First Surgery

Tomorrow is Ally's first surgery. We've been thru two separate MRI's, one lasting 4 hrs and the other 5 hrs. The short of it is that she needs to have further skull surgery to expand the base of the skull a bit as her brain is a little crowded. First thing though is that she will have her shunt looked at and if it's not working quite right they will fix that and call it a day. If it's working fine, then the skull work will be done. So that's the scoop for now. Will try and keep this updated over the next few days.
JB

Loose Change

Sorry for the lack of posts. Wicked busy!! I'll do a catch up post later, but thought I should post last nights story first.

So we are at Zack's game last night from about 5:35-8:00. I went early with all the kids and Jo came a little later. I had a nice little spot picked out right behind the backstop and all was good. Our team proceeded to play and look a bit like the bad news bears, and Zack just had an off night. Not to mention the other team seemed stacked with talent. The teams are drafted so it is possible to get some good teams and some bad. Our team does not seem to be very good. So I'm a little frustrated at all this but really, not my problem as it's not one of the two teams I coach. All the above is just to kinda set the tone. Oh yeah, I forgot, the ump who did an ok job started off shaky calling some strikes that I would need a ladder to get to. Seriously!!! So I'm not yelling at him or anything, I'm a mostly controlled sideline dad, other than giving the boys "the look" when they screw something up because they weren't paying attention. So once again, setting the tone with all the above. Ok, on with the real story. All thru the game BJ is begging to get something at the snack bar even to the point of telling me he brought his own money and we keep waving him away like he's a mosquito. He would hover like one though at times. Other times he was good and playing catch or something. So about the 5th inning he comes over and Beej, Seany and Ally are sitting around Jo on the ground and Beej is laying in her lap. Of course according to Ally that is her spot and she's not taking it well. So I think at some point Ally is getting a little pushy with Beej, but no biggy. A couple minutes later though, Beej goes into what we thought was a bit of a dramatic "I want to go home" little fit. This is a bit out of nowhere, and we are like "Knock it off, you are fine" He's saying now that he's got a tummy ache. Of course this is all some sort of drama and we are not buying it. I'm actually getting mad at him because he's being quite the whiny pansy. Full out fetal position laying in Jo's lap whimpering. Sounds a bit fake though and all out calling him out and giving him as much of an ear full as possible without making a scene. Well, he makes it through the game and Zack and I get ice cream while Jo takes everyone home. I get home later and Beej is in bed and seems fine. I guess he hit the bathroom and felt better. Still though, not normal for him. so Jo and I start watching TV and about an hour later, BJ comes down stairs which is totally not normal for him to have been asleep and then wake up and come down. So something is not right and of course now I'm feeling guilty cause I was all over him earlier. So he's doing the whimper cry again and it strikes me that maybe our oral fixation boy may have eaten something he found or put something in his mouth he shouldn't have at the game. I wouldn't put dumpster diving past him at the snack bar. So on a whim, I ask "Beej, did you put something in your mouth or eat something at the game you shouldn't have?" As i'm saying this I'm thinking, no he just has the stomach virus I had last week........but maybe, just maybe.......No response........"Beeej?, Did you?" (Beej-whimper voice) - "Yeeees" "What did you eat kiddo" i'm feeling sympathetic now and guilty for giving him so much crap. Here it comes..........(Beej-more whimper voice) "A quarter". Speechless. Awkward silence. Well, needless to say, we were much nicer to him after that. Turns out he really didn't have much of a stomach ache, he was just scared. Seriously scared. So we talked him down from the mental ledge he was on and assured him he wouldn't die. Turns out when Ally was displeased with him at the ball game she game him an unexpected push and he had a quarter in his mouth and accidentally swallowed it. He should be fine and we called the doc. He does have a new nickname though - Loose Change

"Phenomenal", "She made me nervous" and "Dear American Friends"

