Happy Thanksgiving !

Yesterday was the most difficult day of my life. A Yue (still bonding so using her nickname from the orphanage until I get home) needs to be held 24/7 and she weighs a TON. I need to hold her standing up--can't even lean over god forbid sit down!

Her fine motor skills are amazing. She can pick out the favorite cheerio and hold it between two fingers forever, just like that peanut (which I've been looking for. I think it was stolen by a maid!). However, her gross motor skills are terrible. She really is an infant in many ways. Obviously that comes from being in the crib most of her life. Anyway, I tried to take her to the park yesterday morning but the old hags got me because I didn't have her arms covered. I almost started bawling. So we came back to the hotel and went in the afternoon. A Yue walked a lot over there and seemed to enjoy it. The entire day, though, was a bawling jag (on her end) and I made it through. We ordered room service last night and had a great time. You should see that kid dig into a slice of watermelon. It is soooo cute == sort of like a guppy/pirahna (sp) mix. She actually looked me in the eyes and feed me a piece of food. We are coming such a long way in such a short period of time.

A Yue is absolutely perfect. When she sleeps she has two straight lines for eyes and one for lips, expect there's a little rosebud in the middle of the lip line.

She takes after John because her nose is so little and her legs move incessantly. She takes after me cause she can't pass a mirror without looking at herself. And yesterday she walked past my dress boots and took a step back as if to say "yeah, cool boots!

Anyway, I am rambling but wanted you all to know things are going really well and I am amazing myself. I did lose 10 pounds in the process so far and I think my arms are firming up!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Enjoy the food while I suck on a duck neck or something. Aunt Vic, make sure John gets a bumper pad for the crib==this child is wild in her sleep and continually whacks her head on the crib bars. I think that's a lot to do with the anxiety. Makes me cry. I think she was given the best care available from that orphanage. It's just difficult because she had many nannies so no one really to attach to. I'll try to post pics when I get to Guangzhou in 3 days. Otherwise, keep praying for us.

Sssssshhhhhh! The Baby is Sleeping

Gotcha day was yesterday and little Olivia was placed in my arms at 3:05 p.m. I thought we could name her at home, well that was not the case. I had 5 minutes to come up with a name and, coincidentally, John called me in the middle of the night his time to wish me luck. Well, I sorta panicked on the phone with him. Anyway, we can always change it later. Tiff/Jocelyn, hmmmmm???

A Yue, as she is known now, showed no emotion whatsoever (not a good sign by the way). Just sat on my lap. Came to me with a lollipop in one hand and a peanut in the other. She held onto that peanut for HOURS! I gotta get some shots of that.

After all of the paperwork and another couple's kid screaming her head off, we arrived safely in our hotel room. And then...........................
Holy crap I've never seen anything like it. I successfully fed her, the bottle was all jacked up--didn't think she would need that---wrong! Changed my first diaper in 30 years and bathed her. After that the incessant screaming started all over. She clings to me like a baby orangutan and if I sit, move or lean over it's bad news.

This little one has some attachment issues which will work out over time. She actually paced for hours, with me holding her hand, and she wouldn't stop. Across the room, about face, and back and forth. Over time, the distance got a little shorter but she kept moving. She was falling asleep walking and refused to stop (man I wish I had my attachment book here--note to John, where the heck is it?) Finally, I put her in her crib and she pitched a 3 second fit, ended up on the opposite side, threw the blanket who knows where, and was out like a light. Fast forward 4 hours later, she is still sleeping and is beautiful. I aimed the camera at her but then chickened out. I don't want to get thrown out of the hotel.

Pray for a good day today and that she is able to resolve to relax a bit and settle in.

This morning I spent time running around Nanning and ended up in the People's Park. Absolutely gorgeous. Made some new friends. John will have to post pics of everything when I get home. Not even sure how much I will be posting, but will when I can. I think I should go get my shower now (at 1:30 a.m.) because it's back to civil affairs at 8:30.

