Sleepless in Montreal

Well, its hit - the jetlag is just terrible. I think I have slept all of 1 hour tonight, and all I keep thinking is today is going to be hell as DH is back at work today and I will be with the K all day alone without a sane adult around. K by the way was up from about midnight till 3ish, playing quietly in her crib. Then she finally went to sleep but by that time I was wide awake with no possibility for falling asleep.

Finally, here are some pics from the trip:

Daddy's Gotcha moment

Posing for the camera, all in pink!

About to scale the Great Wall... you aren't a man, supposedly, until you have scaled it.
I guess K and I are now men!

Cheeerio break

Summer palace.. in the rain.

Well this is it...

About to go for our last dinner in Beijing. Almost all packed, and so ready to head home. Not looking forward to the flight, but as its the only way to get her home to her brothers there is no point in complaining about it. I wanted to travel light, but its just not happening for me - I wanted one backpack, but now I have mine and her's full of the stuff that she absolutely needs on a 12+ hr flight.

I am very tired, very much ready to see all your faces and to get some news (I can't see my blog nor the comments left), and to breath in the crisp Montreal air again. Beijing has been interesting, and thanks to my guide she found just the right mix of things for us to do. We went to a park today and just walked around, listening to the birds singing, the older folk dancing away in the middle of the square, watched little kids run around with bums showing, and just got some sun onto our faces. It was a good way to put an end to this adventure. I believe this is the hardest thing I have done, after Jacob's birth, and while words swirl in my head at night when I sit in front of the computer nothing comes out. I will feel better once I am at home, so till then, hang tight everyone ... I'm sorry I can't write more, but I am just completely drained and need to get the little one some food and to bed.

From China, this is the S&K show signing off. Zaijian!

I'm blogging, I'm blogging!

Well, it's finally come to this. The homebound husband is blogging. Yep, another first on this fortnight of many firsts.

Stefanie has asked me to say that she misses everyone terribly, and she's sorry she hasn't posted or emailed but she's been very busy. Since the last post, the doctor has been seen (nothing untoward found!), documentation has been delivered to the embassy, much tea has been drunk, and the Great Wall has been scaled.

On the medical side of things, little Miss 'Anmei measures 88cm long (in the 50th percentile) and 13kg (in the 75th percentile) and is quite healthy. The doctor told Stefanie that with the type of cleft she has, she can be prone to heart murmurs, but none were heard. We are all very relieved!

And our little girl is just full of surprises. She has started repeating Mama's french ("velo", "auto", for example) and, most amazingly "Kaitlynn 'Anmei"!

Stefanie told me of how when they started climbing the Great Wall, their guide stopped at the first tower, but Mama and 'Anmei kept on going. They were past the second tower and halfway up toward the third when Mama had put on the brakes and make a very determined little girl turn around and head back down. A quick study and strong willed. Are we ever in trouble...

After delivering documentation at the embassy yesterday, they went to a tea ceremony and sampled many, many teas. Unfortunately, as old age creeps up on me, the first thing to go is my memory, so you'll have to forgive me if I can't relate the details of which types of teas they tasted. Let's just say that Stef enjoyed herself immensely.

Now, on to the most important things: photos! Yep, Baba brought home the digital camera card and downloaded the photos from the first week to the computer. So, without further delay, here goes.

The first picture of Mama and daughter:


Mama sure knows how to dress her little girl:


'Anmei and Baba after climbing a long series of stairs up toward Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Memorial in Nanjing. Notice the spring in her step!


Mama, 'Anmei, and our Nanjing guide, Juliette, near the entrance to Confucious' Temple:


And finally a few photos we received from the orphanage director, showing 'Anmei with some of her friends. (Sorry for their blurry nature, but they are photos of photos. The originals are still with Stef in Beijing.)



Well, I think that's about enough for now. I don't want to exert myself too much the first time out. :-) And jetlag still has a firm grip on my sleeping patterns, so I should start thinking about getting some sleep (although thinking about sleeping and actually getting some sleep are two completely different concepts for me right now).

Needless to say, we are all anxiously waiting for a very special homecoming. As we say at home, "juste 4 do-dos" (and actually only 3 more, for those in Beijing and already in the middle of a Wednesday morning).

