Medical exam and shopping ~ round 2 (Monday, Feb 12)

This morning we again had to awaken our sleeping princess in order to get to breakfast and to the bus on time. We feel horrible waking her up, but at least she just looks at us kinda confused instead of wailing when we do. After filling up on a combo of American, European, and Chinese fare, we headed to Shamian Island to the Health Care Center of Guangdong International Travel.

When we walked inside there were tons of people and I remember thinking that this was gonna take a while. Then we noticed that there is a room just for adopted children. Luckily we were the first people there, so after filling out a few forms we were all seen rather quickly.

There were three stations. The first was ear, nose and throat checks. Kylie didn't mind the doctor checking out her nose, and did okay with one of the ears, but man did she scream when he put the "Popsicle stick" in her mouth to check her throat! After that we went to the weight and height station. She weighed in at 22.2 pounds and was 30 inches long. Funny that in our group of Guangdong babies she is the youngest and also the biggest... Last we went to the doctor who seemed to be checking her breathing, eyesight (he had her follow the pink kitty), and for any physical malformities ~ we weren't sure, he didn't speak a word of English, but he smiled alot and nodded his head with what seemed to be satisfaction as he wrote down the Chinese symbols on her report.

After a clean bill of health we headed off to do some more shopping. We had a few things to pick up (a name stamp for Kylie and her name in beautiful Chinese lettering) and also a few more fun things including a white Chinese silk gown and matching shoes for the day she is dedicated in church. One other thing we decided to order is an etching of our family on black granite. We took them two photos one of our family before Kylie (yes, Maya dear is included!) and this one of Kyile. They will merge the two images on the granite, it is really a neat art!



Then we met up with several of the families for lunch at Lucy's. I again got the grilled cheese sandwich, wow was it good (almost as good as grilled cheese at your house Mama!). Little Caroline enjoyed her first onion ring. We are trying to get her to teach Kylie a few things about eating, Kylie still refuses to eat anything that doesn't come out of her bottle. Oh well, at least that gives us a little more "baby" time with her.
Baby Kristin's family also ate at our table. Her big sister SuSu sure has been excited about being in China! We especially hope to keep in touch with Kristin's family because she and Kylie were roommates.


Right after lunch we went into the park for some photo opportunities. We haven't been getting as many chances to get family pictures taken. Kylie wasn't too thrilled about the photo shoot, but we think she is adorable anyway. Of course as soon as we finished with the family pictures she got all giggly. I think that this laughing shot is my favorite that we've taken so far!






Then we decided to capture her with baby Caroline. Caroline's mommy Cindy is a serious "shutterbug" and we had fun being baby paparazzi on the two girls. The entire series is a hoot!













And of course for our "lost in translation" sign collection... I think we will repost all of the funny ones we've seen in one entry when we get home. Some are really close, some have just one or two minor misspellings, and then there are those like this one...








Next order of business, to enter the legendary White Swan Hotel and strip our girls out of their American clothes and don their Chinese silk to take pictures on the red couch. Of course there are about 20 red couches in the lobby, but they are all the same, so we just picked one that was deserted and ignored the signs saying "hotel guests only." The red couch picture is a Chinese adoptive tradition that is important! Sadly only 7 of the Guangdong families stayed on the Island late enough for the picture, so we are missing Hallie, Nellie, Darby, and Grace.

Kylie usually hates being changed, but she began cooing when she felt the silk on her skin. I'm thinking that we have a girl with expensive taste on our hands. She just kept rubbing her hands on her dress and proudly walking about as we waited for the other girls to finish getting dressed.



Despite the fact that we had 7 little girls to contend with, they did a great job for the 5 minutes or so that we had them sitting there. I bet that between the 7 parent sets we blew through somewhere around 400 shots ~ thank goodness for digital!!! This was the cutest one we got where all the babies are looking the same direction. They are Caroline, Marisa, Kylie, Kristin, Olivia, Sarah and Lottie. Aren't they beautiful?

After the big picture, we decided to get one of the group 227 babies that were there. We captured a few cute ones before all mayhem broke out. Yes, that is my child tackling Marisa while Caroline's older sister strong-arms her and Lottie is checking out the action. We also got one of the "Carolina girls" as Lottie and her family live in Raleigh.



Then it was back to shopping. After the red couch madness, Kylie was conked out and slept for a while in the carrier. Ian and I were walking down the street hand in hand when her little arm dropped and her hand piled on top. How cool and sweet it is to finally be a family of three. Oh, we also thought it was cool that people in China really do play Chinese checkers. Wonder if they just call them checkers here?






We wandered along the Pearl River for a while. I found myself looking out over the water and wondering if her hometown was on the banks of this great river of China. I pray that the woman that gave her birth knows a peace. I am so grateful to a woman that I will never even have the opportunity to meet...




Another thing we have begun to realize is that China has two faces. There is the more fancy side you see from the street that seems modern. Then you can simply step through an ally-way and be transported to a whole other China. This courtyard shows that pretty well. I will blog more about that later, we are going to do some exploring of side streets tomorrow on a free day.

And then of course you can never step too far from the American influence... The Colonel meets the far East! After the metro ride back from Shamian Island we decided to call it an evening. Ian and I ordered room service, let Kylie play on the floor while we ate, gave her a bath and put her to bed around 7:30. We didn't make it much longer...