Here are the pictures and videos that we were able to take when we visited Lucy's orphanage last week. We hope you families that are adopting from here see your little one. We shot as many pictures as possible, in between the tears.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Miss Independent
She has come so far so fast. Here she is exerting her independence in a small way, something new today; along with taking 6 steps on her own toward me, climbing our stairs (good for leg muscles i figured) and clapping along with us when we congratulate her.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
on the road again
its 5 am in china on thursday - the bellboy just picked up our bags and we will be checking out pretty soon. i am not sure how/why we agreed to such an early flight, but here we are. quite excited to get home, not so crazy about the flight time. would pumping lucy full of benedryl be considered drugging her? i hope she is alright, seriously, with all the pressure and such up there.
she had a much better night of sleeping last night, we are convinced we overstuffed her the past two nights. small portion last night, and she was out for most of the past 10 hours. she spent the last half in our bed, which she has comfortably taken over. such a mover, for such a little thing, she will make her way around the bed in no time flat.
gotta shower, here is ton.
i am so ready to get going and get through the next 24 hrs. i am not sure what kind of shape we will be in when you see us at the airport- tired- smelly-hungry, etc. for us it will be like 4 in the morning but we will have smiles on our faces i am sure.
this whole trip has felt like a dream of sorts. once we are home and she is in her crib i think reality will set in and she will take over the house like she owns the place. (reminds me of mccoy and his place)
better go. i am sad i have to wake her up. think cute and grumpy all at the same time.
yaaaa! we have our girl. and for those that can not be there to greet us- videos will be coming soon since we can use that on our computer at home.
hugs and kisses(slobber ones too)
the bevacqua family of 3
she had a much better night of sleeping last night, we are convinced we overstuffed her the past two nights. small portion last night, and she was out for most of the past 10 hours. she spent the last half in our bed, which she has comfortably taken over. such a mover, for such a little thing, she will make her way around the bed in no time flat.
gotta shower, here is ton.
i am so ready to get going and get through the next 24 hrs. i am not sure what kind of shape we will be in when you see us at the airport- tired- smelly-hungry, etc. for us it will be like 4 in the morning but we will have smiles on our faces i am sure.
this whole trip has felt like a dream of sorts. once we are home and she is in her crib i think reality will set in and she will take over the house like she owns the place. (reminds me of mccoy and his place)
better go. i am sad i have to wake her up. think cute and grumpy all at the same time.
yaaaa! we have our girl. and for those that can not be there to greet us- videos will be coming soon since we can use that on our computer at home.
hugs and kisses(slobber ones too)
the bevacqua family of 3
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
one last day in china
so the good ol days of lucy sleeping 12 hrs straight are coming to an end, she kept waking up every hour crying. i think her ear really bothers her and she can not stand a wet diaper at night.
took a short break because she woke up and her routine is:
get her naked sit her on her potty-make her a hot bottle and feed her a fig newton or two-get her in the bath-take her to breakfast.
she is so fiesty. only quiet now around certain strangers. she is a wild women, she has a dimple on her right cheek that you can only see when she is smiling real big or screaming real big
she does not like to have her hands dirty and her bottle has to stand up right
she is really testing us- she does something she should not do and looks right at us and laughs. naughty girl.
ok the fig newton is almost gone better go
we have one last consulate appt today and then get ready for the long flight home tomorrow. yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
thanks for all your comments-they mean a lot and get us laughing.
ps. mia, i can not wait to see you! i really missed you a lot. you will be a great big cousin for lucy and she will learn a lot from you, i got you something special from china that i hope you like. see you tomorrow!!!! love you.
took a short break because she woke up and her routine is:
get her naked sit her on her potty-make her a hot bottle and feed her a fig newton or two-get her in the bath-take her to breakfast.
she is so fiesty. only quiet now around certain strangers. she is a wild women, she has a dimple on her right cheek that you can only see when she is smiling real big or screaming real big
she does not like to have her hands dirty and her bottle has to stand up right
she is really testing us- she does something she should not do and looks right at us and laughs. naughty girl.
ok the fig newton is almost gone better go
we have one last consulate appt today and then get ready for the long flight home tomorrow. yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
thanks for all your comments-they mean a lot and get us laughing.
ps. mia, i can not wait to see you! i really missed you a lot. you will be a great big cousin for lucy and she will learn a lot from you, i got you something special from china that i hope you like. see you tomorrow!!!! love you.
red couch pics - and the gross story part deux
surprisingly, the red couch event went off quite nicely. here is why we are surprised. see, all the other kids (all boys) had a rough first three days; tantrums, crying, and some unexpected actions. all the while, lucy was the picture of perfection, the one to be envied. in my heart, i felt bad that our kid was doing so well. how the tables have turned. she does not like to be left alone for a second, while all the boys seemed to have gotten whatever it was out of their system. and we are starting.
but bribing works. especially when we bribe her with kid crack, sold as gerber puffs. so, for a picture session, we pulled out the drug. and it worked. she had been crying for some reason up till the puffs, and they worked thru the shoot. so, in this montage of pics, you will see very glassy eyes.
and now, part deux of the gross story. yesterday, we were roaming the streets of guangzhou, had just left the 7-11 (yes they have one here) and were being assaulted by a street vendor selling his painting, which were actually quite nice. this older, seemingly homeless man steps up and starts talking to this vendor. a perfect time to try to get away. until lucy decided to drop one of her stacking cups. this innocent blue cup takes a single bounce and comes to a rest, landing upright onto homeless man's disgusting foot. it is so crusty, the guy does not even notice. heck, i took two pictures of it, and he still did not notice it.
needless to say, cup number 4 does not exist anymore.
but bribing works. especially when we bribe her with kid crack, sold as gerber puffs. so, for a picture session, we pulled out the drug. and it worked. she had been crying for some reason up till the puffs, and they worked thru the shoot. so, in this montage of pics, you will see very glassy eyes.
and now, part deux of the gross story. yesterday, we were roaming the streets of guangzhou, had just left the 7-11 (yes they have one here) and were being assaulted by a street vendor selling his painting, which were actually quite nice. this older, seemingly homeless man steps up and starts talking to this vendor. a perfect time to try to get away. until lucy decided to drop one of her stacking cups. this innocent blue cup takes a single bounce and comes to a rest, landing upright onto homeless man's disgusting foot. it is so crusty, the guy does not even notice. heck, i took two pictures of it, and he still did not notice it.
needless to say, cup number 4 does not exist anymore.
