We arrived in Guangzhou

Hello all, Well today was our last flight within Country to finish up our adoption process. We made it safely to Guangzhou. It was sad saying goodbye to our guide Larry because he was such a great guy and he really cared about our children while we were in his care. We gave him our info for the next time he is in Seattle. While it was hard to say goodbye to Nanjing, Annabels homeland, it was wonderful to get off of the plane and see all the other families who had gone to different provinces reunited together again holding their babies. I also felt very blessed and grateful for the wonderful experience that we had with Annabel in our first 5 days because some of the families didn't have that smoothly of a transition time. Some of the babies are experiencing bonding issues and may only go to one parent and a few of the babies have been pretty sick too. I really feel grateful that Mark and I and Robin and Martin had such a positive experience while in Nanjing. When we first got Annabel she would not let go of the furniture and was still a little unsteady on her feet. Last night she was walking all over the place trying to catch up with the other kids. She had a few tumbles, but that didn't stop her. She has really built a lot of strength in her legs over the last 5 days. She did great on the plane. Slept the entire flight expect for landing. She screamed so hard because of the pressure. We couldnt get her to drink so her ears were really bothering her. Once we landed she was fine and happy again. We have a McDonalds next to our hotel. That was the best hamburger I have ever had. haha I was craving something other then rice and Chinese food. Please don't invite me out to Chinese food for a long time. haha After getting settled into our room we had to take a nap. That was at 5:30. I just woke up and it is 10:30 At night. Annabel is still sleeping. I dont know what tonight will look like for her since she went to bed so early. I hope she sleeps at least another 4 hours. Mark and I have been up by 4 am every morning because of the time change. We are getting pleanty of sleep though because we have gone to bed pretty early and taken a couple of naps when Annabel naps. Well I am going to end this post and post some pics of Marks experience last night. He was the groom in a Chinese wedding. yes you heard me right. You will have to check out the pics. God Bless, and thank you for all the emails. I really enjoy hearing from all of you. I really miss home and my kids and my soft bed. haha Tamara

Another great day

Hello all, Well we have had a great day today in Nanjing. It is actually our last day here. Tomorrow we fly to our last destination before heading home to the States. Our day is not over yet, we are heading out tonight with our guide to see some more sights. I wish I could tell you where we are going but I can't pronounce it and Mark is taking a nap. So on my next post I will tell you where we went. haha Today we headed out on our own to visit a museum with the history of this area. It was quite amazing. This is part of Annabel's heritage and we want to be able to take as much of it back to the states as possible for her so that when she is older she is able to understand it all. Many of you have emailed me asking me whether or not we visited Annabel's orphanage. The answer to that is unfortunately not. It was entirely by our own choosing. We have a fantastic guide who said he was willing to take us. But after day two we decided not to go. For one thing it is 3 1/3 hours each way and it gets blistering hot in the vehicles here. In China they don't so freely use air conditioning the way we do so it tends to be a little on the warm and humid side. On day two we took Annabel back to the Adoption office and said her goodbyes to her nannies. After that we noticed a little bit of a change in her. She seemed very confused. We didnt want her to think we were taking her back to the orphanage. We had the amazing opportunity to receive back two cameras and 8 pages of questions that we asked the orphanage. Plus we got to question the nannies for a long time. So I felt like we had all the information we needed. Between not wanting to upset Annabel and confuse her any more and the weather being the way it was (by the way it is beautiful today) we decided not to go. We will go back when she is older for a heritage tour so she can learn where she came from. Since we chose not to make the trip we also didn't get to see her finding sight. But I am ok with that. I felt like it was much more important for me to gain her trust and bond with her then to be on the road in yucky weather for over 7 hours. Today she is doing fantastic. You wouldn't know we have only had her for 4 days. At the museum many Chinese women and a few foreigners on vacation began to talk to her and she reached her arms up to be held. They would pick her up, she would smile and say a few words (who knows what she was saying) and then reach for me and say "mama". I loved the fact she always wanted to come back to me. For some of the Chinese women they were almost saying goodbye to her as if they knew her. I believe many many Chinese people are sad because of the great orphan epidemic they have here. They are so happy to see these children go to good homes even if it is in another Country. I also believe because they see us speaking Chinese with her they know we intend to keep her heritage alive for her. Yes we have learned a little Chinese. Not enough to survive on our own but enough to get us by. I hope we dont forget it all the minute we leave China. haha As for Annabel, what can I say? She is an absolute precious gift. Worth every bit of the pain and tears throughout this entire adoption process. She is like a sponge learning and mimicking everything we do. I cannot even imagine her not in our life now that we have had for her the past 4 days. Thank you God!!! You are so awesome. Well I am off to get ready for our big evening out. Until next time. God bless, Tamara

