Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig.

We are home. The flights were a breeze. Both girls slept nearly the whole time. Rosie had a bassinette and Lily layed all over Jacob and I. Once we arrived in Chicago the fun and games began because our flight was delayed a few times due to weather. Just as we were about to throw in the towel and get a room for the night we were told we could leave so we finally walked through our door at 3.55am. We stayed up until 7am and then went to bed until noon. Needless to say not much has gone on here today. We did take Rosie for a stroll around the neighbourhood so that Lily could push her but that was enough excitement for one day.

It feels so good to be home. Our bed is like heaven even with the 4 of us in it last night. Rose had a nap this afternoon in her crib and suddenly fell asleep at the beginning of dinner and is in her crib again. We are hoping she will go right through until tomorrow but we know that is a big wish. LOL

Whilst in Chicago Lily and Jacob had a snowball fight. We circumnavigated the globe and it wasn't until we were virtually back on our own doorstep that we finally found the snow!

I am tired and busy doing mountains of laundry so I will post a few photos and see you again soon.

Rosies great esacape from the hotel room.

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All that playing wore them out.

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Finally we managed to force everything into our luggage. I don't htink cases are meant to llok quite that round.

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Last Post From The Homeland Of Our Girls

This is it from China. Next time you hear from us we will be home. We may be spending the night in Chicago rather than doing the whole journey at one time so it could be Sunday before we re-appear.

We had another fun day and tidied up some last minute odds and ends and Jacob bought a picture of the 4 of us standing on a bridge here in China. We really didn't think we had bought so much stuff until we tried to fit it in our luggage. Since we already had 3 cases buying another one was out of the question since we have to maneuver this lot through the airport! I had completely forgotten how much stuff a baby requires. My carry on is filled to the bursting point and I must confess some overspill has landed in lily's bag.

Please send happy thoughts our way for a smooth flight with Miss Rose. Lily isn't a concern she is an angel on planes but Miss Roses' opinion of flying remains to be seen. Hopefully the fact that she can't walk yet will encourage her to stay seated.

I will leave here with a heavy heart knowing that it is the birthplace of my girls and that we are leaving it all behind again. A chapter is ending and a new and much brighter one is starting.

Andie, having you here has been magic. We could have done it without you but we wouldn't have wanted to and it wouldn't have been so much fun. The girls love you dearly, as do we and words aren't enough to thank you.

The wires for the camera are all packed away but we have a really funny video from today when Rose tried to run away. We were packing and Lily suddenly said, "Rosie is leaving", and indeed she was. She was out of the door. She had the decency wave bye bye as she rounded the corner.

We are off to bed as we have an ugly wake up call coming in very soon.

Thanks so much to all of you for following along. To my family I will ring you once we are home.

Love
Us.

Almost home

OK so we are not really almost home but we are getting jolly close. I am not as desperate this time to leave as I was with Lily. This trip is alot of fun and in some ways I could stay a bit longer but seriously I need my mattress and my fabric softener. We were in the toy room earlier and I started cleaning up the toys and organising the chaos, it felt so good to be cleaning something up. Jacob and Andy think I am out of my tree.I also cleaned the bus where we were sitting with baby wipes because it was revolting.

Rosie is turning out to be a cheeky little monkey just like Lily. I can see the 2 of them conspiring against us in the future. She now crawls all around the room and into Andy's room but she sticks too us like glue in the toy room and freezes when a stranger approaches her. Since we have her in a baby carrier most of the time I just cover her face or pull my jacket around her. She has been shaking her head, no, all the time so today I showed her to nod, yes. It cracks me up cos she puts her head all the way back. jacob now gets her to give him 5 and she is quite liberal with her kisses. Every where we go people comment on how pretty she is and she really is, she has the most amazing little face and the cutest red full lips. Lily can make her roar with laughter. OK...I know enough of the gushing. But I can't help it I have 2 of the bestest kiddos in the world

Today we were free as Sophie, our guide, had to go to the embassy for us. Tomorrow we are going to another park. After being in Beijing and seeing the Great Wall all this other stuff just pales in comparison. I might bow out of tomorrows tour and hang around here with Rosie and start packing.

Last night when we were talking to a friend on Skype she asked us if we had been to the store, "A gift From China". When I said I hadn't she told me to go. It is a charity store here on the Island and all the proceeds go to the orphans. They have such lovely stuff. Not the same tut that all the other stores have. I found a few items that we just can't possibly live without and I purchased a book called, "A mother Remembers". It is a birth mothers account of having to give up her baby girl. It is written for children and is priceless. The preface is such a startling reality but I knew I had to have it for the girls when they are much older.


I thought we were going to have a lot of extra space in our luggage coming home but now I am not so sure. We haven't gone mad with the shopping but we have bought things for the girls to remember their homeland with. I have even started bargaining with the sales people and I never thought I would be able to.

