Sorry all for the delay in posting for July 6th. We did not get to the hotel last night until past 10:30 p.m. and had to get our girl to bed and deal with luggage etc. Also, we had to wait until to figure out the Internet access options - this hotel has clued into people paying for access but we can't complain because the last few hotels have all had free access. Anyway, I knew we needed to post again for fear of being disowned by Indigo's Grandma Lee. I hear through the grapevine that Ava's grandparents also get concerned when we have a delayed post. To me it is miraculous that we have the Internet at all and can share our journey with everyone 1/2 a world a way. So here goes for the July 6th post.
Big day as we leave Jiangxi province and the Jin Feng hotel in Nanchang. We had to figure out how to pack the suitcases with all the things we have picked up in Indigo's province. Fortunately, Great Wall organizes a group check in of the luggage and everything still fit in our two checked in suitcases - just barely and I would not take an oath that each one was at 44 lbs or less :-) Suitcases were picked up at 2:15 p.m. so we were all packed.
In the morning, Indigo ate another big breakfast and then after a nap we took her out in the stroller for a walk outside down a pretty little street to a temple at the end.
We walked back and then took Indigo up to the large play area where a bunch of families were hanging out with their girls. David had to meet our guide Kathy to review paperwork that had been returned from the notary and Indigo received her passport! 
We are truly a multi-national family with American passports, United Kingdom and now Chinese. I am also reluctant to mention this because it will lead to another chastisement by my parents on me not yet having an American passport with American citizenship yet - it will happen Mom & Dad! We had a wonderful lunch at the hotel with all the families which our guide Kathy organized - all very spicy food which I love. David found it a bit too spicy. 
Our daughter ate a whole banana and a bowl of the egg custard they provide for the kids. However, she was also really into the noodles which were spicy! I can't believe how much she loved them. She also ate some soft carrots and potato that were in this spicy beef stew dish. She has a great appetite. One of the families had to go to the police station again for some paperwork issue and the lady was going to have to come back to the hotel by herself in a taxi. She was very nervous about this so David went with her. Our guide had also had to get a piece of our paperwork corrected because they had misdated something which could have really messed us up with the American consulate in Guangzhou. I must say that our guides are awesome and they work really hard to make all this official stuff go smoothly. While David was gone, Indigo and I just completely crashed and were fast asleep when David came back to say it was time to meet the bus and leave for the airport so we rushed to get the last pieces of hand carry-on luggage together and our girl up. We had took the bus to the airport and she was snuggled on me the whole drive. 
We drove through areas of vast rice fields and you can see the water buffalo pulling the plough. Indigo was very wide eyed at the airport and very happy as long as I made no attempt to put her down. The hat you see her wearing is one we bought in Yangshua during the Guilin/Li River part of our trip. 
The Great Wall guides take our passports and handled getting all of our boarding passes so all we had to do was clear security and go to the gate. We went to the gate and not only were there all our families (13 for Jiangxi) with babies, but also a whole Holt group with about 13 families and all their babies. Our friend Yang had typed for us in Chinese a paragraph I had written about who we were, and how grateful we are to the country of China and its people for the chance to have a family and a beautiful daughter from China etc. so we were showing all the people at the airport and they loved it. They were all given us the thumbs up and saying lucky babies. Of course, we are the lucky ones. So we were supposed to leave around 5:40 p.m. but the flight was delayed because the plane was still in Guangzhou. 
We went with some couples down to a very comfortable lounge/cafe that had nice couches to get some coffees and snacks. It was now around Indigo's dinner time so we ordered some beef soup with noodles. Before that came she was having so much fun playing with the sugar container and sugar packets - taking them out - putting them in etc. She is so curious about everything. When the beef noodle dish came I could not feed the child the noodles fast enough - she was like a little chick waiting to be fed by the parents. 
Next thing the flight was ready to go and we boarded. She was laughing and grinning all the way. We took off without incident and all I can say is that she was awesome. She laughed and giggled and flirted with the passengers the whole way. Around 8ish we gave her a bottle - so glad we did pack the thermos! She ate a cookie and drank some water. I was able to get her to suck water from the bottle for most of the descent and I don't know if that helped but either way, very fortunately, it seems that her ears were fine because she was one happy kid. Obviously, due to the delay, it was late when we arrived and then we all had to get our luggage. Kathy had arranged for porters to take all our luggage to the hotel and we boarded our lovely divinely air-conditioned leather seated bus. Indigo fell asleep on me and slept most of the way to the hotel. She woke up during the check in process - the hotel is packed with families with adopted children! However, when we put her down in the crib - a way safer version of a crib by the way, she fell asleep really quickly - around 11 p.m. I am sure we'll rave more about the White Swan while we stay here but I'll say it for the first time here, this hotel is divine! We love it here and we love the whole area around the hotel. Unfortunately, David is now sick with a nasty cold and is not feeling all that happy but we're very comfortable and it's so fun seeing all the families and being reunited again with the our friends who had gone to Anhui province. Oh, by the way, the news of Mama & Baba led to people asking about whether or not she is vocal. We are finding that every day she has more and more to "say" She babbles a lot and seems to be saying more things that we do not understand. The most common thing she says is variations of dada. Also, when she is very excited and happy she seems to like to do this sort of ssssshhhhing sound. We have heard Baba again and I think I heard Mama again but not definitively like before. She does now more consistently put her arms up to me when she wants to be picked up. Have we mentioned lately that we are so in love?