Greg

A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

Actual Post Time: 3:30 pm, Beijing

And I think I am step 2 now! DH just left to return home (Mom, the cavalry is on the way!) amongst many, many tears... and not from my Kaitlynn as she was fast asleep. I was quite beside myself upon his departure, and I using this blog to get myself out of this funk. Fear of the unknown is powerful, and seems to consume me these days. So bear with me while I cope.

We left Nanjing on Saturday, again with tears as we were leaving our wonderful guide Juliette. She was a joy the whole time and it was difficult to say Zaijian. The plane trip, shall we say, was a challenge. Kaitlynn has emerged from her shell and decided to get mad at Mama in the Beijing airport, and get mad at Baba in the washroom at thousands of feet over China, while he tried to change her soaked diaper and clothing (note to self, always change a diaper BEFORE you get on the plane!). Baba just got high pitched screaming where I got hitting and struggling and kicking. Very hard time, but I am glad that it has happened and we are now able to move on... I think. We were greated by our new guide, Raphaelle, who is bright and organized and cheery. We got wisked to our amazing hotel, which makes our hotel in Nanjing pale in comparaison. We finally gave in and ate Mcdonald's for the first time - Kaitlynn loves french fries!- and put her to bed at 6 pm and we were out by 7 pm, till 5ish this morning. The day was spent quietly, eating brunch, walking outside and getting ready for DH's departure.

As I said, Kaitlynn has been a joy - still quiet, but loves to play, eat, sleep (hot damn! seeing some other parents around us, we realize how lucky we are that we can get 10+ hrs of sleep if we want or need!) and be tickled! It was heartbreaking to watch her get so mad at me, but I held strong and spoke softly to her and held her till it passed.

This week hopefully will pass quickly as I miss DH horribly all ready. I miss my boys even more and can't believe how my heart is torn into pieces - one piece in China and the other back home.

Last day in Nanjing

Actual Time: 9:30 am Friday morning, Nanjing

What a beautiful child we have! She is a dream and a half. Calm, quiet, loves to play, loves her baba big time, giggle monster who loves to be tickled, loves to eat (oh my... time to get a third fridge, me thinks!), does not wake up well from naps and needs to slowly greet the day while looking at photos from the orphanage. Her sadess time is in the morning when she first wakes up, and sees us. We think she misses her friends horribly and so I have started giving her the photos of the orphanage staff and friends, and within 5 minutes she is telling us about the exploits with her and Mingxi - they seem to have been quite the couple! She loves wearing pretty things, and I have of course been obliging her :o) Our lovely guide Juliette exclaims every morning how beautiful Anmei is and you should see the lovely smile that comes across her face when she hears it. Baths are going well, and her skin and hair are lovely and soft - she has extremely thick hair, and our guide Juliette has exclaimed at how shiny it is. She smells like a baby, with the pudgy folds of a well loved child. The orphanage obviously treated her with love and kindness, and taught her many things (we often hear her singing nursery songs, counting to 5 in Mandarin and just jabbering away with much seriousness!).

We unfortunately could not visit the orphanage, nor her finding place. It seems that the orphanage is moving and that the road to it is under construction and hence its very difficult to get to it. The staff did take a full camera of pictures and reassured us that it would give us a good idea of what the orphanage was like and be a good keepsake for Kaitlynn. They did invite us back for a future visit.

On the flip side, the pollution is so thick here its constricting. We went into the mountains yesterday (Mausoleum) and what a good thing that was to do. The cold weather has arrived and you would thing that would help the pollution lift, but it actually makes it stay. There is a constant haze now, that blocks the sun - think of Blade Runner and you have a good idea of what the future holds for this lovely city... so sad.

The people are very curious about us, but they keep their distance. I am quite the center of the looks and some days its a bit harder than others. I am glad I brought my sunglasses to cover my eyes and give me some privacy!

We are a bit sad to be leaving Nanjing, one reason being that we must leave our lovely guide behind, Juliette (BTW, Leanne, Juliette extends a "Gros Bonjour" your way and speaks often of Taotao's exploits and his lovely and infectious disposition). She must stay in Nanjing to greet another family that arrives Saturday, and we fly off to Beijing having all the necessary paperwork done and in our hands. Like I said, Juliette is a joy to be with and she has taken us to a variety of lovely restaurants that have helped my poor stomach calm down. We have discovered the real Nanjing thanks to her, and she has brought Anmei out of herself on a couple of occasions... how special Juliette is, words fail me. We will miss her horribly when we set off tomorrow.