Good afternoon,
We had a very relaxing day.
Lauryn loves to feed herself! She ate very well today at breakfast.
We just finished up our paperwork and took our group photos.
We are going to go give Lauryn some lunch and then we are off to walmart!
Should be interesting.
Just a quick post for now.
I will write more tomorrow.
With lots of love.
The Thomson's xo
Good evening from China.
What a day.
Lauryn had a wonderful day today. She is giggling a lot! She is making faces and having a great old time.
We had breakfast and boarded the bus for a very busy day. We have two guides in Beijing. Fay and Vivean. They are wonderful girls. They explained so much about the city today. Beijings traffic is so heavy that there are still restrictions on who can drive when. The weekends, everyone can drive. However, during the week it's restricted. Monday people's license plates starting with one and ending with 8 are allowed to drive, Tuesday 2 and 7.... and so on. Can you imagine?
We started our day in a major traffic jam. No surprise! Then we headed to the Jade factory! WOW! it's just beautiful. I guess there is a time honoured tradition to choose a piece of Jade for your child. Kyle and I chose a laughing Budda for Lauryn. Wow! It was pretty special. We got to do some shopping and got some great stuff.
We then headed to the great wall. This is the only thing that I wanted to see. I was in awe. It's so big. The stairs are so steep and the walk was incredible. Poor Kyle had Lauryn strapped to him. The faster he moved, the more behind I got! Poor guy. I gave him a hard time for walking so far ahead! LOL! Guess I forget that he has a little weight... dead weight strapped to him!
We were at the great wall for about two hours. On our way back down, this woman came out of no where and started kissing lauryn, then they made us pose for pictures! They all had to take turns with us. It was hysterical! They love Lauryn. Lauryn was only to happy to participate! Cutie!
It was really very cool, and a sight that I will never forget. We took a ton of pics!
Back on the bus and headed to the friendship store for lunch. I am pleased to report that lunch was crazy good. We had vegetables... believe it or not, I have missed broccoli and carrots and just good plain food! It was great. Lauryn cracked us up. She had a piece of broccoli in one had and a french fry in the other. After lunch we headed to the friendship store basement and there was more shopping. LOTS and LOTS. They actually have chinese prices and white prices... go figure!
Boarded the bus again and went to the olympic grounds. Glad to have had the chance to see it. Kyle got off the bus, and Lauryn and I just stayed put. It was very hot and she was comfy and playing with an empty bottle. Kyle came back with a gold medal! His first bardering (sp??) experience and he won! 10 yuan! The vendor wanted 25! LOL!
Finally back at the hotel. Kyle is upstairs with Lauryn and she is happily playing with her stacking cups and Elmo cell phone. Kyle and I are exhausted and both have a cold. She couldn't be happier with all her toys and just playing.
When I was done emailing yesterday I went back to the room and all of Lauryn's toys were all picked up. I thanked Kyle and he said that Lauryn did it. Sure enough she cleaned up all her toys and put them in the garbage can. I guess at the orphanage everyone had a job... they must of had bins to store their toys. To cute.
We gave her a bath yesterday and she sat down in the tub and giggled and splashed and put her face in the water. She is really starting to come into her own. She screamed when it was time to get out. ahhh.
I have been giving her a massage with baby cream after her bath. SHE LOVES IT! She was cooing and saying mama when I did it last night! Enough to make you melt!
Alright. All for now. Love you all, and we will talk to everyone soon.
Hope to get a chance to send more pictures soon.
Tomorrow is paper work finale! Busy morning and then just a hang out day. The group can go to the zoo, but we have decided to just have a hang out day. So looking forward to it!
Love to you from us!
Miss you xo
Well here we are at the close of another day!
We are safely back in Beijing and couldn't be happier. The room that we have is MUCH nicer and MUCH MUCH bigger! It is so strange for Kyle and I to have Lauryn. It's certainly not about us anymore!
We had breakfast today and LAuryn did better than ever. She has finally learned to take bites and has stopped with the hoarding. Unless of course it's something she really likes! She had pizza for the first time tonight and was pretty happy with herself. She still has some tantrums, but this is to be expected. She is really happy and VERY busy! The gleam in her eye means trouble FOR SURE! Kyle told her today that she just keeps getting cuter and it's true.
