Sunday

Mass yesterday morning was even more beautiful than the last. I suppose it was because we visited this very church with Daniel last year. Mass took place in Chinese--not sure if Mandarin or Cantonese, but we followed along as best we could. A kind, elderly woman insisted that we take her seats. Charlie was mesmerized by the music and the choir. Whenever the music would start, he would get extremely relaxed, I mean like into a trance. It was so cute. Maybe he'll be a musician. Once again, a procession of little children carried up the gifts and Madi was fascinated. She was given a Holy card (in Chinese) for her scrapbook and one for Charlie too.

We spent some time in the Swan Room yesterday morning. The Swan Room is a playroom here in the hotel that is sponsored by Mattel. Some of the families from our group were there. I forgot how much fun it is. Both kids enjoyed it. Of course, Madi tried to dictate exactly what toys Charlie should be playing on and with. Charlie enjoyed playing ball the most.

We received word from a friend that another family, from Boca, is here in Guangzhou. They have adopted a precious little girl from Fuzhou after waiting for five years. We had been meaning to email them since we arrived. They happened to be in the Swan Room yesterday, and we were able to meet the newest mei mei, Horizon, to our South Florida group! We will try to spend some time with them this week.

We are just amazed by Charlie's progress. He is so sweet. We have started weaning him down from his 4 bottles of formula per day to 2. He's been eating so much at breakfast that we're afraid he'll explode! So far, he's taking the bottle weaning without a problem. I'm sure because he's getting more food in that belly!

Saturday in Guangzhou

The White Swan is a reminder of how much good there is in the world. As my eyes panned the restaurant yesterday at breakfast, I saw twenty-something families--maybe more, each representing at least one more baby or child who has found a home and a loving family. It is awesome in the greatest sense of the word. It is overwhelming to see and warms your heart tremendously. I remember feeling this same way two times before--in the very same place.

After breakfast, we gathered our things and met our group in the lobby to go take visa photos. Charlie's picture came out so cute and the funniest thing is the difference in his mug shot in less than one week. You can already see that his face looks fuller. Then we walked to the medical examination office for the dreaded medical exams. This time ours wasn't so dreaded though. Because Charlie is under two, he did not need a TB test like Daniel did. Because the U.S. government changed the ruling and now allows vaccinations to take place back at home within 30 days of arrival, Charlie left without a single vaccination--unlike big brother Daniel who bravely endured seven shots in one sitting. We moved from station to station as they took measurements and checked him out. At one station, after the doctor listened to Charlie's heart a few times, he motioned for us to follow him to another room. Our hearts sank as we thought the ball was going to drop and we were going to find out that something was terribly wrong. On the contrary, he wanted a second opinion to confirm that Charlie's heart is NORMAL! They believe the ASD has already closed! Of course, we will celebrate once we take him to our cardiologist at home, but it was a welcome bit of information.

While Jimmy put Charlie down for a nap, Madi and I checked out all the outdoor exercise equipment in the park nearby. She loved running around and trying out everything. It was great for her after being stuck in that medical office all morning. We also purchased a jie jie (big sister) t-shirt for her, along with a di di (little brother) shirt for Charlie. I delivered Madi back to the room for a nap too and went off to the visa paperwork meeting for our group, where we gathered all the necessary documents for applying for Charlie's visa. I met some really nice people in our group. We are excited to get to know them. After hearing Daniel's story, one mother told me that she thought she had been to our blog and then asked if I had done a radio show. She had heard my interview about Daniel. What a small world...

The kids woke late from napping, and we spent some family time bonding in the room before dinner. Charlie is changing by the day. He is belly laughing a lot, thanks to Daddy's tickles and games with him. Now he is more smiles than not. You can see that is absolutely loving all the attention we are smothering him with. He adores Madi and she adores him. She picks him up and drags him around like a rag doll. He just goes with the flow.

These are some of our favorite things about Charlie so far:

When he sits like a little frog
His tiny little toes that are so kissable
His spotted little back that looks like a dalmation
When he wakes up and does "stretcher monkey" (Jimmy and Madi gave him that name)
That little hand that reaches out to you when he sees you

Reporting from Guangzhou

There is something bittersweet about leaving your child's province. Hard to put into words, but you feel a little like you are leaving something behind. I guess we are. We leave behind an unknown past of a precious child for a fresh start in this world, but somehow it feels slightly sad to leave his birthplace, nonetheless. Luckily, that feeling quickly goes away when you get to the airport.

