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!