Back to the land of the awake...

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting in a few days....I was stricken with a horrible case of jet lag and pure laziness I guess! I have finally recovered (I hope...we'll see if tonight brings another solid night of sleep for me).

Roger and the girls have been sleeping just fine and on a normal schedule, so that's good. I have forced myself to get up at the normal time (just like work) to get my shower, dressed & some makeup before taking Natalie to school at 7:35 each morning. It would be so easy to just be lazy & sleep later but I want to try to keep on as much a normal schedule as possible. Even Anna doesn't mind getting up that early to have her breakfast and get dressed for the day! Whew!

She still amazes us every day. She has given up on us learning Chinese, so she just gives us the hand or head motions & points out clearly what she wants. She's not a fan of Southern American food (imagine that!?!?) But we're figuring it out together. She did drag me to the pantry the other day to let me know she wanted something in there. I pointed out several things to which she shook her head....then she grabbed a bag of Ramen noodles....she saw that Chinese looking food and went for it! She couldn't get enough! ha! She's learning English every day & can now say stuff like NO :-), hello, hi, bye bye, more, thank you, Hi Simon, one, two, three. She calls Natalie "Nat Nat" or Jie Jie and she calls us Mama and Baba (in a cute almost French sounding accent).

Natalie is doing great in school and had good test scores this week. She was glad to get back, but boy is this a busy week for her! She has dance on Monday and Friday, along with Trunk or Treat at church Wednesday evening, Friday at school she will perform in the Fairy Tale Ball (Little Red Riding Hood), followed by the Fall Festival at school, and then cap off the evening with a big Brownie event.....a sleepover at the church to celebrate Juliette Lowe's birthday (founder of the Girl Scouts). How am I going to keep up? Next week she starts basketball practice.

We took Anna (and Natalie too) to the pediatrician today. He proclaimed her healthy as a horse! She's a whopping 23 pounds of kiddo. They poked her toe for a blood test....and then she got 4 shots to which she protested loudly (as my eardrums can attest!) As soon as I grabbed her off the table to comfort her, she quit screaming & glared at the nurse. But a few seconds later when offered a choice of sugar free lollipop, she amazing calmed down, never to cry of fuss again! The doctor said he couldn't even detect a murmur in her heart, but we'll still see the cardio next week or so. And he said she had the best hemoglobin he's seen in a long time! He also said she was also obviously very well taken care of, as evidenced in her teeth and overall good health. Yay!

We went ahead and got Natalie a flu shot (she knew she had to be brave and not cry in front of Anna :-) She did great. I had the dr. also look at her hand....it seems the night before we left China, Natalie was bitten on the hand by some spider. We didn't know it until we were at the airport. I remember her saying her hand hurt, but we were too busy to even look (bad parents!) Then we noticed her hand was really red and swollen. I put itch cream on it & then later when I looked closely, I saw two big puncture wounds! Like fang marks! I kept antibiotic cream and a big bandaid on it. The next day the swelling went down, but even now, almost a week later, you can see the 2 holes and the area around it (approx 2" in uneven diameter) is darker.....almost like a bruise, but brownish not blueish. She's obviously not in mortal danger, but it is creepy to think of what was crawling around in the hotel room that night! A big hairy tarantula?? Ewwww!

Overall, we're really doing just great and we couldn't be happier that we finally found our second daughter! It has been a very long road, but it was all worthwhile. She is a complete joy to us and she is definately the funny one of the family! I predict she will be the class clown in school! She is our monkey (and that's actually her favorite word...MONKEY! She will pat her monkey's head, say Monkey, then pat her head, say Monkey and laugh like it is the funniest thing in the world! :-) I know everyone who has met her doesn't believe us that she is so silly....because when she's around anyone else, she clings to me and just gives her stoic expression. The only time she'll speak is when it is time to say goodbye.....then she waves happily...ready to get away from all those admiring strangers.....and says "bye-bye" with a smile.

Pumpkin patch time!

Baby and BaBa on such a beautiful clear day! So nice to see blue skies again!

She's really digging the backyard swing....good thing it is a bit cooler.

This was the first morning in her crib....she was pretty sacked out!
Can you even find her amid all the animals? The girls are 2 peas in a pod when it comes to sleeping.

Safely Home at 3:16 a.m.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are safely home and the girls are tucked into their own beds at home. When we arrived in New Orleans at about 11:30, we decided that we were all wide awake enough to make the drive home.....we couldn't stomach the thought of another hotel room! So we stopped at a McDonalds for a couple of big cups of coffee and a couple of Happy Meals since both girls slept on so much of the flights they missed their meals. After we pounded away the food, I remarked...."Boy, that was the best McDonalds meal I've ever had....to which Roger replied "me too!", followed by Natalie remarking "me too!".....and then, our sweet Anna followed along with her own "ME TOO!" in perfect English! It was the cutest thing and we were all laughing so hard! A memorable moment for us all.

So....off to bed to try to sleep for a few hours and then try to act like tomorrow is a normal day for us.

Our new normal.

Goodbye from China!

We're finally pretty much packed and ready to go home tomorrow morning.

