Summer Pictures Part 3

Summer Pictures Part 2

Summer Pictures Part 1

More From Guangzhou...

So wonderful to get comments on our posts...thank you all for your love and good wishes. Jackson has really enjoyed hearing each new post.

It is Monday night and Jackson and I just returned from a beautiful night swim in the pool. We try to get down every night as it is such a serene way to end our day. The pool is lit from underneath so it glows a cool shade of blue. We are surrounded by trees and foliage that is also lit...so pretty. One of our favorite things at night is to swim under this giant, twisted tree that hangs out over the pool and lean back and look up through the lit branches. From the pool, we can also see the Pearl River and the light show in the distance. And even at night, the air is thick and warm. The pictures come out a bit foggy because the camera lens and air are so wet.

So, as my mother always said, a night swim helps you sleep so peacefully. As I look at my little ones sound asleep, I think of her each night and know that in this beautiful serene place, she is looking down on us with a smile on her face.

I can't believe this dream-like adventure in this far away world is coming to an end in a few days. Tomorrow is our last full day in Guangzhou. We then fly to Beijing, spend one night, and then head home. We will arrive in Manchester late Thursday night.

Though I miss all of you...our friends and family....and I especially miss our crazy dogs, I have such bittersweet feelings about leaving this country. People have said that we would be so anxious to get home, but Paul and I, and some other couples on our trip, feel we could stay a few more days to drink in this world just a bit more.

It truly has been a life altering experience for all of us. There are so many images and thoughts in my head that will be there forever...about this country, the people, the foods, the history, and of course, our little girl and her adoption.

Yesterday, one of the dad's in our group talked with someone from Xuwen, the area 5 1/2 hours south of here where Kylie is from. We found out that this is a very rural and poor area where most families survive with farming and fishing as there is very little industry there. We have also had pictures from Kylie's orphanage developed (we had sent a camera there before we arrived and asked them to take some photos). The photos were not all of Kylie and they did not use the whole roll of film, but we were able to see some startling realities of orphanage life. Though well fed and taken care of, the furnishings were sparse. The cribs were metal cribs with no mattress, just a board to sleep on. We heard they each had one blanket. A few pictures showed Kylie in a "walker" toy, but the look on her face was sad and distant. Such a world away from all we know in our lives.

We also had quite a meaningful trip to the nearby countryside to see how people live. Though only 20 minutes outside the city, you could see and feel the difference in the way people live there. I don't know if my words can quite convey the images we saw, but perhaps these few photos and my attempt at a description will help to capture it a bit.

Our bus dropped us in a small paved area at the end of a dead-end street were there was a small playground area and two beat-up wooden ping-pong tables. A few boys were playing and a couple guys in our group took turns playing with them. They seemed to really enjoy us and took great pride in "whooping' these guys with some intense shots!

Here, and later inside the living areas, there were a few friendly yet sad, mangy dogs running around scouring the ground for food. Of course, I wanted to hug them all and take them home, but that would be impossible. Oreo would not be so happy, either.

We then walked down a narrow cement path between small apartment buildings, where we were all quickly faced with the life in this area...the 3 inch long cockroaches being the the most intense sight at first. From this point on there was only this narrow, beat-up concrete path so only bicycles and motor bikes could be used to get in and out of the small village further down the path from us.

Along the path into the housing area that we would visit, there were many small rivers and small plots of land next to the water where the people could farm their own food. We saw a few people working their plots and some just hanging about in a few shady overhang areas. We had been instructed to only take pictures of people if we asked first as many of the older Chinese here still believe the camera may steal their soul.

The walk along the path was long and hot...we were all dripping with sweat again. We would occasionally have to pull the strollers over to the side of the path as people on their scooters and bikes needed to get by. It is amazing what people can get onto their bikes. I saw one guy loaded down with giant bags of onions and other vegetables and another with at least 5 or 6 of those giant water cooler water bottles. We have also seen people carrying fruits and vegetable in giant baskets...one at each end of a stick that runs across their back...just like in photos we have all seen.

