Can't wait till we are home. We really miss the boy's, and just can't wait to see them.
Last Thursday we were still in Ningxia and did some touring. James is very interested in it all, I have such a hard time, so i just try to look interested. We left for Beijing on Friday afternoon. We arrived at our hotel in Beijing around 8:00pm.
Saturday am we had to do somemore paperwork, Canadian Citizenship/Passort's/Visa's for all the kids. Went to the Beijing Zoo in afternoon, but a waist of time, as the crowds were ridiculous, we were all a bunch of sardines trying to get around. Beijing has changed so much since our last visit 5 year's ago, there is just so much more traffic and people, you can't go anywhere without traffic jams. Our guide told us that 3000 car's are added to the roads in Beijing alone everyday!! just crazy.
Sunday was the great wall. I stayed behind with XiangEr for the day, there has been just too much going on. I will visit the Great Wall for sure the next time.
Monday was the Summer Palace, what a disaster that was!! We arrived around 1:00pm and all of a sudden the crying started and never stopped for a full hour. Oh the stares were unbeleivable!! James got pretty upset with the nosy ones trying to parent, he shewed them away. Once we decided to get out of there and take a taxi back (not wait for bus back with the group) she fell asleep in James' arms. We then realized that she still really needs her naps and have napped her everyday since.
Tuesday was the silk market/pearl market, we took a taxi instead of going with the group just in case we had another crying episode in public. She was really good, and once she started to wimper we left, and took her back to the hotel and napped her.
Wednesday most of the group went to Tinaman's Square and the Forbidden City and we decided to stay close to the hotel and go to some market's. We went for Peking Duck with the whole group (as the east coaster's were leaving Thursday to go home). There was a magician and cake etc....to say goodbye to everyone.
Today we decided to go do a bit more shopping, we took a taxi there and met up with two other families from BC. We got in two hours, and came back for a nap. We packed up a bit and met in lobby a 5:00pm for our last dinner together. Five BC families and Two from Alberta.
We will leave for airport at 12:00noon tomorrow, as our plane leaves at 4:00pm. We have a 12 hour flight, and im not quite sure how we are going to make it (i think the other families are feeling the same).
Mary has been very very good, and has made some really close friendships. The one family who we went to Ningxia with (Nyah who is six) they are from Toronto. And all her other friends that she became close with are from BC (which is perfect), Alyssia who is 10 month's younger than Mary and is from Hunan just like Mary, lives in Langley and they have become very close. There is one photo taken of them today when we were shopping which i will add to the photo's. Mary received so much attention while in China. James and I recieved alot of wonderful comment's about her.
XiangEr has improved everyday. Just to give you an idea on how much, we weighed her in Beijing on Friday night she weighed only 21 lbs!!! We were told 27-28lbs before we came to get her.
We weighed her 5 nights later (Wednesday) and she had gained 3 lbs in those 5 day's. Unfortunately she has been severly traumatized over food, and still has a hard time when we give Mary food, she get's very angry. She is getting much better with the toy's, and it isn't too much of an issue. She is the size of a two year old, and it is just so hard, but we can both see that time is in our hands, and we can work through all these things. It will just be nice to get home, and start the process of moving forward with the help of specialists etc...
She is a very happy girl right now, and alot of the time she is giving kisses, laughing, and playing, and eating. I can see these two girls being very close, and bed time and bath time has been great bonding for the two of them.
We just can't wait to get her home to meet the rest of the family.
This has been such an emotional rollercoaster this time around. We thought we were prepared with the information that was given to us about this precious little girl, but there was so much info.that was so wrong, and we weren't prepared for some of the challenges, but we are leaving here feeling very optomistic!! We are just amazed at such big strides she has taken in only 10 day's. Wow.
I will add some more photo's of the past several day's, although we didn't take as much as we would have liked. You can use the link in the last blog.
Cindy
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Wednesday May 12th Day 5
We had a really nice breakfast, and met our guide Tony at 10:00am, a little later today. We went to the Cival Affair's office for about an hours worth of paper work, which is quite a relief. Once done we walked about 10 minutes to a park (a regular park, combined with amusment park). We bought the kids bubbles walked around took in the sights and then sat on a big patch of grass to let the kids run around. We showed XiangEr how to blow bubbles, she loved chasing them.
