Just to let you know, if you are so inclined, I do have another blog that I usually post on. If you would like the address, please email me at allisonlc@aol.com
Let me know in the subject line that the email is in regards to the blog and let me know a little about yourself if you're not someone I know personally.
Thanks!
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
So glad to be home
Well, David told me about an hour ago that we could watch an episode of "Lost" before we went to bed but he's been blathering on about cross country to the coach who helped him out while we were gone. Thank goodness he wore Weddington stuff every day so he could at least show his Warrior pride in his absence.
So, our trip home. That was one long flight. Well, let me start at the beginning. We got up kind of early and took a taxi to the train station. If we hadn't had a stroller plus 2 ten ton, suitcases we could have walked. I love riding the train. It's so relaxing. It was nice to see Hong Kong one more time. We made it to the airport where we were told that one of our suitcases was overweight by 7 kilos! Bwa! So, we really weren't as smooth as we thought we were by jamming all that crap into our original 2 suitcases. Oh well, next time we'll know. The guy told us that we would have to pay $200 in overweight fees. I about freaked but then David told me it was in HK dollars so it was like 20 bucks. We ate breakfast at Burger King and let me tell you, it tasted GOOD. Delicious, even. We wasted a little time looking in some shops and of course, David had to get his chai tea. At the security checkpoint, they looked at my baby Dimetapp and baby Benadryl VERY carefully. I was about to start crying at the prospect of them taking it. They let it by but they did take my baby Motrin. That makes no sense to me but whatever. Then David gave me the rest of our HK dollars and told me to go back and spend it. I love buying junk in the airport when you have to use up your currency! I got us a bunch of magazines and some candy. We got on the flight and we were 1 row from the back of the plane. Like we were sitting where we had to help flap the plane's wings. It actually turned out to not be such a bad thing because I had to go to the bathroom like a thousand times to take care of Miss Maggie.
We settled in and I was SO thankful that we had bought a seat for Maggie. She had space to lay down and sleep and when she was awake, we let her stand on the floor and play with her toys on the seat. She started out the trip in her pajamas but at one point when I was trying to be smooth and change her diaper in the plane seat, she peed all over the place and got her pj's wet. That did not make me happy. There are about a million things that I love about Maggie but I HATE changing her diaper. She is the squirmiest worm and she hates it too, I think. Thankfully, we had packed a backup outfit. Maggie got a little dose of the "Flyer's Friend" and zonked out not long after that. Like I have said before, Maggie is much like an oven when she sleeps. She gets so SWEATY. Kind of gross but let me tell you, on that flight, I was thankful for the little oven. It was like a freaking Arctic winter on that plane. The whole trip all I could think of was my winter coat and my pink fleece blanket. I had also forgotten to pack any socks so my feet were FREEZING. I bundled up in 2 airplane blankets. Blech. There was also this woman sitting across the aisle from us who kept coughing like she had tuberculosis. Rather unpleasant. She had on a surgical mask before we took off but then she removed it once we were in the air. I guess she thought they wouldn't kick her off once we were airborne. The flight went on and on and Maggie slept on and off. She was really very good. She got kind of cranky a few times but otherwise, she was not a problem. David and I were even able to watch an episode of Buffy on the laptop.
We landed in Newark and went through immigration. I think the United States is a rather unfriendly place to immigrate to. Not that I've had any experience with any other countries but we were looked up and down and herded into this holding area like we were criminals and then all they did was take our paperwork and dismiss us. We got our bags, rechecked them and met up with my friend Meredith and David's aunt Sue, cousin Heather and her family. It was so nice to see some familiar faces.
Sue and Heather and their crew were heading to the beach so we only visited with them for a little while. Emily had picked out a firefly toy for Maggie. Maggie really liked it. Meredith brought a little stuffed lamb rattle which Maggie shunned at first because stuffed animals=scary. At the gate, she realized that it made noise and decided that she liked it. Meredith also brought Maggie some new pj's--very cute. We found this coffee shop and hung out there for a while and talked. Then we realized we had to head on so we got in the mile long line for the security checkpoint. This time they took my Benadryl. They also looked at my travel Charmin very carefully. Heh. We got down to the gate and crammed onto the teeny plane. David told me that Maggie "smelled" so I took her to the smallest airplane bathroom in the world where I discovered she had had a blowout, for lack of a better word. It was sick. Then there were like 20 planes in front of us and we had to wait in line and it was very stuffy in the plane. The second we took off, Maggie and I both fell asleep. We slept through almost the entire flight which made it go very quickly. When we landed, I had to take Maggie in the bathroom to change her into her coming home outfit, a red and white gingham bubble with smocked American flags. Very cute. When we finally got out to where everybody was waiting, I felt like it was a dream. I couldn't believe that we had made it all the way home. There were so many people there with balloons, a big sign and noisemakers. It was awesome. David and I had decided ahead of time that we felt like Maggie had bonded sufficiently with us and she definitely knows who we are, so we agreed that it would be okay for people to hold her. My dad got first crack at her!