We had a very busy day of shopping and of course our consulate appointment which went fast and now as soon as we land in Newark and the immigration officer stamps her passport, Anna will automatically become an American Citizen. Yay! I heard that some airports even issue the Certificate of Citizenship paper right then.....boy, that would be nice!

She's still doing great, just testing her boundaries (which are pretty limited some times with me :-) She's really funny to us after she gets in trouble, she just ignores us (like we'll disappear or something! ha!)

Roger actually got in to the shopping fun this evening....not normally his thing.

It is late and we're beat....just a few hours until we need to get up, so I'll close from China with these last few pictures. See you on the flip side!!

As you can see.....her devil horns manage to stick out when her hair is wet :-)

Anyone want to guess how much Roger paid for his genuine Tag Heuer watch???

Sometimes a girl just has to have her ice cream.....even on the commode (or is that a'la mode?)

Tuesday evening

It is Tuesday night now and tomorrow will be our last day in China. We have our consulate appointment for Anna's visa tomorrow afternoon and then just finish packing and we will leave the country early Thursday morning.

Today was a very lazy (and much needed rest) day. For the first time in over two weeks, we did not have to be up and out the door at any specific time. Boy did we ever need that! We were pretty lazy this morning & when we finally made it out of here it was almost lunchtime so we went to the Cow and Bridge again. Anna has no problem showing her snarly side, so mommy has now pulled out her snarly side and the battle of wills has begun :-) I'm too old and crotchety to put up with a toddler pitching a fit for chopsticks (only to bang them like crazy on the table waiting for food)....so today when she threw a hissy fit I just took her out of the restaurant and we had a little chat outside (just like I used to do with Natalie at that age). Of course she was mad at me throughout lunch (oh well) and just gives the cold shoulder when she is mad at you. She survived and so did I. She has been quite spoiled (I could tell that when we visited the foster family) and she absolutely cannot stand to be told "no" or scolded in any way. Well, sorry, but she just better get used to it :-) She especially hates it when Roger scolds her. But then, he has a way of making all 3 of his girls cry if he is "mean" to us :-) ha ha

After lunch, we took the girls to a little park nearby to play.....they had alot of fun as you can see in the pictures. Then it was time for Jophy to pick us up for a trip to the Jade and Pearl markets. Luckily I had enough sense to have Roger stay back in the hotel for nap time with the empress (or is that IMPress??) Natalie and I went and it was just stall after stall after stall of any type of jade you could imagine....I did some pretty good bargaining! Then at the Pearl market I purchased a pink baby pearl necklace for Anna (just like Natalies) and two matching pearl drop pendants for them when they are married. It is insane how inexpensive it was.

Tonight I wanted to do some shopping without the kids (smart mommy!) so after dinner, I sent Roger on to give them a bath and I went to Sherrys and got a couple of cute shoes and looked for some things for Angie (Angie, if you read this, Sherry said she should have those items for me tomorrow.....but I have seen them elsewhere, so I'll just get them wherever) I also went and bought two matching silk dresses for the girls....one set in lucky red and gold and the other is a pretty lilac. I got the 4 dresses, 2 nice fans, 2 papercuts for 290 yuan, which is about $35. It sure seemed like alot more at the time. I really should have brought my calculator.....

I'm tired & everyone else has gone to bed......here are some more pictures from yesterday and today.

Already looking like Grammy with the sunglasses propped on her head!

HEY! Did one of you guys eat my goldfish????

I think the girls need to work on their poker faces....not much of a bluff here!

Sliding with your new sister is too much fun!

Not exactly weight-balanced on the teeter totter! Anna needs a bit of daddy-power.

Whee!!!!!

Guanzhou pictures (repeat)

Sorry! That last time didn't get these pictures uploaded.....I'll try again. OK....so here we are today in Guangzhou. I had to get up at 4 a.m. and the girls got up at 5:15....not happy campers about that I'll tell you. But our guide had ordered breakfasts to go for us & they were boxed and waiting....We were actually pleasantly surprised when we finally got to our gate at the airport and found pretty tasty breakfasts of boiled eggs (a big hit with both girls!), bananas, assorted breads from the bakery, an apple, water and a ham and (?) butter sandwich. Not having coffee really hit us hard later on. But the girls both did great on the flight and Anna's first aviation experience was again....just perfect. BUT, it was only one hour. She stayed entertained with her dress-me bear and her tea. Of course she has a bladder the size of a pin head and never has to go niao niao unless it is an impossible situation......like landing an airplane. She howled and cried as we were landing and was not happy at all the people in front of us taking their own sweet time getting their luggage off the top racks and getting off the plane. Then naturally the ladies restroom had a line a mile long, so Roger.....ever the improviser took her into the men's room. She's getting used to the sight of a urinal :-) She fell asleep in her stroller while we were waiting for our mountain of luggage and then we were met by our very nice guide, Jophy. We went straight to the medical exam station. Boy what a difference from last time. I really like being in a group of one family! We went straight in...no waiting, no crowds or chaos....it was SO easy. You could tell that Anna was very accustomed to being examined and measured.....she was very cooperative and just laid down and put her hands behind her head while they listened to her heart. Speaking of her heart....you sure cannot tell she has any heart condition! She is extremely energetic, healthy, strong...etc..... If she is being slowed down by any defect, I'd hate to see how much more energized she could become! Oy!!!