When we did make it into the housing area, a young woman with a daughter (about 11 or 12 years old) offered to show us her home. Jackson and I made the trip up 3 flights of an "open" tiled stairway (no railings and very narrow and winding) to her apartment. It was a very small one room home with no door, no bathroom, no railing on the deck, and one very small kitchen with a hot plate. She had one queen-sized bed and a rattan couch (no cushions). She said she lived there with her daughter and her sister, so guessing the three of them shared the bed. We couldn't tell if the bed had a mattress, but we think it was just a board with bamboo mats on it.

She did have a few "luxuries" like a TV, a fan, and I noticed her daughter had braces on her teeth. Guessing they are "middle class" here in China, yet so different from home.

They were so sweet and apologizing for "the mess" as they had just moved to this home. To us, they had so little, but I think they were very happy with what they had. I think it was a little hard for Jackson to comprehend at first, but we talked about it a bit afterwards and he seemed to be aware of our differences.

Kylie continues to make great progress. Her head banging has really slowed down. We try to give her time every night lying on us or with us before she falls asleep. I just keep thinking that she has most likely never had that, so it is important for me that we give her that special time every night and morning. We have a routine now at bed time and she seems to understand and really enjoy it. The past two nights she has slept most of the night in her crib.

Can't wait for you all to meet her! Just bear with us at home as she may close down a bit again with this new major change in her life. We'll just take it slow and easy and see how she does.

Well, it is now Tuesday night and we pack up tomorrow for Beijing. Can't believe this is almost over. What an incredible trip for all of us.

We may not blog again until we get home, but we will be posting a few more things/photos about our trip and then some updates as Kylie settles in.

Our love love to you all! Thank you for joining our adventure to and with Kylie...our special girl from this beautiful country.

Guangzhou Update

Kylie continues to show more of herself as time goes on. We have had a few very piercing screams and lots more laughs...just like any other 14 month old, but so good to see and hear. We are settling into a routine and and now know what many things mean...loud, piercing scream means "I want a bottle...now!" and quiet sitting time with her thumb in her mouth and her blanket in her hand means "I'm ready to sleep now". She also LOVES to bend over backwards as you can see in the photo. She did this so many times on Daddy's lap and kept laughing so hard. We all had a good laugh with her, too!

The past few days in Guangzhou have been a special time for us all, not only to get to know our baby and the rest of the babies, but to see and feel what the Chinese culture in this area of China is like.

We landed in Guangzhou Sunday night and rode about 40 minutes on our bus to The White Swan Hotel. Even though it was night, we could see the vast difference between this city and Beijing. The cities are both immense, but we could tell that Guangzhou is a very industrial/trade city. Every day that we head out for our excursions, we pass immeasurable numbers of small store fronts selling everything from "fasteners" to leather to kitchen sinks. I am guessing that various areas specialize in different things and people who source those products know just where to go to find what they are looking for, but it seems like an overwhelming maze to us. This is a photo from our bus of a street "restaurant"...very simple and sparse.

On our fist full day here we went to a local grocery store to stock up on things we thought we would need for us and our babies. It was a fascinating place with so many products that we had never seen before. Of course we were glad to find some things like "Skippy" peanut butter for Jackson and me, but we also tried a few "safe" looking snacks like lime flavored Pringle-like chips (have since tried the cucumber flavored ones, too...interesting). Paul and Jackson ventured to the side of the store where there were lots of "live things" for sale, but I knew that would not be good for me to see. I did find the giant bins of rice interesting and even saw one older woman taking a handful of the dry rice and feeling its texture and smelling it. Guessing they really know their rice.

I think the most interesting thing about the food markets is that there are aisles and aisles of fruits, dried fruits, fruit-flavored snacks, fruit-flavored teas, and lots of veggie flavored things, too. So different from us and so healthy. In the airport, the snack shop had mostly dried fruits and veggies for snacks...even things like dried seaweed.

Since we have had our babies, we have done a few interesting trips, too. On the day that Jackson and I stayed at the hotel, Paul took Kylie with the group to be blessed by the Buddhist monks in a special ceremony at the temple. (Picture of them with a monk in the last blog)

Here is Paul's take on the day:

It just so happened that the day that Kylie and I visited the Six Banyan Tree Temple was also an important day in Buddhism. On that particular day, Buddhism practitioners went to their markets and bought live fish. These fish were brought to the temple and given to the Monks. The Monks collect the fish in coolers and when the day is over, release them into the Pearl River. I like to think of this day as 'Lisa Day' in Buddhism ;)

After entering the temple, we headed strait to a large building with three golden Buddhas. The Buddhas represent the past, present, and future. There were many people praying and the air was thick with incense.

