Quick Update and Pics From Taylor's Camera

Last night, we went to dinner with our guide and some of the families in our travel group.  I wish I would have taken the camera.  It was the best Chinese food I've ever had in my life.  After what we saw on the breakfast buffet yesterday my expectations were quite low but it was amazing.  We walked over to the place (I'll have to ask our guide what the name of it is) and went inside and hiked up 4 flights of steps.  It was really hot inside but they took us into a private room that was air conditioned (!) and started to bring out the dishes one by one.  There was a spicy potato thing, spicy cabbage with pork, lamb on a stick, spicy beef, broccoli, rice, steamed egg for the babies and a fried banana bread thing that was delicious.  Meili ate a bowl and a half of steamed egg so we figured that she was full.  My favorite part of the evening was when she started to play with my necklace and attempted to feed it to me.  I finally got a little smile out of her as we were feeding each other my necklace!  After that, she seemed to perk up quite a bit.  When the watermelon was served, it got her attention and she ate a few pieces with the most energy we've seen out of her yet. Things are slow but moving in the right direction! Last night we all got a good night's sleep so today should be even better.  Here are some random pics from Taylor's camera.  I'll try to do the same with Audrey's camera sometime soon.

Fu Yan Cong is Officially a Bouton!

For some reason, we all can't seem to wake up any later than 3 or 4 am each morning but we're having a fun time making good use of  those early morning hours by enjoying Meili and coaxing her out of her little shell.  Some developments today are better eye contact.  She is very clingy but will still go to either Matt or I.  It's hard to try to interact with her when she is glued to your body.  I keep trying to sit her on the bed across from me so I can try to feed her or play 'pass the toy' and she won't have much to do with it for very long. Still no smiles but she at times seems like she is thinking about it.  She will now look in a mirror without screaming.  Yep, we're celelebrating the small steps!

 

Her first bath this morning was a royal failure.  There is a baby bathtub under the sink but the sink and countertop aren't big enough to place it on without the potential for a tipover.  There is no full sized tub-only a shower so I opted to put her directly into the sink.  The only problem was that she would not bend her body into a sitting position to get into it.  So I held her upright with one arm and tried to clean her up with the other while she howled.  Her referral docs say that bathtime is her favorite activity.  I no longer believe anything that is contained in any of the reports that we have received.  :)  I dressed her in a size 6-9 month outfit and the length is good but she still has room to spare in the waist.  She is so petite!  She is the youngest in our travel group by only a few days but looks to me that she is the smallest by at least a few pounds.

 

We are now staying at the Jin Feng Hotel in Nanchang.  It's a 5 star hotel in the middle of 'real China.' We are certainly not in Beijing any more.  Most of the surrounding buildings look like they could crumble to the ground at any minute.  The people here speak Gan which is a minority dialect of Mandarin not intelligible to most people who speak the standard dialect.   

 

Breakfast this morning was 'interesting.'  I would love to be able to say that I tried a bit of everything in China but spicy Chinese food just doesn't seem appetizing at 7 am.  I think I had half of a banana and a Gatorade for breakfast.  I mashed up the other half of the banana for Meili but she wasn't a fan.  She would rather have congee or egg.  I guess it's good for us to see what she will feel like in a couple of weeks when all the food around her won't exactly be what she had in mind.

 

After breakfast, we headed to the Civil Affairs office to register the adoption.  We had our family picture taken, reviewed some paperwork and then we were interviewed by an official.  She asked us questions like, 'What is your occupation?'  'What year were you married?'  'How to you plan to raise and educate your child?' along with 'Are you happy with your child?'  and 'Do you promise to never abuse or abandon her?'  Well, duh.  Of course we are and of course we won't. 

 

After that, we were able to meet with the director and ask him a few questions. I had grandiose plans to eek out a Mandarin conversation but wasn't able to get past, 'Hen gao xing ren shi ni.' (Very nice to meet you)  He did tell us that Meili has always been in the orphanage and out of the 15 families in our travel group, only Meili and one other child were in the orphanage the whole time.  He also told us that they were both involved in the Half the Sky program. (Lisa, I think Meili and Ava were definitely orphanage buddies!) I asked if there was a memory book and he said yes!  I bawled like a baby when I heard the news.  I haven't seen it yet but our guide, Grace, has it and is translating it.  She says it is taking her a while because it has many pages!  He said that she has been sick for about 3 days.  He also said that he would like for her to learn to speak Chinese and come back to the orphanage to visit.  He seemed like a very kind man and said that he understood that we had been waiting for a long time and why I was so emotional.  Later we took a picture with him and he said, 'Wow, the mom is really tall!'

 

So, in the eyes of the Chinese government, Meili is officially ours!!!

