The Sites You See

This is a post I started in China but never posted.

I think it is fascinating the eating places in China.  Here are some of the places we saw as we walked around the mall in Nanjing.

Can you tell what this place is?

Papa John's of course. Our favorite place to eat in Nanjing.

Had to try out DQ in China.

We frequented this place more than once.

Mei got a treat from here one day for being an extra good helper.

 Yummy!

And of course we ate this type of food too!  So good!

We're Home

We're home, about a week and a half now.  And what a time it's been.

We arrived home Friday night and we all did sleep the rest of that night. I worked really hard to try get us on the correct night sleeping / day awake schedule. Willem and I woke up pretty early and I got Meikiina up at about noon on Saturday.  I'm glad she had the weekend and actually Monday too, to try get her little body switched back over.  She's always had a bit harder time sleeping anyway, but she's ok now. Meikiina and I were pretty tired those first few days.  Willem seemed to switch over pretty easy.  He was pretty sad the first few nights as he was going to sleep and then I figured out that he was still getting a night time bottle.  The third night I got our bottle out and snuggled him up and he just cuddled into me and fell asleep.  He slept great then for the next few nights.

What a happy boy he's been and smart and cute and amazing!  We all have just fallen completely in love with him.  I really can't say enough how he just seems to have been made for our family.  He fits perfectly into a hole that I didn't really even know was there.  He truly is a gift!

Sunday was Easter and I hadn't prepared at all for it so Saturday Willem and I ran to the store to get him a basket and a few other things.  He loved that basket and was so excited to wake up Sunday morning to find that it was filled with treats! He figured out really quickly how to say choc-late! We really hadn't planned a big meal either but then decided to grill steaks for lunch and while that was going on got a call from Gina to see if we wanted to come for Easter lunch.  So we had early steaks here and then went and had a later yummy ham and potato lunch with her family.  I have to say - I was pretty tired and I was not real good company.  I think I slept most of the time I was there and the whole way back.  The food was delish tho! Thank you Gina!

Monday we lazed around and late Tuesday I started feeling really sick and by Wednesday was not feeling well at all so just dozed off and on!  I brought Willem to the pediatrician late Wednesday afternoon, which was fun.  Well, fun for me as I get to see what his official weight / height are and what the doctor thinks of him.  Not fun for him!  He had three shots and five vials of blood drawn.  Poor little boy, he cried so hard.  But, let me tell you - he's strong!! I know, because I was the one holding his legs against me as he sat on that table for his shots.  He kicked me clear away from him.  I found out he is 25th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight.  Dr. Benson was very pleased with that.  Both of my girls were much smaller than that! Coming from an orphanage he's starting out very well.  And I know from experience he will not stay there - he will jump on the growth charts.  One comment that was made - the Chinese owner of the Chinese restaurant in town saw him and said, "I didn't think they came from orphanages looking that chunky and well built." I did find out that he does indeed still have a heart murmur. Dr. Benson sent me away with a list of doctors to call to check on other things including his heart.  Brynlee is due to have her heart checked again by the pediatric cardiologist, so I've made an appointment to bring both of them in together.

We have already started treatment on his feet, and on Friday he had his first appointment in Iowa City. I will do a separate post on his special feet and what treatment will be for them.

Monday, the 16th, I brought Bryn Bee in for her yearly well-child check.  She had gotten a tummy ache the day before and threw up in the night and again on the way there.  So they also checked her out for that.  Her throat was good, no sign of strep and the doctor figured it was probably just a quick bug.  She had a great checkup and is staying pretty consistent on her growth curves.  She's at 20th percentile for height and 45th percentile for weight.  She was very happy because she didn't have to have any shots this year.

While I was there Dr. Benson asked if it was ok if we go over the lab results they had gotten back so far for Willem.  So far everything back is good.  I was very happy to hear that his lead is at 3, as I did not want to have him go through what Bee has had to go through for her high lead (which is now ok).  Dr. Benson was very happy with everything so far and we go back in to see him with Willem on May 11th, for his next set of catch up shots and just to see how he's doing.

