We are home!

We've been home for a couple of days and are so very tired.  Maggie definitely still has her little body on China time.  She wakes/cries/screams every hour or so until about 3:00 am, then wants to sleep all day.  It's going to take some time on the sleep front.  Our flights home were looonnng!  Once we finally thought we were home-free at Hartsfield-Jackson, we spent 2 hours getting back through immigration and security checks to leave the airport.  Yay.  It's great to be home, though.  Will try to post more when everyone gets rested more.

Last Day!

Well, today was it...our last day in Guangzhou.  We've got Maggie's visa, her immigration paperwork, and some red couch pictures that make Mary Helen's red couch crying fit pale in comparison!  We've really, really enjoyed our time here in Guangzhou.  It has been hot, but it was so nice to see blue skies every day (compared with the monsoon season of 2008).  We've learned a lot about our girls...Mary Helen is a champion traveler and a much more easy going little girl than we ever gave her credit for.  Maggie is strong-willed and, believe it or not, used to getting her way, it appears.  We've got our work cut out for us with our newest little beauty!  They are complete opposites, but they've made so much progress in their interaction together in just these few days.  Our next post will be from home sweet home!

Sisters...everything is good!

Family picture...all still good!

Babies only...now mayhem and chaos.  This is actually the better picture of Maggie (standing in red in case you didn't recognize her).  After this one, her head was thrown back out of sight.  This is comedy, no doubt about it!



Consulate Appointment, Shopping, and Dinner Cruise

Today (really now yesterday since I'm posting the next morning!) was a busy day!  We had our consulate appointment in the morning, went shopping for a good part of the afternoon, then took a dinner cruise on the Pearl River in the evening.  It was HOT again today, and Maggie got really grumpy a couple of times.  In fact, she pitched a couple of fits for the record books...one inside the consulate!  Kenny, who has had the patience of a saint until now, was pretty much done.

The river cruise was fun.  The food was actually pretty yucky, but the sights were gorgeous.  I don't think the pictures do it justice, but I'm posting a couple anyway.  Tuesday is our last day here, and it's not supposed to be too busy.  We have our Red Couch pictures later in the morning, then pick up Maggie's visa in the late afternoon.  Other than that, just packing to come home Wednesday morning...yay!

A concert hall taken from the boat

Blurry because she's trying to climb out of the stroller...this was the other option when not pitching a fit during shopping today!

Guangzhou views from the boat (don't know exactly what)

What they called a "clown show" on the boat...she's balancing a cup of juice on the fans on her head!

We are told this is the second tallest building in the world, second to the one in Dubai.

Mary Helen loved this pink bridge!

Their dinner cruise attire...and yes, one shoe is common for Maggie.  She takes them off!

Sharing a bedtime snack



Touring Guangzhou

We toured Guangzhou today.  When we were here for Mary Helen's adoption, it rained every day.  Not this time (so far)!  It's been sunny and hot...really hot.  When we got back to the hotel, the temperature was 99 degrees.  The girls did really well on the tour.  Maggie was hot and tired at the first stop, the Six Banyan Buddhist Temple, so she wasn't too happy.  She fell asleep on the bus to the next stop and slept all the way through our visit to the Old Chen House.  Mary Helen did great.  She has really been a trooper during the trip.  I think Mamaw and PopPop enjoyed the tour despite the heat...Mamaw especially enjoyed the last stop, which was an arts and crafts shopping center!

Tomorrow is our Consulate appointment, then a trip to the pearl market.  If all goes well, we're excited to take a dinner cruise (air conditioned) on the Pearl River tomorrow night.  Here are a few pics of our day.  Just three days until we head home.  This trip has been broken up more than Mary Helen's, so it seems shorter.

At the Six Banyan Buddhist Temple

Pagoda at the Temple

Maggie didn't find it that interesting, apparently

She's such a daddy's girl, I pretty much have to post any picture where she is in my arms!

Entrance door at the Old Chen House

Had to post because this is not a painting, but is completely embroidered

At the Old Chen House

Details of the roofline at the Old Chen House

Sisters...maybe Maggie should've had some of the caffeine Mary Helen is guzzling!

Mary Helen is her usual curious self as she people-watches.



