SNOW! and a new link

Hi there!

I did up a page for Josh's class incase you are interested in checking it out:

http://www.greensinchina.blogspot.com/

SO... yesterday Hannah decided she wanted to go outside again. The last time she refused to wear her snowpants, so was cold I'm sure and only lasted about 5 mins. Yesterday she asked me to put on her snowpants and seemed very excited to wear them around the house. Then she gestured and asked to go outside... so off we went. We were a bit nervous because it was -26C when we went out... and it was maybe 7am! But hey, we'd been up since godknows when so we were all wide awake. Robin had already taken Josh to daycare at 6:30 cuz he was really missing his friends.

Well, she had a blast and we stayed outside almost 30 mins! Then she asked to go outside again in the afternoon too! And out we went again this morning, all four of us to wait for Josh's bus.

links to photos

Hi there

Here are some links to the photos I have downloaded into Photobucket

You should be able to just click on the link. If that does not work, copy and paste the link into the intenet explorer bar.

http://photobucket.com/MeetingHannah

http://s643.photobucket.com/albums/uu154/davamckay2/Nanning%20and%20Meetcha%20Day/

http://s643.photobucket.com/albums/uu154/davamckay2/More%20Nanning/

http://photobucket.com/Beijing_2009

Ciao!
Dava

Home

So, we've been home 2 days now, starting the 3rd today. Jet lag is playing havoc with our systems. We tried having a nap yesterday but ended up sleeping from 1:30 until after 5 when I woke up and went - crap! Hannah did NOT want to get up and cried for about 30 mins, telling me she was tired!! (lie le Mommy!!) They went to bed at 9:00 pm... and Josh woke us up at 3 am to say he was hungry... then again at 5:00am as he was UP for the day.

I tried to stay up as late as possible and by 10pm was WIDE AWAKE... guess I got my second wind and ended up not being able to fall asleep until probably close to 1am... grrrr...

anyhow... sleep aside... things have been going great at home so far! Hannah seems very relaxed and at home. She has had minimal tamtrums as well. There are still some things she absolutely refuses to let me or Robin do... but I think that we will wait a bit until she feels more trusting with us before we "force her". For example, she refuses to let me cut her nails, which are VERY long (they came long and are even longer now). She also refuses to let us wash her with a facecloth and soap, or let us anywhere near her hair. I don't want her to start thrashing about in the tub over the hair issue and smack her head... so we have decided to just try and ride it out ad she feels more comfortable with us doing it. She loves to play in the bath, so at least she's getting a rinse. As for her hair, well, she absolutely hates having any tiny drop of water on her face, she starts crying and seems scared... so I'm sure that's the reason. I have no idea how her foster mom washed it! I think she used a wet facecloth to do it.. but she won't let me even near her with one right now... in the grand scheme of things its not the end of the world at this point.

Her and Josh have been having loads of fun together... she often calls for him to show him stuff or to join in whatever she is doing. Last night she refused to brush or wash her face before bed. I didn't push it (too tired). When Josh came up for bed just after her, she came in the bathroom to watch him. When he started brushing and washing his face, she just followed suit! Problem solved!

Then she went into her room, acting kinda like a robot jumping (can't describe it any better than that!) and was singing "Brush your teeth, WASH your teeth! Brush your teeth, WASH your teeth!" over and over. Well, that got Josh going and they were both doing it all around her room, laughing hysterically! I think that is her first English sentence!! She seems more open to learning english now! (phew!) It was so funny to watch them, we were all laughing... but it was hard to settle them again together to get to bed after that!

Today Josh has hockey practice at 9:00am. I think we will try to go.. him for sure and we will see if she will as well.

As for food, we had spaghetti our first night and she ate it all no questions. She also loves to eat Cheerios dry. She hasn't batted an eyelash at our brown bread (she was eating white buns and croissants at the hotels) and tried it with Jam yesterday and liked it. She still only wants her "Pot Noodle" for breakfast. I don't mind her eating noodles for breakie, but I don't like all the chemicals and MSG in the pot noodles... so am trying to figure out how to switch over to a healthier option soon.

