Homecoming

We woke up nice and early in China, loaded up into a van, and headed off to Hong Kong. I was having more anxiety about the van ride than then plane (or so I thought at that point) only because there would be no bathroom for Haylie and no stopping along the way. She only cried once or twice, luckily the driver didn't even seem phased.  Getting through border patrol/customs into Hong Kong took forever!!!!! Eventually we made it! Hong Kong looks like it might be a beautiful place, lots of smog though so it was pretty hard to tell.  We were pretty excited to eat at a Popeyes in the airport! 

The flight: I wouldn't necessarily say that Haylie was a fan of the plane, but she could have been much worse than she was.  I did feel bad for the people sitting around us though, she got loud a few times. And sitting right infront of us was one of the families from our group that was bringing their 11 month old home.  Oh well, it was only 15hrs of their life! ;)

Landing in Chicago was a disaster. Haylie started crying in customs and cried all through waiting for our luggage. Customs didn't seem certain what to do with us, we got sent to the wrong place before being re-routed. Then we had to recheck our luggage, go through security (yet again!!!) and walk/run to our flight. Yep, I was the lady carrying a baby with tears streaming down my face through the Chicago airport. The thought of missing our flight was more than this emotional mama could handle!  We got lucky and got to our gate as they were beginning to load. Even more lucky that they were able to move our seats so that the 3 of us could sit together (this was a problem leaving Hong Kong as well, remind me to thank our travel agent for planning so well -not!).  So we made it to KC, our luggage didn't, but really who cares about that stuff right?!  

Me and my "twins". Hunter is taller and heavier than Haylie! I don't know how people carry a baby on each hip, I couldn't do it! Poor Hunter was sliding on down! 

There were many tears cried during our homecoming, I think they were all mine (and maybe my mom's) but I couldn't help it. My boys! My sweet boys!!!!    

Haylie did wonderful in the carseat. We had been worried because China does not have a carseat law, so she had never seen one before. 

We got home to pink balloons tied to the house and this awesome banner made by my sister with help from Riley. I love it, thank you Emily.

Our family all came by and ate some ribs and had some Welcome Home Haylie icecream cake. It was great to see everyone! Haylie did really well considering the craziness she had gone through in the past 24 hrs! 

Bedtime was sweet, I rocked my sweet Hunter to sleep (while I cried...notice the theme for the day?!). The big boys went to bed well, and then our challenge began. Haylie wanted nothing to do with her bed, her room, me. It was ugly, my tears and snot was ugly. The anxiety of the day just took over for both of us. Sage came to the rescue, bless his heart, and the two of them bonded through that disastrous night.  Even cuddled up with my 3 Bostons I did not sleep well. Maybe it was their gas? Maybe it was the 3am anxiety attacks? Or the strong feeling of home sickness, even though I was home already.....regardless, when I heard Hunter's sweet fuss over the monitor at 6:40am I was beyond excited!!!! And the huge smile I got when he realized it was me getting him up, melt my heart! 

Couple of waffles later, Logan is off to school, I sit with my cappucino (oh how I've missed you!!!) and give you the dirty truth about our trip home and first night here. Sage & Haylie are still asleep, I can hear Riley up getting dressed, I have Hunter by my side and dogs on my lap. 

Life is good....life is really good. 

Day 12

Hurray!!!! Today was our last FULL day! We have Haylie's Chinese passport along with her visa to come to the US. 

We didn't do much today, bought odds and ends for our nieces and nephew, and our boys of course. We have bought Haylie many little trinkets representing China and the province that she is from. Our plan is that on the anniversary of her Gotch Day we will give her a new item. We have enough to go up until she is 13.  Hopefully she'll appreciate these items and get a little enjoyment out of the tradition! 

So what has Haylie learned so far? She can say "hi" and "uh-oh". She waves hi and bye, blows kisses, is a pro at raising her eyebrows at people, and man can she strike a pose! We wanted a girl and girl is what we got! She still loves bows, bracelets, shoes, pretty clothes, and her baby doll. 

The above photo shoot was totally unplanned, no coaching, all her! :-)

We enjoyed dinner with our travel group tonight, we'll really miss everyone and their precious babies.  We've definitely built some life long friendships! 

We load up tomorrow at 6am to start our drive to Hong Kong (3hrs), we could use some prayers that Haylie does ok for that long without a bathroom! Potty has become our biggest hurdle over the last 3 days!  At 9:50pm Tuesday night (KS time) we will be taking off from Hong Kong heading to Chicago. Praying weather holds off so that we aren't delayed. I can't wait any longer to have my family together!!!!! 

We love you all and really cannot express our gratitude to everyone! To everyone to helped with our kids, those that left us encouraging comments, and those who have prayed for us (and still are!), THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Day 12

Hurray!!!! Today was our last FULL day! We have Haylie's Chinese passport along with her visa to come to the US. 

We didn't do much today, bought odds and ends for our nieces and nephew, and our boys of course. We have bought Haylie many little trinkets representing China and the province that she is from. Our plan is that on the anniversary of her Gotch Day we will give her a new item. We have enough to go up until she is 13.  Hopefully she'll appreciate these items and get a little enjoyment out of the tradition! 

So what has Haylie learned so far? She can say "hi" and "uh-oh". She waves hi and bye, blows kisses, is a pro at raising her eyebrows at people, and man can she strike a pose! We wanted a girl and girl is what we got! She still loves bows, bracelets, shoes, pretty clothes, and her baby doll. 

The above photo shoot was totally unplanned, no coaching, all her! :-)

We enjoyed dinner with our travel group tonight, we'll really miss everyone and their precious babies.  We've definitely built some life long friendships! 

