Safe and Sound

We just wanted to post a quick update that we are home safely and recovering from jet lag just fine... thanks for everyone's thoughts, prayers and kind words over the last few weeks. It's been great fun sharing this adventure with you! We look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Mary and Michael

There's No Place Like Home!

It's our last full day, so that means picture call! Gracie got all dressed up for the occasion.

We got some pics of all the babies (and big brothers and sisters) sitting on the 'red couch'. It was an effort to keep all those wobbly babies upright!

We ended with one big group photo of all the families together.

We head off to the US Consulate this afternoon to begin the transition to Gracie's citizenship! We're now off to hand our camera back to the family we borrowed it from and start to pack for our big voyage home.

Thanks for joining us on our journey, and we look forward to seeing everyone when we get home!

Love,

Mary and Michael

The Penultimate Post

We looked out this morning to see a strange glowing orb in the sky that radiated both heat and light. While we were at first afraid of this strange object, we saw that the people of China were not terrified by this glowing orb of flames, and so we set aside our hotel umbrella and got on the bus! Gracie was happy to get out of the hotel room, now that her sniffles are a little better.


Today was our last day of touristy stuff. Tomorrow we pack up, get our visas, take the big group picture, take the group oath at the consulate, and get ready to head out for home, which means that this is the second-last blog in the series!

Today we drove around downtown Guangzhou (population 9 million- a medium-sized city by China standards), and saw the city's most famous Buddhist temple and its folk art/historical museum.


Here's a shot inside the Buddhist temple.


The temple was built around this incredible 9-story pagoda.


The center of the temple has three Buddhas. From left to right, they represent the past, the present and the future.


The babies (and some parents!) received a blessing from the Buddhist monk within the temple. Both Mary and Gracie received the blessing.


We liked being out in the sun!


Here's part of the inside of the folk art museum.


And here's a candid shot from our day which we've entitled 'Get that camera out my face yo!'

The Rain in Guangzhou Falls Mainly on... Your Toe?

Last night, we decided to tour our hotel after dinner. Mary and Gracie stopped for some photo ops.

This is the Pearl River, adjacent to our hotel. The hotel's restaurant (where we enjoy their breakfast buffet- mmm-mmm- they have edible things other than banana bread!) has one whole side facing the river with floor to ceiling windows. It's a nice view...

This morning, Gracie was sniffly and it was cold and rainy out, so Mary went on the tour while Mike stayed back at the hotel with Gracie. Mary got to see some of the sights in Guangzhou.

She went by the "Snake House"... she considered stopping in to see if they had take out to bring back, but thought better of it.

Gracie's already feeling better (she took a good nap this morning), so we're optimistic she'll be up for going to the Buddhist temple tomorrow!

The White Swan

It's our first full day in Guangzhou, and the rain and cold followed us from Nanchang. We walked to the medical clinic for Gracie's check up, and she passed with flying colors. She also got her visa picture taken. This was the last of the 'official proceedings' for the trip, and now we chill out and tour until the visa is approved on Tuesday. Here are some of the things we did this afternoon:

Gracie enjoying lunch... she actually ate some chicken conge off a spoon- an exciting first!


Hooray for high-quality caffeine!


Gracie bundled up to keep the clothing police happy- and because it is a bit cool here.


The street next to the hotel...


Inside the hotel lobby... does this rock or WHAT?

Laughing Like Crazy Cakes

Let's see if this works... the camera that John and Lisa let us borrow has a video option and we played with it during Gracie's first big laugh. We had to compress it to get it to fit on the blog. Here it is...

Next Stop: Guangzhou

We hit the road out of Nanchang this afternoon, and arrived safely in Guangzhou this evening... we are now settling in to the White Swan Hotel, which is the MOST FABULOUS hotel in the world. Okay, we haven't seen that many, but it has to be up there... but here's how our journey went...

First, we bounced out of Nanchang passing by its famous Wal-Mart Super Center...


