Hi there,
Sorry for not posting to the blog for awhile....everything is good; it's been really busy!! Will try to post more before we leave Beijing.
Chris says Thanks for the birthday wishes!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Emily - a girl on the move - Sept 20, 2011
This photo is from after dinner.
Enjoy the photos - thanks for following along!
Am caught up with the photos you've all been waiting for -- going to bed now...
Emily - Sept 20, 2011
Emily has come to life throughout the day!
I have to admit I was a little worried (Chris too) about stuff. I didn't cry for Gotcha Day and was feeling bad because of it. I cried very early this morning and am crying now as I type -- happy tears. I think I've process this now; all is much better. Lots of stress leading up to Gotcha Day and we've had numerous things come up so this trip has been a little bumpy, to say the least. Will post more about that later but not now; it's way late.
She smiles, she laughs and giggles, she crawls, she doesn't stop or sit still for long -- we have a little terror on our hands! She tries to reach for things on the table/desk. She will gladly hand stuff to us without us asking for it. I got pieces of spaghetti from her at dinner tonight. She'll store food in her cheeks.
Emily probably 'shut down' emotionally when we got her (which can be normal) but she seems to coming around. I think I was in 'shut down' mode too. Today, when she started to cry when I put her down in the crib for a nap, I started to cry too -- she seemed so sad.
We checked her out when changing her clothes last night -- she has Mongolian spots in numerous places. Still waiting for her to poop.
Sept 20, 2011
Chris says that he thought it was bad before that people stared at him -- now with two chinese daughters, it's worse...LOL! Some are friendly about it and others just stare.
Sept 20, 2011
These photos were taken near our hotel. After Emily's nap, we went to the nearby shopping mall to look for some clothes for Emily. I packed light -- only three outfits (including the one being worn) for each of us. Emily had three outfits in two sizes because I wasn't sure what would fit her. As it turns out, she wears size 18 months for tops but can still wear 12 months for bottoms, although the length may be short. She seems to be long in the body. We gave the 12 months clothes to the orphanage. Emily has more outfits (two sizes) in our Beijing suitcases (we left one large and two carry-ons -- lots of room for shopping!). We bought a sleeper at the mall; a two pce outfit in the market (and two chinese outfits). The girls have their first matching chinese dresses -- they'll look cute (and beautiful).
Chris had a chinese woman point out to him (by touching Emily's leg) that her pants were riding up her legs; she also gave him a dirty look. This is our first encounter ever (didn't happen with Asia) with the 'clothing police.'
Sept 20, 2011
We finished up today's adoption paperwork by 10:30 am. So, we have free time for the rest of the day. First order of business is a nap for the littlest Miss. She had a small bottle of formula and went down about 11:30 am. She slept until 1:45 pm (2 1/4 hours). Asia kept asking when she'd wake up -- she doesn't like Emily to nap 'cause she can't play with her.
Asia and Emily - Sept 20, 2011
Asia loves her new little sister, Emily!
We'll see how long it is before she wants to send her back...LOL!
Forever Family Day - Sept 20, 2011
We had asked Ms. Zhang about visiting the orphanage. It was okay with her. Chris and I talked about it -- we thanked her very much for the opportunity but decided that while we really wanted to visit, we thought it was best not to take Emily to visit (so soon) the very place she was leaving forever. Ms. Zhang invited us to come next time we're in China. We asked her to email photos of the orphanage to us. The SWI is very open to having contact with the adoptive families so we'll keep in touch by email for sure; snail mail not so much.
Forever Family Day paperwork - Sept 20, 2011
I goofed! Didn't put my thumb print on my signature so had to do it again.
Forever Family Day paperwork - Sept 20, 2011
Part of the paperwork is putting our thumb print (red ink) on our signature.
Forever Family Day - Sept 20, 2011
Its' official -- we're now a family of four!!!! Chris, Debbie, Asia and Emily Bowden.
Forever Family Day - Sept 20, 2011
The girls are watching chinese cartoons after waking up.
Today, Emily is 16 months old! We weighed the girls last night - Emily weighs 21 lbs with a wet diaper on and Asia weighs 30 lbs.
Emily photo - Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
Photo is out of order. I think this was going back to our room after dinner.
Emily photo - Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
Is that a smile on Emily's face?!
Emily hasn't smiled much. Only a bit of starting to cry; her bottom lip comes out, she looks really sad and whimpers a little.
Emily and Asia - Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
Asia is reading Emily a bed time story - very cute! She is not actually reading but telling the story as she's remembered the words.
Emily photos - Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
Our family of four with Ms. Zhang (orphanage director) and the nanny that brought Emily.
The Zhenjiang SWI is about 1 1/2 hours away by car.
More Emily photos - Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
We ate dinner in the chinese restaurant downstairs -- dumplings, fried rice and noodles in soup. Dessert was a cheesecake with a teeny amount of strawberry sauce. It was very light and fluffy; not heavy at all -- yummy!