Hidee Ho Readers,

An interesting week. Ally continues to adjust and we continue to be amazed. The title of the blog today are about three different things that happened this week. Two were just moments that you catalog and hold onto. they may just be small things or more profound but regardless they just catch you by surprise. So first is "Phenomenal". Jo and I and Ally were talking with Dave, Mary, Alex, and Jack on Skype. For those that don't know, Skype is an internet program that allows you to verbally chat as well as video chat from computer to computer. While in China we used it twice a day to be able to see and talk to everyone here in the U.S. Sorry, got sidetracked. Anyway, we were Skyping with them to give a huge thanks to Alex for the wonderful gift that Alex gave to Ally, and at some point in the conversation one of said "Phenomenal". I don't know what we were referring to, but Ally piped right up and repeated it quite clearly. It wasn't perfect, but it was really clear. It was just one of those unexpected surprise moments where everyone looks at each other with that "Did she just say that?" look on their face. Like I say, we just cataloged that one away as funny and unexpected.

The next one is one I remembered from the ski trip this past Sunday. I was riding up the lift with Zack and thought I'd ask him what he thought so far about Ally. i encouraged him to say any negatives he felt along with the positives. He very quickly said there really weren't any negatives, except.....Uh oh I thought. But to my surprise he says, and I'm paraphrasing, the only down side was that the other night he couldn't find her in the house right away and looked all over for her. "I was really worried for a minute, she made me nervous" :) :) :) I had goggles on so he didn't notice my eyes get watery.....I said "Welcome to parenthood" and then explained to him that that feeling times 100 is what it's like to have kids and why we get so worried and nervous and mad sometimes. I think the light started to come in in his head. It was a great moment and one that illustrates just how much she means to him already. They all have moments like that, but as you know Zack is approaching the teens and I expect those moments will be soon kept inside. I hope not, but I remember how uncool it was to show feelings like that when I was a teen.

Lastly but certainly not least, was a letter we had translated today. I think I mentioned at one point that China does not allow contact with the foster family. I don't know all the reasons why but they are pretty strict about it. So that has led some foster families to get creative about things. Such was the case with Ally's foster family. By the way, she had a mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and 10 year old brother in her foster family. She lost a lot, and so did they. Well, on gotcha day when we undressed her many, many layers Jo noticed a sewn in pocket area in one set of pants. Sure enough, the family had sewn in a secret note to us. It was in Chinese so we were unable to read it and we were very reluctant to share it with our guides not knowing how they would react. So until we could get it home and scanned, we just held onto it. Well, the other night we scanned it and sent it to our China Coordinator at our agency. she is unbelievable by the way. There is no one, NO ONE, better at this job than her. If you are looking into adoption from China, look no further than Bay Area Adoption Services. Sorry, sidetracked again. So our coordinator translated it for us and sent it back today. To quote her "Their letter made me cry. it is so obvious Xi Xi received so much love from them." The letter said this -

Dear American Friends who adopted Xi Xi:

How are you?

We are the grandfather and grandmother who fostered Xi Xi. We have established deep love and attachment to Xi Xi because we started taking care of her since she was only six months old and we have lived together for almost three years. Now the child is leaving us and we are feeling a great loss. However, we are so grateful that you are able to adopt her and raise her until she is an adult. We thank you so very much.

Your living habits and culture must be very different from ours. Please help the child to adapt to the new environment gradually. After the child joins your family, we would very much like to receive letters or telephone calls. We would very much want to see her pictures. You can use the internet to keep in touch with us so we can see the child often.

The rest was just the contact info. We already firmly believed that the primary reason that Ally has adjusted and bonded so well was due to the work that the foster family had done prior to us coming not to mention the care she was getting. This letter was total confirmation of that and an amazing profession of love. We will certainly keep in contact with them.
So that's it for now,
Jim

First time out this year at Smuggs!

