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.

Here are some pics to tide you over

because I'm too tired to update tonight. We had the medical exam today for Maggie. She passed. We have a free day tomorrow so I will update in the AM.

Chen Clan and chopsticks

So this morning we were kinda rushing because Little Miss decided to sleep in until almost 8:00. What the heck? We had to be in the lobby at 9 and we still had to eat breakfast. Unfortunately for the rest of our travel group, I was unable to find the time to apply makeup today. Oh well. The weather here in Guangzhou is almost arctic today! I think it was probably about 65-70 degrees this morning. I felt a little chill in my skirt and short sleeves. Maggie, however, was bundled against the elements so she was safe from the lashing winds.
It was actually kind of nice to feel such cool weather. Kind of fall-ish. I hated to come back into the air conditioning in the hotel. I cannot wait until it is cool enough that we can open our windows at night at home. We visted the Chen Clan Temple or Academy today. It was very (wait for it) interesting. The Chen family is the oldest and largest one in Guangdong province. To be honest, I'm not really sure what the purpose of the Chen Clan Temple is. I guess it was to enhance the learning and knowledge of the Chen clan. But it's a folk art museum now so we saw lots of native artisans at work. Amy told us that the artwork we see on Shamian Island are copies but this is the real deal. Some of you may have even scored a prize from the Chen Clan Temple. They had some pretty stuff. Embroidery that looked like a photograph. Ivory carvings. Etched glass. One of the more common carvings here is a ball that has different levels to it so it has many pieces inside each other. We have seen many that were made of jade. They are very beautiful. They represent the generations of your family. They had some ivory balls that really were, for lack of a better word, exquisite. This lady tried to sell us some ivory stuff but I think that might hold us up at customs. Here is how they carve the ivory balls. You can't really tell much from this picture but it will give you an idea of what it is.
We looked around for a while and did a little shopping, as I said. Then we left to go back to the Friendship Store. I thought we were going to a teahouse today but I was apparently mistaken. That is on Wednesday. So, sorry to those of you hoping to read about going to a teahouse today.

Since Brooke and I had braved the taxis of Guangzhou earlier in the week, we didn't need to buy much at the store. Maggie needed a new sweater though as her white one is 1. snagged from my bracelet and 2. crusty. There were about a zillion people shopping today. The Friendship store is for the more well-heeled members of Guangzhou society. They have a lot of designer clothes. We did return to the grocery area to buy baby wipes and I bought these corn things (they're like chips but if I wrote corn chips, you would think Fritos, which they are definitely not. Plus, Fritos? BLECH.) They're called "Grill-a-Corn" but that doesn't really tell you much either. Anyway, they taste GOOD and I might need to buy a suitcase to put a bunch of bags of those in for the ride home. We poked around the other floors because we got done shopping so quickly. You should see the teeny dishwashers they have here. They look like large toaster ovens. Very cute. A TON of women came up to Maggie and made faces at her and pinched her cheeks or smiled. Thankfully, she was still covered so no arrests were made by the clothing police. Then we came back to the hotel for lunch.

David and I got an assortment of Chinese delicacies from Food Street for lunch. I think I might move onto Food Street. But only if they have hamburgers too. Maggie was being a fusspot so I played with her for awhile because David and I have grown to prefer our food cold. The dumplings here RULE. I could eat about a hundred of them. I fed Maggie from my chopsticks today and she has obviously been fed using those before. She is much better at eating off of them than from a spoon. I told David tonight that I prefer to eat with chopsticks while holding her than with a fork. It's just easier. Maybe because the food is cut into smaller pieces.

We tried Maggie's squeaky shoes on her today to see what she thought. After she figured out that she was making the squeaking noise, she started stomping around while holding my hands. It was hilarious. I swear, squeaky shoes are about the cutest things ever. Be forewarned. She is not wearing a fashionable outfit in this picture.
And yes, Dad, you can remove the squeaker. Maggie started to turn into a bit of a crank after the novelty of squeaking wore off, so we rolled down to the 7-11 to get some ice cream. The 7-11 will be called the Curry 11 from now on because SHEW. That place reeked. But they had Haagen Dazs ice cream bars which were yummy. We saw Brooke in the lobby with Emma and talked to her for a while. They got about 1 hour of sleep last night. I can hear Emma fussing now so please keep up the prayers!!!! Emma tapped into Maggie's secret drug stash but I guess it is not working. Then we came upstairs and of course, Maggie and David zonked out.