Tony took us for a nice chinese meal at a restaurant on the way back to the hotel, we have been trying some pretty neat dishes, and we have been asking him to order some really spicy ones.
We wanted to get back to the hotel to just spend some time in the room together, and boy have we seen alot of progress in many way's. We have been working with XiangEr and reconfirming over and over that Mary won't just come up and take from her. We have made sure that both girls each have things that are their's and things that they each can share. XiangEr has learned the word share and is now going up to Mary and Us and wanting to share, and we all keep going back and forth with the sharing. Wow, what a difference in 24 hours, it is actually unbelievable. Mary is being so good.
XiangEr continues to laugh hysterically all the time BaBa (daddy) is around. She just loves him to pieces. MaMa (like alway's) is more the serious one (which Mary was drawn to). Her personality continues to be soft and gentle. She seems like a very happy little girl. She continues to eat all day long.
We went with the other family to our hotel restaurant for dinner (the chinese restaurant), it was pretty fancy, we wish we would have had our camera. The food was prepared very artisticly. We proceeded to go back to room, give the girls bath's, and when XiangEr went potty right before bed, she sat on toliet and started to pretend she was blowing bubbles! She must have really enjoyed herself at the park.
Really great day.
There are 23 new pictures from this day.
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/22960859121-1273517997-65056/0
Tony took us for a nice chinese meal at a restaurant on the way back to the hotel, we have been trying some pretty neat dishes, and we have been asking him to order some really spicy ones.
We wanted to get back to the hotel to just spend some time in the room together, and boy have we seen alot of progress in many way's. We have been working with XiangEr and reconfirming over and over that Mary won't just come up and take from her. We have made sure that both girls each have things that are their's and things that they each can share. XiangEr has learned the word share and is now going up to Mary and Us and wanting to share, and we all keep going back and forth with the sharing. Wow, what a difference in 24 hours, it is actually unbelievable. Mary is being so good.
XiangEr continues to laugh hysterically all the time BaBa (daddy) is around. She just loves him to pieces. MaMa (like alway's) is more the serious one (which Mary was drawn to). Her personality continues to be soft and gentle. She seems like a very happy little girl. She continues to eat all day long.
We went with the other family to our hotel restaurant for dinner (the chinese restaurant), it was pretty fancy, we wish we would have had our camera. The food was prepared very artisticly. We proceeded to go back to room, give the girls bath's, and when XiangEr went potty right before bed, she sat on toliet and started to pretend she was blowing bubbles! She must have really enjoyed herself at the park.
Really great day.
There are 23 new pictures from this day.
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/22960859121-1273517997-65056/0
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tuesday May 11th Day 4
We kept waking up through the night looking at the girls in bed, and took a few photos. Woke up around 6:00am and looked down and saw two eyes looking at me, I think she was wondering if it all had been a dream. We talked to her and got some nice smiles. She knows to say MaMa (Chinese for mommy), and she knows to say BaBa (Chinese for daddy). She now loves BaBa and laughs whenever he is around. She loves his sense of humour, which is so nice. The children in China all call each other JJ, but we have taught her to say Mary (she says it in a very deep voice). She absolutely loves looking at our family photo album and turns each page naming us all.
We call her XianagEr we are not ready to start calling her Eva at this point. We knew she was going to be small (as we have been dealing with a pediatrician in Canada), but we didn't expect her to be as small as she is. Feeding her has not been an issue, all she wants to do is eat and eat and eat, and we have no problem offering her food whenever she wants. We strongly believe b/c of her size and personality she had toys/food taken from her in the orphanage from other kids. She is very scared that Mary is going to take her food from her and her toys and thus she has not taken too well to Mary. Mary has been great and we have been working really closely with the two and showing XiangEr that Mary is okay and loves her and won't take things from her.
Her motor skills are very delayed (I would almost say 2 - 2 1/2 years behind) we have a very long road ahead of us. She is very smart and is catching on very quickly.
We all met Tony in the lobby at 9:00am to go start the day off with more paper work. We finished the paper work by 11:00 and went shopping for a stroller and some clothing, as everything we brought for her was too big. Tony took us for lunch and we went back to the hotel around 3:00 pm. We had dinner in the hotel that evening with the other family and the girls shared another fun bath together.