Boarded the bus around for the Guangzhou airport today around 8:15 and headed to the airport. Lauryn sat with Daddy for most of this trip. Not sure who was more happy about this!
Got to the airport and passed through security. Said goodbye to our wonderful guide Ava. She was really wonderful!
It was kind of sad to leave behind everything that Lauryn knows. However, we are excited to bring her with us as we are that much closer to home!
Lauryn did great on the flight. She was a bit uncertain about some of the noises that the plane makes. She had a sucker for take off and thought that was just great!
She fell asleep on me, and had a hard time getting totally comfortable. The plane had a lot of empty seats and we were able to spread out. She slept for about an hour and tweny minutes. She woke up happy, but in desperate need of a diaper change and was VERY unhappy at the state of the facilities. She didn't like it at all. But, we managed and are much more prepared for the big trip home! LOL! Fingers crossed!
There was a elderly Asian lady sitting behind us. Every noise that Lauryn made, she would peak around the seat to make sure I was tending to her. At first I thought this was kinda weird, then it was endearing. People are so interested in our little family. Especially the locals. After sitting for so long. Lauryn was totally ready to stretch her legs. Kyle went to gather our luggage and Lauryn and I walked around. She stops people dead... lots of airport workers would stop and talk. Everyone thinks she is a little boy despite my efforts in trying to dress her in as much pink as possible. A waitress told me that the Chinese believe that if a little girl looks like a little boy when they are young, they will grow up to be very beautiful women!?!
Boarded another van/bus and headed to the place where our journey began... Beijing. Our room is so much better. We actually laid all of the toys we bought for Lauryn out on a blanket and she ran around happier than ever. She loves to explore. She was thrilled with Kyle's empty coke bottle... just like Johnson was when we brough him home! LOL!
Kyle went to get some essentials and brought us Pizza Hut for dinner.
All is well.
Super excited, tomorrow we go to the Great Wall! How incredible. Can't wait to see everyone with their babies! Our whole travel group is together tomorrow. Should be interesting.
Lauryn discovered that she can walk on her tippy toes today. She also shakes her head for "NO" and giggles like crazy when we tell her no! Oh oh!
She has started to imitate my cough too! Crazy kid!
Feeling much more relaxed today.
Kyle said that it's interesting to him, when we carry Lauryn, she doesn't hand on anymore... I guess this is a trust thing.
She has also discovered her tongue!!! She has a tongue like Gene Simmons! Long and pointy! To funny!
We send our love to all of you and can't wait to introduce our crazy kid to you all!
Night night!
xo
Day Four...
This was a trying day. Lauryn is a very busy little girl. There is so much that is so brand new to her that she is taking everything in stride. She started some new behaviours today that really tested both Kyle and I. She was hitting, throwing things, and if something was taken away from her she would start to cry... big big tears, if we'd give it back to her... all was well. Tears stopped instantly! hmmmm... She also bit my t-shirt. I am sure she is just as frustrated with us. We both sometimes think that she is trying so hard to tell us something. She tried McDonalds french fries for the first time and LOVED THEM! I mean love them! She tried ice cream too. Not a big fan! I think because her palate is also affected, she gets instant brain freeze. Not sure she had ever had something so cold in her little mouth. Bedtime was difficult. We went to the passport office. Lauryn fell asleep and wasn't too happy to be woken up to get her picture taken. It went okay. The security people thought it was hysterical! I had my first mommy meltdown! Everything is just so different here. Kyle worked on both of us and then went to get a well deserved massage. Went for authentic Thai food...again VERY different. I am such a Canadian.... I had rice, and fried pork! LOL! Kyle is much more adventurous... he tried everything! So proud of him!
Day Five - MUCH BETTER DAY
Lauryn got up at 3 this morning and cried for the first time in the morning. Got her up and out of her crib, changed her and we just cuddled. She adores her stacking cups. She played with them and woke Kyle up! She went back to sleep around 4:30 and I got ready for the day.
Today we went to the Guangzhou Safari! What a day!