Monday, August 25, 2008
red couch photo today
at 11:30- nap time, so that should be fun filled
230 - i think we are going to the pearl market-taxi ride away
it's 100 am and lucy cried, i picked her up and now she is asleep - hopefully for the night, she is very restless tonight- i think we fed her too much. she does not have a FULL instinct yet and we want to feed her so we need to get better at stopping. after we get done her belly looks like one of those pics for ethiopian babies all puffed out, hopefully there is nothing more than food in there because she drools a lot and a fare share has made it's way to my mouth.
i wish i could post a really funny picture but i can not find it on the computer. the timing may actually be a good thing because many of you are eating lunch and i did not want to spoil your appetite. but it is funny. and gross.
getting sleepy again,
good night
230 - i think we are going to the pearl market-taxi ride away
it's 100 am and lucy cried, i picked her up and now she is asleep - hopefully for the night, she is very restless tonight- i think we fed her too much. she does not have a FULL instinct yet and we want to feed her so we need to get better at stopping. after we get done her belly looks like one of those pics for ethiopian babies all puffed out, hopefully there is nothing more than food in there because she drools a lot and a fare share has made it's way to my mouth.
i wish i could post a really funny picture but i can not find it on the computer. the timing may actually be a good thing because many of you are eating lunch and i did not want to spoil your appetite. but it is funny. and gross.
getting sleepy again,
good night
the latest from china
this just in.....
ok, ton is trying to get lucy to crash for the night i am real happy that once she is tired, it takes about 2 minutes for her to drop, 10 more mins to reach REM and then she is out for the entire night. she is like an alarm clock. there are no clocks in this room, but she is awake at 6:30 - on the nose. like a rooster.
we are back in guangzhou for the last leg in this race. cant believe we are flying home later this week. it seems like we have been gone i think i signed the final documents today, 8 pages of US forms for the consulate. and $400. not bad. that is supposed to be the end of the money train, but we will see. there always seems to be one more thing. it is real humid here still. less heat, only in the 80's, but with a very high dew point and humidity, i soak thru clothes in 10 mins. i full body change twice a day, and i am not spending that much time outside.
some of the latest. we had out dr's appt today. that was a riot. she was good until we had to lay her flat. what is it about that position that freaks her out? the ENT was not fun.. when she put the popsicle stick in her throat... wow. even i, with a decent amount of force, could not hold her head in place for the ear check. i apologize now to our pediatrician for what coming. you might want to consider retirement.
i am happy to report that despite her dislike of the morning bath, she is warming up to the cold pool. the pics in montage show that she was even willing to wade out a little with me, splash a bit, and and stand on her own in there. i am hoping this continues for our home pool.
we have eaten at lucy's here near the hotel. good american food right on time.
some of my observations of lucy thus far:
-she has definitely changed - from a real quiet, hollow girl to a little bundle of craziness
-she is a daredevil - she will climb onto us on the bed and drop herself onto her head.. laughing out loud and doing it again. she has no fear of the edge. we have to grab her, cause she will crawl to the edge and try to drop over. i thought that if i slowly lowered her onto her head from the edge of the bed that it would scare her enough not to do it again, but that backfired.
-she cannot stay still when sleeping. she rolls and turns and twists all the time. we will lay her in her crib and listen to her twisting. she will be in the opposite direction come morning.
-she has quick, immediate temper flares. without notice, she will twist and cry uncontrollably. it lasts only 2 minutes, but we are lost as to what to do or what causes it.
-she has a great sense of humor. always doing things to makes us and herself laugh. she was the class clown.
- she has an ear infection cause she rubs it and it stinks, so there is everyones warning - cute and deadly
some observations about china for the next group of peeps to come out:
- save your money and skip the shao lin temple tour. whatever you think it is, is better than the real thing. you can catch a better kung fu show at six flags, and i am not sure the founding fathers would approve of the 20 souvenir shops and the jumbo tron.
- be prepared for some funky smells - the streets reek of some amazing concoctions of putrid.
- turn down service at 8:30 every night? what is that? is she offering me something i am not aware of, and will it show up on our bill?
-all of the lights in the hotel room are controlled by dials on the nightstand. i am trying to save you the pain of sleeping with all the lights on for two nights in a row- not that we did that or anything ;/
- watching the older generation exercise is amazing, they are always flexing and stretching and swinging their arms. they will make you feel like a fat lazy american. this comes in to play when everyone says that something is 'just around the corner' 2 miles away.
- dont order papa johns pizza, unless you like the inside of your hotel bathroom
- 'tipping is not common in china' is a lie. you will pay out just as much in tips as you do anywhere else, even if it is in RMB. every restaurant automatically adds 15-20% to the bill, and every tour guide and driver needs an extra 20-100 RMB. just plan on it.
ok, time for pics.
ok, ton is trying to get lucy to crash for the night i am real happy that once she is tired, it takes about 2 minutes for her to drop, 10 more mins to reach REM and then she is out for the entire night. she is like an alarm clock. there are no clocks in this room, but she is awake at 6:30 - on the nose. like a rooster.
we are back in guangzhou for the last leg in this race. cant believe we are flying home later this week. it seems like we have been gone i think i signed the final documents today, 8 pages of US forms for the consulate. and $400. not bad. that is supposed to be the end of the money train, but we will see. there always seems to be one more thing. it is real humid here still. less heat, only in the 80's, but with a very high dew point and humidity, i soak thru clothes in 10 mins. i full body change twice a day, and i am not spending that much time outside.
some of the latest. we had out dr's appt today. that was a riot. she was good until we had to lay her flat. what is it about that position that freaks her out? the ENT was not fun.. when she put the popsicle stick in her throat... wow. even i, with a decent amount of force, could not hold her head in place for the ear check. i apologize now to our pediatrician for what coming. you might want to consider retirement.
i am happy to report that despite her dislike of the morning bath, she is warming up to the cold pool. the pics in montage show that she was even willing to wade out a little with me, splash a bit, and and stand on her own in there. i am hoping this continues for our home pool.
we have eaten at lucy's here near the hotel. good american food right on time.
some of my observations of lucy thus far:
-she has definitely changed - from a real quiet, hollow girl to a little bundle of craziness
-she is a daredevil - she will climb onto us on the bed and drop herself onto her head.. laughing out loud and doing it again. she has no fear of the edge. we have to grab her, cause she will crawl to the edge and try to drop over. i thought that if i slowly lowered her onto her head from the edge of the bed that it would scare her enough not to do it again, but that backfired.
