Day 7: Makena's Many Moods

Day 7: Nanchang

We spent our morning touring the countryside. We hopped on our bus and took off out of the city. The small town that we went to was not too far from Nanchang, and according to Veronica, is much nicer than where Makena is from. One crazy thing that we've also become accustomed to is the bus driving (and all traffic in general). The bus was driving down the road and them proceeded to do a U-turn in the middle of a two-lane road...with traffic coming in each direction. We were completely sitting ducks...a bunch of Americans with their Chinese babies turning right in front of people just trying to do their jobs. It was pretty funny and people are generally nice to us. We started walking and got to see the pig carcases for sale, the toilets (small shack buildings with a hole in the ground), babies in split pants, people working in the fields, and retired persons playing mah jong. It was a beyond depressed area by American standards. Makena fell asleep about 35 minutes into the walk, so I was happy when we headed back for the bus. She sure can get heavy! Charlie stayed with the tour guide for another 30 or so minutes to see a bit more of the countryside. What an interesting morning - everyone was very accommodating, even if they looked at us like we were very strange!

 

Makena finally fell asleep right as I had to head out to complete some more paperwork. Charlie said that I would be the only mom to show up, since the last time we had to complete paperwork as a group (about two hours after gotcha!) it was all dads. This time it was all moms - it was also all of the complicated US paperwork. It took us about 2 hours to get everyone ready. The three of us made a lot of use out of the playroom that was right down the hall from our room. We ended our day with a group pizza party in the playroom - yum! We also got our girls' Chinese passports! Mak's has her picture from before we met her in it and is all ready for her US Visa!

 

That was to be our last day in Nanchang and also in Jiangxi province...Makena's home province for her first year of life! It was happy and sad for us. We grew accustomed to the area and the food (although the pollution was not very pleasant) - we were probably the only ones in our group who weren't thrilled to be heading to the next step! What I wasn't thrilled about, but did make it through, was packing. The day we arrived in Nanchang, I unpacked everything. And I mean, everything! So putting the puzzle back together and making sure that neither of our bags exceeded the 44 lb weight limit was great fun! We did it though! One more step closer to home!

What we know about Makena so far...

She is beautiful...she loves to talk and does it constantly...she loves to walk if you hold her arms...she doesn't know how to crawl, but just learned how to scoot on her belly...she is working on sitting up on her own...she loves steamed eggs, congee, noodles, rice, and watermelon...once we got her formula right, she loves it...she's seemingly not worn diapers before...she has a mean streak...she is extremely spoiled and it doesn't seem that anyone ever set her down before she arrived here on Sunday...she is wearing 6-12 month clothes, but not for long...she can use a straw...she drinks Evian straight from the bottle (she's a bit messy)...she's not too enamoured by regular toys, but loves the video camera, remote control, and watching herself in mirrors and in video...she giggles when she is happy...she is a dancer and sways when there is music...she loves Gerber puffs but not Cheerios...she LOVES money and she first went to Charlie when she realized that he had all of the money; now she loves him...she cries before she sleeps - always and for a long time (we knew this from her foster mom)...she smiles at everyone but only really talks to us and Veronica...she loves music...she is not capable of sitting still for more than a few seconds...she hates high chairs...she flops a lot in her sleep...she is a typical one-year-old and cannot be left alone for a second (and she craves attention)...she does not understand the word no (in Chinese or English)...she's in the middle of a big adjustment and we think that she is doing great!

 

We have a bunch of videos and photographs and will share more of them when we get back to the States and have blogspot access.  Right now, we are emailing the information to the server and hoping that it comes out alright! We are loving our time in China and are definitely meeting some wonderful people. I think we'll be back here sooner rather than later!

Day 6: Nanchang Photos

Charlie and Makena sharing a moment, and a pic of us California girls hanging out at the Pavilion! Becky and her family are great and we are planning to stay in touch and visit often! Her daughter is the one who lived close to Makena...

