So, Freakouts, Outings, More Monkeys, And A Passport For Gracie!

Okay, I’m guessing that if you’re reading this, you may have read about Matt’s mini freak-out. For the record, I want to clear up a few things: 1. Gracie had the meltdown, it was actually, that she needed lunch. From Matt’s description, it wasn’t clear who was melting down. 2. I didn’t look at Matt like he was a dumbass, but it was sweet that he thought that I did. :)

Okay, once we got through the paperwork / nap, we decided we just had to get out of this room. We went out with a few others and encountered pretty much all the families at various locations throughout the 6 block radius that we have all felt pretty comfortable walking around. I will state for the record, after coming up from the Walmart side of the street, there was not one but TWO spider monkeys hanging out at the top of the stairs!

We were out for about two hours. It was way colder than the 47 and sunny that they keep calling for. I’d say we were at about 38, and of course, as soon as we were about 5 blocks away at a park, it started to rain. It was light, but very cold. So, more department stores… It’s all very Americanized, but there are tons of sales people, everything is really a hard sell, and everything is a negotiation. This is all exacberated by the fact that we don’t speak each other’s languages. Eventually, we wound up getting Gracie these cool piggie shoes (she was born in the year of the pig, so it’s in all the stores right now). Also, we found this cool little red cordouroy snowsuit, very Chinese.

Good news about our outing:

a. I only got yelled at by one Chinese lady, who wanted Gracie to look like Ralphie from a Christmas Story.

b. Gracie was completely chill the entire outing. She was not happy while we were in the room, there was nothing that we could do to appease her. As soon as we got her outside, she was all giggly, waving to her fans and generally content hanging off of mommy’s hip (in the hip hugger).

c. The monkey’s didn’t seem to notice us, so we avoided an attack!

d. I finally realized that I’ve been wearing my newly acquired wool hat, backwards. Hey, Kristen was so full of it when she said that sleep deprivation needs seven weeks to really kick in… We’ll talk after I leave my running shoes in the fridge..

Tomorrow is a travel day to Guangzhou. It’s only an hour flight, but it will be a long day, by the time we pack up the carry ons for Gracie, get to the airport and deal with our first flight together as a family unit, then check into the hotel. We’ve heard that there are some pretty cool things you can get near the White Swan. There is a family portrait carved in stone…(nope, that won’t affect the weight limit at all…), there are poeple that paint the kids from photos. I wanted to try and find some original artwork for the house, I know another family that did that, and it was just very cool. We also really need to get on the “gotcha day” gifts.

Gracie’s passport just arrived, whoohoo! One step closer to becoming parents on the US side!

So, I Had A Mini Freakout

This morning, we had a meeting to do even more paperwork.  This time we were preparing for the process at the US Consulate.  We had to fill our forms on behalf of Gracie, and then more forms for us.

I had a slight (but silent) freakout at the meeting.

Part of the “paper chase” was the paperwork to lead up to being able to submit the I-600A form (foreign orphan petition) so we can get fingerprinted and get the I-797C document (foreign orphan approval) back.  Our original I-797C expired (they are good for 15 months), so we had to redo our home study in late 2006 / early 2007, re-sumbit an I-600A, get re-fingerprinted at the INS, and then get another I-797C.  That all went (mostly) well.

Angela came down to the meeting with Gracie, but she started to have a meltdown, so she went up for a nap.  I continued on with the paperwork.  While we were filling out forms, there was a question about “major life changes” after the I-797C approval.  Changing jobs is considered a major life change.  I am still having a bit of brain trouble with the 2007 to 2008 transition, and thought that Angela had started at D4 after this.  This would have meant that we would have had to have an addendum to the homestudy that we submitted with the last I-600A.

So, after the meeting I rush back up to the room and ask Angela about the addendum.  At this point my stress-induced asthma is starting to kick in, and I am having a major coughing fit.  She then looks at me with the “you are a dumbass” look and reminds me that the last homestudy reflects the job at D4 (she started in 2006), that we have original copies of the home study that reflect this, and that we are fine.