We finally got off our candies today and went to Smugglers Notch. Our season passes have been pinned to the cork board since they came in the mail. Not that we didn't have other things to do, but it still feels like we have missed half the season. So we got everything together and headed out to the mountain. It only takes about 40 minutes to get there and doesn't even seem that long. First stop was to get our passes printed out and also to get one for Ally. Second stop was at the ski shop to get her a helmet, mittens, goggles, a face mask and some ski wax. That done we needed to get her some rentals. That was easy and cheap at about $12.50. I think that's what we are going to do for the rest of the year too. Finally though we were ready for the slopes. We headed for the learning center which is essentially what we all knew as the 'Bunny Hill' Of course technology has caught up to us a this location as there is no tow rope but rather a conveyor belt built into the hill. It's called a magic carpet and it is sooooo easy. We got Ally all set up in her gear and the boys did a great job also in getting ready. We got her up the hill and I ran her down the hill between my skis. She loved it! Laughed when we got to the bottom. Another run and it was time to hit some lunch. At that point I also knew she was ready for the harness system we have. It's really nice as it attaches around her waist and you just tug on one side or the other. It allows the child to get used to balancing over skis and also how it feels to balance thru a turn. Once we got her hooked up I took her down the learning hill twice. Meanwhile Jo and the boys were running halfway up the magic mouse lift and getting some runs in. I felt it was time to take the next step because you can only do so much on the learning hill. We took Ally up the chairlift and to the halfway point. She was super excited to ride the lift and never once showed fear. I took her down a little bit but she started to get clingy and needed to hold my hand, so I gave the reins to Jo and tried to lead Ally down by skiing ahead of her. That worked pretty well and allowed me to get a picture too. Well, that was our her last run for the day, but I figure 4 small runs and 1 bigger one is a great start. So after that Jo and Ally went into the warming hut and the other boys and I decided to get one last run in to the top of Morse. Zack and i had already hit it twice and now Seany and BJ came with us. It's our favorite path on Morse which is Midway to Curlys Cutback and then to Meadowlark. It was a beautiful day to ski and we were thankful to get out and also that Ally liked it. I only got a few pics today but hope you will enjoy them.

Zack's B-day

Zack turned 10 this past weekend. Only a day after we got home from China. We did our best to keep our energy up, and thankfully we had bought two of his presents prior to going. The last gift we were still giving thought to and that was a BB/pellet gun. We or maybe I truly didn't decide whether or not he'd get it until at the dinner table that night. We went to Koto's Japanese steak house which was his choice number two. It was the six of us plus Grandma, Grandpa, and uncle Brian. We did his presents there and then told him that we would go get him his bb/pellet gun the next day or Monday. He was pretty stinkin' excited. So we went and got it yesterday and will get it set up tonight with the scope and maybe shoot a few too. Crazy to think he is 10. Don't know where the time went. Let me see if I have a recent pic of him.

This pic is from this past fall, at an apple orchard south of Burlington. Gotta run, catch you later.

Home, home, home!!!

We are home! We had a pretty uneventful trip home but as you would expect we are pretty jet lagged. Ally is in a worse position since she has lived her life 12 hours different from ours and now has to get used to being awake when she used to sleep and sleep when she used to be awake. She is fighting sleeping in anyway possible and is pretty ticked at me right now because i tried to get her to settle down on my lap and sleep. That was not in her plan!!!! So from my last post we didn't do much other than a swearing in ceremony at the consulate and also get Ally's visa, fly to Beijing, then get on a plane to JFK and finally to Burlington. Ok, so maybe that was a lot. Well for the swearing in ceremony, it sounds like you are swearing in your child to the US. That is not the case, you are basically just swearing that all the info you have submitted to the consulate and immigration is true and accurate. Don't get me wrong, it's a significant step but not what you might think. The next morning we decided to do the "red couch" photo. i wish I new the origin of this photo but I don't. What I can tell you is that the red couch is in the
White Swan hotel on ShaMian island. The hotel is a more traditional place for adoptive families but the Victory which is where we were, is getting more popular. Our hotel is just a block and a half to the Swan so it's an easy walk. So families traditionally get there photos taken on the red couch. So who are we to break tradition? Later that day we had to check out and get to the airport to fly to Beijing. we could have done it the next morning but I guess that would have put our connection too tight, so we flew late that night and stayed at an airport near by. The next morning we jumped on the big 747 Air china flight to come home. 13 pretty uneventful hrs later we landed in New York only 30 minutes after we took off. You lose a day going the other way, but

