Today we visited a very old Chinese temple which is now a museum. The architecture was extremely detailed. There were many interesting statues there. After that we went to a tea house where we were shown the difference between a good tea pot and a bad one. We also got to sample a few different types of tea. Both places were very interesting. Noelle loves to observe people and things. She is very curious. She just stayed there in the Baby Bjorn the entire time. She was a very good baby.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Travel to Guangzhou
Friday was traveling day. We left the hotel in Nanchang at 1:15pm. Due to delays the flight never left until around 5pm or so. By the time we got settled into our room here at the China Hotel we were all very tired and hungry. While Tonya tried to get Noelle to sleep Robin and I snuck over to McDonald's which is right beside the hotel. It was very similar to back home except they put thinly sliced cucumbers in place of the lettuce. I liked it much better this way. We pretty much crashed after that. Noelle had that cough thing again in the night which made for a not so good night of sleeping for Tonya and I. Robin pretty much remains comatose through any commotion that goes on during her sleepy time.
Today was another busy day. Noelle had her medical exam this morning. After her exam the doctor had us come into another room by ourselves with 2 other doctors and our guide. They were all just staring at her and talking in Chinese. We were a little concerned for a few minutes. They were discussing whether or not she might be younger than what her paperwork says because she wasn't walking and talking and they thought that for her age she should. Finally, they told us that it was okay to go back on the bus. That's the only time this week anyone has ever questioned her development.
From there we went shopping at a 6 story department store...very fancy. We bought some grocery and baby items along with an outfit and toys for Noelle. It was an interesting experience. Quite a few Chinese ladies came up and tried to interact with Noelle. It was pretty fun. This afternoon Tonya had a 2 hour paperwork meeting in our guides room. I got baby duty. It was just what Noelle and I needed for bonding. First I got to change a very messy poop. All the poops have been firm until this one. It was everywhere! (our hands, the bedspread, the onesie, etc. etc.) Noelle fell asleep in my arms without crying for mommy. I could not be happier today.
Right now it's 8:30pm and we are having some delicious burgers that we ordered from room service. Robin is with her new friends and their families out on a shopping trip. We felt that we needed to stay in with Noelle tonight. Tomorrow is going to be more of a relaxing day. We are ready for one of those.
A funny side story: Tonya was having a piece of Robin's white chocolate Dove bar the other day while holding Noelle. While eating the chocolate she looked at Noelle and noticed that she looked like she was trying to give mommy a kiss. Tonya leaned forward to kiss her and Noelle stuck her slimy little tongue in mommy's mouth in an effort to get a taste of the succulent Dove bar. It grossed Tonya out pretty bad at the time. It was not expected. That's just one example of how observant and quick our daughter is. She has been cracking us up often.
Hopefully she sleeps good tonight without much coughing. We gave her some Tylenol and a nice bottle of formula with rice cereal. Hope that works. Well, gotta finish my yummy burger and organize some things. We'll try and post photos and video before we go to bed tonight.
Today was another busy day. Noelle had her medical exam this morning. After her exam the doctor had us come into another room by ourselves with 2 other doctors and our guide. They were all just staring at her and talking in Chinese. We were a little concerned for a few minutes. They were discussing whether or not she might be younger than what her paperwork says because she wasn't walking and talking and they thought that for her age she should. Finally, they told us that it was okay to go back on the bus. That's the only time this week anyone has ever questioned her development.
From there we went shopping at a 6 story department store...very fancy. We bought some grocery and baby items along with an outfit and toys for Noelle. It was an interesting experience. Quite a few Chinese ladies came up and tried to interact with Noelle. It was pretty fun. This afternoon Tonya had a 2 hour paperwork meeting in our guides room. I got baby duty. It was just what Noelle and I needed for bonding. First I got to change a very messy poop. All the poops have been firm until this one. It was everywhere! (our hands, the bedspread, the onesie, etc. etc.) Noelle fell asleep in my arms without crying for mommy. I could not be happier today.
Right now it's 8:30pm and we are having some delicious burgers that we ordered from room service. Robin is with her new friends and their families out on a shopping trip. We felt that we needed to stay in with Noelle tonight. Tomorrow is going to be more of a relaxing day. We are ready for one of those.
A funny side story: Tonya was having a piece of Robin's white chocolate Dove bar the other day while holding Noelle. While eating the chocolate she looked at Noelle and noticed that she looked like she was trying to give mommy a kiss. Tonya leaned forward to kiss her and Noelle stuck her slimy little tongue in mommy's mouth in an effort to get a taste of the succulent Dove bar. It grossed Tonya out pretty bad at the time. It was not expected. That's just one example of how observant and quick our daughter is. She has been cracking us up often.
