Having Fun with our Cutie

 
 
 
 
I wanted to explain about the backpack. We brought it with us on Gotcha Day. It had all her toys in it and when we left she wanted it on and we put it on her. Well....... everytime we leave the room she wants to put all her toys in it and take it with us. Bless her heart. I think she thinks we aren't coming back to get everything. She just loves it. I am sure glad we brought that along.

Day 2- Faye's thoughts

 
 
 
 
Well, I think we are doing alright here is Wuhan. I think she is really starting to like us. Our day started out good. She is a good eater but she definitely has her thoughts about what she wants and doesn't want. She was funny. It says in her paperwork that she doesn't like black food and I thought to myself... okay.... I will tuck that one away in the corner of my mind somewhere. Well, I'll be .... if I didn't give her a bag of M&Ms and she picked out all the brown ones and gave them to me and ate the rest. I guess she thought brown was close enough to black for her.

She really is starting to warm up to us. She has let us hold her hand from the beginning but hasn't really let us be too affectionate with her. She has shunned kisses totally..... of course I sneak them in when I can but she wipes them away. At first she would barely put her arm around us when we held her but now she is really starting to hold on. She also didn't really reach for us to pick her up but now she does. She likes me to hold her hand more than she does Todd. I have a ten kisses book and it talks about kissing toes and feet and knees and hands and eyes..... and she actually let me do all the kissing except not really on the face. She kind of let me kiss her eyes and definitely her head but still not her cheek or lips. But she wanted to read the book a couple of times so I was kissing her alot and she was laughing alot. Then when she is done she is done. I did try to blow her kisses and I put my finger to my lips and made a kissing sound and she put her finger to her lips and made the sound but that was all I could get her to do. She is coming along though.

Bedtime went so much better tonight than last night. I gave her some hot milk in a sippy cup. Oh did I tell you they still give her a bottle once a day. They sent the bottle but I haven't even let her see it. She seems to be doing fine with the sippy so I think we will go with that. Anyway bedtime....... After her milk she played a little and then I said it is nite nite time and she shook her head no and I said yes nite nite and I picked her up and put her on the bed and she crawled over to her little corner of the bed and layed down and I layed down with her. We were both on our sides looking at each other and I could see her eyes really big and she was just looking at me and I smiled and she smiled and we played the smiley game for a while and she let me touch her face a little and she just drifted off to sleep. She was so sweet. She pretty much sleeps the entire night. Thank you God-- I prayed hard for that. I hope that she keeps it up.

I have a surprise for you all........ are you ready........ She is starting to count in English. I have the Ten Little LadyBugs book and she loves to touch the lady bugs and I just started counting first in Chinese then in English and then my little mocking bird started to make what sounded like English words . I wasn't sure at first but we have done it many times and they are definitely the English words. We got it on video too. I will try to have Todd post it. I was so excited. She also says " alrighty" and "mama" and "baba" and "mei mei". I am working on "Alex" but no luck so far. She has a picture book of all of us and if you ask her to find Mama, she points to me and same with Todd and herself. I think she is really starting to understand some English. I told her to go throw something away in the garbage and she walked right over and did it.

I must tell you all about the potty experience. I am sure most of you know that in China they have squatty potties. In fact, in most public places this is what they have. Especially in the not so updated areas. So our local guide told us that the word Abby uses for potty is "neow neow" it almost sounds like meow but with a n. She will tell you when she has to go. We did have one little accident where she was telling us but we didn't get it and we had an oops but that is to be expected. So picture this scene in your mind.... it is quite funny.......We are sitting in KFC at the market and Abby says neow neow. I look at Todd and pick her up and said I'll be back. Now I have no idea where anything is in the market much less the toilet and NO ONE speaks English. So I go up to some woman and point to Abby and say "neow neow" and she of course starts speaking Chinese and points down the hall and around the corner. I definitely don't speak Chinese but I do read hand signals pretty good so off we went down the hall looking for the potty. And low and behold there it was. I was expecting one potty but it was a whole bathroom full of potties with doors so I pick one and then realize-- oh squatty potty. So I am trying to figure out how to help a toddler go potty and not get dirty. Well-- we did alright. I can only imagine what these people were thinking about the crazy western woman running to the potty with a Chinese baby but we did it. Oh happy day.

