Day 2 in GZ

The White Swan:


The White Swan:

At the Cow & Bridge:

This is Eme's little friend. The orphange nanny told us their foster families were neighbors and they spent a lot of time together. Phoebe is simply adorable and she is doing great with her new family as well:

School children:

Beautiful Guangzhou:

More school children:





The look when she is out of my arms:

Coming back to me:

We are day 2 in GZ….& it’s fab~u~lous! I really love this place. It’s quaint and everyone is so nice. We are loving all the cute little shops along the beautiful roads. Emerson continues to be my little chimpanzee. She is coming more and more alive with her little personality and we think she is really sweet. She does *like* her Daddy, as long as he doesn’t pick her up. She did allow him to bathe her yesterday and we considered that a huge step. We are not forcing the issue. So far, I am the only one that holds, feeds and soothes her….not that I mind one little bit. I am hoping that she finds Daddy’s lap a little more appealing by the time we board the plane for the long journey home. My muscles are sore from carrying her everywhere, but I wouldn’t do it any other way. She might enjoy the stroller, but I believe it’s more important for her to be close to me than checking out the world. She sees it all anyway, she just has a different viewpoint ;0) I wouldn’t trade all those sweet little moments that happen between us for nothing…even my aching back. Daddy went for the 45 minute massage, because I guess carrying around all my shopping goodies is just as hard on the muscles as the 18lb chimp.

Yesterday we went to get her visa photo and today was her medical exam. She did great up until the strange man took her from me to inspect her, you can tell by her face in the photo, poor baby. The little squirt ways 18.4 lbs. She doesn’t eat like a lot of the babies do. She does have a shut off valve and she shakes her head no when she is done. She has also mastered saying ‘all done’ in sign language to go with her shaking head. She’s a very fast learner. She is working on saying ‘more’ in sign language. She whispers ‘up’ when she needs help sitting back up. She has the most stinky tooties and we blame the odor on the steamed egg and congee=0). She loves bacon, tater tots and now scrambled eggs. We have yet to succeed in getting any fruit in her, except jar baby food. She loves the yogurt, but will pick the tiny pieces of fruit out with her tongue. Last night we went to Cow & Bridge and she wouldn’t even eat the Thai banana pizza, which was smashing because of the banana. The rest of the meal really sucked, but she enjoyed the noodles off my plate. We thought about ordering the ostrich intestine, but opted for the chicken congee to which she inhaled.

Eme has woken up and it’s time to play!

We are in White Swan heaven!

The fireworks below our hotel window that went off starting at 6:00 AM several times to celebrate that a wedding was taking place...


Happy Birthday in China Daddy!


Celebrating her first birthday that we missed with Daddy:


The Shangrao Orphanage babies:


Leaving Jiangxi:

We arrived in GZ last night late. We are really hungry because we missed lunch and dinner yesterday so this will be short, we are anxious to get down to the famous buffet and see what delish things we can find. The differences between Nanchang and GZ are night and day. The guide said that the weather would be very Florida like....HALL~E~LU~JAH!

Backing up to yesterday though, we laid low in the room and went out once to visit all the little stores and walk around. It was the best day we had had so far as far as weather goes. The ladies in the hotel brought J up a birthday cake to wish him well, which was the sweetest thing ever. We were both really caught off guard by that kind gesture and decided it was perfect to celebrate Daddy's and Eme's birthday, since we missed her first one. She loved the cake, except for the small pineapple pieces in it. She's not a fruit fan which I find shocking and she would spit those pieces out, but the rest she loved.

Daddy and Eme made great strides together playing and laughing and she gave him several more kisses that she normally would. Things were much better. I could actually leave the room and go to the restroom while she was awake and she would just play on the bed with him watching. She used the king size bed as a great place to learn to roll. She's getting around good and the tummy time is helping her muscles get stronger.

However, I pushed her limits when I decided to not take her to restroom with me after we got off the plane. Though I have mastered the squatty potty with the baby strapped on to me, it's highly inconvenient. I took off the ergo and handed her to Daddy. I ran into the bathroom and thought things were going well, since I didn't hear her crying. When I came out, Eme was sitting on the airport floor, her and Daddy were covered in vomit. She just got so upset and I felt horrible. She's just not ready to let anyone else into her heart right now. I know J understands, but it is hard on him.

Before take off we had a good time in the room with several other couples finishing up the birthday cake, the beer, the pringles and the cookies we had bought from the store. We have a very large group and all the babies are doing very well from what I know. I know there's been some issues, but it's definitely a healthy group and we have more medical people, including the traveling doctor and the parents, on board this trip than necessary for one travel group. We will be catching up with the rest of our group today and are looking forward to hearing how they are doing and meeting their little ones.

We are skipping the tour today and relaxing. We really must get laundry done, now that the smell of puke has taken over the pile. We are anxious to visit Shamain Island and see what treasures we can find!

The Last Tango In Jiangxi

We're packing up our bags and heading to Guangzhou! Some parting thoughts as we leave the place that has given us the greatest gift ever......

It’s really overwhelming to think that we only arrived here 6 days ago and now we're ready to leave with the most beautiful gift ever, our daughter. She's more than we could have ever imagined. She really is sweet to the core.

Yesterday, we had the amazing experience of visiting a village about an hour or so from Nanchang. It was a beautiful place, surrounded by lush greenery, rice fields and tons of brick that looks very historic. The people were so kind and wanted us to visit their homes and see their way of life. As we walked around the village, we passed out stickers and hair clippies to all the little boys and girls. If you're traveling soon, I suggest bringing something to pass out. I really wanted to bring suckers, but due to the weight limit issue with the luggage, I didn’t. Next time I'd probably ditch some clothing in order to make room for more goodies for the children of China.

We then visited the Tengwang Pavillion which was magnificent in beauty. They performed a show on the 6th floor and then we walked around the grounds before heading back to our hotel. We had the best lunch thus far at a little restaurant right around the corner called East Orient Hotel Restaurant. I highly recommend that place.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here and really soaked it all in, but we are ready for Guangzhou. Actually, I'm ready for home. I miss my boys! And I can not wait to breathe some breezy salt air. LOL! We haven't seen the sun since arriving in Jiangxi. It's the rainy season here, but it’s just a tad different than the rainy season I'm used to in Florida. At home, the sun shines all day and takes a break for an hour or two while we get a huge downpour of rain. But the sun always comes back out. I really need sun! :)

I’ve also had nonstop head pressure since arriving. It could be the fact that I've had zero caffeine, could be the altitude. I have no idea what the altitude is here, but it’s got to be higher than SW Fla, which sits at sea level. I’m also thinking this hotel has some mold issues, which you can see behind the wallpaper. We're ready for a change of scenery and I’m hoping that fireworks aren't going off below our hotel window in Guangzhou at 6:00 in the morning. Emerson loved that. =0( Our air machine got fried the first night in Beijing when we plugged it in. Oh and we also managed to fry an outlet strip and a hair straightener.

Off we go….for the next exciting adventure on this journey!

Just pictures from a very busy day of touring . . . .