Our Last Stop

Yesterday was a really rough day.  CJ and I just about reached our breaking point.  Huihui only got a 45min nap before we had to leave for the  airport, so to say the least, he was a wreck.  There were a lot of temper tantrums, yelling, and body flailing at the airport, which was super fun with all of our luggage.  Thankfully, he slept our entire flight to Guangzhou, and today has gone much better.  Please keep us in your prayers.

Today we were able to sleep in before we headed to a government office for Huihui's medical check and visa photo.  He did great and it was very uneventful.  There are a ton of adoptive families staying at our hotel--nine just in our group and many from other agencies.  It's been really good to swap stories, share snacks, and have English speaking support.  We went out to dinner with two other families this evening who both adopted children Huihui's age.  We had a great time with them.

You can tell Huihui is starting to understand a few English words.  He only responds to his Chinese name, so we're trying to say his full name so he gets the association.  He already knew how to wave and clap, so we've taught him how to high five and we're working on blowing kisses.  He attempted to say "hi" today, but he mainly vocalizes vowel sounds and makes grunting noises, which is common with kids with a cleft palate.  We are beginning to understand that no one has ever told him "no" in his life, so that's been challenging.  We've talked to a few other families whose kids were in foster care and they are having the same experience with their kids.  I think it may just be another cultural difference in child rearing.  Huihui has already given up Chinese food for breakfast.  We kept trying to feed him congee (rice gruel) and eggs in the morning because we were told that what his usual, but after trying french toast and bacon, he's given it up all together.  It's been funny.  This kid can put away the food.  We feel like he's eating constantly, but when he's done, he's done.  He'll let you know it.

Tomorrow we get to go to a bilingual church service with some of the other families, so we're really looking forward to that.  We're also getting some laundry done.  There were no laundry services in Wuhan, so we've been washing a few things in the bathtub.  I'm ready for some clean clothes! 

As a side note, I don't mean for this post to seem negative.  Huihui is still a doll.  He loves snuggles and kisses and smiles a lot.  I love the way he puts his hands on his head when he's tired.  It's the sweetest thing.  I love that ornery gleam in his eye.  (Though I might be seeing it a little too often lately. :) )  Adoption is just hard sometimes.  It'll get better.  We'll figure each other out and settle into life soon.

 

Sharing snacks with Zelin

Checking each other out.

Medical Check

Getting tickles from daddy and brother.

 

Just Waiting

Huihui has been struggling a little the last 24 hours.  He's not crying a lot, just fussy and unsettled.  We're not sure what he exactly wants and I'm pretty sure he doesn't either (other than the obvious of surroundings he is used to).  He is upset when either CJ or I leave the room, even to go to the bathroom, and even when the either of us remains with him.  I know this whole thing is hard on him, so I pray this period of transition and fear passes quickly. 

Last night, we went to a Hot Pot restaurant that our guide had recommended.  What she didn't tell us was that no one there spoke English and there were no English menus.  Hot pot is a traditional Mongolian food.  They put a hot pot of boiling broth in the middle of the table and then you (or in our case, the staff) cook raw food in the broth, place it in a peanut flavored soup, and add a number of spices and fresh cilantro to your own taste.  It was delicious.  Huihui loved it, but let's just say we had no idea what meat we ordered or even what one of the vegetables was.  Oh well, I guess.  It was good.  Oh, and by the way, I think I finally figured out chopsticks.  :)

We had another lazy day of going to the pool, working out, and napping.  We are just waiting--ready to come home at this point and see our girls.  Tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou, so I probably won't have time to update the blog.  (So, mom, we're fine!)