-she cannot stay still when sleeping. she rolls and turns and twists all the time. we will lay her in her crib and listen to her twisting. she will be in the opposite direction come morning.
-she has quick, immediate temper flares. without notice, she will twist and cry uncontrollably. it lasts only 2 minutes, but we are lost as to what to do or what causes it.
-she has a great sense of humor. always doing things to makes us and herself laugh. she was the class clown.
- she has an ear infection cause she rubs it and it stinks, so there is everyones warning - cute and deadly
some observations about china for the next group of peeps to come out:
- save your money and skip the shao lin temple tour. whatever you think it is, is better than the real thing. you can catch a better kung fu show at six flags, and i am not sure the founding fathers would approve of the 20 souvenir shops and the jumbo tron.
- be prepared for some funky smells - the streets reek of some amazing concoctions of putrid.
- turn down service at 8:30 every night? what is that? is she offering me something i am not aware of, and will it show up on our bill?
-all of the lights in the hotel room are controlled by dials on the nightstand. i am trying to save you the pain of sleeping with all the lights on for two nights in a row- not that we did that or anything ;/
- watching the older generation exercise is amazing, they are always flexing and stretching and swinging their arms. they will make you feel like a fat lazy american. this comes in to play when everyone says that something is 'just around the corner' 2 miles away.
- dont order papa johns pizza, unless you like the inside of your hotel bathroom
- 'tipping is not common in china' is a lie. you will pay out just as much in tips as you do anywhere else, even if it is in RMB. every restaurant automatically adds 15-20% to the bill, and every tour guide and driver needs an extra 20-100 RMB. just plan on it.
ok, time for pics.
Friday, August 22, 2008
busy bees
Wow-it has been slightly impossible to blog. We made it to the Shaolin Temple and Longmen Grottos. We did not make it home until 830 and Lucy had cherios for dinner we felt so bad for her. then we passed out.
Yesterday we took another 3 hr one way bus ride to Luoyang - lucy's town and where her orphanage is. The orphange was slightly overwhelming and an experience I do not think we will forget. Lucy's crib was on the 3rd floor. once we got on that floor it you could smell urine and the walls were pretty dirty. The babies were sleeping so we went into the room with about 25-30 babies. Some were sleeping some were looking at us. The babies were from newborns to about 3 yrs old. Lucy's crib was right in the front - they were all pushed together. Her crib had a metal bottom with a bamboo mat. They all wanted to hold her but she shook her head no and took away her arm from them.
One little guy was standing up and i waved to him he smiled at me and his little hand did the wave. John walked around a more than me. I was sort of frozen at the entrance and then saw the sweetest little girl rocking herself in her crib. I went over to her and smiled and said ni hao- hello she smiled back real shy. So i rubbed her head and touched her face and totally lost it. I gave her a lolipop and she smiled . I could not take my hands offf of her. I put lucy's hair bow in her hair and told her she looked pretty. It was the saddest experience of my life that I had to leave that room with out her. The orphange lady gave me her name and I will send her things once I get back home.
The play rooms were very decorated and some stuffed animals around. We went up to the severly disabled floor . a little paralyzed boy was on his belly and moved around pretty good. He smiled so big when I gave him a lolipop. The other room had some blind, cerebral palsy children. The little clinic was up there too.
The director met with us and gave us a gift. It is a watercolor of peony's - Luo yang is known for them. He then set up a lunch for us. It was a huge spread and a restaurant about 10 minutes away, I would have preferred they spent the money on the kids. I did not eat anything so I was starving again. everything is spicy. When we got down from the 3rd floor room we ate in a man just about ran me over running in the door yelling something. When we got out the driver was urging us to get moving . the outside of the restaurant was on FIRE! smoke flames the whole nine yards,
Lucy is starting to show more of a wild side. She is a bit more impatient when she thinks you have some thing she can eat.
She makes some really funny faces. She teases a lot too. She cracks her self up. We have a two hour plane ride back to guangzhou- so it will be a little nerve wracking to see how she does onthe plane.
ok pics for everyone!!
Yesterday we took another 3 hr one way bus ride to Luoyang - lucy's town and where her orphanage is. The orphange was slightly overwhelming and an experience I do not think we will forget. Lucy's crib was on the 3rd floor. once we got on that floor it you could smell urine and the walls were pretty dirty. The babies were sleeping so we went into the room with about 25-30 babies. Some were sleeping some were looking at us. The babies were from newborns to about 3 yrs old. Lucy's crib was right in the front - they were all pushed together. Her crib had a metal bottom with a bamboo mat. They all wanted to hold her but she shook her head no and took away her arm from them.
One little guy was standing up and i waved to him he smiled at me and his little hand did the wave. John walked around a more than me. I was sort of frozen at the entrance and then saw the sweetest little girl rocking herself in her crib. I went over to her and smiled and said ni hao- hello she smiled back real shy. So i rubbed her head and touched her face and totally lost it. I gave her a lolipop and she smiled . I could not take my hands offf of her. I put lucy's hair bow in her hair and told her she looked pretty. It was the saddest experience of my life that I had to leave that room with out her. The orphange lady gave me her name and I will send her things once I get back home.
The play rooms were very decorated and some stuffed animals around. We went up to the severly disabled floor . a little paralyzed boy was on his belly and moved around pretty good. He smiled so big when I gave him a lolipop. The other room had some blind, cerebral palsy children. The little clinic was up there too.