I am going to download all our photos to Photobucket and attach a link here so you can see the photos. We have about 1,000 plus to go through, so it may still take a while to get them all sorted out. We still have Hannah's camera to download as well.

Here's my favourite from our 3rd day together in Nanning. They were playing in the fountain in the hotel lobby with Hotwheels cars.

OK off for the day!

Corn and Pea flavoured popsicle and other things...

So, Robin gave me heck last night for not telling you all about his food adventures while in China. He vowed to NOT eat any Western food (or as little as possible, but it was hard the day our guide took us to Pizza Hut).


So, he had the "traditional" Chinese breakfast items, which was rice, noodles, dim sum buns and dunplings and a lot of Congee (kinda like a rice pudding/oatmeal) that is often flavoured with all kinds of different things.... the buffet at the hotel usually had plain, then 1 or 2 other choices... like mixed ceral, beef, chicken or... frog. Well, they love frogs in France, so why not for breakfast?


So I think the strangest thing Robin tried was some very different types of ice creams..... first was Corn Flavour... which looked like a corn on the cob on a stick! He says it wasn't so bad, but you had to get used to the molded waffer-like exterior first....The other one was Pea flavour.. which was just a normal looking popsicle shape, but it was green and looked like formed frozen pureed peas... and tasted like it too! Like frozen mashed peas! That one he couldn't completly finish.

He also had some eel one day and a vegetarian burger which was a "beet burger"... it was made with mashed beets! Very red and kinda mushy he said... he was quite sorry that JuanJuan's province didn't offer cat, dog or snake... so we(he) didn't get to try any of that. Other people's provinces had much more adventures items on offer!

We did have the BEST Chinese food we've ever eaten while there though... somethings we were not exactly sure of the types of veggies... but it was all so yummy! One of the best meals was a roasted duck and a dish of Guilin Noodles in Nanning. Mealtimes are so boring here now.... *sigh*

Pictures!!

Hi!

Here are just a few for now. We got back late last night (after midnight), which was noon for us! The kids went to bed at 3:00am and Robin and I after 4:00am. We were up again with Josh at 6:30am. So far we've been trying to unpack and do laundry...

Yesterday was a very long day of planes and waiting.... but both kids travelled really well.

Here are some quick photos!

Tomorrow Jianada!

Hi all!

Another couple crazy days have gone by, this seems to be the normal now! After my last post we had 2 really rough days with HannahJuan (We are slowing introducing her Canadian name, so sometimes call her HannahJuan, but mostly we use her child nickname that was used at the orphanage and with her foster family which is JuanJuan).

We think that the reality of what is happening finally started to sink in for her. She has become very definant and basically refused to leave the hotel room for 2 days. We felt that all the trapzing around for hours on end sightseeing and shopping that was planned was not a good idea for her. What she really needs is stability and a SCHEDULE. She still has afternoon naps, which she wasn't getting with the sightseeing too. Just having those has dramatically helped her. So one day just Josh and Dad went to visit the Summer Palace and the next day we all stayed basically in the hotel room all day with her, playing together and just hanging out. That night she still refused to leave the room even though Yulin (our Agency's director) came to talk to her in Mandarin about going to see the Beijing Acrobacts show. She actually agreed that it was ok for me to leave with Josh and she stayed with Dad! (a BIG breakthrough as until then she basically refused to leave my side most of the time). So Josh and I saw the show which was fabulous!

She has not had so many greiving sessions as before, however she has now become very definant to anything we ask her to do... doesn't matter what. For example, I asked her to wash her hands after going to the washroom at the hotel restaurant (a task she has always gladly done) and she had a complete meltdown which lasted 15 mins. Luckily a very nice hotel cleaning lady and a bilingual guest helped me to calm her down. She needed to wash her hands before we could go eat since she had used the toilet. Tonight Daddy told her 'no' when she tried to grab our camera from him. She knows she has her own camera and that this camera is not for her or Josh. We have meltdowns when we ask her to wash her face, brush her teeth, get dressed or ask her if she wants to eat.... basically anything. We believe that she is trying to exert some of her control over the situation she is in at the moment, which is basically a very chaotic time with people who are still basically strangers (us).

