Our last day in Guangzhou

So we are packed and ready...just waiting for our coordinator to call with Braden's Visa and official paperwork to turn in to US Immigration when we enter at LAX.

He is ready! 

True to form, I couldn't sit in the hotel all morning, knowing we had several hours at the airport before we leave, and then 13.5 hrs on a flight to LA.  So I dragged Ken to our last sight to see.  Despite the heat index of 110F we both enjoyed it immensely.  We went to the Chen Family Temple and Academy.  It is not a practicing temple any longer but a museum.  It was magnificient!  and one of our favorite places to visit.  The wood carvings in the building were breathtaking, and the colorful temple designs were just amazing.  The pictures won't do it justice but give you an idea.  We so enjoyed walking around and admiring the architecture, but he contents of the museum were also beautiful, showcasing Chinese folk art in Ivory carving, embroidery, porcelain, furniture making, to name a few.

We bid you good bye for now.

Thank you all for experiencing this journey with us.  We have had a fantastic trip, with a most amazing treasure in our son.  I will continue to post for a while longer, to comment on Braden's transition into our house, and into Eva and Nicole's lives.

Watching his sisters sing to him on Skype

I think I mentioned that I sing "You are my Sunshine" to Shu to put him to sleep.  The girls and I still sing it.  They have been singing it to him on Skype to get his attention, and it has been such fun to watch!  So please enjoy.

A Happy Day

My favorite parts of China that we have visited are the Temples.  I love the peace of them -- the folks praying, lighting incense, and making their offerings of fruit, nuts, grains, etc. depending on what they are praying for.   I find the the beauty of the structures and gardens inspiring.   I love seeing the Monks walk around.   Today we visited the Liurong Temple, also known as the Six Banyan Trees Temple.  A beautiful, colorful Pagoda stands at the center of the Temple, and is surrounded by several different halls and the monk's dormitory. They must have been getting ready for some kind of celebration or fesitval because new red lanterns were being strung up today.  We enjoyed the calm of the inside of the Temple, though crowded today with a tour bus.  Braden wasn't particularly cooperative at a point since he wanted to go into the pond that held the fish and had a bit of a fit when I prevented him from doing so.  I quickly bribed him with cookies in order to not further disturb the scene, but we spent a bit less time here than originally planned.  And it was wicked humid - heat index of 105F and we were all just dripping in sweat...ick, I know. 
Besides the magnificent pagoda, the grand Hall is a featured sights - it holds 3 big ancient bronze Buddhas - the largest existing in Guandong province.

We came back to the hotel to cool off, have some lunch and let Braden nap before we headed to our swearing in ceremony.  I must say it was indeed a much nicer experience this time.
We gathered in a very large room, with chairs this time, and there were 37 families in attendance.  Each family was called to a window, where our information was confirmed, and we signed our child's application for Immigration to the US.  When all families were done, a director for adoption applications came out to address the group.  She congratulated us all, then shared some bits of information with us all on US adoptions in China.  Ken and I both thought this was really nice, that they spent the time to make the experience more informative, friendly and personal.  Very different than before.
We learnd that in 2009, there were 3001 adoptions from China, and 52% of them were special needs.  The number of total adoptions has dropped steadily every year (in 2005, when we adopted the girls, the number was 7907) and the number of special needs in the total has steadily risen.  We learned, too that the US is completing one third of the worlds adoptions. She shared that upon entering the US and going through immigration at our point of entry, our children will officially be Americans.  After sharing a few more facts on the group that was there - the Septembre birthdays, for instance and in recognizing a single father.  The new Hague convention prevents singles from adopting, but his paperwork was in under the old process.  Nice!  Also, she recognized a girl who is turning 14 next month, and who was just adopted.  this is such good news that this family's paperwork was completed in time, since at 14, children age out of the program and are no longer considered for adoption.  Apparently this family adopted her younger sister as well.  It is incredibly touching to understand this, and my admiration for this family is great.  The director then had us all raise our right hands, and swear that all we told the government is true, then we were done.