Okay, this one is for the blog. Tomorrow is the Day, I know you all could care less about what I've been doing thus far and all l you want to see is pics of the baby. Well, first of all, John and I will be new parents at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. You all will still be sleeping since you are 13 hours behind me. I will have John upload pics as soon as I can figure out how to upload them myself. Sorry for the delayed update, but I was on planes for over 25 hours thus far and didn't have access to a computer until I moved from Beijing to Nanning today. I was the only Caucasian on the plane and that was WEIRD. People kept looking at me out of the corner of their eyes. When we were deplaning, one older man whispered to me in English! He had just spent a month in LA. I wish he would have spoken to me before I accepted the Chinese breakfast! I climbed the Great Wall to a fantastic height. If I did that every day I would have buns of steel but I can't. I won't. Toured everything else you ever heard about too. Anyway, today is what matters. I came to Nanning, Guangxi province (near Vietnam). Much, much warmer than Beijing. Thank God. Anyway, I met a young lady named Cee Cee who is with Civil Affairs. She and her manager brought me to my hotel. I was sitting here wondering what the hell to do when the phone rang. It was Cee Cee asking me if I wanted to meet her for lunch. I swore I would be strictly vegetarian when I was here, but when I told her that she kept saying "noodle and beef. I sat with folks I will never see again in a tiny hole in the wall and slurped noodles (and beef) with chopsticks like a pro ! Cracked me up. People with babies kept pointing to me and showing me to their babies. They were smiling (I don't consider it a laugh!) so it was okay by me. 14 million people in this city and they were all at Wal-Mart today. Remind me to tell you about that crazy experience. You cannot even imagine. I told John it was like Times Square onNew Years eve, minus the structure, to the tenth power. Cee Cee is coming to take my (okay our) baby and me to dinner this week. Okay so on to why I am here and sorry for the stream of consciousness...The housekeeping crew delivered the crib to my room and I wasn't expecting it just yet. It definitely is not USA approved but it's a crib. I somehow only packed diapers so either she will be potty trained quickly or I will be back at madhouse Wal Mart in the a.m. I cannot wait to get her and won't sleep again tonight. I've lost a zillion pounds (that's a plus) and don't even feel like I need to sleep. Remind me of that statement in a few weeks. Anyway, I am set and ready to go. Pray that she likes me at least a little. I brought all the bribery tools I could think of. I love it here but can't wait to get to San Francisco. Dad, you would HATE it here. Mom, probably same goes for you. Laura, the jury is still out on you. Deb E - if you are still hanging with me here, please tell Meghan that she will have absolutely no problem navigating the airports. No worries whatsoever. Tell her to enjoy every moment and I want to talk to her about her experiences when she returns. Okay, I am done rambling. (Can you tell I am a little lonely?). I will now get to work on posting pics. I love you all and make sure you pray that this little one attaches to me (and soon to BaBa) quickly.

I finally got computer hookup. In my room, no less. Thank God. Tonight I will figure out how to post pics. I just got into Nanning at 1:30 Sunday afternoon. You are 13 hours behind me. Anyway, I am meeting a young girl for lunch in the lobby (yes, I just met her but she's from some travel agency or something). This city is very, very safe and there is another couple next door to me. I'll write later and John, I'll give you the stuff to post. Tomorrow at 2:30 I get the baby. Love you all. And I am now officially a world traveler. Italy was nothing compared to this.

Where's my mommy?

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!!

We finally got our travel dates. I fly out on November 20th and will return to our home on December 6th. Poor John has to stay behind and take care of moving, all of the animals, a sick kitty and so forth. It will really be comforting to me knowing that our home is under control. I didn't want to go to Beijing -- just get to the province and get my baby! However, our airline miles didn't let us work it out that way, so I have to fly into Beijing. The adoption agency asked me if I wanted to fly straight from Beijing to Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi, our daughter's province. I said, "heck no, I'm in Beijing I may as well climb the Great Wall." Plus, I won't get our baby until 11/24 anyway.

After Beijing, I will fly to Nanning where I get to meet our baby for the first time. Then onto Guangzhou for the consultate appointment. From their I have to fly back up to Shanghai (with a little one in tow). Then onto San Francisco. We will spend the night there (or suffer a 8 hour layover). Then we'll fly to Phila at 11:30 on the 5th. Probably will shack up there for the night and be nice and fresh when we get home.

It was a lot of scrambling this week, since Immigration services and GWCA rushed our stuff through and were able to secure the consulate appointment. So, after reviewing 15 pounds of paperwork, I think we are set.

We are travelling very lightly. One little suitcase. I used to take a 25 inch piece of luggage just for my shoes. Since I can't have more than 44 pounds I think I will be wearing the same pair of jeans for two weeks!

Follow my journey, you doubting Thomas's. I am really, really looking forward to this journey. Pray that I don't have a maniacal baby on the plane. We were able to get business and first class seats so it should at least be comfortable. It took a few hours, but I was able to use my airline miles. Otherwise, my seat alone would have cost $26,000. Can you believe that?

Wish me luck and watch our journey. I am going to try to post each day but that depends on having access to an internet cafe and the disposition of our little one! Hope she ain't like me!

Some really cute things come from China!

Live from the San Diego zoo--at least live yesterday. It took me quite a while to figure out how to post this. Hopefully we'll see a few pandas when we are in China.