Day 6: Nanchang

Today was another good day (and it isn't nearly over yet!). We got up for good at 5:30am and played a bit after our bottle. Breakfast was great (as always...normally I am completely opposed to buffets, but for breakfast in a hotel, it is great!). We're expanding our feeding of Makena. I'm  sure that she already had all of these foods, but we're trying to add things slowly to make sure that she a) doesn't throw them in disgust, and b) they agree with her belly. At breakfast we added noodles and she slurped them up!

 

Our city tour was at one of the three most beautiful pavilions in China (according to our guide, not my limited experience!). It truly was lovely and we even got to see a show at the top of the pavilion! Makena really doesn't like to sit still, and after pulling on me and twirling around in my lap, she decided to flirt with the little boy sitting next to us. He was probably three, and him wanting nothing to do with her made her flirt that much harder! Very endearing! But our big adventure of the day was to the American Embassy...McDonald's! The entire bus cheered when Veronica asked if we wanted to get carry out...Charlie was first in line! He ate more from McDonald's than I've ever seen him eat in one sitting! He bought me a strawberry shake as a treat. On the bus ride back to the hotel I stole a sip and Mak looked at me as if to say, what about me? So we handed her the straw, and sure enough...slurp! She screamed when we took it away. Apparently she has more experience with different drinking containers than we gave her credit for! We came back to the room and Mak shared french fries with us while we chowed down! It was a long afternoon after that - she screamed (and no, I'm not exaggerating...it was screaming) for probably a solid hour. She's napping right now, but that sure was a fight. I talked to a couple of the other moms and they seemed to have the same problem.

 

Tonight we are eating at the local restaurant in the hotel. I am looking forward to getting some good food in her belly (and hopefully in ours too) so that we can have a good night's sleep. We just picked up all of our notarial paperwork, and now we know why it cost 4000 yuan. Wow...talk about a lot of paper! Overall the evening looks to be pretty typical for this week! Tomorrow we will be touring the countryside, which is similar to where Makena is from. Veronica will also go to the police station to get the baby passports. That will allow us to leave Jiangxi province come Saturday morning. That also means that tomorrow I need to start thinking  about packing all of our stuff back up. Wow..I never knew we could pack so much and only have it weigh 88 pounds total! Wish me luck!

Day 5: Nanchang Photos - evening

Mak LOVES to walk and when she is not happy, everyone knows about it!

Day 5: Nanchang Photos

Day 5: Nanchang

Okay. Now I am finally caught up. It is actually 9:44pm on Wednesday and we had a great day today. Charlie and Makena have been asleep for about an hour, but I decided that I had to at least get some photos posted!

 

Today was great. We woke up at 4am for a bottle and a diaper, then slept until 7am. Makena woke up happy, which made mama and baba very happy too! We played for a long time and then headed down to breakfast. She even let Charlie feed her! Yay! The group headed to a park and walked around for a few hours. It was lovely and we were able to go into a temple and got a history lesson. Makena fell asleep for a good part of the trip, but before she crashed, she let Charlie walk her around for a while. We are definitely making progress on that end! My mistake  was letting her come to me right before she fell asleep - an hour later and I was still holding her! I'm so glad that we brought that slingling!

 

A subset of our 11 families headed to lunch on the way home. Veronica ordered for us and we had a great time. Makena ate like a mad woman again; quite frankly, she eats more than Charlie and I combined at any one of these meals! Oh I almost forgot...she LOVES watermelon! All of the girls do. It is the messiest thing I've seen in a long time, but boy does it make them happy!

 

At 3pm, a calligrapher came to the hotel's playroom (which is just a few doors down from our room - our hotel caters to adoptive families) and offered to create a calligraphy on silk and rice paper for our children. We got one made for Makena - it has her Chinese name, her orphanage, and our wishes for her...health, happiness, and eternal love. It is simply beautiful (although we're not sure how we'll get it home!). Dinner tonight was at another local place. Makena did great again! We had so much fun!

