Getting Better All the Time

Here are 3 of the 4 Yangchun girls in our travel group. The only one missing is Elizabeth. They are all such beautiful girls. L-R Ella, Kaytee Beth and the our princess Maya


We made a trip to the local department store today. It was 9 stories tall and had everything from groceries to clothing and electronics. Much like department stores at home and the prices were about the same too. They do have very cute clothes and shoes for children. Maya had to have these super cute purple shoes and a pair of orange ones too. We also got her a couple of toys and 1 outfit. These are not squeaky shoes. We are going to buy those here on the island. She thinks she is something in her new shoes. And we agree!


Here she is caught in the act of smiling at her Mom. We saw a lot more smiles today and she has been a lot less sad. We are going to bed tonight feeling like this has been a much better day than the ones past. She is still not real happy for mike to hold her but she is coming around slowly.


She is sure giving a sneaky looking face in this picture but it is too cute. We get this sneaky look often. She really is a stinker. Her personality is unfolding day by day and we are getting to know the real Maya more and more. She is such a wonderful girl. Some of you have asked about her schedule. She has slept through the night each night so far. I have a feeling that tonight may be the night that she wakes up. Hopefully I'm wrong. She's been going to sleep between 8:30 and 9 and has gotten up at about 6am every morning. She takes a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. She eats like a champ, loves her bath, doesn't mind cloths and diaper changes. Pooping has been a bit of an issue (OK maybe that's too much info) but we're taking care of that. She is sleeping in her crib. She falls asleep while being given a bottle and just keeps on sleeping when I lay her down. She loves congee (a soupie rice kind of stuff that is virtually tasteless) apple and banana paste baby food and french toast. When we got her she wouldn't put stuff in her mouth. She could pick up cheerios but never even offered to put them or anything else in her mouth. Now she shovels them in. She loves to chew on crackers but still doesn't put toys in her mouth. I love to watch her try to get a cheerio from one hand to the other when it's buried in her fist. She is so smart and makes the cutest faces.


I bought these baby gap PJs a year or more ago. I couldn't wait to see them on our daughter. She looks cuter than I could have ever imagined in them.

Another Day in Guangzhou

Everyone who has ever followed someones China adoption story has heard about the breakfast buffet here at the White Swan. All of it is true. It is delicious and thank goodness we have it because we don't eat many other meals. Maya loves to sit in the high chair and smile at anyone who passes by. Believe me, she gets just as many smiles as she gives out.


Today we ventured off of Shamian island again with our friends the Lazars. We finally found paradise...McDonalds!! Those of you who know me well may wonder if I have lost my mind. No, but after 5 days of nothing much but breakfast, Micky Ds was delish. Everything tasted the same as home (as far as I can remember. It's been a long, long time since I've eaten at MC D). Mike got a Quarter pounder and it had cucumbers instead of pickles and a spicy sauce. It was better than a US quarter pounder. Maya loved the fries contrary to the look on her face. She looks so sad in a lot of our pictures. She really does smile a lot but the smiles are hard to catch.


Isn't she lovely...
We have scales in our room and I got on them with Maya. It looks like she weighs about 6-7 kg (14-15lbs) She is tiny but my arms feel like jello. She fits perfectly in Oshkosh, Gymboree and Children's Place 3-6 mo clothes but not for long. Carters 6 mo also fit well but the pants are a little big around the waist. I have one Carter's 9 mo outfit and I haven't had it on her yet. I don't think the pants will fit. We're off for a day of shopping tomorrow at a department store downtown. Hopefully we'll have more pictures for you all tomorrow. Keep the comments coming. We love hearing from you all and so appreciate your support through some of these trying days. Good night for now, J, M & M.

A Long Day

Does anyone else see braces in Maya's future. This is a usually face that we see on our girly. She is happy most of the time and smiles and giggles a lot. Catching the smile with the camera is a whole other story.


She is not standing or pulling up on her own yet but she's coming close. She did manage to get up on her knees today in her crib.


Maya loves her Dad but today it has been from a distance. She did let him feed her this afternoon and will let him feed her if I hold her. She will also smile at him from her stroller or my lap and says Da Da Da all of the time looking right at him or for him when she says it. But today she was not to happy with Dad holding her. That will change soon. It's just gonna take a little time.


There are 2 Maya's in our group of 10 families. Both of them had to have a costume change today at the civil affairs office. I'm not sure what happened to the other Maya but our Maya peed all over her cute red outfit.


