First few days at home

Things are going good ... somehow we are all sleeping through the night and the jet lag hasn't bothered us as much this time as it did last time! I (Laura) ended up with some 24 hour stomach bug yesterday that was awful and Anna had a slight case of it today, but she seems better now. The kids are getting along great. The main struggle has been making sure everyone gets the attention they need. Of course, Anna wants to be "babied" a bit more and Isaiah get a bit jealous of the affection we give her, but all in all everyone is happy!

It was nice enough today that we were able to get outside. We can tell Isaiah hasn't been outside much, but he seems to really like it. Anna enjoyed having a riding partner in the wagon! We're looking forward to many more nice days outside!

This was about 11:30pm, just minutes after we got home!

First wagon ride & first time sporting his Cardinals cap!

Anna loves her bike helmet and didn't want to take it off!

Home!!

We finally made it home late last night! Thankfully we were up so late that both kids slept through the night and we even had to wake Isaiah up at 9:30 this morning (we're trying to get him on US time, so we couldn't let him sleep too late).

Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple of days, things got very busy once we started traveling. Isaiah did good on the flight ... the flight was extremely turbulent - thankfully he slept through most of it. Anna couldn't have been happier to see her baby brother last night!

Both kids are napping now and we're trying to get unpacked. We'll get some pictures loaded soon of the last couple of days and hopefully some of the airport last night.

Consulate Appt. Day

We were up and at 'em early this morning to load our bus by 7:45 to be at the Consulate for our 8:30 appointment. We were in and out much faster than the last time we were here ... back in the bus by 9:00am! We had to swing by another hotel to pick up two other families from our agency as they had to head to back to the medical clinic for a quick check with their kids. Then we went to the Pedestrian Street for some shopping and sightseeing ....  by this time it was noon and we were all beat, so we ended our visit pretty quickly.

Tonight will be our last night in Guangzhou. Tomorrow we check out at 2:00pm and then pick up Isaiah's visa before heading to the train station. We will take the 5pm train to Hong Kong and arrive in Hong Kong around 7pm. Our hotel in Hong Kong is connected to the airport which will make our 11am flight on Wednesday easy to catch. So, we'll leave here on Wed and return home Wed night, since we're going "back in time".

First "happy bath" - we tried a few days ago and it wasn't good!

At the US Consulate

Our guide, Elvin - he's a riot!

Nap time!

Sunday in Guangzhou

This morning we went to the Yuntai Garden and it was beautiful! We spent about an hour or so walking around, it was very hot and humid - about 88 degrees today with the humidity. After that we went to a shopping area and picked up a few souvenirs. Tonight we are just going to walk around the island some more and try to turn in early.

Tomorrow morning we have our Consulate appointment at 8:30am, which means we have to be ready to leave by 7:45. I think our day is pretty free once we are done there, so it will be nice to have a relaxing afternoon and evening.

These pictures were taken last night as we were walking around the island.

These next pictures were taken this morning at the Yuntai Garden.

These last couple were taking at the shopping area we visited after the Garden.

Making chops for Isaiah

He is using his hand to paint - really awesome to watch!

Catching up

I’ll start with some pictures of yesterday while we were still in Changsha. Most of these were taken at Yuelu Academy … it was so peaceful there,  we seriously did not want to leave. The last picture in this series is at the airport just before we flew out of Changsha. Just like when we left Kunming with Anna, we felt very emotional leaving Changsha with Isaiah.

This tree is estimated to be 800-900 yrs old 

Our sweet guide, Celia, dropping us at the airport

We woke early today to get ready for the medical exam.  It was nothing short of chaos! There were dozens of adoptive families there - totaling easily over 100 people - all waiting for their new children to see all 3 doctors …. Yes, there were only three doctors there to serve us all. It was hot, crowded, loud and exhausting for all the sweet kids. Isaiah cried when the nurses had to examine him, thankfully he recovered very quickly once back in our arms.

After the 2 plus hours at the medical clinic our guide Elvin (who is great and very funny) dropped us back at the hotel and we had lunch. Isaiah was overtired at this point and it took him over an hour to settle and fall asleep. He’s still napping, but once he wakes we’re ready to hit the island for some shopping and eating. It is warm and humid here which is a nice change from cold and rainy. 

Lets get this party bus moving!

This doesn't even do justice to how crowded it was.

