Day 4 - Venturing Out

Today, we finally feel comfortable enough to venture out, and not get killed, lose one of the kids, so we're going to get a cab and venture out towards Beijing Lu (Walking Street) where there are lots of shops to take a look around, maybe do a little shopping, and try to find a replacement a/c adaptor for Eddie's Nintendo, which I killed by plugging into the 220 outlet without an adaptor. This is after already having charged it once in Hong Kong with the adaptor. Did I mention extreme fatigue?
This place is wild. Picture any street mall in anywhere in America and multiply it by 100 times. It almost dwarfs New York City. Streets and streets of stores, 100 or more, looking up one side, then the other, mostly organized by types of products, like a whole street of just women's apparel, another of all shoes. We never found the electronics street, though cousin William said he's going to Hong Kong for business tomorrow and will pick one up for us. It has been incredibly helpful having him here. While many in the hotel know English to some extent, the cultural gap is the most notable. Even if I were to find someone in the hotel who understood what we were looking for - they wouldn't know the types of shops we'd like to shop at. For example, this Walking Street place, is too big, with way too many streets and shops. We are not adapt to walking more than a couple blocks in 99 degree heat and humidity. We were all very grouchy today. Well, not Isabella. She was a trooper, sleeping most of the time in the stroller, while the 3 of us walked around grumping and grouching at each other. I was sure Eddie's charger cord thingy was there, but having the stamina to find it was the challenge. Only a few of the stores had English writing on the sign out front, so you had to walk, look inside the store for clues of what it sold. When I say walk - I mean like down a block that would have 80-100 stores, two and three stories high. You may know, we're not exactly rugged. So after walking around for almost 2 hours, we took a cab back to the hotel, defeated. We pass the girl at the concierge desk who suggested we go there, giving us a card with the name of the place on it to give to the driver - she asked us if we got it. We said no. I got an empathetic look that crossed between disappointment and dismay. Boy, do I feel like a "dumb American".
Look at my girl standing. She has come so far in just 4 days. She pulled to standing all by herself and even takes a hand or two off the crib to show us how strong she is. Her skin and muscle tone has improved by more than 100 percent. She is happy, smiles and giggles. She's probably laughing at us.

Day 4 - Mornings

Isabella has slept for 8-10 hours nightly since her first night with us - operative word, "contiguously". She wakes at times, not that I notice, because I've always slept so soundly, but Bill is happy to report in the morning that she wakes a couple times through the night, makes a few wimpers, sucks on her thumb and puts herself back to sleep. Just before bedtime, we bathe her, give her a small bottle, she plays for a few minutes, lets us enjoy her fresh clean baby smells, and we put her in her crib, and she's out in a few minutes. Most of you know, putting Eddie to sleep, even now at 7 3/4 requires a bit more from us. You all were right. Girls ARE easier!
Most of the time, she plays happily, coos, watches us intently, requiring very little attention. She's not a crier. Even when she's upset about something, she'll try to soothe herself.
She is most curious of Eddie. She loves his silliness and antics, and he loves to perform, so its a perfect match - Eddie has a continual audience now.
I continue to be amazed at how natural it is for Eddie to play with her, to love her. He is so patient, a patience I've not seen before now - I know some of you skeptics may say this is the "honeymoon period", but I have a feeling and hope this is the beginning of a life long bond for the two of them.

Day 3 - Part Deux (It's Official)

Sorry, didn't take a lot of pics today. I think we forgot we actually had a camera, or maybe how to use one. The less than 3 hours of sleep a day is starting to get to us, though its amazing how much you get done when you don't waste a lot of time sleeping.

Today is Security Bureau day. On the way, Der tells us, we are now legally the parents of our adopted children. He shows us our official adoption certificates and says we're going to the Security Bureau to get "interviewed".

We're running a bit early, so Der asks if we want to stop by a grocery store? Sure, why not. We pull up to this giant shopping plaza where there's a huge, I mean huge for being an inner city grocery store, on the ground level of this giant building. This store sells everything, mounds of fresh fruits, chinese sausages, and more regular items. The crowds turn most of us off - not used to the density of people seemingly everywhere, trying to navigate a store where you can't read any of the signs, though find familiar brands, etc, because the graphics and colors are the same, but most products, including Coke are not marked bi-lingual - oh, and doing this with our babies in tow. I get a couple things, a couple mini moon cakes, and an ice cream cone for Eddie and scram back to the bus.