As Kylie and I approached the temple to get blessed, a young monk was walking out. He wore a traditional gray outfit and his head was shaven. He walked slowly towards Kylie and I. He seemed to almost be in some peaceful transcendental state. Then he reached in his pocket and whipped out a vibrating cell phone and started chatting away as he walked away. Modern times!

Once in the temple, I took off my shoes and carried Kylie to the front of the temple and kneeled while holding her in my arms. An older Monk approached the alter in front of us and started to chant and bang some sort of instrument. A younger monk mixed up some leaves and oil and sprinkled some on each of the parent and child's heads.

After the ceremony was over, each person was suppose to make a donation, so we did.

The second part of the Buddhist tradition is asking for three wishes. I lit 3 sticks of incense and brought them to the outside of a temple. After making three wishes, I put the incense in sand and let the smoke rise to the heavens. One is never suppose to blow or breathe on the smoke b/c it is an insult and Buddha will cast locusts upon your farm for a decade... just kidding about the locust part! Buddha is a kind Deity.

That night, Jackson was rejuvenated, so we joined our group for a sunset dinner cruise on the Pearl River. It was a beautiful boat with tables for four set with crisp linens. It was very romantic setting and Paul and I talked afterwards about the people we had seen on that looked like they were on "first dates". There were also many Chinese families aboard.

After a buffet dinner, we all headed out to the decks to watch the scenery and light show. As the evening grew dark, the buildings and bridges exploded with neon colored lights. We all joked that it looked like a "mini Vegas". I found the bridges to be really amazing as the colors slowly changed.

Jackson had a fun time exploring the different lookout decks and we even found some ice cream on board for him!

The next day we headed out early for a trip to the zoo. As we entered the front gate, Paul and I immediately noticed the signs for "Ocean World" ...a separate part of the zoo, but definitely the first direction Jackson wanted to go in. We arrived inside just as a water show was beginning. It was definitely smaller than the Beijing show, but in this show they had sea lions, dolphins and beluga whales...we've never seen them in a show. They were beautiful!

After the show, we headed into the inside aquarium (so thankful for some AC...the temperature must have been over 100 already and we were all drenched in sweat!). The Chinese know how to do aquariums...again it was amazing with lots of interesting fish in beautiful big tanks. Jackson's favorite again was the shark tank!

After that, we had to run to see the pandas as our group was to meet shortly for lunch. It was SO hot and we were a bit miserable, so a quick peak through the zoo was fine with us. While waiting for the group, I was just hanging out in a small spot of shade with Kylie watching so many different "scenes" of people. One old woman looking for bottles/cans in the garbage came near us, smiled, and gave us a "thumbs up". We have heard that older people will do this when they see Caucasians with Chinese babies as they feel the babies will have "good fortune" with us.

In the beginning of our trip, I was a bit fearful of how the Chinese people would be towards us with their babies, but people have been so kind and look so happy when they see us. At one lunch with the group in a private room in a restaurant, the waitresses all held and played with our babies (and Jackson!) so we could eat. The babies all seemed fine with it, too.

Yesterday we opted out of the trip to a park and tea house as we were in need of a slow morning. In the afternoon, I met with our group and Vanessa for a couple hours to complete more forms for passports, physicals, and visas. She called this our "white-out" party as all the forms had to be done in a specific way. So glad that is over! We are getting near the end of our journey.

This morning we headed out to see a bit of the countryside with hopes of catching a glimpse of someones house. It was an incredible trip, but I will have to write about that tomorrow as it is getting late and Paul wants to get some photos on this.

On a side note...at the Guangzhou airport we saw numerous Olympic billboards by the website that had taken Jackson's picture in Beijing. We didn't see his picture on the site, but at least we know it is legitimate!
Kylie stood up and opened this drawer by herself...uh-oh!!

Lots of Changes...with Both of my Little Ones!!

So many new things happening here in Guangzhou with both of our little ones. It has been a great couple days.