I've been working like crazy trying to get all kinds of doctor visits figured out.  We probably have to have 6 more castings (Six 12 hours in the car drives to Iowa City), a pediatric cardiologist appointment, an ophthalmology appointment, an audiology appointment, a surgery/urology appointment for a skin tag removal and another surgery. Didn't get them all set up, but got a start. I wonder how I'll do it, but I know I will do it.  I'll do it because it needs to be done.

Now finally, life with Willem.  Wow!  It's great!  He's great!  He is just an awesome little kid.  I always my whole life thought I would have 3 kids, but I thought I would have 3 girls.  I don't know why.  I can't imagine this house without him now.  He's just such a delight!  He's cuddly, he's funny, he's lovey, he's all boy, he's smart, he's compassionate, he's adorable, and he's ours!

How did that happen? How did I get to be so blessed, to not only be mama to my two precious girls, but now to this precious beyond words little boy too!

Opening a present that was waiting for him when we got home.

 Look at cool dude me in my new jacket.

Easter Morning

 Yep - Christmas PJs.

Sorry - I was just a bit tired still when I put him to bed.

Chocolate!

Learning to Drive

...and loving it!

He's a bit ticked off now as he hasn't figured out how to drive the car with casts on yet.

I think he'll figure it out though.

Learning a 'new' toy

Concentrating really hard on getting the star into the right spot.

He learns incredibly fast!

I had to add this one last picture.

Our Trip Home

I'll post a bit about our trip home.  And hopefully I'll soon do a post about life at home so far.

The trip home was long and grueling. But Willem was an awesome traveler. Poor fellow lost his lunch as we were landing on two of the three flights tho, and probable would have on the last one too if he would have had any lunch left in him.  But I was expecting it and was prepared so we were none the worse for it.

Looking out as we leave Guangzhou.

On our longest flight (Beijing to Chicago) Willem and I sat together in two seats and Mei sat directly across from us on the other side of the plane and got two seats to herself.  It worked out great for all of us.  Mei got some much earned and deserved rest and relaxation by herself.  Willem slept for a bit right away and then was awake for a bit.  After about three hours he fell asleep and slept for a solid six hours, which meant that I got to sleep too!  Yaaayyy!  He was then awake and so happy (for the most part) for the last 3 hours. He kept himself entertained for all of his awake time on all planes with the earphones on the plane.  You wouldn't believe the things a little boy could think of to do with earphones.  And one of them is not listen to music, thank you very much! Really this long flight was much better for me on the way back than it was on the way there for some reason.  It did not feel as long.  Maybe because I was so scared of what it could be like (and what I've experienced before).  And then Willem was so good.  I don't know.  Anyway - I'm thankful for a good little traveler.

 Leaving Beijing

 All tuckered out!

Here's one of the things to do with earphones ~ 

wind the cord around both handles on my cup and then plug it in.

This is a long trip - a really, really long trip!  We had quite long layovers and I'm so glad we did.  It took all the time we had to get from where the plane landed to the next flight.  In Beijing we had to go through customs and had long lines to wait in.  We had six minutes to spare before our next flight was boarding by the time we got to the gate and got checked in for the flight.

I did not want to come back through Chicago as I've done that before and it was a nightmare.  We did end up doing that and it was a nightmare again.  But we made it through of course.  And that is where our sweet boy became a U.S. citizen.  :)  Yahoooo!! Welcome to the U.S. Willem!

Our last flight was delayed, but we finally made it to Mpls and to baggage claim.  I was so excited to see my sweet little Bryn Bee I ran when I saw her and I cried.

So then we could just collect our luggage and go.  We found one (of three) suitcases and waited, and waited, and waited until it finally stopped for good and there were no more suitcases.  No more suitcases.  Lost luggage is not a myth!  We went to the counter and I waited and waited and waited while the lady was helping someone else and finally was able to show her my luggage tickets. She looked them up and said, "Oh, it looks like they were scanned onto the flight that is coming in next."  By this time it's 10:55 p.m. and we've now been traveling for close to 30 hours.  She says, "You can wait for that flight or we can deliver them, but that wouldn't be til tomorrow."  We found out the flight was landing in a few minutes and the luggage would be here by 11:20 so we waited.  She did give vouchers for each traveler to use at any food place in the airport and by this time we were of course all really hungry.  The only problem was there was no food place open at that time of night.  I did tell her that that was very considerate of her, but that we probably wouldn't be driving 70 miles to come back to use them.