In China about 80% of the Chinese are Han. When we were in Canada we were wondering if XiangEr was of the Hui race b/c of her eyes and other features. With doing some research on XiangEr's province of Ningxia we realized that in the southern part of the province 50% of the people are Hui, in which are mostly Muslim. She was born in the southern end of the Province and so we asked our guide to ask the orphanage if she was Hui, and sure enough they are almost positive that she is, we have no doubt in our minds that she is. Mary is Han.
Mary and Tony have made a special bond which has been really good for her. He's a pretty good guide.
A good day.
Here is the link again, and the top 9 pictures are from this day.
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/22960859121-1273517997-65056/0
We call her XianagEr we are not ready to start calling her Eva at this point. We knew she was going to be small (as we have been dealing with a pediatrician in Canada), but we didn't expect her to be as small as she is. Feeding her has not been an issue, all she wants to do is eat and eat and eat, and we have no problem offering her food whenever she wants. We strongly believe b/c of her size and personality she had toys/food taken from her in the orphanage from other kids. She is very scared that Mary is going to take her food from her and her toys and thus she has not taken too well to Mary. Mary has been great and we have been working really closely with the two and showing XiangEr that Mary is okay and loves her and won't take things from her.
Her motor skills are very delayed (I would almost say 2 - 2 1/2 years behind) we have a very long road ahead of us. She is very smart and is catching on very quickly.
We all met Tony in the lobby at 9:00am to go start the day off with more paper work. We finished the paper work by 11:00 and went shopping for a stroller and some clothing, as everything we brought for her was too big. Tony took us for lunch and we went back to the hotel around 3:00 pm. We had dinner in the hotel that evening with the other family and the girls shared another fun bath together.
In China about 80% of the Chinese are Han. When we were in Canada we were wondering if XiangEr was of the Hui race b/c of her eyes and other features. With doing some research on XiangEr's province of Ningxia we realized that in the southern part of the province 50% of the people are Hui, in which are mostly Muslim. She was born in the southern end of the Province and so we asked our guide to ask the orphanage if she was Hui, and sure enough they are almost positive that she is, we have no doubt in our minds that she is. Mary is Han.
Mary and Tony have made a special bond which has been really good for her. He's a pretty good guide.
A good day.
Here is the link again, and the top 9 pictures are from this day.
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/22960859121-1273517997-65056/0
Monday May 10th Day 3
Early morning wake up call at 4:00am. We all left on a bus for the airport with packed breakfast in hand. We had one of the earliest flights at 7:30am and it was an 1 1/2 hour flight. The plan for the day was to fly into Ningxiam our daughter's province, and drive to the capital city yinChuan where our hotel is, which is apx 45min from the airport. We are very grateful that we are with one other family from our group who is also adopting from the same orphanage, their daughter who they are adopting is almost 4 years old. They also have brought their other daughter who is 6 years old, and she was born in the same province as Mary (Hunan). We landed at the airport and our guide was there waiting for us, he introduced himself (his name is Tony), and then he quickly stated that there has been a change of plans. We were originally supposed to go straight to the hotel, freshen up and then to the civil affairs office to meet our daughter's. He said our plane was too late and that instead we needed to go straight to the orphanage to meet our daughter's then proceed with lots of paperwork. Typically you do the paper work on the Tuesday, but for some reason things had changed. We were all pretty anxious. Both families and our guide then went to our tour bus and headed to our destination. It took about 50minutes to get there. Once there, we just took in all our paperwork and left all the luggage on the bus. They made us all take our temperatures before heading in and then they took us to a business room where they all introduced themselves and asked us to sit. We did about 20 minutes of paper work to prove who we were and showed them specific documents that were needed to proceed. Then out of the blue, they brought two girls into the room, we were so disorganized. James quickly tried to find the camera etc...a caregiver walked towards us with XiangEr in her hands. They asked her to come to us and she shook her head no! She looked at us again and took one look at James and cried. It took about 5minutes for her to come to my arms (I actually thought it wasn't going to happen). She didn't know what to think, but she did so well. We spent another 10minutes in the room, and then they led us to the main entrance, where they brought out some of the other kids, and a lot of the care givers. They all came out to say goodbye to the girls. The nannies took her from me and all were giving her kisses and hugs goodbye, there was just so much going on, we just felt pretty numb. Eventually they gave us the girls back and we proceeded to leave.