The director met with us and gave us a gift. It is a watercolor of peony's - Luo yang is known for them. He then set up a lunch for us. It was a huge spread and a restaurant about 10 minutes away, I would have preferred they spent the money on the kids. I did not eat anything so I was starving again. everything is spicy. When we got down from the 3rd floor room we ate in a man just about ran me over running in the door yelling something. When we got out the driver was urging us to get moving . the outside of the restaurant was on FIRE! smoke flames the whole nine yards,
Lucy is starting to show more of a wild side. She is a bit more impatient when she thinks you have some thing she can eat.
She makes some really funny faces. She teases a lot too. She cracks her self up. We have a two hour plane ride back to guangzhou- so it will be a little nerve wracking to see how she does onthe plane.
ok pics for everyone!!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Lucy the beautiful
So we made it back alive from the store. Lucy is such a good girl. With all the comotion and HOT air and cab ride and horns honking she was just humming and kicking her feet, She really likes to have one thing in eachhand. She really likes the little rubber duck and stacking cup. Yesterday we realized about an hour after breakfast that she was still holding a piece of watermelon,
Every monrning I count the days until we come home and somehow I always count eight days. it is like groundhogs day or something. The air here is weird, you just sweat. Even if you are in the air conditioned you have a nice glaze,. The smog was really bad yesterday, no blue sky - we have not seen any in this town.
My peeps at work will need to remind me of this blog the next time someone makes "tuna" coffee and snap peas because the smells are very strong and fishy and strange, it is throwing my sniffer into overdrive.
John and Lucy are sleeping. She is in her crib-yea! So she does this thing that she thinks is hilarious. She smacks me in the face, and then laughs. Our guide Yisha was in the room withus yesterday when she did it and spoke stearnly in Chinese- basically "don't hit mommy". She looked at her all serious and then smacked me like three more times. We tried so hard not to laugh. She also kind of swats her hand like she is faking you out, she thinks that is funny too. Whenever she looks in the mirror she swats at herself and laughs. We know when she meets her cousins that they may get a swat.
Today we are going on a day trip of some sort of temple and some other place. they are famous butI can not remember the names. It is the birth place of kung fu. We were not sure if we would go because tomorrow we are having another 3 hour bus ride to Lucy's orphange., We have not paid the donation fee to them yet. 24,000 rmb's. this translates into 3500 USD and they will expect this tomorrow.
I told john we needed to bring the potty(it has little handles and a roll ball- something to pass the time?) and he said that we can't and that we will do what the chinese do with their kids and have her squat outside. somehow I can picture just being peed all over again.
It is 5 am now and we leave at 8. it will be a long day but hopefully fun to see something different. i hope john can post some new pics soon.
Thoughts about Lucy:
She is such a good girl. As soon after she eats something her little hand shoots outstretched at us for more.
She gets easily scared and her little body will shake. Like if you go to lift her up in the air her hands start moving and her tounge does too and she just hugs on so tight when you bring her back down.
She loves to practice walking, she will have a smile from ear to ear. she is a ways off from having the muscle strength, her legs and arms are so skinny and sort of floppy.
She teases johnmark. she will go to hand him the duck and when he goes to get it she pulls it right back and smiles.
We love feeding her, She does not like cold things at all. she would not have been used to cold food in the orphanage. We gave her a taste of ice cream and her face crinckled like we gave her pickles or a lemon,
We were at breakfast the other day and I literally watched a daddy fall in love with his little girl. It was the sweetest thing in the world. He was talking to her and feeding her and the look on his face was amazing, it makes me cry just remembering it. John has been so amazing with her and me because I have had moments of panic or like what did we do. He is so sensitive to her and just loves to have her sleep on him,
Her head sweats so much that I will be soaked when she lays on me,
Anyways, they have really good banana bread here at breakfast, I was thinking about buying a loaf for the orphange ladies but I am torn. sometimes I get sad about how she was cared for so I am not sure if they did the best they could have for her or they just did what they knew how to do. Yisha said her orphanage is full of many children and that could be a lot to handle with limited resources. maybe I will bring the bread.
Am I rambling? ok better go , hope to get those pics on here.
ton :)
Every monrning I count the days until we come home and somehow I always count eight days. it is like groundhogs day or something. The air here is weird, you just sweat. Even if you are in the air conditioned you have a nice glaze,. The smog was really bad yesterday, no blue sky - we have not seen any in this town.
My peeps at work will need to remind me of this blog the next time someone makes "tuna" coffee and snap peas because the smells are very strong and fishy and strange, it is throwing my sniffer into overdrive.
John and Lucy are sleeping. She is in her crib-yea! So she does this thing that she thinks is hilarious. She smacks me in the face, and then laughs. Our guide Yisha was in the room withus yesterday when she did it and spoke stearnly in Chinese- basically "don't hit mommy". She looked at her all serious and then smacked me like three more times. We tried so hard not to laugh. She also kind of swats her hand like she is faking you out, she thinks that is funny too. Whenever she looks in the mirror she swats at herself and laughs. We know when she meets her cousins that they may get a swat.
Today we are going on a day trip of some sort of temple and some other place. they are famous butI can not remember the names. It is the birth place of kung fu. We were not sure if we would go because tomorrow we are having another 3 hour bus ride to Lucy's orphange., We have not paid the donation fee to them yet. 24,000 rmb's. this translates into 3500 USD and they will expect this tomorrow.
I told john we needed to bring the potty(it has little handles and a roll ball- something to pass the time?) and he said that we can't and that we will do what the chinese do with their kids and have her squat outside. somehow I can picture just being peed all over again.
It is 5 am now and we leave at 8. it will be a long day but hopefully fun to see something different. i hope john can post some new pics soon.
Thoughts about Lucy:
She is such a good girl. As soon after she eats something her little hand shoots outstretched at us for more.
She gets easily scared and her little body will shake. Like if you go to lift her up in the air her hands start moving and her tounge does too and she just hugs on so tight when you bring her back down.
She loves to practice walking, she will have a smile from ear to ear. she is a ways off from having the muscle strength, her legs and arms are so skinny and sort of floppy.
She teases johnmark. she will go to hand him the duck and when he goes to get it she pulls it right back and smiles.