 

Back at the pad we played with the beach ball for awhile and got a great video of Makena just laughing her little head  off. Then it was on to a bath - a real bath, complete with a hair washing. She did great! She didn't even cry before she fell asleep! Wow! We did a lot of walking practice today too, so we were happy to see her tired. and ready for bed. 

 

One thing that we've gotten accustomed to over the last couple of days is that the locals are very interested in Makena and in us. We get a lot of folks coming up to us (they are NOT shy) and speaking with us and talking to Makena. At first it seemed uncomfortable, but after speaking with Veronica, it seems that they are happy that we are taking the children out of orphanages and giving them  a proper home. They are so very nice and accommodating! Veronica even gave us a little sign that we are showing to the locals when they are pretty adamant about what's going on with the Chinese girl (and we are unable to communicate). It says Makena's Chinese name and birthdate, along with an explanation of who we are and that we are adopting the little Chinese girl. That we love Chinese culture and its people (which is very true), and that we will love Fu Yan E forever and  never neglect, abandon, or abuse her. That card is definitely a keepsake. Anyway, off to bed now! We've got another fun day at a different park tomorrow!

Day 4: Nanchang

Makena slept until 5:00am! Wow...that was awesome! We tried taking the rice cereal out of the bottle and adding a tad bit of sugar. Voila! We were still using the cut nipple, but we didn't care when it got all over. She actually took it (3 ounces - not the 6 we need, but definitely a step in the right direction). For the record, we haven't  had any trouble getting her to eat formula since that morning. We even were able to switch out a regular level four nipple for the one that we cut to mimic her old one. She's an eater!

 

Breakfast brought with it her first "baby chair". She did relatively well, although we could tell that she'd never been in one and wasn't real thrilled. We went with the same breakfast as Monday, but also threw in a banana and some rice pudding. Yum! She was very happy. We're finding that she is very strong-willed, and when she wanted out of that chair, well she was going to get out whether I liked it or not! Then we all hopped in the bus and went to the notary. We again had to pay the notary fee and get interviewed. Mak slept through the whole thing and man was my arm tired! After we left  the notary, our Chinese paperwork was complete. She was ours and no one could take her away! Now we just had to stay in Nanchang until her passport arrived, which we're hoping is still Friday. Then we headed to the Nanchang Super Wal-Mart. For the first time in my memory, I was very excited to see that sign! We bought diapers, formula, toys, water, etc...awesome! Charlie thinks that the best part of that trip was that we got to eat at KFC afterward. It was pretty disgusting, but boy did that fountain soda taste good (with no ice or course!).

 

In the afternoon we headed out on an optional shopping trip to the mall. Veronica put us in cabs, and as is typical for China, the ride there was very eventful. Why follow the rules of the road when driving down the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic will get you there faster?!?! Oh, and just so you know, there are no car seats in China - Mak was in my lap (actually, she was standing on my lap) the entire time! The other families that went checked out the cute clothes and shoes...Charlie and me? We headed for the stereo section and bought a speaker for the iPod. The sheet said that Mak loved music, but we couldn't find any (there is no radio or clock in our room, and no music video TV station). I had preloaded lullabies on my iPod before we left, and thought that might be something good for her to listen to. That was the best $30 we've spent in a long time! We use them all of the time we are in the room. They are great and very tiny! We ended up back in the hotel playroom with Mak's beach ball. What fun!

 

That night a few of us headed back to the same restaurant as the night before. Makena had been cranky all afternoon; she woke up 30 minutes after she went down for her nap screaming bloody murder. She was NOT happy that we were there when she woke up either. After that, things were dicey.  She screamed most of the way through dinner and it took Veronica to speak Chinese to her and calm her down a bit. Again, let me reiterate how fantastic Veronica is!

