Yes, I'm still here.

I know I haven't posted in awhile, but I've been reprimanded for it, so I'll do my best to keep up! Allison is doing really well overall. I've noticed some positive attachment behaviors and we make good progress everyday.

We've mastered the sippy cup. She's slowly trying new foods, just not any fruits or veggies yet, but I hope that will come in time. I'm wondering if they fed her tons of fruit in the orphanage because she completely shuns it just like she shuns anything that resembles congee (porridge-like stuff). The boys think it's totally disgusting that she eats hard-boiled eggs and shrimp!

As far as her personality goes, she is so NOT a morning person. We have to wake her up every morning otherwise she would sleep until noon. What's funny is that she gets progressively happier as the day goes on, so by evening she is quite a sassy little one. Then at bedtime it's like a party in her crib. She will play for an hour in her crib before she falls asleep. This bedtime behavior is a recent development and I'm not sure what to make of it yet, so we'll see if it continues.

The boys are doing so good with Allison and she adores her big brothers! They can't wait to get all the Christmas stuff out and get a tree and I'm wondering where the heck am I going to fit a tree in this shrinking house? The holidays have totally sneaked up on me - maybe because we missed Halloween and I'm wondering where the heck October went. Oh well, at least we had some decent November weather. Ta ta for now.

Settling in

Yay, Allison slept all night! I think she's finally back on schedule now. She's getting more comfortable here and that happy personality is coming out again. In fact, she's downright sassy at times!

The boys have been great with there little sister. It's been a big adjustment for them, but they're doing pretty good. Sometimes we just have to remind them to not be so rough around her and also to give her some space. Sam likes to play with her toys. Ben is very protective of her, he gets mad when I have to do things she doesn't like, for example washing her hair or clipping toenails.

Chris goes back to work on Monday, so we'll see how that goes.

Jet lag is a force to be reckoned with!

We're slowly re-establishing our circa-rhythms. Thank heaven for coffee. Now if only we could get Allison to stop waking up at 4:00am, everything would be good! She was a little unsure of her new surroundings at first, especially the dogs, but she's starting to come out of her shell again. We went to the pediatrician yesterday and she handled her shots fairly well. We will also see the pediatric cardiologist sometime in the near future, but there's no rush since she's not symptomatic. Well, that's all I can post for now - got to pick up Ben from school.

Last day in China

This morning we went to an absolutely beautiful park.  It was totally worth squeezing 3 adults and 3 kids in the back of a taxi and then getting stuck in traffic more than once.  We were totally bummed when our camera battery died (we left the spare in the hotel room) because we could have gotten some amazing pictures there. Also Allison wasn't herself this morning.  We weren't sure if maybe it was another round of grief or if she was feeling sick.  Well we got our answer when she threw up on Chris in the lobby!  Whatever it was, it didn't last long because she ate a good dinner and was back to her cute self this evening. This afternoon we received Allison's visa and THE brown envelope.  The brown envelope we hand over to the immigration officer at the US port of entry, which will be Chicago for us.  It's at that moment she will officially become a US citizen! Our time here in China is coming to an end.  What an amazing journey this has been!  Of course we have a lot of work still ahead of us, but we will be HOME.  In less than 12 hours we will be headed to the airport and I think our total travel time (door to door) will be about 28 hours.  Yikes!  Not to mention the jet lag that I'm hearing takes about 2 weeks to overcome.  Oh well, we'll get through it.  See you on the flip side!

Counting down

We've enjoyed our time in China, but these last few days in Guangzhou are killing us.  We are very much missing home and the boys!  We're running out of clean clothes and we even did laundry twice.  Chris wants a cheeseburger and I want a brick of cheese.  We both want a burrito or Mexican of any sort.  We're also craving peanut butter because it's very hard to find here. Our typical day here goes something like this:  Wake up and stuff ourselves at the breakfast buffet.  Then we go to the playroom.  Then we go wander around outside and feed Cheerioes to the Koi in the pond.  Then we hit the deli for lunch.  Then Allison naps.  Then we go back outside for a walk to the playground.  Then dinner at a restaurant.  And finally bath time and bed time. This afternoon we had our ceremony at the embassy.  There were about 30 other families there and we all had to take oath that all of the paperwork we submitted is true, etc. and then they congratulated us and there was a lot of clapping and cheering - pretty cool. Yesterday we met a family from Kalamazoo and this morning we were surprised to learn we are both with the same agency.  We had dinner with them this evening at a really good Chinese restaurant.  It was so good and it only cost about $28 to feed six people!  Well, time to put Alli Bing Bing to bed.  Tomorrow is our last full day in China.