After the medical and visa photos were done, we checked into the Victory Hotel (annex) and were presented with a really cool suite. The bedroom is actually round and around the exterior or that room is another small room with the computer & chairs, etc. There is also a sitting room with a love seat and a few comfy chairs. Not bad! The beds have been getting increasingly harder, so this one tonight must be made of granite. No wonder the Chinese do Tai Chi each morning....you have to get the soreness out somehow!

Time to go wake these guys up! They won't sleep tonight at all!! I'll probably write more later after dinner....it is so much easier now! In the meantime, here are some pictures from today.

Get a load of this shiner! It actually isn't too bad, but it is still a bit swollen. Ouch!

Two sister who love their books! They're really getting along great!

No more paparazzi-----PLEASE!!!!

More pictures from Guangzhou

Pictures from Guilin

On Sunday we took the Li River Cruise (aka Squatty Potty Titanic). It would have been incredibly beautiful, but it was so foggy, hazy, smoggy(?) we really could not see the beautiful mountains as clearly as I had hoped. But as you can see from these pictures, it was still quite a sight. The entire river was lined with these wonderful peaks. And all along the river banks you would see farmers in the fields with their water buffalo, or children swimming (ugh!!!) in the water. I was also fascinated by the people who were on their flat boats (or rafts?). And yes, I didn't have the squatty potty disaster until the very end of the cruise....when we were getting ready to dock. So at least we got to enjoy the whole cruise. Including some food that I have no idea what it was, but we pretty much ate it and it was pretty good. AND the best part is that we lived thru it! And we're not sick from it. But stay tuned....who knows what we could get sick from! We ate lunch today at the Cow and Bridge Restaurant (weird name for a Thai Restaurant). It was good, but I still think I prefer Busaba's or Bangkok Thai back home. And Anna prefers green tea and on the airplane today she guzzled chrsyantemum tea (ewww). She was very happy with the cruise cuisine (she said "finally! Something decent to eat and I can understand these normal people insead of these weird parents who don't understand me....")

Look at these amazing mountains!

Natalie finally found the "headless water buffalo" from Big Bird in China movie!!! A clue!

More cool mountains

They don't like each other, do they?? She loves her daddy! Yay!

This picture of the waterfall at the hotel our first evening does not do it justice. It is the coolest thing! At 8:30 each evening, they put on a show which includes the whole side of the building turning into a huge waterfall. VERY cool indeed.
The Chinese are very hard workers....I really admire their stamina.

Monday Pictures

Now that I have a computer in the hotel room and a napping toddler and husband, along with a Leapster-occupied older child, I'll try my best to see if this thing will let me download a bunch of pictures....so here goes!

Red Ink Stamp of Approval that Anna will keep us :-)

Natalie has decided to become a Nascar Boat Driver

Sunrise in Nanning - I would often sit and watch the sunrise over Nanning before everyone else got up. It was always so quiet.....this is the view from our hotel window.

Natalie at the Guangxi Ethnic Museum with a large drum.

Anna's adorable smile :-)

Natalie playing 2 instruments at the Ethnic Museum. They offered us tea and played beautiful music and then were so gracious and let Natalie play the violin-type instrument which also had foot pedals for drum-like music. She was pretty good!! Note the determined concentration!

On the train to Guilin, daddy and daughter took a nap. (Note the cell phone and photo album Anna always sleeps with.)

OK.....let's keep our fingers and toes crossed that all these pictures will publish to the blog. If so, I have another list of pictures to post in a few minutes from Guilin and up thru today.

I win the prize....

....for "The Worst Mom in the World". Yes, that would be me. I know none of you can top this one.

OK, here's a test. Everyone who dropped their child face-first over a squatty potty in China, raise your hand.

See....I'll bet NONE of you has had that distinction. Oh yes.....and if you did it on the Li River cruise in the worst ickiest bathroom, you get double points.

Those of you who have been to China know exactly what I'm talking about. And really public places like a boat, etc are especially disgusting. But she just HAD to go she said. How can you deny the pitiful, begging NiaoNiao cry? Any other kid would just use the dang pull-up. I cannot WAIT to get back to the US, and NEVER use onw of those nasty toilets again.

But she's OK, and I'm getting over it. What happened was just after I held her over the hole, I stood her up to pull up her pants. Well just as I got them pulled up to her waist, as I was holding her pants, the boat shifted ever so slightly and with her wet soles of her shoes, she just went BLIP....over like a fulcrum. She smashed down face first (not actually in the potty, thank God!!!) but on the edge (like a corner) She hit on her left eye.....so of course, now we have 2 tiny cuts on either side of her left eye and a bump across her bridge of her nose. I think she'll have a black eye. BUT the good news is I think she'll be fine. Our guide was preparing to take us directly to the hospital, but as we got some cool compresses on it, the swelling subsided. And then she pointed and squealed "buffalo!", so we figured at that point she wasn't brain damaged! And we got back to the hotel and she got a bath and since then she has benn bouncing around like Tigger (literally) so she is OK. I feel horrible. Bad mommy!

