January 20~ Adoption Day

Ephraim slept like a champ!  Last night he cried for about 2 minutes, then remembered he had perfectly good fingers to suck on, and fell asleep almost instantly.  He was unimpressed to see us still here this morning.  He ate lots of congee and noodles for breakfast, and then it was back to the Civil Affairs office for our interviews.  They were very simple and short, and both were essentially the same.  Basically how long we’d been married, why we wanted to adopt, how many other kids we have, do you promise not to abandon or abuse him, and sign here.  I guess we passed.  They’re gonna let us keep him!  J

Then back for lunch and nap, and nothing scheduled to do again until tomorrow afternoon, when we apply for his passport.  He still does not like John at all, and really only seems to tolerate me.  He spends a lot of time crawling around and playing on the floor, loves to put anything he can carry into the trash, and stands up by the furniture and then gets mad because he can’t get back down.  He’ll sit on my lap, and sometimes is happy there and sometimes not so much.  He’s this very strange combination of stiff and floppy.  He can support himself (as evidenced by the fact that he can sit unassisted, crawl, and pull himself up next to furniture) but often chooses not to.  He’ll be on your lap and just kind of flop over to the side or forward.  It’s a bit unpredictable.  Does he want to sit like that, or is he expecting me to support his body for him?  One just never knows these things. 

He has the most pitiful little cry, but doesn’t cry that often.  He has a cute little giggle, and the biggest dimples when he smiles, but as soon as I get my camera pointed in his general direction life suddenly becomes very unfunny.

I think we might finally be getting adjusted to China time. Ish?  I was up at 230 and wide awake.  I laid there for a while trying to convince my body to sleep and finally got up and played on the computer for a while and then laid back down around 5 and slept til 715 or so.  But currently it’s mid-afternoon, and I am feeling relatively awake.  We’ll see how the evening goes. 

Interview #1

Dimples!

This is Baoqiang Wang (the movie star I keep hearing about).  See a resemblance? 

(photo off bing images)

He's the cutest. 

January 19~ Gotcha Day

Our meeting at Civil Affairs to pick up Ephraim was at 230pm.  So we attempted to sleep in (we made it til 3am!) and then to breakfast around 7.  We hung around again, took a nap, went walking around, and did generally nothing much until 2, when we met in the lobby and headed to the Civil Affairs office. 

It was kind of a weird experience.  It was just a big room filled with many families who were waiting for their kids, or had just gotten them.  Lots of dazed and crying babies and happy families, and just kind of semi-organized chaos everywhere.  They have the babies all in this back room with a curtain, and they lead them out one by one, and you just stand there and wait for it to be your turn.  I’d glimpsed Ephraim walk by when they took him back to the room.  He was all bundled up in a snowsuit and cute as a button.

So they brought him out to us, and he kind of just looked confused.  He didn’t really cry, but just sat there and whimpered occasionally.  He ate some baby yogurt bites if I fed him, but wouldn’t take anything in his hands, or feed himself, or do anything really.  Just kind of sat there being kind of floppy and looked around and wondered what the heck was going on.  He doesn’t seem to like John much.  And isn’t a huge fan of being held.  Maybe it’s just beause he doesn’t know me.  He plays well by himself, and once he had the room to explore, he’d play in the suitcase, checking out the diapers and bottles and everything, and he’d toss stuff around and giggle.  He crawls well, and pulls himself up next to furniture, but doesn’t walk.  He babbles, but the nannies said he’s not really a talker either. Alert and aware of what’s going on, and understands everything, but just doesn’t say much.  If you try to stand him up, he pulls his feet up.  In his own time, I guess.

Anyway. So we got to ask the nannies some questions.  Seems like he gets up around 6, naps after lunch.  Takes a bath in the afternoon, and goes to bed at 9. Takes one bottle at bedtime, and eats meals mostly of rice and congee.  I don’t know what congee is, but apparently it’s something mostly made of rice.  So… a rice-only diet.  Perfect.  No wonder he's tiny.  Kid needs some meat and vegetables!

Oh and the funniest thing was when I asked the nannies what they called him.  Apparently they all agreed that he looked like that movie star, because they all call him that name.  Regularly enough, in fact, that he doesn’t respond to his given name.  Only to his movie star name.  lol.  Awesome. 

Cutest kid since... my other kids.  :)

with his orphanage director lady at Gotcha Day

Today.

So yesterday we spent wandering around the area.  There are lots of restaurants around, and shops.  It's safe enough to just wander, and we went out to supper on our own.  We chose the Irish restaurant.  Turns out the Irish eat pretty much the same stuff we do.  Huh.
Then we were exhausted and John fell asleep at 7.  I went to bed at 8.  We were both awake around 1, but kept dozing off til 630.  This 13 hour time change is pretty brutal.

Today is the day!  Hooray!  Less than 8 hours, and I'll have my sweet babe!
We need to pack the diaper bag and get some money changed and eat some breakfast here this morning, but there is nothing planned til we meet at 4 to head to the Civil Affairs office.  Praying for his sweet heart, about to get his life all turned upside down.

We made it!