Yesterday's plane ride was great. First of all, China Southern airline is awesome. This was an Airbus 330 that had so much legroom it was amazing, and we were only in the economy seats. The bathrooms were huge, unlike the cattle stalls we're used to. They served a meal, even for a 2 1/2 hour flight, which was a blessing for the kids especially. We didn't expect that. If we only had such luck on our 15 hour flight! Jimmy held Charlie, and he was so relaxed that he fell asleep. When he wasn't sleeping, he was playing with Daddy. Jimmy has been doing a lot of what I guess I could call "trusting games", like dipping Charlie backwards and bringing him back up again. He also did some peek-a-boo with Charlie's blanket over his head.

Walking into the White Swan last night brought many emotions that I didn't expect. Memories of Daniel last year came flooding back. Shortly after we walked into the reception area, the pianist in the lobby started playing Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" song about the loss of his son. I swallowed hard as Madi took my hand and dragged me around to see fountains and jade works of art. Having Madi with me was a great distraction, because I was able to show her where the red couch pictures are taken, and where the famous breakfast buffet will be every morning, and where we took the group photo with her when she was just one year old. It is really nice to be able to share these things with Madi. I think she'll appreciate her baby pictures at the White Swan even more having been here now.

All smiles this morning from Guangzhou. I have to say that there is something so relaxing about this hotel. You feel a real sense of security, a sense of home. I love the way adoption journeys are staged. For one week, Charlie got to bond with us among a sea of Asian faces. At the White Swan, he will see Asian faces but he will also see families like ours too. By the time we get home, he will be used to seeing more and more American faces.

When Charlie woke up around 7:00 a.m. this morning and saw me peering into his crib, I got a nice big grin. He reaches out his little hand to each of us now--an exchange of trust to make sure he'll get a hand back. He always does. He's really starting to get it. And he's beginning to know his name is Charlie...

Last day in Shanghai

Yesterday was our last free day in Shanghai, and we really accomplished some sightseeing. Our guide, Tracy, took us to The Bund, which is an area along the Huangpu River lined with dozens of historical buildings. We walked about 1/2 mile with Charlie in the stroller and Madi climbing every flight of stairs she could find. The weather was perfect for some fresh air.

After our stroll, Tracy suggested that we see the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which is located across the river. We had never heard of it, and it was really cool, especially for Madi. We took an elevator up 263 meters for an amazing panorama of Shanghai. The special attraction of this "sightseeing needle" is that there is a glass ledge along the perimeter of the sphere. Walking on that ledge tests every bit of your fear of heights and your faith in construction! Madi, of course, had no problem going out onto the ledge. I, on the other hand, conveniently stayed off to take pictures most of the time. Madi wants the world to know, "Daddy was scared, and he's 44. I was fearless at 5 1/2!"

At the last minute, we decided to take a ferry ride to see the Shanghai lights last night. The kids took a long, late nap and Madi really wanted to see some lights. Our guide did not accompany us on this adventure, and boy was it an adventure. Thankfully the taxi driver dropped us very close to the port. The security guards, seeing that we were foreigners, kindly shuffled us to the front of the line and got our tickets for us. They were so accommodating. Thank goodness, because the masses were crazy. This was Madi's first experience with "forming a line" in China. There is no such thing as single file here! It was a bit of a melee and Madi was actually afraid. Many people approached us, speaking Chinese, and trying to communicate. We know they were curious and fascinated by our family dynamic. We also know they were being kind, but the attention still made Madi a little standoffish and self conscious.

Charlie is adjusting so well. He is attaching to us very quickly. We can see that he seems to be getting stronger everyday. He's still eating like a champ too.

We are now waiting for our official papers to arrive from the notary office. We will take a 4:45 flight to Guangzhou this afternoon for the last leg of our trip. We look forward to a change of scenery and a more tropical climate. We feel like Charlie is really going to like some warmer weather to prepare him for sunny Florida!

Wednesday

After breakfast yesterday, we ventured out to the Yuyuan Gardens. The grounds were full of really spectacular rock formations that made lots of amazing "secret passageways" for Madi to explore. She went crazy running around taking each of us with her one by one. She was able to get some much-needed exercise. The weather has finally cleared up and it was a beautiful day. Today is expected to be more of the same.

We attempted to put Charlie in the stroller yesterday, and it didn't work out very well. We starting to suspect that maybe a lot of his crying has to do with bonding and attachment, because once Jimmy picked him up from the stroller he stopped crying. Realizing this has been helpful for us when putting him down. At nap time, he cried for only about five minutes before he fell asleep. Last night, he cried again for only about five minutes. We believe (hope) his crying will wane once he understands that we are his forever family. Note to parents adopting babies from Shanghai--don't take a stroller here. The narrow passageways and rocky terrain make it really difficult to navigate, so we folded up the stroller and carried Charlie.