Day 3: Nanchang Photos

Day 3: Nanchang

Monday was a wonderful and completely crazy day. We all got up and kind of looked at each other. We tried again with the bottle to no success, but no worries! There was a Western/Eastern breakfast buffet in the hotel. Mak was showing a bit of a preference for me at this point...daddy made her cry (although she got over it quickly when I disappeared). I put Makena in one  of my favorite little outfits and it was so fun to see if on her! We've (okay, I've) collected clothes over the last four years for her and it is wonderful to see them fit! At breakfast we tried eggs, congee, and bread. They were all big hits! Yay! We got food in her belly! The formula thing really caused us some concern and we also had issues with water. After  trying every combination under the sun...cutting the nipple hole bigger, trying a different bottle, trying a sippy cup, adding a bit of juice, adding a bit of sugar (very common here)...Ugh! We were going to dehydrate the girl in less than 24 hours! Help!

 

At 10am, the orphanage director, Mr. Zhong, sat down with us to speak and to  answer our questions. As it turns out, Makena has spent her first year with a foster family! She had a late-40s foster mom and four foster siblings. Her oldest foster brother worked construction, so they were  pretty high in the economy. Her foster mother loves baby girls and only takes a foster child once in a great while. We also discovered the daughter of our new friends, Becky and Alex, lived nearby to Makena and they knew each other. Mr. Zhong talked about foster care and about how much the mothers love the babies. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, including his!

 

We got take out from the hotel and ate in our room. Makena loved pizza crust and Gerber puffs...I know, not the healthiest, but we were just trying to bond! That afternoon we all headed on a bus to the civil affairs office. Muggy doesn't even begin to describe how hot and sweaty and humid the office was. The one win we had pretty quick was that we discovered that our girl simply didn't want to drink water from a baby bottle..she prefers drinking straight from the Evian bottle! A girl after our own hearts! We had three tasks at the office. First, we took a family photo (!). Second, we paid the fees.  Third, we  got interviewed. We had to promise not to abuse, neglect, or abandon our daughter and promise to love her forever. That wasn't hard! At the end of a very long three or so hours, we all received our adoption certificates. It was official! Makena was a Brown!

 

Then it was a bus ride to the police station to get passport pictures taken. That was actually really nice because there was air conditioning and it was quick! Who knows what her picture will look like, but we were proud that they didn't have to take it more than once! Monday evening we did a group dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. It was great...Veronica ordered steamed egg and vegetable congee for each baby. Turns out, Makena is an eater! She went to town! Mama didn't get to each hardly anything (she would only let me touch her at this point), but it didn't matter. She was eating! Yay! Back at the hotel it was time for another bath, another bottle (which she still wouldn't take), and bedtime. After that great meal, it only took a few minutes to get her  to sleep. One of the things that was on her lifestyle sheet was that she cried before sleep. They were not kidding! She screams and then collapses! Very endearing...Charllie and I also crashed...Tuesday was going to be long too!

Day 2: Gotcha Photos

Day 2: Gotcha Day

The wake-up came at 4:00am and the bell boy picked up our luggage at 4:30am. Breakfast (buns and coffee) was at 5:20am and the bus left for the airport at 5:50am. Everyone was punctual...all 9 families (we were to meet two more in Nanchang). While we were all going through the motions, there was an odd unspoken feeling amongst the crowd. It was our last moments without our children. Let me repeat that...our children! We were fortunate enough to fly out of the new Beijing airport terminal that was built for the 2008 Olympics. It was lovely and a true combination of the Hong Kong airport and the Seoul airport - very modern and full of glass. We hung out with all of our new friends in the terminal waiting for our flight. A trip to the airport convenience store yielded Pringles and soda. Yum! Not much else was recognizable and I was not about to buy fruit in an airport! Our flight to Nanchang was uneventful, if a bit dramatic. The pilot took us straight into the air and straight down to the ground for our take-off and landings. It was crazy and just enough humor for all of us.

 

The Nanchang airport was fine, although the bathroom was a typical Chinese water closet. Our luggage made it (yippee!) and we all boarded the bus to the Jin Feng Hotel in Nanchang, which is the capital of the Jiangxi province.  Our phenomenal guide, Veronica, gave us such a memorable talk on the way to the hotel. Charlie recorded it so that we could watch it again; what an amazing lady! It wasn't even anything that I can write down, just know that it lifted everyone's spirits and gave us such a sense of peace. Wow, just thinking about it now sends chills down my spine!

