Rage against the system

When we were in China I had my first experience with Lucy and her rages. They were beyond a full-out temper tantrum, they were just a pure, old-fashioned rage. It was easiest to just restrain her in a hold unti they abated - if you didn't, she would go on to throw herself on the ground, throw up, bite, pinch and more.

I think all kids deal with the shock of adoption in different ways. Gwenn slept her way through all of the stress, Ella ate her way - and Lucy appears to be ragin' her way through the stress. The rages have slowed down - from 3-4x day to about 1 a week right now. Huge progress. However, when you are in the midst of the rage, it isn't all that fun...

New Blog link posted

Some friends have just received their referral for their new daughter Isabel. They have a great blog and a beautiful baby!

Cheerleading

Gwenn has started cheerleading with her friend, and while it's been a rocky start, it is going better. Ella is doing pep squad, and would have preferred the full cheerleading - she wants the outfit so bad it isn't even funny. Here is Gwennie in all her glory...

Updated pics

Well, Lucy is growing hair and starting to get used to her new surroundings. She is still a little velcro girl, but doing great. Here are some new pictures of her!

What have I been doing for almost 6 weeks?

Well, it's easy - adjusting! Adjusting to coming home, 3 kids, keeping up the house with a permanently affixed 2 year old hanging on my leg, going to the doctors (for all of them) and more!

Let's see if I can give some brief updates:

Coming home from Guangzhou:
It's just a miracle we made it back at all, I have to admit. On the way home from GZ I decided that I could handle escorting the 7 year old son of a work colleague home on the plane, so on the morning of the 15th we met in the lobby of the White Swan and made our way to the airport. Lucky that we got there early, and lucky that I was flying b-class, as the flight from GZ to Tokyo was cancelled. We were the first in line, and a mere two hours of waiting later, we had been scheduled on an ANA flight from GZ to Tokyo that would get us there with plenty of time to spare for our flight. And even better, they upgraded Will (my 7 yo companion) into b-class as well.

Well, I have to tell you that ANA is a lovely airline, and they flight attendants did their very best to keep Miss Lucy happy and occupied while we were on the flight. It didn't work, but they did their best.

We got to Tokyo with plenty of time to spare for our 6p flight to SEA. I figured the first thing to do would be to get our boarding passes for flight 85 (they wouldn't print in GZ) so we went to the ticket counter. While we were there they agent was quite frantic, and finally told me that we would have to go to the gate to fix the seat issues (they were trying to put Lucy is a seperate row from me). Well, while we were in the air NWA decided to move us from flight 85 to flight 8 - and they were holding the plane for us to board! We finally got seats, and got someone in b-class to move to another seat, since I wasn't about to sit seperately from Lucy. We literally had 10 minutes or less between the flights - we got on board, they closed the door and off they went. The bummer was that our baggage was labeled for flight 85, and when we didn't get on it, they pulled it in Tokyo, which explained why in SEA we had no luggage. We had it delivered the next day. The other bummer was that no one knew we were on this flight, so after landing, we had to finally call and let folks know that we were here and come and pick us up!

I don't want another flight like this last one. At least Lucy slept most of the way from Tokyo to SEA.

Home:
Well, it's been crazy and I'm sure I'll have more to say, but the first week I slept, got Lucy a crib and a new car seat since she is so small, and got over jet lag. The second week I started to plan what to do with my time. The third week I started to work, and have kept on doing home projects ever since then. I know it's probably not the best to spend all my leave time doing stuff like worrying about new doors, making orthodonist appointments, and such - but it's so nice not to do it at work! I need about 2 more weeks.

Things that I still need to do:

• Call Lowes and find out if they found my measurements for the doors I'm ordering yet - they seem to have lost them
• Call the roofers back - they did the roof expect for the garage, and I'd like it to all look the same. I'm waiting for a bid.
• Call Ed back - he is the guy who is giong to do the inside ceilings after the water damage post-windstorm last fall.
• Take Viivi to pass her written test, and then fast track her for the driven test.
• Dermatologist for Ella, since her mystery "itchies" are getting worse and spreading
• Follow up with neurologist, and Gwenn's meds seem to have plateaued
• Still search for a pediatric cardiologist, since Dr. Stamm is like 80 - and talk about repeating the echo test
• Go to the InSpa for a day and get ready to go back to work
• Call vet - all 3 animals still need to go

Oh yah - and stop worrying about what I'm not getting done, since I'm supposed to be spending time with the girls.