Maggie's Physical...and a little Guangzhou

Maggie had her physical today...pretty uneventful really.  I think it's mostly a formality to ensure she's healthy enough to fly home.  She does weigh quite a bit more than Mary Helen did at her age.  She's actually a little chunky at 21.3 pounds with what we're used to!  She was pretty worn out after that, so it was a long nap for all three kids...Mary Helen, Maggie, and Kenny. 

Guangzhou feels so familiar, and it's nice.  The weather was sunny, and Shamian Island (part of town where White Swan is) is really very pretty.  It's nice to stroll around outside with nice scenery and feeling a little less like a spectacle here!  Plus, clean laundry...hooray!  Ken and Susie dropped off our laundry while we went to the physical, and we got it back tonight.  Touring and more paperwork tomorrow, but for now, here are a few pictures of the girls in Guangzhou.

Mary Helen making Maggie smile

A mug shot, apparently!

Playing ball together

Maggie at her physical...she really has a lot to learn if she wants to rival her sister's level of fight at the doctor's office!

Ready to go after three different portions of her physical

It's so scenic here...lots of bridal portraits and photo shoots going on

A little dazed and spent after her physical

Happy faces...skillfully cropped to hide their attire!

Our beautiful big girl at the hotel room window

Ahhh, the life...a little ice cream while being strolled home from dinner

Made it to Guangzhou and the White Swan

This will be a very quick post, as it's late and I'm exhausted.  We made it to Guangzhou and are settled into the White Swan Hotel.  The flight was hot and a bit delayed, with lots of babies!  On the plus side, Maggie really came out of her shell and played, laughed, and jabbered all through the flight.  What a time to decide that NOW she likes to party!  On the negative side, she seems to get motion sickness.  Mary Helen, as has been the case throughout the trip, flew like an old pro!  More to post and some pictures after her physical tomorrow morning. 

Last Hoorah in Zhengzhou...Museum

Today was our last full day in Zhengzhou, and we spent the morning at the Henan Provincial Museum.  We actually had a hard time seeing any of the exhibits because we felt like WE were one of the exhibits...particularly Mary Helen for some reason.  People hugged her, talked to her, and even photographed her.  For me, I'll admit, it was just plain uncomfortable.  The girls and Kenny had a very long nap after we returned, and we picked up our notarized paperwork.

Maggie is doing much better, but we're finding that when it's time for bed, that's when she really grieves.  She cries and screams whenever it's time to lie down.  I'm sure that's when she misses what's familiar to her the most.  We finally realized tonight that the only thing she has left of what she's known as home is her pacifier.  It's old, tied on a rope, and quite honestly, it's yucky.  But she truly needs it right now.  During playtime, though, she is opening up more and more.  She and Mary Helen hid together in the closet today, squealing and giggling, and she started rattling off words and phrases that we don't understand at all!  It was so cute.

And by the way, the only thing we've put in front of her that she wouldn't eat so far is oatmeal.  Everything else was welcomed with open mouth!!

Family photo at the museum

Playing in the floor together







Chillin in the stroller at the museum...we'll have to work on the ladylike sitting thing!



A Free Day

Today we were planning to visit Shaolin Temple, but it was an all-day trip (2 hours each way), and since most of the babies in the group are sick, everyone decided to just take a day to rest.  It was much needed, so we did a whole lot of nothing.  Maggie took a really long nap, and she woke up kinda out of it for a while.  She perked up later, though, and she and Mary Helen had their first real taste of chasing and screaming together while playing in the room.  They still have their times of friction, but Maggie is tolerating much more of Mary Helen in her face...even looking for it!  And Mary Helen is starting to figure out how she can help calm Maggie down when she's upset.  Touring tomorrow, then off to Guangzhou on Friday!

A little R&R in the room

Brief excursion to the garden behind our hotel

Our dishwashing liquid...scented with lettuce, tomato, yellow peppers, etc.  Of course, lettuce and tomatoes are so aromatic!

Checking out one of the books her big sister picked out for her

Mary Helen tickling Maggie...successfully!



Adoption Registration...and a Better Day

Today we returned to the civil affairs office for the adoption registration.  That means it's official as far as China is concerned!  Just as we met our group to board the bus this morning, we got our first real, true smile and giggle out of Maggie!  It felt so good to see happiness.  She's been a little off and on today, but we've seen her much more happy, playful, and alert.  She's talking (although we understand none of it!) quite a bit today, and we see in her interaction with Mary Helen that she can be not just a fighter, but pretty much a pest.  Several times today, she just plain pestered Mary Helen and thought it was hilarious.  At one point, Mary Helen tried to play with her, and Maggie pushed her.  Then as soon as Mary Helen turned her back, Maggie kept poking her and laughing.  When Mary Helen left the room with me today, Kenny said Maggie kept walking to the door to look for her.