In the last 2 days too she has refused to wear any of the clothes we've brought or bought and wants to wear her orphanage clothes. This is fine as it makes her feel better and comforted. Sweet pea. Tonight she did agree and was excited to wear a top we bought in Nanning that she'd worn before when we went to the "Good Bye Party" for all the families.

All that being said, she is generally a very happy, funny and silly girl! We love her to bits!!!!!!!! I can't imagine life without her! Every day she amazes us!! Yesterday Robin wrote some simple math equations out for her (1+1= 8+1= etc) amd she gleefully answered them all! Tonight before bed she was making the funniest faces and we were all killing ourselves laughing! Then her and Josh were trading funny faces. It was so nice to see! Josh is becoming a good big brother and has started to try and give her hugs (which she pushes all away... its too early for any of our hugs yet for her but it is important we still try. It is very hard to want to hug your child with all your heart and they are stiff as boards, arching away from you.. but for adoption, especially at this age, it is very normal and could take 6-12 months to come).

Her and Dad have had lots of good playing time together. Today Daddy was giving her "FeiJi" rides (airplane rides) which she just LOVED! It allowed them to cuddle and giggle together. She calls for DIDIA! very loudly and quite often now too... to show him her funny face or to play HIDE! But I am still the only one whose hand she will hold when out, and who's lap she will sometimes sit in.

Tomorrow our flight is at 7:00pm, but our bus is taking us to the airport at 2:00pm... blech. Robin is going to the Silk Market for some shopping in the morning as we've missed all the shopping trips so far.... the last time we tried with JuanJuan she kept running off and grabbing things from the stalls and then screaming her head off, hitting and refusing to leave. It was just too much stimulation for her.

oh - we were able to visit Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City this morning though. That was very interesting!

OK I gotta go. They hotel is extremely expensive with the computer time.. my last update was 144yuan ($28.80 for about an hour!).

I will update again when we get home... and I promise pictures... promise!

photos

Hey

I know you all want to see photos... I will try to download some tomorrow for you. I promise!!

At my sister in law Jenny's suggestion we've given JuanJuan our old digital camera to use (her and Josh share it, but she's kinda taken over it, Josh has been good about that). It has been a great way to interact as a family. She loves taking photos and silly pictures of us!

ok - I'm so beat. Off to bed.

A big day

Ni hoa!

So sorry its taken so long to update this here… life, to say the least, have been extremely busy, exhausting (emotionally and physically) but happy too!

We arrived in Beijing on Fri night very late. We left Nanning at 3:00 for the airport and finally made it to the hotel just after midnight! Our flight was delayed in Nanning and then there was a mix-up at the airport and no one was there to meet us from our agency. Well, we waited and looked for about 30 mins, then arranged for a drive from the Hotel and Reservation Desk to our hotel. We had 2 very tired kids, and two VERY tired adults, but all in all they both did great.

Robin and I have said over and over what a little trooper JuanJuan is. She must have been quite nervous and scared on the plane as it was her first time being on one. She held the armrests practically for the whole flight and barely said a word, just looked around with her big eyes. But no tears. We were worried about her ears popping on take off and landing and I have candy and water to try to get her to swallow, which she completely refused, but she did fine.

Everyday so far has been completely packed with sightseeing trips or appointments. We are now finally getting up at a normal hour (6-7 am… it was 2-4am!!). I left everyone asleep in the hotel room to come down and write this because I know you must all be wondering what is going on with all of us!

Quickly, in Nanning we saw an active Buddhist Temple and Josh was blessed by one of the monks. That was very cool. JuanJuan refused to be blessed, so we didn’t push it. When we went into the different little temples, she knelt and started to kinda pray. Our Nanning guide Michael, who is Buddhist, said it seems that her foster parents may have also been Buddhist since she seems to know what to do at a temple.

We also saw a museum of the “old fashioned” life of the majority of Native Zhung people in the Guanxi province. (the province we were visiting when in Nanning). We also spent the morning at a children’s amusement park as well, with little roller coasters, bumper cars, paddle boats, etc. JuanJuan would only go on the carousel, but she enjoyed watching Josh and Daddy on the other rides.