Consulate Appointment today

Today is our consulate appointment although we don't have to appear.  Our guide, Judy, handles everything on our behalf, so we just sit around and wait for her to call to make sure they don't have any questions about the mountain of paperwork we filled out.   Then on Friday we all go to the embassy for a brief ceremony.   The rest of our travel group is leaving tomorrow, so we're a little bummed about that.  They have an earlier CA, so they can leave earlier. Allison has discovered Ritz Bits crackers and is happily munching away right now.  She's definitely a carb eater.  She wants nothing to do with fruits or vegetables!  Hopefully Sam will be able to teach her how to eat healthfully.  She slept twelve hours last night.  I can only hope she will sleep that well when we get home -- crossing my fingers!

Allison Yubing pics

What I love about the White Swan hotel is that it's full of adoptive families.  We've met some really great people here and it's nice to know we're all in the same boat.  Yesterday we took Allison's picture on the red couch in her traditional outfit with Ian and Charlotte (our travel mates).  We'll probably do some more shopping today and maybe try the German restaurant tonight.

killing time in Guangzhou

This morning we had to take Allison back to the medical exam building for the results of the TB test.  Everything's good, it was negative, so one less thing to worry about.  She's clearly not a morning person, but she gradually perks up as the day goes on.  She's been speaking more too, although most of the time we don't know what she's saying.  We think she's picking up on a few English words.  She knows to wave when we say "bye-bye" and she understands what "bathtub" means.  She's also said:  mama, baba, hi, and all done. There's not a whole lot to do here in the Shamian Island area of Guangzhou except eat, sleep, and shop for souveniers. It sounds like we would have to fight traffic if we want to go anywhere off the island, like to the zoo.  Time here seems to be dragging and we're tired of living out of suitcases.  Allison didn't like the pool.  I think it was too cold, not warm like the bathtub, which she seems to enjoy.  So not sure how we're going to kill the rest of our time here.

Guangzhou pics

Guangzhou pictures, Banyan trees

In Guangzhou

Nihao!  We had some problems connecting to the internet, but we're back online now.  We arrived in Guangzhou yesterday evening and it is HOT here (around 90).  What amazes me is that the locals are all wearing pants and long sleeves. The White Swan hotel has an impressive lobby and a good breakfast buffet with a view of the Pearl River.  Our room is a little smaller than the one in Nanjing, but nice.  They say not to drink the water in China and I can certainly see why here in Guangzhou - the water literally smells and looks like the river.  The streets of the Shamian Island area of Guangzhou are much easier to navigate and there's not much traffic, so we don't feel like we're risking our lives crossing the street here. This morning we met up with our travel group and it was great to meet everyone's kids.  Then we all brought the kids to their medical exam.  Because Allison is over 2 years old she had to get poked for the TB test, so she was not a happy camper for most of the day.  She clearly has seen enough doctors in her lifetime to know that she doesn't like them.  She's much happier now, playing with the obnoxiously loud piano we bought her! Tomorrow we'll be sightseeing in the morning and then we might try to take Alli to the pool.

Observations

The traffic here is insane!  Every intersection is like 28th St & the Beltline, but add people on mopeds and bikes.  And the people on the mopeds & bikes are carrying babies!  Crossing the street is very scary.  We've decided it's best to just follow the crowd.  You have to be aware of your surroundings at all times.  People do not have the right-of-way.  For my coworkers:  Road construction here is interesting!  There are no warning signs and rarely any cones.  We were driving along and then all of a sudden they were pouring concrete right there in front of us.  Luckily we have a skilled driver!  I also saw a huge, gaping hole in the road and it only had one cone around it! The beds here are hard.  Very hard.  I might as well be sleeping on a stone tablet. Allison has the cutest giggle.  She loves to walk and read books. Well, I need to go pack because we are leaving for Guangzhou this afternoon.  So long for now.

Nanjing sightseeing Day 4

more Nanjing sightseeing

I don't have a lot of time to post because we are meeting another family for a playdate.  Our daughters are from the same orphanage and they are staying in the same hotel.  This morning we went to a beautiful garden that is more than 600 years old and was home to an emperor.  Then we went to the Confucius Temple and market.  Then we went to a silk factory and watched them weaving on the huge looms - truly fascinating and amazing!  I'll have Chris post some pics later. Gotta go!

More Nanjing pics

We saw the Purple Mountain park and went to the zoo and saw Pandas.

