Day 11 - Physicals

The highlight of the day was the girl’s medical exams. Both received a clean slate of health. AnMei weighs 19.4 pounds, while little sister JiaLi weighs 17.5 pounds. Other than that, it was a bit of a tough day. JiaLi seems to have caught a cold, so she is quite cranky. AnMei wasn't much better and refused to take a nap, making her cranky too. I think we're all getting a little cranky with all the appointments and lack of consistency in our schedules.

Last night I stayed in the room with the girls and let the Melissa and Liz enjoy a dinner by themselves. When they returned looking refreshed the girls were soundly sleeping (but that didn't last all night). Tonight Melissa returned the favor and Liz and I went on a boat cruise with the other families along the Pearl River. All the buildings along the river are lit up and it is pretty cool. When we returned refreshed the girls were also in their cribs sleeping. This new strategy of "taking breaks" is needed, and it's nice to know that we can both manage with the twins on our own.

They are definitely becoming hyper-mobile and can no longer be left alone. Otherwise today they were mostly fidgety and uncomfortable. We're praying they get a good night sleep and tomorrow is a better day.

Guangzhou is really pretty and nice. It definitely doesn’t have the “haze” problems of Beijing and Nanchang. Today was a minor Chinese holiday and walking around you could see people everywhere enjoying the day… playing badminton, tennis, tai-chi, dancing. It’s a nice environment. For those that have been before to adopt, we’ve been utilizing the services of “Danny’s” with much success – it’s nice to be able to get decent food delivered to your room for a reasonable price.

Day 10 – Gorgeous in Guangzhou

Of the 3 cities we’ve visited in China, Guangzhou makes the best first impression. The airport is brand new and clean, and the city seems charming and clean too. The standard of living seems several levels better here than either Beijing or Nanchang. It reminds Melissa and me of Savannah, although Guangzhou has a population of over 11 million. Our hotel (White Swan) is a virtual adoption factory, and is VERY nice. We’re all feeling very comfortable here.

The girls did wonderful on the airplane, which was a quick, pre-season 1 hour trip. The jet engines knocked AnMei out while JiaLi contently played on my lap – no fusing or ear problems at all.

The girls seem to be developing at a lightening pace. When we first got them they were virtually immobile – they couldn’t roll over, sit up, or move. Now they are all over the place and tonight AnMei actually got up on all fours are started crawling. It’s both amazing and horrify at the same time. Thus far we’ve been able to leave them on the beds unattended, but no more. We were hoping for a little more “immobile time” to help us settle in! (just kidding)

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but at night they are just too cute and adorable. They laugh, vocalize, and play with each other, all why trying to get our attention. Melissa and still cannot stop staring at them, as they are absolutely beautiful. For all you parents out there… isn’t it wonderful to watch your child sleeping? We’ve both been doing a lot of that.

The days keep clipping away and the next few in Guangzhou are relatively free. Since we’re dealing with the US Consulate’s Office we have the New Year’s holiday, and then we complete the Visa and medical exam, our final steps. The free days will be nice, especially in Guangzhou were there appears to be plenty of things to do. Getting here today gave us a big sense of accomplishment and moves us one step closer to coming home. I wouldn’t say we’re dying to get home, but it will be nice when we can come home.

Day 9 – Leaving Nanchang

Today marked our last day in Nanchang. We received our daughter’s Chinese passports, which means that based on China’s requirements we’re all set. Now we have to head to Guangzhou to finish the requirements of the US.

To mark our last day we went shopping for porcelain. Jiangxi province is famous for its highest-quality of porcelain, which is because of the unique clay that is used to make the porcelain. “China” is one of the many things that the country of China has invented, and when the first traders reached China no one in the West had ever seen anything like it; in fact, that is how China, the country, got its name. Chris executed perfectly the lessons from Dr. Tai first by saying “tai guile” (too expensive), then “pianyi yidiar” (make it cheaper). He even tossed in a “nali nali” (where, where) when one of the store attendants said that I speak good Chinese.