We went to dinner at the Japanese restaurant here at the hotel with a bunch of other people from our travel group. It was very nice and one of those restaurants where they cook the food in front of you. They are not quite so flashy with the cracking eggs on the spatula and flipping things into their hats here though. Our chef cooked these GIGANTIC prawns. I thought they were lobsters at first. But MAN. They were tasty. OOhhh, they were good. David and I also lived on the edge and ate salad before dinner. It tasted SO good to eat tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. Anyway, Maggie was not into sitting in the highchair so we took turns holding her and then the waitress came over and held her for a while. I felt good when she held out her arms to come back to me though (Maggie, not the waitress). Then I had just about had it, so I strapped her back in and fed her rice from my chopsticks. Success!
She got a little taste of ice cream at the end which tasted like cake batter. I was a fan of that and was sad that we only got 1 tiny scoop.

After dinner, we went down to the lobby and Brooke, Jeff and Emma were down there so we sat and visited with them for a while. David brought Maggie back up here and when I returned about 30 minutes later, it was obvious that somebody had missed her mommy. Maggie's eyes were all red and she looked super pitiful. She was not happy with me when I wrestled her into her pj's either but she was glad to let me hold her for a while. We cranked up the Chinese lullabies and sent her off to sleep. I have decided that when it feels like my arm is going to break off is when she is really asleep.

I have about a million bug bites on my legs. Maybe I SHOULD have gotten the malaria pills! I'm not going to think about whether it's bedbugs. It has to be skeeters. Tomorrow is the medical exam. It's on Shamian Island so I bet we will do a little shopping also. We were going to get out all of our purchases today and see what we still needed to buy. We did not do that. I forgot to say that we bought a stroller the other day and the Chinese people all made fun of us for having 2 strollers--1 for baby, 1 for purchases. It was rather humorous. And to end, here are some pictures of Maggie on the bus today.

Shopping on Shamian Island

Wow, Saturday was really fun. Maggie slept kind of late. 7:30 or so, I think. She woke up in a very good mood which lasted almost the entire day. She was really fun. We went down to breakfast where she feasted on some yogurt. Because she prefers not to eat in the room (too quiet, I guess), she and I went down to the lobby to see what was going on and maybe drink a bottle. We set up camp where she did, indeed, drink about half a bottle. Then we rode the escalators for a while and looked around. Some large corporation (I can't remember which one) was having a conference here at the hotel and they had about 15 HUGE flower arrangements outside the conference room. They were beautiful! Large dark red and hot pink lilies and roses. The flowers here are so pretty. There is a big convention center across the street from the hotel and right now the "International Exhibition for China's Ornamental Aquatic Industry" is going on. Who knew that was such a large industry? They have the huge flower arrangements too. They really do it up here. Anyway, while we were cruising around, Maggie dropped her butterfly teether and one of the hotel monitors (we can't decide what to call them but they are everywhere) rushed right over to pick it up. The people here work so hard. I think they really take pride in their jobs and do them the best they can. I wonder sometimes if they get bored, though. There are a lot of fancy shops here in the hotel, like Burberry and such, and I don't ever see anybody in there shopping. How boring would it be to work there? That would be worse than when I worked at Homeplace and about lost my mind because I was so bored. (of course, I just decided to one day never go back because I just could not stomach another day of standing around doing NOTHING).

So after that, we went to Starbucks and walked around for a while. It was raining and we wanted to kind of see how the weather was going to play out before we decided what to do with our day. We went outside under a little covered area and watched the traffic for a long time. It is so busy here all the time, even on the weekends. All the bicyclists had these special large ponchos that covered not only them but their handlebars and their cargo on the backs of their bikes. There are a lot of motorcycles here too but Amy told us they would be outlawed within a year because they cause so many accidents. Also, she told us that there are 9 million citizens in Guangzhou and on any given day, there are 2 million visitors to the city. That is INSANE! The rain started to let up so we came upstairs and got ready and went off with Brooke, Jeff and Emma for a day of shopping.

