Plans Change again - home tonight!

Yep! We arrived at Vancouver at 4:30 local time. Went through immigration and customs with ease. Got our luggage and no boarding passes for Wpg! Talkied to the Air Canada lady and she was nice enough to tell us we had a night with dinner at the Travel Lodge in Vancouver and we would come home mid-afternoon tomorrow. So I asked what about the 6:30 flight we were booked on? She said there was no more flights. Again I asked what about the 6:30 we had tickets for? She said there was no more flights and then....paused and said well maybe it is full...Then we pulled out the new baby card (it works really well!) and she said let me check again. Oh it looks like there was a mistake! There is room on the 6:30 flight and now we have seats. So we should be home around midnight tonight! It has been an excellent adventure!   Todd and Chris

Tahlia's coming home...

In the check-in line at Beijing Airport

And so we're delayed.....

Poor Breanne (our house-sitter) had to call her at 430 am wpg time to let her know we won't be back until the afternoon on the 19th now.  Our flight was suppose to leave at 530pm (china time) but is now suppose to leave 1010pm (china time).  So we sit in the airport and try to keep ourselves occupied.  Tahlia is really starting to use her legs more during our delay.  She's realized that her shoes will squeek when she takes a step!    Tentativly our new flight should be in on Friday mid-afternoon....here's hoping!   xoxo

Getting ready to leave....

Well we're getting ready to head to the Beijing Airport and we're ready to come home. The Summer Palace was beautiful but it was sooo cold outside.  It is right on a lake and the wind was strong that day.  It was hard to enjoy it really – we just wanted to race through it.  We'd like to visit it again, but in the summertime.  Some families went to a Tea Ceremony afterwards but we came back to the hotel for some down time. The next day was busy busy again.  This time shopping!  We went to the Silk Factory where we got to see what the silk worms look like and how they harvest the silk from them.  Very interesting and the products we're beautiful.  They sold duvets and covers, clothing, scarves, shoes, etc there.   Then off to the Pearl Market!  Two giant buildings, with 5-6 floors each and some very aggressive shop keepers!  We finished off our Christmas shopping (yah!) and then some.  Ordered pizza for a very quick supper (about 15 mins to eat and clean up) before we headed out an Acrobatic Show.  Tahlia love it.  The music was quite loud but she does this Stevie Wonder impression – groovin' to the music – she's sooo funny. Yesterday we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  Tons of walking – the group ended up only doing half of the Forbidden City.  We had already been walking for 2+ hours and the babies we're getting hungry!!  Some of the ladies headed back to the Pearl Market for more shopping, but we came back to the room for Tahlia to nap and for me to start packing.  We bought an extra suitcase and needed to make sure we didn't need another!!   For supper we had a Farwell to China party!  Tahlia got all dressed up in one of beautiful dresses I found here.  Dinner was great and they had a clown magician come in for the kids.  Tahlia thought it was great!  She had her first piece of cake and loved it.  She was a little irritated that I wouldn't let her eat the entire piece! Today has just been packing and relaxing in the room – getting ready for our long flight home!   The smog is really bad here today.  Haven't really noticed it other days, but today its crazy.    Notes; The Food – it's been fantastic.  We only ate at McD's once out of desperation and it wasn't good.  Our local restaurant has been wonderful – we've tried to order different things each time.  It's been nice to have a large breakfast buffet with both western and Asian food.  I'm going to miss having Bacon everyday!! J Spending the entire day together as a family – it's been great living together again and spending this time getting to know Tahlia and letting her know us.  We've gotten into a nice routine (touring and shopping – ha,ha). Normal Life back in Canada – Hopefully all three of us will be in the same place within a couple weeks.  I can't wait to have a washing machine (doing laundry in the sink is getting old!).  Sleeping in our own bed and just being home. Talk soon!