Our guide informed us that we had a full day of paperwork ahead of us when all we wanted to do was go back to the hotel and get to know her.
We went first to the civil affairs office and spent 1 1/2 hours there, then went to a photo shop and had our picture taken with her documentation papers, then we went to the police department, then to the police station for a passport photo (we waited there for over an hour ). By this time we were all so exhausted and it was becoming very stressful. By around 4pm we got to go back to the hotel.
We took her back and spent the rest of the evening just watching and interacting with her. We ordered in room service and ate on the bed. After dinner we thought we would try the bath. Judging from her reaction she has never been in a bath North American style, I'm not quite sure how they washed her but she did know to take water in her two hands and was her face. She had a complete ball with Mary in there. She never sat down fully but squatted the whole time.
After bath time it was time to try teeth brushing. It is our guess that she has never had her teeth brushed before, judging from the condition of them, and how she reacted when they were brushed, she laughed hysterically the whole time. We laid her down for bed with Mary and she fell asleep in about 10minutes.
What a blessing she is to our family.
Our guide informed us that we had a full day of paperwork ahead of us when all we wanted to do was go back to the hotel and get to know her.
We went first to the civil affairs office and spent 1 1/2 hours there, then went to a photo shop and had our picture taken with her documentation papers, then we went to the police department, then to the police station for a passport photo (we waited there for over an hour ). By this time we were all so exhausted and it was becoming very stressful. By around 4pm we got to go back to the hotel.
We took her back and spent the rest of the evening just watching and interacting with her. We ordered in room service and ate on the bed. After dinner we thought we would try the bath. Judging from her reaction she has never been in a bath North American style, I'm not quite sure how they washed her but she did know to take water in her two hands and was her face. She had a complete ball with Mary in there. She never sat down fully but squatted the whole time.
After bath time it was time to try teeth brushing. It is our guess that she has never had her teeth brushed before, judging from the condition of them, and how she reacted when they were brushed, she laughed hysterically the whole time. We laid her down for bed with Mary and she fell asleep in about 10minutes.
What a blessing she is to our family.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Sunday May 9th Day 2
We got an early morning start to the day as all the family's who are here in Beijing need to meet in the lobby by 8:30 if interested in doing some sight seeing for the day. We went down for breakfast for around 7:00, they serve a fantastic Western/Chinese style buffet. There were 6 families now in Beijing and we got to meet them all at breakfast. We sat with two families from BC, one couple we had already met once (from Pemberton), the other couple (from Langley) it was our first time. As parent's were sitting around chatting after breakfast 4 older girls were practicing a show, and after breakfast they called all the mother's for mother's day and showed us what they had been practicing. It was quite cute.
All families met at 8:30 and we walked to the subway about 10 minutes away. We took the subway about 7 stops away (15 min) to where a park was located. This isn't your typical park, it is a place where adults go to exercise, Tai Chia Sparking and all kinds of different groups exercising to music everywhere. There was also a metal playground that would typically be used around the park which is quite big, (it kinda reminds me of Stanley Park, but different) for a good couple of hours. We then took the subway back to the hotel and had a late lunch at the Chinese restaurant just down the street.
Around 4:00 pm we took a ten minute walk to an indoor market as we needed an alarm clock, stroller, watch etc...This market was so big, it became very overwhelming as there was just too much to look at - there were hundreds of vendors on each floor, and there were 4 floors, and this is a market where you barter for price. We were so tired, and Mary was exhausted so we took turns carrying her. We ended up only getting an alarm clock.
We all met back in the lobby for 5:30 to walk for dinner. The group wanted Pizza Hut for the kids, and they figured service would be quick, so we decided to follow. Well, two of the kids (Mary and Nyah) fell asleep before the food even came, as it took forever to get it as they couldn't understand English. We carried Mary back to the hotel and went to bed around 8:30 as we all were having a 4:00am wake up call, as all families were leaving for the airport at 5:00 am the next morning to depart to each of our provinces in China that our children were from.
It was a good day.