Next, we crossed a cool looking bridge over a famous river that we're too tired to Google the name of... feel free if you have the time... it is guarded over by some crazy looking cats!


We made a whole bunch of new friends in the Nanchang airport... and let's just say that when it came time to board our flight, they didn't live by the credo of women and children first...


We decided in the hour before we boarded, this would be a good time for Gracie to finally meet Mr. Piggly Wiggly. They were going to be flying together and sharing a seat, so they may as well be introduced.


She was a super champ on the 1 1/2 hour flight... she had a bottle on the way up, and slept through the whole flight. While mommy and daddy were pulling at their ears and whining, she was sawing Z's... and now we're all in for the night. This city is incredible, and we'll be posting a slew of pics in the days to come...

Lastly, we close with a final shout out to the cast and crew of "Into the Woods" to break a leg.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

We told Gracie that we were leaving Nanchang this morning, and she didn't seem particularly upset to go...

We all got together and headed down to the breakfast buffet for a final helping of banana bread before packing up (one more time...) and heading off to Guangzhou. Our destination: The beautiful White Swan Hotel... ahhhhh. Sunshine. Gracie is all ready to roll...

As you are sleeping, we'll be high in the skies over southern China. Only four plane rides to go...

Shout Out!

As we close up the week here, we can't help but think about all of our friends and family back in the states, and especially the cast and crew of "Into the Woods" at Lake Shore who are gearing up for opening night... we really miss all of you, and Gracie is excited to see the video of your awesome performance. She was so excited she made a sign (with a little help from Mommy).

Break a leg and have a great show.

Things you didn't know...

Here are the top ten things you probably didn't know about our trip...

1. We flew over the North Pole instead of the Pacific Ocean to get here! We passed within about 100 miles of the actual North Pole, which lead us to question- what time is it at the North Pole?

2. The air temperature while we were flying hit as low as -50 degrees F. In the negative 40s, there is a point where degrees C and F are the same! (-43? -46? Can't remember... bonus points to the first person who Googles it and posts in a reply!)

3. You haggle EVERYWHERE in China. We went into a store in Beijing and asked about the price of a camera (this store was roughly equivalent to Target) and were told 2300 Yuan. We said "no thanks", and immediately the sales person came back with "2100?" We weren't prepared for haggling at "Hyper Market"!

4. "No Smoking" signs are completely optional. People smoke everywhere- in restaurants, in the elevator, in the hotel lobby... when they see you carrying a small child, they sometimes try to hide the cigarette at their side to be more discreet about it. Sometimes.

5. There are two types of people we've encountered: people who are very friendly and kind, and don't mind foreigners coming to their country and slowing things down while they try to convert American dollars to Yuan in their head... and then there are the... others. One guy saw us coming towards the elevator the other day, and I saw him (in true George Costanza fashion) push the 'close door' button as fast and often as he could. When I stuck my free arm into the door just before it jammed shut, he grimaced at me. Of course, I smiled even bigger in reply. I rolled the dice that Chinese elevators operated under the same rules as American ones in that they won't slam shut on a person... I was glad to be right.

6. China has, by far, the most insane traffic in the world. We've been in NYC cabs during rush hour, and that is NOTHING compared to traffic here. I know, you think you have seen some crazy traffic. Unless you've been to China, you haven't. It's unbelievable that people aren't dying by the dozens as everyone (including police) ignore all stop signs, road markings and basic rules of safe driving to get from point A to point B. Mary said that the taxi ride to WalMart the other day was even worse than the bus rides, which I find incredible.

7. Power is a luxury here. We rode in an elevator at the Consulate building from the first floor to the 26th floor. We were packed in like sardines, and there was no light in the elevator. Yes. That's right. No light. An attendant inside the elevator with us carried a flashlight so he could see what number to push. It was one of the scarier moments of the trip thus far. When we visited the museum the other day, they had no heat (all the doors were open, even though it was probably about 35 F outside) and only a few lights were on throughout the building.