With Grammie Barb
With Auntie Erin
With Grandma ReRe
With Grandma Karen
We talked for a long time and then decided it was time to brave the car and carseat. I strapped Maggie in for her maiden voyage and BOY, did she scream. She screamed louder than I've ever heard her cry. I climbed in the backseat and sat next to her but after about 10 minutes, she stuck her finger in her mouth and just looked out the window. Rege and Barb bought us a mirror to put on the backseat so we can see her in the rearview mirror. We got home and I think it was all just a little bit too overwhelming for Miss Maggie. She is rather scared of the cats so we're introducing them slowly. I picked Louie up after we got home and I think he weighs for than Maggie. I gave Maggie a bath which she screamed her way through and she also tried to stand up and bonked her head on the side of the tub. Bad mommy. My mom and dad had set up the pack n play in our bedroom so we thought we'd try her out in there first. She went to sleep pretty fast (around midnight) but woke up crying at 1:30. I got up and changed her diaper in the dark which was rather difficult as her pajamas had about a million snaps and I snapped them all wrong. I stayed up with her for a while before I started to feel sick I was so tired. We traded off and David got up with her and laid on the couch. I think they slept but at 5:30 he came in and woke me up and told me it was my turn.
I got up and fed her and we went in her bedroom to check out the toys. Then I realized that I could be watching TV while we looked at the toys so moved ourselves out to the den. Maggie was in a good mood but very clingy this morning. At about 8:30, I decided that I HAD to go back to sleep so I rocked Maggie in the glider, where she fell asleep. I put her in her crib and I got in the guest room bed and we all slept until almost noon. I went in and woke her up because I knew we'd be paying for it tonight if I didn't. This afternoon was spent trying to keep her awake. We went to Target--yay, first time! and Walmart. In the 5 minute trip to Target, Maggie fell asleep in the car. She is also so small that the seatbelt in the grocery cart is too small, even pulled as tightly as it would go. She kept trying to turn around in the seat. I finally gave up and carried her in Walmart. We let her take a little nap from about 5:15 to 6 and then I woke her up again. She's been eating really well so that's good. David's mom and grandma came out tonight so Grandma Grace could meet Maggie. ReRe also brought Maggie's birthday present--a jumperoo! It's so cool and she LOVED it.
We tried to put Maggie in the jogging stroller tonight but she was yelling so loud going down our street that we thought we'd better turn around before we riled up every dog in the neighborhood. I took her in the nursery and rocked her and she fell asleep in about 1 second. During this time, David hooked up the baby monitor and came in and out probably 5 times and moved her bookcase and she did not budge. I put her in the crib and she rolled over and went right to sleep. She just woke up screaming so David is in there with her now. He said she fell back asleep as soon as he picked her up. She is SO tired. She looks almost pitiful because she looks so exhausted. I hope we can sleep tonight. We took these No-Jet-Lag pills all the way home yesterday so hopefully they are working. I feel okay right now but I'm ready to go to bed.
Well, this will be my last post on here now that we're home. You know where to find me and if you don't, my email's on this blog somewhere. Thanks SO much for all the comments while we were in China. It was so wonderful to hear from so many people while we were so far away.
So, our trip home. That was one long flight. Well, let me start at the beginning. We got up kind of early and took a taxi to the train station. If we hadn't had a stroller plus 2 ten ton, suitcases we could have walked. I love riding the train. It's so relaxing. It was nice to see Hong Kong one more time. We made it to the airport where we were told that one of our suitcases was overweight by 7 kilos! Bwa! So, we really weren't as smooth as we thought we were by jamming all that crap into our original 2 suitcases. Oh well, next time we'll know. The guy told us that we would have to pay $200 in overweight fees. I about freaked but then David told me it was in HK dollars so it was like 20 bucks. We ate breakfast at Burger King and let me tell you, it tasted GOOD. Delicious, even. We wasted a little time looking in some shops and of course, David had to get his chai tea. At the security checkpoint, they looked at my baby Dimetapp and baby Benadryl VERY carefully. I was about to start crying at the prospect of them taking it. They let it by but they did take my baby Motrin. That makes no sense to me but whatever. Then David gave me the rest of our HK dollars and told me to go back and spend it. I love buying junk in the airport when you have to use up your currency! I got us a bunch of magazines and some candy. We got on the flight and we were 1 row from the back of the plane. Like we were sitting where we had to help flap the plane's wings. It actually turned out to not be such a bad thing because I had to go to the bathroom like a thousand times to take care of Miss Maggie.
We settled in and I was SO thankful that we had bought a seat for Maggie. She had space to lay down and sleep and when she was awake, we let her stand on the floor and play with her toys on the seat. She started out the trip in her pajamas but at one point when I was trying to be smooth and change her diaper in the plane seat, she peed all over the place and got her pj's wet. That did not make me happy. There are about a million things that I love about Maggie but I HATE changing her diaper. She is the squirmiest worm and she hates it too, I think. Thankfully, we had packed a backup outfit. Maggie got a little dose of the "Flyer's Friend" and zonked out not long after that. Like I have said before, Maggie is much like an oven when she sleeps. She gets so SWEATY. Kind of gross but let me tell you, on that flight, I was thankful for the little oven. It was like a freaking Arctic winter on that plane. The whole trip all I could think of was my winter coat and my pink fleece blanket. I had also forgotten to pack any socks so my feet were FREEZING. I bundled up in 2 airplane blankets. Blech. There was also this woman sitting across the aisle from us who kept coughing like she had tuberculosis. Rather unpleasant. She had on a surgical mask before we took off but then she removed it once we were in the air. I guess she thought they wouldn't kick her off once we were airborne. The flight went on and on and Maggie slept on and off. She was really very good. She got kind of cranky a few times but otherwise, she was not a problem. David and I were even able to watch an episode of Buffy on the laptop.