The Great Wall of China

Well it's been another couple busy days!  We had Tahlia's Visa picture to take, more adoption paperwork to fill out (including her citizenship paperwork).  We were the first family to get there, so we got out before too many others arrived! Then came our big adventure – taking the subway to the Lama Temple (not Lhama!) with two other families!  Our guides gave us each a business card of the Hotel's with their cell phone numbers on them and off we went!  It was packed but really easy to get around.  They announced each of the stops in Chinese as well as English and they had a map by each door that had a blinking light as to which stop was next.  The temple was ok.  Not the best place with a baby who's unhappy.  I went into the first few rooms while Todd tried to keep Miss T quiet and happy and when she became rather loud, we switched off.  I did manage to keep her quiet so that I could take her into the last of maybe 15 or so buildings to see the final and largest Buddha.  It was about 4 stories high and was made from 1 solid piece of wood.  Really quite impressive.  We were able to take pictures of the building but not inside any of the buildings.  It was cool and by the time we got back to the room, all three of us just needed to stay in for the night.  Todd ran out to get take out from our favourite little restaurant – really so very good! Today we went to the Jade Factory, Great Wall, another factory (can't remember what kind), and the Olympic Birds Nest and Water Cube.   The Jade factory was beautiful.  They gave us some instruction on the different qualities of jade and how to tell the difference.  We purchased a jade family ball, a bangle for me, and pendants for both Todd and Tahlia.  It is Chinese tradition when a girl gets married, that her parents and/or her husband's parents pass a piece of jade on to her (like a bangle bracelet).  Our guide said the higher the quality, the more she's loved.  J  All I can say it that Tahlia is VERY LOVED!!!  Then on to the Great Wall!  The temperature was around -1, so we were bundled up pretty good.  I was thankful I decided to pack long underwear!  So I had Tahlia attached to me for just over half way up and then Todd took her and carried her down as well.  We took tons of pictures – I think I even got one of Todd being helped by 3 young girls (maybe 18 yrs old) - they were concerned he was going to fall on the steep hill down!!  There were two paths to choose from on the part we went to – we chose the more steep path as there were less people.  Wow.  Really.  Wow.  It was steep and the steps are uneven and there are parts that are smooth and very steep which wasn't great when it STARTED TO SNOW!!  But we made it to the top!  I wasn't sure I could do it, but Todd was ahead of me with the baby and I couldn't let him show me up!!  It really is awesome to be there.   It's quite beautiful (except when it started to snow). Tahlia slept for part of the way up and then woke up and cried for the majority of our time at the Wall.  Hopefully the picture we took at the top will be good enough to use as our Christmas card!!  So back onto the bus and off for lunch….at 2pm!!  We ate at the 2nd factory we went to (I can't remember what kind of factory…starts with a C….Cloistendin??)  Anyways, more great food (including French fries for the kids) and some Rice Wine.  It is 56% alcohol and it burns going down!!  The cup for it is about ¼ of the size of a shot glass and that's all you need!!  Todd woke up this morning with a significant sinus infection and he had 2 or 3 shots throughout lunch to see if that would help.  The ride back into the city was a long one.  Traffic was bad and it took almost 2 hours.  By this time it was almost dark out, so we just did a drive by the Olympic Birds Nest and Water Cube.  ' So I should mention our bus.  It's similar to a grey hound bus.  We have 17 families with a minimum of 2 adults per child adopted.  Then there are 2 sets of grandparents and then other children of the families (maybe 10-12).  It is one cosy bus ride!  And 17 children under the age of 4…..let's just say there's usually at least 1 melt down going on at ALL TIMES! A little boy, Lucas who is just over 3 yrs, (they're from our original family group of five) speaks Mandarin very well and another father (who is Chinese) was translating what he was saying.  We were on the bus and he came up to Tahlia and said that she was his little sister.  He did the same for the other girls in our original group.  He picked us all out in that crazy packed bus!  And each morning at breakfast he comes running over and yells 'Hello' and kisses my hand.  He's just the cutest and funniest little guy!  But while on the bus Lucas and another little boy (who is not yet 2) started having a conversation in Mandarin and apparently Lucas told him that his dad could beat up the other little boys dad!  Seriously – where do these boys get this stuff!! Tomorrow, we have a relaxing morning as we don't have to meet up with the group until 1pm.  We're going to the Summer Palace and then to a traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony.  Tahlia is adjusting quite well.  She is become more comfortable with Todd and I each day.  Night time continues to be a challenge – unsure where she is, missing her nannies so she feels most vulnerable at this time.  Nothing we didn't expect, but still hard to see her grieving.  But overall I'd have to say that it's going much better than I had expected.  We've definitely learned the value of a good nap – for both her and us.  She's starting to explore more, crawling and trying to pull herself up.  She doesn't have any interest in trying to walk – oh except when she wants to stomp her foot at us – yikes!!  We need to measure her, but the 6-12mth and 12 mth clothing is fitting best.  I've tried a few 12-18 mths and she's just swimming in them.  We'll it's almost 10pm here and Tahlia and Daddy are sleeping.  I should hit the sack too…it was a very long day! xoxo