Our little Kylie continues to show us a little more of herself each day. It is amazing how she and all the other babies open up so slowly, but the changes do happen. Yesterday in "The Swan Room", our Kylie all of a sudden got up on all fours and crawled!! Then, last night in our room, all of a sudden she stood up! We had thought she could do both of those things as they were in our referral, but as days went on, we began to wonder, and of course worry a little, too. But all of a sudden, she did them. I guess it just had to be on her own terms in her own time.

Kylie continues to hold the cups (the pink cup is her favorite!), but not so much in front of her face. You can tell her "guard" is coming down. She has begun to explore other toys and loves the noisy ones with lights in The Swan Room. She also loves to be on the floor in our room and pulls herself up with various things. We have suddenly had to "baby proof" our room and watch her at all times. She is motorin'!

Last night when I was settling her for bed, I sang to her and she smiled and started nodding her head with the music. Today at settling time for her nap, we had a little "tickle time" and she had her first real belly laughs. So fun to see her personality coming out!

Jackson also continues to grow here in China. We are so happy to see him accepting the big brother role with such joy and interest. He is always the one who Kylie is looking for and looking at...as you can tell in many of the pictures of us. He was the first one to get her to smile and laugh, last night he taught her to clap, and he is always on the floor playing with her. He was a little tentative to touch her, but today he came over to her and kissed her on the head. He is right next to me as I am typing this singing a song that he made up about Kylie being "...in my heart." He is the sweetest boy. I love that he calls her "sweetie" all the time, too

Jackson is so proud for me to tell everyone, too, that yesterday he learned to put his whole head underwater and to float on his back!! He even tried to swim under water a bit. His confidence and courage has really grown here and he was so ready to try these new things at the pool. We are going to head to the pool tonight for a bit, so thinking he will continue to get a bit stronger in the water. What a cool thing to remember that Jackson learned to swim in China!

Jackson has also become our very special "photographer". Yesterday we gave him a disposable camera to take pictures of anything that he wanted to at the zoo/aquarium. Many of the pictures on here are pictures that he took including his "artistic" ones...his eye and his shoe!

He really loved it and had so much fun, that when he was done with that camera, he wanted to learn how to use the digital camera. Since then we have had so many new pictures, many of the floors and ceilings of places we go (because that is what he chooses) and other things that he just cracks up about. He's pretty creative and we are just letting him go "wild" a bit. We are all laughing so hard when he shows us his pictures.

Here are some pictures with the Buddhist monks from the day that the babies were blessed by them. The other set of pictures are from our river cruise at night on the Pearl River...really fun night! The buildings along the river light up like Vegas...quite a light show!












Will try to write more when I have a chance again. Our love to you all!

Kylie Update & Catching up on our Beijing Adventures

Our days are so busy, but I want to post new pictures and info on Kylie and our days in Guangzhou. If time, I also want back track a bit to try to catch up on Beijing . I think I will do a little of both on our next few blogs.

Last night Kylie had her first dip in the baby pool and her first bath in our room. Both went great! She cried after her bath so we are thinking that she did not want to get out. At some orphanages, children are not bathed very often, but we think they were at Kylie's as all of us moms talked about how clean our babies seemed to be when given to us

We went across the street for dinner with our group. Sometimes it is hard to muster the energy to go back out, but it is great to see all the babies and to catch up on how everyone is doing. Also a good time to compare notes on our babies' progress and to ask questions about issues. I sat next to our social worker (traveling with us from our agency) so was able to chat with her a bit about Kylie's head pounding. She was very helpful in letting me know that it is very common behavior for babies and children from orphanages to bang their heads, turn their heads, rock, etc... as they tend to learn to "self-stimulate" due to the decreased amount of individualized stimulation they receive. Our babies all seem so healthy so that I had really forgotten about the general effects of orphanage/institution life.

Last night I slept with Kylie in my bed. We are all in twin beds in our rooms...not so great at first, but now a blessing as we do not disturb each other. She and I had a great night. She only pounded her head a few times as she nodded off, woke up once and repeated the behavior, then slept again until 6:00-7ish this morning.

She was so beautiful and peaceful as she woke this morning. I think I was awake from 5:00 on ("new mommy" adrenaline still pumping), but I just lied with her and watched her, most of the time with tears streaming down my face. She is so beautiful and now ours. When she woke, she was so peaceful and quiet. She still has to keep looking at me so intensely. She usually holds toys in front of her face and then peeks around at me. I think she is still trying to figure this all out.