We landed in Newark and went through immigration. I think the United States is a rather unfriendly place to immigrate to. Not that I've had any experience with any other countries but we were looked up and down and herded into this holding area like we were criminals and then all they did was take our paperwork and dismiss us. We got our bags, rechecked them and met up with my friend Meredith and David's aunt Sue, cousin Heather and her family. It was so nice to see some familiar faces.
Sue and Heather and their crew were heading to the beach so we only visited with them for a little while. Emily had picked out a firefly toy for Maggie. Maggie really liked it. Meredith brought a little stuffed lamb rattle which Maggie shunned at first because stuffed animals=scary. At the gate, she realized that it made noise and decided that she liked it. Meredith also brought Maggie some new pj's--very cute. We found this coffee shop and hung out there for a while and talked. Then we realized we had to head on so we got in the mile long line for the security checkpoint. This time they took my Benadryl. They also looked at my travel Charmin very carefully. Heh. We got down to the gate and crammed onto the teeny plane. David told me that Maggie "smelled" so I took her to the smallest airplane bathroom in the world where I discovered she had had a blowout, for lack of a better word. It was sick. Then there were like 20 planes in front of us and we had to wait in line and it was very stuffy in the plane. The second we took off, Maggie and I both fell asleep. We slept through almost the entire flight which made it go very quickly. When we landed, I had to take Maggie in the bathroom to change her into her coming home outfit, a red and white gingham bubble with smocked American flags. Very cute. When we finally got out to where everybody was waiting, I felt like it was a dream. I couldn't believe that we had made it all the way home. There were so many people there with balloons, a big sign and noisemakers. It was awesome. David and I had decided ahead of time that we felt like Maggie had bonded sufficiently with us and she definitely knows who we are, so we agreed that it would be okay for people to hold her. My dad got first crack at her!
With Grammie Barb
With Auntie Erin
With Grandma ReRe
With Grandma Karen
We talked for a long time and then decided it was time to brave the car and carseat. I strapped Maggie in for her maiden voyage and BOY, did she scream. She screamed louder than I've ever heard her cry. I climbed in the backseat and sat next to her but after about 10 minutes, she stuck her finger in her mouth and just looked out the window. Rege and Barb bought us a mirror to put on the backseat so we can see her in the rearview mirror. We got home and I think it was all just a little bit too overwhelming for Miss Maggie. She is rather scared of the cats so we're introducing them slowly. I picked Louie up after we got home and I think he weighs for than Maggie. I gave Maggie a bath which she screamed her way through and she also tried to stand up and bonked her head on the side of the tub. Bad mommy. My mom and dad had set up the pack n play in our bedroom so we thought we'd try her out in there first. She went to sleep pretty fast (around midnight) but woke up crying at 1:30. I got up and changed her diaper in the dark which was rather difficult as her pajamas had about a million snaps and I snapped them all wrong. I stayed up with her for a while before I started to feel sick I was so tired. We traded off and David got up with her and laid on the couch. I think they slept but at 5:30 he came in and woke me up and told me it was my turn.
I got up and fed her and we went in her bedroom to check out the toys. Then I realized that I could be watching TV while we looked at the toys so moved ourselves out to the den. Maggie was in a good mood but very clingy this morning. At about 8:30, I decided that I HAD to go back to sleep so I rocked Maggie in the glider, where she fell asleep. I put her in her crib and I got in the guest room bed and we all slept until almost noon. I went in and woke her up because I knew we'd be paying for it tonight if I didn't. This afternoon was spent trying to keep her awake. We went to Target--yay, first time! and Walmart. In the 5 minute trip to Target, Maggie fell asleep in the car. She is also so small that the seatbelt in the grocery cart is too small, even pulled as tightly as it would go. She kept trying to turn around in the seat. I finally gave up and carried her in Walmart. We let her take a little nap from about 5:15 to 6 and then I woke her up again. She's been eating really well so that's good. David's mom and grandma came out tonight so Grandma Grace could meet Maggie. ReRe also brought Maggie's birthday present--a jumperoo! It's so cool and she LOVED it.
We tried to put Maggie in the jogging stroller tonight but she was yelling so loud going down our street that we thought we'd better turn around before we riled up every dog in the neighborhood. I took her in the nursery and rocked her and she fell asleep in about 1 second. During this time, David hooked up the baby monitor and came in and out probably 5 times and moved her bookcase and she did not budge. I put her in the crib and she rolled over and went right to sleep. She just woke up screaming so David is in there with her now. He said she fell back asleep as soon as he picked her up. She is SO tired. She looks almost pitiful because she looks so exhausted. I hope we can sleep tonight. We took these No-Jet-Lag pills all the way home yesterday so hopefully they are working. I feel okay right now but I'm ready to go to bed.
Well, this will be my last post on here now that we're home. You know where to find me and if you don't, my email's on this blog somewhere. Thanks SO much for all the comments while we were in China. It was so wonderful to hear from so many people while we were so far away.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
There's a Boots in Hong Kong!
Okay, so after we checked in and got settled, we decided to start walking around. We went over to the IFC mall which is HUGE! I couldn't believe how big it was. And rather upscale as well. We rolled around in there for a while and I decided I was hungry. We went to Pret a Manger for lunch and I had the first sandwich I'd had in two weeks. Oh, a sandwich! It tasted SO good. I reverted to my usual ways and ate it in about 3 minutes. We also shared some potato "crisps" which also tasted great after 2 weeks. Those corn things in China were very good but not the same thing as a good old potato chip. I was extremely sleepy afterwards so we pressed on because I seriously could have laid down on the floor in the mall and gone to sleep. We went out on this observation deck to check out the harbor. Very pretty. Again, Maggie is not so impressed with Hong Kong.