The waitresses were quite taken with Emily and amusing throughout our time in the restaurant.
Our little Miss Emily is a good little eater. Ms. Zhang says that we have to limit her food intake because she'll eat until she gets sick. Time will tell. Asia is very cute with her little sister -- wants to sit beside her and feed her, etc.
We Gotcha Emily!! - Sept 19, 2011
Our Gotcha Moment with Emily was about 3 pm.
Emily didn't cry at all (unlike Asia, whom we could hear in the hall way). I didn't cry either -- can you believe it?!
a peek at Emily - Sept 19, 2011
There are other families there and it's busy. We see two women and a small child come in and sit at the far end. Chris asks me if that's our Emily and I say Yes, I think so.
Before we know it, they're bringing the child over to us. Sarah had already taken our TA (Notice of Travelling to China) so nobody at the front of the office called our name and waited for us to come forward (like at Asia's Gotcha Day).
Ms. Zhang hands Emily to me -- that's it, our Gotcha Moment is done!!
I hold Emily for a short time and Asia is very close to say hello to her new little sister. I hand Emily to her Daddy.
Gotcha Moment soon! - Sept 19, 2011
Gotcha Moment is soon! - Jiangsu Registration Service Centre for Foreign-related Marriage and Foreign-related Adoption.
start of Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
A folding bike with a child seat on the back. Julia, I thought of you when I saw this.
start of Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
I thought the other store was small...LOL! Check this one out, it's even smaller! You can't even walk in.
start of Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
This is a narrow store! Left side to right side, the store goes to where the red is on the right.
Monday, September 19, 2011
the start of Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
Besides people staring at or doing a double-take with Chris, people (here especially) have been quite taken with looking at Asia (beautiful girl).
the start of Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
We are meeting Sarah, our guide, at 1 pm today. We'll go to the bank and exchange our US funds into yuan (or RMB - chinese money) and at 2:30 pm, we'll go to the government office for our Gotcha moment.
So, before we meet Sarah, we walked around our great little area -- lots of shops and people to see.
the start of Gotcha Day - Sept 19, 2011
Buffet breakfast - chinese and western food. This also helps make up for the room!
late dinner in Nanjing - Sept 18, 2011
We left our hotel room at 9:30 pm and went to KFC; it's very close to our hotel. We're staying in the Mandarin Garden Hotel. We're on an Executive floor (10th) and overlook the front of the hotel. Our room is not as nice as others we've had (kind of shabby) but the rest of the hotel is quite nice. The location is great as it's in the Confucious Temple District and there's lots to see just by walking around.
Had to order by picture - not unusual here! Asia had fries and an ice cream cone. At another table, there was someone with a small dog. A man showed us a card (said he was deaf) that asked us for 2 yuan ($0.30 Cdn) -- he gave us a packet of Kleenex in exchange.
Emily's papercut
We bought this for Emily as she was born in the Year of the Tiger. It'll look great when it's framed -- I'll have to do this sooner than later...LOL!
Little Miss Word Search - Sept 18, 2011
Asia is having fun with word search, level 1. She was a bit frustrated until she realized that she could use the same letter more than once!
travel from Xian to Nanjing - Sept 18, 2011
We're another step closer to Emily; well, by the end of the day anyway...LOL! Left hotel about 12:30 pm and landed in Nanjing about 8 pm.
We met Eric in the lobby by 12:30 pm. When I asked about confirming our flight, he said it was the wrong flight number info so we're scrambling around -- got him to call Yulin as it was her brother (in China) who made the travel arrangements for the Xian part of the trip. Turns out it's the same departure/arrival time as our flight today, just the wrong flight number.
Today, we were supposed to have a different driver and a bigger car -- nope! Although, it did hold the luggage a little better than the other car.
Checked our luggage - they didn't weigh the carry on bags (whew!) (they didn't last time either!); said good bye to Eric and lined up to go thru security. We also had to stand on the little platform and they waved the wand over us and did a light pat-down. No problem for any of us but it always makes us nervous to go through security.
Found our boarding gate; then went for a bit of lunch. Asia has been a good little traveller but she's starting to not want to eat the food in China. Our flight got delayed about a half hour; leaving at 15:55 instead of 15:20. It's been raining all day and the weather has delayed a lot of flights. Our boarding gate changed; we had to go downstairs and get on the transfer bus to go to the plane. We got food/drink right away; the plane sat on the tarmac for over a LONG time. Our plane left the runway at 6:29 pm -- 3 hours after it was scheduled to. There were four or five planes behind us, waiting to take off.
The flight was pretty good; not to rough despite the weather. We landed about 8 pm.
Xian city wall - Sept 17, 2011
The wall is 15 metres high and is very wide; enough for a car to drive on. You can rent an electric car or bicycle to ride around on part or all of the wall.
We had a little tour and learned about feng shui in one of the buildings.
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