Monday, August 31, 2009
Cannot post pics
Maybe BaBa will have time tomorrow and figure out a work around that will allow me to post some pics. N
Day 3
I must start where I left off last time. So we met the babies in a hotel conference room on Sunday at 5pm. It was mass confusion, nine families receiving their new children and tons of cameras and camcorders recording the event. Dale was closer to the guide and the orphanage director and they handed Lily to him, after a few photos I suggested we go to a quieter corner of the room. Shortly after we sat down she promptly threw up milk, in fact it was basically projectile vomiting, even Dale undies were soaked. Poor Lily her clothing was drenched also. CAM swung into action as I tried to find napkins/towels. CAM spoke to the guide and said we had to leave because Lily was not feeling well. Either they overfed her or she had car sickness and of course probably the stress of the whole event. She would have had a car drive of 3.5 hours to arrive in Nanchang. So we had to break two important rules after receiving your child, we had to change her clothing and we had to bath her right away, it is recommended that you take both of things very slowly, we had to jump right in...she loved the rubber duckies in her bath.
Today was a full morning of paper work then a quieter afternoon. The traffic is absolutely insane, bikes, buses, cars, mopeds and rickshaws all competing for space, basically breaking every North American driving rule. Pedestrians do not have the right of way in China. Some streets are seriously scary as you try to cross them and no one wears helmets on their bikes. Sometimes there are three people on a scooter, really unbelievable.
Lily was very withdrawn and stoic when we first met her but her eyes were very thoughtful and intellgent following our every move. She is coming out of her shell a bit, at dinner tonight she actually laughed out loud at BaBa's games. I can now fully understand spittingwooden nickels blog post when she said they barely had time to eat. So far everything is overscheduled and in buildings with no central airconditioning all on about 3 hours sleep a night, jet lag is hard on a body when your main concern is looking after a little one. She is very curious about everything. She slept like a log last night, not so much tonight, she is resisting sleep.
She is smaller than we imagined, the 12 month clothing is too large. She is wear things labelled 6 to 12 months. Our travel group really is terrific, there are some folks from the maritimes, one couple from NS, one from NB and two couples from Newfoundland finding their accents comforting being so far from home.
Today was a full morning of paper work then a quieter afternoon. The traffic is absolutely insane, bikes, buses, cars, mopeds and rickshaws all competing for space, basically breaking every North American driving rule. Pedestrians do not have the right of way in China. Some streets are seriously scary as you try to cross them and no one wears helmets on their bikes. Sometimes there are three people on a scooter, really unbelievable.
Lily was very withdrawn and stoic when we first met her but her eyes were very thoughtful and intellgent following our every move. She is coming out of her shell a bit, at dinner tonight she actually laughed out loud at BaBa's games. I can now fully understand spittingwooden nickels blog post when she said they barely had time to eat. So far everything is overscheduled and in buildings with no central airconditioning all on about 3 hours sleep a night, jet lag is hard on a body when your main concern is looking after a little one. She is very curious about everything. She slept like a log last night, not so much tonight, she is resisting sleep.
She is smaller than we imagined, the 12 month clothing is too large. She is wear things labelled 6 to 12 months. Our travel group really is terrific, there are some folks from the maritimes, one couple from NS, one from NB and two couples from Newfoundland finding their accents comforting being so far from home.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Greetings from Nanchang
Hi,
We have just arrived at the hotel and the guide is taking us shortly to a local store for last minute baby supplies. We meet the babies at 5pm today in a hotel conference room!!!
Beijing was not at all what I expected. While we were landing I thought we could be flying into any North American city. An amazingly huge airport.
We only got about three hours sleep last night but are not tired now, it is too exciting. We had to leave the hotel in Beijing at 5:30am to catch our flight to Nanchang. To walk into the hotel room and see the crib in the corner was pretty darn scary and pretty darn amazing at the same time. So far has not been unbearably hot like I was anticipating.
