Medical exam and just a little shopping

Yesterday morning, we had to wake Maggie up she would be ready for us to leave the hotel at 9. We went to breakfast, as usual, and got ourselves together. Maggie and I went and visted with Emma and Audrey in the lobby before it was time to leave. We all got on the bus and headed off. It was another beautiful day in Guangzhou. Sunny, breezy and blue skies. It was probably about 75 degrees or so. The medical clinic is on Shamian Island so we would have the opportunity to shop some more after we were done.

When we got inside the clinic, it was organized chaos. Lots of crying babies. We got to see the other half of our group who are staying at a different hotel and we haven't seen some of them since we got off the plane in Beijing! That includes the woman from Weddington who I met up with before we even left for China. Her little boy, Josiah, is so cute! I was glad I got a chance to see him. There were signs all over the waiting room that said "Keep Quiet." haha. We got some paperwork and formed lines at 3 stations--height and weight, ear, heart and throat and general check up. Maggie was very good through almost the entire visit and didn't really get upset until the "take the clothes off the baby and check her out" part. Because, you know, that involves both lying down AND taking clothes off. She weighed 7.6 kg so about 16.75 pounds. I can't believe how small she is. Her 9 and 12 month bottoms are way too big. 6-9 month tops seem to fit her the best and 3-6 month pants and shorts! I held Kylie, one of the other Lianjiang babies yesterday, and she weighs about 19 or 20 pounds. QUITE a difference! Then we headed to the ear and throat part. They squeaked a toy on either side of Maggie's head to see if she looked in that direction, which she did and stuck a tongue depressor in her mouth to look at her throat. I don't know how they saw anything! They also listened to her heart there.
Then on to the last dreaded station. The doctor undid her clothes, looked over her chest, opened up her diaper and then did her back up. Some yelling ensued here. She also asked if Maggie could stand so I held her up on the table but she was not having any of that. After that, we were all done and we were free to go! Brooke and Jeff found out that Emma had a sore throat and some kind of eye gookies so they got some medicine for her eyes and they started her on Zithromax yesterday. I did not hear one peep out of them last night so I think they all got a good rest! We wandered around the island for a while and watched people playing badminton and hacky sack. One group of people were standing under a bridge and singing a song. The words were printed on a piece of poster board and the teacher, I guess, was leading them. There were also people doing tai chi and dances with fans. One group of people looked like they were shagging. It was really cool and we had to keep reminding ourselves that it was Monday morning! I don't know why they were all out. Maybe they don't have to work or they work later or something. Then we headed over to the shops and poked around a little bit. I wasn't really in the mood to do much shopping so Maggie got a pair of white squeaky shoes that David picked out. Maggie and Emma both pooped out in their strollers so we decided to go ahead and eat lunch. We went to Lucy's again and ate outside because it felt so nice. I have become rather intolerant of the airconditioning since it got so nice and cool. Then we all went back to the bus.

When we got back to the room, Maggie and I were tired so I laid down on the bed with her and we both fell asleep. I don't think there is anything sweeter than your baby sleeping on your chest. She is a bit like a little oven though. We had a GOOD nap. I think we slept for about 1 1/2 hours. David had to wake me because I had to go to the big paperwork meeting at 4. We paid our last fees so now we are done with the payment parts. The paperwork party was actually kind of fun. It was all the Guangdong moms + 1 dad. We all sat on the floor and filled out scads of paperwork. I think I wrote down our address 10 times. Some of it made me kind of sad when there was so much information regarding the babies where we had to write "unknown." I guess it lasted about 2 hours or so. Then when we got done, David looked a little haggard. Maggie had apparently had 1 too many fruit puffs because her system decided to reject them. I took Maggie for a while so he could have a break. Maggie and I decided to walk down to the elevators but we ran into Brooke and Emma so we hung out with them in the hallway for a good long time. Then Danielle and Jessie came up and we all played. Jessie is 18 months old and has a heart defect. She is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. She likes to be boss with the toys too. We brought out some of Maggie's and Emma's toys and played. It was really fun and Brooke and I agreed that the 2 weeks we will be in China will be the ONLY time the babies will be allowed to play on a hotel floor, much less the hallway! I'll try not to think about that too much.

We ordered Danny's Bagels for dinner and finally got Maggie to sleep. She was SO tired but did not want to go to bed. David got her to sleep and when he put her in the crib, she would cry for a second and then fall asleep and then wake up and cry and then fall asleep again. Very cute. We managed to watch 1/2 an episode of Buffy before we both fell asleep too. Wimps.

Maggie awakened at her usual 4:30 with crying out but then fell asleep again, as usual. We think she must have gotten fed at that time in the orphanage. I got up and read my email and then decided about 6 to go back to sleep. Today our plans are to visit the Sun Yat-Sen museum and to go to a nearby park. We are on our own today because Amy and Lineker have to take the non-Guangdong families' paperwork to the consulate. Their swearing in is tomorrow and then they leave on Thursday. Guangdong just passed some law requiring us to stay longer so that's why we come home 3 days later.

We have finally begun to hear Maggie's laugh. It sounds kind of like a little quack. It's hilarious. She smiles when she sees us now.
She woke up in a good mood AGAIN!
Super flexible.
Watching Monday Night Football but here it's Tuesday Morning Football. Maggie fell asleep. Also, there is apparently not a Chinese word for "holding."
Checking out the cutie in the mirror.