8. Gracie doesn't like baths, although she's getting used to them. She has had three baths in four days, which may be more than she had in the last four months. According to one of the coordinators, there is no heat in the orphanage, and babies get bathed about once a month there.

9. When something at the buffet is labeled "chicken knees", that's not a euphemism. They are super crunchy, and that's because of all the cartilage! We avoided altogether the fried octopus and ox stomach. Of course, this is at the hotel buffet, where they try to make it more agreeable to Western tastes... we have eaten a LOT of banana bread on this trip. It's at every breakfast and dinner buffet, and it's just like back home. Thus far, we've only consumed 2 Tums, 1 Gas Ex and 1 Immodium between us. That's not a bad batting average thus far. And while instant coffee isn't bad, I'm starting to jones for a large coffee with cream and sugar from Tim Hortons.

10. The people who warned us that the fashion police were out in full force were not kidding. People keep telling us that Gracie doesn't have enough clothes on... the kicker was yesterday, when the housekeeping lady (who is really nice) came in and saw Gracie in her onesie, and nearly fainted. She grabbed her and started telling us that she needed at least three layers of clothes, and almost started rummaging through our bags in a panic to get more clothes on the child. By the time she left, Gracie had on two layers and was wrapped in a thick blanket, and this seemed to set her mind at ease. We made sure when she came back today that Gracie was similarly attired...

And now to your questions...

What's the rest of your trip going to be like?

Thanks for asking. We get Gracie's passport and finalize some adoption paperwork this afternoon. We fly to Guangzhou to Beijing on China Air Flight CZ 3626 tomorrow at 5:00, arriving at 6:20. Of course, this means that the flight is probably at 4:10 and arrives at 5:00. We have Gracie's medical exam and Visa picture done on Saturday. We do some touring on Sunday and Monday (including a trip to a Buddhist temple to get a blessing on our babies!). We take a group oath on Tuesday and receive her Visa on Tuesday. Wednesday, we start Gracie World Tour 2009, jetting from Guangzhou to Beijing (leaving at 9:25 AM Beijing time), flying from there to Chicago (leaving Beijing at about 4:15 PM Beijing time), and after a short layover in Chicago, head back to Buffalo to arrive late Wednesday night (Buffalo time).

Why does Gracie have little scratches on her forehead?

Gracie had never seen or used her hands (since they were bundled up in her jacket, halfway up the sleeve all the time), and before we got a chance to cut her nails, she scratched up her forehead... so we immediately cut her nails and started putting A+D ointment on at night... and she's almost fully healed up now, and looking all pretty!

And now, some pictures!

Greetings from Rainy Nanchang

To start with, if your travel agent ever tells you that Nanchang is a lovely place to visit this time of year, your travel agent is a big fat liar head.


It's been raining and cold since we've arrived. Despite that, we decided to venture out with about 2/3 of the other families to take a little tour of some of Nanchang's sights...
We traveled first to a Chinese history museum. The first floor of the museum was filled with dinosaur bones found in China... and Mr. Piggly Wiggly made his triumphant return. He'd been hiding out in the hotel room after he heard about the sweet and sour pork being served at lunch, but now felt as if the coast may be clear.


One floor of the museum was dedicated to sea life...

Another floor was dedicated to Buddha... we saw how different dynasties and different people of China have seen Buddha... there were angry Buddhas, happy Buddhas, and sad Buddhas... here are a few of them...


Gracie seemed to lose interest partway through the tour.

We were going to next head to a porcelain district where they had some of the greatest porcelain in China... but all three of us were getting cold and tired, and we decided to pack it in and head back to the hotel for a warm bottle and a nap.

We're now settling back into our hotel room for the afternoon... check out the swanky digs! (and yes, there is a floor to ceiling window looking out over the city from the shower... so if you forget to close the curtain, you give the whole city a show!)


Two more days in Nanchang, then we're off to sunny Guangzhou for five days and nights of warmth and sunshine (we hope!)... and final travel arrangements to bring Gracie home!

A Good Workout

After the morning bottle, we had to catch a quick nap.



