There's truth in those recommendations

The adoption literature recommends that the few few weeks at home with your child be low key with no big parties or too many events lest you welcome sleep and attachment problems. I've seen the truth in that. Although Jack seemed to enjoy his trip to Hooters on Thursday night (Chris has the pics on his FB Photos) and a picnic and swimming yesterday (man, does he love swimming - he even went down a slide on his own several times), the past two nights his sleeping has been quite fitful with tossing and whimpering. I think Chris has been able to sleep through most of it though, thankfully!

Today we take our poop in to the doctor's office. I can't say that I will miss scooping the poop. And after all, there's always dog poop to scoop. Speaking of the dogs, Jack, Maxine, and Daisy have been getting along just fine. Jack isn't scared of the dogs, but he doesn't mess with them either (except to put pots in their water bowl and knock it over). He's reached out to touch them a few times, but without sustained interest. His lack of interest in the dogs seems to parallel his lack of interest in stuffed animals/toys.

We are establishing a routine, which other mothers have told me is the key to happiness: wake, stretch, get dressed, have breakfast, go for a walk with Daisy, playtime, lunch, play briefly in his bedroom, read a few books in our room, nap (his crib is in our room), then wake and snack. The after lunch routine is still being figured out, but dinner is to be served by 5:30 or else we have a bit-o-monster on our hands.

We love reading the comments that friends and family have posted on the blog! Thank you so very much!

Yay! Doctor!

Jack actually liked (read: tolerated very well) the doctor with the exception of the stethescope. Chris and I love the doctor. Dr. Mitchell has a sub-speciality in international adoption, and he reviewed Jack Yiyun's files when we first considered adopting him.

Jack is still weighing in at 22.4 lbs which is at a lower percentile than those for his height and noggin, so the doctor recommended that his drinks be Pediasure, and that we continue to feed him the regular food we've been giving him. The doctor also said to keep him greased up with cream to prevent the itching and scratching. As proud parents, we were delighted to hear Jack is at the top in terms of his developmental ranking compared to what he's seen for other children that were adopted.

His vaccination records showed he was pretty good on shots, so prior to getting the titration results, he only needed two shots and a PPD test; we'll return to the office on Saturday morning to have that test read and to bring in the poop. Yes, multiple samples of poop. Oh please, like we all haven't taken poop samples before - if not for our kid, or our self, then for our dog or cat, right? Don't lie.

Then we went off for a bunch-o-lab work; mainly gallons of blood plus some. The main point here is that Jack didn't fight it too hard and even though he wailed and cried, within 15 feet of leaving the lab room, he was smiling and waving goodby to the technicians.

Now mommy is smiling because it is nap time.

Goodness! Where does the time go?

With a toddler, apparently it goes to following them around the house, tickling, swinging, a very little bit of coloring, reading animal sound books, walks around the neighborhood and to parks, listening to chit chat and singing, feeding, feeding, changing diapers, and changing diapers.

We've been doing really wonderful. Jack is absolutely incredible and amazes us so very often with his words and actions: from dada, mama, more, please, cracker, bottle (ok, so maybe only mom and dad can fully understand what he's saying) to mimicking noises (mostly bodily and dog barking) and facial expressions (big smiles and squinting eyes) and sharing his food. He also amazes us with his appetite!

We went shopping the other morning for some smaller clothes for him - 12-month sized! I don't think it will be long until he isn't losing his 18-month-sized pants.

Chris and I are fairly tired, of course. And so, goodnight!

Home!!!

Gack! It is so hard to write when I can hear the little squirt in his playroom (formerly known as the living room), and I just want to go out and see what he's up to. Well, that and I want to sleep!

Jack's internal clock is not as easy to adjust as is ours. We were doing fine and dandy until he woke up at 4am yesterday morning and then at 1:30am this morning. Chris has taken care of him when he won't go back to sleep. Generally he has been falling asleep when we take him out in the stroller but at 1:30am today that did not work for Jack or me; it did work for Chris and him later at 6am though. Here's a picture of what Jack does in the wee hours while Chris digs out of the destruction area in the kitchen. In all fairness he does put the pots and pans back, and it gave me the opportunity to dust off that shelf.


We left the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou at 10am Thursday (10pm Wednesday in US). Here's Keri and Jack on one of the red couches in the hotel. They do not look too enthused about posing for a picture, do they? in reality we just miss a shot of their gleaming smiles.



