I talked to the little family in Nanjing tonight. At times it was hard to decipher what was being said to me because of the joyful noise Chunmei was making in the background, bubbling and chirping away. They had just come back to their room after eating breakfast downstairs and were heading out to tend to legal matters, according to daddy.
Stefanie asked if I would pass on a few current bits of information as there have been technical issues accessing the internet for nearly 48hrs.
They spoke of feeling blessed that Chunmei is healthy, intelligent, beautiful and such an easy-going baby. Stefanie and her St. Greg are actually able to greet the day in a leisurely, civil fashion, drinking coffee and showering because Chunmei takes an hour to wake up!
Monday they went shopping for shoes but found only one pair that almost fit her, an EU size 24 while Stefanie thinks she is more likely a 23, Cdn 6.5 or 7. Somehow they heard that we had a major winter storm here today, as reports were that 35" fell on Massachusetts, so a worried mommy wants me to go out and buy little winter boots. I don't even have time to check the weather these days. I think I would have noticed 35".
They have taken some wonderful photos which they will have to post from home. One photo she especially likes shows the orphanage director posed with two nannies holding Chunmei, and Mingxi, who is also doing well.
Tuesday the little group went to the Confucious temple to play in a park and mingle with everyday Chinese, relaxing and enjoying their wonderful, natural spaces. The hotel where they are staying is in a livelier, more upscale commercial district.
Stefanie's tummy has been something of a challenge and she is guessing the fishy smells that seem to abound are sparking her seafood allergy; however, she wisely chose to pack oatmeal in her luggage so looks to her comfort food of choice to keep the inner turbulence under control.
So, now you're up to date. *smile*
Stefanie's mom
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Hush, now....
I see a light in the sky
Oh, it's almost blinding me
I can't believe
I've been touched by an angel with love
Oh, it's almost blinding me
I can't believe
I've been touched by an angel with love
~c.dion
Monday, November 5, 2007
She's Got Us!
Actul Post Time: November 5 2007 8 pm, Nanjing Time
WHAT A DAY THIS HAS BEEN! I so wish we could figure out how to get pictures on line for you all to see this little (hmpf) munchkin, who is now our daughter.... she is just wonderful, to put it mildly. I will recap the day's events first:
We woke up at about 6:30 am, before the 7 am alarm (!). I slept really well last night, thanks to the Melatonin, but DH didn't this time. We were so jazzed to get up and go that we were ready about 45 minutes before we had to leave. Our wonderful guide, Juliette, met us at 9:30 am while trying to get a hold of our driver... who was sleeping in the bus, in front of the hotel. It was slightly comical, as he raced around half awake getting us into his bus (its more a minivan, but they call it a bus). We then sped off from the hotel, dashing through insane traffic (DH called it The Chaos theory: there is order in the chaos, we just can't see it! As a mathematician, who has studied Chaos theory, I loved his analogy, especially coming from a physicist... they all believe, my DH included, that physics is THE science to study, not math... but I digress into an ongoing argument between us). 15 minutes into this drive through Nanjing streets, Juliette on the phone with this person and that person (the kids had arrived!), the driver driving franctically while calling this person and that person on his cell phone, the driver jumps out of our bus and starts talking to a cabby. Juliette finally confirms that the driver is lost and does not know how to take us to Civil Affairs. Ahhhhhh, lovely... the mantra that Formons has taught us came in handy "Stay calm, be pleasant and patient." Over four lanes of heavy traffic, our driver does a U turn, heads back the way we came and then somehow gets us to where we have to go and I have no clue how he did it. Juliette in the meantime is pointing out how beautiful some of the trees are. The driver then tries to pull up to the entrance, but the guy in charge of parking stands in front of our bus and they start arguing. Our driver says something to the effect of "in your face, I am going forward" and continues forward until he drops us off at the door (the parking guy is fine, he got out of the way.. eventually).
We jump out of the bus, grap our stuff and follow Juliette inside. She then turns left very quickly and then walks into this office, and there is Kaitlynn Chunmei (with a friend)! Oh my, oh my... here we thought we had to sign this and that paper and then we would see our daughter, but no, here she was. I immediately got down to 2 yr old level (on my knees), and started saying "Ni hao, ni hao Chunmei" and she just looked at me with those beautiful brown eyes. The nanny with her got her to say "Ni hao mama" and then grap my fingers. She then said "Ni hao baba". She then backed away, a little scared of what she had just done (poor baby). The nanny then distracted her by breaking into song and dance, which put a big smile on her face. The rest is a bit of blur for me, but somehow she ended up glued to DH and refused to go to anyone else for over 2 hours, and this during our picture taking too ( she was not pleased with this in the least). We got a chance to meet the Orphanage Director, the Maitren of the nanny's and one of the two nanny's who looked after Chunmei. We presented our gifts to everyone, and got "Thank You" from them all (in English). Thank Heaven's I had extra ones, cause I didn't expect so many people! We got a chance to ask a few questions (is she potty trained? Yes, but she wears a diaper, and we are supposed to ask her every hour if she has to go... to which DH queried, how are we supposed to ask her?, what does she eat? everything... more on this later, does she nap? yes after lunch... then it was broken off and explained that we would have a chance to ask more questions tomorrow).