Sightseeing in Nanjing

Nihao.  Allison is starting to really open up to us.  We've seen many smiles from her today and even a few giggles.  She's very quiet and patient, so unlike her brothers!  Chris still hasn't heard her speak any words, but I've heard a few when he wasn't around.  We're slowly figuring out what she likes to eat - rice, egg, noodles, Cheerios and french fries (yes, we had Mcdonald's the other night, definitely needed a cheeseburger).  Oh and we tried eel last night at our hotel's dinner buffet and it was really good! Today we saw a little more of Nanjing.  It's a beautiful city with many trees and Sycamore lined streets.  Nanjing used to be the capital of China hundreds of years ago.  "Nan" means south, and "jing" means capital, hence "Bei" means north for Beijing.  Nanjing also had a wall surrounding the city and a moat, but only part of the wall remains today - it's impressive - very tall.    We also went to a city park called Purple Mountain that is home to some Ming tombs.  It's called Purple Mountain because there is literally a mountain that looks purple through the haze.  It was very pretty there, but the park is very large and there's no way we could have seen all of it.  Then we went to the zoo.  We didn't spend much time there because it was getting close to nap & lunch time, but we did see some Pandas!    There were three of them and they were doing what you usually see pandas doing, just sitting around lazily and eating.  Our guide told us that Sichuan province has the largest Panda Bear preserve and there you can sit next to them and have your picture taken (I saw this on the travel channel once)! Tomorrow we will do some more sightseeing and then our guide will gather up all of the paperwork we're waiting for, and then on Friday we will fly to Guangzhou.

Adoption Day!

Today was adoption day!  In the eyes of the Chinese government, Allison is now officially our daughter.  We are still trying to figure each other out.  She is very small for her age and I would guess she is at least a year behind developmentally, especially with gross motor skills.  Her fine motor skills are pretty good though, but were not too sure about speech yet.  She's only muttered two words so far, and of course I didn't know what she was saying!  She is certainly smart and a quick learner. Today we were able to visit the orphanage, but we could not go inside due to H1N1, so we took some pictures outside.  We were also able to meet her primary caretaker and learn more about Alli's personality.  She's very shy and she was obviously very attached to her caretaker.  She cried quite a bit when we left her nanny and it took everything in me to not break down myself, but I just didn't want her to see me cry, that would have only made things worse. We've also seen some orphanage-like behaviors today.  She has been hoarding food and toys.  It's sad really, but on the other hand she is clearly enjoying her new found freedom.  She's smiles a lot when we put her down and let her walk.  Well, time to go get in the bath!

Allison

Allison is a little sad and a little sick, but so far she tolerates us.  She likes french fries.

We met Allison!

Just a few hours ago we received Allison!  It was a whirlwind affair.  She cried for about 2 hours - it was really heartbreaking.  She's really quite small, she's wearing 12 month clothing.  She is so cute!  After a few tries, we found some food that she liked and then the crying stopped and then she went down for a nap.  She is awake now, so I'll post more later.

Day 3 Sightseeing in Beijing

Sunday was another busy day!  First we went to see the Bird's Nest.  Next we went a jade factory and saw how they make jade into beautiful sculptures and jewelry.  We wanted to buy so many things there, but most of it is very expensive, so we bought a couple of really small sculptures instead. Next we went to the great wall.  It is truly amazing and the pictures will do it no justice (too hazy here).  Chris & I climbed three times higher than anyone else in our group.  Major jello legs!  We definitely worked up an appetite, so we then had lunch nearby at a restaurant that was above a Cloisonne Factory, where they make beautiful vases and such. In the evening we flew to Nanjing.  We've decided the asian airlines are much nicer than any american airlines we've flown.  Our guide, Jin, picked us up from the airport and then we went to the hotel and crashed (long day).

Beijing Day 1 pics

Sightseeing in Beijing

Whew!  We've been out and about in Beijing since 9:00am.  We saw Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  Then we had a great authentic Chinese meal for lunch.  Our guide, Yoshi, helped our group order, and then he left us for awhile and the language barrier became quite comical!  After lunch we went to the Pearl Market Museum, where I bought a teardrop pearl necklace and matching earrings (CHEAP). Then we went to the Temple of Heaven and an acrobat show.  We'll try to post some pictures later.

My favorite part of the day was at Temple of Heaven.  There were tons of people in the park doing leisurely things.  Some were dancing to loud music, some were singing or playing instruments, others were playing a hacky sack sort of game, and some were playing checkers or cards.  I could have stayed there all day and watched everyone.

Tomorrow we are going to the Great Wall and also the Bird's Nest & Watercube.  Then we fly to Nanjing in the evening!

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We're here!