y

you gain it back coming home which is nice. We also fly ridiculously close to the north pole. I find that very bizarre. Ally slept about 5 hours on the plane and myself about an hour. Not sure what Jo got but I guess about 2 maybe 2 1/2. Ally did well even with our lack of entertainment for her. It's hard to remember how to keep a 3 year old entertained for that long. It was fine, even though we ran out of snacks about half way home. Of course as Ally does, she fell asleep during our decent. She did it on every single flight. We thought though since she had slept a decent amount on the international flight that the JFK-Burlington hour hop that she'd be fine and be awake and happy to meet her brothers. Nope, she fell asleep 10 minutes from landing. She was exhausted. She wakes up extremely well though and this was no exception. She woke up like she had slept for hours. We told her it was time to meet her Gugu's and she perked right up. Gugu is Chinese for older brother. We were very nervous how this was going to go, she however was all smiles in anticipation. I have to credit her foster family for this. Back in September we sent Ally a photo album of all of us and that coupled with us video chatting everyday with the boys while in China really let her form an attachment to them even before she met them. Well we turned the corner walking from the concourse and there were Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Brian, and her three Gugu's Zack, BJ, and Seany. Priceless to us was the smile that was one Ally's face! She was clearly nervous but you could just see she was happy inside, not just outside. My eyes are a bit watery just remembering. Time out, Jo just got home and we need to get the groceries out of the car..........................Time in. So where was I, oh, Ally meeting the boys. Well all the boys had a stuffy to give her and they were all super excited to see her. She just kept on smiling. She clearly had begun to form an attachment by the photos and video chatting. It was a great moment and one I can't do justice with my writing. I may very well be wrong, but after watching how Ally did with her brothers, grandma, grandpa, and uncle Brian and then how she acting once at the house, I think she new that meeting her brothers meant she was home. There was no leary tentative moments or anything. Not even when she got to the house. She walked around like she had always been there. I truly expected it to be like when you bring your cats to a new house and they tentatively walk into each room slowly checking it out. Not so with Ally. The true test she new she was home. Withing the hour she was going to fridge to check out what there was to eat. I kid you not! one of the unexpecteds you don't see coming is her complete infatuation with Zack. She sits by him, holds his hand, and just wants to know where he is at all times. We think that may have something to do with her foster brother who was also about 10yrs old. Speaking of which, Zack turned 10 yesterday. Pretty awesome, but a bit overshadowed by all this. So we are going to go and get him a BB/pellet gun tonight or tomorrow.

Well, all the above is pretty much the rose part of things. That really aren't may thorns, but she is having a tough time with her new schedule and time zone and threw a full out hissy screaming fit when I tried to get her to chill with me and take a nap. The upside to that is she and Jo went up and Jo got her calmed down and asleep. While there is still a bit of favoritism toward me when tired, she is very much okay with Jo now. So all in all we are very fortunate. Many adoptive parents have an unbearable time and we have had it relatively easy up to now. Hopefully it continues.

Lastly, I would like to thank you all for the support you have shown us thru comments and actions. We also want to thank my parents and my brother for watching our boys during this time. one last big thank you goes out to the sewing group my mother is part of. I call them Dorothy's Debutantes, and they went into action to make many blankets and hats for the orphanage. Of course we had to pay a large fee to the orphanage called a donation, but it was a far more important to us to be able to give them something functional that would make a difference. So thank you again Deb's.

Catch you later, and we will try to keep you updated.