Anyway, they are here now for dinner, so I must run. We did see this amazing waterfall at the hotel....the whole side of the building actually turns into this really cool waterfall show each night.....pretty cool!

We have to leave the hotel at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow for our flight to Guanghzhou.....so I probably will be out of touch until tomorrow after we check in.

Please be sure and tell me if anyone can top my "Bad Mommy" award!! :-)

Saturday evening in Guilin

Hi from bustling Guilin! We finally left Nanning this morning and boarded our train for the 5 hour trip to Guilin. The train ride was amazing and we actually had some Chinese-Americans from California sitting next to us, so that was nice to translate on occassion. Natalie and Anna did amazingly well and I'm so proud of both of them. I wish the airlines had as much room as our train seats! I know everyone thought we were so bizzare because we had so much luggage! I think the highlight of the trip was when I had to take Anna to the loo....which was locked becuase we were nearing the next station. She was adamant, so when I asked the attendant if she would unlock the door, she just pointed to a big bucket on the floor. There were about 10 Chinese around, who I KNOW were laughing at me & thinking I wouldn't use it, but I immediately just acted like all the Chinese do and pulled down her pants and held her over the bucket. Then just proudly pulled them back up & marched her off like no big deal....it was hilarious! ha! There have been many times when I have just pulled her over to a dirt or grassy area....that's just the way they do it here. She won't use the pull-up, so this will just have to do. Until we get back to the U.S. of course!

I wept quietly as we left Nanning. As we began to see the countryside and other parts of the town where people lived and worked just broke my heart. We are so fortunate for the things we have and the comfortable lives we all live. The farmers were toiling in the fields with their water buffalo and carrying long poles with heavy baskets on each end. You never saw any farm machinery of any kind...only hard working humans. And you know what? You never hear anyone complain....there is no anger or road rage like in the US. It is so different. And sad too. We are so incredibly lucky to have two beautiful and smart children from this country.

Anna is still doing just great. The only small amount of grieving I have seen was during her afternoon nap after seeing the foster family. She must have been dreaming of the day....she was whimpering in her sleep and tears were streaming down her face. It was so sad & I just cradled her and assured her that mama was here & she'd be OK. She still has very pensive moments....very devilish moments....and moments that will pull at your heartstrings when you hear the incredible giggling belly laugh she has. She is very playful and when she and Natalie get busy playing she has this squeal of delight that will shatter your eardrums, as well as the windows of the hotel :-) The talks pretty quietly....but boy can she belt out come screeching noise when happy! Oy!

Since the moment the train stopped in Guilin, it has been bustling. I really don't like that too much...it is very pretty here, but our guide really does not speak English very well and we're almost better off without her. We went to a local restaurant for lunch and it was good, but again, the translation was a mess. We then went to Reed Flute Cave which we all enjoyed & Natalie got lots of pictures of. Anna squealed "wow!" alot as she looked up at all the cave formations. Now we are back at the really nice Waterfall Hotel. It is just beautiful and at 8:30 p.m. they have a manmade waterfall spectacle to see.

I'll probably pass on trying to post pics right now.....need to get back to the room to make sure the two little tornados have not completely trashed it already.

Tomorrow will be a quick and busy day of sightseeing. We will take the Li River Cruise and then Monday morning we will board or flight for our last stop in Guangzhou for Anna's U.S. Visa. We will be SO SO SO SO SO glad to get home for alot of reasons.....but mainly so you can meet our precious gift and delightful baby daughter! There is no telling how much English she will have already acquired by then. We are so happy that she loves to learn and Natalie is the best teacher of all. She is so proud to be a big sister...you can tell it in everything she does, even in the determined way she walks.

More later shen I get a chance! Hugs and kisses to everyone!

Thursday in Nanning

Glad you liked the pictures! I'm not posting any this afternoon so that I can get back up to the room and let Roger take Natalie to the park while Anna is napping.

She's still been doing great! Maybe that other shoe won't drop after all. We went to meet her foster family this morning. We met at Mothers Love orphanage, but didn't really tour the facility. As we walked up the path, the foster mother called her name....ChangChang squiggled to get out of my arms, so I let her & she went running happily to her former caretaker. It was a bittersweet moment...torn between wanting her to shun the FM and knowing that she was so loved and taken care of that I knew it was right to let her go. We sat around and chatted while ChangChang played with her foster brother (about 18 months old) They were very playful together and she loved giving hugs to her "uncle" She pretty much ignored us, but we didn't try to force anything at all. They gave us her white tiger and some other gifts....along with another bag full of sugary treats and sweet milk (which we have kept hidden :-) They also gave us these milk candy treats which we were obliged to eat. Ugh. Natalie valiantly ate hers and tried so hard not to make a face. ChangChang on the other hand, could not get enough!

