Random Pictures from Some Day in China

Midway through our stay in China, Quincy began to do the opposite of anything we asked. For example, if we needed to go somewhere, she would instead plop herself on the floor and then refuse to get up. While this would be very annoying here in the states, it was especially bad in China as she would do it in the middle of the hotel lobby in front of all the native Chinese. I can only imagine what was going through their minds at the kind of parents they thought we were. Just embarrassing.

The Playground on Shamian Island

The playground on Shamian Island (the Island our hotel was located on in Guangzhou) represents China in everyway: Crowded.

Pictures from China---One Day Post-Gotcha Day

The first afternoon after Gotcha Day we decided to go swimming in the Beautiful White Swan Hotel pool (it really is beautiful...waterfall and all). Quincy was soo thrilled to finally have her "sissa" (sister) that she was constantly attempting to hold her hand. Ellie didn't really know what to make of it.

The picture above pretty much sets the tone for the day. Quincy was her typical spastic self---just not a good spastic but a bad spastic. Ellie just seemed annoyed with her a lot of the time.

Ellie's first time in the pool. It went pretty well.

After the swim we just lounged poolside. Quincy was still spastic; Ellie was still annoyed.

But....by the end of pool-time, Ellie was showing signs of happiness at last.

Greetings from China via Minneapolis

Hi Everyone -

This is Bridget a friend of Wendy and Tim's. I am posting to their blog on their behalf as they have been unable to access it while in China. They just wanted to let everyone know that they are doing well and they look forward to returning home soon. They are going to post lots of pictures when they get home and things settle down (who knows when that will be when you have a 2 & 3 year old :) Anyway Wendy sent me a few photos that I have included. I took the liberty of posting captions to them - hope you don't mind Wend!

Cute little Mei Mei going down the slide

Wait till she sees the big doggie that is waiting at home!


Two sisters enjoying the coy pond at The White Swan Hotel

Quincy and her baby!

Could they be any cuter?!

(Aunt Bridget doesn't think so!!!)

Out of Order---The Forbidden City (pre-Gotcha Day)

These pictures were actually taken when we were still a family of three....
Tianaman Square...

Entering the Forbidden City....

Inside the Forbidden City.... Still in the Forbidden City....

Ellie!

Waiting to leave the White Swan Hotel to travel to the Civil Affairs office to meet Ellie. Quincy brought her Cho Cho and Mei Mei's Cho Cho to the greeting.

Mei Mei is shell-shocked...Quincy is patting her face saying, "It's okay, Ellie".

Taking a walk before bath and bedtime. So far (three days in), Quincy is being a really, really, really good sister.

In bed about fours after Mei Mei became a part of our family :))))

We brought Ellie HanMei (who has gone by "Mei Mei" for the last three years and we're sticking with it) into the family on Monday. It has been a crazy three days so I am just now getting around to posting. Sorry!

Gotcha Day was very emotional. One of the people in our group spotted Mei Mei (AKA, Ellie Han Mei... see above) before we did and shouted to us, "There's Ellie!". She was right. Ellie was sitting in a room with other kids waiting to come out and meet us. When they brought her out (maybe two minutes after we spotted her), she was placed in our arms and immediately began to cry. Not hard, loud, wailing cries. Just soft sobs with tears. Crying is supposed to be a healthy sign of attachment (and separation from someone else)....we are very glad that she cried. Quincy immediately went to her and hugged her and gave her her very own "Cho Cho" doll. It appears Mei Mei has never played with dolls before as she tried to rip its hair out later that night. Good thing the hair was glued in with something strong.

It is now three days after Gotcha Day and it is a HUGE adjustment. Mei Mei is doing fine....Quincy is the one showing the "adjustment". Prior to coming to China, Quincy was 95% wonderful, 5% two-year-old with tantrums. Now it's more like 50-50. She gets along really well with Mei Mei, but her sleep and feeding schedule has been thrown off big-time (due to the crazy schedule our travel group is on). I am pretty sure the behavior change in Quincy is a combo of that and the new sister. It will be interesting to see how her behavior changes again when we get back home and back on schedule.

Another thing that is very different from the last time is this whole Swine Flu thing. A couple in our travel group were quarantined at 2:30 am the morning before we were to leave Beijing and travel to Guangzhou to get our babies. Apparently there were three Japanese men on their same flight into Beijing a few days prior that had Swine Flu. The officials in Beijing tracked down every single person on that flight (over 300) and they are all in quarantine now. We are pretty sure that as long as they don't come down with any sickness they will be allowed to fly out of Beijing after one week of quarantine. However, since everyone in our travel group was traveling with that couple in Beijing after their arrival (but before their quarantine), every person in our travel group has to have twice daily temperature checks by officials in protective gear. It's very odd.

Great Wall

We went back to the Great Wall....it hasn't change much in the last two years. We made it half way up again....then went back down for ice cream. Oh....and I got car sick on the way back to the hotel as our bus driver decided to take the scenic route (read that as winding route) back down the mountain. Ugh.

Ni Hao!

Local street food...the picture doesn't convey the worst part: The fact that the snack was still moving.....

Now that we're back in China, Quincy is getting exposed to culture that she has missed in the past year: Lesson 1---Chopsticks!

Introducing Ellie HanMei!

We get to leave on May 6th to bring Ellie HanMei home!!! Our Gotcha Day is Monday, May 11th! We will have our camera and laptop in China with us and we will load pictures daily (which is a huge change from the frequency that I currently upload pictures!).

Below is Ellie at age 2 years.
Below is Ellie at age 2.5 years.

And...below is Ellie at 3 years of age. Her third birthday was April 11th....and it was a HARD day knowing that we could not be with her. Quincy sang Happy Birthday to Ellie HanMei all week....it was simultaneously both cute and sad.....

Okay...the best for last. Last week we received updated information on Ellie so we would know her size and could bring along clothes that would fit. In addition to the update, they sent along new photos (see immediately above) AND two short 5 second long videos of her walking! For obvious reasons, this is a HUGE deal to us!

Easter

Tim and I are set to begin gardening in our new house (finally!). So, the best Easter present the Easter Bunny could have possibly given her was her very own gardening bag and tools.

Hunting for eggs at Grandpa's and Mimi's house.....

Pinkalicious

A few weeks ago we went on another book-buying extravaganza. One of the books we picked up is called Pinkalicious. It's about a girl who loves the color pink so much that all of her belongings are pink (kind of like Quincy). Oh...and her name is Pinkalicious. One day her mother made her a batch of pink cupcakes; she ate so many that she turned pink...hair and all. After seeing her doctor, she was informed that she had a very rare and acute case of Pinkititis.

Anyway, Pinkalicious is currently Quincy's "it" book....we read it every single night..sometimes 3 times a night. Well, to go along with the story, I ended up making a batch of pink cupcakes. Quincy began eating her cupcake...but then she stopped eating it and began to smear it all over herself instead. Why? She wanted to be pink, just like Pinkalicious.

Learning to swing...by herself.

Winter is finally over (yea!) so we have been going to the park everday afterschool.....Quincy doesn't want to sit in the little-kid swing anymore...my baby's growing up....heavy sigh.