All families met at 8:30 and we walked to the subway about 10 minutes away. We took the subway about 7 stops away (15 min) to where a park was located. This isn't your typical park, it is a place where adults go to exercise, Tai Chia Sparking and all kinds of different groups exercising to music everywhere. There was also a metal playground that would typically be used around the park which is quite big, (it kinda reminds me of Stanley Park, but different) for a good couple of hours. We then took the subway back to the hotel and had a late lunch at the Chinese restaurant just down the street.
Around 4:00 pm we took a ten minute walk to an indoor market as we needed an alarm clock, stroller, watch etc...This market was so big, it became very overwhelming as there was just too much to look at - there were hundreds of vendors on each floor, and there were 4 floors, and this is a market where you barter for price. We were so tired, and Mary was exhausted so we took turns carrying her. We ended up only getting an alarm clock.
We all met back in the lobby for 5:30 to walk for dinner. The group wanted Pizza Hut for the kids, and they figured service would be quick, so we decided to follow. Well, two of the kids (Mary and Nyah) fell asleep before the food even came, as it took forever to get it as they couldn't understand English. We carried Mary back to the hotel and went to bed around 8:30 as we all were having a 4:00am wake up call, as all families were leaving for the airport at 5:00 am the next morning to depart to each of our provinces in China that our children were from.
It was a good day.
Saturday May 8th Day 1 China
Well, except for the flight being extremely long, we had a very smooth flight from Vancouver to Beijing on Friday-Saturday May 7th-8th. Mary did really well on the flight. We had a great breakfast at White Spot with the boy's early Friday before school started to see them off. We landed in Beijing on Saturday around 2:30 pm (China time) and met out Beijing guide Fay at the airport. We had a driver to the hotel, Mary couldn't understand how we all could sit in the back seat without seatbelts. We arrived at the airport around 4:30pm, and met Yulin, she works for our agency FOI and facilitates all trips (apx every 6 weeks). She gave us an hour to get freshened up and we met in the hotel lobby at 5:30 to meet a few other families who were already there.
We all went for chinese food a few minutes away by foot, and once there we remembered what we had been missing for the past five years. The food is just amazing, words can't describe how different and good it is compared to Canadian Chinese food.
We were beyond exhausted after dinner, and decided to head up to the room to get ready for an early sleep. We had alot of trouble staying asleep for the night, jet lag had set in.
All in all a great travel experience and first few hours in China, not to mention the room we were given was amazing. We are posting a link here for Shaw Photo Share as we are unable to post pictures any other way. We will upload pictures whenever we have a chance, so feel free to keep looking to see if we have added any.
Here is the link, hopefully this works, if not we will try another way.
You will notice in a few of the first pictures some girls who are around Mary's age. These are sisters who have come on the trip as well to become big sisters. The two Chinese girls are both from Mary's province in Hunan and have similar facial features, this has been just great for Mary to meet many new girls.
Cindy
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/22960859121-1273517997-65056/0
We all went for chinese food a few minutes away by foot, and once there we remembered what we had been missing for the past five years. The food is just amazing, words can't describe how different and good it is compared to Canadian Chinese food.
We were beyond exhausted after dinner, and decided to head up to the room to get ready for an early sleep. We had alot of trouble staying asleep for the night, jet lag had set in.
All in all a great travel experience and first few hours in China, not to mention the room we were given was amazing. We are posting a link here for Shaw Photo Share as we are unable to post pictures any other way. We will upload pictures whenever we have a chance, so feel free to keep looking to see if we have added any.
Here is the link, hopefully this works, if not we will try another way.
You will notice in a few of the first pictures some girls who are around Mary's age. These are sisters who have come on the trip as well to become big sisters. The two Chinese girls are both from Mary's province in Hunan and have similar facial features, this has been just great for Mary to meet many new girls.
Cindy
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/22960859121-1273517997-65056/0
Monday, April 19, 2010
Updated Photo's
We received updated photo's of Eva-Marie on April 18th, and were shocked to see how much she has changed since that last photo's that were taken at the end of January. I wonder if she knows why she is waving, have they told her that her family is coming for her?? I am hoping that they have shared the photo album that we sent for her with all our pictures in it, so we will be somewhat familiar to her. What a beautiful little girl, we just can't wait.
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