We love feeding her, She does not like cold things at all. she would not have been used to cold food in the orphanage. We gave her a taste of ice cream and her face crinckled like we gave her pickles or a lemon,
We were at breakfast the other day and I literally watched a daddy fall in love with his little girl. It was the sweetest thing in the world. He was talking to her and feeding her and the look on his face was amazing, it makes me cry just remembering it. John has been so amazing with her and me because I have had moments of panic or like what did we do. He is so sensitive to her and just loves to have her sleep on him,
Her head sweats so much that I will be soaked when she lays on me,
Anyways, they have really good banana bread here at breakfast, I was thinking about buying a loaf for the orphange ladies but I am torn. sometimes I get sad about how she was cared for so I am not sure if they did the best they could have for her or they just did what they knew how to do. Yisha said her orphanage is full of many children and that could be a lot to handle with limited resources. maybe I will bring the bread.
Am I rambling? ok better go , hope to get those pics on here.
ton :)
Finally !
Ok so we have been totally stressing because all day yesterday and the day before no #2 and only one time pee pee diaper-yes that's right one diaper change in two days!! So after thinking her kidneys are shutting down we were beside ourself. We gave her many bottles, water that she really did not want, watermelon, congee - all kinds of liquidy stuff, still nothing.
We just took her for a few laps around the lobby and this adorable little boy , younger than her was in split pants. It got us to wondering if she felt hindered in her pants and diaper that she is not used to. She either wore no bottoms or split pants her whole life. So we brought her up to the room to get her naked. Literally the second her bottoms were off she pee'd all over me- and we are talking a lot of it. pics will follow. off to buy her a potty , apparently she is used to sitting on a little one, so off to the insane 'walmart'- will explain more later if we make it back alive.
:)
ps mom and bud she is using her left hand a lot
jay she sleeps with her eyes half open-hope to call you after we fly to guangzhou again
We just took her for a few laps around the lobby and this adorable little boy , younger than her was in split pants. It got us to wondering if she felt hindered in her pants and diaper that she is not used to. She either wore no bottoms or split pants her whole life. So we brought her up to the room to get her naked. Literally the second her bottoms were off she pee'd all over me- and we are talking a lot of it. pics will follow. off to buy her a potty , apparently she is used to sitting on a little one, so off to the insane 'walmart'- will explain more later if we make it back alive.
:)
ps mom and bud she is using her left hand a lot
jay she sleeps with her eyes half open-hope to call you after we fly to guangzhou again
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Daddy 101
if you told me a week ago that i would be inserting a glycerine suppository into a child, i would have puked.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Day 2
seriously, it seems like a weeks have gone by since we got her. she is attaching so well to us, she does not want to be left alone without one of us within arms reach. she is scared of two things we find: getting changed and taking baths. she cries, but without tears. she trembles and cries softly, but it is a fearful cry, not an angry or dissatisfied cry. the moment we pick her up, she is happy, and her hugs around our neck turns into a squeeze. its sad that she is scared, but we are happy that she knows we are here for her when she is afraid. she sleeps well, 12 hours right through the night, and two naps yesterday. but yesterday was a real busy day for all of us, especially her. she is sleeping now on tonya. and she is sleeping too.
rubber duckie. those really helped with this mornings bath. we tossed those in and rubbed her with all 4 hands, and she stopped crying. allowed us to wash here up real good. we keep thinking about how everyone home is just going to love this little monkey. she responds to affection so positively.
we went shopping a little this morning, walked down the street, got a LOT of attention from the locals, but we had to buy some shoes. we think they translate to size 3, the 5's we brought are way too big. the small clothes we brought for the orphanage.. she is wearing. she fits nicely into 9 mo clothes. she would be considered small for a one year old, and she turns 20 months this week. we will be going to a department store tonight at 4pm.
we agreed to a tour of the Shou Lin temple on Thursday. we will be visiting her orphanage on friday, and flying back to guongzhou on saturday. lots coming up!
So, thats the latest, enjoy the montage...
rubber duckie. those really helped with this mornings bath. we tossed those in and rubbed her with all 4 hands, and she stopped crying. allowed us to wash here up real good. we keep thinking about how everyone home is just going to love this little monkey. she responds to affection so positively.
we went shopping a little this morning, walked down the street, got a LOT of attention from the locals, but we had to buy some shoes. we think they translate to size 3, the 5's we brought are way too big. the small clothes we brought for the orphanage.. she is wearing. she fits nicely into 9 mo clothes. she would be considered small for a one year old, and she turns 20 months this week. we will be going to a department store tonight at 4pm.
we agreed to a tour of the Shou Lin temple on Thursday. we will be visiting her orphanage on friday, and flying back to guongzhou on saturday. lots coming up!
So, thats the latest, enjoy the montage...
Stinky baby
Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your comments=they have made us laugh and cry :)
We love our Lucy to pieces. We can not wait to have everybody meet her because the pics do not really show her ultimate cuteness. She loves both of us already. She has already started to cling to me like a monkey, She does not even want me to put her on my lap. She wants to wrap her arms around me and be held. However, I did make a smooth transfer over to her daddy now as she sleeps. The crib thing is going to be "fun" with her ;) We are giving her all the love and attention that she did not have over her 20 months. Poor little baby, She has soaked up everybit of our kisses and tickles.
You can tell that she did not get the love she needed. Her head has some bug bites and a nice size bump and boil of somesort. Her hair is like missing in some spots too and it had not been cleaned if ever. Thus the stinky baby. She can not walk real well. However, she did come to me like frankenstein when I held out my arms. We also think she has an upper respritory (sp) and maybe an ear infection. lots of snurgs. We started her on the antibiotics and the guide thought that was a good idea. She may go to a clinic to get her ears looked at and chest listened too.
We got her food and sleeping schedule. We did feed her some sweet potatoes that she LOVED! Cath- add that to the list:) I wish we brought more for her. It appears as if she never was spoon fed. She kept biting the spoon but we figured it out. Due to her palate she does not suck the bottle. She like chews on it and the milk comes out. She drank that bottle down so fast.