Good Food, Good Company

So the four BAAS(our agency) families that are here in Guangzhou went out to dinner last night.  Well, I'm gonna back up a minute.  We went to a park in the afternoon yesterday which was a nice stroll in the fresh air.  We then went to a tea house and sampled and learned about different Chinese teas.  Upon our return, April who is one of the other BAAS moms, asked all of us if we'd like to go out on a little adventure for dinner.  Sure we said.  So we all went to our hotel rooms to get a few various things and then walked over the river on a pedestrian bridge.  Once you cross the river you are officially in "local' country.  You see, the island is really catered toward westerners or I should say used to them, so when you leave the island, you leave that little comfort zone.  So on the adventure we went.  April and her husband Dave went to this little eatery previously and told us about it on the way.  It sounded fun.  It's an open to the air type of eatery which you will see in the pictures and there are only about 6 tables.  There is no one that speaks English and no menus.  So when we got there, just like when April and Dave went previously, they just have one or two of you go back in the kitchen and point to things you want.  We decided to do a community bill and just get bunches of stuff.  It turned out pretty well.  We had great dumplings and a good noodle plate and then a good soup which I was unfortunate enough to mistake a big chunk of ginger for potato........Oh mama!!!!  We also brought our own drinks because we didn't think they had any.  Turns out they had a small cooler we could have gotten something from but to be honest bringing your own was a good call.  So this place appears to be owned by an elderly Chinese woman who is sweet as can be and who is also in love with April and Dave's son Joel.  She couldn't get enough of him and when we were leaving kept trying to steal him back inside.  All in good humor of course.  It was a great experience with excellent food and even better company.  Adoption brought us all together but it is surprising how well we all get along.  These three other couples are great and we couldn't be happier to have met them.  I wish I could communicate the experience and the kindness of the Chinese woman better but my brain is failing me right now.  At the end of the meal we did a group picture with the woman and it was great.  I don't have a copy of that yet but will get one from the other couples.  You can identify the woman as the one in the purple top and green apron.  I hope those of you yet to come here can go to this place.  The bonus to all this, and certainly the least important but worth mentioning is that all 14 of us ate for about 115 yuan which is about $17.  Thats not each family, thats a total.  Patrick and Peggy sprang for the meal which was another unexpected and gracious gift.  So when we left and the woman stopped hugging Joel she had tears in her eyes.  It was a great scene.  i'll try and post a few zoo pics from today, but really it was just a normal zoo but nice to be out in the fresh air.

 

Enjoy a few pics,

Jim

 

Fwd: More ShaMian Pics

It may have been these that were rejected.  So i may have double posted some pics.

Fwd: More ShaMian Pics

I think this is the set of pics that was rejected from being oversize and now they will be out of order.  Sorry for the confusion.

A bit of ShaMian Island

ShaMian Island is a very nice little place.  It's prabably only about 4 blocks by 10 blocks in size and very walkable.  It, like the rest of Guangzhou, is under significant spit and polishing.  The 2010 Asian Games are in Guangzhou this year and the government is facelifting every building that faces the main streets and highways.  That is a city of 12 million and they are facelifting tons of buildings!  It's amazing.  Many of the buildings on ShaMian Island are shrouded in scaffolding and tarps as this work goes on.  Many of the streets on the island are being redone with better rain drainage and also many of the sidewalks are being replaced with polished granite.  It's crazy to think of the expense.  So I will add some pics of the island we took today.  I have to do it in two posts.  Also, I did another post just before this on the market so be sure to check that out.  The pics in the park of the people gathered are playing hacky sack with an oversized shuttle-cock from badmitten.  I think I mentioned that when in Taiyuan.  It is extremely popular. 

More ShaMian Pics

More ShaMian pics

A market is a market is a market, except in China

So we did a bit of a walk thru some markets yesterday.  Very interesting stuff !!  Two were markets in the sense we think of them and the other two were more part of a shopping center.  The first was hrbs and related things.  I use related very losely, because there were lots of bus and critters you could buy both dead and alive.  These included live scorpians and turles and other crawly things.  The dried turtles on a stick were interesting too.  Then next was a pet market.  Lots of things for your pets and also pets themsleves.  This was not a happy place as they don't seem to value animals the way we do.  So I shall not talk much about them.  Next was the shopping center and pedestrian street.  This was decorated with hanging lanterns and all sorts of cool stuff.  The shops were higher end and we didn't bother looking in them.  Lastly we went into a mall area and visited/purchased some pearls.  The prices were ok and we were happy to have the opportunity to by some things for Ally's future.  Lastly we went to a CD/DVD shop in the mall that had a good reputation.  I started looking around and they had some pretty good deals at 15 for a Blu-Ray.  I thought 'nice', they are like 24-35 bucks in the US and 15 is half.  Then I realized they were 15 yuan!  That is $2 for a blu-ray!!!!  So i began to snatch them up as quickly as possible.  I think i even bit another woman who reached for one I wanted.  So in all I think I got 6 Blu-rays and two DVD's for a total of about $20.  They verified that they would all play on our machnes in the US and that they were also in English.  Once back at the room we tested one of the DVD's and sure enough it works just fine and I am happy!!  The one movie I didn't get and was in stock but i just chickened out was........AVATAR.  Seriously!?!?!  I'm giving thought to going back and getting it.  I'll add afew pics of the market area.  One more thing that was funny.  We got to the middle of the pedestrian street, kind of a big square, and I look at one corner of stores and there is a McDonalds, KFC, Papa Johns, etc.  I turn around and look at the kitty-corner of the sqaure and there is a........McDonalds?!?!?!  I kid you not, there were two seperate McDonalds witin 100 yards of each other.  Has anyone ever heard Lewis Black's comedy bit about the location of a certain devil dwelling? (I'm trying to keep this G rated for Jo's school)  I think he said it was in Houston where he walked out of a Starbucks and looked accross the street only to see a Starbucks!!!!  That was how I felt.  I think I too found the devils dwelling!!!!  Jo and i laughed pretty hard at that. 