Needless to say, I am feeling much better now (blogging is cathartic).

Gracie is taking a nap right now, but we think we are going to venture out shopping when she gets up.  I isn’t raining, sleeting, or snowing and it is in the 40s right now and a few of the other families are going to join us.

There is a travel group from AFTH in Guangzhou right now (all of their babies are from that province).  I think they left the day after us.  We just found out that one of the babies has chicken-pox.  Ack.

I still haven’t figured out why the thumbnails and small images aren’t being generated when we upload images.  They were working when we set up the blog, but my hosting provider may have changed something which broke Wordpress / Gallery2 / WPG2.  I have tried, but I won’d be able to fix this until I get home.  There is only so much I can here, and I don’t want to mess things up while we are traveling.

So, Another Rainy Day

We woke up this morning to snow and rain (again). Our field trip got canceled because we would have had a decent walk to the temple in bad weather.

Somehow we managed to lose one of our bottles yesterday, so we are down to one that uses the disposable liners. You can’t get them here, so we will probably pick up a spare bottle that we will just wash out in the sink.

Living out of the hotel room is getting really old. There isn’t a common area that is heated where the families can gather, so we haven’t had a ton of interaction with the other families. It looks like it is getting better out, so we may venture outside later. All of the families are getting a little stir crazy.

Gracie took a good nap this morning after breakfast, and we now have some toys to keep her occupied. I have a few albums in iTunes on the computer, and Paul Simon’s Graceland is Gracie’s favorite. She does a little dance to the song Graceland. She also likes the Beatles, Paul McCartney, and the Traveling Wilburys.

Tomorrow we have some more paperwork to do for Gracie’s passport and visa. On Saturday we fly to Guangzhou. The weather there looks like it will be a lot nicer.

I’m back.

Gracie had a play date today.  Pam and Joe came over with Sophie for about an hour.  The girls got along pretty well, but they mainly played by themselves.

Other than that it was a pretty uneventful day.  We never went outside; we didn’t feel like dealing with the cold today.  On the other hand, Gracie got two full naps and had peas, peaches, and currant juice for dinner.   Angela is giving her her final bottle, and she is already asleep in her arms.  She has settled into an 8:00pm bedtime, which is nice.

So, Chinese Wine Isn’t Half Bad

The last trip of the day was back to the supermarket.  We picked up some wine.  We paid 99.40 yuan for two bottles of red and one bottle of white.

After a fun afternoon of playing with Gracie, we settled into the nighttime activities.  Angela took care of feeding and bathing Gracie, and I cleaned up and got dinner.

The hotel has a buffet and a sit-down restaurant.  The room service menu is pretty limited so I went to the restaurant to see if I could get real food.  We are pretty spoiled by the fact that most people around the world speak at least some English.  I was able to order food with the hostess (with the help of the “please don’t feed me pork” translation), but I had trouble communicating the fact that I wanted to take the food to the room.  The hostess got the manager, and she was able to help me out.

Our laundry showed up while Gracie was getting her bath, and dinner arrived a few minutes later.  As new parents, we are still working on the bedtime timing.  Angela gave Gracie a bottle, and I opened a bottle of the Great Wall Cabernet and ate some dinner.  Gracie didn’t really nap today, and was totally wound up by play.  We were a little worried that she would be over tired and not sleep, but she zonked right out after the bottle and was sound asleep by 7:45pm.

So, Adventures in Nanchang

Today was a good day. We’re official, and now we just need to wait for the remainder of the official paperwork to take to Guangzhou, so we’re basically killing time until Friday, when go in the am to fill out the paperwork to receive the girls’ passports. The weather has been less than stellar (to use a Mattism… “craptacular”) would be the most accurate description. We’ve been experiencing weather in the 30’s with rain, snow and general yuckiness. Needless to say, between dodging the motorcycles on the sidewalk, and trying to manuever around cars parked up the to the entrance steps of various offices, businesses and hotels, it’s been a little challenging and less than appealing to be out and about.