I love being a Mom

Well it's almost 9pm on Thursday here in Beijing.  Todd is trying to settle Tahlia (yes, he realized he spelt her name wrong in the other posts!!) to sleep so I get a chance to blog tonight.  It's been a busy couple of days again!!  Yesterday was our first flight with a small child. Wow…..can't wait for the 12+ hours flight….NOT.  Tahlia was great at breakfast, on the bus ride (about an hour) and through the airport.  She was really good the first half of the flight but when I got up to use the restroom by myself – it all went downhill.  Have you ever been on a plane where there's almost a stampede to get off the plane when it's landed because some kid won't stop crying…..that was us.  Then on the bus ride to the hotel (about 1 hour), she was so over tired and didn't want Todd anywhere near her.  So I stood with her in my arms, because if I sat she started to cry.  We went for supper to the same local restaurant about ½ block from the hotel.  Great food and cheap.  Todd had night duty….I was so exhausted by this point.  I didn't even hear Todd get up with her during the night.  Today was a new day!!  We didn't have to meet the group until 10am, so we got to have a more relaxed morning.  I asked to a highchair today (I had been feeding her congee while on my lap previously) and we ventured onto new foods!  She had some waffles, eggs, cantaloupe, potatoes, steamed greens.  We haven't found anything she won't eat!  We went to the zoo for about 3 hours and saw tons of animals.  Tahlia slept for the half of the visit, but enjoyed the last half.  The ergo carrier is working great – Todd got to carry her in it today (I figured she needed more daddy time after yesterday).   The zoo was built in 1906 so some of the enclosures were really small. We came back to the hotel for lunch (I picked up from our 'regular' restaurant) and some down time and then went out with another family to check out the area.  We found a wonderful bakery that smell like the pineapple buns at Dim Sum.  I didn't see any, but I think I'll be going back to check out some other things!  We also hit a 'market' where there was 5 floors of goods.  We only did two floors, before Tahlia told us it was time to go.  That girl can end a shopping trip fast!!  BUT, not before I got a pair of leather boots. J We ventured out to a different restaurant tonight – I think it was Korean.  It was very good and cost us about 6.50 for the total bill. We've got paperwork to complete tomorrow morning and then the rest of the 17 families are going to the zoo.  Because we came back to Beijing a day earlier than everyone else and went to the zoo today, a few families are going to try the subway and go to a Lhama Temple that was previously one of the Emperor's Palaces.  It should be very interesting. Our group of 5 families that were in Guangzhou are wonderful.  There's a couple from Victoria that adopted a 3yr old boy (he's already learned tons of English and yell's hello to us all when every he sees us), a couple from Saskatoon that adopted a 2yr old girl, Kelly from ThunderBay (her husband couldn't come, so her aunt came to help her out) adopted an almost 2yr old girl, and a couple from Hamilton (I think) adopted a 3yr old girl who is from the same orphanage as Tahlia.  Three of us are first time parents and the other two have adopted a child from China previously.  The locals in both cities have been wonderful.  Today at the zoo, there were school kids there and when they realized we were Canadian, started waving and saying hello and big smiles.  Adults have looked at Tahlia and asked how old she is and that they're very happy for us.  I'm really enjoying being here and trying to take it all in.  It's very interesting – the culture, the people, everything.  We took lots of pictures of Guangzhou so that we can show Tahlia in the future.  Tahlia is starting to trust us more.  She's a total sweatheart.  Everyday more of her personality is coming out.  She's become quite vocal - if she needs more food, if her toy fell, and just trying to talk.  She's started to say her name today - and I wasn't the only one that thought so!!  Both Christina and I were quite shocked!  She's been good about her bath's in the sink and loves her plastic building block and her stuffed frog (or rather the tag on the stuffed frog!).  She's really started crawling today - almost took a header off the bed!  She's got a fantastic laugh....it's so infectious...i just love it.  Well they're both asleep now, so I'd better go! xoxo ps - no pictures tonight - they're not wanting to upload.  Will work on that for tomorrow!

Time to leave Talhia's home province

It is 5:30am on Thursday and we will be leaving for Beijing at 8am.

The last few days have gone by quickly, with each day focused on more adoption paperwork. On Tuesday we signed the official adoption papers and had to have an official picture taken of the 3 of us for the adoption letter. Of course this was the one time on Tuesday morning that Talhia was crying, and big time. This will be a great picture to show her as she grows up.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a grocery store and picked up a few things. Most things had an English name on them and I could figure out what was formula and what was beer.

We got back to the hotel late Tuesday afternoon and at this time preparation for the Asian games in Guangzhou. Now every time we enter our hotel we must go through a metal detector, be wanded down, and all our bags go through an x-ray machine. Earlier in the day in our hotel we had walked past a bunch of military and police with bomb sniffing dogs going through the hotel. My understanding is that there are a bunch of dignitaries for the games staying here. This is also why we are having to leave on Thursday and not Friday. With the games there is no room.

