July 4th - Indigo's first Independance Day

It's weird to spend July 4th in a country where it means nothing to the local people. However, most everyone had their kids in little Americana outfits so we celebrated in our own way. Indigo slept really well last night and did not wake up until 6:30 this morning and she was extremely peppy. The bath went much better with her really enjoying playing with her cups in the water. She just does not like when I wet her hair and water gets on her face. We dressed her and went to breakfast. She again just devoured the scrambled eggs and had congee, tofu and a few pieces of watermelon. She really wanted her bottle when we returned so we gave her that. She fell asleep around 9 a.m. in her new stroller that David bought last night on the Walmart adventure. We were going on an outing which we thought involved walking to the park so we thought we would let her fall asleep in the stroller so as to not disturb her nap. Well, she did fall asleep in the stroller but we had to wake her up because we were bussed to the park. She was quite excited to be out at the park in the stroller although it was terribly hot - I had put sunscreen on her before we left the hotel. The park was magnificent! Just beautiful with hundreds of weeping willow trees along a lake edge. You could walk all through the park but we were going to this Taoist Temple. Before we talk about that, I'll pause to say that unfortunately, one of the babies of one of the couples was very sick with diarrhoea all through the night so our guide Kathy took them to the hospital. Since Kathy was gone with the couple, we had no guide on the bus but were in the care of the guide on the other bus. One of the guys who is part of a couple, Roy, is just a crack up and has us laughing all the time. Anyway, he took the mike and had comments to make all along our trip to the park. He is a lawyer and so his baby, who is teething was gnawing on the bar on the bus and he was saying something about lead poisoning and toxic torts. Then, we arrive at the park, and he says, oh, and there is the national bird of China - the construction crane! It was very funny because we cannot get over how much construction we have seen all over China - I am posting a photo of that national bird. I know you are all wondering about the baby - she is going to be fine but did get iv fluids for dehydration and was put on an antibiotic as blood/fecal tests had shown an infection. We had a lovely time at the park and Indigo really enjoyed being out and being pushed in stroller. However, by the time we got to the temple part it was boiling and I wanted to keep her in the shade. A whole bunch of us girls just sat on the shady side of the temple with our babies while the men went and viewed the temples which were quite stunning. There were these massive alters of incense burning with incense that looked like the size of fireworks rockets! We had water in a bottle of Indigo as well as snacks for her but we were dying of thirst so we bought some cold waters. We had been told that the babies don't like cold drinks - and it's true with the formula that they like it hot. However, Indigo did not read the manual on not liking cold drinks because she wanted to drink the cold water from my water bottle. She loved it. She was quite comfortable there because she wanted to walk around and played for ages with the empty water bottle and some bottle lids and the lid of her bottle. A praying mantis landed on me which was really cool. After David came back he stayed with and I took a quick walk through the temples before we left the park.

When we got back to the hotel, Indigo was really lively and bubbly but she crashed around 1 p.m. and took a long nap. David stayed with her while I went out with the guide and some other girls to see the local market - could have done without that - it's so hot here and it makes the smells so pungent and I really would have preferred to not see the bags of little live frogs waiting for some one's deep fryer. Our guide actually said that they are not supposed to sell frogs. After that we went to a fine porcelain store - much more up my alley. This province is known for it's beautiful porcelain - the fine pieces are not inexpensive as they are hand painted but I did make some purchases. After I came back to the room, Indigo was up from her nap and was having a bottle. We all went to meet two other couples and the girl Ashley and her father and we went for massages. WOW! We were all in this one large room together with our babies - no other people. Indigo spent the first part in her stroller with her book and her snack trap and the second half sacked out on my lap while David and I and everyone else had 80 minute massages of the neck, back, arms and then the majority of time on the feet. They were awesome and they cost a whopping $6 each! On the way back we dropped off the camera that was returned to us from the orphanage that we had sent with the care package. We hope that there will be some good photos of her on that from her life at the orphanage. When we got back we wanted her to have some play time so we went up to this play area on the next floor up and she walked around all over the place. She had been playing with an empty Gatorade bottle so that is what you can see in the pictures. We took her to dinner and she ate a whole bowl of this egg dish they bring for the babies and then she ate some rice and some chicken pieces that I was tearing up for her. She sucked down a bottle when we returned to the room, laughed and giggled while she did her evening acrobatics and then conked out around 8:45 p.m. I am posting some photos and heading off to bed myself.

By the way, with regards to size, we believe Indigo is about 19 lbs. This is based upon David weighing himself and then weighing himself with her. This dress she wearing today in the pictures is 9 months size. I am also putting her in 12 month stuff but that is definitely on the bigger side for her. She does seem to be taller than we expected but we don't have a height. We will have a doctor/medical appointment with her in Guangzhou.