The girls are doing great. We seem to be figuring out what schedules work best and how to create some sense of consistency, despite the fact we’re living in a tiny hotel room in the middle of China. We continue to be amazed at how much they interact with each other. We’ve been taking them to restaurants and trying to get us all comfortable with “eating out,” since that is one of Mom and my personal favorite things to do. So far, we can get by with about 30 minutes before one of us has to bail out.

They are both so cute and each have their own tricks to grab attention… JiaLi does a --blinking-- game where she’ll look at you, smile, and then blink her eyes strongly. It’s adorable. AnMei is very vocal and tries to impress you with her abilities to do things, like lunging and blowing raspberries. At times you can see them actually competing for the spotlight.

Since we’re leaving Nanchang I asked each of us to reflect on some things that stood out about the city…

- There is a lot of trash and no one seems to be bothered by it. Liz went to a market and there was literally trash piled up everywhere and she noticed that people would litter with no thought about it. (Liz)

- There are these really cool and interesting monuments of cats and lions on the bridge coming into Nanchang. They seem to be carved out of some kind of stone, and each side has a different color, black and brown. We never heard the story about what they represented. (Melissa)

- Traffic and driving is ridiculous. There are literally no formal driving rules. We’ve seen cars, mopeds, and bicycles doing literally everything that we would consider against the rules. Pedestrians have absolutely no right-of-way. But, I must say after spending a week in the town, there is an underlying sense of order amid the seeming chaos. At first it seemed harrowing to drive or walk around town, but by the end we had figured out the informal rules and it didn’t seem so bad. (Chris)

- It’s perfectly acceptable to hock loogies in public. We’ve all seen this done enough times by a wide range of locals to realize that it is considered socially acceptable. (Liz)

- The locals were fascinated by us two Americans adopting twins. I’m not sure about the other families, but Melissa and I attracted crowds when we went out in public – sometimes to the points of creating concern (in my eyes, at least). (Melissa)

- The Chinese people seem to have a real sense of community. All the stores have tons of staff that are ready to help you, and the people around town seem to be looking out for one another. It’s hard to pin down specific instances, but I sensed that overall the people were more of a collective community than I tend to sense in the US. (Chris)

- Some other things we’ve talked about… Chinese people are adamant about bundling children to the 9’s. But the ironic thing is that they leave slits in the crotches to the children can relieve themselves… so you have 9 layers of clothing over the entire child with the exception of their crotches, which is totally exposed. Liz said “it sure gives new meaning to the expression ‘freezing your ass off.’”

That’s it for now; tomorrow our girls take their first plane flights!

Day 8 – Visiting a Village

Well, it’s the second straight day without an internet connection, which is really sad to us… one of our daily highlights was posting a new entry and reading all of your comments. I don’t think the government is blocking anything, I think that our hotel’s internet connection isn’t very reliable. (And maybe internet connectivity in China overall isn’t very reliable.)

Last night wasn’t perfect, but it was a better night in terms of sleeping. They each woke up once… JiaLi needed a few ounces (she doesn’t eat as much with each bottle) and AnMei needed a diaper change. So overall we got a decent night’s rest.

The girls are blossoming right before our eyes. JiaLi was petrified the first time we tried to give her a bath, so we’ve slowly tried to get her comfortable by watching AnMei, who LOVES bath time. Tonight JiaLi reticently took her first bath! They continue to eat better each day, have fewer melt-downs, and their personalities are really shining through. I’m sure they’re adjusting to us, but I can sense that Melissa and I are developing as parents by leaps and bounds each day too.

The girls are absolutely hilarious together at night right after dinner. This is when their animated personalities shine the brightest. They totally interact with each other, cause each other to smile and laugh, and we think they even talk to each other… they do this thing where they say “ba-ba-ba” and then blow raspberries while looking at each other and smiling. Melissa and I just sit back and watch them as they interact like this for 20-30 minutes. We smile at each other in wonderment.