Five goats and a Chinese princess

So we went to a park yesterday that has a famous statue of 5 goats.  They might actually be rams, but our guide said goats and a plaque at the park translated to rams.  Now in the US, we would tend to take the word of the plaque at the famous place we are visiting, but here in China you quickly notice that the english translation of things is often spelled incorrectly.  So you take it all with a few grains of salt.  So for our purposes we will call them goats.  Apparantly Guangzhou was named for these goats and the imortals that road in on them.  Back in the day, most likey before the US was found, there was a drought.  This drought killed millions and spread all accross the south of China.  Then came along 5 imortals riding 5 goats.  These goats had stalks of rice in their mouths and the imortals gave these stalks to the people whoplanted them.  The rice prospered and brought the area out of famine.  The imortals then took off but left the goats and then the goats became a symbol for the imortals and also for prosperous harvests.  Well thats the cliff note version and I'm sticking to it.  So we took some pictures of the goat staute and of course us in front of it.  It is a famous statue for China that when someone sees it it is recognized as the symbol for Guangzhou.  In other news, Ally passed her TB test so no chest X-raqy or anything like that so we are happy.  This is just a short post today as we are headed to another four markets very soon.  I'll leave you with some pics at the park, a pic of our princess in traditional garb, and me being attacked by a stone lion while Ally looks at me like I'm nuts.  BTW, Ally is doing much. much better with Jo.  Things are really good right now.

 

Later,

Jim

Just me and 47 theives.....

So the title of this blog post is just something that kinda happened last night at the Guangzhou airport when we were waiting for the last two families planes to arrive.  It is surprising to think back that the phrase never came up previous to this but it didn't.  So we are sitting there and trying to communicate with Ally in that 3 year old way the we parents do.  Oh, it's also important to know that daddy in Chinese is baba (bah-bah).  Some of you may have just figured it out after that.  So again we are sitting in the airport trying to get Ally to understand who her mama and baba are and we are just going around in a circle pointing to each of us and saying our names, "mama, baba, Ally, mama, baba, Ally"  and then we reversed to "Ally, baba........" and that is when we started laughing and those few Chinese that weren't already staring at us looked at the goofy Americans laughing in the middle of the airport.  So it is I, Allys-baba and my forty seven theives.  I guess you had to be there.

So, we are as indicated above in Guangzhou and at the Victory Hotel on Shamian Island.  It's not an island in the sense we are all used to.  Think of it as several city blocks that are ringed by a canal that has multiple bridges onto it.  The canal is only about 100 feet wide or so.  Previous to coming to China we had decided to head some advice on getting a top end business suite here in the Victory.  Boy are we glad we did.  We have a king size bed with a nearly real mattress instead of a rock disguised as a bed like in Beijing and Taiyuan.  Then there is another room with a L-shaped couch and matching chair.  It also comes with a nice flatscreen and a desktop computer.  The bathroom is big too and has a shower that rains on you from the ceiling.  Nice!  Also it has a seperate water spout that is filtered and potable (drinkable).  That is another bonus as China's tap water is not drinkable.  They live by boiled and bottled water.  In fact at lunch today the menu even stated that you could get "boiled water".  We laughed, all except Ally who was trying her best to melt down because we were past her nap time.  She is napping now though.

