Day 5

So, we were able to ask a plethora of questions to Addison's orphanage caretakers yesterday about her likes, dislikes, habits, etc. One thing stood out to me...the caretakers claimed she loves to nap and she sleeps straight through the night, 10pm to 8am. Well people, there is truth in advertising, the girl napped for three hours and slept straight through the night. Robin and I actually had to wake her for breakfast!!! (I just knocked on wood 100 times!!!) Speaking of breakfast, the girl put on an eating display-- one whole banana, congee with egg mixed in and bread. AJ can put it away!!! (just like her mommy! hahaha...i will pay for that one) After breakfast, the first poopy diaper was changed (go mommy!!!--although I handed her the powder and carried the thing to the trash (Ba Ba rocks). After the change, we went to the Chinese Provisional Officer for more paperwork, followed by a trip to the Chinese Walmart for some essentials-- bottled water, lotions, diapers and powder for AJ, dates for Robin (she is hooked on these things, and they keep her regular!!!...i will pay for this comment as well). Robin also begged our guide Elvin to take her to Starbucks for a caramel frap, and being the cool guide he is, Elvin obliged. Robin panicked when finishing the frap, fearing that the frap was made with regular Chinese water (hello bacteria), but Elvin assured her that Starbucks uses purified water (I begged Elviin to tell her she was going to experience stomach pain like never before, and he was tempted...but to no avail) A little blurb now about Guangzhou... it is very, very hot and humid. Very similar to Florida, except hotter...and more humid!!! It is also very clean, no doubt due in part to the fact that the Asian Games (like the US World Championships) are coming to Guangzhou in the fall. Lunch for AJ consisted of steamed rice. Quick AJ fact...the girl drools...allot, due in most part to her cleft, so we are always carrying around tissues. Although it is a cute drool, Robin and I have very wet shirts. We had our first family night out to dinner, and we went to Lucy's (also known as the house that Tony Linen built) where they have a wide array of American style food. Hello cheeseburger and fries!! We will go back to our Asian ways of eating tomorrow. After dinner, we went to get AJ some sandals, a special kind of sandal called the squeaky shoe, which obviously squeeks every time a step is taken, thus motivating the child to walk. AJ is just plain cruising around. She is such a sweet baby --very loving, very laid back and extremely inquisitive...she needs to know everything that is going on around her. She is just smitten with Robin, and is slowly getting used to me. After having all female caretakers for the past 19 months, it is very hard adjusting to a male, especially one who ate half of her cupcake yesterday (I know I told you I only had a small piece...but I lied!!!!) I have been attempting to bond with her through food, so I have been feeding her often. I also watched some finding Nemo with her (thank you Howie and Jill) on the portable DVD player that the Hulmes family told us we must take with us (Lifesaver guys!!! we owe you big!!) She is just transfixed by that thing. We bought her a couple of Chinese cartoon dvd's as well as a chinese lullaby dvd for tonight. Ok, enjoy the pictures and I will check back tomorrow! Keep the comments coming!!

Day 4...Gotcha Day

Although we were not due to be picked up by our guide until 2:00, Robin and I awoke at 6am, very anxious!! We decided to calm our nerves with a workout followed by a tour of the town. The workout facility was truly first class, as is the case with this entire hotel. It is truly unbelievable. While walking the town, we decided to stroll along the Pearl River, where we saw so many people practicing martial arts, doing yoga and meditating. When we finally calmed our nerves, we ate breakfast (even better than Beijing Hotel...and Linda, they had seven different flavors of preserves/jelly packets...I obviously stuffed my pockets and have been on a jelly high ever since). After returning to our rooms, showering, and getting our paperwork in order, we were picked up by our guide Elvin, who is truly a great guy, and the only Chinaman I know who speaks with an Australian accent. Seriously. It is hilarious. We drove fifteen minutes, did a bit more paperwork, and finally, at about 2:30 pm, we were handed our daughter, Addison Jade Huilin Roberts. Now, we took plenty of pictures and video, so I will not even attempt to explain the emotions, excitement, etc. that was happening in that room. There were about twenty families in the room, so it was just one big love fest. Addison came with three caretakers from her orphanage about three hours away. Her orphanage has 30 kids in it. Addison had her own crib and slept in a room with eight other kids. Unfortunately, the orphanage is not military run, therefore she IS NOT POTTY trained. Damn!!!!!!!! Her daily diet consists of Rice, congee (sp? basically rice, boiled extra long, with 4x the water to rice mix) and formula, with an occasional piece of fruit and bread. The girl is definitely not skinny and seems very healthy. Her caretakers raved about her and, although heartbroken to see her leave, they were happy to give her to a loving couple. Addison took to Robin right away...my heart just melted. She is such a natural mom!!!! Oh, and I almost forgot...Addison began to cry and the one caretakers broke out a cupcake and just like that, the water works were gone!! Is this my freakin' kid or what :) Although the cupcake was not iced(and seemed a bit dry for my liking...ok, i admit it, i took a little piece), I told Addison that daddy will teach her the finer points of buttercream icing!!Ok, to wrap up, we took her back to the hotel, gave her a bath (with me in swim trunks helping the cause) and changed her into her lady bug pajamas. She was not a big fan of the bath, but her caretakers did say she loves water. After bath time, I went and fetched her some steamed rice, Robin and I fed her, and she fell asleep on Robin's chest. Once again, the heart melted!!! Robin will be posting pictures shortly, so stay tuned. What a day!!!!! Now, if you will excuse me, I am off to find a cupcake (don't worry, I will share!!!) Until tomorrow my friends!!