In the morning, Indigo ate another big breakfast and then after a nap we took her out in the stroller for a walk outside down a pretty little street to a temple at the end.
We walked back and then took Indigo up to the large play area where a bunch of families were hanging out with their girls. David had to meet our guide Kathy to review paperwork that had been returned from the notary and Indigo received her passport! 
We are truly a multi-national family with American passports, United Kingdom and now Chinese. I am also reluctant to mention this because it will lead to another chastisement by my parents on me not yet having an American passport with American citizenship yet - it will happen Mom & Dad! We had a wonderful lunch at the hotel with all the families which our guide Kathy organized - all very spicy food which I love. David found it a bit too spicy. 
Our daughter ate a whole banana and a bowl of the egg custard they provide for the kids. However, she was also really into the noodles which were spicy! I can't believe how much she loved them. She also ate some soft carrots and potato that were in this spicy beef stew dish. She has a great appetite. One of the families had to go to the police station again for some paperwork issue and the lady was going to have to come back to the hotel by herself in a taxi. She was very nervous about this so David went with her. Our guide had also had to get a piece of our paperwork corrected because they had misdated something which could have really messed us up with the American consulate in Guangzhou. I must say that our guides are awesome and they work really hard to make all this official stuff go smoothly. While David was gone, Indigo and I just completely crashed and were fast asleep when David came back to say it was time to meet the bus and leave for the airport so we rushed to get the last pieces of hand carry-on luggage together and our girl up. We had took the bus to the airport and she was snuggled on me the whole drive. 
We drove through areas of vast rice fields and you can see the water buffalo pulling the plough. Indigo was very wide eyed at the airport and very happy as long as I made no attempt to put her down. The hat you see her wearing is one we bought in Yangshua during the Guilin/Li River part of our trip. 
The Great Wall guides take our passports and handled getting all of our boarding passes so all we had to do was clear security and go to the gate. We went to the gate and not only were there all our families (13 for Jiangxi) with babies, but also a whole Holt group with about 13 families and all their babies. Our friend Yang had typed for us in Chinese a paragraph I had written about who we were, and how grateful we are to the country of China and its people for the chance to have a family and a beautiful daughter from China etc. so we were showing all the people at the airport and they loved it. They were all given us the thumbs up and saying lucky babies. Of course, we are the lucky ones. So we were supposed to leave around 5:40 p.m. but the flight was delayed because the plane was still in Guangzhou. 
We went with some couples down to a very comfortable lounge/cafe that had nice couches to get some coffees and snacks. It was now around Indigo's dinner time so we ordered some beef soup with noodles. Before that came she was having so much fun playing with the sugar container and sugar packets - taking them out - putting them in etc. She is so curious about everything. When the beef noodle dish came I could not feed the child the noodles fast enough - she was like a little chick waiting to be fed by the parents. 
Next thing the flight was ready to go and we boarded. She was laughing and grinning all the way. We took off without incident and all I can say is that she was awesome. She laughed and giggled and flirted with the passengers the whole way. Around 8ish we gave her a bottle - so glad we did pack the thermos! She ate a cookie and drank some water. I was able to get her to suck water from the bottle for most of the descent and I don't know if that helped but either way, very fortunately, it seems that her ears were fine because she was one happy kid. Obviously, due to the delay, it was late when we arrived and then we all had to get our luggage. Kathy had arranged for porters to take all our luggage to the hotel and we boarded our lovely divinely air-conditioned leather seated bus. Indigo fell asleep on me and slept most of the way to the hotel. She woke up during the check in process - the hotel is packed with families with adopted children! However, when we put her down in the crib - a way safer version of a crib by the way, she fell asleep really quickly - around 11 p.m. I am sure we'll rave more about the White Swan while we stay here but I'll say it for the first time here, this hotel is divine! We love it here and we love the whole area around the hotel. Unfortunately, David is now sick with a nasty cold and is not feeling all that happy but we're very comfortable and it's so fun seeing all the families and being reunited again with the our friends who had gone to Anhui province. Oh, by the way, the news of Mama & Baba led to people asking about whether or not she is vocal. We are finding that every day she has more and more to "say" She babbles a lot and seems to be saying more things that we do not understand. The most common thing she says is variations of dada. Also, when she is very excited and happy she seems to like to do this sort of ssssshhhhing sound. We have heard Baba again and I think I heard Mama again but not definitively like before. She does now more consistently put her arms up to me when she wants to be picked up. Have we mentioned lately that we are so in love?
3 comments:
Melanie and David,
You are so right about "Lucky Family".Indigo is just adorable. What a difference a week has made in her life.She sure has come to life.
So glad you all made it safely! I was getting concerned too that none of you had posted yet. Enjoy the White Swan. The breakfasts are amazing. Give everyone our best too. Hope all goes well at the medical.
Happy 15! I hope you feel better D! Love, Sabina
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