Our flight to Beijing was delayed on the tarmac for nearly two hours, and when we arrived in Beijing, our flight to DC was delayed by two hours which meant we were not going to make our flight to Norfolk on 10pm Thursday (US). On the 13.5ish hour flight from Beijing to DC, Jack slept for four hours, and then again for a little over three hours. Other than that, he played, flirted with the young girls, ate, peed, and pooped. Now that's the way to travel! And the cost of the extra seat for him - WELL WORTH IT!

We breezed through immigration with Jack covering me in wet raspberries the entire time. Thankfully the officer didn't seem to mind and welcomed us home.

Because of the delays, the airlines gave us hotel and meal vouchers, and booked us first class on a Friday afternoon flight to Norfolk, but after seeing how many people were waiting for the shuttle bus for the hotel, Chris decided he was up for a 3 1/2 hour rental car drive home. Um, who are we supposed to call at 12:30am when trying to figure out how to get a child strapped into a car seat? Oh, never mind, we're safe. We arrived home around 3:30am Friday... that's 41 hours of travel if I can do the math. Divide that by 10 and that's probably the number of hours of sleep Chris and I -- combined -- got in those 41 hours.


Is it nap time yet? Here's what Jack is up to in the playroom:

New addition to the family is home

We made it home about 3:30am and Jack got to sleep about 6:00. I'm headed to return the rental car and Carol is trying to get some sleep as well. Thanks to the Lacher's for doing some shopping for us and the Marshall's for the welcome home decorations.
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Change of Plans

Rented a car and driving to Norfolk.
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Made it throught immigration

Jack is now a US citizen. We will be spending the night in DC. Home to
Norfolk tomorrow afternoon.
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We're here

In DC

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Spending the night in DC

Probably will not make our connecting flight to Norfolk.
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Flight dellays

The flight from Guangzhou was delayed, but no problem, the flight from Beijing is delayed as well. Let's hope the flight from DC to Norfolk is delayed too.
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For our 14-hr flight: what we expect and what we hope for

G'nite from China. We'll do our best to update in between flights tomorrow!

The last days in Guangzhou

More pictures!

 

1. Carol, aka Mommy, and Jack in the lobby of the White Swan hotel. This is a really nice hotel, and one can't help but smile at the families and children that stay here.

 

2. Jack eating his first french fry - he likes them!! There's not much he doesn't like to eat!

 

3. The family before getting on the bus to go to the US Consulate to be sworn in on the adoption information. There must have been about 60+ families there getting processed individually and then sworn in as a group.

 

4. Mommy and Jack on the Orange (vs infamous Red) Couch at the White Swan Hotel. This couch is in the playroom... it is a LOT of fun in there! Jacks shares very well with other kids. Today in the playroom he was running from side to side loudly screaming "Jack" (or so we think) when he reached each side.

 

So here we are at nap time again, and I've been doing some packing because in less than 24 hours we'll be on a plane headed to Beijing! Later this afternoon, we will swim and then Peter will bring us Jack's passport with his visa for the US enclosed. Jack will be automatically naturalized as a US citizen as soon as we land in DC on Thursday evening.

 

While I regret just a little bit not documenting the trip more, I have no regrets about focusing on our budding new family. The encouragement, love, and happy thoughts from all of you have meant more than you could ever imagine. We three thank you and are keeping all of what you've given us deep in our hearts to share with Jack every day.

New photo

I posted this to facebook, but it's too cute not to share with everyone.
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Little Swimmer

He loves it! And the beach ball, and beach toys, and Keri's pink innertube!

Some pics from Guangzhou, Day 2? 3? Sat eve and Sunday!!

Jack in his sailor overalls ready to take the evening Pearl River cruise and see all the bright lights.

 

Daddy and Jack and Cathy and Keri noting that a child under 1.2 meters tall is allowed on the cruise free with an adult.

 

Post-cruise happiness of Jack and Mommy. Mommy doesn't look tired, does she?

 

Jack eating a pear. He's sleeping with that orange right now. After the nap, we FINALLY get to go to the pool.

That was easy

He went down without a sound tonight - with the exception of three "fuffs". (Obviously Carol here w that delicate language.)

The evening cruise was really nice, and I got my first opportunity to change a poopy diaper in a public restroom. Wet diaper changing I've done in a park and an airport on my lap. He's such a good boy during changing... Throws his legs up and all!

Tomorrow morning Yue Xiu park and then FREE TIME! Pool! The hotel is really, really nice. A magnifying mirror in the bathroom has made me feel like a woman again. A day - hell, even 2 hours - at a spa and I would feel like a goddess, I suppose.