We also realized that Maggie is sick.  She didn't have one wet diaper from the time we got her until after 1:00 this afternoon...over 24 hours.  She was most likely very dehydrated yesterday.  She also appears to have bronchitis or a sinus infection, so we started her antibiotics today.  After lots of food (big eater!) and several bottles of juice, we finally got a couple of wet diapers, and she seemed to feel better already.  It's still gonna be a day-by-day process, but today we saw so much more of Maggie's personality and ability. 

Oh, and while the girls napped today, Ken, Susie, and I went with our group to the Lotus Center to shop for diapers, water, etc.  The shopping was pretty interesting, but nothing could compare to our amazement to see how they actually use "split pants" for the babies...or sometimes no bottom covering at all.  Wow! 

One of her real smiles today

Walking back to our room...we're officially sisters now!  Let the fighting and pestering commence.

The innocent "oops did I just pop a balloon in the registration office?" look

Playing together nicely tonight...and yes, in their undies (classy, I know)

Giggling...at how funny she finds herself in this case!

Susie showing off her "look, no hands" maneuver on the shopping cart escalator



Maggie!

It's taken all day to get a chance to sit down and post.  And I'm not going to fluff it up too much...today has been a hard day.  On the positive side, Maggie is beautiful, and she uses her hand incredibly well.  The experience of meeting Maggie, though, was very different from Mary Helen's "Gotcha Day."  Maggie didn't cry at first...in fact, she was completely emotionless.  She kept herself pretty limp at the Civil Affairs Office and had a very vacant look.  We were very scared not knowing if that was developmental or grief.  When we got on board the bus back to the hotel, she started to cry.  She finally fell asleep on Kenny and took a short nap.  Once she woke up, a bath was absolutely necessary, including a scalp treatment (you can read between the lines!).  That didn't go well at all, and she pitched a fit.  Honestly, we were glad to see the emotion and the fight in her.

The hardest part, though, was watching how it unfolded today for her and Mary Helen.  Mary Helen, as usual, was eager and very much in her face.  Maggie reacted first by literally pushing her away and having nothing to do with her.  In fact, she is most drawn to Kenny at this point.  This was very hard for Mary Helen, and she reacted by getting mad and very jealous.  After a long nap for both girls, things improved some.  Maggie played quite a bit with the toys we brought, especially the stacking cups.  She started handing toys out and offering them to Mary Helen.  She let both me and Mary Helen feed her rice tonight at dinner. 

So far, Maggie says only a couple of words or noises, and she hasn't truly smiled or laughed at us.  But, she is eating, sleeping, and interacting with all three of us now.  We all feel a little beat up, but more hopeful after tonight. 

Trying to get Maggie to walk to me...the hairdo was really quite something!

Mary Helen is a little more into this pose than Maggie is at this point!

Hmmm...I think this is where she's deciding that she'll like Kenny best.

Playing together (finally) after bath...and more crazy hair for both!





On to Zhengzhou

We flew a little over an hour today to Zhengzhou and settled into a new hotel.  This is the city where we'll meet Maggie tomorrow!  We all thought we had kicked jetlag's bootie, but tonight we're feeling tired again.  Our hotel room is awesome, though!  We actually got unpacked and settled in, then started smelling a really, really strong varnish smell in our room.  Our guide helped us get the hotel staff up there.  Turned out they were refinishing furniture in the room right under us, and they had to move us to new rooms (same type of room, different floor).  We also found out tonight that they will actually bring Maggie to the Civil Affairs office tomorrow to meet us.  They had planned to bring her to the hotel because it's such a long drive for them, but we will meet her there instead with the rest of our travel group and their little ones.  We also got a little questionnaire today that they answered about her...says she's quiet and likes to play alone...oh boy, can we say polar opposite of Mary Helen?  This is gonna be interesting!  We'll post later tomorrow after we've had a chance to get Maggie settled in!

Waiting for our flight to Zhengzhou

Our hotel room in Zhengzhou...spacious!

They brought the crib, and Mary Helen thought Maggie might like to borrow her giraffe...sweet!

Mary Helen has had enough for one day!