I don't get it. I think it's super cool. We walked all over the place in "Central" which is basically the business district, I guess. Lots and lots of skyscrapers and banking and such. We tried to go in the Bank of China building which has an observation deck but we had missed the cutoff for Saturday. We went to a couple of other malls but didn't buy much. When you walk into a shopping center and see Versace, Ferragamo and Armani and you are a couple of teachers, perhaps you are out of your league. We also subjected Maggie to the indignity of changing her diaper on the floor behind a pillar. The bathrooms were miniscule and about too small for me to even go to the bathroom in them. We did lay down a blanket though, I'll have you know. We also went to Ben and Jerry's because like I said, I was about to keel over from exhaustion. I had this HUGE cup of Chocolate Therapy. Good grief. It was delicious and about black it was so chocolate. Then David discovered that they have chai tea lattes here in Hong Kong. Ahhh. All was right with the world.
We cruised back to the hotel so we could get ready for dinner and also so we could relax a little bit. I played with Maggie for a while where she would be crawling on the floor and I would hide behind the bed and then chase after her. Much laughter ensued. Maybe you had to be there for that but MAN, I remember my mom doing that with me and I thought it was hilarious as a kid. Maggie has the dorkiest laugh. It's so funny.
We went down to dinner at one of the restaurants here in the hotel and Maggie was SO good. I mean, she was great! I was thinking that 2 Saturdays ago, she was probably sleeping or lying in her crib at the orphanage and then this Saturday, she's eating Cheerios at the Ritz in Hong Kong. Crazy. Our dinner was very good but I thought I was going to explode by the end. Maggie had had about enough by then so we got our dessert packed up and we came back upstairs. There was a pianist playing during part of dinner and Maggie was kind of humming to herself and rocking back and forth. Very cute. She also has started sticking her old long tongue out with a Cheerio or whatever still on the tip of it. And she totally squirms around while I'm changing her diaper and I KNOW she does it because she knows it makes me mad! She is so funny.
Then the bath butler came. Oh man. When we remove our toilets and install squatty potties, I think we shall also hire a bath butler for our house. Dudes, it ruled. RULED. I got chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. The bath had lots of bubbles and rose petals on it. Chocolate chip crumbs are sort of gross in the bathtub but oh well.
Maggie says, "I don't care about Hong Kong but I can't wait to see y'all tomorrow!!!"
So this is almost the end of our time in China. Wow, it's been amazing. It's been fun. It's been hard. It's been unforgettable. To those of you who have helped us, supported us, prayed for us, laughed and cried with us, thank you thank you thank you. We can never thank you enough. It was a long 2 years but let me tell you, Monday, September 4, made every second worth it and we could not have done it without our families and friends. Thank you to all of you. We are incredibly blessed.
We should arrive in Charlotte at 8:13 pm tomorrow night---Sunday. We cannot wait to see everybody and to introduce you to our sweet, funny, amazing daughter. We know you will love her as much as we do.
See you then!
I don't get it. I think it's super cool. We walked all over the place in "Central" which is basically the business district, I guess. Lots and lots of skyscrapers and banking and such. We tried to go in the Bank of China building which has an observation deck but we had missed the cutoff for Saturday. We went to a couple of other malls but didn't buy much. When you walk into a shopping center and see Versace, Ferragamo and Armani and you are a couple of teachers, perhaps you are out of your league. We also subjected Maggie to the indignity of changing her diaper on the floor behind a pillar. The bathrooms were miniscule and about too small for me to even go to the bathroom in them. We did lay down a blanket though, I'll have you know. We also went to Ben and Jerry's because like I said, I was about to keel over from exhaustion. I had this HUGE cup of Chocolate Therapy. Good grief. It was delicious and about black it was so chocolate. Then David discovered that they have chai tea lattes here in Hong Kong. Ahhh. All was right with the world.
We cruised back to the hotel so we could get ready for dinner and also so we could relax a little bit. I played with Maggie for a while where she would be crawling on the floor and I would hide behind the bed and then chase after her. Much laughter ensued. Maybe you had to be there for that but MAN, I remember my mom doing that with me and I thought it was hilarious as a kid. Maggie has the dorkiest laugh. It's so funny.
We went down to dinner at one of the restaurants here in the hotel and Maggie was SO good. I mean, she was great! I was thinking that 2 Saturdays ago, she was probably sleeping or lying in her crib at the orphanage and then this Saturday, she's eating Cheerios at the Ritz in Hong Kong. Crazy. Our dinner was very good but I thought I was going to explode by the end. Maggie had had about enough by then so we got our dessert packed up and we came back upstairs. There was a pianist playing during part of dinner and Maggie was kind of humming to herself and rocking back and forth. Very cute. She also has started sticking her old long tongue out with a Cheerio or whatever still on the tip of it. And she totally squirms around while I'm changing her diaper and I KNOW she does it because she knows it makes me mad! She is so funny.
Then the bath butler came. Oh man. When we remove our toilets and install squatty potties, I think we shall also hire a bath butler for our house. Dudes, it ruled. RULED. I got chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. The bath had lots of bubbles and rose petals on it. Chocolate chip crumbs are sort of gross in the bathtub but oh well.
Maggie says, "I don't care about Hong Kong but I can't wait to see y'all tomorrow!!!"