Then it was time for a couple of pictures and then...WHAM! Time to go. It was the most difficult thing. Of course, I was holding her and she was screaming and crying, which made me cry with anguish. We both wailed down the path about 100 yards and then, she stopped crying. She was so brave. On the ride back to the hotel, she was very pensive. She just sat quietly and didn't want to play at the moment. After a little while, I pulled out her musical Winnie the Pooh book & she began to play with it a little bit. Back in the hotel room, she played some more with her stacking cups for a few minutes & then it was time for lunch. She has done a complete change around & now we are beginning to see her mischieveous side :-) She was very playful at lunch and talked even more than usual. She ate great and has been so busy. Again, putting her down for a nap was as easy as gathering her up with her belongings and plopping her in the crib. All done.

So that's where we stand now. This afternoon we will be going to the flea market (THAT should be interesting!) And tomorrow we will tour the Ethnic Museum and maybe more shopping. Then early Saturday morning we will board a train for Guilin and lots of amazing sightseeing there.

For those of you who might travel to Nanning....I highly recommend getting a suite here at the Majestic if you can. We would have gone nuts in a regular room for this many days. It is so nice to have a separate living room where we can play or rest quietly.

Hope all is well in Mobile. I assume we haven't been hit by any hurricanes?

I'll post again tomorrow & maybe more pics. Hopefully things will continue to go smoothly & we'll be able to manage just fine!

Keep those cards & letters coming! I love to see your comments....it makes me feel like I'm still at home.

Photos!

Introducing Anna YanChang Muller

This was our first dinner together! A very happy and silly baby.

Coloring on Wednesday with her big sister

Here she is at Green Mountain Park on Wednesday

This picture was taken about an hour after receiving her...Natalie was reading one of her favorite books to Anna.

Isn't this the sweetest sleeping baby you ever saw? This was on the first day after being with us for only an hour or so. She fell asleep in my arms for an hour nap and Roger & Natalie went out for awhile.

I had the camera nearby and couldn't resist this shot to forever capture this image only I had.

Wonderful Wednesday

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post yesterday...we were just busy and I never got a chance to get to the business center. But thanks for all the emails and comments on the blog....it is so nice to hear from everyone. And please be patient....I'm trying desperately to post some pics of our fabulous baby daughter, but have not been able to yet. My guide will be here in a few minutes & we might be able to get some uploaded. In the meantime, let's catch up.

Monday evening we ventured out to Pizza Hut :-) It took 3 tries for them to get us the "american" pizza, but finally did & it was tasty...sometimes you just can't eat anything Chinese again for a meal or two :-) It is a very nice restaurant...not like our Pizza Huts. I'm such a dingbat and not accustomed to traveling with a toddler that I completely forgot to bring a snack or drink for her....duh. Of course the second we sat down she was ready to eat :-) We managed to keep her occupied with playing until they brought some roasted chicken wings for her & Natalie. And of course I hadn't thought about the fact that she might not LIKE pizza ... but alas, I gave her a small bite of the buttery tasting crust & she liked it fine, so WHEW! I don't forget snacks, toys or books anymore.

Monday night was another perfect-o sleeping night. She is just a dream when it comes to sleeping....thank God. She just goes right to sleep.....in fact she really doesn't fuss over anything. She's very pleasant and outgoing and smart as a whip! She has very good enunciation of words she is mimicking in English. She's going to learn so well, I think. I generally have to wake her up....just opening the curtains & rustling about the room so we don't startle her. As soon as she's awake, she just stands up & arms up to me, again saying "neow now" for the potty.

Tuesday was another great day with ChangChang. We got up & had breakfast & she was pretty funny with the congee. I decided to put some stuff in it. she would promptly pick out whatever icky stuff she didn't like (I think it was the fish this time) and hand it to us. Yuck she says! She uses her utensils very well and is neat and orderly with her food....just like her jie-jie! Natalie cannot get enough of her...they're getting along just fine. She still wasn't too sure about Roger...until I let him introduce her to the goldfish....well, now it is a different story! As long as he had the goldfish, he was cool! We went shopping at Parkson's dept store...I got ChangChang 5 pairs of adorable shoes that would cost $40-50 each in the US at a boutique....but all 5 pairs were only about $35 total. I know I could have found them even cheaper somewhere else, but it was a nice store. After a trip into the WalMart (3 or 4 floors?) to get a stroller & a few other items, we decided to do a regular American tour & hit McD for lunch. Not quite like our McD, but OK. The spicy chicken was mega-spicy! ChangChang ate maybe one McNugget and a few fries.

Tuesday afternoon was a breakthrough for Roger. Some neighbors stopped by for a quick visit & ChangChang found herself "trapped" between the strangers and Roger. She ran to him and jumped in his lap....the first time for her. We were so happy to see that she saw him as a comforting protector. And by the time evening rolled around, if he said "qin qin baba", she would present her cheek for a kiss :-) And again, another perfectly easy dinner, followed by bath and bedtime....again, sleeping with no problems.