Goodnight from GZ, China!

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Now in Guangzhou, Day 1

Wow, so much to write, and I don't know where to start. Let's work BACKWARDS...

 

We are now in Guangzhou at the infamous White Swan Hotel. It is infamous because the US Consulate department for adoptions used to be just down the street so all the US parents would stay here, and by the looks of the dining room at breakfast today, they still do. Chinese children and their adoptive parents are everywhere! Guangzhou is on the southwest coast of China; the breeze seems to blow the smog out of town fairly well, or at least better than we experienced in Chengdu, Xi'an, and Beijing. Guangzhou is the "export quadrant" for China, and the architecture is different, more flashy. Tonight we will go for a dinner cruise on the Pearl River.

 

Jack is down for a nap and oh, the screaming, crying, and fighting he gave Mama! Although see the fun time with Mama pictures in this post. Chris had stepped out for a while before then because, let me say again, in no uncertain terms, Jack is bonding with Daddy first, and that can be exhausting (for both of us really). I read that a child will often bond with Daddy first, and obviously he can't bond with both of us at once. All in good time, all in good time.

 

This morning, Jack and Keri had their medical appointments: check out the naked baby, temperature, length, weight, eyes, ears, nose, many tears and that's done! The kids also had their visa pictures taken. Want to guess Jack's expression?? :(  After the medical, our facilitator, Peter, walked Cathy and me through filling out all the immigration forms while Jack let Daddy chase him around the lobby. Peter is the man to get things done. He will go to the embassy three times for us while we only have to go once. 

 

The two hour flight from Chengdu to Guangzhou went pretty well for the babes (see pic of Chris and Jack), and I am SURE the three hour flight to Beijing, then the 14 hour flight to DC, and the one hour flight to Norfolk will be the same. SURE. POSITIVE.

 

I feel like we didn't get nearly enough time to see Chengdu. Time has been flying by so quickly, and keeping our little boy happy and comfortable (see sleeping flag baby) has been our focus. Five days until we fly to the USA will undoubtedly go quickly, too.

 

I feel a little sad when I think of taking him out of his home country. I expect one day he will understand, and we will come back to see his incredible China.

So this is motherhood

Eating Jack's strawberry koala snacks in the bathroom while the boys sleep.
And that's after whispering over two glasses of wine in Cathy's room after she changed two poopy diapers in two hours.

Thanks for the supportive words on the last post! Chengdu is quite humid, and I hear Guangzhou will be even more so.

A few more koalas, and I'm off to bed!
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About the people you once cared about

Carol here.  Jack and I are back from the Panda Base. How was it, you ask? Look at the cute panda picture on this post. Now imagine seeing those cute pandas while being inside a glass dome over a giant vat of steaming water. And there you have it – Welcome to Chengdu! And Jack didn't have the least bit of interest in any stinking pandas; I'll be surprised if he ever plays with the small stuffed one he got today.

 

So where was Chris while we were at the Panda Base?? If I had to guess, he was either in the bed or in the bathroom. He's in the bed right now, and I swear he's rocking himself to sleep – a quickly formed habit from rocking Jack!

 

I guess I HAVE to post a LITTLE about Jack. It is 2:30 pm here in China, and the baby boy has finally fallen asleep enough to be sneakily laid in his crib – on try #3. He wants to be – and gets – put asleep while we pace with him with his head on our shoulder and arms clutched around us. It's been a long morning and a later than usual nap time for this tyke.

 

The fun stuff he's been doing today include: showing me how he can roll his tongue sideways, putting Cheerios on the lid before eating them, giggling when tickled, running to Mama, and playing with Keri Dong Rui. Sadly for Keri and Mama Cathy, Chris and Keri should probably be sharing a room together.

 

That's all for now!

DADDY'S Little Monster

Bonding schmonding. It's all about Daddy!

 

I think we have officially seen Daddy's Little Monster come out today, Day 3. After lunch (our leftovers and Daddy feeding Jack pictured in this post), Jack Yiyun could not get enough of running back and forth between Mommy and Daddy in the restaurant. The picture of Jack walking is super cute; too bad we can't upload video. The mess on the floor is Keri Dong Rui's; we describe her as a hoarder, and if she only knew what she had discarded while grabbing food to munch on and hold! She's absolutely adorable and only wants to be held by Mommy Cathy.

 

Then off to a park we went, Jack walking hand-in-hand with... yep... Daddy. Then back to the hotel to check out the 5th floor outdoor terrace and more running back and forth between Mommy and Daddy.

