I have returned.
Yes, it is David blogging today.
It is Wednesday morning in Guangzhou so it is Tuesday evening at home. I always seem to be thinking about that..thinking about whatever everyone is doing at home while we are here. We miss everyone and really want to be at home. It is incredible here, and we have had a great time, but we are ready to start our new life AT HOME!!! We are ready to get into a new routine with Maggie and all the good stuff that goes along with that. But more than anything we (well, I...) want CHAI TEA. Chinese tea is very good but it is not chai. Even Starbucks doesn't have chai. I am sad. I cannot wait to get to the Newark airport to get some chai tea. Ooooo maybe there will be some in Hong Kong! That will be exciting! No, wait, Allison as would say, "interesting."
Maggie just woke up. She is in a good mood...kind of. We have been so lucky and blessed with her so far. She has not been sick or too fussy or demanding or anything like that. We are starting to figure out her "fake" cry and her real cries. We are starting to figure out which cry means she is hungry. She is absolutely and completely "strong minded" as one of the orphanage reports told us. It is awesome. She needs sensory stimulation like it's a drug or something. Sounds and colors and textures seem to fascinate her. She is intrigued by the bathroom floor, the mirror, squeezing her toes in the carpet, the drawer handles, the drapes, my hair, my beard, my shoelaces, just all kinds of stuff.
Anyway, we love her and all the new little bits of her personality that she shows us each day. We know everyone at home is going to fall for her too. All the grandparents are in serious trouble with Maggie. Once she does a fake cry or pouts for you and then follows that up with a sweet smile...oh no. You're all goners!
Okay, so what did we do on Tuesday? It was a "free" day for our travel group. Maggie got up early so we got an early start to things. Breakfast is at a buffet on the 2nd floor and that is always fun. Maggie tried some oatmeal. She ate a good bit of it. She also had part of a bottle so she is eating a lot! We went to a museum about 10. It is the Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King. I thought it was awesome. Allison did not. Maggie only liked it a little. It is a museum with the tomb of a king from the Han dynasty from about 130-120 BC. The site was discovered in 1983 when the China Hotel was being developed. The tomb was completely intact with hundreds of artifacts inside. Do I sound like an art historian yet? Ha! The museum has kept the tomb open to visitors so we went inside. It was a tight space. Lots of stairs and with Maggie's stroller we got a good workout! The museum holds all the burial items. Lots of jade and pottery and bronze vessels and things like that. It was very similar to an Egyptian tomb with all the trappings of the afterlife, including servants, buried along with you. The king's concubines were buried with him and some of their skeletal remains were on display. Yikes! You weren't allowed to take pictures though, so sorry. The only one interested was me anyway. Well, my art history students are going to be subjected to the tomb too, but they don't have a choice! I bought some books of course. Maggie was very good and sems to like the stroller fine now.

Okay, Allison here now. David had to take a shower and all that typing wore him out. The workers in the gift shop were very complimentary of Maggie and how pretty they thought she was. After we were done at the museum, we went back to the hotel because it was spitting rain and kind of cold! We went to Food Street for lunch where Maggie was SO good. The highchair was sort of antiquated but she behaved very well. We ordered some yummy food including sweet and sour pork which was DELICIOUS. Maggie dined on fruit puffs. She still hasn't quite figured out how to get the food from her fingers to her mouth so this is her preferred method of eating.

Here's what happens afterwards.


After lunch, we came back upstairs and David and Maggie took a brief nap. Maggie woke up screaming so after we got her calmed down, we gave her a bottle. We're still figuring out when she eats. Everytime she cries inconsolably, we finally decide she's hungry. Dumb parents. She also had a slight fit yesterday when she was trying to crawl with one finger in her mouth and her ball in the other hand. She kept bumping her face on the carpet. It was so funny. I laid on the bed for the longest time and watcher her playing in the hall. She dragged a lot of the dirty laundry out until she located what she had been looking for, her hankie. The closet has sliding mirrored doors and she looked at herself for a long time and then held her ball behind the door and then brought it out again, like she was figuring out that it's still there even if she can't see it. Object permanence, I guess. It was fascinating to watch.

We went back to Shamian Island for a little bit and finished all of our shopping. Maggie drank a bottle so fast in the cab that she sucked the drop-in bag up inside the nipple. Brooke and I have to go back to Shamian one more time on Friday to pick up some stuff that we ordered.

Brooke and Emma came over and the girls "played" for a bit. Brooke put Emma's jade baby bracelet on her wrist and Maggie about ripped Emma's arm off trying to get to it. Hmm. That doesn't bode well for daycare. Emma looks so much better. Her eyes are bright and she is much more animated. We ate dinner at the hotel buffet last night. It was rather expensive and MAN, did they have some gross looking stuff. There was entirely too much stuff that looked like the animal it came from. There was a whole duck, a whole chicken, gigantic crab legs, whole shrimp, lots of fish, and maybe the sickest of all, OCTOPUS. It was purple and had suckers on it. UGH. It was kind of interesting though and they had an entire buffet table just for dessert. I had 4. Again, Maggie was SO good. The good thing about this trip is that she has learned how to behave in a restaurant and play with a toy or 2 in a highchair while we eat. And those of you who know us, know that we are not fans of eating at home. Well, we like to eat at home but not food that we cook. I cannot wait to have a hamburger from Cookout. And a Reese cup milkshake.

We came back upstairs and finally got Maggie to sleep and in the crib. She was still sort of awake when we put her in the crib and she did stick a defiant foot through the slats. We have a blanket on the side that faces us so the light won't bother her while we are still up. I think she really prefers it to be pretty dark when she's sleeping. We need to put some blinds up in her room at home!

Today we have our group picture and then the babies' pictures in the lobby. That should be a little hilarious. Then we are going to a teahouse. I would like to go to the park today if it gets a little sunnier outside. It's bright but cloudy. Maggie has pooped again for those of you who are curious and she spit up a TON of phlegm this morning. I certainly hope she's not getting sick. Now she's playing on the floor with her new red brocade shoes and her handkerchief. Mean parents don't buy their baby any toys. Speaking of toys, she loves to bang things together and bang things on tables and floors and anything that will make a noise. I bought her this ball at the Friendship store that has a jingly thing in it that she LOVES. She loves to shake it around. Guess she'll love the toy piano I have for her at home! Well, we need to get her ready for her photo shoot. I'll upload more pictures today.