So here we are at Wednesday afternoon....This morning we went to Green Mountain park and visited the buddist temples and climbed up to the top of the pagoda. It was an amazing view and Natalie had alot of fun with our guide Hannah & we all fed the koi....which looks like a shark feeding frenzy when you throw the food in. The girls really enjoyed that and we loved the squeals of laughter from ChangChang. We stayed behind and watched from the shore as Roger and Natalie went on a boat ride.....that thing looked pretty rickety to me :-) ChangChang did not pitch a fit as I had feared once she saw that baba and jiejie were leaving...she just plopped on the bench and laughed and waved at them as they rode around. Obviously she had been to the park before, so she knew they would be back. Hannah went with us to lunch & helped us to order an amazing feast that was so tasty & yummy! Anna was very happy to have a treat of sizzling beef and these really good sugar snap peas. Speaking of Hannah, she is here now, so we will try to post pictures. More later.

Monday update

Anna had a great evening and slept GREAT all night long. I even had to wake her up at 7:15 so we could get ready for the day. She hasn't shed a tear all day and just likes to play & loves her jie-jie Natalie. She has come out even more & is VERY playful. She still prefers me over Roger, but she's getting better. She likes to walk with Natalie and I holding her hands and then on the count of 3, she picks up her feet as we lift. That gets tiring & I wish she would hold Roger's hand sometimes :-)

We are so lucky that so far her adjustment has been amazing. She is very very smart. And she IS potty trained! Yes, at 26 months it is possible and really easy. She just looks at me & says Neo Now (sp?) and we just walk to the potty....no big deal. I did put a pull-up on her last night, but 10 hours later it was dry. woohoo!

She knows what she likes to eat & doesn't like. She ate plain congee this morning, but kept stirring it around as if she was wondering where the "good" stuff was. So I finally got the hint & went to see what goodies were available to add in. I selected pickles and dried fish. Ewww. But she was SO excited and poured it in and stirred it up....yummy. I'm already so sick of Chinese food. I know that sounds awful to some folks, but there's alot of it I don't like and it is not "western". So I pretty much eat fried rice all the time. It gets old after a few days.

All of Anna's paperwork was processed today, so after we promised to take care of her always, and place our red thumbprint over our signatures, she was officially declared our daughter.

She took a bath with Natalie this afternoon & at first did not want to get in, but once she saw what fun Natalie was having, she wanted in & happily played in the tub.

We figured out that reading out loud draws her in and quiets her down for a nap. She'll fit in great. And she loves to do puzzles, so that is good too!

She reminds me so much of Caroline in her size and looks....and a little in demeanor, but she is louder than Caroline. And to Florence...Anna is wearing that tiny monkey outfit you gave us....it fits her perfectly. She is teensy at only 23 pounds! But she likes to eat.....doesn't seem to want noodles, but is a rice fan. Along with watermelon, honeydew (but not canteloupe). Doesn't like bread, unlike her big sister. She's a very neat eater and also is neat with her toys & belongings. She'll fit in fine at Montessori :-)

At bedtime last night, Roger fixed a bottle of formula & I fed it to her. Then she hoped out of my lap and grabbed her cellphone and family picture book & went to the crib. She layed down in the crib and just looked at the book & made sure she had her special belongings with her. Anytime we go anywhere, she has to take her cell and photo album.....her security items I guess :-)

She will learn English very quickly...She can repeat anything in chinese and can talk to chinese people alot. And if you say a word in english, she will repeat it.

I'm going to try again to post pictures.....I'll do the best I can, & hope they can get loaded. It is really not the greatest access here. But just know that even if I can't get the pics up, I will as soon as I can. And the girls are cute as can be! Natalie is playing right now with the neigbors down the hall, as ChangChang naps with daddy keeping a watchful eye (and hoping, I'm sure, Anna doesn't wake up before I get back :-)

We have her!

After a very anxious afternoon, we went to pick up Anna at about 3:30. She looked at us for about 30 seconds & then as soon as they said "mama & baba", she got hysterical. :-( It was a very intense few minutes with her screaming and reaching for any Chinese face she could. Luckily they knew better than to do anything other than tell her no.... She stopped crying on the way to the van and on the ride back to the hotel she just whimpered softly. It was so pitiful to see tears stream down her face with just whimpering (reminded me of our god-daughter Caroline) She did NOT want anything to do with Roger...she only wanted me to hold her. She was quite frozen ... Sorry, for the interuption we have a new writer - Roger. Hello everyone Anna just had to go poop reeeeeeal bad....I'm back.... :-) Anyway, she was upset, so I just held her in my lap and Natalie read a few books to her. She fell asleep in my arms, so I just let her nap that way for an hour. Shen she woke up, she checked out Roger (from afar) and Natalie. Then she joined her big sister on the floor and began playing with the puzzle we had sent months ago to her. We were SO elated to see her play. And Natalie was able to get her first smile. After about a half hour, we decided to give the hotel restaurant a try. Us girls walked hand in hand down the hall & it felt so good.

We met up with 3 other families there who had just received their toddler daughters today also. Anna (we call her ChangChang, pronounced ChongChong) ate fried rice like a champ, didn't touch the noodles and love watermelon and honeydew. She finally let Roger feed her watermelon and began laughing hysterically at Roger's antics. Whew!

Natalie is now up in a friends room playing while ChangChang and I type away. Baba just went and bought her a mickey mouse drum, so that is good for a minute or two.