Our hired car and guide met us in the lobby at 8:00.
Lauryn was happy after breakfast for a bit. She was pretty tired, so a little grumpy. Kyle and I have both decided that we need to push her a little to experience everything with us. She needs to know that no matter where we are, we are her safety. We will keep her safe.
We got to the park (kinda of like Toronto Zoo) around 8:50... the gates didn't open until 9:15. It was hotter then hot... 38 degrees at 9:00 in the morning! We looked around the gift shop. didn't buy anything but water! Lauryn is pretty freaked out buy stuffed animals! I am sure this will change. Her first meeting with Johnson and Peanut should be interesting!
Got in the gates and rented a stroller. Which Lauryn LOVED. Not sure if she has ever been in one before, but it was a hit!
We saw all kinds of animals. They had a animal kindergarden. It was increadible. Baby tigers and bears, monkey, deer... they were so cute. You can get so close to them it's pretty amazing! Lauryn thought this was great! She just was all eyes and kept pointing and giggling.
You can feed alot of the animals too. For 10 yuan, you can buy a bunch of leave and feed Giraffes! It was amazing. Probably my favourite part. We also fed a bunch of banana's to a baby elephant... The animals are very well looked after. Especially the tigers and the panadas. After walking around, we took a train around another part of the park - this part is like African Lion Safari. IT was pretty neat. Lauryn tried very hard to fall asleep and was successful for the last 10 mins! Poor girl! They were amazing to see. Nice park and we all had a good day.
We got back to the hotel, Lauryn fell asleep in the car and was a tired, hot, grumpy girl when we got back to our room she had her meltdown! This time she was kicking and crying... am I a bad mom? I kinda thought it was funny! She did the cutest thing ever today. I have mentioned that she likes to imitate things. Well, after I fed her, I was giving her kisses and telling her... Lauryn Kisses... she put her sweet little mouth in an "o" shape and leaned in towards my face and then giggled...ahhhh enough to make me cry... The she threw herself on her tummy and fell asleep. Kyle left to go and try and find shoes... Kyle wasn't successful. Everything was too small! Imagine if I went looking! YIKES! Kyle got back to the hotel and I left to send this email. Lauryn is still sleeping.
We are going AMERICAN for dinner tonight. There is an Italian restuarant that we can walk too. Very excited about this!
We leave Guangzhou tomorrow morning at 8:30. Our flight is at 11:00 and then we go back to Beijing to meet the rest of our group and their children. We are so excited to see everyone with their kids, and to show off our beautiful girl! she is pretty amazing.
I will update more when I can.
With lots of love from this side of the world!
xo
Well, here it is, bed time at day 3. Here is the events of the day.
Thanks Mom for keeping everyone in the loop, please continue to keep Kyle's family updated. He was concerned about this.
How are things at home! We miss home!
DAY 3...
Started at 4 in the morning, Kyle couldn't sleep and I was in and out. Got up when he did. Had a nice long shower and felt great! Lauryn slept until about 6 ish. She woke up with some babble and then started a little cry but nothing to big. Then the smiles started!
We went for breakfast around 6:30. Before we left Lauryn had some oatmeal, a bit of goldfish and some milk. At the restaurant she had some watermelon, a boiled egg and some chinese porridge! She tried some french toast and some apple juice. It was pretty funny... she took a big bite of watermelon and the juice came out her nose! She wasn't sure about apple juice... the first drink made her shiver! Then I watered it down and it was much better.
She had some trouble getting to sleep last night. She is amazed by all the lights and is a big wide eyed girl who stops herself from going to sleep, I think she wants to see more and more and more! Its pretty amazing to see. We both watched her for a long time and then just listened to her little baby sounds.
We had to meet in the lobby for 8:30. Back to the adoption centre! The adoption was finalized today! She is all ours. We met with a notary and another government official. We had about 10 - 12 questions from each of them. Things like Are you happy with this child? Do you want to make this child yours? DUH!! I would love to see someone try to take her away! Kyle is totally in awe of her. I love seeing them together. It really is amazing!