Today we had a HUGE day.. we left at 8:30am and got back after 5:00pm. First we went to a jade factory and saw how they made the jade carvings and jewelry etc. We bought a jade pendant for each of them as a keepsake. Then we went to the Great Wall!!! Holy crow. I am still pinching myself… we walked the Great Wall of China!! It was AMAZING!!! The views of the mountains were so beautiful!! But man it was VERY VERY windy.. at times it almost blew us over and was hard to breathe. The part we were walking on was very recently built, in the Ming Dynasty, so was only 600-700 yrs old. Josh thought it was just the best thing in the world to see.

After the Great Wall we went for lunch at a fantastic restaurant (Chinese of course!) and then toured a Cloisonné factory. Of course at the end was a huge shop to buy lots of wonderful things!! But we’d forgotten Robin’s wallet at the hotel and had spent all the Yuan we’d brought at the Jade factory. I’m sure we will live.

On the way home we drove past the Olympic Village and saw the Birds Nest and Water Cube. Very Cool! OH – at the Great Wall we also saw where the Bicycle Marathon finished. Our bus drove over the finish line which is still on the road… all around us were mountains and the Great Wall snaking along the top of them on the right.. I wish we could have stopped to take photos.

Tomorrow we have the morning off, phew! We are looking forward to having a nice sleep in. At one, we will be going to see the Summer Palace. The next day we are going to Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City.

OK, now for the other subject you want to know! How JuanJuan is doing.

She is slowing coming out of her shell. Today was the best/worst day so far. I’m so glad we’ve read and talk to so many people who have adopted older children from China from orphanages and foster homes. It has helped sooo much in understanding her behaviour. For example, it is very common for children who have been deprived or adopted internationally to start to horde things, especially food. Well, she’s decided ALL the drinking boxes are hers and keeps them in the bedside table. We don’t leave anywhere without a few in her backpack. When we get home to Canada , we will make sure she has some in her room, to make her feel secure. Even though she was with her foster family since she was 11 months, when she started school, she may have been living at the SWI (orphanage) during the week and going back on weekends. This is very common…. It is also a very common reaction to dealing with the stress and trauma of leaving her foster family, and then being dragged around a million places everyday and not having a set schedule! We can’t wait to get home and have a SCHEDULE!!

Today was also a BIG grieving day. She started grieving on the second/third day (it’s a blur now), and every day the grieving has become more intense. We were relieved when we first saw her tears because we didn’t want her to keep it all in. Thank GOD her Foster mom sent some photos of her from a baby to now, plus one of JunaJuan and her Foster Baba and one of her and her foster mama. She holds them tight to her chest while she is crying and screaming for her Mama and Baba, and we learned not to leave without them just in case. It rips our hearts out to see her so upset. You never know when it will start either. Today she was excited to be on the bus and then as soon as we got off she started crying. Then when we got to the Great Wall and started walking along it she got very upset again. Robin and Josh had gone ahead. I asked her if she wanted to go back to the Café and she said No. She kept asking “Joshy he DiDia na-li” where they were (she calls Robin Didia, she has trouble saying Daddy… we decided after the first big grieving session where it was better for her to call us Mommy and Daddy, her Mama and Baba are her foster parents). So we caught up with them, but all the way back down, terrible cold wind in our faces (and she REFUSED mittens or scarf!) she cried and cried. We finally get to the Café where we were meeting everyone, and she was fine… laughing and playing HIDE and SEEK with us (she’s learned these words from our Mandarin Dora video we bought, and she jumps up and shouts HIDE and SEEK very loud and excitedly when we play). We left the café and suddenly the screaming and crying started again. Poor little thing. We just held her and soothed her, while at least 10 people stared at us. We get a lot of attention here, being white with a little Chinese girl.

She has strongly attached to me, but hasn’t attached as much to Robin YET, its coming every day… again, very textbook normal.. most kids attach first to one parent before the other. But, she won’t let me out of her sight for one second! (also very normal). She often lets Robin do things for her though, but not always… sometimes his attempts are met with a very loud string of some sort of telling off and a swatting away of his hand! Today though, after the episodes, I was sure I’d be sitting beside her again on the bus, but Robin sat beside her while I went to get something and she didn’t protest.. so I didn’t return. She let him stay the whole way back from the Olympic Village! She even let him cuddle her while she slept on her arm! We had tried in the morning to have him sit beside her and she very vocally had refused and started crying “MOMMY!!!!” So that was a great breakthrough today.