I love the commraderie of families in this setting while we were waiting...talking, sharing stories of how things have been going for the past 2 weeks.  We are all connected,  knowing what we all have been through and for some repeat famlies (like us) we can share information on our experiences beyond China.  I had been emailing and reading a blog of a family in Georgia who adopted their little girl, same age as Shu on the same day.  It is really helpful to talk to them about their beautiful daughter and what they see in her habits and tendencies - I think I can learn more about Shu and they about Claire in terms of what we can surmise their life was like.  And we can share the phot0s we got, info on progress, etc to help.  We both have found that our children are troubled by any morsel of food that is on the ground, and they are hasty to grab it and try to eat it.  It give pause in considering how much they were fed, and how often.  Shu tends to hold on to his food in his mouth a long time before swallowing,  but this has lessened every day.  Is it because he knows there is lots more to come, and often?  So that leads me to share this cute video.  We have a silly habit when eating soemthing yummy to hum "Mmmmmm" in a little song and sway.  So of course our little man has picked this up.  As I have mentioned before, he looooooves Cheerios.  I was fretting my dwindling rations as we approach our flight tomorrow,  and a fellow family came to my rescue with a baggie full.  So kind of them, and I am so very grateful!  Shu really is too, and he is so darn cute!  (sorry for my loud cackle)

We were not allowed to take in cameras to the swearing in, but we did pose for our official "Yippee, we are sworn in" photo afterwards.

So, tomorrow is it.  We leave for home.  Yeah!  I miss Eva and Nicole so much!   This has been an amazing two weeks, but it is time for us all to be together.  Real life begins again, but with a whole new definition.

Love to all

Consulate gives a thumbs up

Hello all
Today was our US consulate appointment, where our government looks over all our paperwork to be sure things are in order, and as they should be.  All is well, so they will release Braden's Visa to travel to America.  We get that on Friday, right before we leave for the airport.  Tomorrow is our swearing in.  I recall this particular day last time, with Nicole and Eva, and how we had so looked forward to it.  I had anticipated great pomp and ceremony as this took place, but I must be honest and say it was a major buzzkill.  Instead it was an overcrowded, hot and stuffy room of Americans and our new Chinese children.  Altogether, after al ong wait, we all raised our hands to swear that what we said was true, was in fact true.  Someone fainted  - not me -  it was just too crowded and too hot and we were on our feet an hour, mostly overdressed. I am hoping for a different experience tomorrow, but I will let you know.  (sorry to those reading who are yet to go to China...didn't mean to ruin any hopes for the pomp...maybe it will be that now)

After we got word that all was good and we got our "Red Book" back and put into our room safe, we headed out to the White Swan to walk around the "old neighborhood", where we spent a lot of time 5 years ago.   Though last time it was like 50degrees, being March.  Today's heat index was 107F.  ACK!

White Swan lobby, same spot we had pic with girls

 So much has changed but not really.  As I said the other day, there are many shops that cater to the adoptive family, with clothing and souveniers. Many have closed and most who have remained have new locations, either down or across the street from where they were.  There is a major beautification project going on, where the building facades are all being renovated and updated.  I dont know if this is something that would happen anyhow, or because Guangzhou is hosting the 2010 Asia Games in November.

I so love the park area near the White Swan.  It is lovely with so many Banyan trees, flowers and especially the bronze statues.  There are some new since we were here last.  There is typically excercise going on, Tai Chi, some badminton, school children walking, and many American families interacting.  Oh, since last time a new Starbucks has opened.  I think it is great, yet not.  I love the teahouse down the road, and I am sure they are suffering a bit since.  Then again, we spent a fortune by accident last time, and we still have some of the loose tea leaves we bought. But it is a special place.
Right outside of it we stopped to take a picture of this cool Banyan tree, and looked up to see about 100 dragonflys flitting around.  It was an awesome sight.  and, but definition - a lucky sight!  Unfortunately the photo didn't turn out, but close your eyes and imagine it...I have never seen so many in one place.  So appropriate, too.