Lauryn got her land legs that's forsure! Her legs are very skinny and not strong at all. Today we put some running shoes on her. The adoption centre is a very big room and she went for it! She ran and walked and exhausted both Kyle and I! Our guide laughed at me! We had to take our first family photo. Something for the orphanage I think... I didn't know that it was our turn, then Ava came to get us and I was a sweaty hot mess! Told her I needed time to fix myself up! She thought that this was hysterical! You should see my hair. It is so humid that the its just crazy... nothing works! Oh well! LOL!
At the adoption centre we had some time to sit and really get to know our girl. She is so smart! She imitates EVERYTHING! She now says mama!!! YUP! She does! And she can wave bye - bye! The nanny told us yesterday to give her soft food. Her palate is effected and hardfood might bother her... not our girl. She will try everything! If she doesn't like it... no big deal she will spit it out!
After everything was finalized, we got back in our van and headed to the Chinese equivalent to walmart... OMG, what an experience. They sell everything there... EVERYTHING and it's all cheap, bad quality. Dawn (the lady that also adopted, and is staying in the same hotel) well, she loves to buy her older daughter shirts from these stores. The english is terrible. The one she bought today said M KOOKS... My Happy Hollida?? What the heck that is suppose to mean, I will never know. Kyle also bought some eggroll flavoured pringles... gross!
We loaded up on diapers, rice cereal and bottled water. I also bought some baby food - fruit mostly. I was worried b/c Lauryn hadn't pooped yet! We toyed with the idea of a stroller. We will be doing a lot of sight seeing in Beijing. Instead we bought a baby carrier.
Got back to the hotel and Lauryn was overtire, hot, hungry and pretty grumpy. She cried big tears for the first time! Then wanted to be held. Tried to settle her down and it eventually worked, but it took both of us! I think we have a lot to learn! But, we did just fine. She napped for about 2 hours. Kyle and I did too!
It was great! Starting to get use to the time change!
When she got up we changed her bum, and she had done what she was suppose to! Kyle said it smelled really bad... this cold I have prevented me from smelling anything. So I got to change her! Lauryn is pretty cranky today! I think the last two days have been totally overwhelming and she is just as tired as we are. I wonder what is going on in her mind! Then Kyle tested out the new baby carrier while I got ready for dinner. Cool!
She was pretty funny. I have some pictures. I think Kyle was pretty pleased with himself. He just adores her!
We met with Dawn, Lynne, Quinnlynne and Lindsay for our first authetic chinese dinner. It wasn't nearly as crazy as a I thought. You order for the table and all the dishes are put on a big lazy suzzane and shared. Well, Lauryn is a messy eater and certainly doesn't like anything being taken away from her. She had a minor melt down. It was pretty funny, we ordered some Teryaki noddles, well we were all pretty useless getting the noodles out of the bowl onto our plates so the restaurant sent over a lady to give us a hand! When we sat down, another waitress came over to ask me if I would like a fork! Then she came back to ask me if I would like a knife! LOL!
After lauryn's minor melt down we went back to the room. We are pretty tired again and Lauryn is cranky! Kyle went out to see if her could find some cold water. There isn't any such thing as cold in China. Everything is luke warm. Well Kyle went for his adventure, I tackled bath time alone...
It went okay... She cried... a lot! However she was standing in the tub holding on to me and wanted to sit down... and then she would cry harder....Got the job done and dressed her and combed her hair. I put baby lotion on her for the first time. She thought that was pretty cool! she giggles at a lot of things. Baby lotion was a hit. She smells fantastic...I can even smell her!
So, I have just come down to the business centre for the update! We all send out love and we are telling Lauryn of all the family she has at home who can't wait to meet her. You guys are going to be over the moon in love.
Tomorrow we get her passport and don't have to meet until 3.
We are going to meet for breakfast and then head to Beijing Street. I guess this is just packed with kids clothes vendors! Should be an interesting day! I will write more tomorrow.
I hope to have some pictures tomorrow too. I working on it!
The 3 of us send out love!
We love you all more then you could ever know or possibly understand! It seems so weird not having our family with us at such a special time! Can't wait to introduce you!
We love you! Sweet dreams... sorry, sweet dreams for us... have a great day to you!
Thanks for everything.
xo
