Busy Day

Today we planned to do a bit of sight seeing, but it was pouring rain in the morning. We walked around the hotel for a bit and played in the room until around 11:00 am. Then we took the metro to the Barbie store, which was high on A's list of things to see in Shanghai. Six floors of Barbie! There was a neon pink escalator and a winding staircase with clear boxes all the way up to the fifth floor. Every few boxes there was a box with a Barbie in it dressed in a hot pink outfit. The inside of the elevator looked like a hot pink curtain. I would LOOOOOOVE to be able to post pictures of it, but guess who forgot the camera? That's right, A! The very person who wanted to go to the Barbie store in the first place! She ended up buying the 2009 and 2010 Shanghai Barbies to take home.

After that we went to the underground children's market. Yes, it's underground and its HUGE and filled with every kind of children's toy, shoes, and clothes you could imagine. That's where Cara finally got her purse! She wears it everywhere now. I didn't really buy anything else because I thought it was kind of expensive. A lot of it I could buy cheaper in the states. After the market we went back to the metro station and B bought Cara a Hi Bao doll. It's the doll that represents the Shanghai Expo. He paid a little over $2.00 and she loves that thing, too.

I had a killer headache, so we went back to the room to rest a little before dinner. The smog and pollution makes my head hurt so bad I practically feel like passing out. I hope it's not like this in Guangzhou. We went to a different restaurant for dinner, but it wasn't as good as the place we ate the last two nights. Those are the pics of Cara eating noodles. She's crazy for them! Then we went back to the room where we're playing now before bed.

The picture of the lanterns was from last night. We went to Old Shanghai, which is right by the Magnolia Theater where we saw the Chinese Acrobat show. The show was very good and I recommend it to anyone going to visit Shanghai. The market was fun. It was filled with lots of little shops and restaurants and went on forever. Cara had her first taste of strawberry ice cream there. Chinese people don't really like cold food, so she would make a horrible face when she tasted the ice cream, but then she wanted more.

Cara is a girly-girl. She likes purses, bows, and cell phones. If her bow gets a little crooked she wants it fixed. I didn't bring nail polish because I thought she was too little, but I think she would love to have her nails painted. She is nuts about her dad and definately prefers him over anyone else. She is talking a lot more, but usually just does it in the hotel room. Denise, our guide, made us a Chinese language cheat sheet so we have quite a few important phrases to use with her. She loves hide and go seek and could play it for hours if we let her. She eats just about anything and is happy most of the time.

Tomorrow we will visit a Chinese garden, but I think that's it. I'm starting to get tired and am ready for the next leg of our journey.

Adoption Day

Today was Cara's actual adoption day. She got dressed up in her little dress for her adoption picture. In one of the pics shes showing off with big sister's pink purse. We have to find this kid a purse! I must say, she thought she was hot stuff today with her pink Chuck's and her bow. It was pretty funny.

She slept well last night. She went to sleep around 9:00 pm and woke up this morning at 6:30 am. She hasn't cried since yesterday when she saw her nanny leave. I'm quite surprised. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop; it's been too easy so far.

This morning we went upstairs to the notary office, which is on the third floor of the hotel. We had to double-check the spellings on all of our paperwork in order for it to be processed. Most of you know our last name is Funk. They did misspell Cara's new last name as a four-letter, not-so-nice word! Needless to say, I had them correct it, but I did take a picture of the first version! Didn't really feel like that photo should make the blog, though! ;) The notary official asked us why we wanted to adopt a Chinese daughter and asked what we thought of her. Of course, we said she's perfect! We then had to put our thumbprint in red ink over our signature and Cara had to put her thumbprint on the paperwork as well. We then headed to the next room to take the oath where we promised to love and care for her as if she were a biological child and to never mistreat or abandon her. We had a family picture taken and then left to go to the other notary office about 40 minutes across town.

At that notary office we just signed another paper and they gave us Cara's shot record. The orphanage director said, "She's yours now." and that was it. Next we went to see Cara's finding spot. The address was 311 Tianmu Rd, which doesn't really exist. There is a big plaza there with shops and it's right in front of the Shanghai Train Station. We took pictures of the plaza and of J and I under the road sign. It's a very busy area. I would like to believe that Cara's birth mom thought she would be found quickly there. I can't imagine leaving a 15 month old child with pneumonia in the middle of a busy plaza. I'm glad I've never been in a position to have to make that kind of choice, but on the other hand, I'm so very thankful she did.

Next we went to the silk factory and learned how silk thread and comforters are made. It was interesting, but I sort of felt like the whole reason we were supposed to go was to give us the hard sell on buying a comforter. They are pretty expensive, and quite frankly, I already have a comforter. There were fancy Chinese dolls in the store. Cara pointed to one and said, "I want that one!" in Mandarin, so of course, her daddy bought it for her. She conked out on the way home right after she said she wasn't sleepy. She's resting now and tonight we will go see the Chinese acrobat show and do a little shopping.

For those of you waiting to go to Shanghai, Cara was very well-prepared for her adoption. She has seen the photo book we sent to her many times and can name everyone in the pictures. The scale in our room is broken so I don't know if her weight is accurate from her paperwork, but she's as solid as a rock! She is a good eater, but doesn't gorge herself. She tells us when she's full. There has been some questions recently on the Adopt Shanghai Yahoo group about the accuracy of age. She looks and acts 3 to me, which is what her paperwork says. So far things are going very well!

"A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path."
-Agatha Christie

Gotcha Day!

This morning we met Denise down in the lobby to go get Cara. We met her at a little before 9:00 am, so it was right in the middle of morning traffic. We wove in and out of traffic and were inches from other cars as we headed to the hotel where we were to meet Cara.