Before another quick dip in the pool, we took her to "The Swan" room at the hotel. This is a big room with soft carpeting, toys, play areas, etc,..where you can take your babies to play. We wanted to see if she would play and crawl. Many of the babies in there were very busy, but my sweet one just sat and looked around a bit, holding on so tight to one of her stacking cups. Eventually we were able to get her to play with a ball and she she went from sitting to crawling position, but didn't crawl. Not sure if she hasn't yet or was just overwhelmed with some of the very active babies, a couple of them had tried to take her toys, so she may have shut down and held on tighter. We will try to go back to this room soon and often to see if we can make some crawling progress. She has been doing some "standing" on our laps and we have gotten her to do the bending/jumping motion a couple times. She has even put one foot out in front, but not really a "step" yet.

We did make some "emotional" progress today, too. Kylie has cried a few times and only stopped when I held her. I think she finally feels safe in my arms. She also let me rub her legs and hold and gently stroke her hands. She would usually pull away, so this is good. We had to meet our group at 1:00 to head out and she fell asleep on me in the Baby Bjorn with her head on my shoulder...sweet and peaceful. Again, little steps, but so important.

We went to lunch, where she was only happy if one of us was up walking around with her in our arms. Luckily, our guide takes us to lunch at restaurants where we usually have a private room as many of the babies need to be held and walked.

After lunch, we went to a big police station for the final review of our documents and family photo. We received a small red silk binder with our final documents on the legality of our adoption. YEAH!

We then went to a "department store" where we found nothing really except for a couple more bottles. We are having trouble getting anything into her so thought trying some other bottles/nipples might help. She is just like Jackson...we are always trying to get some formula into her and she has her mouth shut so tight and pushes the bottle away! How wild is that...both my babies. Hoping this doesn't last long...she looks like a good eater.

It is now Thursday am. Sorry I couldn't finish and post this last night, but we were all so tired and I wanted Kylie to get good night's sleep. We snuggled in early and all slept really well. This morning she drank almost a whole bottle for Daddy, so we are quite relieved. She is back asleep. Both of my little ones are still sleeping...so beautiful in here.

Today we are heading out to "The Six Banyan Tree Temple" where she will be blessed by the Buddhist monks. It is a tradition to take the babies there. We can tape it, so it will be interesting to share when we get home.

After that, we are going to a Jade factory, then home for a rest this afternoon. We will then have a dinner cruise on the Pearl River. Will get some pictures of that. Not sure if we will get another blog up until tomorrow as this will be a full day again.

Well, we just came back from breakfast and we think Jackson has "hit the wall", so to speak. He has been so wonderful through all of this, I am amazed he has done so well up until now. What a trooper. We all have a bit of an intestinal thing although we have been so careful about what we eat. Guessing it is somewhat inevitable. We think Jackson needs some "down time with mommy" so he and I will stay behind while Daddy and his little girl head out to the blessing.

Before I start to forget things, I want to get in a little about the last couple days before we flew down to Guangzhou. So much to write, so I will break it up and add a little to our daily updates. While Jackson is resting and watching a movie, I will try to get some past details down now.

The rest of our group arrived last Friday (July 11th) and our next few days were packed with lots of interesting trips.

We began Saturday at 6:30am with an optional trip to a local park arranged by Dr. Steve, the pediatrician traveling with us who has been to China many times. The bus ride to the park was fascinating as we drove through some back neighborhood areas of Beijing. The park was not far from our hotel, but the trip through the local streets was an added experience. Once at the park, Dr. Steve gave us a little info about the park, but suggested that we just follow our hearts and explore it on our own. The three of us set out on a paved path that had many rock pathways leading off of it and up a hill to a beautifully painted and carved building at the top.

What struck Paul and I the most was the spiritual nature of the Chinese people in the park, many practicing Tai Chi, others just stretching and exercising, and some engaging in "scream therapy" (Dr. Steve had told us that this had been popular in China many years back and was still practiced by some older people). There were also "group" classes that looked like a combination of dance and Tai Chi. We also saw a couple men using these large giant brushes to do large Chinese calligraphy drawings on the sidewalk using only water and this big soft bristle brush. (Our China guide later told us that this is done not only as a meditative exercise, but also for physical exercise of the hand and arm muscles.)