I'm going to try to post pictures, but this computer does not seem to want to let me do it. I'll try again, if not, maybe I can use another computer.

Just know that she is adorable (complete with busted lip from playing earlier this week) and good news....she is NOT hair challenged like we thought.....her hair has just been cut for the summer, so it is short, but will grow out just fine.

P.S. She's sitting in Roger's lap....and just called "mama?" to me :-)

So now we are officially....."Muller, Party of FOUR"

No Anna Yet

Just a quickie to let you know that the time to get Anna has been changed to 3:10 this afternoon. So I promise to try to get back to the business center later today or tonite to post an update about her. We don't have a computer in our room and this one takes forever and then some. So I might only be able to post one picture or so tonite......we'll see what happens.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers! More to follow.....

Saturday morning

Thanks everyone for all the supportive comments. I really need them right now!

Not much to report today. Natalie went to sleep too early last night & was wide awake at 2:30 a.m. Roger didn't have any luck getting her to relax for 1.5 hours. I was trying to ignore them & pretend to be asleep. :-) Finally I just took her and rocked her for awhile & made her a little pallet on the floor. She was able to go right back to sleep until a decent time this morning.

We will leave in a few hours for the airport and flight to Nanning. I hope to be able to post tonight & should have more details on when we are scheduled to receive Anna. Currently it is in the morning, but I know things can change, so I'm being flexible. Usually a feat for me, but when in China, I become a different person & just go with the flow! I have to.....the traffic is so different than here & no seatbelts or any safety precautions. I would be insane within 5 minutes if I gave it a second thought! ha!

As you could tell from the pictures it was SO polluted and hazy yesterday....but today is much more clear and we can acually see the buildings across the street! It looks windy so maybe it is cooler too....it was hot here yesterday. Yuck.

OK....signing off from Beijing! Catch you in southern China in Nanning!

Friday night in Beijing

I'm back. I went upstairs to the room and Roger and Natalie are passed out cold....TV blaring, lights on & all. They were completely out so I decided to take advantage of the time & come finish posting pictures from the day.

I'll hit the highlights of our trip so far:

• Last night, we went to the Acrobatic Show. It was spectacular & we had really good seats right in the middle and near the front. I cannot imagine how those people learned to do all those amazing feats of acrobats, spinning plates, balancing numerous folks and props on their heads and all the other stuff they do. I was so tired I forgot the camera. And that's a shame because I can't really describe it all. Plus, the 3 of us were SO exhausted that our heads kept falling over! No matter how fascinating it was, nothing could stop us from momentarily falling asleep.
• Great Wall and Zoo today, which I already described.
• The we went to tour the Hutong. We toured via pedicab (aka rickshaw) the neighborhoods of 700 year old structures. These are mostly family homes centered around a family courtyard. They described how they would situate the buildings according to Feng Shui. We were invited into one family's home. Around one small courtyard were 4 buildings. One housed the kitchen and dining room, 2 others were the sleeping quarters and the last one was a workshop where the father was a papercut artist. He did amazing works of art.
• By then, we were pretty hungry, so Doris found a local restaurant for us. We had a great feast of fried rice, some kind of fantastic stir-fried flour thingies (go-da?), beef with veggies that Natalie could not get enough of, hot/sour soup, Beijing noodles (obviously home made), brocolli, 2 giant size Tsing Tao beers, a huge apple juice, bottled water, etc. for a whopping $14! Gotta love that!

Natalie has received LOTS of attention from curious Beijingers. Normally she craves the limelight, but it did not take her very long to realize she does not like it. It is funny to see the looks on locals faces. They look at her and even if she is holding Doris' hand, they seem like they can't figure out the connection. Once, when Doris had stepped away to take Daniel somewhere, a man walked right up and started asking questions of Natalie in Chinese. I said no Chinese, she's an American. He seemed dumfounded or something that she didn't answer him. Oh well. Other Chinese asked Doris if they could get their picture taken with the goofy-looking Americans! It was wierd. They promptly plopped a baby in my arms and took the picture with us holding their baby! As I was handing the little cutie back, I noticed his bare bottom had been resting on my arm! I didn't see the split pants. But no accidents on me....thank goodness! We've seen LOTS of split pants & now I have seen them in action. Saves lots of $$ in diapers. Lots of little kids wave at us and even babies smile at us on the street. Are we that funny looking? When we go to Nanning tomorrow, we are sure to get much more attention, as that city does not have as many foreigners as Beijing does. This hotel has lots of Australians and New Zealanders. I love to hear their accents. And surely they would love to hear a good southern drawl!

OK, I think that is now it for the night. This will be a big fat internet bill, but at least we are now up to date. Hoping to get a room with a computer in it tomorrow in Nanning, so posting will be easier it that is the case.

Thanks for reading our blog. Oh, and I can get access to my emails just fine, so feel free to email me as well.

On to the next step in our journey to our mei mei. I suppose in just over 24 hours.....we'll have Natalie's mei mei. Scary thought, but I'm sure it will be fine.

Here we are with Doris and Daniel after the Hutong tour. We are at a lake nearby.