We are doing tours all day today. So that will be good. Keeping us busy and out of the hotel room. You get a little stir crazy in a hotel room with a toddler. I will be happy to move on to Guangzhou. It is very hard being the only western faces everywhere you go and there is no one else to talk to. Even at the hotel, when we need something, it is a long and difficult process. Guangzhou is very westernized and while I don't mind the culture at all, it is trying sometimes with a baby. Last time we had a big group of us and we hung out at various times with each other. I miss that bonding with other families. I look forward to getting with the rest of our group.

Well, that is about enough for one post. I think I will post some more pictures.

Blessings to all
Faye

Crazy Clothing

 
For those of you familiar with how the Chinese dress their children you already know this but I just had to share this one because it is crazy. It has been in the 80's here in Wuhan. I have had sweat rolling down my back. The humidity is not quite smothering yet but it is getting there. The people wear long sleeves and sweaters and tights in this weather. You see them sweating and yet this is how they dress.
When we picked Abby up she had everything on that is in the picture. She was sweating so bad her entire head was wet. They went out to their car to get a towel to put under her shirt to sop up the sweat and still they kept her coat on. When we got her back to the room I peeled 3 layers off on top and two on the bottom on an eighty degree day. Unbelievable. Yesterday, I dressed her in a short sleeve shirt and put a jacket on her and she was still sweating so we took that jacket off. I got so many dirty looks but I just don't care. I can't imagine how miserable that is. I know she is used to it but I feel sorry for these kids. We were at the market today and some woman had her kid in a wool coat.... yes wool so you can imagine the look I got. Abby is wearing a dress today..... that should be a show stopper.LOL.

Faye

Random photo's from the past couple of days

 
 
 
 

Tuesday in the park Wuhan, China

 
 
 
 

Quite day from Wuhan, China

Day 2 has been pretty much a delight for Faye and I, we started out our day by taking the peanut to breakfast which was actually quite uneventful, we now know that she loves watermelon.
Our guide Lily picked us up to take us to finish up our adoption paperwork and pay our adoption fees, this was once again uneventful. We did meet 3 really nice couples that were adopting from Maryland and Maine, they are on the same schedule as we are so hopefully we will run into them again in Guangzhou.
After the paperwork meeting Lily took us to a little park on a huge lake in Wuhan where we could walk around and kill a couple of hours, we really needed that, we are going kind of stir crazy all cooped up in our hotel room. It gave the peanut a chance to run around and be a kid, and a kid she is, she doesn't really care much for holding hands and if you take you eyes off her for more than a couple of seconds "zoom" off she goes. For any of you that have been to China you know this is a real no-no due to the way people drive.
We ventured over to KFC for some lunch, I think when we walked away from that counter every eye in the place had stopped eating lunch and was looking at what Faye and I were doing. Wuhan doesn't see many westerners, not to mention westerners with a little asian kid. Gets kind of old after a while, I mean sometimes they really do it to the point of being rude. After lunch it was off to the store to buy some socks for Gabriella and some bath toys, she really likes bath time. Now at the store you really get stared at, I mean 10 people will stand around looking at us and Gabriella, then they see her arm and start commenting among themselves. Mind you beeswacks is all I can say.
We stayed in the hotel for dinner tonight and are now in the room winding down for the evening, Faye is giving Abby a bath and attempting to get her on the toilet. Funny this girl is really good at going to the bathroom and she will definitely let you know that she needs to go. We have had both the number 1 and 2 (#2 happened in record breaking time if you must know), Faye actually thought the #2 was a #1 if you know what I mean.
So as day #5 comes to an end, I am now aiming for Guangzhou, Faye and I are longing for some other folks to hang out with as we are the only ones in Wuhan. Faye is also looking for some shopping. As for me I can just use something familiar. Please keep the comments and e-mails coming, we really do look forward to them. Pictures will follow>>>>>Todd