Yesterday, I left Matt and lady Gracie for about an hour and a half (longer than I anticipated) to venture out with Joe, father of Lucy, Simon and as of this week, Maxine, and Rob and his 17 year old son, Chip- dad and brother of BayLi. We were venturing 3-1/2 blocks away to the Wal-mart. Now, those of you who I see and talk with often know that I had known of the Wal-mart, and figured this would be a helpful resource. Okay, it was bizarre. First off, let me describe our four block walk:

Exit hotel, make right, dodge cars, oh, watch out for the Vespa… Walk past a second hotel next door also named Jiangxi Hotel. (okay, none of us get this either…) Now, as you walk past the second Jiangxi Hotel, they like to park the cars basically on the steps at the entrance. I’m pretty sure if they could drive them through the turnstile door, they would… Anyway, once you make it through this maze, go past the beggar with the spider monkey… (okay, those of you that know me, know my feelings about spider monkeys… enough said!) Another block to the underground walkway, which dumps you out at the Wal-mart Superstore. Oh, did I mention that the underground walkway is shared with motorcycles. Yeah, wasn’t ready for that one either, but the cycles are only on the right hand side, so we’re okay.

The Wal-mart doesn’t really have doors, everything has this heavy plastic, like you find in walk in freezers at restaurant supply stores. Wal-mart does have glass doors behind the plastic, which they basically keep locked with the exception of one household size door to the left. I think this is brilliant in the most populated country in the world!

We finally made it into the Wal-mart, our Western Mecca! It’s a big teen hang out, and of course, our little entourage stands out, so we get a lot of attention. The babies get tons of attention. It’s a very Western experience, but in a “bizarro world” kind of way. Anyway, I was looking for a ring stacker. No luck. We then wound up downstairs in the foodstore portion, now, that’s quite the experience. I’m going to have to get Joe’s pictures (since I went with Matt today and he refused to embibe in photos at the walmart?!) There is some cool stuff, they have sugarcane, that they make pure sugarcane juice to order… They had dried ducks and pigs, that were skinned, split and on display. There were many cuts and types of meat that were not identifiable. Matt was offered dried bull penis the other day. Now, I’m not sure why they thought he may need it, we smiled, pointed, nodded and mosied on our way… I may have to go back and bring some home as a souvinier.

On a seperate note, but related to Wal-mart and the Chinese shopping experience in general. you need to be aware that there really isn’t “shopping etiquette”. You may say, Ang, “what are you talking about, have you ever been to a white sale at Macy’s”. Honey, this makes that look like a day in the park. Today, another one of our travel companions, Joe, innocently picked up a hat for his wife Pam, who was back at our Jiangxi Hotel (not the other one, closer to our shopping mecca…). Anyway, Joe found this $1 hat that worked with Pam’s coat… All of a sudden this old Chinese lady did a major shopping Ninja move, and grabbed the hat from him. (Now, he’s from Philly, he can take care of himself…) This lady wrestled the hat from him, and he attempted to get it back… unsuccessfully. Enough said. Matt was wearing the hip harness this afternoon, so I had to block and run interference, since there is little regard for personal space…

Okay, my rant is over, Gracie just dropped another poopie bomb (we’re now up to #5). Some families have yet to experience this joy… I’ve been mixing prunes in with her oatmeal.

So, Gracie Is Doing Great

Gracie is doing great. She was pretty mellow, and not very animated when we first got her. The was probably do to the shock of us and being in a new environment. We started to see a change in her yesterday. Today, we have a different child.

She smiles a lot, and plays with her toys more. She reacts to the crazy things that adults do around their kids. She is starting to get vocal and giggles on occasion. She like being outside, and isn’t afraid of other people. When we put her coat on today, she automatically put her arms up in the air. We can also walk away from her without her crying. She feeds herself and bodily functions are going well, too.