Hot Pot

Wuhan

We are currently in Wuhan and will be here waiting for Huihui's passport until Friday.  Wuhan is a city of 9 million.  It is an industrial city and a business hub.  We have not seen any children in our hotel--only business men and women.  There is no touristy places to visit, souvenir shops to buy things in, or western food to eat.  We've eaten a lot of Chinese food.  We tried Pizza Hut a couple nights ago and I almost vomited.  I'm pretty sure they added fish sauce or oyster sauce to the pizza sauce.  It was terrible.  Our guide took us to one of her favorite restaurants yesterday and though the menu scared me--tripe, chicken feet, knee cartilage, seahorse (it went on for pages)--it was the best meal we've had here.  I've never enjoyed tofu, but she ordered some for us and it was excellent.  Spicy tofu is what she called it.  It was thinly sliced and cooked in onions, jalapenos, and a spicy sauce.  We also had a pork and a beef dish.  We fed our guide, driver, and our family for just $20.  If you eat outside of the hotel, food is very cheap here.  You can see from our pictures that Wuhan also has a major pollution problem.  We did see a little hazy blue sky and a few clouds on the first day we were here though, so better than Beijing. 

Wuhan is situated on a major river, which is right across the street from the hotel.  There is also a park on the river's edge.  The next two days are free days for us--the first since we've been in China.  We went to the park this morning and walked around.  Unfortunately, there was not a playground, but they did have these little "work out" areas in a couple places.  They also play traditional Chinese music throughout the park through speakers on the ground made to look like rocks.  It was pretty funny.  Staring is not rude in China like it is in the states.  Many people blocked our path to stop, point, and talk about us.  Between CJ's height and our little man, we were a spectacle, I guess. 

Huihui took his first independent steps last night and today took as many as ten steps on his own.  The pictures I took of him walking are blurry, but you can see how proud he is of himself.  :)  He's so close to just taking off.  He's just a chicken and doesn't want to fall.  We've convinced him to hold his own bottle and feed himself, too.  He was pretty fussy this morning, but nothing terrible.  He seems to be cheering up this afternoon.  He LOVES snuggles, kisses and being held.  He reaches for CJ and I often and does his version of babbling pretty constantly.  He's very easy to make smile.  He's also a good sleeper and eater.  Drinking has been an issue.  We are a little scared to buy milk here due to lack of appropriate refrigeration and our guide said he's never had it anyway.  He doesn't like the formula we bought and they don't sell the kind he was used to.  He also doesn't like juice or water.  Luckily, his foster mom sent him with two giant bags of snacks and a package of this "yogurt sugar milk".  It's all he'll drink.  It's nothing I'd choose to give my kids, but it's what we've got right now that he'll drink.  We bought a ton of it today.  It's not refrigerated and it smells like pure sugar. 

Wuhan City

Walking on my own!

In the river park

Carter "working out" in the park.

                                         Morning nap on mom while dad watches the Spurs.

Loading up on "milk".

 

Adoption Day

Yesterday we signed papers making us our little guy's 24 hr guardians, but today we became his parents.  We signed a few papers, put our fingerprint over each signature and then had our son place his footprint on the last document.  We took a picture together as a new family and that was that.

After finalizing the adoption, we drove to the orphanage for a tour.  It was actually pretty nice.  We were told it is one of the best facilities in the country.  (Also, what our adoption agency told us.)  The assistant director said they try to find foster parents for all "adoptable" children.  According to our guide, that means that older children and children with developmental delays are left in the orphanage.  Every orphanage is different.  These are just the particulars in this city.  Huihui was very fond of the assistant director and spent most of the tour in her arms.  I'm sure it was nice to see a familiar face.  The director stated that all the foster children come back to the orphanage on a monthly basis for a health screen, so she's seen him often.

Huihui doesn't crawl, prefers to be fed rather than feed himself, and doesn't know how to use a cup or bottle.  (His foster mom spoon fed him liquids.)  All of these things seemed strange to us since he was in foster care, so I questioned our guide.  She cleared a few things up for us.  She said the majority of Chinese babies do not crawl because they do not put babies on the floor.  She also said that parents feed their children with small spoons.   Children do not feed themselves.   So, I guess it's just a cultural thing.  He's begrudgingly fed himself the last two meals and though he doesn't use the Haberman bottle correctly, he is using it, drinking, and I'm not having to spoon feed him liquids.  We've introduced a cup, but that's going to take some work.  :0

Huihui loves Carter.  Carter helps him walk, plays with him, and helps with snacktime.  He's a great big brother!  We are getting a few "Who are you?" looks today, but everything is still going really well.