We took 2 cabs and dumb us did not think to discuss a rendezvous point ahead of time so of course, we were not together when we got to Shamian Island. The cab ride over was not bad. I read how insane the rides were but they don't seem that bad to me. It's kind of out of your hands so you just have to trust that the driver doesn't want to wreck his car. Maggie seems to enjoy riding in the car. However, she rides on my lap here and that will NOT be happening at home. We drove through what we thought were probably working class areas. They really look very poor. All of the apartments had laundry hanging outside their windows. Can you imagine trying to get laundry dry when the humidity is 100%?

We went in the White Swan hotel first which is this big hotel that many many adoptive families stay in. It has a large waterfall inside and is extremely big. From pictures that I've seen, I thought it would be bigger though. Also, I did not see the red couches! Maybe we were in the wrong area of the hotel. I woke up last night and thought, "We didn't see the red couches!" Dumb. There were some little shops in the hotel that we wandered around but they were kind of expensive. Also, Maggie has bent to my will and now sits in, and maybe even enjoys, the stroller! Then we ventured out and started shopping! All of the shops on Shamian really cater to adoptive parents. I'm sure if I was at home and saw these shops, I would think they were mostly full of crap but it was fun to go in and poke around. Also, David is a pretty good haggler! We got Maggie a traditional Chinese silk (polyester, I bet) dress, 3 pairs of squeaky shoes that are SO CUTE, some Chinese pajamas and 2 dresses. One of the dresses is a pink toile pattern and when we got back to our hotel, David asked, "Why are all the pictures on this dress upside down?" Whoops. Heh. They're upside down so Maggie can look at them. I bet it cost about 4 bucks so I'm not too concerned. We also got some prizes for people at home and David got a mah-jongg set. I got a jade bangle bracelet for me.

We met up with Brooke and Jeff and went to Lucy's for lunch. It has American food plus other stuff. It was pretty good and Emma and Maggie slept almost the entire time we were there. There are these statues all over the island so we took some stupid pictures. In this one, I guess it's supposed to be an American couple with their newly adopted Chinese baby. Obviously, they see American women as being overweight.

Then we shopped a little more and walked around the island. The weather was actually kind of nice yesterday. It was cloudy but very breezy and not very humid. It was warm but not boiling hot. We got a cab back to our hotel and lugged our purchases upstairs. We actually got Maggie to stand at the table in the room and play so that was kind of fun. And nice. Maggie started to fall asleep so I wrapped her up in her blanket and laid down on the bed and we both fell asleep! Maggie had to get her picture taken for her visa and I slept through it so David took her. They would not let her wear her tiger hat in the picture.

Then David and I started to talk about dinner so we walked around the block (where Brooke and I had walked the other day). We really are at a disadvantage at not being able to read Chinese. There were a bunch of restaurants that looked very good but we couldn't read one stinking thing outside. We need to take some lessons before we come back. We walked by this seafood restaurant that had this BIG market area where I guess you picked out the fish you wanted. They had this one GIGANTIC fish. I told David I wanted that one pan seared with lemon butter. They also had eels, snakes, frogs, toads and turtles. Kind of gross but fascinating. We went in the Dong Fang hotel where they have more shopping. We didn't really feel like shopping though so we just looked around. Then we came back to the hotel and Emma came over to play for a little while. That was fun too. Oh yeah, and David fell asleep so Maggie and I sat at the desk where the computer is and she opened and closed the desk drawer about 500 times. I kept shutting it and then she would open it. There is also a Marriott book in that drawer that will never be the same. We watched a little Baby Einstein (I know, bad mommy, letting my baby watch TV) and she babbled and talked to herself and slapped the desk. Mom, she loves to be slid down the wall and "smash it, eat it."

We ordered room service so when it came, David took Maggie and I ate as quickly as I could. I gave her a hard dinner roll that she gnawed on for a while until it got dropped and that was the end of that. Then David ate and I fed Maggie a bottle. We turned the lights down and turned on the Beijing Angelic Chorus CD of Chinese Lullabies. That CD rules. Every person who adopts from China should buy one because it knocks Maggie right out. Plus it's really pretty and David and I went to sleep with it playing the other night. You can get it on half.com for not very much money. Also you can get Baby Einsteins there too for 5 bucks. Then I got her to go to sleep and I was able to put her in the crib!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited! Erin and Ronnie called us last night and it was so good to hear from someone at home. Of course, when they called, Maggie was getting a diaper and pajama change because she had had a little problem so she was hollering up a storm.