Hopefully she sleeps good tonight without much coughing. We gave her some Tylenol and a nice bottle of formula with rice cereal. Hope that works. Well, gotta finish my yummy burger and organize some things. We'll try and post photos and video before we go to bed tonight.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Photos from the countryside village
Entrance To Home
Kitchen area
They liked us coming into their home very much
Visiting the countryside on Thursday
Thursday after the porcelain shop we went out of the city to a very poor village area. We were told that 70% of China lives under these conditions. The video is pretty shabby because I was interacting with the children there quite a bit. If the camera goes crazy it means I was giving high fives and monkeying around with the kids. They were precious kids, very good looking, and very happy. The living conditions were horrible, birds nests inside their home, huge cracks in the walls, very dark. It was very cold with no heat and no real light. Oddly enough, they did have a little color tv.
These are the conditions that Noelle and the other adopted children in our group probably would have lived and grown up in if they would not have been abandoned.
It is heartbreaking but it's all they know. I wish I would have known to bring something to hand out. Mary our guide went into a little shop nearby and bought them all some candy and each a little yo-yo. Man were they excited!
Did I say 70% of China lives like this. The USA is a blessed country. Even if we say we don't I think we all take what we have for granted back home.
Just another note: In central and southern China no stores or homes are allowed to have any heat at all. Going into the stores it is real chilly here in Nanchang. Everyone is really bundled up. The village homes (holes in the wall) where freezing cold. I guess it's just the big fancy hotels where well to do travelers and business people come where there is heat and pleasant accommodations.
These are the conditions that Noelle and the other adopted children in our group probably would have lived and grown up in if they would not have been abandoned.
It is heartbreaking but it's all they know. I wish I would have known to bring something to hand out. Mary our guide went into a little shop nearby and bought them all some candy and each a little yo-yo. Man were they excited!
Did I say 70% of China lives like this. The USA is a blessed country. Even if we say we don't I think we all take what we have for granted back home.
Just another note: In central and southern China no stores or homes are allowed to have any heat at all. Going into the stores it is real chilly here in Nanchang. Everyone is really bundled up. The village homes (holes in the wall) where freezing cold. I guess it's just the big fancy hotels where well to do travelers and business people come where there is heat and pleasant accommodations.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
What Gotcha Day was like
Finally a relaxing day to clear our heads and catch up. We don't even have to leave the hotel. It's Day 5 in China and I think we were all ready to relax. We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then went for a swim in the huge hotel pool. Tonya and Noelle watched us from the side. Noelle just had this dumbfounded expression on her face for the the first 10 minutes in pool room. Lots of sights and sounds to take in for someone who's entire life has been lived in an orphanage. After the swim we came back and put Noelle down for nappy-time...much needed. I'd say she slept about an hour while Robin and I did postcards and Tonya looked at some info. on the orphanage. Mary our guide just called the room to see if we wanted to order Pizza Hut with the other families. Oh yah. We also are waiting for our laundry to come back. We sent a bag full up to our guides room. Our country guide Linekar hired an outside service to do any laundry we needed to have done. So, Noelle is awake now and in a good mood again. But, she does fuss when Robin is in her face too much. Robin is having a hard time giving her adorable little sister a little space. Trust me, it's hard to resist the cuteness.
Anyhow, at 2:45 on Monday we walked across a busy, no insanely, dangerously busy city street with lots of fast moving traffic to the civil affairs building. We all crowded claustrophobically into an elevator and went up to the 26th floor. That's the way the Chinese do it...sardine style. On the 26th floor we crowded into this one room where there were already 10 or so families from other groups hanging out talking. There where also some babies there, but not for our group. Our group consists of 7 families. Six families all waiting for their healthy referrals from the same orphanage in Poyang (all babies last name Po) and then Noelle from Fuzhou SWI in Fuzhou City.