Back to Tuesday… for the last part of the afternoon we went shopping to a close by highrise discount mall. Guangzhou is a factory city with a large amount of manufacturing of things so you can find very good prices on many toys/cloths/etc. It is quite the adventure trying to cross the street. All we have been told is follow the locals! Apparently, the biggest travel health claims for foreigners is getting hit by a car or bike.

We toured around the mall an bought a few small things and then the group of us (3 of the families) decided to have a cultural experience and we had supper at the McDonalds. Very similar to back home. It is quite interesting when you walk up to the counter if you are a foreigner, they pull out a large laminated menu with pictures and you just point to the double cheeseburger value meal and type of drink. Worked well, but my Coke Zero turned into a Sprite.

After dinner the entire group went on a boat tour on the river. This lasted about 2 hours and we got to see many interesting building. They also have many lit up with designs.

Wednesday night was a bit more restless for Talhia than Tuesday. Again after about a ½ of sleeping she woke up screaming and it took Chris about ½ hour to settle her down. Then she was more restless during the night.

Wednesday we would have to go to the police station in the afternoon to get our final adoption papers. So in the morning our entire group went to a shopping island. Here we bought too much (in my opinion). Talhia got a number of Chinese dresses, Chris and I each got a Chinese top (When I was trying to say no to this, I was informed I had no choice and that at the very least I would be wearing it at Chinese New Years. I am now suspecting that there are a number of things that I have not been told about and will be doing…Especially since Chris is reminding me that I am no longer number 2 on the priority list (actually I think I         was below this already with the cats/dogs/alpacas) and have moved down another rung. At least she is fine with not being number 1 anymore. We also bought some jade, squeaky shoes (not for me), and a few other items for Talhia to remember her home province.

The trip to the police station was uneventful but did take a while because we were behind a large group of families (the same group we were behind on Monday and Tuesday). After that we had time for one quick last shopping excursion to the local discount mall. Here we managed to find a few more wooden toys and dress/tops for Talhia and Chris. And the dinners have kept getting better, since we were so tired and had to pack for this AM we settled for a cup of noodles, a bag of chips and a beer.

It is too bad that the Asian games start tomorrow. If we could have stayed till Friday we would have had a chance to take the 2 hour drive today and visit Talhia's orphanage. This will have to wait for some time in the future.

Chris is just waking up and I need to help with final packing (since I got the easy job last night of playing with Talhia, I better do a bit, but I can't actually do too much because I won't put the right thing in the right suitcase ((remember down another rung))).

Later today in Beijing we will meet up with all the families. Our group will grow from the 5 families up to the 17.

That is all for now.  Hey I thought it was Christine's idea to do all this blogging

Todd & Chris

At last...

It is 7am Tuesday morning and YES we picked up Talhia yesterday and spent our first night with her. I am sitting typing and she is having her bottle on the bed. Chris is in the shower.

Back to yesterday. The plane from Beijing to Guangzhou was very nice a big Airbus A 330 and I am sorry to say there was no goats on board. We were delayed at least an hour for takeoff and this caused a bit of stress. When we landed the group of 4 families (the fifth was already there), quickly went through our luggage in the middle of the airport floor for the essentials for meeting our children at the government office. The plan was to go straight to pick up our kids because we were behind schedule. So off we ran, about a mile (it seemed like it) to one end of the airport. When we got there, we had to turn around and go all the way to the over end (and this is a big airport). We definitely got some exercise in the 28C day. The problem was the Asian games are starting in Guangzhou at the end of this week so everything has been changed at the airport in preparation for that.

We got to the government offices around 4pm Monday and we rode up the elevator to the 8^th floor. We are getting pretty excited/scared/anxious now. The doors of the elevator open and we are greeted with a scene I was not prepared for….there must have been 50 over families there picking up their new additions. Wow, all the noise, smiles, crying and screaming. After about 10 minutes it was our turn and out came Talhia. Her Nanny handed her over to us, Talhia was looking a bit puzzled and it was very hot in the room. We got a couple of quick pictures with her, the nanny went to the other room, and then we started to get her to know us. Well did she start screaming! She screamed in Christine's arms, after a few minutes it was my turn to take the handoff. That was no better the screaming continued in my arms for the next ½ hour as she grabbed me and did not want to look at me while Christine left the room to go pay a bunch of fees and sign papers. We tried giving her new toys, seeing picture of herself, cheerios, and a cookie; all to no avail. Hmmm great start but we had been warned this is common.

