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