After about 30 long minutes of waiting some people started coming in with babies. One by one they called the other six families and handed them their little ones. It was one of the most incredible things to experience. Most of these babies are around 8 months. They all looked so healthy and well cared for....not to mention....cunnin'. At this time we began looking around to see if we could see Noelle...nope...and the babies stopped coming. It was a little hard to rejoice with our new friends. Meanwhile, Tonya and Robin were sitting on a bench in the back just waiting. After about 10 minutes I went and sat by them. I noticed Robin was crying a little and I also saw tears coming out of Tonya's eyes. She said she was worried because Noelle wasn't there yet and hoped she was okay. I guess the guide had told her that someone or some babies from her orphanage had showed up but not our baby. It was rough because that's all that was said for the next 10 minutes or so. Finally, our guide Linekar came over and said he heard that they were stuck in traffic and that our baby would be here in 5-10 minutes. It was no less than 2 minutes later I saw a single Chinese man carrying a baby in who was dressed in an oversized red and white flannel coat with a big hood. She was bundled up like you wouldn't believe. I jumped up to see the face and sure enough it was her. It was her dainty little face and mouth and facial expression that gave it away. It was her! They called us over and the man handed Noelle to Tonya and I moved in. Robin tried to tape for a minute but we all just wanted to be right there around her. After that I got to hold my daughter for the first time. She did not make a wimper. She made one soft little cry when she was first handed to Tonya. She just stared and stared. It wasn't 5 minutes and they told us it was time to leave and go back to the hotel. We all got jammed back into the elevator. I was holding Noelle. It was freaky. There were people everywhere and it was really noisy. I just held her close and rubbed her back and said "It's okay, it's okay". I repeated this the whole way back to the hotel in a very non-manly voice but I didn't care. It was my daughter and she was scared. She didn't cry once crossing Insane Street and before we new it we were back in the hotel room with Noelle sitting on the bed. One hour from when we left. We just let her sit on the bed and look around. When Tonya finally tried getting some of her many layers of clothing off she began to cry. It was really sad. I don't like the feeling I had hearing her really cry for the first time. We only had an hour in the room then we had to go to a conference room and fill out the application for the civil affairs to complete the adoption. It took about an hour tops. I filled it all out then we both signed numerous times. Noelle was so good. The rest of the night was so wonderful. She played and laughed and interacted with all of us. She is so smart. She is also very strong. I think her favorite past time is imitating us. Which is unbelievably funny at times. She doesn't like to be undressed, bathed, be touched a lot by Robin and me, watermelon, have Tonya walk away from her, sit in a shopping cart, ride in the BabyBjorn with anyone but Tonya, be left sitting by herself, fried egg, croissants, the stroller, big stuffed animals, big dolls, and pacifiers in her mouth. She loves her colored stacking cups beyond all reason, her bottle with formula, apple juice, congee, Cheerios to the max, imitating all of us, playing patty-cake with Robin, hugging mama, giving me 5 and watching me stick up my thumb and say "heyy" then poking her belly. She babbles under her breath in a sweet raspy little voice. She loves being tipped backward then brought up again due to the head rush. She likes veggie-bites, sipping water from a bottle cap, watching people on TV (if their speaking in Chinese)...she just stares forever at it. She IS obstinate at times EXACTLY like they said. She'll yank away from Robin, throw stuff, and clench her fists. She loves to share everything though too. When she has Cheerios she'll feed me one, eat one herself, feed mama one and so on. She is has already bonded with us so much. Her mama is her number 1 on the planet. Me carrying her around without her crying is always hit or miss. God had it all pre-arranged that she would be part of our family. She is a perfect fit.
Oh yeah, she does have some of the Mongolian spots that we were told about. They look just like bruises. They are harmless and disappear as she gets older. She also crawls. We found that out for the first time last night. She stands pretty good when we hold her up.
Here are some photos from our Gotcha Day (sorry they are late):
Anyhow, at 2:45 on Monday we walked across a busy, no insanely, dangerously busy city street with lots of fast moving traffic to the civil affairs building. We all crowded claustrophobically into an elevator and went up to the 26th floor. That's the way the Chinese do it...sardine style. On the 26th floor we crowded into this one room where there were already 10 or so families from other groups hanging out talking. There where also some babies there, but not for our group. Our group consists of 7 families. Six families all waiting for their healthy referrals from the same orphanage in Poyang (all babies last name Po) and then Noelle from Fuzhou SWI in Fuzhou City.