We’ve done some pretty cool exploring around Nanchang led by our CHI guides (who are amazing). Today we visited a village in the countryside outside of Nanchang. According to our guide, it is representative of how approximately 75% of the Chinese population lives, and likely the environment our girls were born to. It was a perspective shattering experience. The living conditions appear dire to us, but “their hearts are happy” according to our guide. (I’m sure this take could be looked at a lot of different ways.) Despite the conditions, the people in the village were unbelievably friendly. They welcomed us into their houses (which was a little weird to be viewing their houses like they were displays, but they didn’t seem to take it that way) and were very interested in seeing all of us Americans with our Chinese babies. Melissa and I have learned to say “twins” in Chinese (shuang bao tai) and that always lights them up with excitement. The Chinese are fascinated by Americans and find it hilarious when we try to speak their language.

Otherwise we’ve done some shopping and walking around. Today marks the half-way point of our journey. Like David mentioned in one of his comments, we are feeling a strong desire to be home and in our familiar surroundings. We also recognize the need and importance to experience the culture of our girl’s motherland to the fullest extent of our abilities. But probably the most important thing is the intense and closed-in bonding experience – when else will we ever spend 24 hours a day hanging out together and living all in a tiny little hotel room? If we were back in the States we would be spreading out in our own house to use the bathroom, whereas now even that is pretty much impossible. So I think that although it is hard, and will likely get even harder, it’s the best possible thing for our family.

Day 7 – Reality Check

There’s no way to sugar-coat the last 24 hours… it’s been rough. The girls slept wonderfully the first two nights and we were throwing nothing but strikes, but not last night. No real sleep for any of us. But let me step back first…

Yesterday was the first time Melissa and I ventured out with the girls. It was hilarious to see virtually every Chinese person we passed trying to add up what we were all about – Americans with… twins? It was crazy. At one point we were swarmed and it caused me a little concern, but nothing bad happened.

Then we went on a group dinner to a Chinese restaurant within walking distance. The food was delicious, but it was a little tough to enjoy it. The girls have bonded to both of us, but absolutely love Melissa. It’s amazing to see how they stare and want to be held by her. The good news is that AnMei can cope with being with Dad, while JiaLi insists on being held by Mom alone – all the time. We’re trying our hardest to do the right thing and make everyone happy and able to function by getting JiaLi comfortable with the notion of being “near Mom” or being held by Dad, but it’s been a tough road. So, that essentially meant that Melissa had a very difficult time at the restaurant.

When we got back to the hotel, more of the same and we noticed that the girls were more irritable than normal at night. Neither could seem to relax or get comfortable. All night, every 15 minutes or so one would break out wailing until we finally brought them in bed with us, JiaLi with Melissa and AnMei with me. We offered them lots of new food yesterday, and probably think we offered them too much and they had gas or upset stomachs, which caused all the problems.

So today we’re trying to be more careful about that, and so far so good. We ordered some carry-out (kinda) for lunch and the girls sat contently on the bed while we 3 ate in the room. We were all amazed, it was a great experience and the first time we’ve been able to be with them without holding them. So maybe we’re making progress.

Regarding more updates on the girls… they’re larger than expected. We haven’t weighed them yet, but a lot of the clothes we brought are too small. AnMei had her first BM this morning, so all clear on that front. (Liz is all clear as well… hooray!) Please pray that they sleep tonight because it could really start to wear us down if last night becomes the standard.

Regarding Nanchang… we’ve had a couple nice outings. Liz is a major hit over here… she’s always being asked by locals to be in pictures. Yesterday, however, she was hit by a moped… no injuries thankfully. Today we went to a big pagoda, which was really nice. That’s what a lot of those pictures are that I posted above.

Tim – In case you catch this post, we’re going to dinner at 5:30pm our time… Liz is going to try to call you after that. If we don’t catch you, try to call her at 9am your time at 011-86-791 673 8855, room 1121.