We had many appts today. Walked up lots of stairs and past many people. The streets we some dirt streets and the sewer lines and water lines we being worked on so we had to walk on planks at times to get to the other side of the road. The road crew does not involve any backhoes or diggers but lots of hard working men with shovels deep in the ground. They all would stop working and look at us as we passed them. It is also HOT!
She is a snuggler, delicate has long eyelashes and loves to eat. You will all just love her so much. She will probably be shy at first and just look at you with her big brown eyes. You can see your reflection in her eyes they are so dark. She follows John with her eyes all around the room-she is so curious about what he is up to. Probably because he likes to feed her puffs,
We wish we could upload the videos but the computer will not accept them, that is a bummer.You could all see the action up close and personal.
Ok better go and sleep, you never know when she is going to wake up and cling.
:) Love
Ton John and LUCY
We love our Lucy to pieces. We can not wait to have everybody meet her because the pics do not really show her ultimate cuteness. She loves both of us already. She has already started to cling to me like a monkey, She does not even want me to put her on my lap. She wants to wrap her arms around me and be held. However, I did make a smooth transfer over to her daddy now as she sleeps. The crib thing is going to be "fun" with her ;) We are giving her all the love and attention that she did not have over her 20 months. Poor little baby, She has soaked up everybit of our kisses and tickles.
You can tell that she did not get the love she needed. Her head has some bug bites and a nice size bump and boil of somesort. Her hair is like missing in some spots too and it had not been cleaned if ever. Thus the stinky baby. She can not walk real well. However, she did come to me like frankenstein when I held out my arms. We also think she has an upper respritory (sp) and maybe an ear infection. lots of snurgs. We started her on the antibiotics and the guide thought that was a good idea. She may go to a clinic to get her ears looked at and chest listened too.
We got her food and sleeping schedule. We did feed her some sweet potatoes that she LOVED! Cath- add that to the list:) I wish we brought more for her. It appears as if she never was spoon fed. She kept biting the spoon but we figured it out. Due to her palate she does not suck the bottle. She like chews on it and the milk comes out. She drank that bottle down so fast.
We had many appts today. Walked up lots of stairs and past many people. The streets we some dirt streets and the sewer lines and water lines we being worked on so we had to walk on planks at times to get to the other side of the road. The road crew does not involve any backhoes or diggers but lots of hard working men with shovels deep in the ground. They all would stop working and look at us as we passed them. It is also HOT!
She is a snuggler, delicate has long eyelashes and loves to eat. You will all just love her so much. She will probably be shy at first and just look at you with her big brown eyes. You can see your reflection in her eyes they are so dark. She follows John with her eyes all around the room-she is so curious about what he is up to. Probably because he likes to feed her puffs,
We wish we could upload the videos but the computer will not accept them, that is a bummer.You could all see the action up close and personal.
Ok better go and sleep, you never know when she is going to wake up and cling.
:) Love
Ton John and LUCY
The eagle, or sparrow, has landed
ok, real quick - we have our girl. now i know you will probably not read this and go right to the video, but we are all very well. she is so quiet. she mimics our sounds, but has not cried or fussed yet. she is just a tired little thing. 12m old clothing is a little loose on her, but i can change that. she weighs about 15-20 lbs, not any more than that. she is a tiny peanut, and she loves us. she does not walk up to age, but there is a good chance McCoy, our nephew, will change that soon.
we could not upload our videos at this time, but here are some snapshots.
we could not upload our videos at this time, but here are some snapshots.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
We made it Zhengzhou, Henan-eeks
the countdown has begun. It has been a full day for sure. we woke up early and went to a park near the white swan, tons of older people were doing their excercises "Tai Chi" it was really cool. some were in circles with a tape playing, some ladies had sword things and they were moving in unison, and a lot of people were doing their own thing. We even saw some people swimming in the water, not too sure that is a good idea.
We had an awesome breakfast and then got things ready to go. we met up with about 14 other couples and all loaded on a bus for the 45 minutes drive to the airport. They enjoyed hearing the wallet story and the fact the guy held it ransom for $1000 USD. The domestic area of the airport got more interesting. A lot more stares and different kinds of people. We even saw a little boy peeing on the floor down a little hallway. It was a little hectic figuring out where to check in so our guide grace took care of it. We did have a snafu, she told us gate 117 so we made it through security and walked a long way and it was hot! we then realized we needed to go to the other side of the airport. We made it but we were sweating it for a few minutes.
The flight introduced me to a smell that ranks up with the worst smelling foods ever. The guy in my row broke out his dried fish jerky. I think I turned green it was so nasty. He seemed to enjoy every last bit though. I also learned that I hate curry. The smell, taste everything, It ranks up there with pickles and mustard. We have traveled here with one other couple from florida they are so excited about their son who is from Lucy's orphanage too.
We had dinner tonight with them at the Crown Plaza we heard they had pizza. It was beautiful in there and i was starving. Ordered a sprite, no ice. We then had a little visitor.
a cockroach ran by me and across our table. yum. I felt the need to wash my hands it was so gross. You will be happy to know that I ate my pizza anyway-you know I was hungry.
This town is definitely true China. We can tell that they are not used to many visitors as they gaze and stare at us. Many many smiles though. People like to practice their "hello and good bye"
People are every where-bikes cars walkers electric scooters all over the sidewalk and streets. We did not dare cross the street-it was craziness. I can not imagine what it will be like with Lucy. :)
John is getting the money put in envelopes and getting gifts ready. We sort of packed a diaper bag. We are not sure what we are going to do with her but we will figure it out. They are driving her to this town in the morning and we should have her around 10 am. Can you stand it? We are a little bit nuts and happy at the same time. We will post pics and details when we can tomorrow. John is realizing he is a dad tomorrow and it is cute to see that.
Until then people. We are getting our GIRL!!!
PS I got tap water up my nose and it tasted gross.
We had an awesome breakfast and then got things ready to go. we met up with about 14 other couples and all loaded on a bus for the 45 minutes drive to the airport. They enjoyed hearing the wallet story and the fact the guy held it ransom for $1000 USD. The domestic area of the airport got more interesting. A lot more stares and different kinds of people. We even saw a little boy peeing on the floor down a little hallway. It was a little hectic figuring out where to check in so our guide grace took care of it. We did have a snafu, she told us gate 117 so we made it through security and walked a long way and it was hot! we then realized we needed to go to the other side of the airport. We made it but we were sweating it for a few minutes.