 

We came back to the hotel and Meili and I had a nap while Matt, Taylor and Audrey went to the market for some snacks and then went for a swim in the hotel pool.  They also ventured across the street (Frogger style) and dropped off the disposable camera that was sent with Meili.  I hope there are some good pics of what her life was like in the orphanage.  We'll pick up the pictures tomorrow.  We're meeting our group for dinner at 6 which should be another culinary adventure and then we hope to get a good nights sleep.  Tomorrow, we're going to Walmart.  Taylor is hoping to get some video games and I'm hoping to pick up some Chinese music and children's books.  Will check in again tomorrow!  

The Great Wall

On Saturday afternoon, we climbed the Great Wall and it was, well, great!  We all made it to the restrooms just below tower 4 and Matt and Taylor made it all the way to the top eliminating any doubt that they are indeed 'true men.' Taylor was a boy on a mission.  He wanted to get to the top and get the 'I climbed the Great Wall' t-shirt to ensure he would not be mocked by Nicholas and Zhao Yue when he got home.  We took a group photo there and put our lock on the chain and threw the key over the side.  I checked 'Send a Slinky down the Great Wall of China' off of my bucket list even though it didn't work very well.  The steps are too uneven and deep.  It worked best on the sloped parts without steps.  My favorite part was chatting with the people going the opposite direction on the wall.  The Chinese people are so friendly and eager to practice their English.  It's amazing how many functionally bilingual people there are in Beijing.  It was very quickly made apparent to me that I am not one of them.  I only learned that 'bu xie' does not mean, 'no thanks' after an entire day of responding to eager vendors by telling them that there was no need to thank me.  :) 

 

Climbing the Great Wall is one of those things that you never think you will ever be able to do in your lifetime.  It was quite a feeling to stand there on the wall and look out over the hillside and think about its historical significance.  Matt summed it up best though when he said as he huffed and puffed up the wall, 'Well, I can see why it kept the Mongols out!'

WORTH THE WAIT!!!

We made it up to the 13th floor conference room of our hotel at about 4:30pm as instructed and were told that the babies had been delayed 15-30 minutes.  Not 5 minutes later, we heard crying in the halls.  I grabbed the camera and ran for it but had to really search for Meili.  She was in the middle of the crowd wearing a cute little lavender dress.  The nanny that was holding her could tell that I had spotted my baby and tried to be discreet about moving to the front so we could get a pic.  We were the first family to be called so it all seemed like a frantic mess but before we knew it, I was holding our girl!

 

She didn't cry at first and came to me quite easily but made up for it later.  She is a double fisted thumb sucker-she'll switch from one thumb to the next over and over again.  If one arm is covered in a blanket or tucked behind me while I'm holding her, she'll get ticked so I have to hold her upright instead of in a cradle position.  She is very petite.  We changed her diaper and fed her a bottle but have not yet changed her clothes.  She's swimming in the size three diapers we brought and I'm guessing that she will be swimming in the size 12 months clothes we brought as well.  I'm thinking that she is in a 6-9 months size at most.  We haven't weighed her yet but we're sure the 19-20 pound reports were quite exaggerated.

 

Matt was able to hold her and rocked her to sleep. He also got the bottle right on the first try.  He's still a pro!  Taylor and Audrey are doing great. They've been the camera crew, caddies and designated play patrol.  No smiles yet.  We definitely have one scared little girl on our hands but we're sure that things will get better each day.

 

Meili is a little sick but nothing to be concerned about.  She has two IV marks (one in each hand) and is coughing and running a slight fever.  Her chest sometimes rattles when she breathes but not all of the time. She came to us with a bag with 4 different kinds of medicines.  One we recognize as the Chinese version of Baby Tylenol.  The other three are 'ancient Chinese secret' and we'll get to play apothecary tomorrow when she wakes up. Our guide came up after the paper work was done tonight to translate the instructions for us.  I asked her why a baby would go to the hospital for a chest cold trying to figure out if she had been much worse and was already on the mend and she explained that there are no private doctors here.  Anybody that wants to see a doctor must go to a hospital to do so and anybody who goes to the hospital gets an IV.  Anyway, she is eating fine and isn't dehydrated at all so we're not too concerned.  I'm sure that the orphanage director wanted to make sure that she had received the best care possible before handing her over to us. 

 

I'll update more as I'm able.  We're completely exhausted but head over heels in love with this girl!!!   Here are some pics.

Ni Hao (and Holy Crap!) from Nanchang!!!

We just made it to our hotel in Nanchang City and we have internet access!!!  I'd love to sit here and update you all on our adventures these past few days but we are heading out the door to meet Meili in about 10 minutes!!! Will update with pics once we have the empress to sleep.  Can't believe this is really happening.  Will check in soon!

Ni Hao From Beijing

Just a quick note-the internet is so slow here that we're about to throw the computer out the window!  We made it safe and sound yesterday with only a three hour detour to Tian Jin while we waited for a storm in Beijing to pass.  Once we finally landed, we were informed that there was no need for  the health officials to board and scan temperatures!  We were relieved, especially since there was a boy behind us hacking up a lung  and an adorable but green-nosed little girl in front of us during the flight.  We made it to the hotel just in time to check in and crash.