 

Bath time wasn't quite so bad tonight thanks to some rubber duckies from Keri Dong Rui and pre-bath splashing in the sink.

 

And then, for the grand finale, after the nighttime bottle was emptied, and Mommy laid Jack down on her chest to fall asleep -- oh lordy, the screaming and pushing away! That is, until Daddy came onto the bed, and Jack went to him. After about 10-15 minutes of being held on Daddy's shoulder being walked around the room, Jack fell asleep. Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. It's really quite sweet, of course, and I am happy Jack is finding comfort with us.

 

So now Daddy is rewarding himself with some room service pizza. And I applaud!

More on our Chengdu sweetie, Jack Yiyun: Day 3

Carol here. Uh yeah, we've been kind of busy being a new family and such, so sorry about slacking on the updates. Hah! Who am I kidding?! I'm not sorry at all; I'm enjoying our time together. But sorry we can not respond to all your e-mails.

 

The first 1 1/2 to 2 days Jack has been clinging to us, not wanting to be put down, and has fallen asleep on our chest before we cleverly (really carefully and slowly) sneak him into the crib for the night. Right now he is afternoon napping on the bed. I swear he sleeps with one eye open half the time, like he does not want to miss anything. Later in the afternoon yesterday and today, we started to see some signs of greater security, independence, and /or anger; he slapped Chris on the chest when Chris was holding him, he walked to Chris a few times (other than that, he hasn't walked although it is clear he can), he took bacon off the plate this morning, and for his nap, he would lie next to Chris to fall asleep, but not on top of him. All this is great to see and experience, as we are sure it has been an exhausting few days for the little man!

 

Jack is unofficially weighing in at about 20 lbs. Gee, I forgot to bring the tape measure so I don't know how tall he is. We went shopping for some shorts and tank tops for him today because even though we brought the smallest clothes we had from home, some are still too small. I would guess he is wearing 12-18 month size clothes and will quickly outgrow the 12-month sizes -- especially given the chow he's been getting from us.

 

Speaking of chow, We are loving the Chinese food here. OK, so Chris needed to break out for a burger last night, but other than that, it has been veggies, meats, noodles, rice Chinese-style. The breakfast buffet does have some Western food, but it could all be Chinese as far as I know - well, maybe not the croissants. And you know what follows chow...

 

Poop. I woke Chris and Jack up just after 5am to change a poopy diaper... a big one...one that couldn't quite be contained... almost, but not quite. A second pair of pajamas were bought this morning, too. And what follows a mess is a quick bath. He is not thrilled to be in the bath, despite one of us being in there with him.

 

The pictures are:

1. Cathy and her little smiling girl, Keri Dong Rui. This little peanut is a ham! Cathy's got her hands full and is super capable!

2. Us waiting to catch a cab after quick bargain shopping for clothes this morning. Jack loves his Daddy!

3. The Ezzelles (us!) shortly after getting Jack Yiyun. We are at the orphanage in this picture.

4. The three new mommies and their babies at the orphanage. The other couple is from Pittsburgh, and we will all be in the infamous-for adoptive-parents White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou Friday night - Thursday.

5. Family photo at the Civil Affairs office here in Chengdu. We expect to get Jack Yiyun's passport tomorrow.

 

Panda base tomorrow morning, and on Friday eve we fly to Guangzhou. I am guessing it is somewhere around a two-hour flight. It will be Jack's first airplane ride... I think it will all go well.

 

Our son is so wonderful!!!! It is hard to believe it is only day three!

 

 

Our first night and early morning

Carol here... Right now Chris has his arm over the crib and is holding and stroking Jack Yiyun's hand as he slowly falls back to sleep. Jack Yiyun's schedule has been to have a bottle of formula at 6am and then fall back asleep for about an hour. Around 5:30am we heard him making sucking sounds, and when we turned him on his back and removed his fingers from his mouth, he immediately grabbed the bottle and started sucking it down. His ritual of falling asleep is for his eyes to get heavy, and he then fights the sleep, opening his eyes as soon as they close to search for our faces. His eyes stay closed 2 seconds, then 5 seconds, then 10 seconds, and after about 10-15 minutes, he is fully sleeping.

 

Yiyun slept through the night very well. He did go to bed a little late last night - around 10pm - because of a late nap. How we slept through the night is a different story! The crib is on Chris's side of the bed, and he was continually waking to look at Jack, and he slept nearly the whole night facing Jack. And me, well let's just say I missed my sleepy time meds.