The flight introduced me to a smell that ranks up with the worst smelling foods ever. The guy in my row broke out his dried fish jerky. I think I turned green it was so nasty. He seemed to enjoy every last bit though. I also learned that I hate curry. The smell, taste everything, It ranks up there with pickles and mustard. We have traveled here with one other couple from florida they are so excited about their son who is from Lucy's orphanage too.
We had dinner tonight with them at the Crown Plaza we heard they had pizza. It was beautiful in there and i was starving. Ordered a sprite, no ice. We then had a little visitor.
a cockroach ran by me and across our table. yum. I felt the need to wash my hands it was so gross. You will be happy to know that I ate my pizza anyway-you know I was hungry.
This town is definitely true China. We can tell that they are not used to many visitors as they gaze and stare at us. Many many smiles though. People like to practice their "hello and good bye"
People are every where-bikes cars walkers electric scooters all over the sidewalk and streets. We did not dare cross the street-it was craziness. I can not imagine what it will be like with Lucy. :)
John is getting the money put in envelopes and getting gifts ready. We sort of packed a diaper bag. We are not sure what we are going to do with her but we will figure it out. They are driving her to this town in the morning and we should have her around 10 am. Can you stand it? We are a little bit nuts and happy at the same time. We will post pics and details when we can tomorrow. John is realizing he is a dad tomorrow and it is cute to see that.
Until then people. We are getting our GIRL!!!
PS I got tap water up my nose and it tasted gross.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
oh what a night
we did not plan on blogging three times today, but this evenings events need to be told - or thats what tonya thinks.
so dinner was interesting - my meal was watching me as much as i was looking at it. i had this great vegetable and pig tripe soup, with a full, small chicken. head and all. it was boiled and left to cool, so that was weird. i asked them to heat it up cause whole, cold chicken is just gross.
now, the real story.
so somewhere between the restaurant and chilling out next to the pool, or behind the lobby fountain i lost my wallet, which some nice criminal found. i was sure they would have good intentions on returning it after they realized i checked each garbage can looking for a discard, empty wallet. instead, they called the hotel assistant manager and demanded a monetary award for finding my wallet with $300 in it. understandable, with gas prices and all i guess. so, after the normally very nice assistant manager called them three times, the conversation had between them got a little more than heated. he was laying them out on the phone, while apologizing to us in english for this while deal. - so here is where we stand. grace, our guide and interpreter, called the people again, trying to appeal to their kinder side - they may meet us here in the morning and drop it off. if they are decent enough to do so, at least i can get my wallet and drivers license back. canceled the credit card already.
so yeah.. good times. i guess it could have been worse if i had more cash in there. in the grand scheme of things, it could have been way worse if it were my passpport or any adoption documents. a couple hundred is not the end of the world.
i will just keep repeating that till i fall asleep.
not the end of the world
not the end of the wor...
not the end of t...
so dinner was interesting - my meal was watching me as much as i was looking at it. i had this great vegetable and pig tripe soup, with a full, small chicken. head and all. it was boiled and left to cool, so that was weird. i asked them to heat it up cause whole, cold chicken is just gross.
now, the real story.
so somewhere between the restaurant and chilling out next to the pool, or behind the lobby fountain i lost my wallet, which some nice criminal found. i was sure they would have good intentions on returning it after they realized i checked each garbage can looking for a discard, empty wallet. instead, they called the hotel assistant manager and demanded a monetary award for finding my wallet with $300 in it. understandable, with gas prices and all i guess. so, after the normally very nice assistant manager called them three times, the conversation had between them got a little more than heated. he was laying them out on the phone, while apologizing to us in english for this while deal. - so here is where we stand. grace, our guide and interpreter, called the people again, trying to appeal to their kinder side - they may meet us here in the morning and drop it off. if they are decent enough to do so, at least i can get my wallet and drivers license back. canceled the credit card already.
so yeah.. good times. i guess it could have been worse if i had more cash in there. in the grand scheme of things, it could have been way worse if it were my passpport or any adoption documents. a couple hundred is not the end of the world.
i will just keep repeating that till i fall asleep.
not the end of the world
not the end of the wor...
not the end of t...
some China pics
The chinese airplane food - everything they do is better and cooler than us! Since the flight got changed at the last minute, everything was free - the beer, the wine and the whiskey and coke
The view from our window flying in to China - somehow made me feel good.
The view from our room - ALL these building are apartments, there is no individual housing here. We found out today that a family can rent an apartment up front for up to 70 years, anything beyond that is up to the landlord to keep them there or repossess it.
We made it to the White Swan hotel - this is the open lobby just past the reception desk. It really is gorgeous. The lower floor is where breakfast is served. Awesome breakfast - dim sum and all.Got a lot more photos, but no way can i load them all here - maybe i will create a video montage some time... but we got dinner plans. p.s. the pool was amazing. talked to a lot of families here with their little ones, their new little ones. can NOT wait!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Guangzhou - day 1 so far
what a difference a day makes....to put it nicely the flight was grueling. I did not sleep more than a couple of hours the whole time. John slept a lot more than me. The movies stunk and for some reason we lost everything on the ipod, so you can only look through the skymall magazine so many times on a 14 hr flight. eegads.
At one point, I just wanted to hear that we only had like 3 hours max left and the lady said more like 6 hrs. more plus another 5 hr flight!! The airport in tokyo was sooooo hot. our flight was rescheduled and we left two hrs sooner than expected so we had to hustle a bit following our japanese airport guy. they were so nice at that airport though.
Anyways, hotel is very nice and people are too. We have met several other "expecting" familes. It is comforting to have people here that know exactly what you are feeling. Sort of like excited - nervous- the most surreal feeling ever. Many are also first time parents, expecting both girls and boys of all ages. We met a little 14 month baby boy "larson" today- he was like glazed over, his mom says he just eats and eats and then like glazes over from being so full. I can not believe we are at the popular White Swan hotel in China- Just crazy. The beds are hard just like they say. Not really a matress more like sleeping on a boxspring-but when you are so tired it does not matter. Our view is intersting-that reminds me on the way from the airport last night we passed just thousands and thousands of tall buildings that people live in, laundry hanging out the windows and so forth, sometimes you could see in there apts because they were so close to the highway and they are simply decorated.