So as I said we are here in Guangzhou now and even though it was only like 50deg out I put shorts on.  That felt sooooo nice.  Loved it.  Anyway, we are here to finish our immigration work so Ally can come home to the U.S.A.  This is where all families that adopt from the U.S. come for their final week, so the amount of stairs at the Americans with the Chinese baby are less.  We are grouped with 4 other families that are from our agency and we will do some touring together with them.  All of them are nice and easy going.  Our friends from Philly, the McColes are part of that group.  it was good to see them again, especially with their new little boy.  Jo is down in the lobby doing some paperwork right now in fact with one of the McColes and our guide Alvin who is really terrific.  I think once that is over we are going to walk around a bit and see some of the island.  We also put out first load of laundry in at the little shop next door.  Thats just odd.  I'll bet we don't even spend 20 bucks for a weeks worth....time out, Ally just woke up......OK, I am trying to get her to play with her magna-doodle while I finish this but she's just standing there next to me with a look on her face like, "baba, let me climb onto your lap!!!"  It's kinda hard to refuse. So I'm goign to wrap this up for now.  I'll tr and do another one tonight maybe with some pictured of Shamian Island.  One last thing, my parents and Zack are reporting we have lots of commenting on the blog and that is great.  We can't wait until we are home and can read them all.  China blocks the blogspot website so i have to send these in via email and therefore can't read them or the comments to them.  OK. Ally is beginning to whimper to get on my lap, gotta go.....

Jim

It was just a walk in the park.....and a visit to another

HideeHo readers!

We had a good day so far today.  Ally is warming to Jo which is great.  She has never truly rejected her but has been leary.  She was letting Jo help with hair and all things, as long as I was around too.  Holding her and carrying her was not really happening before but this morning I think Ally was getting caught up on her sleep and adjusting a bit more.  You can see she still wakes up in thishotel room with that look like, dang, what did I have to drink last night?  Where am I......OK maybe not quite like that, but you know what I'm talking about.  You know when you wake up somewhere foreign and it takes you like 30 seconds to remember where in the world you are?  Imagine that every time you nap or sleep and your getting close to Ally's world.  So, like I was saying, she just seemed to perk up quicker and overall happier this morning.  She let jo be more involved and it kept up that way all day so far.  Fingers are crossed that she'll wake up from nap that good too.  So we went to the largest park in Taiyuan city which also contains an amuzement park.  No rides going except the ferris wheel which we felt at 20deg wasn't going to be that much fun.  So we skipped that.  But I think the reason we were brought there is to see how morning excersices and Chinese culture works in their parks.  It is a place where people come to dance, sing, do tai chi, plat kind of hacky sack with an overgrown shuttlecock, and do just about any thing that involves invigorating the mind and body.  Age and gender were not a factor what so ever.  I saw a guy had to be 70 playing that hacky sack game.  It was very cool.  If you don't know what hacky sack is, google it.  It was a brisk walk, but well worth the cold.  We were given a very interesting look into Chinese social culture.  As a pretty staunch traditionalist, I found it very cool. Very, very cool.  For the next part of the day I need to back up a bit.  See, we new we were going to a park today and I remebered that Ally was adandoned at a gate at a park so I brushed up on my park names and asked if that was the one we were going to when we met our guide in the morning.  No, not the same park.  We also needed to hit the wal-mart to grab a few things not easily found at the market.  So I asked our guide also if after the park she could take us to the wal-mart and also the park she was abandoned in.  She agreed and spoke to the driver who also agreed.  The problem was that they were on opposite sides of the city.  But, then she remembered there were two wal-marts and the second was very close to the park we were looking for.  After a more in depth discussion though with the driver she also let us know that the park where Ally was abandoned was being demolished in the name of high rises.  Traditionalist me thinks this is stuuuuuupid.  So after going to the initial park we went to the one where Ally was abandoned and it was an interesting ride into the neighborhoods I think they would rather the tourists didn't see, but exactly the type of things we really did want to see.  I'll add some pictures to illustrate.  So we walked to the East gate of Longtan park.  It was a bit surreal to be in the spot where the story really began for Ally.  At approximately one month old she was left there in October 2006.  We didn't linger but rather snapped a few photos and left.  I still don't know how I feel about the place.  So, from there we went to the wal-mart.  It's not the one most Taiyuan SWI adoptive parents go to, and also smaller.  I am thinking though after seeing all the marketing on products that Jackie Chan does not hurt for money.  Wal-mart is interesting here.  We only came for a few items and chose to buy other items at the local market later.  But walking around and having so much of the food unpackaged is very funny.  Frozen fish steaks were just sitting in an open freezer, no packaging.  Dried meats, like jerky, once again, just right there in a basket.  This include whole, dried ducks.  It doesn't even hit you right away when you see it, but ten steps later I say to Jo "Did you just see......." "Yep"  we both chuckle.  It was a good day though to this point.  Ally is down for a nap and we are having dinner tonight with the Norwegian couple who are as pleasant as could be.  I'll leave you with some pics of the neighborhood around Allys park, the the sign at the gate she was found at, and finally of the first park we visited.