The Notice of Coming finally did arrive on Friday morning. We received an email at the airport in Toronto letting us know, what a huge relief. It is being sent to our hotel here in Nanchang. Hopefully it arrives on Wednesday. We will be allowed to meet Lily today and keep her in our care but not leave this province till the paperwork arrives - not worried about that, we were just more concerned about a delay in meeting her. I will post some photos later CAM took lots already. Her flight was delayed from Vancouver so she arrived a few hours later and got the royal treatment, a guide and her husband picked her up and drove her to the hotel in Beijing in their own vehicle. N
We have just arrived at the hotel and the guide is taking us shortly to a local store for last minute baby supplies. We meet the babies at 5pm today in a hotel conference room!!!
Beijing was not at all what I expected. While we were landing I thought we could be flying into any North American city. An amazingly huge airport.
We only got about three hours sleep last night but are not tired now, it is too exciting. We had to leave the hotel in Beijing at 5:30am to catch our flight to Nanchang. To walk into the hotel room and see the crib in the corner was pretty darn scary and pretty darn amazing at the same time. So far has not been unbearably hot like I was anticipating.
The Notice of Coming finally did arrive on Friday morning. We received an email at the airport in Toronto letting us know, what a huge relief. It is being sent to our hotel here in Nanchang. Hopefully it arrives on Wednesday. We will be allowed to meet Lily today and keep her in our care but not leave this province till the paperwork arrives - not worried about that, we were just more concerned about a delay in meeting her. I will post some photos later CAM took lots already. Her flight was delayed from Vancouver so she arrived a few hours later and got the royal treatment, a guide and her husband picked her up and drove her to the hotel in Beijing in their own vehicle. N
Thursday, August 27, 2009
We are packed.
Oh boy, we have packed everything but the kitchen sink. Once we made the decision to travel to China without the Notice of Coming I felt better. It was suggested to us that it might be best that I travel without D on Friday and that he stay on the island and wait for the documents.
That did not go over very well with either of us, so after numerous phone calls and emails between ourselves, the province and our adoption agency this afternoon we decided the best thing to do is travel to China tomorrow morning as planned and have our Notice of Coming shipped to our hotel in Nanchang. Again, fingers crossed no delays please.
I cannot believe in a few hours we will be on our way to China. What a ride! When our social worker said that this process for not for the faint of heart she was not kidding. In a few short hours we will be on a plane just that much closer to meeting Lily. Thanks for all the support.
That did not go over very well with either of us, so after numerous phone calls and emails between ourselves, the province and our adoption agency this afternoon we decided the best thing to do is travel to China tomorrow morning as planned and have our Notice of Coming shipped to our hotel in Nanchang. Again, fingers crossed no delays please.
I cannot believe in a few hours we will be on our way to China. What a ride! When our social worker said that this process for not for the faint of heart she was not kidding. In a few short hours we will be on a plane just that much closer to meeting Lily. Thanks for all the support.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
No travel approval yet
So anyone who might be reading this if you want to send positive thoughts our way and pray for the elusive Travel Approval from China to arrive - that would be great. I am sure it is just delayed a bit and will arrive maybe tomorrow. Travel in eight days time, loads of time for it to arrive, right? Right! No time for stressing over the missing travel approval. N
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Travel package received
Yesterday we received our travel package from our adoption agency. In the package we received our passports back safe and sound. It was a little nerve racking sending off our passports a couple of weeks ago. Your travel visa to China is actually afixed on one of the pages of your passports. So two weeks from now we will be in Beijing!
Friday, August 7, 2009
She's got mail...
Lily received her first piece of mail today! It was a box full of lovely gifts, two Asian dolls and three books. The inscriptions in the books made us cry. Thank you very much to brother J and his lovely wife S for the presents for Lily - so beautiful. Also a big thanks to the Abrahamson family, how kind of you to think of Lily, that book is so touching. Today was a great day, we went to the airport and were part of a group welcoming home a couple from our city who adopted twin boys. What a sight to see the four of them together.
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