Well, we did make it home and into bed by 1:00 a.m. to begin to prepare ourselves for the next part of our journey of life with a new family member - a new brother / son that we all already adore and who fits so perfectly into our family that we can't imagine life without him.

Welcome into our family, Willem!  We love you so much!

Last Day in Guangzhou

Well we woke this last day in Guangzhou, last full day in China, to thunderstorms and pouring rain.  I had one sad girl, cuz hey, we had shopping to do and money to spend.  Well we ate, and lazed around for awhile.  Then it looked like it was not raining too bad so we ventured out.  It had actually stopped raining and we walked down the walking street to a store Meikiina had wanted to go back to and found a bunch of deals.  Then we walked the other way just a bit and Meikiina found another bargain.  But she had lots of money to spend and wanted to buy stuff.

We had to come back to the room for awhile as Willem's passport/visa was coming at around 5:00. And it came!  He has a visa!  Yaaaayyyy!  We're going home!  We also got the all important brown envelope that cannot be opened!  That gets delivered to the officials at the port of entry into the U.S., which in the case is Chicago.  I also entered through Chicago with Meikiina.  With Brynlee we came back straight into Mpls.  That was great, but didn't work this time. So we have to collect all our luggage in Chicago and then recheck it to Mpls.  But Meikiina's a great help and we really are pros at it by now.

Well, after we got our very important paperwork, we decided that we needed to go shopping again.  Also, I had ordered a stone etching of Willem and it was supposed to be delivered here to the hotel and it hadn't come yet. I was worried that it wouldn't so we decided to walk back over to the Island and get it.  We got there and she showed me the etching and they had put me in it too!!  Oh, no!  I gave them the best picture I had of Willem printed out and I was in it too, but I told her only put Willem in it, not me.  Well the artist didn't understand that and put us both.  It turned out beautifully, but...  Oh, well.  Some day Willem is going to say, the girls got stones with just them in theirs, why are you in mine!? No fair!

When we were there Meikiina decided that she would do some shopping there in the store and she ended up spending the rest of her money there.  She made some really good choices and got some really nice things.  She was happy as could be that she got to finish her shopping there.

As we were walking over it just happened that we bumped into Jordan from the shop with a big load of things.  He told us he had gotten kicked out of his shop today.  They had told him a week or so ago that he might, but then told him that he could stay.  He told us that they came today and told him that he had to be out today.  He looked devastated.  I sure was!  Many, many people that have adopted from China know Jordan.  One more big change!  So sad!

Wow!  It's the end of the day and Meikiina's packed up and I'm working towards that goal too.  We have to be out by 6:00 a.m. and checking out so that we can catch one last breakfast here before we leave.  I'm so happy to be going home, but it's bittersweet too.  This is Willem Da Qiang's last sleep in China.  Sad but so happy too! And soon he'll have his first sleep in his new home!

Guangzhou - April 4th

Guangzhou – April 4^th

Today we got to sleep in a bit.  Well we could have, but of course all of us didn’t which made it hard for others of us to.  Willem was up by 7:00.  I tried to keep him quiet so that Meikiina could sleep, but eventually he did get her up.  He was so excited when he saw she was awake, and ran over to show her his bag of toys.  I think this is just the 2^nd day that we even had the option to sleep in.  It was nice knowing that we didn’t have to rush to get ready.  Tomorrow is a totally free day too.

