What a Difference A Few Weeks Makes

My pictures are in reverse order of what I wanted. I'm still not the best blogger. When we were in China, my friend, Kristin, blogged for me because blogspot is blocked in China. My blog was better and prettier when she blogged for me!

What a difference! The first day we got Cara, she wobbled around like a drunken sailor. She did not have the strength to roll to her stomach for me to put cream on her back after her bath. Now she jumps off the couch and rolls across the living room floor with her brother (see pic). She wouldn't nap or sleep unless she was lying on top of me (see pic). Now she will sleep in her own bed. She couldn't stand to have anything on her fingers. Now she digs guts out of pumpkins. It's amazing what encouragement and lots of attention and praise does for a child.

Like I've said before, we prepared for the worst and are still waiting for the other shoe to drop and it hasn't. She throws at least one temper tantrum a day, but it is usually brought about by a brother or sister encouraging her to do something she shouldn't, then telling her no. She is also 3, which is the land of temper tantrums. I see it as a positive sign, because if she didn't feel comfortable she wouldn't throw the tantrums.

We are still working on establishing boundaries. She LOVES Aunt D and Uncle D, and Grandma (Grandpa, but she calls him Grandma). She needs to learn that it's not OK to give kisses to whoever enters the front door. But we're working on it. She eats everything in sight except oatmeal and pudding. We are amazed by the fact that she thinks everything is, "YUMMY!"

She is starting to get some color in her cheeks from being outside. Tonight, J asked at dinner, "do you think she's flushed, has a fever?" I said no, it's fresh air coloring her cheeks. She loves to be outside and is starting to tolerate the dogs and cat. She even petted the cat today.

We still have some things to work on, but I am impressed with her progress. We have only been home one week. After our first week together, we changed hotels and went to Guangzhou. After our second week together, we flew home to Washington. I wonder if she thinks we'll be headed somewhere else tomorrow!? We hope she continues to settle in well and we think she's pretty fantastic!

Travel Day

This morning we got up at 4:45 am. We had to have our bags outside of our doors by 5:30 and be down at the 2nd floor lobby by 5:50 in order to leave for the airport. Our guide, Grace, went with us to the airport in order to make sure we didn't have any hang-ups at the airport check-in counter. No problems! We were off and on our way to Beijing.

Once we got to Beijing we had to recollect our luggage and go through security again in order to get into the international terminal. Who was the only one pulled to the side for the full pat down? That's right, me! The security lady was insisting I had matches and liquid in my purse. I told her I didn't have liquid and that I've never carried matches in my purse in my life. She didn't buy it until my purse was completely empty and ran through x-ray again. I was mildly annoyed, but it wasn't that big of a deal because we had a five hour layover. I had plenty of time for a pat down. Once in the international terminal, we sat down to wait for the 2 1/2 hours we had left until boarding time. However, right before boarding they got on the PA system and told us our flight would be delayed, but they didn't know for how long. Ugggghhhh!!! We proceded to wait another 2 hours and I finally sent B up to the counter to find out what was going on. He came back and said a volcano blew in Russia and we couldn't take off because of the ash. I told him to quit making things up and another guy came by and said, "no, that's the truth, they don't know when we will take off." In my mind I'm imagining another week in Beijing and starting to feel sick. Next thing you know they were calling us to board. The pilot had submitted an alternate travel route and it was accepted.

Talk about the longest flight of my life. Hainan Airlines has very little leg room, the seats don't recline but 2 or 3 inches, and their meals look like cat puke. I would never fly through them again. To top it all off, every time Cara would start to cry or get upset they would come ask me if I needed help. All of the kids on the plane were seated in the same area, so I am quite confident in saying that they didn't offer to help any other parent and there were other kids crying more than Cara. It was so irritating! I wanted to ask, "what are you going to do to help? Walk her around the plane? Do you have a toddler bed in the back?" I mean, seriously, what did they think they could do to help? I can see why some passengers go into airline rage. Those stewardesses were annoying!!!