More pictures of our shopping day

She's now a daddy's girl

Well today was just a fabulous day for Annabel. She had a little trouble falling asleep last night because we were in a new room. But once she did she did pretty well except for some stirring. I broke down though at one point and put her into bed with me during the middle of the night. I was nervous she would wake up while I was still in a deep sleep and tumble out of her crib. It is not very tall and she towers over the top when she stands up. I discovered that she does not like to be touched when she is asleep. She likes to sprawl out on her tummy and take up the whole bed. Just like me. haha She fits in our family already. She woke up very happy and has been that way all day. The weather was great today and the air clearer thanks to the typhoon yesterday so our guide took us out to see some sights. Our first stop was of course Walmart to satisfy our need for the familiar. We did a lot of shopping. My order came to $100 us dollars. I can't believe all that I got for $100. The cost of items are just soooo much less here then the US. I got an adorable stroller that I am praying makes it home in one piece. If not at least it will save our back here. She loves the chest pouch but I think it is going to be way too hot in our last province for us to wear it. After Walmart we had some good old American food...Pizza Hut!!! It was the best pizza ever because I have had rice for 6 days straight. We love Chinese food but were ready for a change. I forgot to mention that today was daddy day. He decided he wanted me to let him do it all (or at least most of it)to really work on his bonding with Annabel. It worked. She isn't fussing for me to hold her 24/7 nearly as much as she has in the past 2 days. They had a great day together as you can see from the pictures. The best part of the day for Mark, outside of Annabel becoming his cuddle bug was stopping and touring the Zhonghua Gate. Which use to be the largest gate protecting the city during the first Ming Dynasty making this the original Forbidden City. It was very cool. They happened to have had a show today for us to watch as well. But honestly we Americans might as well have been the show. I have never had so many people stare at me in my life. Have you ever had one of those dreams where you feel like you are walking around the city naked and everyone is staring at you? Well I would imagine that this would feel about the same. Everyone just stares and talks. Once the stares start to get to be too many you pull out your lamenated "Why I am in China with a Chinese baby card" and then their stares turn to smiles and they start talking to you. I kept saying "Larry (that's our guide) what are they asking me?" It's amazing because within 5 seconds of reading that card you have 10-20 people surrounding you. The card simply explained that we are adopting a child from an orphanage. Of course the most curious thing isn't that we are adopting but it is that we already have children at home. Why would we want another one. They were all curious about her cleft lip as well. It just blows me away because they can be very open and candid here. Over all I have found that once they understand why we are here they are very nice and friendly. I loved having Larry around to translate for me. Annabel is really coming out of her shell today. She loves to talk and babble. She giggles a lot too when playing on the floor or being flown around like a plane. She is also very ticklish. She says mama, up, hi and loves to give fishy faces and blow kisses. She is like a sponge learning new things each day. When we first got her she wouldn't let go of the furniture to walk across the room even though she was walking around everywhere holding on. Now she is very daring and walking quite well for short distances. Her legs have gotten a lot stronger in just a few days. I can't wait to watch her blossom as the next week passes. Amber and Joey you are going to fall so in love with her. She is the sweetest little thing and loves to cuddle. I can't wait to see you both. Thanks for all the emails and comments on our blog site. We have enjoyed reading each one. It is part of my evening routine. I apologize I havent been able to reply to each one but know that I have read them all and feel very blessed to have you all in our lives. God Bless, Mark, Tamara and Annabel

