See you next week Grandmas, Aunt, & Uncle!

Thursday (February 8th) started early! Kylie woke up for the first time through the night at about 4:45 and wanted her bottle. (The information we got from the SWI said that she often sleeps through the 4am feeding if she eats a lot before bed. Wednesday night she only took about 4 ounces of formula, so we were pretty sure it was coming).

Then we stayed up to see Mama, Traci, Adam, and Ian's mom off. It was hard to see them go even though we know we will see them at the airport next Friday night and will have Sunday afternoon at Mama's with them all. Kylie was distressed about the bags and people leaving ~ we tend to think that just because they are babies that they don't know about the change going on around them. Once again I want to express my extreme gratitude to them for sacrificing a week of vacation and lots of money to come be with us during this very special time in our lives!

For whatever reason, Kylie didn't feel led to go back to sleep, so finally we gave up and had some family play time in the bed. She really makes the funniest faces sometimes!
Finally we decided to get moving on the day. After all, we were supposed to be in the lobby at 9:30 for a group trip to the zoo. (Yes, we have those in the states too, but being with our new friends is really nice, and besides, you can see pandas in their home country here!)

Before we left we decided to photodocument the beautiful flowers Aunt Traci and Uncle Adam bought us on Tuesday to celebrate Adoption Day! Thanks guys, you can see Kylie loves them!

After filling our stomachs on plenty of Western food ~ I declare the bacon tastes better here than at home ~ and a few Chinese items as well ~ the BBQ pork dumplings rock ~ we loaded up on the bus. You'll notice I'm standing in the picture, Kylie isn't extremely fond of sitting in tight spaces. Man, that 14 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago should be fun next week. You can also see new friends from Raleigh, baby Lottie, Shannon, and Battle.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Guangzhou is a city of 10 million people. China really has some pollution issues, so Guangzhou is improving their public transportation. Amy pointed out the construction on a new subway stop. She said that currently the city has 3 subway lines and is scheduled to have 10 by 2009. How many years do you think it would take us to add 7 subway lines in Charlotte? With the rate of construction on I-485, I'm guessing about 25!

As she's done several times now, Kylie sacked out on the bus. I had no sooner taken her out of the carrier to move her around a bit and she became a sack of potatoes ~ a 22 pound sack I may add, my biceps are gonna be huge! And she is her mama's girl, I usually fall asleep in the car...

Anyway, after managing to get a sleeping baby back into a carrier, we headed into the zoo. Here's a shot of the happy family.

Remember the whole "lost in translation" sign collection?
















As you can see, Kylie really enjoyed the first 45 minutes of the zoo. Luckily those were mostly animals that we have at home too ~ except for the giant rat thing...

In case I hadn't mentioned it before, it is pretty darn HOT here. Combine the outside heat with having furnace baby strapped to your chest, and you get a bit sweaty. Shannon and Battle decided to carry Lottie for a little while and offered to let Kylie try out Lottie's stroller. At first she wasn't too sure, but when we started moving she loved it! Then daddy decided it was playtime. Notice how she is getting playful back with him. It's a slow process, but she is starting to trust and even have fun with us.

Have a coke and a smile... she's starting on the caffeine early! No Mama, we didn't let her have any! She wouldn't have swallowed it anyway, it was cooled down to room temperature. She likes her liquids HOT!

And here you'll just have to indulge me for a minute. I love close up shots of children anyway, and now I have a beautiful girl to zoom in on. I thought that these two were priceless as they capture bits of the personality she is beginning to share with us. Oh, man, I'm in love!!!!






In the Chinese zodiac, Kylie was born in the year of the dog. Dog people, according to Wikipedia, are "loyal with a capital "L". He is the one who people are most likely to turn to when they need help. The dog person will come through every time. That is because he/she is sensitive to others and empathizes with them, particularly if someone has suffered an injustice; he/she reacts quickly with the same feeling as though he/she had been personally offended. Friends know that they can rely upon their Dog friend to keep a promise or remain cool in a crisis. Dog types are honest, intelligent and straightforward. They will take on any responsibility that is given to them and you can be sure that they will do their job well." Now of course we don't really believe in the zodiac, but the Chinese people really do, and it is fun to see what characteristics they think that those born in the year of the dog have. At any rate, here is Kylie (not so happy) at the dog statue.
Then it was lunch time. Yes, as much as I LOVE almost all Asian foods, we fell into the American mentality and had Pizza Hut for lunch. I will say that after close to a week of eating mostly ~ delicious mind you ~ stir fry dishes and rice, pizza tasted pretty darn good. Then Ian and I headed downstairs to the golden arches to top it off with a milkshake. I declare vanilla milkshakes have never tasted so gourmet!

When we finally got back to the room, Kylie had had enough! She was hot, tired (remember she got up really early and didn't fall back asleep except for her sweaty nap) and she was not feeling well. And to top it off, we had to move rooms since our family left. Fortunately Battle decided to donate a bit of his time to help Ian bring the suitcases down whlie I tried to soothe Kylie to sleep.

**I just must add in a note here to the Mama, Traci, Adam, and Kathy ~ we hated to see you go, but in the words of George Jefferson, "We're moving on up!" Our next room was one of the ones that has been renovated. The walls are white, the carpet is plush, and the windows are huge. We also have a washer/dryer! We'll video it for you to see how nice it is ~ Mama, remember how bright Amy's room looked?

Anyway, I took about an hour nap with Kylie on my chest and woke up so sweaty that I put her in her crib. Ian then decided to nap as well, and our little girl slept for almost 4 hours. I think she will do just fine for Sunday naps at Mama's! After she finally got up feeling much better, we wandered through the hotel for a little while to find some food. We found ourselves handing our baby over to an insistant shop worker who just wanted to hold Kylie.

We finally ended up with cheeseburgers from McDonald's next door (everything else was going to take too long ~ Kylie and Ian had slept until around 6pm) and went to Battle and Shannon's room for a playdate with Lottie. Before we knew it, Caroline's family and Marisa's family had joined us too! The girls sat near one another and passed (or in Kylie's case ~ grabbed) toys back and forth.
Here Marisa and Kylie were "sharing" a few little toys.

It was a lovely evening and we plan to have more playdates as the days go by. Despite the fact that Kylie slept so long, she went to bed like a champ! Ahh, the joy of sleeping babies!