So we made it through Toronto smoothly, and on to Beijing.  (Which at 14 hours was officially the longest single flight I've ever been on!)  We unfortunately left late, which meant we landed late, and since in Beijing we had to clear customs, wait for our luggage, then wait for a shuttle to a different terminal, then wander around trying to find the spot domestic departures... By this point, we had missed our connecting flight.  And then after much ado and a few international phone calls, we were very thankfully rebooked on a later flight. Then we still had to re-check in, recheck our luggage, re-clear security (They are serious about security in Beinjing- They sniffed each liquid in my baggie and everyone got a thorough metal-wanding and pat-down, reminiscent of Amsterdam circa 2010) and finally to our gate.

We landed in Guangzhou without further incident and got our luggage, and then met our agency contact, and drove 30 or so minutes to our hotel (which is freakishly gorgeous, btw) and checked in around 230am local time.  Then we slept.  In a bed.  And it was wonderful.  

Now it's almost 8, and we've both been up for a while already.  We have nothing in particular planned for today, but will be getting Ephraim tomorrow afternoon at 230pm local time.  Our guide, Simon, told us that he met our baby last time he was at that orphanage.  Simon says Ephraim looks just like a famous Chinese movie star.  Someone called Wang Bao Qiang.  So maybe you can google him.  :)

Away We Go.

We've made it to Canada!  A few hours from now we'll take off on our loooooong flight to Beijing, and then on to Guangzhou.

We dropped off some pretty excited kids last night at Grandma's house.  They are under the impression there will be much candy-eating and tv watching going on, and they asked to stay for 99 days.  Guess we'll see what Grandma has planned for them.  :)

Also, just for my own memory, a couple days ago I was talking to Eli about how he was going to be staying at Grandma's house for a little while, and reminding him that he needs to use his inside voice, and not run in the house, and obey if Grandma asks you to do something, and always flush and wash your hands.  Apparently he was ok with the rest of those instructions, but the "flush and wash" portion really pushed him over the edge.  Very emphatically he sighed "Uuuuugh, Mom!!!  I ALWAYS do that!... Use your brains!"
LOL!  This kid cracks me up.  I'd have scolded him for the obvious disrespect but it was completely my own words, this time aimed at me.  I might have said a time or two "Use your brains!  God gave you good ones.  I'm not sure why you aren't using them!"  Or something similar.  So... well played, son.  Well played.

But you still need to flush and wash your hands.
I'm afraid the inside voice and walking in the house might be asking a bit much for that one, tho.  Good luck, Grandma (and Grandma on the Farm, and Aunt Amber)!  Thanks for your support, and we'll be praying for your sanity.  ;)

Oh, and I'm going to try and keep the blog updated, but we'll have to see how the internet access is...

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

We were told a week ago that we had travel approval.  We made tentative travel plans, pending our consulate appointment.  Then we were told that we didn't have travel approval after all.  Sorry, we got you confused with someone else.  Then we waited some more, and were told that if we didn't get TA for real by tomorrow, that we would have to push back our trip.  But then we got it at the last minute.  But we still didn't hear about a consulate appt.  So we gave on up traveling this week and planned to leave next week instead.  Then we got a call on Monday at noon.  We're leaving on Friday.  Um... sure! Let's go.   Nothing like planning a 12 day, halfway-around-the-world trip in 4 days.  I like to live on the edge.

So now we're packing like fools and solidifying childcare arrangements.  Getting spare keycards for the daycare, and shopping for baby supplies.  Too bad my blissful denial was so strong up till now.  Maybe I would have some of this done already.  ;) Oh well.

At any rate, we should have sweet Ephraim in our arms on Monday morning sometime, China local time.  Hooray!

And since this blog is private for the time being, I can now post his pictures!

This is his cutesy little baby face.

At approximately 8 months of age.

And a whopping 9 pounds. 

And here he is more recently!

21m old, and 17 lbs.

Just a teensy little nugget.  :)

They say he is doing well, but gets cold easily (hence the snowsuit).

Can't wait to smooch those little cheeks!

<3 p="">

A Merry Christmas Update.

So since I am generally too lazy to write a Christmas letter you can consider this your letter and update.  (I did just print some cards, tho.  Yes, at 6pm on Christmas eve.  I'm right on top of it this year.)

The kids are very excited for Christmas.  By excited, I mean wound up.  There's so much energy all up in here I just can't believe it.

Except for the part where they all decided to get a fever today.  So... less energy today than before.  But more whining.  They're lucky they're so cute. :) 

Right now they look like this.  Veggin' in front of a movie.

For Thanksgiving we went to The Homeland.  It was a pretty quick trip, but we were able to see everyone who lives out that direction, and we ate lots of delicious food.  The kids really loved playing with the kitties and they keep asking when we can go back.

Raya turned 3 at the end of November.  It was a very Frozen birthday.  :)  She was all kinds of excited.

And donned much bling for the occasion.

In November, our new cousin Lyla finally got to come home!  She's Nathaniel and Emily's 5 year old daughter, home by way of international adoption.  Hooray and Welcome Home, Lyla!  We're very excited to meet her, but thought we'd give her a little time to adjust to all the new first.

This is not Lyla.  This is Raya. 

And these are my boys.

We are currently waiting on TA (Travel Approval) in which China says it's ok for us to hop on a plane and come get Ephraim.  Once we have TA, we choose a visa appointment at the Consulate and book tickets.  Within a couple weeks of TA, we'll be on our way.  It's getting close!!

And we got new pictures and measurements of Ephraim.  So he's 21m old by now, and roughly the size of a 9m old.   Overall, doing well.  And cute, of course.  But I can't post pics just yet.

So here's Mr. Potato Head instead.