We finally made it to Beijing!  It is 11:30pm on Friday.  The flights went smoothly, but WOW were they long!  I believe "brutal" is the word Chris used to describe the 13 hour flight from Chicago to Tokyo.  I watched 3 movies, two TV shows, and read half of a James Patterson book, in addition to the 3 meals that were served, plus a short nap. Tomorrow we will be sightseeing with 3 other families from our agency, one of whom we met in Tokyo.  The plan is to see the Forbidden Palace, Tiananmen Square, and an acrobat show. Now it's time to go to bed!

Itinerary

October 22 - Depart at 9:35am, GRR to Chicago to Tokyo to Beijing.

October 23 - Arrive in Beijing.

October 24, 25 - Sightseeing in Beijing.

October 25 - Flight to Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.

October 26 - Meet Allison!

October 26-30 - Sightseeing and processing paperwork in Nanjing, also possible visit to orphanage.

October 30 - Flight to Guangzhou.

October 31 - Medical exam.

November 1-3 - Sightseeing and shopping on Shamian Island.

November 4 - US Embassy appointment.

November 5 - Sightseeing and shopping.

November 6 - US Embassy ceremony.

November 7 - Fly home!

Travel dates confirmed!

We're leaving next Thursday! Departing Oct 22nd and returning Nov 7th. I'll post more about our itinerary when I know more. We're coming Alli Bing Bing!

FINALLY!

Finally our I171H renewal/update came in the mail today! Tonight our agency will work on getting us an embassy appointment, then we can book our trip. Stay tuned for travel details.

A step in the right direction

I got a call from congressman Ehlers office today. They said our update is DONE and we should receive it in the mail tomorrow or Tuesday! Vern rocks!!! As soon as we get it in the mail, our agency will make us an embassy appointment and then we can book our trip. We're hoping to leave October 22 or 23.

One good thing to report

All kids over age two are tested for TB at the US embassy before coming home. The protocol used to be that if a child had a positive chest x-ray they had to remain in China to be treated for up to 6 months. A couple of weeks ago the CDC finally changed the protocol: If a child tests positive they can now travel home to the US to be treated. This is huge! One less thing to worry about.

Getting antsy

Well it has been over 30 days and we still don't have our amended I171H. So I called a congressman's office today and gave them authorization to inquire on our behalf. It seems other families have had a good outcome by going this route, hopefully we will too. It just doesn't seem fair that children have to sit in an orphanage for 60 to 90 days just because our government can't process paperwork in a timely manner.

On another note, I was hoping to receive some updated info on Allison since we sent that care package last week, but I haven't heard anything on that front either.

I'm so frustrated!!!

care package

Here's a picture of the care package. She should receive it in about 3 days.

another care package

I ordered another care package this week. We sent Allison a soft photo album with 6 pictures of us so she can get used to seeing the faces of her new family. We also sent a security blanket and some mooncakes (treats) for the orphanage staff and children. We hope to receive some updated information and pictures of her too.

Still nothing in the mail yet from USCIS. I think we'll give them another week before we start emailing them again. We are still hoping to leave in later October.

October travel

What a crazy week this has been. I'm sad that we couldn't leave this week, but at the same time I couldn't take the stress of being in limbo! I'm definitely ready for some yoga this weekend. Our agency will now reschedule our embassy appointment and we will likely travel around Oct. 22. Of course we're still waiting for our I171H renewal, but it should come soon, and if it doesn't, we were told it is sometimes necessary to get a congressman involved.

Tuesday mail

Nothing in the mail today. We're getting down to the wire now. We've decided that if our renewal comes in the mail tomorrow, then we'll make a decision based on flights/prices as to whether we can still leave this week. If it doesn't come, then we'll have to wait another 5 weeks due to the China holiday and trade fairs. So we would then leave around Oct 22 with an embassy appt. on Nov 2 or 3. I know we will get there eventually, but the waiting really stinks!

Monday mail

Well, if our renewal doesn't come in the mail tomorrow we will have to cancel our embassy appointment and look at traveling in October. I haven't given up all hope that it could be in tomorrow's mail. And if it is, we will gladly scramble to finish packing and hope we can find flights at a decent price. We're upset that traveling in October will mean we will either miss Ben's birthday or Halloween. It could also mean swine flu season and quarantine risks. So, crossing our fingers for tomorrow!

Tentative travel dates

Here's the scoop. It's complicated, so I'll try to condense it. We have a consulate appointment on September 28 which means we'll leave on the 17th. These are tentative dates because if our amended I171H doesn't come in the mail between now and the 16th, we can't go and we'll have to reschedule for late October. All we can do is be ready and hope for a miracle that USCIS expedites our request. SOOOO STRESSFUL!

