Sweet Home California

We landed on American soil yesterday and this country gained its cutest new citizen.

Fortunately, the trip home was pretty uneventful.  Unless you call me puking all over the Hong Kong airport and Gianna puking all over the airplane floor an event.  Then, it was eventful.  But other than that, everyone else did great.

We got home to a clean house, a clean car, fresh flowers, a stocked fridge, a home cooked dinner and a lawn with "Tallulah" mowed into it courtesy of my cousin Brandon and his girlfriend Jeanne.  You guys are the BEST.  Thank you so much.  I realize I probably failed to thank you as profusely as I should have given my Ativan and viral induced stupor.

We walked in the house and played a little game of "Welcome to Your Life" with Tallulah.  Her little eyes were bugging out of her head and when she opened the cabinet full of baby toys, I think she may have had a mini-stroke.  Needless to say, she has loved exploring every inch of this place.  I don't have too many pictures yet, because I'm using what little energy I have to unpack before Nathan has to go back to work and to deal with all these new demands placed on me.  After 2.5 weeks of being catered to, I've lost my stamina and almost have my own mini-stroke when my family becomes hungry and turns to ME with want in their eyes.

Re-entry is always hard with the jet lag.  Last night, the girls were all up a lot.  When I put Tallulah in bed at 8pm, she went right to sleep, but woke at 10pm ready to play with all her new toys.  I held fast to my tried and tested rule of getting over jet lag and made her lay in our bed.  She looked at me like, "What kind of fresh hell is this?  You bring me to this new land of snacks, toys and entertainment, but then make me lay in a dark room doing nothing?"  But everyone finally fell back asleep and we slept in til 11am.  Normally, I would've gotten everyone up at 9 or so, but I was (and still am) so sick that I lost track of reality for a while.

I'll probably post a few more updates here in the next month or so.  And I'm also going to use this blog to journal about her surgeries.  After each adoption, we turn our kids' blogs into books for them to read later in life and I think that her surgeries will be an important part of her early story.  So you aren't rid of me quite yet.

Thank you all again for all the support over the past few weeks.  We really appreciate it.

Last Post from China

I cannot believe our time in China is already up.  I am so not ready to leave.  We have had an amazing time here.  If you dare to read on, brace yourself for lots of pictures and commentary below.

 To be fair to the hundreds of (hilarious and sweet) emails and FB messages I've received detailing your breakfast experiences, here's what I've had for breakfast everyday here in GZ.  Dim sum, steamed veggies and fruit.  It's not Beef Noodle Soup, but it'll do.

Our beautiful breakfast setting

Gianna, Evie and I were really sick yesterday (like in bed all day, missed hugging our travel group goodbye sick!--SO bummed!), but we are all feeling sort of better today.  So we forced ourselves out of bed to spend our last day in Guangzhou in one of the best places: The Chimelong Safari Park.  I know some adoptive families traveling soon are following this blog, so I definitely recommend this park.  It's a little pricey for China at about $45 USD per adult and $25 USD per child, but it's so worth it.  It was the best zoo I've ever been to.  It was amazing how close we were able to get to the animals.  The girls loved it.

They even had dinosaurs!

Many animals were roaming around free, like these lemurs. 

And this owl spying us from an above branch.  SO cool.

And these peacocks.  And this trouble making primate splashing water on us.

Thankfully, this white tiger was behind glass.

Next we visited the nursery, full of baby animals.

This baby chimp was HILARIOUS!  And I think he knew it.

The girls got to feed a baby white tiger.  (For families going after us, this is in the Animal Kindergarten house.  If another family hadn't told us, we probably would've have found it.)

The giraffes were hungry too. 

Mommy and Baby koala snuggling.



Evie spotted this shirt in the US a while ago and had to have it.  She's waited her whole life, or at least 3 weeks, to wear it to see "real pandas in real China".  If you can't see it, it's a shirt with a panda on the front.

We had lunch with them (see pandas munching bamboo in background).

 This elephant was trained to spray water on the crowd in exchange for a banana. 

Thirsty?  I have a drink for you.  Is it just me or is this wrong?