So this is almost the end of our time in China. Wow, it's been amazing. It's been fun. It's been hard. It's been unforgettable. To those of you who have helped us, supported us, prayed for us, laughed and cried with us, thank you thank you thank you. We can never thank you enough. It was a long 2 years but let me tell you, Monday, September 4, made every second worth it and we could not have done it without our families and friends. Thank you to all of you. We are incredibly blessed.
We should arrive in Charlotte at 8:13 pm tomorrow night---Sunday. We cannot wait to see everybody and to introduce you to our sweet, funny, amazing daughter. We know you will love her as much as we do.
See you then!
Blast!
I just lost my whole BLOOMING post because the computer randomly decided to turn off. UGH. Well, let me see if I can re-create it. First of all, I had forgotten about our trip to the Consulate yesterday so I'll start with that. The trip was uneventful but we had forgotten to bring a bottle for Maggie because we weren't supposed to bring anything and she got kind of cranky. We all swore that we had been truthful on all of our paperwork and we were done. Kind of anti-climactic. Maggie slept through it. But then we got her passport--too cute--and were ready to go. Brooke and I had to go over to Shamian Island to pick up some stuff we had ordered so when we got back to the hotel, I dropped off David and Maggie and she picked up their stroller and after about 15 minutes, we finally got a cab. The traffic in Guangzhou at 5:30 on Friday afternoon SUCKED. It was so heavy and Emma was NOT happy. Also, the driver misunderstood where we wanted to go to he took us to the Chen Clan Temple. Um, no. Finally, we got it across that we wanted to go to Shamian and we finally got there. Brooke had to go to 1 store to pick up some pictures so I sat outside with Emma. Whew, she can holler. Her mouth is BIG. Impressively so. We went to Jordon's quickly and managed to hail a cab from the street instead of going up to the White Swan. We got back to the hotel and apparently, Maggie thought I had abandoned her because she had been crying since I left. Well, until David took her out of the hotel room. I felt cranky when we got back so we just went up to McDonald's for our last dinner in China. Sad, huh? Then we finished packing our stuff because our suitcases had to be outside by 9. Everyone was impressed that we left with the same number of suitcases we came with. Granted, our stuff is JAMMED in there but still. There are some things that I didn't even wear while we were here. Maybe we'll go carry on only next time. Haha, just kidding.
This morning came rather early when David woke me up at 4:30. Maggie had cried out in the night again and I laid awake for a LONG time. Too much to think about, I guess. We didn't have too much to do since we had mostly packed the night before. We had to wake Maggie up but she was remarkably cheerful. We got down to the lobby in plenty of time as we had to be there at 5:45. One family, the Wilsons, got up at 5:30. That's 2 parents, 2 older kids and 1 new baby. The mom, Julie, said it was like "Home Alone" in their room. That cracked me up. The trip to the airport was kind of quiet. Amy went over some last minute stuff with us and had some very nice things to say that choked her and most of the bus up! She is wonderful. I cannot say enough good things about the AWAA guides in China.
There were many lines at the airport in Guangzhou but we managed to get through them with a little time to shop! Gotta spend the last of that yuan! The flight was short, only about 30 minutes and uneventful. Maggie's eyes got big during takeoff but otherwise, she didn't make a peep. By the end of the flight, she was asleep.
We let almost everyone on the plane get off before us since we were not in any rush. There were 4 families taking the flight that we would have been on that had a very tight connection. I hope they all made it. The Hong Kong airport is VAST. I bet we walked a mile in there.
As you can see, Maggie is not very impressed with Hong Kong. It took us some time to get through immigration because we forgot to fill out arrival cards. Argh! We breezed through everything else, collected our luggage, changed some money and headed for the hotel desk. David had arranged for us to take a limo from the airport to the hotel. Man, I felt cool. It wasn't really a limo but a very swanky Mercedes with leather interior and burled wood on the dash. I felt really cool when Maggie let out the biggest burp EVER while we were driving along. It was hilarious. The drive over to the hotel was so cool. We went over some very large suspension bridges and through some tunnels. Hong Kong is beautiful! It sort of reminds me of New York, but it sort of doesn't. It's hard to explain. We are staying at the Ritz-Carlton and it is NICE. They were much nicer to us than they were at the Atlanta one when we stayed there on our wedding night. They met us at the door and called us by name, took us right up to our room which overlooks the harbor and the Star Ferry Pier and got us all checked in. We're on the 18th floor. As I sit here typing, I can see huge skyscrapers, barges and a Chinese junk! Way cool. Maggie really took to the hotel room and started crawling around all over the place. She especially likes the marble floor in the bathroom. 
Or perhaps she is just intrigued by the trash. I am amazed by the amount of trash that we generate now that we have a baby! It is quite different than when it was just the 2 of us.
Well, I am going to leave you with this for now. I have to go meet David and Maggie for dinner at Shanghai Shanghai here at the hotel. I'll finish updating after dinner. But David has also called the bath butler to arrange for him to draw me a bath so I might be a little pressed for time. Hee! I wish we could have stayed here for 2 weeks! More later.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Oh, we walked
It was raining and raining when we woke up on Thursday morning. I started to have a little panic attack thinking we would spend yet another day trapped in the hotel room. The malls that are around here are like 5 stories of stores that all sell pearls. That might get a little old after a while. David and Maggie went down to Starbucks while I sat in the room and waited for a call from Amy or Lineker if there were any problems with our paperwork. There were none so we had the rest of the day free. Argh!