We did a little sightseeing today. De and Anita took us to Tengwang Pavilion, which is the largest pavilion in Jiangxi. Photos will go up later. Of course, I packed the video camera, and the proceeded to leave it in the room. It was pretty cold, but at least it wasn’t raining or snowing. We are probably going to make another trip to Walmart today, and maybe walk around some. Tomorrow we are going to visit a temple that is within walking distance of the hotel.

At this point we are done with the Chinese portion of the adoption, and are just waiting for the notary papers and Gracie’s passport. I just updated the itinerary page with some more details about what we are doing.

So, We Are Legally Gracie’s Parents

This morning went well. Our first stop was at the Jiangxi Province Adoption Center. They took Gracie’s picture and then a family picture. These were for the paperwork. After that, we were interviewed by one of the officials. Our questions were:

1. Occupation.

2. Do we have other children?

3. Verification that the photo they had (the one attached to the medical paperwork) was Gracie.

4. Were we satisfied with Gracie.

5. Why do we want to adopt a baby from China?

6. Do you guarantee that you will not abandon the baby?

7. What are your plans for the future?

8. Was this your first trip to China? Will you bring your child back to visit?

That was it. The “plans for the future” had me a little confused mainly because I didn’t understand the question. Angela said we would love her, raise her, and make sure she got an education. This seemed to be the right answer. I think the interview took about five minutes. The official thanked us and gave us a porcelain mug as a gift (Jiangxi is the largest producer of porcelain in China).

One of Gracie’s caregivers from the orphanage was there, too. We are not positive what she was there for, but we assume she had to be interviewed, too. She didn’t speak any English, but we got a picture with her.

Near the end of the visit, we got to see the notes that were with the babies. We will post the picture, soon. It had her birthday on it, and “thank you.”

After that we got on the bus and went to the Notary Office.

OK, automotive transportation in China is interesting to say the least. Cars, buses, vespas (large moped / small motorcycle), bicycles, and pedestrians all interact in a semi-organized, chaotic manner. Horns seems like they are non-stop. The traffic here makes large cities in the US seem like Mayberry.

Back on track. At the notary office, we had a quick interview, too. We were asked our occupations, and also made us guarantee that we would not abandon Gracie. After that we signed a document, and were handed the adoption decree. This made us Gracie’s legal parents.

The final stop was at the public security department. This appointment was just so they could take Gracie’s picture for her Chinese passport.

After that we went back to the hotel.

We had lunch today in the hotel restaurant. I think this was our first real meal since arriving here. We have been surviving on the morning buffet and room service. English isn’t spoken widely, but I think this hotel gets a lot of Western visitors, so the menu was also in English. We also brought the “I am a vegetarian” printed phrase with us. Bottled water got understood as hot bottled water in a teapot, though.

We ordered a tofu dish and an eggplant dish. Both were excellent. The tofu was described on the menu as “fried,” but that also seems to be used for “sauteed.” It was in a light sauce with pickled hot peppers and garlic. The eggplant was stir-fried with string beans, and had a fair amount of pepper in it, too. We also got some fried rice.

That’s been the day so far. It is pretty cold (mid thirties), and it keeps switching between rain and snow. Angela is going to venture over to the Walmart (it’s about three blocks away) with a few other families later this afternoon. I am going to stay in the room with Gracie. If it wasn’t raining and snowing we would spend some more time outdoors, but all of the sidewalks and steps are very slippery, and everywhere is very crowded.

So, We Have A Poopy Diaper

Yes, Gracie finally pooped! We put her down for bed last night around 8:00pm, and we also crashed about the same time. Around 4:30am, she woke up crying and wouldn’t go back to sleep. Angela picked her up, and she was soaking wet. So much for the American diapers being superior!