Back at the hotel we had another big grieving episode, and she again let Robin hold her. Then she was ready to PLAY! We played in the bath for a very long time, and played while getting dressed too. She was the happiest and funniest little girl again (which she usually is) with a supper big grin and infectious laugh!

So it comes and goes in cycles. I am always there, but Daddy can sometimes do things… not always. He isn’t even allowed to hold her hand, unless she is also holding mine, and then it’s not all the time.

OH – at the Cloisonné gift shop today her and Daddy also had a great time playing (I left them alone as much as possible). She kinda regressed to a baby a bit, was crawling around the floor laughing and letting Daddy carry her like a baby. We teased her that she was “Baby JuanJuan” and Robin rocked her back and forth and she laughed and laughed. That is also a very normal reaction, to regress and have us do things for her like a baby. She needs to learn that we are there for her and she can trust us. She still wont let us hug her.. when we try she is very stiff. This is also very very normal and will come over time. She lets us rub her back though and get close, so that is good. Some kids don’t even let you do that at first.

While she is technically almost 5, emotionally and “mentally” she is about 3, maybe almost 4. Not for all things (she knows her numbers and is extremely smart. She figured out the digital camera and DVD player in minutes) plus she does everything for herself, opening all packages, serving herself food, she’s even order the food she wanted in a restaurant! But for other things she is much younger. This again we expected, so it’s not a surprise to us. It will come, and it is a normal reaction.

SO… all in all a very big day! I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Time for bed! Dava qu shuijiao!

What day is it?

Hey! So I think today is Weds... have to think about it.

Yesterday we finalised the adoption first with the SWI (orphange) Director and Registar. We were asked all kinds of questions, the most important being, why do you want to adopt a chinese child. Then we signed tons of forms and then we had to put our thumb print over each one of our signatures. Next JuanJuan had to give palm prints on some forms.

Next we drove across Nanning to the Notary and filled our forms there, signed more forms and were asked more questions. The little friend of JuanJuan's who was with her yesterday in the hallway was also at the Register and Notary just before us. She was SO Excited to see Hang (Toby) she shouted and off they ran to play. His family live in Florida and I hope we can stay in contact when we get back. But when it was our turn for the Notary, she became very sad and upset and started crying. Micheal told us she wanted her photos (of her foster Mama and Baba), but they were at the hotel. Well, we've learned now NOT to leave them behind. We even took them to breakfast with us this morning. She didn't look at them, just wanted them beside her.

In the afternoon we went shopping for clothers for her. She did not come with clothes except the ones she was wearing and a jacket her Mama bought her which she is very proud of.

We went to a huge new "Western" mall, with the biggest Wal-Mart I have ever seen! This was a spectacular mall, most shops I didn't recognise, but they had Addidas and Miss Sixty! We went to a children's clothing store called "Aico" which reminded me of Please Mum. The prices were about the same as in Canada too! Well, she marched in and started looking through all the racks. Let's just say that when they wrote in her Bio "She knows her own mind", they weren't kidding! She has very particular tastes about colour and design! And red and pink are her favourite colours. We finally settled on a pair of lined jeans with a flower on the knee, a thick pink and sparkly silver stripped sweater jacket with flowers, a purple flowered top and another pink sweater with houses and a cat on it (I think, can't remember now...) and lots of matching socks.

This morning she agreed to wear her new clothes from yesterday, but refuses to wear the clothes we brought from Canada... of course now I know why... they aren't pink or red and don't have any flowers on them!

SO.... we definately have a GIRL who knows what she wants!! It all reminded me of Aunt Danien when she was little and so particular about clothes... but then again there was that time in Gr. 4 where I insisted on wearing that stripped top and short outfit several days a week, right Mom?