Still unsure about travel dates

Our agency is trying to secure a Consulate Appointment (CA) for us the last week in September and if they're successful, we could be leaving around the 17th. Otherwise we may not be going until late October. BUT, we have to wait for our amended I171H (orphan visa) to come in the mail before we can go anywhere and that could be cutting it close for a September departure. I am not much of a "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" girl anymore, much more of a planner, and this is stressing me out!!!

Testing

If you are wondering about the last two posts, we have heard that Blogger is blocked in China, but that you can do a blind post to the blog from email. So Chris was testing it out, hence the picture of our boys in their underwear!

Picture of Ben and Sam.

Yayyyyy!!!!!!!!

TA!!!

We received Travel Approval today! Now if we can just get our USCIS paperwork pushed through fast, we can go. A travel group from our agency is leaving September 10, but we're not sure yet if we will be part of that group. We're still holding out hope that we'll be leaving sometime in September.

Nesting has begun!

Chris painted Allison's room today. It is now Fairytale Pink! The boys picked the color (I gave them three colors to choose from). The closet is filling up with girly clothes, some that I've bought, some were gifts, and some hand me downs from friends and neighbors. We have new window shades and new crib bedding too. We'll have to work on getting the crib put together soon and then I'll post pictures of the room.

Home Study Update / Delay

Well, we've hit another bump in the road. The US embassy in China decided to abruptly change the rules regarding home study updates / addendums. Our original home study needs to be updated because we are adopting a child that is older than what we originally stated and also the wording needs to be very specific regarding her special need. They used to let families hand carry the update to China, but now they are requiring us to first send it to USCIS in Detroit, who then sends it to Washington, who then cables it to China. This could delay us for weeks! We could receive Travel Approval any day now, but now we cannot make any travel plans until our updated home study reaches China. So frustrating!

LOA!

We received our official letter of approval today!!!! We can now officially call her our daughter! Now we wait for travel approval. We are estimating travel to be end of August or beginning of September. This is happening much quicker than we anticipated! We have nothing ready. We have a crib and carseat and that's about it. We had better get a move on pronto!

Care Package

Not a whole lot to report lately. Still playing the waiting game. I ordered a care package last week, which consists of a stuffed panda bear, candy for the kids & orphanage staff, and a disposable camera for the nannies to take pictures of Allison. We also hope to get updated digital photos and updated measurements, as the original photos & measurements we received were dated March of 2009. We can only hope the orphanage staff is cooperative in getting us the info we so desperately want. I'm already thinking about what to send next! Probably a family photo album so that she can get used to our faces.

Travel Advisory

A few days ago the U.S. Department of State issued a travel advisory for China regarding the swine flu. It sounds like they are taking everyone's temperature before they let you off the plane, and if you have a fever or your within 3 rows of anyone with a fever, then you are quarantined. Then if you test positive for the swine flu, you are quarantined for up to 7 days. Great. I just hope this blows over by the time we travel.

Stats

I thought I might briefly explain some of the aspects of our adoption journey. We started this process back in Oct 2007 and our paperchasing took a little longer than anticipated, so our dossier wasn't officially logged in until 7/4/08 - this is our log in date or LID.

I should also mention that we originally started out in the "regular" program for China, but as the wait times kept getting longer and longer, we began to look at other options. So earlier this year we decided to switch to China's "waiting child" program, which means we opened our hearts to adopt a child with a health condition. So we gave our agency a checklist of what our family can easily manage and then they found us our beautiful girl based on that criteria. We couldn't be happier the way it all turned out.

So, back to the stats. We submitted our Letter of Intent (LOI) for this child on 6/5/09 and we received Preliminary Approval (PA) on 6/12/09. We are now waiting for our official Letter of Approval (LOA), which we've been warned could take two to three months to get. Then after the LOA we wait for Travel Approval (TA) and then we can go get our sweet girl.

The waiting is hard. I thought the wait was hard before, but now that we know who our child is, the waiting is so hard.

We have a daughter!

We are very excited to announce we have received a referral for a 2 year old girl from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China! She was born on May 2, 2007 and her chinese name is Hua Yu Bing (last name first, then first & middle). We will be naming her Allison Yubing Schmuker.

As much as I would love to post her pictures, we have been advised to wait until we have our official Letter of Approval (LOA), which could take a couple of months to get. We are hoping to travel to China sometime this fall.

Oh, and please bare with me, I am new to this blogging thing!

Still trying to figure this out. C

Initial Test posting

This is the initial test posting on our blog for our coming trip to China.