Headed back to the hotel, which was a complete blur. In the room, she clung to DH for at least 2 hours, and then slowly, ever so slowly, she started to play. Then she sat with me and let me hold her and feed her. She was in three layers, and we wanted to get her cooled down - not something she wanted to do, but we finally got the sweater off, and then when she understood that she could hold it, she relaxed. We then got the other two layers off, which were drenched in sweat (poor thing) and into some PINK PJ's.. which she could not get over. She kept looking at the clasps and then at her tummy! She then played quietly, immitating things I would do, but not saying a word. Oh, I should explain that the nanny told Juliette that Chunmei (or Anmei, as she was called in the orphanage) is very outgoing and full of life which we were not seeing. So, then Juliette come over to our room at 3 pm, and started playing with her... and we saw the real Chunmei burst out! What a character she has - I told you Colette, I saw character in her visa pics... she has tonnes of it. She giggles when you tickle her, and lets out these big guffaws when she does something funny. She is stacking sponges now perfectly, as she figured out that if she squeeshes them together they stay put. She loves books, and asks all sorts of questions about what is pictured. She can say Zorro's name when she sees his pictures! We are working on the boys names.
We went down for the buffet dinner, and boy does she eat well. So we have eat, poop (yes, she pooped... and the hardware is the required kind for HER!), and now she is asleep! She is devine, sturdy (she must weigh over 30 lbs.. 24 mths clothing "just" fits, I would get her more 2 or even 3's - no news on shoes yet - she has on a pair that says "25", but I think they are too big for her - I saw a pair of magic dancing shoes yesterday, which are pink and sparkly all over that we will go and get tomorrow afternoon), a joy, intelligent, funny, loves her daddy very much, and just wonders at me. The nannies have prepared her well for her new life - she all ready calls us mama and baba, anmei ma which I believe means we are hers... we certainly are!
I am in seventh heaven... and DH is fast asleep :o)
WHAT A DAY THIS HAS BEEN! I so wish we could figure out how to get pictures on line for you all to see this little (hmpf) munchkin, who is now our daughter.... she is just wonderful, to put it mildly. I will recap the day's events first:
We woke up at about 6:30 am, before the 7 am alarm (!). I slept really well last night, thanks to the Melatonin, but DH didn't this time. We were so jazzed to get up and go that we were ready about 45 minutes before we had to leave. Our wonderful guide, Juliette, met us at 9:30 am while trying to get a hold of our driver... who was sleeping in the bus, in front of the hotel. It was slightly comical, as he raced around half awake getting us into his bus (its more a minivan, but they call it a bus). We then sped off from the hotel, dashing through insane traffic (DH called it The Chaos theory: there is order in the chaos, we just can't see it! As a mathematician, who has studied Chaos theory, I loved his analogy, especially coming from a physicist... they all believe, my DH included, that physics is THE science to study, not math... but I digress into an ongoing argument between us). 15 minutes into this drive through Nanjing streets, Juliette on the phone with this person and that person (the kids had arrived!), the driver driving franctically while calling this person and that person on his cell phone, the driver jumps out of our bus and starts talking to a cabby. Juliette finally confirms that the driver is lost and does not know how to take us to Civil Affairs. Ahhhhhh, lovely... the mantra that Formons has taught us came in handy "Stay calm, be pleasant and patient." Over four lanes of heavy traffic, our driver does a U turn, heads back the way we came and then somehow gets us to where we have to go and I have no clue how he did it. Juliette in the meantime is pointing out how beautiful some of the trees are. The driver then tries to pull up to the entrance, but the guy in charge of parking stands in front of our bus and they start arguing. Our driver says something to the effect of "in your face, I am going forward" and continues forward until he drops us off at the door (the parking guy is fine, he got out of the way.. eventually).
