want to stay forever.  Even Li'l Miss is starting to like it.  She asked for duck for breakfast yesterday.  Seriously.  Please teach someone where I live to make steamed dumplings.  And if they could sell them for $0.40 like you do, that would be simply awesome.  Thanks.

2.)  TP is not optional.  Nuff said.

3.)  The fact that all your signs are written in Chinese and English is oh-so-convenient. I love that we could ride the subway ourselves on our very first day in Beijing.  It's so easy to find things.  Plus your translations make me laugh.  Like the sign at the Great Wall that said, "No Naked Flames".  Or the one outside our hotel pool that says "Disinfected Pond".  Or this one.  (I promise I resisted the urge to pull out my matches in the fire-forbidden area.  Truly.)

4.)  I'm not three months pregnant.  I swear.  Wearing this stinkin' money belt just gives me a lovely little pooch.  Everywhere I go.

5.)  Those lines in the road?  And those red and green lights?  They're kinda' important.  Really.  I'd get a lot less carsick if your taxi drivers would at least take note of a few of them.  And I'd feel better about my kids not being in carseats...or wearing seatbelts.

6.)  Paper products are really not that expensive.  You could be a little more generous with your paper towels and your napkins.  Especially your napkins.  Eating with a four-year-old and a two-year-old usually necessitates the use of one or 200.  And the kind that are a little thicker than Kleenex are nice.

7.) Thank you for my son.  He's incredible.

Hugs,

Tonya

And since you all came for pictures, here you go...

He's Ours!!!

I am beyond thrilled to introduce you to our son, Isaiah Matthew.

Our Gotcha Day was awesome.  Isaiah cried a bit when his nanny left the room, but he let me hold and comfort him.  He's curious, ticklish, and loves his big sister.

The nannies said he has been doing very well.  He eats everything.  (Something we quickly discovered at lunch.  Bean sprouts.  This child likes bean sprouts.)  They said he has been attending preschool at the orphanage for two or three months and is well-liked by the teacher.  The nannies said he is healthy.

He understood everything our guide said to him and wasn't scared by our trip to the gigantic supermarket after we left the orphanage.  He's very curious.  He says baba (daddy), mama, and jie jie (big sister).  When we got back to the hotel, he and Li'l Miss played for a while and really enjoyed each other.  He likes the toys we brought, especially the stacking cups.

He's a lot bigger than I thought.  I was scared for a minute that the 2T clothes I brought were going to be too small, but I think they will work.  This boy's daddy is going to have to carry him in the Ergo, though.  

It seems unreal that Isaiah is finally with us.  He and his big sister (aaahhh...big sister! :) are upstairs napping now.

Alright, I'm going to run before the internet kicks me off.  Thanks so much for praying for us today.  We can't wait for you to meet Isaiah in person!

Our Trip: What Day is It???

Yesterday was a long, not-so-fun day.  We spent the morning at the Summer Palace in Beijing.  It was rainy and FUH-REEZING.  Needless to say, Li'l Miss was not too excited about looking at traditional Chinese architecture in the 40-degree drizzle.  The rest of us weren't exactly thrilled either.  That being said, the Summer Palace is pretty incredible.  And I'm sure it would be a lovely vacation spot...in the summer, that is.

Jeremy was super excited to eat at KFC for lunch.  The rest of us had a yummy Chinese meal with Ping, the world's best guide.  After lunch, we headed to the Southern Beijing Railway Station to catch our train to Shanghai.  That was a whole new adventure.  The station was huge and very modern.  There were people everywhere; it felt a lot like a big airport in the States.  

Someone (who asked to remain anonymous) was studying her camera on the way to our gate and managed to get completely lost.  Ummmm...how do you find a lost family member in a Chinese railway station?  No cell phones.  (Moment of silence for our lost iPhone here.)  No English-speaking security guards.  It was a very scary 67 seconds.  Thankfully, we tracked down said lost family member and made it to our train in plenty of time.

I've decided that bullet trains are my new favorite way to travel.  They are clean, spacious, and very quiet.  It was almost completely silent as we whizzed along at 304 km/hr.  (That's about 189 mph for those of you who are metrically challenged like I am.)  My mom, Jeremy, and Li'l Miss took a long snooze on the train, while I read.  The 800-mile trip from Beijing to Shanghai lasted less than five hours.  One of our agency's guides met us at the station and took us to our hotel.