Its a little ominous, as we pull up in front of this official government building with armed guards everywhere. He says, don't look at them, no pictures. He obviously has arranged for appointments for our group. We go up to the 2nd floor into a room that kind of looks like a DMV waiting area in the US. We wait our turn. One by one, families are called up to meet with a very official, straight faced (did we mention the Chinese have no sense of humor?) government worker, who confirms we are who we are, takes a picture of the baby, and dismisses us with one glance. A little creepy, but who cares, we're almost done with Chinese government type meetings. Tomorrow is a day off for us. Depending on how much sleep we get tonight, we may venture out, take a taxi to check out the surrounding area - on our own.

So, on the way back from the Security Bureau, Der asks, "So how old the documents say your baby is?" I replied, "14 months", but quickly picked up his cue, and asked, "Why? How old do you think she is? He reached over, felt the top of her head and said, "No, not 14 months. At most, 10 months" and motioned toward her fontinel, which I felt, and noticed it was still open about between the size of a quarter and a 50 cent piece. Hmmm. Interesting. Explains her size. She's fitting quite well in her 9 mos clothes I brought.

Day 3 - Turning Point

I think today is a turning point for all of us. Isabella is happily playing with Eddie's Spiderman watch. I had forgotten how cool it was, children at this age, playing, amusing themselves with the simplest of things. She is such an inquisitive little girl, taking everything in, her eyes noticing everything, watching intently, each of us, what we do, what we say, she seems more interested and curious about her new surroundings than intimidated, as I feared she would. She is indeed a happy little girl. Last night, Eddie had her cackling with laughter as he was dancing about, acting like a clown which we've all witnessed, tickling her, making funny sounds. He is such a natural at this, being a big brother - and boy did it warm my heart to hear my children laughing. My children. Wow.

She is doing well. She sleeps well at nights, 8-10 hour stretches. Wakes occasionally, soothes herself - she sucks her thumb(s), and goes back to sleep. She takes 3 nine ounce bottles and eats congee, and soft solids at the table with us. We gave her some fruit at breakfast this morning - cool to watch her expression experiencing the new foods. We're sure she ate no solids and had no experience with spoon feeding prior to now. But she's a fast learner and tonight was opening wide for the noodles Bill was feeding her with his chopsticks. Already in just a little over 2 days, she is looking better, with better color, smiles, laughs, and plays quietly at the table at meals. Can I say how helpful it is to have Eddie here with us. He tries so hard and is so good with her. Tonight at Dinner, Bill and I actually got to eat at the same time, while Eddie was feeding her congee. Yesterday at the pool and again last night, Bill had her on her feet, cruising, holding onto the bed or Bill, taking steps, shaky, but taking steps. She is able to roll over, sit herself up, and is doing more of that today, but wasn't moving much on her own the first day.
I rarely openly disclosed, mostly out of embarassment or shame for what I thought most would think was less than appropriate feelings, but so often through this long, arduous process - I questioned whether or not this was the right thing to do. Not knowing what to make of the abivalence I just could not suppress. Was that ambivalence an internal cue of what would be the biggest mistake of my life, or just fear of the unknown? Would not "going through with this" end up being that mistake? Surely, the length of time we all have had to wait, think, re-think, wait some more, and my usual way of over-thinking just about every situation in my life, has contributed. Though, as I watch my husband, my son, emerge over the past 2 days, bonding, working, trying so hard to care for this new little creature in our lives, I start to remember why we did this to begin with. Then today, only the 2nd day after what I assume has to be a most traumatic experience for her, I get a clear, distinct message from Isabella that she is happy to be with us - I know for sure now, that this was the right decision, that this was our path, and she was always ours. She completes us. (ok, it wasn't entirely the message from Isabella, but the 2 hour discussion, Bill and I had over 2 boxes of tissues in the middle of night while Eddie and Bella were sleeping.)