We jump out of the bus, grap our stuff and follow Juliette inside. She then turns left very quickly and then walks into this office, and there is Kaitlynn Chunmei (with a friend)! Oh my, oh my... here we thought we had to sign this and that paper and then we would see our daughter, but no, here she was. I immediately got down to 2 yr old level (on my knees), and started saying "Ni hao, ni hao Chunmei" and she just looked at me with those beautiful brown eyes. The nanny with her got her to say "Ni hao mama" and then grap my fingers. She then said "Ni hao baba". She then backed away, a little scared of what she had just done (poor baby). The nanny then distracted her by breaking into song and dance, which put a big smile on her face. The rest is a bit of blur for me, but somehow she ended up glued to DH and refused to go to anyone else for over 2 hours, and this during our picture taking too ( she was not pleased with this in the least). We got a chance to meet the Orphanage Director, the Maitren of the nanny's and one of the two nanny's who looked after Chunmei. We presented our gifts to everyone, and got "Thank You" from them all (in English). Thank Heaven's I had extra ones, cause I didn't expect so many people! We got a chance to ask a few questions (is she potty trained? Yes, but she wears a diaper, and we are supposed to ask her every hour if she has to go... to which DH queried, how are we supposed to ask her?, what does she eat? everything... more on this later, does she nap? yes after lunch... then it was broken off and explained that we would have a chance to ask more questions tomorrow).
Headed back to the hotel, which was a complete blur. In the room, she clung to DH for at least 2 hours, and then slowly, ever so slowly, she started to play. Then she sat with me and let me hold her and feed her. She was in three layers, and we wanted to get her cooled down - not something she wanted to do, but we finally got the sweater off, and then when she understood that she could hold it, she relaxed. We then got the other two layers off, which were drenched in sweat (poor thing) and into some PINK PJ's.. which she could not get over. She kept looking at the clasps and then at her tummy! She then played quietly, immitating things I would do, but not saying a word. Oh, I should explain that the nanny told Juliette that Chunmei (or Anmei, as she was called in the orphanage) is very outgoing and full of life which we were not seeing. So, then Juliette come over to our room at 3 pm, and started playing with her... and we saw the real Chunmei burst out! What a character she has - I told you Colette, I saw character in her visa pics... she has tonnes of it. She giggles when you tickle her, and lets out these big guffaws when she does something funny. She is stacking sponges now perfectly, as she figured out that if she squeeshes them together they stay put. She loves books, and asks all sorts of questions about what is pictured. She can say Zorro's name when she sees his pictures! We are working on the boys names.
We went down for the buffet dinner, and boy does she eat well. So we have eat, poop (yes, she pooped... and the hardware is the required kind for HER!), and now she is asleep! She is devine, sturdy (she must weigh over 30 lbs.. 24 mths clothing "just" fits, I would get her more 2 or even 3's - no news on shoes yet - she has on a pair that says "25", but I think they are too big for her - I saw a pair of magic dancing shoes yesterday, which are pink and sparkly all over that we will go and get tomorrow afternoon), a joy, intelligent, funny, loves her daddy very much, and just wonders at me. The nannies have prepared her well for her new life - she all ready calls us mama and baba, anmei ma which I believe means we are hers... we certainly are!
I am in seventh heaven... and DH is fast asleep :o)
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Adrift in a Broken Time Zone
I was just about to post my message below when I noted a first report from the road! I could re-write but I have an early morning so I'll leave it as is, redundancy and all.
They arrived in Nanjing Friday exhausted but exhilarated, dropped their luggage and called immediately to reassure themselves that we were all well They reported that it had been a long, draggy flight broken up by 5 hours standing first on one foot, then the other in the Beijing airport. The adrenaline that had kept them ticking away through their final days at work, final re-packing and weighing challenges, as well as the demands of Hallowe'en (Stefanie commented, “Yup, that's all that was missing.”) had by now left them and with assurance from me that we are alive and happy, they were ready to lie down and sleep.
Unfortunately for all of us, most of the first conversation was taken up addressing a computer issue. Think of it: on the other side of the world and at considerable expense, Greg invoked his trouble-shooting skills so we could all communicate. I've not used a Mac since '85 and everything looks different from my PC at home. This was much bigger issue, however. It was a network gone wonky.
This morning as we enjoying a raucous breakfast preparing for several over-lapping hockey games, the second call came: Stefanie and St. Greg (you saw those randomly placed polka dots, right?) had walked around the main streets near their Nanjing hotel and both had slept for 13hrs-plus, They were beginning to feel ready for the next phase. There was a possibility that today could have been Kaitlynn's “Gothca' Day,” however I have not heard from them so cannot confirm. Perhaps they are just too busy holding their little daughter close, to write.