Shanghai is an impressive city.  The skyline is incredible, a mix of modern skyscrapers and historic buildings.  Our hotel is in a great location, close to everything (shops, restaurants, famous sights).  

By the time we arrived at our hotel, I was seriously regretting my decision to skip naptime on the train.  I was super tired and hungry and pretty much grouchy and miserable.  Jet Lag Girl is not nice after nine hours without food.  My sweet family accommodated my demand request to take a walk and look for a restaurant.  Unfortunately, finding a restaurant at 9:00 at night in an unfamiliar neighborhood turned out to be a bit of a challenge.  After unsuccessfully circling a few blocks, we settled on a grocery store.

Everyone but Jet Lag Girl was very happy strolling the aisles of the grocery store, stocking up on all their favorite snacks: jelly, milk, yogurt, etc.  Jet Lag Girl just wanted something hot and proteiny (that's totally a word).  When my mom and I got to the check-out, Jeremy was wandering in some distant aisle picking out Lay's potato chips.  We checked out without him, so he had to go to the back of the line.

At this point, I totally lost it.  (Serious lack of sleep and protein going on here.)  I think I may have actually stomped my foot and said, "I'm starving" before stomping out of the store.  (Yes, I know, I'm thirty-two years old.  Jet lag is nasty, I swear.)  I sat down on the front steps of the grocery store, tore open the bag of custard buns we'd picked up, and ate the whole thing.  (Actually, I ate all but two...which I ate as soon as we got back to the hotel.  They looked so lonely all by themselves in that big bag.)

Today has been much, much better.  I actually slept until after 7:00 (yay, me!).  This morning we got a map of Shanghai and headed to the Bund (a famous historical area of Shanghai).  It's within easy walking distance of our hotel.  We walked along the Huangpu River and took in the Pudong skyline: gorgeous!  It actually feels a bit like Chicago.  And they have Starbucks.

Right now Li'l Miss is napping, our giant stack of dirty clothes is in the washer, and I'm sitting quietly in the lobby.  Our internet connection has been pretty unpredictable.  The VPN I downloaded to access Facebook only works occasionally, so my posts might be a bit sporadic.  I'm going to end now so I can try to post some Beijing pictures while I have a good connection.

Before I go, some of you might be interested to know that we pick up our son tomorrow morning!  We're meeting our guide in the lobby at 9:00am, so we should see him for the first time between 9:30 and 10:00.  (That's 5:30pm Sunday in California and 8:30pm EST.)  I promise to post pictures as soon as I can.  We unpacked this morning, and it was so fun to pull out little boy shoes and little boy clothes and little boy toys.  So exciting!  

And, no, he doesn't officially have a name yet.  But he will soon. 

Our Trip: Day 4

Li'l Miss is playing with her iPod and being supervised by her sleeping daddy, so I'll have to keep this short.  Here's a bullet point version of our day.

1.) The Great Wall is A.MAZ.ING.  As we walked, we all kept saying, "I can't believe we're really here."  It was incredible, and Li'l Miss loved it.  She walked the whole way (about 3 km) on her own and didn't even complain about the stairs we had to tackle at the end.  I'll have to post a picture to do this part of the trek justice, but let's just say that ladder is probably a better description than stairs.

2.) Losing your iPhone at The Great Wall = not so A.MAZ.ING.  Yup, Jeremy lost his phone on our way back.  Our guide tried really hard to help him track it down but no luck.  Jeremy thinks it fell out on the cable car we rode back from the wall, and our guide said an iPhone would be scooped up pretty quickly here.  Major bummer.  No more free texts with WhatsApp. :(

3.) We had much better luck eating out with our guide.  He joined us for lunch today, and it was yum. All five of us had soup, rice, drinks, and three main courses for about $12.50.  I just polished off the left-overs for a late dinner.  Mmmmmmmmm...so good.

4.) Jet lag is so not my friend.  My jet-lagged body could sleep anywhere, and my jet-lagged mouth is pretty sassy to anyone who tries to keep me from doing so.  This conversation may or may not have actually taken place today: "But, honey, I want to lay down and sleep on the sidewalk.  Don't make me get up and keep walking.  Pleeeeeeaaase let me close my eyes.  Just for a second.  Only a mean and horrible husband would expect me to stay awake right now.  I'm TTTTTIIIIIIRRRRRREEEEEEDDDDD!"

On that note, my bed is calling me.  Tomorrow we're headed to the Summer Palace in the morning and then to Shanghai in the afternoon.  I can't believe we're getting so close to meeting our Li'l Man!  Three more days!