At breakfast in the hotel, we get a table by the window this morning. This fisherman? on this boat has come down the Pearl River every morning with this giant net. What is he fishing for? Bill says the fresh catch on tonight's menu. Ewwww. Let's just say the river isn't exactly crystal clear..

Day 2

Back at the CCAA. Today we met with the Director of the CCAA to go over and sign the adoption papers.
Afterwards, we had some lunch. Isabella slept all last night, quiet as a mouse. She wakes for brief periods (no crying), but soothes herself and puts herself back to sleep. She did some eating at dinner last night. It was her first experience at spoon feeding, but was a champ. A chip off the ol block I say. She'll do just fine in this family. Eddie is amusing his lil sister, waiting for his Wonton Soup with Noodle. Bill is having a Cheeseburger. Where in America can you have both at the same restaurant?
Eddie is enamored with her. Already we're amazed at how good he is with her.

You can't tell from this pic, but she actually has a lot of hair. Its thin and kept short, kinda spiky on top, like Billy Idol. Me, on the other hand didn't even bother putting make up on today. We're still having quite a bit of trouble with the jet lag and adjusting, which is why its 4:44 am, I'm up, updating this blog and have been for hours.
She's been very good. Doesn't do a lot of crying, and is easily soothed. She's taken about 3-4 eight ounce bottles from us today, and eaten congee and we experimented a little with some rice noodle. Don't want to make the mistake of giving her too much too fast and upset her stomach like with so many newly adopted kids. We're taking it nice and slow. Tomorrow we'll try some additional foods like fruit, etc. Its nice having a breakfast buffet fit for a king every morning because its all right there. The buffet would be compared to that in a hotel in America that'd cost $35 a person! There's 12 different fresh fruits, including fresh longan and starfruit, along with melons, berries, etc. There's a table with smoked salmon, whitefish, bagels, fresh pastries, breads, muffins - another with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, grits, french toast - made to order omelettes with fresh eggs and a dozen toppings, fresh seafood, shrimp, crab claws and legs, oysters, lamb, beef, and of course chinese favorites like dim sum, congee, spring rolls and at least 50 more items. They do a great job here. Its definitely a 5 star hotel, with pools, a driving range on the roof overlooking the pearl river, fitness centers, shops, a dozen restaurants, laundry, baby equipment rentals just steps away. There is a giant 3 story atrium with a waterfall inside, a pond filled with foot long coi and goldfish. This is the first time a hotel has exceeded my expectations and was even better than the pictures and description on their webpage.

This is Eddie amusing the fish. He loves the idea that when he flaps around, waving his arms and legs, they come to him, heads out of the water, mouths wide open. Bill and I explained they think you're going to feed them. He thinks they're enjoying his show.

She has 6 teeth that are in or mostly in with looks like at least 10 more coming in soon. She sucks her thumb to soothe her achy gums or when she's upset. She's very good at self soothing. It'll be hard not to spoil that by wanting to hold her all the time.

The End of Day 1

Already comfy, safe in her father's arms, on the bus on the way back to the White Swan - Day One is coming to a close. We are all physically and emotionally drained and exhausted. We have our little girl. Tomorrow we will come back to the CCAA to sign some paperwork to start the process for legally adopting her in China. Now, we go back to the hotel, where we already have dinner plans with William, his sister, her husband and daughter. He called me in the 15 minutes after getting into our room and before we had to go back downstairs to go to the CCAA yelling, "Cousin, so you arrive in China and don't even call your cousin to tell him you're here!" Ve-ly funny. When I said, I literally just walked into the room. He said, I know. I wondered if there were cameras. You know, we're in Communist territory. I told him we had to be back downstairs in a few minutes. He said, ok. We'll go out to dinner tonight then - to celebrate. I'll be there at 5 or 5:30. Just then, Der came to our room to make sure we were ok with our arrangements and was a bit perplexed that I could already be on the phone chatting away in Chinese to someone. I told him it was my cousin, who wanted to come take us to Dinner. He said you better make it 6 or 6:30. Already causing a ruckus, we are.



Isabella's first night with us. A new beginning for her and a long way away from the LeChang SWI. I was saying to Bill, things are already looking up for this little girl.