 

We unpacked and went to a local market to buy some water (tap water is not potable here) before we headed to lunch. Our last meal as a family of two! It was so eventful that the wedding reception that was being thrown on the floor above the restaurant accidentally dumped the good luck rice on me! Yes, all over me...it was in my hair, on my clothes, on the table, you name it, it was there! What a sign of good luck! Gotcha was supposed to be on the second floor of the hotel at 3:30pm, and all of the parents were anxiously waiting in the lobby...every time a baby came in the door everyone would gasp (what stalkers we were!). Veronica came down and said that they wouldn't be there until 4:30pm because the orphanage bus was stuck on the freeway because of a bus accident. Those poor babies (and those equally poor nannies) were stuck on that bus for over 5 hours! Ugh...

 

At about 4:30pm, there were a few babies getting out of a bus out front...they started to come in and we saw Makena! She was the second baby in the door and was being carried by a beautiful young nanny. We recognized her right away. The throng of adoptive parents was so funny! Everyone headed upstairs - babies first and then families. All of the babies sit with their nannies in a row of chairs and the families sat in a semi-circle around them. We had to have our passports, so when they called Makena's Chinese name (which took us a while to pronounce, but we've become quite proficient!) we had to take our passports to the orphanage director to verify that we were the right parents for Mak. Then the nanny handed her to me and made sure we knew that she had just started to walk! What a moment. It is impossible to put it into words and I won't even try. We watched everyone get their babies while Mak, Charlie, and I got a bit acquainted. It was pretty much mass chaos, but everyone waited their turn to meet their kids.

 

We brought Makena up to our room to get to know her. She was not happy, but was not crying. We played a bit and tried desperately to make her a bottle of formula. The orphanage director had given us a bag of formula and rice cereal that she ate, so we were trying to follow the Chinese directions. Ha! BTW, it is now actually Wednesday and we have it down to a science...and it turns out that she doesn't like rice cereal - go figure! Anyway, the clothes that she came in were way too tight for her and she had big marks on her legs from the bloomers and the socks. We will keep that outfit for her, but it definitely isn't going back on her. Veronica ordered pizza for us and brought it to our room while we had two hours of family time. At 7pm, Charlie went downstairs to fill out some more paperwork and then I headed down when he returned. We got Mak to sleep pretty easy that night; she was obviously grieving. Veronica recommended that we put her in one of our beds (it seems that almost all of the hotels only have two doubles...no kings) to sleep. That seemed to work. Talk about a bizarre feeling though. We just sat there and looked at her. What a little beauty! She was very quiet that day and didn't cry - boy were we in for a rude awakening in a couple of days! She did sleep for about four hours at a time that night and while we tried making her bottles at her prescribed times, she just wouldn't take them. Poor little thing...Monday was going to be a hectic day too!

All is Well...except Internet access!

All is great here. We've been with Makena for almost 48 hours now and are officially her parents! We have so much to write, but are having a lot of Internet issues. Am going to try something new and hoping that it works much better! The posts might not be perfect, but at least we'll get some info posted! We miss you all and can't wait for you to meet our little princess (more about that later...)!

Day 1: Beijing

We had a busy day. Jet lag got Charlie up early and he headed out for a walk around town at about 5am. Breakfast was at 6:30am and then the two of us walked around for about an hour before the tour started. It is so much fun to walk around the town. Very few of the dogs are on leashes and there are hundreds of bicycles on every street. We ran into a local market, which is always an education, and then saw a mini-parade going down the street. It was nice and cool even; it is always nice to not be sweaty before the day even starts!