Many times the babies are really constipated when the match happens. Partly due to stress, of course parents aren’t given much info, so there are some discrepencies with feeding schedules and foods. The babies also wore split pants at the ophanage, which doesn’t help with the transition to full-time diapers. These babies eat pretty much everything. We’ve been following a general list that we had been given, so we try and get her some solid protien (eggs), congee (rice porridge), fruit, formula and some snacks. We did try yogurt yesterday. The packaging appeared to be that of standard yogurt, but it was actually like a yogurt drink. She liked it, but it was a little too watery for her tastes. I think I may mix some of that into her oatmeal, and see how that works out today.

We’ve been to the store, and although you can buy dehydrated bull penis’ you can’t seem to find a cheese stick to save your life!

Anyway, the fact that we finally had our poopie diaper was a big deal, and quite a stinky one, in the wee hours before dawn! Today is a big day, we take our paperwork to three Chinese government offices to start finalizing the Chinese portion of the adoption, and to get her Visa and passport.

So, The Travel Is Beginning To Catch Up With Us

It’s Monday around 2.30p and we’re beat. The last few days have been a whirlwind. We traveled 8061 miles on Friday / Saturday, and arrived in Hong Kong around 8pm (ish). By the time we got settled and had a group meeting, it was nearly 9.30p by the time we got into our room. Back downstairs at 7.30a, ran back over to the airport (connected to the hotel) to blog, then breakfast, another meeting, running and almost missing the connecting flight to Nanchang. We arrived yesterday (yesterday??? it seems like a lifetime ago…) at 1.45p. 2pm we were met by De, our most excellent guide, then a 45minute bus ride to the hotel. 3pm we were back in De’s room to drop off the fee to the orphanage, 4.30pm yesterday we officially became parents. Gracie was sleeping by 8.30p and we were by 9p. Matt and I were both up at 4.30am, and I did manage to fall back asleep for an hour before Gracie was up. Then, breakfast, meeting, snack, nap, our first outing to a store together, now we’re back. Gracie has just had lunch, and I am ready to crash. Tomorrow we continue paperwork, but at the various Chinese governmental offices, so, it will be an early day. We meet at 8am sharp, no strollers, and it’s off to the three governmental offices to get Gracie officially a part of the Donadio family and then get her exit Visa…

It’s cold and rainy out, and there are definitely two schools of thought by the locals on the girls being adopted by outsiders. Some have been very sweet, coming up to Gracie, talking with her, telling us how beautiful she is. Others just scowl. We’ve had several groups stop talking as we walk by and then we hear them talking as we pass. Gracie and I smile as we go by, and we have already figured out how to make her giggle and smile, so when most of the folks see that, they “turn that frown upside down…”. I really wish we had more toys for Gracie here, but in a few days we’ll be in warm Guangzhou for a few days, then back to Hong Kong, then the long, long flight home!

So, More Paperwork

Gracie woke up around 7:30 this morning. She pretty much slept through the night. She stirred a few times, but she fell right back asleep.

No poopy diaper yet.

We had breakfast with a bunch of the other families this morning in the hotel. The Chinese don’t really distinguish breakfast from other meals, so there were breakfast foods as well as food that we would associate with dinner.

Gracie at a lot at breakfast this morning. Note to self: the highchair both holds a child in one place and also keeps the dropped food from hitting the floor. Get a highchair at the next meal.

We had a meeting this morning and did more paperwork in preparation for three appointments we have tomorrow. Mainly, it was filling in our names and signing papers, but we also have to put our thumbprint next to each signature.

Tomorrow, the are appointments are:

1. We go to the Adoption Center and do the registration formalities for the adoption.

2. We then go to the notary office to notarize the adoption.

3. We go to the public security department to apply for Gracie’s passport.

We were told that all of the appointments will take up about three hours.

On Thursday we will get the notary papers back, and then on Friday we will get the passport. Once we have those we can travel to Guangzhou to start the process for the American side of the adoption.