I had like a pound of noodles for breakfast they were good. Lots of couples on the final stretch of their trip with their little ones. I get goosebumps everytime I see the fuzzy heads, of course johns looks like that now too ;)
ok gotta go - more later!!! Lucy in two days- can you stand it!! I would like to apologize in advance for how teary I will be. I feel them right at the edge waiting to come out- so watch out ;)
Ok we are going on a walking tour of Shamian Island with a group from our agency and Grace our Guide. she is cute-but dude it is hot out. Should be interesting. We will take lots of pics. Thai restaurant tonightwith a group-do you think they have mashed potato? John may swim in the pool, they have two big pools with banyan like trees for me to veg under. Update more later!!
At one point, I just wanted to hear that we only had like 3 hours max left and the lady said more like 6 hrs. more plus another 5 hr flight!! The airport in tokyo was sooooo hot. our flight was rescheduled and we left two hrs sooner than expected so we had to hustle a bit following our japanese airport guy. they were so nice at that airport though.
Anyways, hotel is very nice and people are too. We have met several other "expecting" familes. It is comforting to have people here that know exactly what you are feeling. Sort of like excited - nervous- the most surreal feeling ever. Many are also first time parents, expecting both girls and boys of all ages. We met a little 14 month baby boy "larson" today- he was like glazed over, his mom says he just eats and eats and then like glazes over from being so full. I can not believe we are at the popular White Swan hotel in China- Just crazy. The beds are hard just like they say. Not really a matress more like sleeping on a boxspring-but when you are so tired it does not matter. Our view is intersting-that reminds me on the way from the airport last night we passed just thousands and thousands of tall buildings that people live in, laundry hanging out the windows and so forth, sometimes you could see in there apts because they were so close to the highway and they are simply decorated.
I had like a pound of noodles for breakfast they were good. Lots of couples on the final stretch of their trip with their little ones. I get goosebumps everytime I see the fuzzy heads, of course johns looks like that now too ;)
ok gotta go - more later!!! Lucy in two days- can you stand it!! I would like to apologize in advance for how teary I will be. I feel them right at the edge waiting to come out- so watch out ;)
Ok we are going on a walking tour of Shamian Island with a group from our agency and Grace our Guide. she is cute-but dude it is hot out. Should be interesting. We will take lots of pics. Thai restaurant tonightwith a group-do you think they have mashed potato? John may swim in the pool, they have two big pools with banyan like trees for me to veg under. Update more later!!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Our journey - moment One
sitting at our huge local 'international' airport - got here TSA 2 hours in advance to sit here for 1h45min to go. the free public wi-fi has a five minute time limit on it, so thats a nice feature. gonna be a short blog.
ton was a little miffed that we have not been taking pictures along the way thus far... so i hope in time lucy will forgive me for not recording the ticketing agent, the security guards and us sitting here. just took a short video of our feeling, may post that at a later time.
thanks to maria again for driving us this morning, and for stopping at time hortons on the way. just pounded that b.e.l.t.
ton was a little miffed that we have not been taking pictures along the way thus far... so i hope in time lucy will forgive me for not recording the ticketing agent, the security guards and us sitting here. just took a short video of our feeling, may post that at a later time.
thanks to maria again for driving us this morning, and for stopping at time hortons on the way. just pounded that b.e.l.t.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Jitters
Lots to do today! Made a few lists and last minute stuff is kinda important. Making some calls and picking up some Lucy items. She needs bubbles and stacking cups. John is also making some music files for her on his Ipod. Like go to sleep music, calm down music. I think I may benefit from that too! ;)
I also need to make my macaroni salad and ham sandwiches, a staple for every plane ride. I prefer to eat that at the airport instead of paying $16.25 for a dried up piece of greasy pizza.
My ears are still being a royal pain but whatcha gonna do. Let's get this show on the road PEOPLE! I realized today that I think starting an excercise routine today is not going to help much. I have seen some of the people that have gone to China and back and I can not be in any worse shape than them can I??? eeks. Poor John. He has to deal with an emotional , out of shape me. Let's hope we can survive this. By that I mean not killing each other. ;)
ok -whatever. Maybe he will post pics of stuff later- I need to go eat or something.
I also need to make my macaroni salad and ham sandwiches, a staple for every plane ride. I prefer to eat that at the airport instead of paying $16.25 for a dried up piece of greasy pizza.
My ears are still being a royal pain but whatcha gonna do. Let's get this show on the road PEOPLE! I realized today that I think starting an excercise routine today is not going to help much. I have seen some of the people that have gone to China and back and I can not be in any worse shape than them can I??? eeks. Poor John. He has to deal with an emotional , out of shape me. Let's hope we can survive this. By that I mean not killing each other. ;)
ok -whatever. Maybe he will post pics of stuff later- I need to go eat or something.
Monday, August 04, 2008
a small cloud on a sunny day
so we received some good stuff today. we like the mail sometimes. we got Lucy's plane ticket today - so she is definitely coming back home with us. on Tonya's lap. thats what it says... somewhere.oh, i got a small present for Tonya, and that was delivered today, she doesn't know it yet. it is the backpack you see here.
and we had family over last night - it was great to have everyone here. they are all excited for us and for Lucy
oh, the cloud? Tonya has a sinus infection. she has a week to rid herself of it.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Travel arrangements
Well, without going into all the detail, we finally paid for our flight arrangement to and from China. We will be arriving back home on Aug 28, sometime around 4:30pm - if all goes well in Detroit. Our agency was not too crazy about the short layover in Detroit, since we will have to go thru immigrations and customs. Do we declare Lucy as a new purchase from oversees? Whats her declared value? Duty free?
So, if you happen to be in Rochester on Aug 28 around 4:30 and would like to welcome Lucy to America, feel free to do so.
So, if you happen to be in Rochester on Aug 28 around 4:30 and would like to welcome Lucy to America, feel free to do so.
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