GZ: The new Vegas

Being in Guangzhou is like being in Las Vegas. It seems like there is one purpose for each city... Las Vegas is to gamble, and in GZ it is to shop. And there are similarities between the cities:

• Ungodly hot
• No clocks, so you have no idea what day or what time it is
• Lots of people whose purpose is to keep you on task (gambling or shopping)
• Easy access to food so you can quickly be back on task when you need a break

Our official business in GZ is now complete - that of receiving our children's visa's into the United States. I processed through on Weds with about 60 other families. A similar number processed through yesterday from what I understand. The hotel (White Swan) is a 5 Star hotel that has a new second purpose in the last 10 years - hosting the American families who are waiting to bring their children home. It was convenient - just a few blocks to the consulate. However, the consulate moved a year ago, and we still have the WS as our base - I think because it would be too hard for all the businesses supporting the adoptions to move to another location. And, here on Shamian Island, we are nicely isolated from the rest of this 14M person city.

Earlier in the week when we arrived (last Saturday - egads, it's almost a week) there were probably over 200 families here at the WS (not counting those who hang out at the Victory). Now there are very few families left, people like me who could not get flights out. Starting today and tomorrow next weeks batches of parents and their kiddos will start to arrive. Thankfully, I get to leave on Sunday and I'm beyond thrilled. At this point, all you want to do is to get home. Three weeks is a very long time - and while I'm still hopeful that the wait list will pop my name onto it, I don't think that it is going to.

Guangzhou

Well, it's Monday night and we got into Guangzhou (GZ) at noon on Saturday. It's amazing at this time in the travel how fast everything seems to go. Saturday was just settling in, finding our way around, etc.

On Sunday we got to do some sightseeing - we visited the Six Banyan Buddhist Temple and got to tour, and have the babies blessed by the monks. Very cute. We also went to the Chen Family Academy (was a home, then a school, now a museum/gift shop). I've been to both places 3 times now, so the initial suprise is sort of gone. At the temple I just went shopping - found a great Tanka (Buddhist silk and painted hanging) at the Tibetian Buddhist shop near the temple.

At the Chen Academy I have been enthralled every time I've been there. They continue to restore the building and the amazing ceramics that are on the ridges.

They also have updated their museum displays, and it was really interesting this time around. They had puppets, displays of furniture that were in the home, embroidery (very cool) and lots of carvings.

After the Academy we were off to the local Jade carving factory. These stores are government run, but sell the highest quality of jade that is guaranteed in writing. It is very, very expensive. It is fun to look, but I will stick with the "B" or "C" quality jade and be quite happy, thank you very much.

Sunday afternoon after naps (2 hours this time) we met as a group to do paperwork. The dads took the kids to the play room here at the hotel, while the moms took off to do the paperwork. A grueling 2.5 hours later, we were done - thank goodness. Lucy held it together while I was gone, which was great - and then we grabbed dinner and went to bed.

Today was Monday, and it flew by. We met at 8:30a to head to the medical appointment. It was tough being ready so early, but I'm so glad we did. By the time we left at 9:30, there was a HUGE line of adoptive parents waiting to have their kiddos checked out.

At the medical office, there are 3 basic stations - height/weight; ENT; general health. Passed all with flying colors and the doctor who saw Lucy liked her - and thinks she has "spirit". Too bad she isn't around when her "spirit" is in full force... then maybe she wouldn't think Lucy is so cute!

After we were done getting our approvals for medical, we were off to walk through the traditional medicine market - they had all sorts of stuff there, and you could have medicines mixed for you based on what a doctor prescribed. You could also purchase pets near the market, and you could also get animals - snakes, turtles, scorpions - to purchase for medicine.

We walked for less than 50 minutes, and I was soaked straight through. We went to the pearl market and looked around - but the prices were FAR more expensive than the Hongqiao Market in BJ. Far better deals there for same or better quality pearls.

After that, Lucy was toast (literally) and we came back and went straight to bed for our nap. She slept today for 3.5 hours! We got up and went to the pool, and swam for another 2 hours, had dinner and went right back to bed. And, that is a typical day here. Up, eat, paperwork, nap (lunch if we are lucky), small play, dinner, bed.

Tomorrow is the consulate appointment #1. This one we don't go to, but we are around the hotel in case they need us for something. We go to the consulate on Weds and swear our oath that we will be great parents to our children. I wonder if our children would always agree to what we said we'd do... I guess that is why they don't always have choices in these matters...