Another day in Taiyuan

Greetings folks and fun seekers, It was an ok day to day here.  We started with breakfast and then to the museum.  Keep in mind that we are dealing with a province that has 5,000 yrs of history.  Our guide says that's more than any other province.  It was very impressive.  Ally still somewhat shuts down when we go out anywhere and also when we get in the touring van.  I think she equates all of that with the massive trauma she just went thru.  When at meals however, she is a hand full.  She is going to give BJ a run for his money.  So after touring we came back the hotel for lunch, then to the room and Ally started pigging out on all the food we have here.  Only some of which is healthy.  Then nap time.  Then more pigging out.  Keep in mind she has been high on intake and zero on output since we got her, if you know what I mean.  So after nap and second pig out, she started to cry in my arms.  She has latched onto me the last two days and distanced herself from Jo, so it was odd that she was crying in my arms.  She cried for about alf hour and we laid down together and she cried a bit more.  So don't know if this was a bad parenting upset stomach or grieving or both.  After a few hours though she came out of it and she has been active the rest of the night.  Pajama time has come, late, and a last minute bathroom.  Finally, output!!!  So, I am writing this and we are about to hit the hay.  Also i needed a reason to post the latest pic......:)  Good night all, we will see you in the morning.

Jim

P.S. Alex, nice pajamas eh?

The fat lady.....She has sung!

It's official, she is ours!  We signed all the papers today.  Of course you really don't know what your signing so we may have just signed our three boys up for the Chinese army :)  They also interview you and ask questions like "Was she as described?"  Yes.  "Do you want to continue with the adoption?"  Go ahead, try and pry her out of my arms!  Of course I didn't say that but that's what I was thinking!  We didn't do the best job with the gifts we presented to the people doing the work, but they were okay.  We however were not only given a daughter, but also a beautiful scroll with a poem written in Chinese by their most famous poet Lee Bai (sp?).  In hindsight though, can any gift we give to them compare to the gift of our daughter?  So our family is complete now as we see it.  Three phenomenal sons, and one fantastic daughter.

We have all just awoke from naps, Jo has redone Ally's hair and we are going to go shopping along the main drag here.  It's pretty cold so I don't know how long we will last but we are going to give it a go.  That's all I have at the moment, but am sure it wont be long before I need to share another picture with the world.

My girl

What a difference a good long cry and a 2+ hr nap makes, I feel way better….:)  Ok, so it was Ally not me.  I am sure there is much more grieving to come but when Ally woke up, I thought it might be an opportunity for me to break thru to her.  So I grabbed the magna-doodle and showed what it was all about.  Within minutes I had her laughing and playing with it.  Most important though was that I could touch her and so could Jo.  I have no doubt this is not over, but it is a great ending to a long day.  She also ate a little for us.  Very little, but it's a start.  We will see how breakfast goes tomorrow morning.  I wish you all could be here for this.  There is something extraordinary about this.  Good night from Taiyuan.