After breakfast I wanted to walk over to Shamian Island, but Meikiina was tired of walking so she stayed with another friend she’s made here.  Stefani has a girl here who is just a bit younger than Meikiina so she spent some time with her while I walked over.  I wanted to get a couple things for sure while we’re here.  I wanted a chop for Willem and a baptism outfit, both of which I found, along with a bunch of other things of course.  Again, it was fun to walk around and remember the last 2 times I was here.  I walked over to this row of statue kids and wanted to get a picture of Willem with them.  It is a very popular spot for everyone to take pictures so there are always many Chinese people around it and I am standing there watching and I hear, ‘Willem, Willem.’ So I see this man coming down the street.  It was Jordan.  We had shopped in his shop 2 days before and he does the kids’ names handwritten on paper and puts a description of them in calligraphy or Chinese symbol.  So he did that for us and has done that for my other 2 too.  But yesterday, Meikiina walked over there in the morning with Stacy and she comes back with a chop for Willem from Jordan. It was a total surprise as I didn’t know he was going to do that.  So he was coming over to make sure that I got it and to tell me how to clean it.  Then he offered to take pictures of Willem and me by the statues.  He is just such a nice man and loves to see the families with their kids.  I had to get a picture of him with Willem in front of his shop.

I did bring and outfit with me to try do a ‘Red Couch’ photo of Willem at the White Swan but it was so closed up with a sign at the door that I did not even try to go in.  I know others have gotten in to do them, but I didn’t want to look like I was trying to break in or something or look like a dumb American who couldn’t even read the big sign written in English that says they are closed.  Maybe I should have, but I didn’t and we got some ‘Gold Couch’ photos of him instead (none of which turned out any good at all as he was being really silly).  Maybe I’ll do some more tomorrow with Meikiina.

By the time I got back from there I was just about dripping.  It’s so warm here, but even more it’s so humid.  Even in the room everything is wet and so moisty (like Meikiina says).  I hand washed a pair of jeans for Willem and it took over 3 days to get them to dry in the room and I even sat and blow dried them for a while.  The last time I was here I had all my clothes laundered at a shop right out the White Swan door, but this time it was not so handy.  I did walk laundry over to the Island one time and picked it up today.  I brought all the big things over there that we needed before we go back.  Now we should be good till we go home. 

You know what I miss?  I miss the bright sunshine and blue skies.  Here, I’m not sure if it’s sunny or cloudy or what.  It’s always hazy here.  Even on a day that you can sense that the sun is shining, you can’t see it.  But I cannot complain.  We’ve had beautiful weather here!  It has been absolutely gorgeous since the day we arrived, with each city getting warmer as we traveled south.  It rained the day we left Nanjing and it looks like it may rain here tomorrow and Friday.  Other than that it’s been great!

And what will I miss when I leave?  For sure, I’ll miss seeing all the people that look like my kids.  Right now for the age Meikiina is she is very tall.  Who knows, she may not grow much more and may not end up super tall, but right now she is.  What she noticed here in Guangzhou when we were walking is that the adult men here are the same height as she is.  She was quite amazed at that.  But they are a beautiful people!

This evening we went on a river boat cruise on the Pearl River, and it was so amazing!  This is the first time I’ve done that.  It was really pretty.  So many pretty lights – buildings and bridges and other boats lit up.  Willem thought it was great fun!  Of course, we did too.  After dinner on the boat there was a clown juggling show and she came up to Willem at one point and kind of ‘asked’ him if he wants to hold a spinning ball on his finger tip.  He was ok with it so she did.  She took his finger and spun a ball and put it on his finger and it spun there for a bit.  I didn’t know if he would be scared, but he wasn’t.  He was ok with it and ended up being so proud.  He just got this grin on his face.  Stefani’s crew was along on the ride too.  Mei and her friend played together, I’m glad she made friends with her but she also misses her other friend she made. She, her mom and her sister went to Beijing. Mei told me that she wanted/hoped that sometime she would be able to go to the state (where they live) and spend the weekend, I don’t know about that!!

So here we are – one more full day here and then we leave.  There were times I didn’t know how we’d get to this side of our trip, but here we are.  I hope we can come back one day to bring the kids on a heritage tour and to visit their orphanages. That would be great! And if we do come back I hope we come back to Guangzhou and stay at the “White Swan” that would also be great!

(Meikiina helped me out with this post.)

Silly Boy!

On Shamian Island

 

 Willem with Jordan above and the chop and name he did for Willem below.

Walking back from the Island

The bridge to get to the Island. 

 Our hotel there in the background.

 Lots of animals in the alleys on the way to the Island and Willem loved them all!

River Boat Cruise

 Our boat behind Willem