The grounds of the zoo are amazing.

 I'm so proud of these girls.  Before we left, we had a talk about how this trip would be hard, but was a privilege.  There would be a lot of running around.  There would be a lot of waiting around.  There would be some unpleasant moments.  But we talked about how important it would be to have patience, use good manners and represent Americans in a positive way.  Our trip would be fun, but the most important reason we were here was for Tallulah.  So our most important job was to make her feel welcome into our family.  I think they nailed it.

My Favorite Quartet

 

Sickness, plywood beds, peepee smelling showers and mini-bus collisions aside, we've had the best time here. We got to see and experience things here that we could never replicate in the US.  It was truly a once in a lifetime experience, and I'm sooo grateful that we were able to spend the whole time together.  The weather was great (considering what we've experienced before on other adoption trips: -30 in Kaz to 100F plus humidity in China last time).  The food was not only delicious, but appeared magically every time we were hungry.  The beds got made and the carpet got vacuumed while we were out.  The laundry man knocked at the door everyday at 3pm. 

Best of all, we got what we came here to get.  She is more than we hoped for and her transition is FAR better than we could've ever expected.  Her sisters all absolutely love her and the feeling is mutual.  I'm SO thankful we took the leap for number 4.  My heart is filled with humility and gratitude that we have this little girl in our lives forever.

With smiles and tears, goodnight and goodbye, China.  Thank you, yet again, for one of the most beautiful gifts this world has to offer.  We will treasure her always.



Home Stretch

Today was a long, busy day.  We had to get up early for our appointment at the US Consulate here to apply for Tallulah's immigrant visa.  They will put this visa in her Chinese passport and when she touches down on American soil with it, she will automatically become a US citizen.  This appointment is also now done in a brand new, nice facility.  I may have forgotten to pack green for yesterday, but I did not forget to pack red, white and blue for the girls today.  Tallulah did not forget to poop all over her red, white and blue outfit before we left, so she wore red, white and...black.

 

Daddies and Daughters before the appointment

 

 

Afterwards, we went to ShaMian Island for more shopping and lunch. 

 

 

 

We passed up the "Scoop Your Own Lunch" place, as well as the "Fried Pigeon" place and ended up at Lucy's where it became clear that Tallulah likes French fries.

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight, we went on the Pearl River Cruise with our travel group and of course, my aunt and uncle.  It was the perfect night for it...clear(ish), balmy and warm.  Guangzhou turns into a whole new place at night with all the lights.  The girls loved it, especially Tallulah!

 

 

G is still not feeling well, but rallied with the help of Motrin

 

 

The CCTV Tower (4th tallest free standing structure in the world)

 

This pic cracks me up.  It looks like Evie is wearing the coolest hat ever.

 

The boat was beautiful, with lanterns hung everywhere and this lady playing what apparently what is one of Tallulah's favorite beats.

 

 (I look a little nuts right here.)

 

It was lights out at the orphanage at least an hour ago.  Who knew life went on outside?!?!

 

Riverdancing.  Literally.

 

 

When we got back to the room, we said goodbye to my aunt and uncle who are heading home tomorrow.  We've obviously read all the research on attachment and bonding and know that it is recommended to not let anyone else hold, touch or feed your new baby for weeks or even better, months.  Normally, we follow the recommendations pretty closely because, well, these kids' beginnings have too many challenges already.  But we broke the rule tonight to let my aunt hold Tallulah before she left.  Below is probably one of the greatest spontaneous pictures of all time.  Do you think they have been waiting for this all their lives or what?  ;) 

 

 

 

Uncle Frank got to hold her a few days ago when she saddled herself up onto his lap, but I was busy running late, er, getting ready for an appointment so I didn't get it with my camera.  I know my aunt did get it with theirs though, so I'll have to post that when we share SD cards. 

 

The rest of our travel group also heads home tomorrow.  (We still have 2 more days here.)  We really have been so blessed to meet and share this amazing experience with these families and their sweet new daughters.  And I'm so grateful that our girls have had each other's familiar faces around to help ease their transitions. 

 

 

 

So what did you have for breakfast today?