Before I go, I have 2 prayer requests, if you are so inclined.
1. Please keep Brooke, Jeff and Emma in your prayers. David ran into Brooke in the hallway earlier this morning and Emma apparently did not sleep much at all last night.
2. A member of David's family, Ted Kalman, passed away last night. He was a very dear friend of David's Grandma Grace so keep her in your thoughts, please.

Today we have a day full of sightseeing and a trip to the grocery store. Maybe I should have brought the 4 1/2 pound bag of baby wipes! No, just kidding. We ARE going to have to buy another suitcase to come home though. Yikes.


Eating the sickest baby food ever--Apple, Pumpkin and Date PASTE. Gross. She likes it though.

I look like an idiot in this picture. If you look carefully, I have my hand on Maggie's head to force her to look at the camera.

I had to change Maggie's diaper in the stroller while we were on Shamian Island. They do not have the handy changing stations in bathrooms here. I do not know how that diaper even stayed on because that was about the crappiest job of putting a diaper on EVER.

Maggie in her tiger hat. Little kids wear these on Chinese New Year. I saw one on somebody's blog and thought it was SO cute that I had to have one!

Look at that smile!

And yes, that is a tiger hat that she has on. That was the one thing I wanted to buy while we were here.


Here, we decided to try out her doo-rag or as David calls it, a babushka. She does okay with it but I think it kind of accentuates how flat the back of her head is. She was not a fan of the sunglasses. They are kind of large for her pinhead. Her little nose can't hold them up and the earpieces extend quite a bit past her ears.

Maggie's thoughts on the traffic in Guangzhou

A day late, sorry....

Hello, hello. Yes, I realize that I did not update yesterday. I apologize. I was too tired. And we'll blame it on the heat. So, now I am up at 5:55 am writing on this. It is currently thunderstorming here in Guangzhou. David has gone to the gym. Maggie is sleeping, which she darn well better be, because she most certainly did NOT want to go to sleep last night!

I'll tell you what we did yesterday first and then I'll give you some info on Margaret. We went to breakfast as usual and then because Maggie hates the hotel room with the white hot fire of a thousand suns, I took her down to the lobby which is her most favorite place ever! We played and people stared at the cute Chinese baby and the pasty white lady with no make up on! Then, I smelled something and we had to return to the pit of hell to get a diaper change. Afterwards, it was about time for us to meet everyone in the lobby again so down we went. We went to Yuntai Garden yesterday which is this big park here in Guangzhou. There was an entry gate but I'm not sure if we had to pay to get in or not. It was absolutely one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been. Disney has nothing on the topiaries and manicured gardens we saw there. It had also recently rained so it was rather humid. Just a little bit, you know.




We walked around the park and there was a large greenhouse up at the top of a hill so we headed in that direction. Maggie was not having anything to do with the stroller at that point, so David carried her in the Hip Hammock. Inside the greenhouse were many beautiful plants and flowers including phalaenopsis (I know I spelled that wrong) orchids, little ponds and waterfalls and pathways. Kind of like the Sibley Center at Callaway Gardens but on a smaller scale. There were also fans inside which was maybe the best part!






As you can see, David and I decided to get a little artsy with our picture taking. We also discovered a sundial (I think) with the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac so there we are with our respective zodiac signs. Maggie is rooster, David is monkey and I am rabbit.



We walked through an extremely large rose garden but not much was blooming. I think they were too hot. There was also a large lake in the center of the park with Roman columns and a fountain. Also very beautiful.

The majority of our group was ready to go before our set time so we went and sat on the bus. The heat really is like nothing I've ever felt in my life. Then we headed for Pizza Hut to eat lunch. On the way, we got in an accident! How exciting! Nothing much happened since we were, you know, on a huge bus. But apparently the bus driver got out and gave the van driver some money and we were underway once again.

