First Haircut

Look how cute Brandon looks after his first haircut home in Virginia!!! He looks like a new man.

Feels Good to be Home

Well, after the longest day of our lives we are finally home. It felt so great to sleep in our own SOFT bed last night. The beds in China were incredibly hard, so it almost felt like we were sleeping on marshmallows last night. We had a tough time with our travel between the 15 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago. Then we had to go through Immigration and wait for nearly an hour to have Brandon's paperwork processed before we could RUN to our next flight that left for Norfolk. After boarding the plane in Chicago and barely making that flight, the plane was overweight and they had to pick off 5 people from the plane. No one volunteered because a snow storm was heading through so they actually had to come through the cabin and point at people to leave. I told Adam if they come over to us I'll just start crying because at that point, we were so tired and so OVER IT!!!! Then after they took the people off the plane, the plane had to be de-iced. Long story short, that flight was 2 hours late leaving Chicago. My cell phone had a dead battery and Adam checked his cell phone in one of our suitcases, so we weren't able to call our family and tell them about the delay. We finally go into Norfolk, and after waiting for our carry on bags and the stroller and a quick diaper change, we were greeted by a large group of family and friends anxiously awaiting with balloons, signs, and hugs. What a great end to a taxing day.

Busy Day

We have had such a busy day and it's not over yet, so no pictures today...just a quick note on what we've been up to.  I had to go to an "Exit Meeting" to find out what we need to do in order to leave the country.  Tomorrow we take a train to Hong Kong and then spend one night there before leaving from the Hong Kong Airport headed for Chicago and then on to Norfolk on Friday.  Then after the meeting was over, we had a quick sandwich at Subway and then headed for a long bus ride to the United States Consulate to sign additional paper work and take an oath that we promise to be good parents, etc.  This evening we are going on a dinner cruise with other families from our adoption agency along the Pearl River that runs along side our hotel and around the city.  We are getting ready to leave now, but of course the only day it's rained since we have been in Guangzhou and it started about an hour ago.  We think we'll do fine tonight because it's just a drizzle, but we'll make the best of it.  Not sure if I'll be able to post tomorrow because we have a busy day with our departure here and then arrival in Guangzhou.  I'll try!  If not, we'll be back in Norfolk at 4:52 on Friday, February 5th.  I'll post more once we are settled at home and get some much needed rest!

Yuntai Garden

Our travel group went to a beautiful place today in Guangzhou called "Yuntai Gardens."  It was a great place to get away from the bustle of the city and relax.  The flowers were absolutely gorgeous and they had lovely areas to stop and rest near small waterfalls and ponds.  There was an area for the children to play with statues from famous cartoons like Kung fu Panda, Spiderman, Hello Kitty, the Incredibles, and Mario Brothers.  There was even an area for Adam to stop and play basketball for a moment.  As you can tell, it is warm out today since Adam and I are wearing our shorts.  We are so glad we saved our one pair for this outting because it honestly felt like summer here.  The temperatures were in the 80's today.  There are many families that only packed jeans and they were sweating at the gardens.  The local Chinese people are bundled in coats and jackets and look at us as if we are crazy. 

We are enjoying our time here in Guangzhou, China, but we are anxiously looking forward to returning home.  There are many things we enjoy here, and there are many things that are not so pleasant.  We miss our dogs and our families and can't wait to get Brandon home to start getting comfortable in his new surroundings.

Family Pictures

Along with the Red Couch Pictures of all the children, they took a large group shot of everyone travelling in our group.  There are 22 children being adopted, but there are 67 people travelling together with our adoption agency.  There is a beautiful waterfall in the lobby of the hotel which served as the backdrop to our group photo.  If you are trying to spot us, we are sitting right where it appears the water from the waterfall is pouring on Adam's head.  After the group picture, another family offered to take our family picture.  Can you tell we are crazy about our little guy?

Red Couch Pictures

My little man suited up in his festive Chinese outfit to join the other families in our travel group for a traditional "Red Couch Picture."  At the hotel we are staying at, the White Swan, there are beautiful red couches all over the lobby and each adoptive family that passes through here has their child's picture taken on the red couch.  There are 22 children in our travel group and of course, they couldn't all fit on one couch.  Brandon looked very handsome of course and I thought I'd share a few pictures from our special time here...notice the traditional Chinese footwear!

Fun in the Room

After dinner last night we went walking through a park that had red lanterns hanging from the trees.  There was a great breeze, around 70 degrees outside.  Brandon had a great chance to run and have fun and look at the flowers and the Pearl River next to our hotel.  On a positive note, there was a lady that had a golden retriever with her at dinner (we sit outside at a little cafe to eat many of our meals) and Brandon tried to go over to the dog.  This dog was about the same size as Baxter and Cooper, so it makes me think that he'll do well at our house once we get home.

Last night we had us a big time playing in our hotel room and I thought I'd share a picture from that.  Brandon loves to sit on Adam's back when he does push ups.  He holds on like he's on a horse and just giggles the entire time.  I took some hilarious video of this too so you can hear him giggling.  This kid is funny!  He's going to fit in great with our family.

Doctor's Visit

It's been a tough day for us and Mama Bear is not very happy with the Chinese Government today.  In accordance with the new adoption agreement that the US has with China, they now require the children to get anywhere from 4-8 immunization before leaving the country.  My sweet little boy had to sit in a chair this morning and be stuck with 7 needles while he screamed and cried...it was terrible.  He has already had immunizations while in the orphanage and we knew that he would need to get some, but when they told us 7 shots, I immediately started crying because I knew how terrible it was going to be.  The first part of the visit was fine because Brandon had to be weighed, measured, temperature, doctor check - up, and then have a look from the ENT doctor....which was all routine.  But we had to sit and wait for well over an hour for the shots and then had to sit in the VERY crowded office for 30 minutes after the immunizations because they wanted to see if there were any reactions from any of the babies in the group.  We wound up being there just under 3 hours.  By the end of it, several of the parents and ALL of the children were in tears.  Many of the parents were discussing that something needs to be done to change this new policy because it is just ridiculous!  After leaving the vaccination room, you would have hardly even known that Brandon had endured any of it....he was fine once he got his clothes back on and had his sippy cup!  My boy is a trooper--his mother is still working on it!