                                                    Footprinting our adoption papers

Family photo at the Civil Affairs Office

 

 

 

Our boys playing at the orphanage

Wuhan's Orphanage

In front of the orphanage with the assistant director, Zhao

What a Blessing

Today could not have gone better.  We woke up at 6:30am to be at the Civil Affairs Office by 9:30am to be united with Huihui.  We walked into a room and he was already there with two orphanage workers.  He was happily playing.  We just got down on the floor and started to play with him.  He responded to Carter first and then played with the whole family.  He was smiling and laughing.  He is so good natured and happy.  Eventually, we took turns holding him and then left to drive to the police station to get his passport picture taken.  There were no tears.  While we waited in line, he fell asleep in my arms.  After getting his passport picture taken, we went to the grocery store to buy formula and some food items and then headed back to the hotel.  I gave him a bath.  We ordered room service and he ate some noodles, fried egg, and cooked carrots.  Then, he peacefully fell asleep in his crib within 5 minutes.  Totally not what I expected, but in a really good way.  :)

From what we've seen so far of our little guy, he is very active and busy.  His body is always moving until he is tired and then he just relaxes into your arms, puts his hands on his head, and falls asleep.  He's easy to make smile.  He appears to be a good eater.  He's eaten everything we've offered him and just turned his head away when he was full.  He apparently has been held a lot!  He reaches for us and wants us to hold him.  He also doesn't appear to like to sit on the floor and play.  He wants to sit on your lap and play.  I think because of this, he is not a very strong walker.  He walks if you hold one hand, but doesn't have much stamina for long distances.  He looks well nourished and healthy, but his cleft palate looks really wide. 

We feel very blessed to have him and very blessed the day went as it did.  (Because it wasn't going as well for the other two families in the room with us today.)  Thank you all for your prayers.  The trip has gone so smoothly thus far.  Enjoy our new family pics!  (And girlies at home, you're going to love your new brother!)

Beijing

We arrived in Beijing at 11:20pm last night.  So, to say the least, we're a little tired.  We did all sleep some on the plane and again back at the hotel until we found ourselves (kind of) wide awake at 6:30am this morning.  Today we toured the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and a silk factory.  Our guide was good and sweet.  We toured with three other adoptive families.  One family had an 11 yr old daughter and Carter was happy to have another kid to run around with.

I've both heard and seen pictures of the air pollution in China, but you really have to see it with your own eyes to appreciate the magnitude of it.  You literally can't see the sun.  It's like the whole city is covered in fog on an overcast day.  The visibility is really bad.  I have a decent camera and you can see by the pictures how bad the visibility really is.

We received two new pictures and a brief update on our little man today.  In one of the pictures, he is laughing and looks so darling.  They buzzed his hair again and it looks like he's missing a tooth or two from his cleft--which sometimes happens.  We'll know soon, though!  In about 36 hours we'll be holding him and kissing that sweet face.  Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Wuhan and Monday morning we'll be welcoming him into the family.  Beijing is 13 hours ahead of you all back home (for those of you who are time zone challenged like me).

So, this is what I've learned about China so far. . .beware of the "toilets" (i.e. holes in the ground), bring your own toilet paper, and good luck finding a cold drink.  What I'd give for a COLD glass of water!

Just Three More Days

Though we just started this adoption journey in July 2012, it feels like forever.  It's really much like the feeling when you are nine months pregnant and are sure that baby is never going to come and you are really tired of waiting.  I'm finding most all the things I'm feeling now are identical to the feelings I had at the end of my pregnancies.  It's a nervous excitement.  You are super excited to meet your baby, but wonder, "Will he sleep?  Will he eat good?  What's his personality going to be like?  Is he healthy?"  Just three more days until we leave for China and are that much closer to having answers to all these things.  I used to always say, "I just want him/her out of my belly and in my arms."  I just want our little man back in Kansas and in my arms. 

Pray for our travels in the upcoming weeks, for our precious boy, his foster parents who have been his world thus far, and for our family.  Also, if you'd like to donate through the fundraising site we are using, you can still do so.  Donations in any amount are awesome.  And, many of you have asked--the money does go to our family.  Just click on our fundraising tab at the top of the blog and it will take you to the donation webpage.