Check out this real live Panda bear! He was pretty amazing but sure does need a nice warm bath to get his fur sparkly clean! All the other pandas were too busy having a siesta to be bothered with us.

No, I'm not sunburned :-) I probably looked like I was going to have a stroke! ha!
You can see Roger and Natalie in this shot. They left me in the dust as they climbed higher. I was waiting for them farther down. They are in the middle of the picture....Roger is wearing my bright green bag. Looks like a walk in the park for them! ha!
Can you see how STEEP these steps are?!? My muscles are so tired! I think I'll be needing one of those great massages! I was happy to leave the GW with my body intact and no heart attack!

This one is a better picture of the wall itself.

Here we are at the Great Wall....sorry, I didn't post the one with all the wall showing! OOPS

Here we are in Beijing

Hi everyone! I know you've been wondering were we are, but we've been so busy we haven't had the time (or energy) until now to post. We made it safely and had a good trip. Here's some of what we've been up to.

Tuesday afternoon, we drove to New Orleans for the long flight. We decided to spend the night there & make the 7 a.m. flight out of New Orleans in order to save about 15 hours of travel time. It is a horrible flight(s) otherwise with all the layovers, etc. This flight was New Orleans to Newark direct to Beijing. It was long, but not too bad at all.

Our friend Doris was waiting for us at the Beijing airport. She immediately took Natalie by the hand & of course, Natalie only wants to be with Doris :-) Doris was a sight for sore eyes. We then checked into the VERY nice Park Plaza hotel, had a yummy dinner and crashed solidly for the night.

This morning, we were up at ready for a busy day of sightseeing at the Great Wall. Natalie and Roger made it to the 3rd tower (I made it to the 2nd)....it is VERY steep!

We then went to the zoo. The pandas were all sleeping, except one. He needed a bath. Some parts of the zoo was nice, but other parts were pretty depressing. The lions, tigers and panthers were housed in these big old cage type enclosures.

I'll write more later. I need to go for now. I should be able to post from our hotel tomorrow in Nanning. Tomorrow is our last day as a family of 3!

Natalie is proud to represent her school, Mary B. Austin at the Great Wall of China!

This is Natalie and Doris' adorable 3 year old son Daniel....they have had SO much fun together and is is so amazing to listen to him jabber away in Chinese. He teaches Natalie chinese, and she teaches him English! It is so cute to hear him yell out "what's that?"

Who wants a good 'ol American breakfast of Chinese noodles, bacon, baked beans (?) and crusty bread??

Nothing says commercialism more than a nice Starbucks right outside your hotel!

three, trio, tres, san

Our last family photo at home as the Muller trio.

We are out the door! More later.....

Our itinerary

Well.....here's what we'll be doing the next few weeks.

Itinerary:
Oct 3 (Tues) – Drive to New Orleans in the afternoon & spend the night.
Oct 4 (Wed) – Depart New Orleans 7 a.m. to Newark to Beijing (Continental)
Oct 5 (Thurs) – Arrive Beijing 1:45 p.m. (Go to theatre in the evening for Acrobat show)
Oct 6 (Fri) – BUSY day :-) Great Wall, Zoo to see pandas, Hutong, Houhai
Oct 7 (Sat) - 2 p.m. flight to Nanning and check in at the Majestic Hotel
Oct 8 (Sun) - Pick up Anna!! We think in the morning….subject to change.
Oct 9 (Mon) - Complete adoption registration and other processes.
Oct 10 (Tue) - Sightseeing in Nanning City.
Oct 11 (Wed) - Sightseeing in Nanning City.
Oct 12 (Thur) - Sightseeing in Nanning City, and later get notary certificates
Oct 13 (Fri) - Get Anna's passport. Pack/prepare to go to Guilin.
Oct 14 (Sat) - Go to Guilin by train (takes approximately 5 hours one way)
Oct 15 (Sun) - Sightseeing in Guilin.
Oct 16 (Mon) - Flight to Guangzhou from Guilin.
Oct 17 (Tue) - Consulate appointment and do some sightseeing/shopping in Guangzhou.
Oct 18 (Wed) - Take oath at Consulate and get Anna's visa in the afternoon.
Oct 19 (Thur) - Flight to Beijing in the morning, continue to Newark and arrive in New Orleans approx 10 p.m. that night.
Oct 20 (Fri) - HOME!!!!!!! Whew!!

I'm Hurrying as Fast as I Can!

Yeesh! This is hard work getting ready for this trip!! Along with working full time and taking care of Natalie (and to some degree...Roger :-) (He doesn't usually read the blog, so I can write that safely hehe)...it is ALOT of work. I'll just be so glad when the last suitcase is hermetically sealed and out the door.

I'll try to post again before we leave on Tuesday afternoon, but just in case I get so bogged down in the details, just know that I will be posting from China and I look forward to your comments! Somebody please be sure and let me know if you can see the pictures (sometimes you can't view them when you're in China).

It is hard to believe we will have Anna in our arms by this time next Sunday! I hope she's having a great time with her loving foster family this last week before she meets her goofy parents and big sister :-)