Lunch tasted very good but Maggie was having none of the "sit quietly in the highchair while Mommy and Daddy eat" so we took shifts. I ate lunch while David walked her around and then we traded. I do not know how single moms do it. It is difficult enough when you have another pair of hands to help. It had started to rain again when we were done so we waited under a little shelter until the bus driver came back. We got back to the hotel and Maggie took a nap. I took a shower, put on my pajamas and also took a nap. I was SO tired. David and I tried a few things with Maggie yesterday like putting her on the floor between us to see if she would play if we were nearby. No. She cried and crawled between the two of us. Poor baby. I gave Maggie a bath in the sink yesterday to see if she would like that better. No. I will not be doing that again because there is less chance of her hitting herself on the bathtub faucet and I stay a lot drier when she's in the tub. She kept trying to crawl out of the sink and up my body. I think the sunscreen we put on her on Thursday gave her a rash because her head was all broken out. It may have been heat rash though. While Maggie does not like the bath, she does enjoy being scrubbed with a towel (much like Cousy) and she enjoys being lubed up with lotion afterwards too.

Mayhem in the bathroom.



Then she got dressed and we laid on the bed for a while. I wrapped her up in her blanket and she and I looked at each other and she touched my face and held my nose and felt around inside my mouth a little bit. I heard the beginnings of a giggle and saw her smile a few times which about made my heart burst. This is the majority of what happened yesterday afternoon. David and I took turns holding her and loving on her. She ate really well yesterday which was the first time that had happened so I felt a little better about that.

Then I had to go to a brief paperwork meeting where I had to check over all of the translations of our adoption stuff. We also got a copy of Maggie's finding ad which will probably be the youngest picture we'll ever have of her. She is about 3 months old in the picture and she looks exactly the same. Just smaller. We have decided to keep Maggie's finding information private because we feel like it is her business and her story. So when she's old enough to decide what she wants to share, she may do that. I will show you her picture though because it is SO CUTE. I might order the actual newspaper from this internet site because it would be bigger. Also, Maggie and Emma's pictures were right next to each other in the paper.

Since Maggie was such a crank for most of the day yesterday, we decided against going out to eat and ordered Danny's Bagels for dinner. While David waited for that, I decided to break Maggie of her aversion to the stroller. We walked around and around and around the main floor of the hotel and an hour later, she was actually sitting back relaxed and just looking around. Thank GOODNESS. She started fussing when we got back to the room.

Brooke and Jeff took Emma to the doctor yesterday because she has a lot of crud in her throat. I went over and visited with them for a while because David and Maggie were strolling around downstairs. Then we ate dinner (in shifts again) and tried and tried to get her to go to sleep. She was not having any of that!! I actually fell asleep while David was holding her. We were both very frustrated by the time she finally fell asleep (sitting up at the end of her crib, holding on to one of the bars). We laid her down so she would not sleep all night like that! Yesterday I took the opportunity to poke around in Maggie's mouth and I can see her 2 bottom teeth right below the surface of her gums. I'm sure that's why she's been so grouchy. Thank goodness for Hyland's Teething Tablets. Those things are magic. I gave her some baby Motrin yesterday too because I think her mouth is really hurting her. Her fingers are always in her mouth and she's started drooling a lot. She is also a fan of having her teeth (gums) brushed.

Well, today we have a free day so we are going to take a cab over to Shamian Island to go shopping with Brooke, Jeff and Emma! I am excited about that. We will also visit the White Swan and eat lunch. Then tonight, we have to get Maggie's picture made for her visa. Tomorrow we are going to the Chen Clan Temple (a folk art museum) and to a teahouse. Then Monday is the dreaded physical examination for the babies. I imagine that Maggie is going to scream bloody murder at that.

Even though we will be out and about today, we are going to try to stick to a schedule for Maggie. I think part of the problem yesterday was that she got all messed up with her schedule. I must say one of the most fun parts of the day is picking out Maggie's clothes! And of course, she always gets dirty (or we get her dirty) so she requires at least 2 outfits per day! Some of her stuff is WAY too big though. Her cutoffs practically fell off when I put them on her. And sadly, the hated Gymboree pajamas are the ones that fit her the best.

I will do my best to update again this evening so you can hear about our day of shopping!!!