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roots of a very old Banyan tree

We visited Jordans, a great store ran by Jordan and his sister.  We spent a great deal of time (and money) here last time.  He offers to print one's childs name in Chinese letters with their meaning.  Braden's stands for wave, glory and quick.(and yes he is)

We had an amazing lunch at the Thai restaurant, Thai Zhen, Cow and Bridge. YUM.  My little noodle boy, Shu,  ate quite a bit and had happy feet, while chomping away.  He was swaying to the really bad music that was playing, and it made us laugh...since Nicole and Eva often do the same.  Oh who am I kidding, food makes all of us in the Der house do a happy dance.  My absolute perfect moment today - Braden kissed me.  He has been blowing kisses, but this was a grab of my hand and a REAL kiss, and he said MAMA.  Yes, I had a little cry.  Sitting there with noodles in my chopsticks, feeding my new son, my loving husband across from me, I had a moment of absolute joy,  and I was overwhelmed.
Then Shu tried to eat my new necklace Ken had just bought me as an early Anniversary gift.

Shu was a happy camper today, which was quite a change from yesterday, thank goodness.  Even when I was trying to give him a spikey new coif  in the cab.  His poor little head was so hot and sticky with sweat, his little patch of hair spiked nicely.

We came back to the room and just played, tickled, chased.  He loves to roll around on the bed and was laughing so much he was gurgling and had a hard time catghing his breath.

The video of this has me accidentally knocking him down so I cannot possibly share that.  But it was only on the bed and it made him laugh more...but OOPS.

Since it will be a cool 104F tomorrow, we will venture out, finally to one and hopefully two the Temples we keep mentioning.  Swearing in ceremony is at 3:30.

Wishing you all a lucky day...sharing in my dragonflies aura.

A day to hang out.

Since Braden had a bit of a fever, we opted to stay in for most of the day.  He was feverish, and had something wonky going on with his belly.  Maybe the shots? or even possibly all the new foods he has tried.  In any event, we hung out in the room most of the day.  My one thrill is when he repeated after me, "Baby" and pointed to himself when looking in a mirror.  It was so very cute.

After a nice lunch of noodle dishes (he loooooves noodles) and dumplings, we walked around a little in a small park across the street.   Small park, with huge urns of flowers.  and lots of workers napping...which was kind of odd.  The heat index was 105, and it was just stifling.
We were practically melting, so we went into 7-11 to check it out, buy some juice.  We swam for a bit, then had some dinner and called it a night.  I fell asleep getting Shu to sleep tonight,  but happily we were table to Skype with the girls before we all hit the sack.



Today is the first day of school for Eva and Nicole, and I am sorry we are not home to celebrate with them.  1st grade!  Wow -  how did that happen?! 
Daddy and I are so very proud of how they have been these past 2 weeks, with our being gone.  They are such big girls, and are going to be fanstastic big sisters.  Shu recngnizes them on screen and points to them.  When he isn;t paying attention to them when we Skype, if they sing "You are my sunshine", he stops and is very attentive.  ( I sing this to him when going to bed... the original and lots of made up versus).
He will so love playing with them.  I know they are looking forward to it so much.  Hopefully he will keep the head butting to a minimum, as that is a facorite game of his with mommy. 

first day of 1st grade!

Our poor little man is a bit under the weather it seems - slight fever.  Maybe because of the shots still?   We had to leave breakfast due to very unhappy cries, and upon snuggling with him on the couch he was back to sleep in 10 minutes.  This is after sleeping 12 hours last night.  Not all that restful though as he was up a few times. Of course me too.   He is still sleeping though, and sweating, but will hopefully feel better after the Tylenol.  Ken is cradling him at the moment after a false wake up, and it truly is a sight that makes my heart full.  (trust me and my lower back, this doesnt happen when Shus is awake)  Daddy is contentedly swaying back and forth holding his sleeping son.  Okay and watching the very Brady Movie on HBO, and that sort of ruins it but it is the only thing on in English.

