Day 9

We are so happy to have our friends with us!  Everyones babies are so stinking cute!  We have 3 babies (2 boys and 1 girl, Kaiya, Max, and Justin), Haylie is 3, Paul is 3, and Michael will be 5 tomorrow.  We plan on having a little birthday party for him, it will likely be his very first one! (the babies are actually all around 12 months old)  It was so nice having breakfast with everyone today and getting to meet the kids.  Haylie was a hit with her pretty bows and many bracelets!

 
We did a little shopping this morning and we got Haylie the typical Chinese dress, it's so cute.  I hope to get a picture with all of the babies in their outfits before we leave.

It's just about 2pm right now, Haylie is napping and Sage went out to find some lunch.  I'm now watching Twister for about the 5th time this week!  I'm pretty close to being able to recite the entire movie ;)  I'll write more later......

10pm now, we're back in the room and Haylie has settled down enough to try and go to sleep.  We had a great day!  It's amazing the difference of being here alone vs having the company of our travel group.  It helped that Haylie also had a 100% good day! I really can't believe it, she's been amazing today!  Everyone loves her, especially her big grin!

We were lucky enough to meet up with some friends of ours that we met through the adoption process, The Dinklas.  How we got so lucky to travel at the exact same time, is beyond me. I mean seriously, the odds of that happening were slim to none!  I used to joke when I first saw her name on my facebook support group, "sure hope we don't travel together and they give us the wrong babies because they mix up our names!"  We had the pleasure of actually meeting them in person this summer at the Omaha Zoo, they also have 3 boys.  The Dinklas and the Dilkas took on Omaha together in 2013.  In 2014, we took on China together, and we came out with beautiful little girls! 

Later we joined back up with our group and went to dinner.  This was one of those places where you could pick out the exact fish or turtle (or whatever it may be) that you want for dinner, and 20 minutes later it shows up on your table.  Yuck.  We skipped the seafood portion and went for pork, oh, and pigeon (I opted not to taste that)....though I did try oysters (ok I guess there was a little seafood) and they were actually delicious!  Even Haylie was a fan!  Sage on the other hand didn't sample too much at dinner, claiming that he was still "full" from lunch...haha! 

After dinner we decided to leave the island and walk the river again.  It was so perfect!  This is obviously a popular place to spend your Saturday  night.  You could rent bikes or roller skates, there were vendors set up everywhere, carnival games, and even a monkey that would do tricks for tips!  The lights along the river were beautiful, and seeing the boats going up and down made the setting even more perfect.  Haylie loved every minute of it. 

Tomorrow everyone else will go get their medicals done, so we will lounge at the hotel for the morning.  Then we are heading out for a pizza lunch, then to tour a museum along with a pearl factory.

Oh, I was looking at all of my visitors to the blog over the last few days....we had 517 visitors on just one day! Seriously, you guys are amazing!

Day 8

Today was a big day!  Daddy got to hold Haylie! It was short, but it was sweet :-)

We had no place to be today so we chose to sleep in a little, had a great Skype with the boys, actually enjoyed breakfast, and then took off for a nice long walk.  We probably walked for about 2 hours, it was beautiful!  We walked off the island but stayed next to the river.  Gorgeous day for it, 70 degrees, sun was shining and it wasn't very crowded!  Beautiful photo opportunities! We plan on heading back to the path because everything is lit up along the river, can't wait to see it.

Haylie has had a fairly good day.  I'd say each day is about 70% amazing, and 30% not so much.  But we are cruising through the rough times and supporting each other through this tougher times.  I can honestly say I wouldn't have rathered anyone else be on this trip but Sage, he is definitely my rock and does such a good job of not judging me when I lose my cool!

Haylie decided to skip nap time today, so instead she got her fingernail painted and got to do a little coloring.  She loved having her nails done!  And she caught onto coloring like a pro!  She reminded me a lot of Riley, flipping through each page and coloring a little bit, then onto the next page to keep going, making sure to color each page!

Maddie, Haylie really likes the bracelet you made her!!!!!