The people in the park were not the young and fancy-dressed exercisers you may see in Central Park in NY, but mostly older people in very simple day clothes. Paul and I talked later about our impressions and both of us were were so touched by the grace and contentment of these people who have very little, rode old bicycles to the park, yet all seemed at peace. The culture in some areas here is so healthy...food, exercise, spirituality.

We did climb to the top of the hill and looked down upon the roofs of "The Forbidden City" and across the landscape of Beijing...the old and new mixed together.

Before the rest of our group was done in the park, we decided to check out the street a bit that the park was located on. Some very interesting things happening....woman set up on the sidewalk with chairs waiting for their next haircut/shave client, people in line at a small window ordering what looked like large hand made English muffins, and people riding all kinds of old bikes. Simple yet very poignant memories of life in China.

Next we headed to "The Summer Palace".
(see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace for more detailed info/history)
It was a very pretty expansive park around a small lake. The lake was man-made and the dirt transferred to create the hill next to it called "Longevity Hill". There were many small red building groups...areas for families and servants to live. Each had its own little courtyard and interesting sculptures and large rocks.

It was beautiful to see this area, but so hot and mobbed with throngs of Chinese vacationers. We were happy to find each new shady area. We walked part way around the lake (many more photo ops for Chinese children with our "rock star" son) then hopped on a "Dragon Boat" to take us back across the lake. Jackson really loved the dragon on the front of our boat and the shade and cool breeze off the water was a welcome respite!

After we returned to the front gate, we walked to a nearby Pearl Factory. It was government run, so the quality was supposed to be very high, but we didn't find anything we needed to have...even with the intense sales pressure. These girls are tough and relentless! We did have a short presentation on how pearls are formed and the presenter gave Jackson 2 fresh-water pearls out of the oyster that she opened. We will keep those in a special box at home...thinking they represent our two little ones, Jackson and Kylie.

We had lunch next door then headed out to our bus for the hour's ride to "The Great Wall". It was an incredible sight when we caught our fist glimpse of "The Great Wall". To think that this wall, stretching thousands of miles (over 4,000!) across the tops of these steep hills, was built by hand. See this link for more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China

We took a group photo at the bottom of the hill which came with a beautiful photo book of the wall. We are not usually into that sort of thing, but this one is particularly nice and well done. Glad we did it as a keepsake of our trip.

Then we walked up some initial stairs to the first of three towers in this area of the wall. Many in the group continued on and reached the third tower, the "top", but Jackson was having a tough time in the heat and with the steep stairs. To be honest, I think Paul and I were, too, so we just hung out in this area until our time to re-group. It actually was the perfect place for Jackson as there was a small stone building with windows, one of the lookout towers, to play in. (Coincidentally, he just watched the movie "Mulan" that morning which begins with a scene in a lookout tower on the wall.) He and Daddy ran through that building chasing each other many, many times!! We also found some other buildings and areas to look through and ended up sitting in a small patch of shade that we were so happy to find. There was an ice cream vendor right next to us, so Jackson picked a treat...what we thought was a Popsicle. It ended up being some green gummy/slimy cold thing that turned my stomach, but he loved!!

Once our group was back to the bottom, we boarded the bus to head back down the mountain. Vanessa, our guide, told us we would be able to "drive by" the Olympic Village. Due to increased restrictions around the area, we would not be able to stop, but our bus would slow down enough for us to take some pictures. The two main buildings that we saw were the "The Cube" for the water events, a large rectangular "box-like" building in a light blue color with big "bumps' on it and "The Bird Nest" for track events, a large steel structure that does look like a giant nest. Guessing you will be seeing a lot of these on TV in the next few weeks.

After our photo shoot, we had one last stop (thankfully...sooo tired by now!)at a silk factory. Again, after a quick demo on the silk worm, etc...we were lead through the sales floor and heavily "attacked" by the young woman pushing sales. We opted to wait until Guangzhou to do our silk shopping.

Finally, we had supper at what seemed to be a very popular restaurant. As usual, some of the food was ok for Jackson and me, but most dishes not quite what we can stomach. Thank goodness for white rice and Sprite!

Quite a day. So glad we did it all, but definitely exhausting. So proud of Jackson for how well he did despite all the stops and the heat.

That's it for now. Will try to catch up some more tomorrow!