I am getting better at reading Shu's signs.  I think.  Kind of.  I have learned that the screech (really, think screech owl) of disapproval when I am trying to feed him any food or drink is simply him staking the heirarchy.  He is in charge.  5 minutes later he wants it.  The shove of the hand is that he isn't interested, and it is indeed a scornful dismissal.  The projectile spitting of the item means he really really doesnt want it.  Tasting and dropping food on the floor and mommy getting it and saying "BuYao" (means "stop that") is the best game in the whlel wide world and we must do it often.  (insert duh, mom, you keep beinding to get it it is hysterical) The grab of chopsticks on the way to my mouth, diverted to his means he wants a taste.  Ahhhh of course means give me more, and the AhhhhhACK (high pitch head spliiting scream attached to the end of it) is that I didn't move quite fast enough for him in giving him more.  Slamming the juice cup on the high chair table means he needs more attention of some sort, but he isn't thirsty, silly.  Grunting and pulling at the bib means it is so much more fun to get our clothes dirty, and I am a weenie if I really wear the bib.  Hands up from the highchair to mommy means he wants out and then the kicking of the feet underneath the tray (he is flexible) means get me the hell out of here faster next time, lady.  The need to use chopsticks on everything on the table as if they were drumsticks means it is definitely time to go. Smacking Mommy in the face with my cheerios container in the elevator  means I am really happy, and this is fun.
and this was all just this morning.

I tend to move a bit faster in trying to get him to quit screaming when in public of course.  In the room, however we have tortured him to defeaning screams simply by taking the pen out of his hands after he wrote on his lips.  (again, I know...where was it, how did he get it...)
We have to be a bit more careful where I dare to put him on the floor since the mere fact that he isnt in my arms any longer leads to throwing himself back so he can get more air to scream even louder.  We have only a few carpeted areas in this room, so I am selective.  That means it also echos.  Excellent acoustics.
But truly as I write this I hear screams from another baby down the hall.  This makes me smile.  We are not alone...we can totally blame that loud kid when the neighbors complain.

I think it is time for cookies to be out in the Lounge.  So I bid you farewell for now.

Has it really only been a week?!

It is hard to believe it has only been a week.  We have come far in that week, and I have to say that most folks who learn we have been together only a week are pretty amazed.  Me too.
We are quite in tune to one another, his Daddy and I with him.
Shu is sometimes saying Mama and Dada.  He has asked for "more" with sign language - in fact this morning when he discovered one of most favorite things to eat today - Steamed Char Siu Bow - steamed bbq pork bun.  He opened his mouth and said Ahhhhh, and then signed "more" and said MA, which I think was an attempt at saying more.
He is so entirely comfortable with us, that it is hard to believe it has only been a week.  We feel so lucky, and so loved by him already.  I think he has to know how very much we love him.

We are so ready to be home with our girls, dogs, cats, chaos, and being the nexgt chapter of our life as a familly.  Thank you all for staying with us in this journey - only 4 more sunrises until we leave China, and 5 more until we are all together as a family.

After a bit of a rough night for Shu - waking up several times, we had an early start to the day for his medical exam.  We had his vaccination card from the orphanage, but learned that the US required a few more before we can be cleared.  5 more, the poor little guy!  He sat on my lap for the shots, and Ken stood behind us rubbing both of our backs.  Shu's to soothe his tormented tears as they stuck him in 5 different places, and mine for leaking sympathetic tears.  My poor, scared boy.  All was well with the rest of the exam thank goodness, and we left the hosptial to walk around a bit to give him so fresh air.   Okay, hot humid air, but better than what was in the hospital.

some sights of Guangzhou Pedestrian Street

Shu was pretty worn out, fell asleep, and we headed back to the hotel to relax.  He bonded with daddy in front of hte TV, and with his new blocks, which of course he made into a cell phone.  Everything becomes a cell phone - his nanny in the orphange must have spent some time on the phone.

yes, that is a syringe in his hand.  He had Motrin, then wouldnt let go without screaming.

Then he had his first swim .He was adorable!

It was a tiring day for my little man, and he was asleep by 6:45.  Mommy and Daddy will soon be joining him.
Tomorrow is a free day, and we are most likely headed to the Six Banyan Tree Temple. and definitely another swim.  I have to hear that giggle every day!

Love to all