Poor baby

Yum Yum - Chicken Congee

Life on the island - Lucy's Restaurant

Made it to Guangzhou

It's late, but we're here. Isaiah did great on the flight, he stayed awake until about 9:45 ... as soon as we checked in to our hotel we made him a bottle and he was asleep in minutes. Tomorrow we go to the medical appt at 9:30am, then I think the rest of our day is free. We are anxious to explore Shamain Island since it was all under construction the last time we were here. We still need to post pics of our last day in Changsha - we visited Yuelu Academy and it was hands down the coolest place that we have seen in China!

I keep forgetting to say, for those that asked, Anna has loved Skyping with Isaiah. The first time she saw him she smiled bigger than we had ever seen her smile. She is still doing great. We are forever grateful to our family for helping take care of her, it makes this time away so much easier knowing she is doing so good.

We better get some rest, will post some pictures some time tomorrow afternoon.

Last day in Changsha

We are packing up right now and flying to Guangzhou at 7pm tonight. We had a wonderful last day in Changsha ... will post pics once we get settled in Guangzhou sometime tomorrow.

Isaiah 101

Today we decided to cancel our tour to the museum and just stay in for some much needed two on one time with the little man. We were all physically and emotionally drained yesterday and this day in our hotel has been wonderful. We have seen Isaiah open up more and more each day and today he has really shown us more of his sweet personality and cheerful disposition.

A little about our special little guy:
* The boy loves to eat!!! Anything and everything.
* He is sweet as sugar and it's no wonder since they apparently sweetened his drinks/bottle with straight sugar!  :-\   We've had to continue sugar "spiking" his drinks a little to get him to take his bottle. We'll be weaning him off the hard stuff soon after we get home.
* He loves to be held - that should make a 15 hour plane ride much easier!
* He is smart, he loves to mimic, he is very observant and he picks up on things quickly.
* He is easygoing.
* His facial expressions are so cute - he has the cutest little lip pucker thing that he does when he smiles.
* He likes attention. When someone walks by, he always makes a noise to try and get their attention.
* He is a great sleeper (Praise the Lord)!
* Loves to have his hair brushed ... speaking of, how bout that hair?!
* Great manners ... wipes his own mouth when eating and knows how to blow his nose.

Changsha Day 5

This will probably be a short post - we are exhausted after a very long day of travel to Isaiah's orphanage and back. We left the hotel at 8am for the 2 1/2 hour, bumpy van ride to Hengyang. After arriving at the orphanage around noon and visiting with the director we were able to see a little of the area where Isaiah was. Unfortunately, the children were all sleeping so we could not see very many of them. We were able to see his nannies and they were very excited to see him ... they obviously loved him very much.

I had my first squatty potty experience of the trip today! It was extra fun because I had Isaiah strapped in the carrier! We had just arrived to the orphanage and there was no time to take him out .... so lets just say that I got a good leg workout today!  :-)

After the quick visit, we were able to go to lunch with the director and assistant director. Lunch was delicious! You would believe the amount of food we were given ... there were 6 adults and one 15 month old that eats like an adult and we still had 1/2 of the food left and it was all only $40!

By the time we arrived back at the hotel tonight it was 6:30pm! Isaiah basically spent about 10 hours on our lap all day and did wonderful. We are ready to slow our pace down a bit as we can tell he needs some down time to just be settled and with us. Just like with Anna, the uncertainty of what is going to happen next is making him a bit anxious at times. It's such a hard transition for these kids.

We are thankful he is a good sleeper, so we all continue to sleep very good. He has a bit of congestion right now - we will also be happy to get him home were he can be in a warm environment. It is fairly chilly here and not many places have heat.

It's official - he is ours!

Isaiah woke around 6am this morning - he was slow to wake, but a happy boy and more than ready to eat! We headed down for breakfast before meeting Celia to go back to the Civil Affairs office to finalize all of the adoption paperwork.

We decided to try the baby carrier today - some of you might remember than Anna loved the carrier while we were in China - NingNing seems to like it too! It is such a great way to work on our bonding and attachment, so we were happy to see he liked it.

We were also happy to see that once at the Civil Affairs office, when NingNing saw the orphanage director (that he so badly wanted to cling to yesterday), he didn't seem to care a thing about him today and preferred to stay in our arms!

He was very content all morning and happily sat in our laps for about 5 hours between van rides, appointments and lunch! He is napping now and we are just hanging in the hotel this evening. Tomorrow morning we will visit the orphanage. We leave here at 8am for the 2 hour van ride through the country side. We feel pretty confident that he will do okay during the visit. We are looking forward to meeting the nannies that loved and cared for him.

These first pictures were taken last night in our room and the next were taken this morning at the Civil Affairs office.

It's official!

Getting his red footprint

Us with the orphanage director