Hotel Pics

Dinner with the Applegates and Bishops

Monday pics

We walked around Shamian Island today.

We had an incredible dinner with 2 other adoptive families. It was AMAZING food!

Authentic Chinese food! The best we have had since we arrived in China! I hope we can go again before we leave. Ike (a guide who worked with one of the families previously) brought us to this splendid restaurant. The Applegates and Bishops made the dinner even more special! Their children are so good to Charlie. They all took turns playing with him! We have been so blessed to meet such wonderful people!

Thank you, Lord, for these families who have brought so much joy to our trip!

Nanjing Park

Sunday

Dinner at Cow and Bridge

Not too busy today. We went to Jade Market and walked around in Guangzhou. It was a beautiful day! We had dinner at the Cow and Bridge Restaurant. Another adoptive family joined us. It was so nice to talk with them.

Charlie is very dramatic. If he doesn't like a certain food, he will pretend he is choking. It was scary at first. I almost did the abdominal thrust on him! He was coughing and gagging. I pulled him out of the high-chair and he started laughing at me. I waited a while and he was breathing fine. I offered him a second bite and he started doing it again. He hung over the side of the high chair. (That was after only offering him a bite, he didn't even take it.) When I put the spoon down, he started laughing and dancing. Just a tiny bit dramatic! =)

Today we went and had his TB skin test read. It was negative! Praise the Lord!!

Greg is finishing the paperwork with our guide.

Tomorrow we go for our Consulate Appointment.

Wednesday we go to the Safari Park.

Thursday we pick up his VISA and go to Hong Kong!

Friday... We head to Alabama!!

Merry Christmas From China!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Santa left presents outside our hotel door for JiJi. He loved the toys!!

Then we had to go for his medical exam. It really upset him to be in the clinic. He cried a silent cry, just sobbed. He did well with the doctors and his TB skin test. The guide told him if he didn't cry during the exam, he would get him 2 pieces of candy. As soon as he had his skin test, he held out his hand for the candy and laughed.

He took a 3 hour nap, then we went to eat at Lucy's, an American Restaurant.

VERY GOOD grilled cheese and french fries! We were able to meet other adoptive families and talk with them for a while. It was truly refreshing!

We saw the girls open presents from Santa via Skype. Greg & I both cried. The girls kept saying, "Don't cry! We are fine!" They are doing so well! Greg and I are the ones having a tough time. It was a blessing to see them open the presents, but we miss them terribly! I'm ready for my rooster and monkey to be hanging on me again!!!

Thursday

I only have 2 pics from today... Charlie hiding in the closet.

We stayed close to the hotel today. Tomorrow (Christmas Eve) we will go to a park and walk around Nanjing a bit. We leave for Guangzhou tomorrow night. I feel bad about leaving Charlie's Province. His life is going to be totally different. I know it will be better, but he has had a life before we adopted him. He probably will not remember anything from here, other than what we tell him. And the information we have is seriously lacking.

We miss all of our family & friends, most of all our girls. We are having a wonderful time, but we are ready to get home to our girls so we can love on them, and so they can meet their new brother!!!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Eve!
We will post more soon.

Wednesday

I have a bunch of pictures from the play area at the mall connected to the hotel. Charlie loved it! He met a friend while we were there. He is the little boy in the spinning seats with him.

A bit about Charlie:

- He is very busy!

- Loves to cuddle and snuggle.

- Can make a gun out of anything.

(Right now he is using puzzle pieces for his guns.)

- He is really tough!

He touched the hot iron this morning and burned his hand. No tears, just "OH!"

- Never meets a stranger. I know this is not a good sign with an internationally adopted child but he loves to talk to everyone! Sounds like his Daddy doesn't it?

- You know he's tires if he stops talking.

- Loves chocolate, french fries, McDonald's chicken nuggets, watermelon and BACON!

- Laughs a lot!

Our Great Adventure

Charlie is so full of personality! He talks to everyone on the street. He will continue to say, "Ni Hao!" until someone answers him. He is persistant. He is sleeping and eating very well! Only has a melt down if he doesn't get his way.

Today, Greg and I decided to be adventurous. We decided to spend the day as a family walking the streets of Nanjing, with no guide. Just us and Greg's awesome sense of direction. It was so much fun! We walked down the tiniest alleys and talked to interesting store keepers. We ended up in a market area, which was fun.

We had a lot of people staring at us. It bothers Greg, but it is their culture to stare at things or people that are different. Some of the people were very kind and others just turned their backs to us.

I have included pictures from our journey. Some are of Charlie in our hotel room, making funny faces. There is a picture of him in cotton with snowmen. Let me just tell you, this was an ordeal!

This display is in our hotel. It has a white styrofoam fence around it. Well, Charlie walks up and knocks down the fence. Every time I pick it up, he knocks it back down. One of the managers came over and insisted I take his picture inside the fence. (What was he thinking!?!?!?)

Charlies knocks over the snowmen and picks up the fake candy pieces to throw. I grabbed them just in time. I got a picture and told him to come on! He lays down in the cotton and started rolling all over the display. I could not stop laughing. He was laughing so loud that he drew a little audience. A lot of people shaking their heads at me. Of course, Greg had gone upstairs to get a heavier coat for Charlie and missed the whole show. He did make it back in time to clean the cotton off Charlie. He asked, "Did he roll around in it or something??" DUH!!!

The other pictures are from the market where we walked around. There were some statues that were pretty interesting. The last picture of Greg and Charlie has a man staring at them. Thought it was appropriate to include...

Tuesday Stuff

He slept well last night, but had a blow out. It was so bad we had to call housekeeping at 4:30 this morning. Yeah, they were thrilled to help us with the ordeal. Greg tipped her well, but how well can you really tip someone to come clean up poo at 4:30 in the morning? I'm pretty sure any amount would not be appropriate. However! A positive came from this... He now realizes he likes to take a bath.

We went to the Civil Affairs office and signed a bunch of paperwork. They asked us questions of why we were adopting from China, did we know he has medical conditions, and would we ever abandon him. I'm always so surprised to have these questions asked. I mean, he is my son.

MY SON. And I am already Mama Bear about him. One of the directors grabbed him up and started walking around the building with him. I followed her everywhere, watching her every move. I had to keep telling myself to stay calm. And finally, (I'm sure God had something to do with it) she placed him down and he ran to me. It was the greatest relief! Then she fussed at me because he did not have enough clothes on. That is pretty standard here though so I didn't take it to heart. I got that a lot with HG. SH's province was hot, so no one cared if she wore shorts.

We did go buy some clothes today. A blue and red jacket with a dragon on it. Definitely masculine! (Unlike the 'delivery' outfit) 4T's are so big they keep falling off of him.

I cannot wait for everyone to meet Charlie! They called him "Ji-Ji" - sounds like G-G. He answers to it and we can say it, so we are not pushing the "Charlie". We say it frequently, but he is not responding to it yet.