Our First Day Together

 
 
 
 
Well Gotcha Day wasn't at all what I expected and so very different than our last Gotcha Day but just as sweet. We really couldn't have asked for a smoother transition-- at least so far. When we first saw her I busted out the M&Ms which she took and ran back to the nanny then we busted out the bubbles (thanks Michelle, you were right about that one) which she loved and then we busted out the Teddy Bear so right away she played with us and was laughing but she did keep going back to her caregivers. We did a little bit of paperwork and they gave us tons of snacks and drinks that she likes and they all kind of left one by one while she was playing with us so she didn't even notice they were gone and when it was time for us to leave I held out my hand and she grabbed it and we left.

We came back to the room and played alot and our guide Lily helped us sort out some things with the room and helped us communicate with her -- especially about the potty. We decided to venture outside the hotel for dinner. Please remember they don't see many westerners here much less westerners with a Chinese baby so we were quite the focal point when we were out and about. People point and stare and we just keep on moving. The hotel concierge directed us to a "western type restaurant" which at least had a menu in English which is hard to come by in these parts. We walked there and she held my hand most of the way. She did great at the restaurant. She gobbled down some fried rice and noodles like there was no tomorrow and we introduced her to 7up which I am sure she never had before and she loved it. We got back to the room and had a bath. We brought tons of toys but no bath toys so we may have to go get some today. She LOVED her bath. She has some kind of infection on the outside of her ear. She won't let me get a good look at it and I don't want to hold her down so I will wait. It looks like it is healing but I need to look at it more.

Bedtime was a bit more challenging. She wanted to play and play but she was tired. I think maybe she was scared to go to sleep. She sobbed for maybe 20 minutes and when we turned the lights back on she stopped so I don't know if she was afraid of the dark or what but I snuggled with her until she went to sleep and then she slept with me. She woke up once but I got her back to sleep and she is still asleep as I blog this. I didn't get much sleep ( maybe 3 hours) but Todd slept pretty good so 2 out of 3 sleepers isn't bad.

She seems to be bonding with us. I was worried when she didn't cry when we left. She is making good eye contact. She reaches out for us. She seems to want me a little more than Todd. When strangers reach out to her she pulls away. She is starting to mimic us -- more with sound than words. She is calling us Mama and Baba (daddy in Chinese). We have a picture book of us and she will point to us and say mama and baba. She let us feed her. At first when she snuggled with me she just kind of layed in my arms but then after a while she actually snuggled up and was comforted.

Today we do more paper work. We have to stay in the province 5 days (until Friday) so they can finish everything up. I think we will do some shopping and a few tours.

Will post more later.
Love to all.

Faye

Gabriella Hope Fu Yin (4)

 
 
 
 

Gabriella Hope Fu Yin (3)

 
 
 
 

Gabriella Hope Fu Yin (2)

 
 
 
 

Gabriella Hope Fu Yin (1)

 
 
 
 

We expected the worst and got the BEST

 
 
 
 

What can I say other than we are the lucky parents of two beautiful girls. We have now had Gabriella Hope Fu Yin for over 2 hours minus care takers and have yet to hear her cry. She is such a big girl and is everything that we hoped for. We went to the civil affairs office and went upstairs and there were a group of people sitting there will a little girl. Our guide had explained that we needed to take a seat and they would be right with us, stating that they had other adoptions going on. I sat down and started looking at this little girl and thought to myself, boy does she look like Abby. But I sat there and waited until Faye busted out the M & M's and here she came without a missed beat. She took the bag of M&M's from Faye and ran back to her caretaker that brought her to Wuhan. We blew bubbles and she loved that. They took us into the room where the paperwork is handled, she was such a big girl. We are absolutely in love. We are back to the hotel and she is over playing with Faye while I write, Faye has already taken the 6 layes of clothes that they had on her off and she is now sporting some american duds. Write more later, on with the pictures.>>>>Todd