We finally got to Seattle 2 1/2 hours late and had to go through immigration. Office Gomez walked us over to the counter and told us to wait until our name was called. We waited a bit, then he came back and opened our brown envelope and called us to the counter, he started reading the paperwork then told us he needed to go check on something so we just needed to "chillax." Yes, that's right, he said chillax. I thought only 7th graders used that term, but apparently it is also used by the Department of Homeland Security. He brought out another officer who told us that Cara's paperwork indicated she had type B TB. This means she is not contagious but needs to see a doctor to get it checked out in case it could become contagious. This was news to me. No one mentioned it at the clinic in Guangzhou. You would think it would be important information to have...Nevertheless, Cara's paperwork was stamped and we were off. Luggage had to be rescreened and sent from the international baggage claim to the regular baggage claim. We went to the main terminal, collected our luggage, and called the Masterpark guy. He came quickly and hauled us to our waiting car. The picture above is Cara's first steps on American soil as our newest little citizen!

We drove home from Seattle and were greeted by a "Welcome Home" sign made by A's BF and his mom. Grandma came to visit for awhile and Grandpa came after that. We are so glad to be home! Let the jet lag begin!

Guangzhou Zoo

Today was our day to visit the Guangzhou Zoo. I was excited to go because I've seen lots of people's blogs who have visited the zoo and it looked like a lot of fun. If the pictures seem up close and personal, it's because we REALLY were that close to the animals; none of these pictures were zoomed in. The zoo was different from where we live. There are really great zoos in Seattle and Portland, but there is so much "habitat" that it's hard to find the animals sometimes. This zoo was about 50% habitat, 50% cages so it was a lot easier to see the animals.

Guangzhou has brought in another panda for the Asian Games. They normally only have one but now they have two. The panda exhibit was closed because they were fixing a fence so the pandas weren't out. Our guide, Maggie, told the people at the zoo that we were adoptive families coming to see the pandas, so the zookeepers allowed us to go inside and see the pandas. We sterilized our feet and a few of us at a time were allowed to go into the panda building to see the bears. We were probably 5 feet away from them. We could have reached out and touched them, but we didn't want to get in trouble.

After we got back from the zoo it was nap time. It took me 17 rounds of "Rock-a-bye Baby" to get Cara to sleep. She slept for 2 hours and then we went to the park. She just wanted to chase around today so we left pretty quickly and went back to the room to pack. Cara was dragging things out just about as fast as we were packing things up so it took longer than we would have liked. Then we went to dinner one last time at Lucy's. Lucy's isn't really all that great, but the other restaurant choices have baby pigeon, chicken feet, pig neck, ostrich intestines, etc. Lucy's is probably the safest bet so we've eaten there 3 times.

Now we are just finishing up packing and showering to leave tomorrow morning. We are checked out and need to meet in the lobby tomorrow morning at 5:50. Ses the picture of Cara on the bed with all of the brown envelopes? This is the documentation we need to carry on for her. We need the red adoption folder, the "brown envelope" for immigration, the medical records with her passport stapled to it because of her TB test, and her TB x-ray. That's a lot of stuff to carry on with 5 backpacks and a 3-year-old.

Tomorrow we fly to Beijing, have a 5-hour layover, fly to Seattle, then drive home. It will definitely be a long day, but I will be happy to go home. I won't blog tomorrow because of traveling, but I hope to blog sometime this weekend. I like to read people's travel blogs, but then it seems like everyone stops the minute they get home and I never get to see how it's going or how people's babies deal with the transition. I'm going to do my best to try to keep up with blogging.

Red Couch Photo

Today was Red Couch photo day. It is tradition for adoptive families that stay at the White Swan hotel to have a photo taken on the red couch. I have been planning this day for a long time (silly, I know). I wanted all of us in our WSU clothing for the Christmas card. Then I wanted Cara in a gold traditional Chinese dress. I've seen hundreds of red couch photos as I read everyone's blogs and I really wanted to get her a gold dress. She looks fantastic, don't you think?

