day 10

Well today was a doozie!

We woke up today, Lilly slept later than usual - we noticed that her one ear was all red and irritated - had to call our facilitator -- who called the clinic we were at over the weekend for her "check up" for the adoption -- yeah, as it turns out she had an ear infection -- well, they actually are saying that she had a boil in her ear. So the clinic felt bad I guess that they didn't follow protocol and address this on Sat, so they saw her today (quickly) and gave us antibiotics -- both orally and for her ear.

So then we headed over with 3 other families to the local markets. This was an interesting visit -- they say that the local people will eat anything that flies in the air, except an airplane, and anything that has 4 legs except a table. We definitely saw evidence of this at the market -- everything from scorpians to snakes to frogs to spiders. First we saw all these things alive as we were walking, then we went to the restaurant street I think she called it, and a couple of people in our group actually ate some scorpians on a stick. They said that they tasted crunchy - kinda like grilled chicken skin. We didn't really even think about trying it.

So we actually ate at an "Italian" restaurant -- we ordered too much pizza (I think the familiarity of it enticed us -- well, as it turns out there is no sauce on this pizza. Also there is tons more cheese than I have ever had on a pizza. And lots of greese. Although it was relatively cheap, it was disapointing.

So we came back to the hotel and Lilly took a nap.

We went out to eat with the 2 other families that we were with in Beijing -- it's crazy, but all 7 adults and 2 children had a very satisfying meal for about $50 US dollars!!

Hope you all enjoy the pictures!!!! (only 5 days left till we are home!!!)

Day 9

So, today was just a day to wander around the city -- we took a tour of the "Folk Art Museum" - I included some pictures of the artwork that is actually part of the building. It was a neat tour -- but it was raining most of the day, so it wasn't all that fun with Lilly, and our bags, then we purchased things and had an umbrella and it was just a mess. Sorry but, there are no pics of Lilly today, not sure why that is, other than the rain.

The picture of the waterfall is actually in the middle of our hotel -- cool huh?

Lilly actually was pretty upset when we put her down for bedtime tonight, I hope it was just a fluke thing and doesn't become a habit.

So I here there was another blizzard back home -- more than 18 inches of snow fell!!! That's crazy -- like I said earlier - it was raining here today -- temps in the upper 60's. It's a pleasant change from the subfreezing temps we've had since we arrived in China.

Well we're off to sleep -- tomorrow we get to do more sightseeing -- hopefully it will not be raining and I can take more pictures - I'll be sure to get some of Lilly so you all can share in the joy we are experiencing. Just about 5 days left till we get to come home!!!! We are at the point of tears with missing Tristan. This is just way too long to be away. (We miss everyone else too!)

Day 8

Sorry about the lack of updates, my last e-mail apparently didn't go through - came back that connection was lost. Sooo...

Yesterday was busy, we flew from Nanjing to Guangzhou -- we arived around 6pm or so, we were told that the facilitator would meet us at the airport, but actually the hotel shuttle was there waiting for us. It turns out that the shuttle picked up one of the other members of our original group up in Beijing, so that was exciting.

We met our facilitator -- Helen (not the person it was supposed to be) back at the hotel and she helped us check in - then (and this is close to 8pm) she took us for a walk locally to let us know where to get some food and water (as you can't drink the water out of the tap -- not even to brush your teeth). There is actually a Subway nearby, so that was a refreshing and quick dinner -- though they use bread and butter pickels instead of dill -- actually kinda gross, but familiar nonetheless.

Today we took Lilly to have her medical exam. At the clinic. Scary place -- we waited for long periods of time, we had to see 3 separate people (someone to weigh her (24 pounds!) someone to look at her ears and throat and a doctor to "examine" her. -- each interaction took less than 3 minutes, they pretty much couldn't really speak English, and so they didn't really tell us much -- then we had to wait for her injections -- she needed 6 vaccines. -- one at a time, they drew some of them up as they were administering -- one in one leg, one in one arm, 2 in the next arm, 2 in the next leg -- seemed like this was hours long -- Lilly was so upset it was not cool. But 5 minutes later she had her lunch (still only drinks from a bottle - won't let us put a spoon anywhere near her mouth) and she was all good. Gave her some tylenol later this evening before bed, but she still seems to be fine and is sleeping away -- she is a trooper!

Nothing much else happened today, did some paperwork, went out to dinner with the whole group of 5 families from the adoption agency...