It had basically quit raining so we stowed our super sized umbrella in the stroller and set out. Our umbrella was not as large as the one at the teahouse however. We decided to go to the park across the street first--Liuhua Park. Because the streets are very wide here, sometimes there are underground tunnels to get people across the street. We went down about a hundred stairs, found what we thought was the right staircase and went up, only to find that we weren't in the right place! Back down the stairs and then up the right ones. I was sweating by the time we got to the park. Because it rained a good bit, it was very humid but not burning hot outside which was nice. The park was huge and very beautiful. I think it might be kind of fun to be an old person in China. You know, you get to go to the park every day and gossip with your friends and play hacky sack and dance with each other. That might be an alternate plan to Kimberly's and my original plan to move to Miami and wear caftans and lots of gold jewelry and have lots of cats. Oh yeah, and be leathery. We walked around the park for a long time and Maggie fell asleep. China is not very handicapped friendly. There are lots of steps everywhere and not too many ramps.
The park was very beautiful though. (I have to add a side note that I just thought I smelled a dirty diaper but then I realized it was my feet. EW! Antimicrobial shoes, my FOOT.)
We left and decided to walk over the the Six Banyan Temple and yes, I realize that I called it the Seven Banyan Temple the other day but I do not feel like going back and changing it. We walked and walked. Like a hundred miles. We went through all these cool little neighborhoods with little restaurants and shops selling all kinds of interesting stuff. I thought it was kind of cool that all the shops around the temple sold all kinds of incense and Buddha figures and such. We got ALL kinds of stares because there was not another white face to be seen for miles. Especially 2 of them with a Chinese baby. But it wasn't uncomfortable because I was staring as much as they were. I got a thumbs up from several old women and Maggie got many smiles. Maybe it was because she was bundled up to her eyeballs. When we got near the temple, you could smell the incense. This man without a hand showed us where to buy tickets so of course, we had to give him some money. Inside the temple walls was beautiful and very peaceful. The Six Banyan Temple is the tallest pagoda in the area, I believe. You can climb up to the top but since we had a sleeping baby in a stroller, we opted out. We just walked around instead.
If you look carefully at the Buddha statues, you can see that there are food offerings in front of them. Apples and cans of Coke and Sprite. Hee. David said they have to be offerings of sweets. I think if I were Buddha, I'd be requesting some cookies or cake instead of fruit. But that's just me. There were a lot of people lighting incense and praying. Very interesting. We also saw a cat which Maggie was very interested in. That bodes well.
Then we walked over to the Bright Filial Piety Temple which was about the same. Also peaceful and incense-y.
Our Buddha pictures from this temple are very blurry for some reason. They were HUGE though. Amazingly huge. Then I was ready to go back so we started walking back. Then David hailed a cab, thank GOODNESS. It felt like we had been walking forEVER. But then when we got back to the hotel, our fare was 70¥ which is about 90 cents. I guess we had only walked half a mile. Ha! I am officially a wimp.
When we got back, we dined on McDonald's. I tell you what, McDonald's doesn't taste as good at home as it does here. Then we played for a while and Maggie fell asleep on David. I looked over at her at one point and she was sweating bullets. She had beads of sweat all over her head. Kind of disgusting. We put her hankie over her head and watched Buffy. Then I fell asleep too. When Maggie woke up, she and I went out in the hall to play with Brooke and Emma. I think Emma was really feeling good yesterday. She was smiling and laughing and she let me hold her. She likes to be slid down the wall too. Maggie was not happy with me when I was holding Emma.
This picture is for you, Mom and Barb.
This picture was taken upside down.
This is not a great picture of Maggie but I wanted you to see her dimple!!!
We ate a TON of junk food from Danny's for dinner last night--potato skins, garlic bread, breadsticks, and chicken nuggets. Then I felt sick so Maggie and I packed up in the stroller and went for a little walk. There is some kind of Italian delegation here so there were about a million stylin' Italians in the lobby and there I was with no makeup on and my Old Navy shorts and t shirt. And my baby in her pajamas! Then we did the usual bedtime routine with the Chinese lullabies except David kept making me laugh because he thinks the first song sounds like an old timey record player. I put Maggie down and she made one little peep and went to sleep! David flipped me off. BWA! Then we watched some more Buffy, David fell asleep and I watched 1 more episode.
Maggie woke up screaming at 2:30 and about scared me to death. I leaped up out of bed because I thought it was morning. I squinted at the clock and realized what time it was and waited to see what she would do. She went back to sleep. We have GOT to get a baby monitor when we get home. I don't know if I would hear her in her room at night when I'm sleeping.
Today we are going to go to the other park and start packing. We have to be in the lobby at 3 to go to the Consulate. Then we get Maggie's passport and visa and we are DONE! I am going to be sad to say goodbye to everyone tomorrow. They are all going to be rushing to get to their flights when we get to Hong Kong so Brooke and I decided we would say goodbye tomorrow before we leave the hotel.
David gave Maggie a bath this morning. He did a very good job. I've started bathing her with a towel over me because she splashes like a tidal wave now. We are going to eat Chinese one last time for lunch today. Well, I guess that's it for now. I probably won't update until tomorrow when we are in Hong Kong because I won't have time to tomorrow morning. Well, unless I get on the ball and do it tonight. We shall see but don't count on it.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Rain, rain go away
It rained all day today. David said there is a tropical depression somewhere around here. Kind of made for a blah day which may make for a blah post. Tomorrow we are going to suck it up and go to the Seven Banyan Temple even if there is a hurricane. The non-Guangdong families are all leaving tomorrow, the luckies. I think most of us are ready to come home. This trip has been absolutely amazing but I am ready to be at home.