Veronica had us on the bus at 8:30am and we headed to Tiananmen's Square and the Forbidden City. Then it started to rain...buckets! There were hundreds of street vendors that really wanted us to buy an umbrella. We did not and just hung in the rain for the next few hours. It really was a wonderful tour that walked us several miles from Tiananmen's Square to the South Entrance of the Forbidden City all the way through to the North Exit of the Forbidden City. Amazing...Charlie and I really wanted to go to the Chinese National Museum, but there wasn't time. Next trip! Let me reiterate at this point...we were soaking wet (if we get any pictures posted, you'll see what I mean!).

Once we made it back to the bus we headed to the Cloisonne factory where we had a wonderful lunch. Then it was onto the Great Wall of China - the Badaling entrance. The rain stopped, but it stayed very cool. That really helped everyone, as it was much steeper than anyone had anticipated! I went up to the first castle with Charlie, which was just about as far as most of the folks went. Charlie and our new friends Alex and his son, David, headed up to the next castle and ended up going all the way to number six! Their heads were in the clouds by then...I call them castles, but they were really guard towers (the kids all called them castles and it stuck!). It truly is a wonder of the world. Everyone was in awe.

We headed back to the hotel at 4pm, exhausted and still wet. Veronica went over the process for Gotcha Day tomorrow and we received our travel approval sheet with Mak's photo on it. Right before we got back to the Poly Plaza hotel, we passed by the Bird's Nest and other Olympic sites. Amazing!

Our orders are to have our luggage ready for the bell boy at 4:30am, breakfast is at 5:20am, and we leave for the Beijing airport at 5:50am. I've got to get packing...good night! Tomorrow is a big day.

Greetings from Beijing

Today, we are tourists! Complete with snacks, a roll of toilet paper (for the squat potties), sunscreen, bottled water and a digital SLR camera. For the record, at least we have them all in one bag! We're just heading down to the breakfast buffet and hope to enjoy some breakfast congee while we are there. Our guide is meeting us at 8:30am to take us on our only full day of tourist activities!

We have discovered a bit of a snag in our attempt to blog this trip though...it appears that Blogspot is blocked from our hotel in Beijing, but we are still able to use the BlackBerry. We're hoping that it is a temporary thing and we'll not have trouble in Nanchang. The only reason that we wanted to use it was for pictures; we'll deal with that when we get there though. We can get to Facebook though, so we'll be sure to post a bunch there once we get to Nanchang!

In Beijing...

We had a smooth and safe flight into Beijing. It's a full 12 hours ahead, so jet lag is kicking in a bit...we're troopers though! No sleep for us until tonight. We just showered and changed clothes so that we can go downstairs and enjoy the juice bar and the sites. Will go with our guide to the local grocery store so we can buy some snacks for our big day of touring tomorrow! We'll post pictures and other tidbits ASAP.

on our way!

We are in Newark awaiting our next leg. Beijing here we come! Our first plane was delayed (as to be expected into Newark), so we got breakfast vouchers. What a good start to the day! And for the record, I'm not being sarcastic. It really was a good start! We just finished a mango margarita and a beer...parenthood here we come. The countdown has begun! Wish us luck as we board an oversold flight direct to China. I pulled the short straw and will be starting out in the middle seat. Good times...

Blessed

We are blessed. Plain and simple. There are so many friends and family that have touched us by their good wishes and generosity. Thank you to each and every one of you! We truly appreciate all of our friends and family and look forward to introducing you all to Makena (in due time...jet lag from Asia is brutal!).

And we're off...

It's 12:19am and we're officially packed and ready to go...okay, okay...lesson learned. We should have started packing before 9pm tonight! It was easy to keep our checked bags under the 44lb weight limit for China, but it was a bit tough to squeeze everything in. Between the two of us, we have two 25" check bags and a few small carry-ons - for 17 days! Wish us luck...

I was just standing in my closet staring at my options and I realized that this is probably the last time for many years that I will have that luxury. I imagine that our daughter will not sit patiently while I try on four different outfits every morning or simply stare at the rack and think that I have nothing to wear.

Charlie and I are so excited to start this new chapter; I just got a message that our flight from home to Newark is two hours late tomorrow morning. Good thing we have a four-hour layover!