Tomorrow we do some more shopping and sightseeing (and we will probably be buying a stoller!)
Hopefully I'll have another update tomorrow (although Ashley and the rest of the family will hopefully be heading to Disney sometime Sunday -- so there may be another delay)

Day 7

So today we went to the museum here in Nanjing -- it was
> pretty neat, it's cool to see artifacts from thousands of
> years ago. We did take some pictures there, but
> nothing that looks all that cool. This was about a
> couple of hours, then we came back to the hotel.
>
> We fed Lilly, she took a nap and we ordered take out --
> there is this really neat noodle place in the hotel, the
> waiters there practically know me by name at this
> point. Its really good food and you can't beat the
> price (I think we spent about 4 US dollars for a lunch that
> Alicia and I couldn't finish - and it tastes awesome.)
>
> So then after Lilly woke, we went walking around the hotel
> area, there is this street that is kinda like an outdoor
> mall -- after about 1-2 blocks it leads to this open area
> with more shopping and an entrance to a Confucious temple -
> which was all decked out in celebration of the Chinese new
> year.
>
> Also we took pictures of the hotel lobby -- there is a cool
> fountain in the lobby and they have mandarin orange potted
> trees everywhere. It's a really cool hotel.
>
> Tomorrow we go to the airport to fly to Guangzhou and we'll
> be staying at the White Swan. Most likely I will not be
> posting any thing till the next day. Lilly has been so
> great, hopefully this will continue!!! She has been
> eating well and doesn't really fuss at all. We'll see how
> the 2 hour plane ride goes! (hoepfully well because
> next week we travel a total of about 19 hours between Fri
> night and Sat.

Day 6

So today we drove 2.5 hours each way to Huai'an City to see the orphanage where Lilly spent her first 14 months of her life. As you can see in the photo's Lilly learned to make a new face while driving in the bus today. She is pretty awesome! She slept most of the trip (both ways). When we arived we were given a great welcome. The orphanage directer and assistant director, one of Lilly's nannies and as it turns out, a reporter too. They made a sign which we are told says Welcome Home Li Le. After we took pictures, they took the sign down and gave it to us as a momento.

They then took us out to a very fancy lunch. It was a little intimidating having the reporters ask us questions, even at lunch. So... try answering questions, handling a baby and eating with chop sticks all at the same time. Oh yeah, and not sure if I mentioned this earlier but, when you go out to eat at a Chinese restaurant, typically it is a round table with a large lazy susan type thing in the middle of the table. The waitress puts food on this spinny thing and then they spin it around and everybody takes their turns using their own chopsticks eating off of all the plates on this spinny thing. -- picture going out to eat, eating a little of your steak, then handing your plate to the person sitting next to you, they then eat a peice of your steak and hand it to the next person, eventually it comes back around and you continue eating your steak. It is definitely something that you have to get over -- especially when the Orphanage director invites
you to a fancy dinner! It was very good we spent a few days in Beijing practicing using chopsticks and learning all this etiquite

It was a fun day!

Day 5

So today was another great day! Today we went to the same office as yesterday, just to sign paperwork to say that Lilly is officially a Vogt. This took about an hour -- afterwards we went to a "grocery store" - it was actaully a Carefore -- I think there was one of these back in Philly by the Franklin Mills Mall many years ago. It is a store that is sort of a mall, think of a Super Wallmart, only twice the super. Thank goodness Nancy our guide was with us as it is very different shopping in China, for one thing, even though the Large name on the baby formula says Nestle, or Similac - you can't read anything else except for the numbers. Also, there is an isle with all the baby formula with like 4 employees hanging around making sure you just take a ticket, then you go pay for what you want, then come back with your receipt to pick up the item.

At any rate, we managed to get what we needed.

We spent most of the day in the hotel, Lilly took a long nap this afternoon.

We went to a Mall after she woke, this was on our own - the mall is about a city block away. It was actually very adventurous as the streets are extremely dangerous to navigate - not to mention, this is a local mall -- not set up for "foreigners" - and thus everything is in Chinese. It was interesting to say the least. Then we went to a Hagen Das -- kind a neat -- we can both eat an entire Chinese meal for less than 5 US dollars, but to get one Hagen Das ice cream -- about 11 dollars.

So, Lilly is now sleeping -- she is such a good sleeper. She puts her self to sleep in minutes, we are 5 feet away with the TV on and she is sleeping away. So far, so good. We only pray that it will always been this good.

Thanks for following along -- tomorrow we head about 2.5 hours out to Lilly's orphanage to see where she spent the past 14 months!

Day 4

GOTCHA DAY!!!!

Well we now have a new addition to our family!! And she is precious! We went with Nancy our guide to the Civil Affairs Office today, around 1030 and we met Lilly for the first time. Her nanny, the orphanage director and 2 other people were there. They handed Lilly over to us and she just stared -- she looked both of us straight in the eyes and had a look on her face like "what/who are you?" -- but all was well - no crying (well, except for Alicia). Lilly's nanny really seemed concerned for her, which is a very good thing. I think that would be the hardest job in the world.

We brought her back to our room and she played with us. At this point she still can't stand or walk, but honestly the amount of clothes she was bundled in, there would be no way she could have stood anyway. In Chinese culture they believe in many layers of clothing for infants/todlers. Lilly couldn't really even put her hands together until we got her home and changed her outfit.

So she is just beautiful/wonderful/amazing -- she didn't cry at all the entire time we've had her so far. She hasn't been eating as much as they said she typically eats and she does have a little cold, but other than that she is perfect. She went down for a 2 hour nap this afternoon and went to bed tonight with no problems. Everything has been so smooth sailing so far that we are worried about this evening -- it can't be this good. Hopefully she sleeps thru the night!

Well in the morning we need to meet with Nancy who will take us over to have things finalized here in her Province. This appointment is pretty early, so, look for tomorrow's update, I'm sure there will be more pics!!!!