We were brought to a conference room to fill out paperwork prior to receiving our daughter. We filled out and signed several pieces of paper. One was information about us, one was a guardianship paper for the next 24 hours until the adoption is finalized, there were a few others, but I'm not sure what they were. I was shaking so hard I could barely sign them! There were three other couples in the room waiting for their children as well.

The children arrived as we were filling out the paperwork. They would not let them in the room until we were done, but our guide, Denise brought B out where the children were, so he got to meet her first. B says he has film of her singing and dancing out in the hall, so that will be fun to watch. B got to bring her into the conference room. What an awesome big brother. They are friends already! Cara came right up to us and knew who we were. I wish the picture wasn't so blurry of her meeting us for the first time.

She liked her dolly from Aunt D and LOVED the strawberry/banana Gerber Puffs. She was thirsty and wanted water right away. She is very sweaty, but that is because of her heart condition. What a little ham! She is flirty and likes to smile and play. The orphanage director gave us a bag with diapers, formula, a book with pictures of Cara, a DVD on her orphanage, and a chop with her name. Cara also had the things we sent to her in her care package. She definately know those things are hers because she points to them and says, "Mine!" in Chinese. Cara's nanny was there so we got a picture with her.

When we left, Cara spotted her nanny out in the hall and that's when she started to cry. She cried for a little bit, but once we got out in the car she was fine. We gave her a toy Kai Lan telephone and she played with that all they way to the grocery store. We bought some water, diapers, and snacks. We pretty much just walked down the aisles and whatever she pointed to we threw in the basket. She wanted some puff things that looked like oyster crackers, crackers, and hard candy. Then we went across the street to buy bananas. She REALLY wanted apples. She will be surprised. When this kid gets home she'll have apples coming out of her ears!

We got back to the hotel and she ate a packet of crackers and almost two bananas. She really loves to draw on the magnadoodle and play ball with B. We changed her and put her down for a nap in her crib. She played with the doll quietly for about 45 minutes and is sleeping now. She looks amazing sleeping there so peacefully. I can't believe she's mine.

We learned some things about her today from Denise and the orphanage staff. Cara was born in the year of the pig, but it was also the year of the golden pig, which only occurs every 60 years. Apparently that is very special and there were a lot of babies born in 2007. We also found out the true meaning of her name. "Ao" is for the Olympics. "Huan" is for the Olympic rings. The orphanage hopes she will always show the spirit of the Olympic Games. She is indeed a very special girl and I feel so honored to be her mom.

Day 1 in Shanghai

Day 1 in Shanghai

We arrived in Shanghai last night at 9:00 pm. I tried to write a blog entry from SeaTac but I couldn't get on the internet. We flew from Seattle to Beijing, had a two hour layover, then flew from Beijing to Shanghai. Navigating the airports was actually pretty easy; a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Our guide, Denise was waiting for us at the airport and we headed to the Everbright Hotel. We were so thirsty since we hadn't exchanged any money, so we exchanged money in the hotel and went to a Chinese version of a 7 Eleven for water and beer. We ended up going to bed around 11:00 pm China time. I was exhausted!! I never slept on the plane because the seats didn't recline. Sitting straight up for 11 hours is not condusive for sleeping!

This morning we went downstairs for the buffet and met Denise in the lobby. We went to the bank to exchange our money for tomorrow. Then we left for a bit of sight seeing. We took the metro to Nanjing road, which is a huge shopping area. We didn't do any shopping; mainly just looking. I tell you, though, if I wanted a counterfeit watch, bag, or DVD it would have been a snap. Every ten feet there was someone trying to sell them to us. At the end of Nanjing road is the Bund. It's really just a walk along the river. There's not much there to do other than look at the river and people watch. We walked a bit and Denise took our picture in front of the Oriental Pearl Tower, which is the tallest tower in Asia. We could have taken an elevator up into it, but I didn't really want to find a taxi, cross the river, and go up inside. The picture works for me. We walked back to the metro station and took the metro back to our room for some time to relax.

Tomorrow morning we meet Denise in the lobby at 9:00 am to go get Cara. I can't wait!

A Present For Dinner

I got home around 7:15 this evening after a particularly stressful day of work. I actually left work at 4:15, went home, got B, took him to football practice, took A to the bank to cash her check, took

her home, ate a quick snack, then headed back to work for math night. By the time I got home I was tired, hungry, stressed out, needed a beer, and I still have packing to do.

A and J made dinner, thankfully, and when I went to sit at the table there was a little box on my placemat and this was the necklace inside! I can't believe they remembered. At one time, I was looking at jewelry on the internet and found a site called lisaleonardonline.com. She makes these super-cute stamped charms with little chinese paper lanterns and you can have them personalized. My family ordered one for me just in time to have it for China. Isn't it cute?!

So nice to have a suprise after a rough day. We leave for China on Friday! I can't wait!

Getting closer...

We're starting to get things ready to pack. What you don't see in this picture is A and B's suitcases to the left completely packed. We cleaned house today so we don't have to worry about that before we leave.

Five days! I can hardly believe it. I'm super excited and having trouble sleeping at night. My mind just races. I hope I can be productive at work this week. I have a lot to get wrapped up before I leave, but I'm not going to lie, my mind wanders.

Our I800 and I800A are approved, cleared through NVC, and have been cabled to Guangzhou. Our agency can't double-check on them, though, because the Consulate is closed on holiday until the 6th. The funny thing is that I got my fingerprint notice on Friday and my fingerprint appointment date is for 10/27/10. Can you imagine if I would have just waited on USCIS rather than getting ahold of Doc Hastings' office to get me a fingerprinting appointment? I wouldn't be leaving for China until December!