The three boyos are very active. I didn't have any boys so these past few days have been, ...erm, life in some parallel universe? Though I know downtown Montreal well, the South Shore is uncharted territory. I got lost the first day going to and from the Space Agency where the baby stays most days and, furthermore, it takes much longer to do anything in a large, cosmopolitan city. Garbage is separated into different piles from where I live. Remember all those packing materials from the last shopping trips to Ikea? And the water taps are reversed, as they could be in Australia so I take particular care starting the hot water to bathe the guys.
Does anyone know if Zorro is allowed to sleep on the sofa or where the bathing suits are for our early morning lesson tomorrow? I'd be grateful to hear from you.
Stefanie's mom
They arrived in Nanjing Friday exhausted but exhilarated, dropped their luggage and called immediately to reassure themselves that we were all well They reported that it had been a long, draggy flight broken up by 5 hours standing first on one foot, then the other in the Beijing airport. The adrenaline that had kept them ticking away through their final days at work, final re-packing and weighing challenges, as well as the demands of Hallowe'en (Stefanie commented, “Yup, that's all that was missing.”) had by now left them and with assurance from me that we are alive and happy, they were ready to lie down and sleep.
Unfortunately for all of us, most of the first conversation was taken up addressing a computer issue. Think of it: on the other side of the world and at considerable expense, Greg invoked his trouble-shooting skills so we could all communicate. I've not used a Mac since '85 and everything looks different from my PC at home. This was much bigger issue, however. It was a network gone wonky.
This morning as we enjoying a raucous breakfast preparing for several over-lapping hockey games, the second call came: Stefanie and St. Greg (you saw those randomly placed polka dots, right?) had walked around the main streets near their Nanjing hotel and both had slept for 13hrs-plus, They were beginning to feel ready for the next phase. There was a possibility that today could have been Kaitlynn's “Gothca' Day,” however I have not heard from them so cannot confirm. Perhaps they are just too busy holding their little daughter close, to write.
The three boyos are very active. I didn't have any boys so these past few days have been, ...erm, life in some parallel universe? Though I know downtown Montreal well, the South Shore is uncharted territory. I got lost the first day going to and from the Space Agency where the baby stays most days and, furthermore, it takes much longer to do anything in a large, cosmopolitan city. Garbage is separated into different piles from where I live. Remember all those packing materials from the last shopping trips to Ikea? And the water taps are reversed, as they could be in Australia so I take particular care starting the hot water to bathe the guys.
Does anyone know if Zorro is allowed to sleep on the sofa or where the bathing suits are for our early morning lesson tomorrow? I'd be grateful to hear from you.
Stefanie's mom
Saturday, November 3, 2007
We are in Nanjing!
Well we made it after 30+ hours of travelling. Slept for 14 hrs or so yesterday, and last night I couldn't sleep. DH is doing just fine though.
Its beautiful in Nanjing. Very cosmopolitan, modern, lots of shops and very good prices. We went to Walmart to get diapers and we paid $3 for a pack of 16 diapers! We also found a couple of toys for Kaitlynn which we hope she will like.
Gotcha is tomorrow at 10 am, alone. The other couple that we were supposed to travel with never made it, and our guide is now on her way to meet us this afternoon (she was waiting in Shanghai to meet them while we had travelled directly from Beijing to Nanjing on Friday night). I am disappointed for Kaitlynn that she won't have a playmate while we go through this process, but we will try to find a park nearby - we appear to be in a concrete jungle, and its proving difficult to find grass! Any suggestions Karen?
Unfortunately, we won't be able to post pictures till we get back home, but I will try to keep posting every so often to let everyone know what is going on. If I can't get through, my mom will keep the posts going (good news: all children appear to still have their limbs attached and the dog is still with us, and my mom is doing a great job!)
Its beautiful in Nanjing. Very cosmopolitan, modern, lots of shops and very good prices. We went to Walmart to get diapers and we paid $3 for a pack of 16 diapers! We also found a couple of toys for Kaitlynn which we hope she will like.
Gotcha is tomorrow at 10 am, alone. The other couple that we were supposed to travel with never made it, and our guide is now on her way to meet us this afternoon (she was waiting in Shanghai to meet them while we had travelled directly from Beijing to Nanjing on Friday night). I am disappointed for Kaitlynn that she won't have a playmate while we go through this process, but we will try to find a park nearby - we appear to be in a concrete jungle, and its proving difficult to find grass! Any suggestions Karen?
Unfortunately, we won't be able to post pictures till we get back home, but I will try to keep posting every so often to let everyone know what is going on. If I can't get through, my mom will keep the posts going (good news: all children appear to still have their limbs attached and the dog is still with us, and my mom is doing a great job!)
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