 

It is so sweet to watch Chris with Jack Yiyun. The way he strokes him, smiles at him, jokes with him, and simply adores him.

OUR FIRST HOURS WITH JACK YIYUN

We are finally back in the hotel room.  It's almost 5:00pm.  Yiyun and Dong Rui(Cathy's daughter) cried when they walked in the room, probably because of our excitement.  But, it didn't last long and we took them into our arms with the help of cheerios.  After some paperwork and information gathering at the orphanage we were driven to the street where Yiyun was found as a baby.  Although we didn't know the intersection, the street was a busy street with a lot of nice shops.  After a short stop at the hotel for a quick diaper change we headed out for a late lunch.  Jack Yiyun proved that he has a healthy appetite.  We fed him of noodles, rice, pork, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, chicken, cabbage and bread.  The restaurant was empty, but we did have an audience; the entire wait staff sat a few tables away and watched us all very closely.

 

More about Yiyun.  First of all, he has not let us put him down.  He's happy being held by both of us.  He wraps his body around us and holds on tight when we carry him.  He has looked through photo albums and pointed at the puppies(Max and Daisy).  We were told at the orphanage that he was very active and talkative, but he hasn't shown that side to us yet.  He's still taking us and his new surroundings all in.  He just fell asleep in Carol's arms, so we are going to try putting him in crib here in the room.  Well, that didn't work.  He's wide awake once again.  We can't let him go.  We'll go for now.  More later.

Finding place

We are headed to where Yiyun was found. There will be a lot more photos in a few hours.
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Happy Family

Here is this first photo of the new addition to our family. We will send more later today.
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We are almost at orphanage

And we will get him right away!!!

Ok, so we still have 1/2 hour to orphanage cuz of traffic.

We are having a ball in the van w Cathy and Lisa!

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Woot woot! Diaper bag packed!

We are ready for bed now that the diaper bag is packed and ready to go tomorrow at 9am! We hear the orphanage is about 30 min away from our hotel (Sheraton Chengdu-VERY nice). Our friend Cathy and her friend Lisa (who we met years ago in a Mandarin class in Arlington [SMALL world]) are here and psyched, too.

Oh yeah, we had an awesome last day in Xi'an seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors, and the flight here to Chengdu was only a little over an hour long. Sorry, we are not posting any pics tonight... and my guess is that y'all will be wanting to see pics of something/one else tomorrow and not the warriors!
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Xi'an Day 1

Just a few pics to post quickly before we head out for day 2 in Xi'an: Shaanxi Museum and Terra Cotta Warriors. Our flight to Chengdu leaves around 5pm tonight... tomorrow we will have our son!!!

 

1. The ancient wall surrounding Xi'an. Buildings inside the wall are restricted in height.

2. Chris's "hamburger" goes untouched at lunch.

3. C & C at the Wild Goose Pagoda (Buddhist temple).

4. Dumplings for dinner!!

Pictures from Day 2 in Beijing

More pictures! (Assuming the last upload of pictures made it onto the blog [which we can not access from China].) Let's see if I can describe these photos in the order I think they will show on the page...

 

1. C & C standing in front of the Forbidden City paying respect to the late Chairman Mao. We are looking towards Tian'anmen Square, the largest square in the world.

 

2. C & C standing in front of the "lovers tree" in the Imperial Garden within the Forbidden City. While the Imperial Garden pales in comparison to the size and beauty of the Summer Palace, it does have a LOT of charm.

 

3. Before getting a rickshaw ride through the hutongs; our driver in the picture was excellent in getting us through the narrow alleys. Afterwards, we had lunch in a local home in the hutongs.

 

4. Dinner on our last night in Beijing: Roast Peking duck (eaten rolled in a pancake with scallions, cukes, and hoisin sauce), chicken and eggplant, and sauteed cabbage (yummmmmm). A few more dishes were delivered to our table as we finished eating all we could fit in our bellies and, like good guests, we started eating them. It turned out they were for the table next to us and the waitress who delivered the food to our table got the stink eye from the lead waitress as she took the food off our table.

 

5. Welcome to Xi'an! Here's what we saw as we exited the train station in Xi'an. People everywhere! And Xi'an only has a mere 7 million people compared to 16 million in Beijing. You can see the city wall that surrounds the city to keep the rebels out.

 

Btw, Chris and I just had a one hour massage in our hotel room... there were giggles from being tickled coupled with silence from the sheer enjoyment.