Look at pictures from bottom up:-)

Day 3 Pictures

Day 3

So, our last day in Beijing was very enjoyable. We toured Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City. We also had a delicious dim sum lunch. What was unique about the lunch was the fact that we were seated 10 feet away from a Chinese wedding reception. Funny thing about this Chinese wedding reception...all of the music consisted of American pop hits. Now, half of the people at the reception had no idea that the baseball cap I was wearing was a Pittsburgh Pirates cap (I really don't think the citizens of China truly believe that Pittsburgh currently has a professional baseball team...so sad... and two members of the wedding party had no clue who Willie "pops" Stargell was), but all of them could sing along to the Jonas Brothers, Beyonce, and Eminem. Strange. Also, the adventures of the Jade Princess, Robin Roberts, continued. Here in Beijing, females must, more often than not, use what is called a "squatty potty" which is pretty much a flat hole where the female has to squat, very low, to pee, followed by throwing the toilet paper in the garbage. Well, Robin has continued to forget her toilet paper and she has peed with such force that she has experienced the splash effect on her feet...pretty much every time. Blahhhhhhh. We finally said goodbye to Beijing and hopped on China Southern air for our three hour flight to Guangzhou, where we checked into the gorgeous White Swan Hotel, located on the Pearl River. The weather here is pretty similar to Florida, very hot and very humid. Being that Guangzhou is the trade capital of China, many people here speak English, which is nice. Finally, and most importantly, we will be leaving the hotel at 2:00 tomorrow and should have Addison in our hands by 2:30. We are sooooooooo very excited. We wish we could bring her right home, but we still have 11 days to go. We REALLY miss our dog JAZ, so keep posting us updates Sue! And Linen family, where did you go in Guangzhou for the noodle soup? That is all for now...can't wait to show you new pictures of Addison, with mom and Ba Ba (that's dad...not shit!!!)

Day 2

After a surprisingly great night of sleep (The beds are very, very hard) we ventured to the free breakfast buffet, and it was phenomenal! The key word here is Free, because when we finished breakfast, we went to the Jade factory, where Robin Roberts was made an honorary stockholder for all of the Jade she purchased. Seriously. After we heard a lecture on the three different qualities of Jade, and why you should only buy Jade A, which is top quality, Robin proceeded to be on her Jade A game. After the employees gave Robin a standing ovation, we boarded our van and headed to the Great Wall of China. Now, one of our guides, Vanessa, is a complete ball buster, and she was teaching us the four different tones of the Chinese language. Certain words said in certain tones mean different things. Ba Ba said in one tone means "father" and said in another tone means "shit." So, when Addison gets perturbed with Daddy, she best not drop Ba Ba in the wrong tone!!! The Great Wall of China...WOW!!!!! Although very, very, very crowded (mostly Chinese, but a nice number of Americans, Dutchman and some pretty freaky Iranian girls) it was truly mesmerizing...and steep. We walked about two miles and the legs were BURNING (note to Jason Hamilton: You probably would have stopped at least five times to rest you little Nancy boy!!) Anyway, I really do not have the words to describe how incredible it was. After leaving the wall, we went to the Summer Palace, complete with man made lake and man made mountain, where royalty goes to vacation. It was very nice, but not even close to the shock and awe that was the great wall. Our final stop of the evening was for the famous Beijing Roast Duck Dinner. The chef carved the duck right in front of us, then had us try a piece of skin, which we dipped in salt. It was damn good!! Robin again passed on eating the head, but she did eat some breast of duck wrapped in a pancake. Very impressive for her. For the first time ever, she also ate a date. Note to Robin's mom Shelly, the girl is 37 years old, has lived in Europe, and the first date she ate was in freakin China?? What, are Dates not Kosher?? Ok, it is midnight, and we have another long day tomorrow, complete with sightseeing and a three hour flight to Guangzhou. Until tomorrow!


NOTE ADDED PICTURES TO DAY 1` COMPUTER IS SLOW SO IT TAKES FOREVER TO UPLOAD TO BLOG...HENCE THE SMALL AMOUNT.

Day 1

We are in China!! The eagle has landed, so to speak. After over 14 hours in the air, (yes, I was/still am dying from sitting that long)our guide, Mrs. Li and our driver, Mr. Chung, safely delivered us to the Beijing Hotel. We had exactly one hour to unpack before she picked us up and unleashed us on Wangfujing street, where we dined on chicken (of course with the head still on...Robin passed on that dish), rice noodles, scallops and jasmine tea. We just got back to our room and realized that we have been up for 28 hours straight. We are zombies. We have a 7am wake up call tomorrow when we will proceed to attack the Great Wall of China. Some interesting notes on the trip so far>>>
1) Robin may be the only blonde woman in China right now. The locals are transfixed with her. I may auction her off on a dinner/date to recoup some of our expenditures!
2) Seriously, I can barely sit through a two hour meeting, so the plane ride was pure torture!! I am sure we can multiply that torture by twenty on the return flight with little miss Addison...although I am confident that the Chinese military, who runs he orphanage, has taught her to meditate for extended periods of time.
3)I read the entire book "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" during the flight. A true classic!!
4)Robin's converter(Thanks Becky) for her hair straightener(Thanks for the Chi Amy Linen) actually worked so she will not have to
around China with 80's mall hair...too bad, I dig the 80's.

Ok, we have to get some sleep!!! Until tomorrow...Pictures to follow

Getting Ready

Excited for our little bundle of joy! We can't wait for her to see her new room!