After about 30 long minutes of waiting some people started coming in with babies. One by one they called the other six families and handed them their little ones. It was one of the most incredible things to experience. Most of these babies are around 8 months. They all looked so healthy and well cared for....not to mention....cunnin'. At this time we began looking around to see if we could see Noelle...nope...and the babies stopped coming. It was a little hard to rejoice with our new friends. Meanwhile, Tonya and Robin were sitting on a bench in the back just waiting. After about 10 minutes I went and sat by them. I noticed Robin was crying a little and I also saw tears coming out of Tonya's eyes. She said she was worried because Noelle wasn't there yet and hoped she was okay. I guess the guide had told her that someone or some babies from her orphanage had showed up but not our baby. It was rough because that's all that was said for the next 10 minutes or so. Finally, our guide Linekar came over and said he heard that they were stuck in traffic and that our baby would be here in 5-10 minutes. It was no less than 2 minutes later I saw a single Chinese man carrying a baby in who was dressed in an oversized red and white flannel coat with a big hood. She was bundled up like you wouldn't believe. I jumped up to see the face and sure enough it was her. It was her dainty little face and mouth and facial expression that gave it away. It was her! They called us over and the man handed Noelle to Tonya and I moved in. Robin tried to tape for a minute but we all just wanted to be right there around her. After that I got to hold my daughter for the first time. She did not make a wimper. She made one soft little cry when she was first handed to Tonya. She just stared and stared. It wasn't 5 minutes and they told us it was time to leave and go back to the hotel. We all got jammed back into the elevator. I was holding Noelle. It was freaky. There were people everywhere and it was really noisy. I just held her close and rubbed her back and said "It's okay, it's okay". I repeated this the whole way back to the hotel in a very non-manly voice but I didn't care. It was my daughter and she was scared. She didn't cry once crossing Insane Street and before we new it we were back in the hotel room with Noelle sitting on the bed. One hour from when we left. We just let her sit on the bed and look around. When Tonya finally tried getting some of her many layers of clothing off she began to cry. It was really sad. I don't like the feeling I had hearing her really cry for the first time. We only had an hour in the room then we had to go to a conference room and fill out the application for the civil affairs to complete the adoption. It took about an hour tops. I filled it all out then we both signed numerous times. Noelle was so good. The rest of the night was so wonderful. She played and laughed and interacted with all of us. She is so smart. She is also very strong. I think her favorite past time is imitating us. Which is unbelievably funny at times. She doesn't like to be undressed, bathed, be touched a lot by Robin and me, watermelon, have Tonya walk away from her, sit in a shopping cart, ride in the BabyBjorn with anyone but Tonya, be left sitting by herself, fried egg, croissants, the stroller, big stuffed animals, big dolls, and pacifiers in her mouth. She loves her colored stacking cups beyond all reason, her bottle with formula, apple juice, congee, Cheerios to the max, imitating all of us, playing patty-cake with Robin, hugging mama, giving me 5 and watching me stick up my thumb and say "heyy" then poking her belly. She babbles under her breath in a sweet raspy little voice. She loves being tipped backward then brought up again due to the head rush. She likes veggie-bites, sipping water from a bottle cap, watching people on TV (if their speaking in Chinese)...she just stares forever at it. She IS obstinate at times EXACTLY like they said. She'll yank away from Robin, throw stuff, and clench her fists. She loves to share everything though too. When she has Cheerios she'll feed me one, eat one herself, feed mama one and so on. She is has already bonded with us so much. Her mama is her number 1 on the planet. Me carrying her around without her crying is always hit or miss. God had it all pre-arranged that she would be part of our family. She is a perfect fit.
Oh yeah, she does have some of the Mongolian spots that we were told about. They look just like bruises. They are harmless and disappear as she gets older. She also crawls. We found that out for the first time last night. She stands pretty good when we hold her up.
Here are some photos from our Gotcha Day (sorry they are late):
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Dropping the bottle
Link to same video on Photobucket:
http://s268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/jamnbsslix/Tuesday/?action=view¤t=MOV00983.flv
Sippy Cap
Link to same video on Photobucket:
http://s268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/jamnbsslix/Tuesday/?action=view¤t=MOV00973.flv
It's Official!!
Today we took care of all the paperwork, interviews, gifts, donations, fees, etc. here in Nanchang. Noelle is officially our adopted daughter here in China! We even received a really nice red hard covered certificate document and a gift from her orphanage and another gift from the Civil Affairs Department here in Nanchang. At our request, Director Zhou from Noelle's orphanage in Fuzhou City even had his photo taken with us. Everything went wonderfully today.
Different subject....
Noelle is a riot! She loves to imitate us. We are having so much fun with her it is crazy. Right now she is trying to imitate Tonya saying "water". She is a little fussy at times because she has a cold we think. Tonya is now her security blanket whenever we go anywhere. I carried her across the busy city street from the Civil Affairs building on Gotcha Day but she's mommy's girl now. I think she enjoy's playtime with all of us though when we're here in the hotel room. She has a sweet little raspy voice when she laughs and babbles. She is a sweetie....hope it carries over on the flight to Guangzhou and the journey home to Maine.
We'll try to post some photos and video from Gotcha Day but it really went wierder than we expected.
Different subject....
Noelle is a riot! She loves to imitate us. We are having so much fun with her it is crazy. Right now she is trying to imitate Tonya saying "water". She is a little fussy at times because she has a cold we think. Tonya is now her security blanket whenever we go anywhere. I carried her across the busy city street from the Civil Affairs building on Gotcha Day but she's mommy's girl now. I think she enjoy's playtime with all of us though when we're here in the hotel room. She has a sweet little raspy voice when she laughs and babbles. She is a sweetie....hope it carries over on the flight to Guangzhou and the journey home to Maine.
We'll try to post some photos and video from Gotcha Day but it really went wierder than we expected.
Monday, January 21, 2008
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