This is another beautiful Yangchun girl, Ella Lazar and her big brother Evan. The Lazars are wonderful people and we've made great friends in them. We share a special bond as our daughters not only were in the same orphanage but, shared a room also.


Our sweet girl.
Most of the babies have been a little cranky today including Miss Maya. But just a little. We have heard crying babies being walked up and down the hallway outside of our room most of the night. These little girls have had the world turned upside down. Please continue to pray for us and all of these sweet babies. We are only just beginning and we are already ready to come home. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully a better one for everyone.

What a Blessing

Sorry to keep everyone hanging but time has slipped away from us. We are totally in love and can't pull ourselves away from our beautiful girl. First let me say that the pictures do not do this girl justice. She is stunning. She has a little bit of a cold but is perfect otherwise. She has 2 teeth on the bottom and three on top. She is a mite of a girl. I think she is the youngest and maybe the smallest in our group of 10 families. She can sit up sturdy on her own. She rolls all over the place. She stands when held up. She wiggles her butt in the cutest way and will imitate lots of facial expression and sounds that we make. She says Da Da and honestly looks at Mike when she says it. She says Ma Ma too but just to say it. She watches Mike everywhere he goes. She is absolutely our dancing girl. She boogy woogies any time there is music.

She cried and cried when she was handed to us. She settled a little and then we got out some toys and she laughed at the purple doll.

She wanted me to suck her thumb. How could I say no.

She loves her Daddy. We got all of the items that we sent to her in her care package. Our camera has all of the pictures taken. Can't wait to get them developed! She loves the photo album and I think she has seen it before.

She passed out after fighting it for a long time. Ms. Yu, the director of the Yangchun orphanage told us she always fights sleep. We got a little journal and several pictures from Sandra King (priceless) and one of the entries says she is the only baby up at 4:30 am playing in her bed.

She told us that she loves us in her sleep on the bus. She just did it in sign language.

When we got back to the hotel, she was awake but still lying in my arms. She just layed there like that for a while and looked at us and babbled and smiled. It's hard to catch her smile with the camera. We'll have to work on that.

She loves the fussy buzzer thing. She loves the music, lights and vibration. She also loves to look at herself in the mirror and there is one on the back.

We are all exhausted. She has had a bottle, she has played and has a clean diaper. We put her in her crib and she loved it. She smiled and rolled around just a pleasant as can be and then fell right off to sleep. We left her in her clothes that she came to us in. She had just had a bath when we got her. I hated to take everything that was familiar to her so we'll let her keep these clothes on til morning. We are beyond happy and look forward to every tomorrow with our sweet girl.
We thank everyone for your comments and love reading them. It is so nice to know that you are all with us on this journey. For all of you who have asked us to give her a chew or kiss for you, consider it done! Until next time...Jill, Mike and Maya

Check This Out!!!

When we got up this morning and left for breakfast, the hallway outside of our room was lined with baby cribs. After we finished breakfast, we came back up and they were cleaning our room. We went down to our friends, the Lazar's room to hang out while they were cleaning. This is what we returned to find. Our very own crib for our very own Maya HuaMei. They had also opened our photo album to the first page so we could see our beautiful girl's face when we came in.



About 2 more hours as a family of two. Our hearts are beating like a drum and my head is spinning. We are pacing around twiddling our thumbs. We can't believe that this day is finally here. We will be a family very soon.

Our Last Day Without Maya

Today we basically tried to recover. We started out with an excellent breakfast at the buffet here at the White Swan. It deserves all of the raves it gets! Then we had a meeting with our guides and the other folks in our travel group. Wouldn't you know it, we forgot to take the only documents that we were supposed to take to the meeting. Oh well, hopefully that will be our last mistake (however, I don't think it will be). We got our first can of formula and rice cereal for Maya and instructions for what will go on tomorrow. Then we walked around the island a little more. It was raining a little today and not as warm but still in the 60s.

We were able to sneak in a nap before going to dinner with our group to a local Cantonese family style restaurant. The food was delicious! Not much different than Chinese food at home. It was great to get to spend some time with most of the other families and our guides Kathy and Jocelyn. It was interesting to speak with them and learn a little more about them and China in general.
We are ready for tomorrow...like you wouldn't believe! The diaper bag is packed, the gifts prepared and our arms and hearts are wide open to receive the greatest gift we could ever imagine.
For all of you praying folks out there, one of our families travel companion is suffering from a major migraine. Keep her in mind as you think of us today.

Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China

We had a really long day yesterday. We arrived in Guangzhou at about 7am (China time). We were met at the airport by our great guides, Kathy & Jocelyn. The ride was about 45 minutes from the airport to the White Swan. The hotel is beautiful and we have a great view of the Pearl River from our room. Kathy told us that we should try to stay up as long as we could. So we got settled in our room and then did the only thing on our itinerary today which was make copies and exchange money. That took all of about 1 hour. So we showered and took off with the Lazars to explore Shamian island. Our first stop was Starbucks. Just like home.

This little island is really pretty. Most of the architecture is British inspired rather than traditional Chinese. All of the trees are green and full of leaves. It is warm and humid. We even had a little bit of sun and blue sky which is rather rare because of all of the pollution. There are not many people out and the traffic is not at all what I expected. Because of Chinese New Year, which is still going on, there are fewer people out and about.
The streets are lined with these bronze(?) statues. They are all so cool. I am hoping to get pics of most if not all of them.
We had lunch/dinner at Lucy's on the river. We ate outside. It reminded me a lot of being in Key West last CNY. Our food was good. We were all pretty loopy after a couple of beers and total exhaustion. I started getting nauseous and dizzy and no one could keep their thoughts strait. We decided we would call it a day and headed back to the hotel. We managed to stay awake until about 6pm.
Now it's almost 4:30am and we're wide awake. I think we did pretty good for the first day.
Our beds are really hard but I slept OK. Mike, on the other hand, is still complaining. But he hasn't gotten out of the bed yet. Must not be too bad, huh?
We're hoping for 6 am to roll on around. The infamous breakfast buffet opens then.
That's all for now.

We're here!!!

We made it to Guangzhou!!
After a long, long (did I say long) flight, we have made it to the birthplace of our daughter. We have met most of the folks in our travel group. What a great bunch of people! We are looking forward to each day and especially Sunday. We will get Maya at around 2pm on 2/25!!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers...Keep 'em coming!!

Freakin Out!!

We leave on Wendesday. We really are ready to go. We're very nervous and just as excited.
Wish us good travels and our next post will probably be from China!!
Update
I tried to post this pic last night. I couldn't get it to work. So here it is, today(tuesday, the day before we leave, OMG!!!!) ! We bought some fireworks while we were in South Carolina for the Clemson football game. Real fireworks that actually shoot into the sky! Only big sparkelers are allowed to be sold in WV. We had a little CNY celebration including the fireworks! Every dog in the neighborhood was barking it's head off and everyone's porch light came on. I laughed until I cried.
Oh, and um, we're leaving TOMORROW!!!!!

Travel Plans

The plans are finalized. As far as our flight goes anyway. We leave Charleston in the afternoon on 2/21 (that's only 12 days from today!!). We will be back to Charleston in the morning on 3/10. We will be receiving our itinerary for in-China stuff next week. We know that we will get Maya on 2/25 and that our Consulate appt. is 3/7 but we will have to wait until next week to find out the real details on the rest of the days. Only 12 days...only..

February 25, 2007 = "Gotcha Day"!!

We finally received our consulate appointment today. Now we can start planning travel!! We have to be in Guangzhou on or before February 23! Maya will be forever in our arms on Feb. 25!! I don't know if I can wait that long.

Still Waiting

We are hoping to find out when we will travel today. I have been up watching the Goonies since 3:45 this morning.

We're talking DAMN cold!!

This is my dashboard thermometer when I was coming home from work this morning. 1...1 degree??!! That is rediculous!

Audrey Bing-Xia

Check out the cheeks on that girl!! This is yet another WV girl! Audrey is my friend Carrie's daughter. This baby is absolutely kissable!! I love her clothes and the split pants are great. And, if your wondering what her daddy looks like, he looks just like his new daughter!

More WV Girls

Klaire

Emma

These are the updated pics of our WV friends and hopefully travelmates daughters. Aren't they both just beautiful? Now can we just go get them??!!

Just Can't Get Enough!

Maya HuaMei

We received updated info on Maya today from CCAI. As of Jan 4, 07 she weighs 15 1/2 lbs, is 27in long and has 2 teeth.
We just received our Travel Notice from China today also. CCAI has requested our Consulate appointment and we should know for sure next week when we'll be traveling. We should be leaving the country around Feb 22. Not soon enough after seeing these new pics and finding out what size she is now.
We are sooo ready to get our daughter...so ready. We need to get her home now!!