We load up tomorrow at 6am to start our drive to Hong Kong (3hrs), we could use some prayers that Haylie does ok for that long without a bathroom! Potty has become our biggest hurdle over the last 3 days!  At 9:50pm Tuesday night (KS time) we will be taking off from Hong Kong heading to Chicago. Praying weather holds off so that we aren't delayed. I can't wait any longer to have my family together!!!!! 

We love you all and really cannot express our gratitude to everyone! To everyone to helped with our kids, those that left us encouraging comments, and those who have prayed for us (and still are!), THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Day 11

We started our morning off with our US Consulate appointment at 8:30. That was pretty painless. There were 12 families total, all adopting children. We swore an oath and then each family went individually to hand in paperwork and her passport. Tomorrow afternoon our guide will go back and get her passport and visa, that's the last piece of our journey! Just 2 more nights here and we'll start our journey home! On the way back to hotel Haylie actually let herself curl into me and relax. First for that!

We ate breakfast, skyped with the boys, and then head over to the market for more pull ups. The fun quickly ended. The start of all of our problems lately are that she needs to go potty. She is trying so hard not to have an accident! Since we can't communicate she immediately starts crying. Once she gets to a potty we're ok, but it's brutal until then. Here are some pics from the grocery store we've been going to.

When we got back to the hotel Sage helped Haylie take her shoes off, she was not pleased at all that he was doing that. Melt down!!!!! I finally just carried her into bed, layed with her and she cried herself to sleep. Sadly we haven't found anything to do that helps soothe her. So I just lay with her and try to provide comfort.

Each time I think to myself how much my world has been turned upside down, I remind myself how much HER world has been turned upside down. And also remind myself that she didn't ask for any of this, as far as she knew, her life was wonderful before us. Then I turn to my faith and what pulled us towards this journey, think of my boys and family at home, and turn to Sage. This to shall pass. 

We spent the afternoon at the Guangzhou Zoo with our travel group.  This was just an ok zoo, luckily it only cost $6 US dollars.  Haylie did ok during the zoo, main problem we had was her needing to use the potty, but refusing to use a squatty potty! (Not that I can blame her!)  She was very interested in all of the animals, was super cute and waved at all of them.  We were thankful that she didn't freak out, especially after yesterdays excursion and the cats!  

The zoo here had a game where kids climbed in the water and tried to catch fish. It was sort of funny, the parents have their kida bundled up in snowsuits even though it's 70° out but they're allowed to play in water? 

Sage even got to hold Haylie! I had walked away from them and she really wanted to see the giraffes! Seems like as long as she keeps her mind on something else then Sage is ok to hold her, but as soon as she realizes what is going on she starts screaming. I got some cute pictures today though! 

Notice Sage wore shorts, our guide had to poke fun at him. This weather here is warm! And when you add the humidity to it, it feels almost HOT! Sage just couldn't take it anymore! 😉

The hippos were very cool to watch!

It was a good day in all, 60/40 for us. Other kiddos are having a rough day too, maybe it's in the air? We just keep remindin ourselves, not only does she not know us, but she's a typical 2/3yr old. Anyone remember how much fun thise stages are? Lol We're making it though.

So tomorrow is our last day here in China! Yay! We have nothing on our agenda. Just planning on staying laid back, walking around the island, buying our last few trinkets, and packing up. Our van leaves on Wednesday morning at 5:30, so Tuesday at 3:30pm KS time.  I probably won't get to skype the boys that day because of the time difference, already sad about that.

Logan & Riley, we have more pictures of the zoo animals for you guys! Can't wait to get home and see all 3 of your faces! Which one of you can give me the biggest and longest hug?!?! Love you boys so much! (My dad sent me this pic Saturday morning, they went for pancakes with grandpa! Bed head and all! 😊)

Day 10

Another lazy morning for us, Haylie enjoyed another new outfit, and then sat and played with some toys.  Silly girl! When we skyped with the boys this morning she was playing peek-a-boo with them, she is picking up on things so quickly! 

We wandered down for breakfast and took a nice walk around the island. Sunday must be "shower/laundry" day. People were standing around in their underwear getting in and out of the river, and then lugging all of their laundry down too. People, this river is NOT clean! It stinks and has trash floating everywhere. There were also a lot of people singing, dancing, and practicing "kung fu". 

I love this statue, it's 3 generations of women, plus miss Haylie

Short nap, then we were waiting for our group to go through a market & off to dinner. Isn't she adorable?! 

The market was....interesting. Lots of herbs, star fish, snake skins, sea horses...

This went on for blocks, and it was jammed packed! Then suddenly we turned and it was all animals for sale. Fish, kittens, puppies, turtles, birds... sadly Haylie was terrified of the animals. I mean, screaming terrified. This makes me nervous as to how she'll react to our dogs! Hopefully with time she'll adjust well.

Someone was even blow drying their poodle!

Then we turned another corner and it was utter chaos. So many people, no thank you! That kind of living is not for me! Haylie didn't enjoy it much either.  Most of her problem though is she needed to go potty and the only thing available was a squatty. Pretty proud of myself, managed to hold her up over a squatty without getting pee on either of us! Score for mom! 

All of this walking led is to a jade market, which ended up being closed because of the upcoming Chinese New Year. So we kept moving onto a temple. It was pretty interesting to see. This one building had over 500 Buddah in it, each meaning something different. There were people there burning incense (sp?) and praying to the Buddahs. 

Then we walked onto a pearl factory, which was also closed! Guess on a positive note, we didn't spend money!!! We had dinner at Pizza Hut, baby girl ate TWO slices! 

Walking home was neat seeing how all of the stores light up. I'd love to go back at night to see it all, just not with any kids! 

We're back to the hotel now. Gonna head out to the patio with the other families to enjoy the gorgeous weather! 

Consulate Appointment is early tomorrow morning, this is where we apply for Haylie's visa. Getting so close!!!!!