The photo shoot this morning was pretty funny. The babies all looked so cute! First, I shall show you some pictures of me preparing Maggie. She was not cooperating but then she finally did!
I do not understand why Blogger will not download photos in the order in which I select them. That is why it always takes to freaking long to do these posts. Anyway. It was sort of chaotic down in the lobby. First we had the Guangdong families take a group picture. I love our group. They are great and so much fun!
A couple of the families have brought their other children with them and I need to email their moms because I have been SO impressed with their kids. They are so mature and well-behaved. I saw one of the daughters commandeering the stroller, diaper bag, blanket, bottle and something else to help her mom out today. The two older kids are both in 8th grade. I hope Maggie turns out as nice as these 2 girls.
After that group picture, we stuck all the babies on a couch. My pictures are not very good because I could not get in front of the sofas to get the right angle so I'm not even going to bother posting them. Then we took a picture of all the Lianjiang babies. I will post that one so you can see how cute they all are. As soon as we put them on the couch, Maggie ripped a toy right out of Kylie's hand. Luckily, Kylie seems pretty laid back so no screaming occurred. Maggie seems to possibly have been the orphanage bully. She's the smallest but that does not seem to bother her. She's also the 2nd oldest so I don't know what her deal is!
The babies from left to right are : Jenna, Chloe, Emma, Maggie, Kylie, Karli and Audrey. Poor Audrey is sick. She had to go to the hospital today because she won't eat or drink anything. They gave her an IV to rehydrate her and diagnosed her with bronchitis. Please keep her in your prayers. Her mom, Liz, is here by herself because her husband had to go home on Saturday. Liz's aunt and daughter are here with her but I know she wishes her husband was still here.
Here you see that Maggie stuck the finger in and didn't seem to be too bothered by hollering babies.
After the pictures, we changed the babies into normal clothes, well, except I had made a mistake when I bought Maggie some long pants here in China the other day. They are about a mile too long so I had them jacked up around her ribs like she was Urkel. It was hilarious. I finally rolled them up and we were good to go. To anyone who is coming to China to adopt, even in the dead of summer, bring some long pants and a sweater for your baby. I WISH we had brought less sleeveless stuff and more long sleeved stuff. Then we headed off to a teahouse. It was kind of interesting, of course. It started absolutely pouring while we were there and I kind of got in a bad mood. They showed us these special teapots that were very pretty but we did not purchase one. We didn't feel like tasting tea because we felt crabby so we fed Maggie a bottle and looked around. Then when we were sitting on the bus waiting for everyone, I noticed this absolutely HUGE umbrella they were using to escort people to their cars. I commented to David and he told me it was an umbrella from a table. BWA! I about died laughing. I told David on the way back that I wanted McDonald's for lunch. He said he would go get it while I stayed with Maggie. Maggie loves to sit in the hallway in front of the mirrored closet doors but on my lap so I sat there with her for a long time. I got stern with her once because she was clanging the ironing board around and I didn't want it to fall on her so I said, "NO" and she started crying. I picked her and gave her kisses and all was well.
When David got back, I sat on the bed nearest the hallway and David sat on the loveseat across the room. David had brought me an ice cream cone, so I ate that first. I gave Maggie a little taste and then she stood at the bottom of the bed acting like she was chewing and licking her lips. It was so funny. I gave her a little bit of my hamburger bun too but that was all. No fries for this baby. Yet. She and I took a nap together and then she woke up crying again. I think she was hungry but I don't remember because David took her and I fell back asleep. I was SO tired. I owe David big tomorrow. Later on, Brooke came over to see if Maggie wanted to play so we went out in the hall with some toys and played for a LONG time. It was really fun. Emma can blow raspberries and it is so cute! Maggie hasn't figured that one out yet, possibly because she was too busy trying to steal Emma's toys and eat her food.
This is not a great picture but the girls would not look at me at the same time!
Brooke gave Emma some baby food corn while we were out there and Emma was not a fan. I got a spoon and let Maggie try it. She seemed pretty game to eat the rest of the jar, had I allowed her to.
Then our room service arrived and we decided to test Maggie on the Benadryl tonight to see how she did. She is currently sleeping but putting her to bed was not without a struggle. She hollered BIG TIME the first 2 times we put her in the crib. But then I rocked her and rocked her and peace was restored throughout the land.
Some things that I have noticed about my writing is that I use the word "then" WAY too much and I also have a problem with making my verb tenses agree in sentences. I guess if I would be willing to proofread, that would be remedied. But I usually don't feel like it and Blogger is a pain to edit. Tomorrow Amy and Lineker are taking all of our paperwork over to the US Consulate. We have to be in our rooms from 9:30-10:30 in case they call with any questions. Then we have the rest of the day free. Friday is our appointment at the consulate for our swearing in or oath or something. I've heard it's not that impressive. We shall see. Then Saturday we are off to Hong Kong! David planned our trip while I was in the hallway today. I don't even know what we're going to do while we're there. Shop, I guess. Thank goodness we bought that rinky dink stroller.
We discovered a channel tonight that was playing last season's episodes of "The Amazing Race"! I wish they had played "Big Brother" so I could have seen the end. And, ugh, I know that stupid Mike Boogie won. Anyone who includes Boogie as part of their name should not win anything. Well, on that note, I think I shall close. Pray that this rain goes away because we are getting a little bit of cabin fever in our hotel.