We got her Chinese passport today as well, along with her birth certificate, which is really just some wording about when and where she was found.  We'll fill out visa paperwork tomorrow, visit the US Consulate on Monday, and fly home Wednesday.  So just 4 more full days here! YAY!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the rest of our travel group, their plane landed about an hour ago so they should get to the hotel before too much longer.  Hope you guys all enjoy your Friday!!!!

(Pictures from today)

(She is so smart!)

(Even Pooh got bracelets on!)

(This tree had Logan's name all over it!)

(the only church we've seen in China)

(Exercise spots!)

Day 7

The morning started off smooth, Haylie slept at least 11 hours! Halleluah!  We rushed down for breakfast so that we could get back up to skype the boys.  I ended up leaving Sage and Haylie so that I could chat with the boys and they could eat.  This could have turned into a disaster (remember Sage can't hold Haylie yet) but they both handled it great!  Shortly after we got picked up by our guide and we headed off to Haylie's medical examination.

Wow, the medical exam building was PACKED!  This is where everyone goes if they are about to immigrate to the USA.  We were lucky and got to skip the lines!  The medical staff there was so nice and patient!  They listened to her heart and lungs, an ENT checked out her ears, and then she had blood drawn for her TB test.  Baby girl did not love having her blood drawn.  It's tough because they don't allow parents to go in with the kids while their blood is drawn, I imagine that was pretty terrifying for her!  I was sad to see that she has lost a pound since the last update that I received on Christmas Eve, and she's eating like crazy since we've had her so I'm guessing her weight back on Monday was even less.  Poor thing....

After that we came back to the hotel and fed her some more rice & eggs with veggies, she loves this stuff...we think it's a tad bit gross.  Sage and I had some Lays potato chips for lunch, it's about all we can handle right now.  Thank goodness our original guide will be back tomorrow, I'm hoping he'll start ordering meals for us again! We sure have missed that! Most of what we order on our own is a fail.

(I love how she puts her baby on a pillow too! And notice all the bracelets on her wrist!)

This afternoon I had to wake Haylie up from her nap, she had already been sleeping for 3 1/2 hours!  I sure hope these good sleeping habits continue once we get back to the states!  We made a quick run to the grocery store to load up on snacks, then took a casual stroll around the island eating icecream cones, and back to the hotel for dinner.  Sage and I found some noodles in a cup at the store so we took a chance on them.  I think they were good, Sage said never again! lol

Smallest fork ever! 

I've got lots of pics to share of Haylie from today.  She is getting very good at imitating us.  She high fives and fist pumps, thumbs up, raises her eyebrows at Sage (which is hilarious to watch!), she can do the hang loose with her fingers, and whatever it's called...when the thumb goes on your nose and you wiggle your fingers...you know, like the stank fingers? haha, no really, I have no idea if there is even a name for it.  Too funny though!  Hopefully we'll get lucky and I can get a video to load tonight!

She's learning to love having a bath, and really loves getting lotioned up afterwards!  There's no denying she's a girly girl.  Loves her bracelets, her shoes, her bows, her baby doll, and doesn't like making a mess!  If she has food on her hands she always has to wipe her hands, like between every bite! ;)

The rest of or group arrives tomorrow, we are so excited!  Hopefully this will be the downhill slide and things will go smoothly and QUICKLY!  I can't wait to scoop up some boys, cuddle with the dogs, sit on comfortable furniture, sleep on a comfy bed, and eat delicious unhealthy American food!!!!  I told Sage the first American food I'm planning to eat once we land in Chicago is nachos!!!!!! ha ha, oh the irony of it all....

Enjoy your arctic weather today, it's gonna be 70 here.... until next time....

(More bath tub laundry)

(Lucy's looks cooler at night, and they play 80's music, they're on the top of my list just for that)

(People exercising near a playground)

(Dad posing because I made him, thanks for being a good sport babe!)

(Some fun statues....I've tried getting Haylie to stand in line with the kids, maybe next time)

(She can't stop staring at herself, I mean come on, when you're gorgeous you know it!)

(This is one of my favorites, she's giggling with daddy)

(Still hanging with her baby)

And this awesome video (if we're lucky). Check out her eyebrows....