All of the babies together on the couch was chaos! Crying and wiggling and bailing out of the photo. I thought we were just getting a photo of the babies adopted on this trip, but there were several siblings in the photo as well. There were actually 11 babies adopted in our travel group. The last photo is all of the families in front of the waterfall at the White Swan hotel.

Then we went upstairs for a nap. Cara slept for 2 hours. Then we headed out to find the pet market. We brought a map and everything and wandered all over, but never ended up finding the pet market. We were sweaty and tired so we grabbed something to eat and headed to the park again. Cara played on the slide again for a while and then we went back to the hotel. It's been a pretty uneventful day. Tomorrow we get to go to the zoo so that should be fun. The zoo and packing; I am ready to go home!

Consulate Appointment

Today was the day of our Consulate Appointment. We didn't go; our guides went for us but we had to stay in our room from 10:30 to 11:30 in case there were any questions. One of our guides, Grace, called us around 11:00 and said, "Good news! No questions, you are free to leave your room." We went shopping for a little while until we needed to leave to go to the consulate and take the oath. We also took Cara to the park behind Lucy's. She loved it! I'm not sure she's ever been down a slide before, but today she must have gone down the slide 50 times. Seriously, 50 times!

We went back to Jenny's and bought four more pairs of squeaky shoes and two silk dresses. If you are making a trip to Guangzhou in the near future, go to Jenny's. She is not a high pressure sales person and her prices are the best. Cara fell asleep on the way back to the hotel room so J walked with her around the White Swan grounds while we went up to the room and got ready for the consulate appointment.

We all met down on the 1st floor to go to the consulate and take the oath. Today there were 35 families going to the consulate. It takes about 30 minutes to get to the consulate from the White Swan hotel. We all went up into the room and waited until our appointment at 3:30. A lady came out and spoke to us for a few minutes before she had us take the oath. She told us that 67% of adoptions from China so far this year were special needs. She also told us that 1/3 of US adoptions are from China. We took the oath and then sat back down and waited to be called to a window to sign our final adoption form. After that, we headed back to the hotel. On the way, Cara threw a colossal tantrum on the bus (her 2nd of the day). She was pinching, spitting, and hitting her sister, which is not allowed. She was MAD!!!! The fit continued back up into the hotel room. We just sat on the bed and let her lay on the floor and kick and scream and hit the floor. She needs to learn that tantrums don't get you what you want in the Funk house.

After her tantrum, we went back to Jenny's to buy some gifts. Jenny loves us, probably because we have spent a lot of money in her store! ;) She gave Cara a small Chinese flag and a plastic tiara. She marched around waving her flag in her squeaky shoes wearing her tiara. She was quite a sight, I must say. She had quite an audience. We ate at Lucy's again for dinner and she marched back to the hotel afterward waving her flag and wearing her tiara. She is a spirited, funny little thing. She will keep us on our toes for sure!

Pearl Market

Today we took a trip to the Pearl Market. We took the hotel shuttle to the market area and our guides took us to reputable stores for pearls and jade. I bought a strand of pearls and the ladies in the store made Cara a pearl bracelet to wear for her baptism. I also bought several gifts for family and friends at home. We went to the jade store, but I think the prices were about equal to the jade we saw yesterday and yesterday the selection was quite a bit better so we didn't buy any more. We spent some time walking by some shops but didn't buy anything else.

Then we spent some time back in the hotel room until it was time to leave to go back to the medical clinic and have Cara's TB test read. I just knew her test was going to be positive, which would require a chest x-ray. We walked to the clinic and stood in line with the rest of the children in our travel group. Some of the children were crying because they remembered the shots from 2 days earlier and were afraid they were getting more shots. All of the other children had negative TB test results except Cara. Her mark where she received the skin test was 1 centimeter. If the mark is less than 1 centimeter the test is considered negative. One centimeter or larger requires a chest x-ray. I was worried she would cry because she doesn't like her clothes taken off unless she hears the bath water running. Her dad took her in for the x-ray and she was fine; no crying or anything. I few minutes later the doctor said her x-ray was negative and she was free to go. Thank goodness!!!