Yesterday she refused to eat food all day except for an icecream we bought while out for a walk. We were getting very worried!! After shopping Micheal took us to KFC and Pizza Hut for supper. She was starving and had KFC for supper. Josh wanted KFC too, but when he ate his chicken burger, it was quite spicy! Apparently in China all KFC meals are very spicy! He ended up with some of my pepperoni pizza, which ta..sted the same as in Canada. We were relieved to see her eating!

This morning when she woke up (5am! yeah!!) she asked for some soyamilk straight away that we bought from Walmart. GOOD SIGN! Then we went for breakfast and she brought a beef pot noodle we also got from Walmart. They made it for her, and I'm just happy she's eaten today!

We all played a great game of hide and seek in the restaurant (OK yes, we played hide and seek in the restaurant, but we were almost the only ones there as we got there before they'd finished putting all the food out!) It was a lot of fun, we were all laughing. Her and Josh were running hand in hand. So sweet!!

she's right beside me now trying to get me to tickle her, I better go. R just came with the $ to pay for the computer time.

We are off to a children's park and shoe shopping today. We are in New Nanning here and it is all tall office and condo buidlings beside a manmade lake and park. Michael said it's all about 5 yrs old.

OK! ttfn
love us!!

We have a daughter!

Hi everyone!

I will try to update the blog in a minute, but just in case, I wanted to email you first to say we made it safe and sound! My back is MUCH better now, thank goodness! We somehow lost an entire day... our flight left Ottawa on Fri at 9:00am and we got into Beijing at 5:30pm Saturday.... we were EXHAUSTED! Our Agency Director met us at the hotel (her brother picked us up from the airport) and she showed us a grocery store down the street. We picked up some snacks to eat, but it was hard! Barely any english on any packages and everything is very different! We were also so tired and overwhelmed. We went back to our room, ate a little and crashed. Then Josh woke us up at midnight hungry, poor guy. We gave him a snack and tried to sleep but woke up again at 1:30am Sunday morning, and finally got up then. Showered, ate, watched TV and went exploring the hotel at 3:45 am... of course everything was closed, even the guard was asleep! But we were WIDE AWAKE!

We went back and napped until 5:30, then got up again and waited until breakfast started at 6:30. We were the first there... the breakfast was great! Lots of "western" food, most of which was not quite the same as at home and not really hot (the bacon was like the microwave McCain's bacon, and it was likewarm). They also had lots of Chinese things too like dim sum dumplings and rice. Robin was very excited to eat rice from breakfast. Josh ate a lot of french toast and I ate a little bit of everything.

Sunday we visited the bank to convert our $$ to yuan. We had 38,000 rmb, which was a HUGE STACK and didn't fit into our money belt! Went straight back to the hotel to put it in the safe! I wanted to take a police man from the bank with us to be sure no one would rob us! (there are police everyhwere). Then we went to a beautiful Lama Temple from the Qing Dynasty that was 450 yrs old. We also found a Confucion (sp?) temple from the 1300s but by then we were so cold, tired and hungry we just peeked in. It was very cold, we wore our long underwear, hat, mittens, winter coats etc. Of course we've lost Josh's hat and mittens, luckily we have a second pair of mits and he wore my hat.

OK now for the part you are WAITING FOR!!

We got up Monday at 2 or 3:00am (I forget now, it's all melding together in my brain) got ready, and met the bus with the other families for 5:00am. They gave us boxed breakfasts of banana bread, boiled egg, sliced ham, yogurt and an orange. I could only eat the banana bread, I was SO NERVOUS and EXCITED! We got to the airport (BEAUTIFUL AND NEW!!! and VERY EFFICIENT!) and our flight left for Nanning at 7:40am. We arrived in Nanning at 11:00am. Our guide Michael met us, (his english is perfect and he's great with Josh and XingJuan). and took us to the hotel. We had lunch, tried to rest and then he picked us up at 2:45 to go meet XingJuan at another government hotel. We were so nervous and excited!!