We followed this up by putting on our Elmo outfit... and it fit perfectly!



We got in some quality belly time with our new friend Tiger.



So after all of this working out, Gracie and Tiger collapsed in a face plant.



We learned that our favorite game is airplane... we'll see how we feel about airplanes after actually flying in them; in concept, they're a lot of fun!



Mary and I made the wonderful discovery this morning that if you put the applesauce or rice cereal in the bottle with the formula and make the hole in the nipple a little bigger (that sounds more painful than it actually is), she'll devour the whole thing- the trick has worked! She doesn't have any teeth yet, but we feel some under the gums- so it's only a matter of time.

And to top it all off, we had our first BM! (That's baby code for 'poopie'). In fact, while I've been writing this blog, I've smelled another in the air... so I'm off to change a diaper! My first one solo, since Mary's at WalMart with a few other families, getting fruit and rice cereal to put in her formula.

Happy Baby Time

It's morning, and Gracie has had a GREAT night's sleep. She awoke after 9 1/2 hours smiley and happy. After her bottle, we snapped this picture.

While we know that cute baby photos never get old, we also know, if you're anything like us, each new thing only leads to new questions... so here are some things we've learned about our Gracie...

- It's clear that all of the children in our group have spent most of their time in heavy clothes in their cribs. Gracie discovered her hands last night, and spent some time marveling at the wonderment of these things affixed to the ends of her arms. Several of the babies (including Gracie) seem weaker on the right than left side... however they put the babies in the cribs probably keeps them from using their arms much, and so while her grip is good, she doesn't use her arms much.

- Same for her legs. She won't try to stand, and when we stand her up her legs go all rubbery. At least we're not worried about her trying to take off on us.

Mary's been doing great with this, and she already has Gracie holding her own bottle almost completely through a feeding, and later on we're going to do some belly time. The next set of pictures may have more tears than smiles. We keep telling her, it doesn't matter unless you feel the burn... eye of the tiger and all that good stuff.

- a lot of the information on the reports we received was wrong. She doesn't know what to do with anything that's not in a bottle, and even when we put some apple juice in the bottle, she took one big swig (assuming it was more formula) and then made a face like a prune. We keep throwing bananas, apple sauce, cheerios and rice krispies at her, but no dice so far. We'll trick her yet... the more we experience China, the more we see that their orphanage has neither the time nor resources to do things like fill in information sheets for American parents who want reassurance that their babies are happy and what they like- they are too busy just feeding and changing all of those babies. To be honest, we'd MUCH rather have them caring for babies than filling out paperwork so that we feel better while we're waiting.

We're having fun getting to know our Gracie, and we hope that you are too.

One more pic

Here's one more pic from our visit to the Consulate. Our favorite question there was, "Do you like your baby?" Of course, the follow-up at the Notary office was "Do you find your baby satisfactory?" The answer to both was an emphatic yes.

First Full Day

Gracie had a big day. We got up at 3:30 in the morning, because she had just had enough of this whole sleep thing. She gave us her first tentative smile, and got ready for a day of appointments through cold, rainy Nanchang.
Our first stop was the Consulate. While at the consulate's office, she fell asleep. We think maybe all the noise of other babies and being back in a Chinese government building were soothing to her...

At the Consulate, Mary got her giggling good. She's still serious, but she's letting the walls down as we go- not bad for the first 24 hours.
After that, we went to the notary office, and finalized the adoption. We narrowly avoided an international incident during a diaper change, when Gracie decided to 'mark her territory' all over the faux leather couch in the consulate's office... not sure that baby wipes are going to keep that from staining.

After that, we went to WalMart- they have a magnetic escalator that you can take your cart down... it was freaky (the camera was on the bus, but you'll have to take our word for it). The people of Nanchang don't know how to handle seeing ten American families walking around carrying Chinese babies- we get a lot of finger pointing and strange looks.

She's now resting comfortably after a full bottle, and we may get in an afternoon nap as well. All is well here.