Then the nanny came back and realized Talhia had been there a lot longer than they had expected and she was probably hungry and needing a bottle. The orphanage gave us a very nice care package. Some of Talhia's cloths, a bottle and formula, a photo album with pictures, and a small gift (that we still have not opened). And yes the bottle did the trick.

We got to the hotel, settled in, had a quick dinner and were back in the room settling down for the night by 8pm. At around 9pm, she started screaming in her crib, that went on forever (OK probably only 10 minutes) and Chris was able to get her settled down. Back in the crib and the screaming started a few minutes later. Talhia wins this round. Christine brings her into our bed and has her go to sleep on Chris's chest. Most of the rest of the night was uneventful, I didn't wake up, the other 2 did for about 20 minutes at 1am.

We are preparing to go for breakfast, and off to another government office to finalize the adoption.

Talhia seems healthy and happy. Her Cleft Lip has not been repaired so we will worry about that back home.

One more note: we have not been able to access our blog or facebook in China, so we have been emailing our updates to the blog site. We will not be able to see any comments until we get back home.

Todd & Chris

 

This is the day....

It is 5 am Monday morning in Beijing. We are on a big bus on the way to the airport to go to Talhia's home province – about a 3 hour flight.

The flight from Vancouver to Beijing was fine. I had not thought about it but it was very interesting, for the entire 11 hour+ flight we were in daylight. We left Vancouver at 1:30pm Saturday and arrived in Beijing at 4pm (14 hour time change) Sunday.  We got to our hotel at 5 minutes to 6pm and at 6pm we met most of the other 17 families at a group dinner. We went for Chinese food and I had a local beer.  It was a very good meal and only cost us 37 Yen (less than $3 each including drinks)!

It was a long day yesterday we were up for about 28 hours and yes I watched Inception again and I am still not sure I understand the ending.

Sooo this is it, the day we have been waiting for. We will meet Talhia around 2pm local time (around midnight Wpg time).

Todd

And we're off!!

Well It is 9:30am on Saturday. We are a half hour from landing in Vancouver.  A Special Thanx to Big Kathy for picking us up at 5:30am and making sure we got through security!

 I didn’t sleep well last night. Christine did! Go figure (usually it is the other way).  Can’t wait to get to China. Christine is sleeping right now and I am watching Inception - a very cool movie.

In Vancouver we have a 5 hour lay over and then the final 12 hours to Beijing. We will get there around 4pm Sunday Beijing time.

We spent Friday (yesterday) doing last minute things.  We bought watches (neither of us had one, because we just use cell phones normally), picked up Alpaca feed, and did our final packing.

Then I realized while looking at Tahlia’s room, we hadn't unpacked any of her toys or assembled her highchair.  We didn’t want her coming home at 11pm on Thursday November 18^th and not having toys ready to use. So I unpacked her new farm and her cube toy thing. Then I tried to assemble the highchair, couldn't find any instructions, started yelling, and then the instructions fell out of the seat part!  It was actually pretty easy to put together.

Well about to land, time to turn off the netbook. OH just saw the end of Inception….guess I have to watch it again, is he awake in the end?  I'll have time to catch a few movies on the way to Beijing. After that, I am worried it will be all Blues Clues and something called  4 Square.

Todd

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go.....

I can't believe how much luggage we have!  But in our defense (or mine really), each suitcase is well under the limit and we're leaving the biggest one in Beijing for the second leg of our trip.

So we're ready to leave - Todd's already asleep in bed, I know...shocking.  A man needs his beauty sleep!!  I figure I can sleep on the plane....we'll be on them for long enough!

This week has been very busy with tons of last minute things to do -  a new To-Do list each day.   Thank you to those who helped figure out how to get the baby seat in the car (thanks dad!), answered tons of questions about the details of the china adoption trip (from a mom who's already been - thanks amber!), and many others for offering to help, giving me advice, and of course going out for lunch!.

We just want to thank everyone for all their good thoughts and wishes.  We really appreciate how much support we have.  I've kept all of the cards and emails, so that I can someday show Tahlia how many people were waiting for her.

Our flight is at 7am tomorrow and we couldn't be more ready.    When you all wake up Monday morning, it will be evening in Guangzhou and we will have Tahlia in our arms.  We'll be a family of 3.

Updated Pictures of Tahlia

We received an update on Tahlia at the end of October.  She's currently 28.7 inches tall and weighs 17.6 lbs.  As you can see from the pictures she still has her brushcut!