In Guangzhou... a new world

We are staying the the White Swan Hotel. The locals call it "The White Stork" Hotel because of the large numbers of babies who stay here on their way to new homes. It's a beautiful hotel to the point of being very opulent. Mei Mei likes her crib here- tight and cozy I think. The food is very good near the hotel. We are busy completing our final paperwork and while we wait for the paper work to be returned we take more tours and shopping excursions. Mei Mei's health and happiness seem to increase by the hour. She seems to have more color in her cheeks and even seeks out Jeff for play (as long as Colette is holding her). She finally rides in the stroller without much fuss and sits (more like slouches) in her high chair at meals. She's started to feed herself - before she wouldn't touch the food and had to be fed everything. Our room looks out over the Pearl River. Quite a beautiful view, especially at night.

Our adoption group took our famous "Red Couch" photos of the babies. Mei Mei is on the far right, top row. Eventually all the babies started crying. We took the photo of Colette and Mei Mei before the group photo (no one was crying yet).

Also took a photo of Colette's daily breakfast. It tastes alot better than it looks.

More later... love to our boys.

C&J

More on Mei Mei

We have decided that Mei Mei's developmental age is about 6 months. She can't yet crawl but is pulling her legs up under herself to get ready. She acts like she's spent most of her young life lying on a bed- her hair is worn off on the back of her head. Her head and torso are still wobbly. Her cry is very young sounding. Colette has been putting her through "baby boot camp" to strengthen her muscles and give her confidence to try new things. Uncle Mark and Aunt Julie can take over Baby Boot Camp when we get back home... they're professionals after all.

The boys said they're having a great time. We hope some one's making them eat vegetables.

SOS out to our MOMS Club friends... we are having problems accessing e-mail here. We couldn't find our exersaucer. I think we loaned it out to someone. We'd appreciate a loaner if anyone has one to borrow.

Mei Mei Warms Up to Jeff... forcibly

We've been taking some excursions while we wait for Mei Mei's Chinese passport to be processed. We took her to a beautiful Pagoda near our hotel. She let Jeff carry her for a long time as long as she could still see Colette. She loved the noise and the heat (she's used to it being quite steamy). That same night Colette became very ill with food poisoning. So the next day Jeff had to take the baby on tours while Colette recovered. Mei Mei wasn't too pleased at first and then gave in and started to have a good time with Jeff.

We've noticed so many contrasts in this city. Dilapidated buildings are right next to beautiful ancient structures and beautiful modern structures.

Mei Mei was born in the year of the dog. So we took a picture of her with her doggie.

Take care. Tomorrow we leave for our final stop in Guangzhou to get her visa.

Colette, Jeff and Mei Mei

Walmart and Chinese Adoption Finalization

This morning our guides took on a shopping trip to Walmart. We all needed to buy clothes since the babies are a lot smaller than we expected. We also needed diapers and Chinese formula. Colette had Mei Mei in the front pack. We were treated like rock stars with sometimes 6 salespeople trying to help us at a time. They were all very kind and would really try to take us to exactly what we were in search of. The Chinese children pointed at us and called us "foreigners". Many Chinese women spoke to Colette and Mei Mei and touched Mei Mei as we shopped. It was a very fun excursion.

Then our guides took us to the Civil Affairs building to finalize the adoption. We had to answer some official questions and promise to never abandon our baby. It was very hot on the top floor of the building (during the whole trip it's been 99 degrees + 99% humidity... day and night). The photo is our guide Lewis fanning Mei Mei to cool her down before our meeting with the officials. After our interview they gave us a porcelain vase to give to Mei Mei when she's older. Her province is known for exquisite porcelain.

So according to the Chinese government she's officially ours. Now we have to wait a couple of days to get her Chinese passport. Meanwhile our guides have planned a couple of tours for us one of which will be a tour of a countryside village typical of this area.

We also called in a Chinese doctor to listen to Mei Mei's rattling chest. He said it's a typical cold and gave us Chinese anti-virus serum to give her. We'll see if it helps.

Mei Mei will still only go to Colette. She wants to be physically touching Colette at all times. So Colette has to do many things with Mei Mei on her lap... she also hates the stroller and highchair (it appears she's never used either before). She screams when Jeff walks close by. Jeff holds her when she's sleeping to give Colette's arms a rest.

Kiss the boys for us. We miss them so much and we can't wait for them to meet their Mei Mei.

It's a girl!!!

We have our girl! They led us into the hotel's meeting room and called us each one couple at a time to meet our babies. We were first to meet our Mei Mei. We also met the director of her orphanage who had driven 3 hours to bring her to the hotel. Mei Mei was quiet and observant but later she warmed up to us and played for a while. Today she woke up with a cold and won't let Colette out of her sight. She's small for her age - only 14 pounds at 10 months. More later.

Colette and Jeff