We got to the 3rd floor and right in the hallway she was standing there with another little boy, the nannies and the director!! OMG!! She was so brave. The nannies said something and she came over and gave each of us a candy! We weren't supposed to meet in the hallway though! Michael took us to a room with toys and a few minutes later the director brought her in. There were 2 other familes meeting their babies as well. She was so shy, but didnt cry at all. It was quite awkward because you just wanted to give her a BIG HUG and talk to her and explain everything, but couldn't! We showed her the backpack with all the little thinngs in it. The stickers first were good, we put them on our hands. Then we did bubbles. But it wasn't until we blewup the beachball and Josh started goofing off that we got a smile! Melt my heart!! I wanted to cry, but didn't! Michael told me NOT TO CRY or it will scare her! That was hard though!! We had lots of fun palying with the ball, mostly we kicked it to Josh, he fell over (very dramatic like) and she would smile. We also gave her the Wawa from Grandma and Grandpa, which she REALLY likes. She took it to bed with her last night.

Then we went back to the hotel and hung out in the room. Michael helped translate more phrases for us. She really likes the Dora video in Mandarin and this morning she asked me to watch it, and I UNDERSTOOD!! I remembered the word for Chicken (ji) and the first Dora video is about a big red chicken.

We had some tears before bed, but it wasn't too bad. This morning she wanted to be by herself a bit, so we didn't bother her too much. Woke up at 4:00am, GREAT!! We all went to bed between 6:30 and 8:00pm, so that was a better sleep. I brought out some toy cars and we all played cars, she really liked that. Then her and Josh goofed off with the ball. She let out quite a big laugh with him!! He can get her to smile quite easily! I took a picture of her and Josh after they'd made some bead necklaces and she was beaming. I said, "Meimei JuanJuan he Gege Josh!" and she kept repeating Gege Josh! (that means, "little sister JuanJuan and Big brother Josh"!)

She also LOVES to play with our old digital camera we brought along. Right away she basically figured out how to use it and has taken tons of photos!

We will be leaving soon for a day of appointments and to finalise the adoption. She is SO BEAUTIFUL and she is exactly like we thought she's be. She's very independent and confident and very bright!! OMG, I am going to cry... I'm so proud to be her mommy!!

OK gotta go. Pass this on to anyone else I've missed. Mom, I forgot to input Paul's address into my yahoo account, so please pass this on to him.

oh - I forgot, the foster family sent photos of JuanJuan from when she was just a baby until now! There's a photo of her with her Foster Baba and another of her and her foster mama too! The SWI also gave us all her progress reports, which included photos and sometimes her drawings!! We are so lucky!!! (of course they are all in Mandarin so we need to have them translated)

Will try to download some photos later and put all this onto the blog too.
Take care
Love US!!

NEW PHOTOS!!

I can't believe that we recieved new photos today! They were sent by the company that arranged her little party at the orphange!! - yes, I cried when I first saw them...
There is also a photo of the Director reading her the letter we wrote to her! And you can see a few of the other presents we sent, books for her, candy and nuts for the Teachers and Nannies. The cake was for the XingJuan and the children. We also sent her a cute snugly blanket too.
ok I'll stop rambling now, here you go!

Getting Ready to GO!

Well, we leave next FRI!! Jan 9th for CHINA!! Beijing Here We COME!

We got our TA (official letter from China inviting us to travel to adopt! Can't go without it, so we were starting to panic a bit since we are leaving so soon!) last week and we are now officially PACKING!

We also just got back from Xmas at my parents in KW. Josh had a great Xmas with his grandparents, aunts and uncles and he had a blast playing with his cousin Sarah too!

JuanJuan also received many wonderful and thoughtful Christmas presents!! (sorry dear, we opened them all ready!) They will be ready and waiting when we get back.

You can also see the backpack (on the floor) that we've filled with little toys, books, stickers, ballons, bubbles, pretty hair things and the "Wawa" (doll in Chinese) her Grandma and Grandpa bought her from ChinaSprout to give to her on Gotcha Day Jan 12th. It will be a good ice breaker, and I am hoping the bubbles will be a great way to break the ice and get her smiling :-)

This week Nanning has been almost 20c! It is going to be strange to go from Beijing (between 0C and 8C) to Nanning at 15C to 20C and back to Beijing again! It's a challenge to pack for warm and COLD weather! We have a nice warm winter snowsuit for JuanJuan and boots too! The challenge will be making sure we don't go over the weight allowance!