Then we did some shopping. I saw a little girl with cute shoes on and asked her mom where she got them. She said, "Emma's" and told me how to get there. Emma's store is a little hole in the wall and it was crammed with moms buying squeaky shoes. I saw one mom buy 8 pair. It was hot and the wait was long and wouldn't you know it, they didn't have anything I wanted in Cara's size. So we went down the block toward Jenny's store. On the way we were acosted by Maggie, Emma's sister. We went to her store and I thought she would never let us leave! We escaped when she went to look for a shoe size and went next door to Jenny's. We bought Cara one pair of squeaky shoes at Jenny's and she was actually cheaper than Maggie and Emma. Tomorrow I think I'll go back to Jenny's to buy more shoes. They are leather with good rubber soles and I think they were under $4 a pair. Who can resist that kind of deal? Especially when they squeak on top of it!!!

Then we went to a couple of other stores to buy some traditional Chinese silk dresses for Cara. We bought a white one for her baptism and a gold one for the red couch photo. J, A, and B aren't to sure about the gold dress, but I think it will look good. She's going to have to go shoeless for the photo, though. It's hard to find shoes to match a gold dress for a 3-year-old.

On the way to the medical clinic I took a couple of pictures of the school children outside for their excercises. Aren't they cute? Tomorrow is our consulate appointment, but we don't go to that. Our guides go and we need to stay in our room in case they have any questions. We go to the consulate at 2:15 tomorrow afternoon to take the oath. Four more days and we get to go home. I am so ready!

Medical Exam

This morning we met in the lobby to go get visa pictures taken and medical exams. The picture of Cara on the chair was for her visa. She looks scared. She is scared. This is a lot of change for anyone in a week...new parents new scenery, airplane ride, new language, new food, etc. not to mention the fact that she's 3 years old.

After the visa picture we walked to the center for medical exams. There are 3 rooms plus vaccinations. In the first room the children get weighed and measured. Cara weights 14 kg (a little over 30 lbs) and is 90 cm (almost 36 in) tall. In the next room a nurse listened to her heart, then wanted to check her entire body. That scared Cara. She only likes clothes off for her bath. In the next room her vision and hearing were checked. The nurse said she has a lot of ear wax. We'll have to take care of that when we get home. Then it was on to vaccinations. The United States requires children to be fully vaccinated before they enter the country. This can require the children to have to get many shots all at one time. Cara was one of the lucky ones; she only had to get 3 shots plus her TB skin test. There were other babies, smaller babies, that had to get 6 shots! We all felt awful when she got her shots. She was so upset and crying her little heart out!

After that we went to find Starbucks. I know, I will not be winning Mother of the Year for letting my 3-year-old sip a Caramel Latte, but isn't she cute? Side note, her ladybug outfit belonged to A when she was 3! Right now she's napping, which she didn't want to do. She hasn't been napping well for the last few days because we've been on the go. We need to get her back on a schedule. While she slept the hotel staff brought her Barbie. Mattel gives adoptive families who stay at the White Swan a "Going Home" Barbie as a gift. I will post pics of her Barbie tomorrow.

Other news: Guangzhou is better than Shanghai, in my opinion. The air is clearer and there's more color. Shanghai is clean (people even scrub the subway floors on their hands and knees) but gray. And it's a wall of people everywhere. I had a headache most of the time because of all the pollution. No headache for me in Guangzhou! The White Swan Hotel is beautiful and the breakfast buffet is huge! Anything you could want to eat is there.

Cara news: It's funny, other people post that their child would say, "bu ya!" which means no or don't. Cara says, "Bu ya, bu ya, bu ya, bu ya, bu ya!" She also says, "Me la!" which means, "Mine!" Typical 3 year old. The orphanage says she is shy, quiet and obedient. She's only quiet when she's around a crowd of people. In the hotel room she's noisy and funny and likes to play.

Tomorrow we will take a tour of the city. It should be pretty fun.