Typhoon Central

Well today is another day down until the day we get to come home. Not that we are counting. In case you haven't watched the news, we are having the worst typhoon that this area has had in over 10 years. We havent even turned on our tv this week so we didn't know it was coming until it was here. It's a strong one. We had to change rooms because our room began to flood and we were on the 30th floor at the time. The wind and rain were coming in so hard that our drapes were blowing all over and that was with the windows closed and the air conditioner off. Crazy crazy!!! Then once we got into our second room they wanted to move us again. They wanted to move everyone on one side of the building to the other side. We told them we would take our chances. I wasnt about to repack and move for the second time in one day. Not only was it typhoon day today but we can officially title it "Melt Down Day". Annabel had some fantastic moments today with laughter and giggling up a storm and then she had some major sad moments. It is obvious that she is confused and misses her nanny. One minute she will be fine and the next she will just sit there and cry...then stop again in a matter of minutes. She always wants to be held and hugged during that time so I know it is separation pain she is going through. Mark now calls me the human marsupial because the only way to get her to calm down sometimes is to put her into my pouch (baby harness carrier). I absolutely love it because it takes all the strain off of my arms and back. Her 22 pound body was getting heavy. Especially considering she doesn't just want me a to just hold her...she wants me standing and rocking her. Too cute but also painful. haha So in the mist of us moving I put her into my pouch. I knew if I moved her after she fell alseep that she would wake up and cry again so I just plopped onto the bed on my back and slept with her. I felt like a beached whale. Since the weather is so bad we spent the day at the hotel. We had lunch with another couple adopting, Robin and Marty. Then went back to their room to let the girls (their daughter is Maddy) play together. As soon as we got back to our room Annabel had another melt down. But she is fine now. She is sleeping and will probably sleep the next 10 hours. At least she has the last two nights. Even though it is tough to watch her mourn the way she is mourning, I know she will be ok. She is such a blessing and sweet little girl. I can't wait to see her fall deep into some routines and totally understand that we are not going to leave her. I know that is big concern of hers right now. She is afraid she will wake up and we will not be there. Pray for her transition. When it somes to bonding though...God definetly answered prayers. She is doing fantastic in that area. Better then we had imagined she would do. Well take care. We will be safe. God Bless, Tamara

Day Two with Annabel

Hello again. It's day two with Annabel and oh what a blessing she is to us. She slept all night which made for a great day. Total she slept 10 hours. I heard her stir a couple of times in the middle of the night but then she would start rocking her head on the mattress and she would be asleep again. It is a self soothing technique very common in orphans. It is great that she can fall back asleep but it breaks my heart to think of her self soothing because there was no one there to rock her. We met her nannies today. And believe me they were amazingly loving. But with so many babies and so few nannies they cannot possibly be there for each child when they really need to be loved on. Today both Mark and I agreed that she is starving for affection. She doesn't want anything to do with much of anything except being held and cuddling. When I tell her I love you in Chinese she smiles and puts her head on my shoulders. It is enough to make you melt. Yes I am putty in her hands. She will go to either Mark or I but still seems to favor me for comfort. Today I handed her off a few times even when I really didn't want to only because I want her to learn to get comfort from both of us. And she did fine with that. It's just when given her choice she wants me. She is a great eater. I am only giving her food smashed up right now though because I really am not 100% certain what she is capable of eating with her palate. This afternoon she began to choke on a piece of cherreeos and then made the strangest noises after crying. It almost sounded as though she couldnt get enough air. Of course being the new mom again I was afraid she had a piece stuck somewhere and couldnt get enough oxygen out. She was fine though. She was only trying to catch her breath after being scared. I am still learning her sounds. She has a raspy cry due to the cleft. Cleft babies sometimes have baby teeth growing all over the place in their mouth. When she was giggling tonight Mark saw that she has a tooth way in the back where a tooth should not be. Weird. That's ok. One of the first things were are doing is making our medical appointments when we get home. She will see a great team of Doctors at Children Hospital for all of her future palate and dental procedures. She also has one tooth growing right in the front of her top row. We call her snaggle tooth. haha
Well today Annabel said bye to her nannies. I was so glad she gave lots of hugs and kisses first. I was concerned how she would react when seeing them again. She got very excited and went right to them but when it was time to leave she came right back to me. Thank goodness. But when the housekeeper came in tonight she started to cry a little bit and put her arms out asking her to pick her up. I told her that wasn't her nannie. I am sure she did not understand me but she did calm down. One thing that we cannot figure out is why she is terrified of dolls. She gets so scared when you put a doll near her. Anyone have any ideas why, then let me know. The only thing we can figure is maybe she was jealous when new babies come to the orphanage because they demand so much time from the nannies. I don't know. I hope she grows out of that one.
Today we signed all of the official documents to make Annabel officially ours in the eyes of China. We had to answer some simple questions like why do we want her and how many children we already have and to promise never to abandon her. Of course we passed with flying colors because they handed us some offical documents. Now we just wait until the end of the week to receive our paperwork from the notary and her Visa so she can leave the province. After we gave the nannies their gifts and gifts for the children they gave us a very special gift that I will always treasure. They gave us a zodiac jade necklace with Annabels zodiac the Dog on it. It is very sentimental in China to pass that down to your children. They also gave us a little red velvet container with soil from her home land. I hope to bring her back when she is older for a heritage tour to learn about her heritage. well I am off to bed now. Annabel is a sleep so it is time for us to also take advantage of that time to sleep. Until next time....God Bless, Tamara