That is all for now. Jacob has just come back upstairs following his evening stroll. He only does it to see how many business cards he gets handed by the "ladies of the night". There is a competition going on between some of the dads to see who gets the most offers. The dad who had the most left today so Jacob has a chance of leaving here a winner! It is odd but Andie and I walked the same walk as him not an hour ago and we couldn't even see a hooker.....they must crawl out of the woodwork.
see you very soon.....well some of you. Thank you for all of your comments and emails, it is so nice to feel as if we are at home with all of you.
Love all of us.

Rosie Playing

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Needs no explanation

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we have this photo from our last trip..I bet she has grown a bit!

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We had a little contest at dinner tonight. I won but that's no surprise cos I could balance a whole canteen of cutlery on this schnoz!

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A Busy Day.

What a busy and fun filled day we have had. Early this morning we headed off to Guangzhou Number 1 kindergarten to have a guided tour. It was incredible, the school itself is very large and very modern with every facility you can imagine. We were given a performance by the 2 yr olds and it was truly touching. After they strutted stuff we all got to shake their little hands and I started taking pictures of them and they loved it. They gave all of us a little pinwheel that they had made. Lily was thrilled with hers and Rose thought it made great lunch fodder. The school is a boarding school and the children are as young as 2. Lily says she likes her school better! It was so clean and so bright and cheerful. The bedrooms as they call them were a tad sparse and reminded me of an orphanage.

Kindergarten

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Lily dancing with a student

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Lily with the teachers

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After that it was home for lunch and then downstairs to take red couch photos. All things considered they turned out very well. Rosie shocked us all by allowing us to put her down for a few minutes. We dressed both the girls the same as per Lily's strict instructions.


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Our little group

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From the photos we headed straight over to the medical office to get Rosie's medical done. I handed over the package about her heart condition to the DR and she read and started the exam. Rose did not like it at all and actually cried tears for the first time in 3 days. The DR said something to us in Chinese and bolted out of the room and came back with another doc'. ( at this point I remembered my friends, Kim and Lori saying how different it is when you have a SN so I was able to stay calm, thanks ladies). He examined Rosie then left the room and came back with yet another doc who also examined Rosie. At this point she was crying so hard I can't believe they could hear anything. The Dr's were getting into a strong discussion so Jacob ran and got our guide who came in and apparently un-ruffled their feathers because they looked at us and announced that she has a heart murmur. We told them that we know this and we are fine with it. They looked at us as if we had sprouted 2 heads and said OK and left as fast as they arrived and the little weasel was able to put some clothes back on and calm down for a few minutes before we stripped her off to head to the weight and measure section. I failed to take any photos as it was really stressful.

After that we picked up all the shoppy that we had ordered. Some artwork, some clothes, a chop etc etc. (CF, Ben is still here and has moved his gallery right next door to the hotel so we had a scroll of Rose's name painted by him today to match the one that you had him paint for Lily last time we were here.) Lily has made out like a bandit in the shoe department but I bought some bigger sizes so she can have them later as well. Rosies feet are to darned small for shoesies so I have bought her a couple of paris to grow into but she is so little. According to the medical today she weighs 16lbs and I cannot see how she can weigh that much.

Tonight we headed back to Lucys and had dinner with everyone else from the hotel. They know us by name now, how sad is that! Andrea is so much more adventurous than we are in the food department and she tries something new every night. Last night she ventured off alone to find some authentic chinese food.

It is freezing here again. The wind is really blowing too. Tomorrow is another free day so we will finish the shopping. If any of our friends want anything now is the time to speak up and if we have room we will get it for you.

Rose and Lily are starting to get rather silly together. Lily cracks Rose up and today the activity that made them both roar was jumping on the bed. Lily sprayed Rose in the tub tonight and she found it highly amusing. She doesn't care if the water goes in her face. We have two water babies. Rosie loves to be upside down. Tonight when I got them out of the bath I did her first and then put her on the floor so that I could get Lily. I expected her to have a fit but she just crawled by herself back into the bathroom and gave us a big toothy smile. This is huge because up until htis point if you put her down she clamps on to a leg but she is starting to trust us enough to know that we are not going to leave her. In a couple more weeks she will probably be wishing that we would leave her. LOL. Lily had a much better day today and is turning the corner back to being herself. We are so thankful that she is able to verbalise what is going on inside her noggin.

No more monkeys jumping on the bed

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I have to jot down a few observations about China so that we will remember them. The Chinese are pushy, very pushy. They are not at all shy and will just push you out of the way. Not just the men but the woman too. The elderly are so kind and gentle and I just love it when they come up and yack away in Chinese to us. They hold such wisdom and kindness. How do they go from being the pushiest people in the world to such tender hearts? They love to have their photos taken with the westerners.
Guangzhou is famous for oranges, car manufacturing and t.v's. They make a TV every 2 seconds. Our guide today was a pain and talked about abandoned babies very callously. Lily asked if Rose was abandoned when he said what he said. She didn't however ask about herself. She knows her story and right now it is a kind story. She just doesn't need hard cold details at age five.