The photo shoot this morning was pretty funny. The babies all looked so cute! First, I shall show you some pictures of me preparing Maggie. She was not cooperating but then she finally did!
I do not understand why Blogger will not download photos in the order in which I select them. That is why it always takes to freaking long to do these posts. Anyway. It was sort of chaotic down in the lobby. First we had the Guangdong families take a group picture. I love our group. They are great and so much fun!
A couple of the families have brought their other children with them and I need to email their moms because I have been SO impressed with their kids. They are so mature and well-behaved. I saw one of the daughters commandeering the stroller, diaper bag, blanket, bottle and something else to help her mom out today. The two older kids are both in 8th grade. I hope Maggie turns out as nice as these 2 girls.
After that group picture, we stuck all the babies on a couch. My pictures are not very good because I could not get in front of the sofas to get the right angle so I'm not even going to bother posting them. Then we took a picture of all the Lianjiang babies. I will post that one so you can see how cute they all are. As soon as we put them on the couch, Maggie ripped a toy right out of Kylie's hand. Luckily, Kylie seems pretty laid back so no screaming occurred. Maggie seems to possibly have been the orphanage bully. She's the smallest but that does not seem to bother her. She's also the 2nd oldest so I don't know what her deal is!
The babies from left to right are : Jenna, Chloe, Emma, Maggie, Kylie, Karli and Audrey. Poor Audrey is sick. She had to go to the hospital today because she won't eat or drink anything. They gave her an IV to rehydrate her and diagnosed her with bronchitis. Please keep her in your prayers. Her mom, Liz, is here by herself because her husband had to go home on Saturday. Liz's aunt and daughter are here with her but I know she wishes her husband was still here.
Here you see that Maggie stuck the finger in and didn't seem to be too bothered by hollering babies. After the pictures, we changed the babies into normal clothes, well, except I had made a mistake when I bought Maggie some long pants here in China the other day. They are about a mile too long so I had them jacked up around her ribs like she was Urkel. It was hilarious. I finally rolled them up and we were good to go. To anyone who is coming to China to adopt, even in the dead of summer, bring some long pants and a sweater for your baby. I WISH we had brought less sleeveless stuff and more long sleeved stuff. Then we headed off to a teahouse. It was kind of interesting, of course. It started absolutely pouring while we were there and I kind of got in a bad mood. They showed us these special teapots that were very pretty but we did not purchase one. We didn't feel like tasting tea because we felt crabby so we fed Maggie a bottle and looked around. Then when we were sitting on the bus waiting for everyone, I noticed this absolutely HUGE umbrella they were using to escort people to their cars. I commented to David and he told me it was an umbrella from a table. BWA! I about died laughing. I told David on the way back that I wanted McDonald's for lunch. He said he would go get it while I stayed with Maggie. Maggie loves to sit in the hallway in front of the mirrored closet doors but on my lap so I sat there with her for a long time. I got stern with her once because she was clanging the ironing board around and I didn't want it to fall on her so I said, "NO" and she started crying. I picked her and gave her kisses and all was well.
When David got back, I sat on the bed nearest the hallway and David sat on the loveseat across the room. David had brought me an ice cream cone, so I ate that first. I gave Maggie a little taste and then she stood at the bottom of the bed acting like she was chewing and licking her lips. It was so funny. I gave her a little bit of my hamburger bun too but that was all. No fries for this baby. Yet. She and I took a nap together and then she woke up crying again. I think she was hungry but I don't remember because David took her and I fell back asleep. I was SO tired. I owe David big tomorrow. Later on, Brooke came over to see if Maggie wanted to play so we went out in the hall with some toys and played for a LONG time. It was really fun. Emma can blow raspberries and it is so cute! Maggie hasn't figured that one out yet, possibly because she was too busy trying to steal Emma's toys and eat her food.
This is not a great picture but the girls would not look at me at the same time!Brooke gave Emma some baby food corn while we were out there and Emma was not a fan. I got a spoon and let Maggie try it. She seemed pretty game to eat the rest of the jar, had I allowed her to.
Then our room service arrived and we decided to test Maggie on the Benadryl tonight to see how she did. She is currently sleeping but putting her to bed was not without a struggle. She hollered BIG TIME the first 2 times we put her in the crib. But then I rocked her and rocked her and peace was restored throughout the land.
Some things that I have noticed about my writing is that I use the word "then" WAY too much and I also have a problem with making my verb tenses agree in sentences. I guess if I would be willing to proofread, that would be remedied. But I usually don't feel like it and Blogger is a pain to edit. Tomorrow Amy and Lineker are taking all of our paperwork over to the US Consulate. We have to be in our rooms from 9:30-10:30 in case they call with any questions. Then we have the rest of the day free. Friday is our appointment at the consulate for our swearing in or oath or something. I've heard it's not that impressive. We shall see. Then Saturday we are off to Hong Kong! David planned our trip while I was in the hallway today. I don't even know what we're going to do while we're there. Shop, I guess. Thank goodness we bought that rinky dink stroller.
We discovered a channel tonight that was playing last season's episodes of "The Amazing Race"! I wish they had played "Big Brother" so I could have seen the end. And, ugh, I know that stupid Mike Boogie won. Anyone who includes Boogie as part of their name should not win anything. Well, on that note, I think I shall close. Pray that this rain goes away because we are getting a little bit of cabin fever in our hotel.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