Tears of Joy

Gosh, she's so little. Probably very scared, never having been in a car that long, never seeing so many new, strange faces. Just hold her so she knows it'll be alright from this moment on...
Bill is being so good, taking pictures of this most precious moment for all of us. Eddie is looking on pensively thinking.... hmm, i wonder if my Nintendo will be charged up again we get back to the hotel. Actually, he's probably thinking, so that's what she's like.
Well Eddie, you asked for a sister. Here she is. Love her. Be good to her, from this day forward.
Our long journey's end. The beginning of our new family.
By some stroke of luck, while the nannies have a different native language, they also speak Cantonese! They, along with most everyone else we've run into are shocked I speak Chinese. We are chatting about Isabella's life til now, her habits, routines, diet, etc. They tell me she is a happy little girl. She is healthy and very smart. Her eyes are dark, very dark - they emphasize several times. (I was embarrased to not know, so did not ask the significance of that til later when I ask William and his sister at Dinner that night why it was important.) The Chinese believe the darker the iris, the healthier and stronger the child is. They kept remarking how we got a good healthy baby. Indeed, her iris is so dark, you can hardly see her pupil in lower lighting. The other parents did not get the luxury of getting all the background info I got.

Live from Guangzhou - Meet Isabella Chung Templeton

This is from the bus on the way to Guangzhou. I hardly recognize this city from when I was here last in 1990. Steady growth, buildings, skyscrapers everywhere. We crossed the 2nd longest twin span suspension bridge in Asia. The longest one is in Denmark - according to our guide Ben.
This is at the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs). After a 3 hour long bus ride (Eddie napped, Bill and I didn't, can you tell?) from Hong Kong, checking into the White Swan, dropping off our luggage, etc, they whisk us away by van to the CCAA to meet Isabella who is waiting for us. At the same time, we were travelling by bus from HK, she was travelling from her orphanage in LeChang, which is about 3 hours by car to Guangzhou.
We're waiting in the lobby area along with 6 other families in our group - can you say anxious? Oh well, let's get those people to take a picture of us, since we're all standing here with our cameras out. Eddie is all ready to meet his new sister, with toys in hand.Now, we're moved to a room. Moms on one side, Dad's with cameras on the other side. Why do we do that? Idling chit chatting with the other anxious moms. We're realizing that unlike the last time we were at this moment, while still in a room with lots of people, we're fully dressed - and if we wanted to, we could have a drink like in the next few minutes.
We all have family numbers. Ours is #4. That's Der (in the red shirt), one of our 2 guides in China. I guess, he'd be the midwife? When he called #4 first, I felt like I was on the Price is Right, and he just said "And the next contestant... Come on down!" (I think I even heard the music playing in my head) What a weird sense of humor I have.... The woman holding Isabella is her nanny and the woman behind her is the Director from the LeChang SWI (Social Welfare Institute - Chinese for orphanage). I don't know who the woman in the white shirt is admiring my new daughter.

Alas, the daughter we've been waiting two and a half years for.

Arriving in Hong Kong

Arriving at the airport in HK. Feeling pretty good after a 15 hour flight from Newark. Of course, you notice Bill is doing all the luggage handling - its all I can do to move myself and take this picture. The direct flight on Continental to HK - we highly recommend it. We were on a Boeing 777-200 - the one with 9 seats per row, 12 bathrooms on board. Service was great and the gizmo at each seat that had over 300 movies, games, tv, radio and music videos for free - that was cool and occupied the 3 of us for the majority of the flight. That and feeding us every 2-3 hours - Elaine, you would've loved it!

This is Ben, our HK guide. He met us at the airport, gave us instructions, a short tour of the airport and area and tucked us in a very nice hotel. We would be going to Guangzhou the next day to meet our babies, so he said to rest up and avoid temptation to go shopping. That, plus the new airport is on Lantau Island and about an hour from the downtown shopping district in HK. Its nice though, a lot nicer than the airport in Kowloon we landed at last time. This airport opened 6 yrs ago.
Check out the Krispy Kreme! I can't get a hot donut in Wilmington DE, but can at the airport in HK. How about that? Not that I need donuts, hot or not.