That is all for now. We are nearly homeward bound......WOOHOO. Andie wants to stay but as for us we have a whole new life to start and quite frankly can't wait.
Phew, this has been a long post so I will post some photos and call it a night.
Oh and by the way I am floored by how much I love these 2 girls of mine and to think I was worried that I could never love another child as much as I love Lily. Jacob got rather watery in the eye department today as the doctors were poking at his baby. I can see he is going to have a really hard time when she has her surgery. I will have to see if they have extra meds just for him.

Love and miss everyone.
Love Dawn, Jacob, Lily, Rose and Andie.

ps. Is Verna the blog fairy staying at the white swan or the victory. We think we have seen them 3 times but haven't approached them?

Day What?

I am no longer sure what day it is......duh!

Today was a much needed free day so we woke up at a slow pace and meandered down to brekky very late. After that I took Lily back to the toy room whilst Jacob took Weasel upstairs for a very long nap. After lunch we took a cab out and about and did the rest of our shopping. The end of the trip is in sight and we are now picking up all the stuff that we have ordered......good job we have lots of room in the luggage. Andie had a child free day today and went off an excursion of her own. God she is amazing and we are so glad that she is with us.

Weasel is doing well and yippers away to Lily quite a bit. She loves to be tickled and loves her bath. We were having problems in the poop department so our guide rang the orphanage and they told her to hold her over the loo and whistle. Say what? Well today I did this and it worked but it just seems so wrong to hold a child the size of an oven ready chicken over the loo. The other problem with this is I can't whistle for a hill of beans.

The green eyed monster showed up today and it was UGLY. The mother in me is very sad and torn to see lily act this way but after having to listen to her lip and her atitude and get the stink eye every time I asked something the human in me is about ready to tell her to put on her game face, suck it up and deal with it......don't worry I would never do it. It is my job as the parent to help her through this. We found out today that playing all of her favourite tunes, quite loud, just brings out the old Lily and makes her more comfortable. She really wants out of here. I have tried to explain that we are heading that way but she wants it NOW.
We only took a couple of photos today that are any different from all the rest so here they are.

I look half crocked in this picture but it nice to have the girls together.

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I just love all the statues that are everywhere here and so does Lily.

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One very large chicken.

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Tomorrow is the medical exam.....I am sure that will be a joy. LOL. Hopefully there won't be any glitches just alot of screaming. Rosie hates to be naked. Jacob is hoping she will still feel this way many years from now!

Good night
love us

Shhhh, everyone is sleeping

It is 3pm and the gang are all napping so I decided to get a head start on the blog post.

Since I cannot view any blogs I was very surprised to see comments from someone we had never heard from before but who obviously knew us quite well. It wasn't until they wrote something yesterday that I realised who they were. Hi Pipo. I have no idea where the new name came from and I am blindly guessing at what it stands for. So far I have decided it must be something to do with pelvis's and obstructions. Hey I cant get read your blog this is the best I can do. I am so glad you got to see your ducky here.

Today we went to see a mausoleum which due to the rain wasn't much fun and then we headed to do some more shopping. On the bus on the way to the shop Lily started to cry, Lily is many things but she is not a crier. After a minute or two she started to sob so in the middle of a huge department store with at least 10 million people pushing past I was trying to sort out what was wrong. I think the everything hit her at once and mix that with not feeling well and she just fell apart. She wants to go home and I am at the same point as her. We are having a really great time but enough already. There are 3 things that I am really missing, my bed, the smell of fabric softener on our clothes and the food. Crazy really but that is the truth.

Onward to the fun stuff. Rose is moving forwards in leaps and bounds in some areas and in others not so much. We all went down to the play room this afternoon and she came out of her protective barrier a little bit more. She was crawling to the end of my feet and would even crawl all the way to Jacob if he put his arms out for her. She is finally starting to babble a bit more as well. Lily needed some play time today and it was great for her as there were other "big" girls there and she got to run around and play ball with them all. Most of the babies here at the moment are SN and it is so lovely to see them with families. We met another couple from Fl and they now have a 5 yr old and she is gorgeous and has wrapped them around her pinkie already. Rosie isn't sleeping well. She seems to be doing alot of "de-fraging" as Jacob calls it when she sleeps and has lots of nightmares, it is so sad but necessary for her so that she can sort our where she is. Everyone comments on her wherever we go and if I ask them to guess her age they guess, based on her size that she is under 9 months and when they see her attempt to walk they say 10 months. Such a little one. I came up with her nickname this morning, it is weasel. Not sure why but it suits her. Tonight in the bath, which she loves she got so excited that she tipped herself over and went straight under the water. I grabbed her instantly and fished her out and she was spluttering and coughing. I picked her out and wrapped her in a towel but she wanted none of it and tried to throw herself back in the tub with her sister so I put her back in.

Shamian Island just isn't the same anymore. Lots of the businesses have gone and it is really quiete here now. When we came with Lily it was a very place and filled with shops. We have been spending lots of time at Lucy's ( for those of you that don't know Lucy's is an American style cafe with real American food)It has helped Lily too, she got to eat mashed potatos yesterday and loved them. We didn't go there last time but this time it is helping me to keep my sanity.

Andie and the girls.

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That does it for now.
love us