Last night, we took a taxi across town to a restaurant that is famous for serving Peking Duck. We had this in Beijing last year and consider it one of our "must haves" while back in China. It was every bit as good as we remembered--that crispy skin is so terribly unhealthy but so amazingly tasty! After dinner when we were 'settling up' and packing our things, Jimmy walked Charlie around the restaurant lobby. Madi came running in shouting, "Mommy, Charlie is standing!" Apparently, he stood on his own for about 15-20 seconds!

When we got back to the hotel, Jimmy and Madi took a stroll down Nanjing Road to look at the lights. Charlie and I stayed behind for some Mommy and son bonding time. I gave him a bath, baby body massage and we just played on the bed for about half an hour together.

Charlie slept in until 6:00 this morning, which is an hour past his usual wake up time in the orphanage. We figure all that exercise yesterday wore him out. We are heading out shortly to the Bund. We try to post again later. If not, we'll catch up tomorrow!

Tuesday night

So we were tested a bit last night at bedtime. Charlie was really over-tired since he woke from his nap early. We think his teeth are really bothering him and his belly was still off kilter. He really cried when we put him down. We let him cry for about five minutes (it felt more like twenty) while the three of us huddled on the bed in hopes that he would fall asleep as the orphanage reported. He didn't. It was heartbreaking. We prayed that he would fall asleep. The sound of a crying baby is like torture, isn't it? Jimmy and I decided to do what we knew was right in our hearts and pick him up. We gave him a small dose of Motrin for his teeth and Jimmy held him for a while. He ended up filling his diaper, which was obviously a major part of his discomfort. He finally calmed down and Jimmy put him back in the crib. He cried again, and we prayed again. We knew we had done everything possible to make him comfortable and that he just needed to fall asleep. After about ten minutes, he cried himself to sleep. Five minutes into the whole ordeal, Madi simply couldn't deal with hearing her little brother crying and fell sound asleep. From the time she was a baby, I swear that's her defense mechanism--just "shut it off".

Charlie woke at 5:00 this morning and our day started. We gave him a bottle and we all played together. We went to breakfast and I just managed to cut those tiny little daggers on his tiny little hands when we got back to the room. He's been great all morning, and we're hoping that today brings a little for normalcy for him. He's such a sweetie and seems to be bonding very well, bless his heart.

Officially a Murphy

Today's adoption proceedings were full of ceremony here in Shanghai--a much different experience than with Madi and Daniel due to Shanghai being a wealthy city. The Civil Affairs Offices and Notary are so much cleaner and more professional here. The people were all so kind and very gracious. We were out all morning taking care of business. At one point, our guide questioned something on the adoption decree and Madi, in a concerned voice, asked, "Are we going to be able to keep Charlie?" Once again, everyone raved about Madi's nurturing ways today.

Happy to report that Charlie got his first dose of Juice Plus today. Since he won't eat the gummies yet, we opened up a veggie capsule and put it in his formula. You knew it wouldn't take me long:) Tomorrow we'll introduce a fruit capsule. After he went down for his nap, Daddy treated Madi to McDonald's. I know, I know...McDonald's and Juice Plus shouldn't be in the same paragraph, but the reason Madi can have Mickey D's once in a while is because she takes her Juice Plus and eats great 99% of the time! Apparently, there were two elderly Chinese women who took a liking and curiosity to Jimmy and Madi. She couldn't speak English but was really kind and gave them her phone number. When they were looking for a seat in the jam-packed restaurant, the same woman waved them over to her table and invited them to sit down.

Charlie woke up crying from his nap. We are attributing it to two things: the introduction of beans and Juice Plus into his diet today (gas) and major teething. Once we calmed him down with some homeopathic teething tablets on his gums and let him pass some gas, he seemed much more content:)

We ventured out to the department store in search of new shoes, a sippy cup, and a teether. First of all, I could almost hear Grandma Pauline shouting down from Heaven about how every child needs a pair of good shoes for their feet. Of course, I heard her shouting this at 3:00 am last night, but I knew she was right. We found him a quality pair with good ankle support and narrow enough for his little feet. They have a little more breathing room than the shoes he was delivered with. We found a good transitional sippy cup with a silicone tip like a baby bottle. The popular canteen model that I brought along from home didn't work. He couldn't quite figure out how to get the water out.

We went to dinner at a Sichuan restaurant tonight and enjoyed a great meal. We have loved trying new things and settled on spicy bean curd (tofu) as our main dish. Tofu might sound gross to some, but you didn't see the other protein choices on the menu...

We are now "back to the ranch" relaxing together and winding down for the night. Until tomorrow...