We woke up bright and early and met up with our travel group for breakfast.  We toured Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and climbed the Great Wall.  Matt and Taylor made it all the way to the top and Audrey and I made it to the restrooms near the 4^th tower.  It was amazing to stand on that wall and know that we are finally in our daughter's country!

Tomorrow morning, we fly to Nanchang  and meet our Meili.  It's hard to believe that an almost 4 year journey is coming down to it's final hours.  We are so ready to meet our girl.  I know that it won't be easy for her so any prayers would be greatly appreciated.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will encounter better internet options in Nanchang and will be able to post pics of our daughter very soon.

Noah and Xander-We love and miss you.  Be good for Grandma Judy and Papa Jim Jim.  We'll try to post pictures of your sister tomorrow!

 

 

Ni Hao From Beijing

Just a quick note-the internet is so slow here that we're about to throw the computer out the window!  We made it safe and sound yesterday with only a three hour detour to Tian Jin while we waited for a storm in Beijing to pass.  Once we finally landed, we were informed that there was no need for  the health officials to board and scan temperatures!  We were relieved, especially since there was a boy behind us hacking up a lung  and an adorable but green-nosed little girl in front of us during the flight.  We made it to the hotel just in time to check in and crash.

We woke up bright and early and met up with our travel group for breakfast.  We toured Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and climbed the Great Wall.  Matt and Taylor made it all the way to the top and Audrey and I made it to the restrooms near the 4^th tower.  It was amazing to stand on that wall and know that we are finally in our daughter's country!

Tomorrow morning, we fly to Nanchang  and meet our Meili.  It's hard to believe that an almost 4 year journey is coming down to it's final hours.  We are so ready to meet our girl.  I know that it won't be easy for her so any prayers would be greatly appreciated.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will encounter better internet options in Nanchang and will be able to post pics of our daughter very soon.

Noah and Xander-We love and miss you.  Be good for Grandma Judy and Papa Jim Jim.  We'll try to post pictures of your sister tomorrow!

 

 

We're Off to China!!!

It's been quite a chore to get four of us ready to go to China, two ready to stay behind, four kids ready to start school and a house (almost) ready to put on the market with an Eagle project in the works for good measure these past few months but we are as ready as we're going to get and as excited as we can be!

We are so grateful to our friends and families for your support and especially for the help with our boys (and dog!) while we are away. Noah and Xander are having a sleepover with the Posts and then another with the Moodys. Then Grandma Judy and Papa Jim Jim have planned quite an adventure for them. They are going to have a blast while we are gone!

It's finally time to meet Meili and bring her home! We already love her but can't wait to get to know her. In all of our excitement, we're also very mindful that it isn't going to be easy for Meili to leave all that is familiar to her. We're ready to help her with all of the big changes that she is about to go through and to be patient with her as she learns to trust us. The real adventure is just beginning!

We'll do our best to update the blog while we're gone. Next time, from Beijing!!!

Our Itinerary

The trip we've waited almost 4 years for is about to begin in less than two days!!!

• 7/23-Leaving Tucson at 6:39 am for Beijing via SFO
• 7/24-Arrive in Beijing at 2:40 pm
• 7/25-Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tian An Men Square
• 7/26-Depart Beijing for Nanchang, Jiangxi Province 4 pm-GET MEILI!!!
• 7/27-Finalize adoption. Fu Yan Cong becomes Meili Grace YanCong Bouton!
• 7/28-Shopping Day
• 7/29-Sightseeing to XiangHu Park
• 7/30-Sightseeing to Teng Weng Ge
• 7/31-Get Meili's Chinese passport. Fly to Guangzhou.
• 8/1-Free Day
• 8/2-Sightseeing to Chen Family Temple
• 8/3-Sightseeing to Yuntai Park
• 8/4-Meili's Visa Photo and Medical Evaluation
• 8/5-Our guide goes to the consulate to hand in our documents
• 8/6-Consulate Interview and pick up Meili's Visa
• 8/7-Fly to Hong Kong then home via SFO. After 19+ hours of travelling, we'll have a 10 hour layover in San Francisco, but no worries! Debbie (Matt's mom) is flying to SFO to hang out with us at the airport and Aunt Nini and Uncle Brice should be able to meet up with us for dinner! We'll land in Tucson at 9:14 pm!!!

This Is a Test...

This is an attempt to post to the blog directly from our email account.  If this works, it will be a great way to post to the blog when we are in China through the back door (seeing as how the front door is blocked by 'Big Red.')  One week from tomorrow we are out of here!!!  :)

July 26th, 2009

That's Meili Day! We received an updated itinerary from our agency late last week and Meili Day has been moved up two days. We'll take it! So, 11 days till we leave for China and two weeks from today we'll FINALLY have Meili in our arms!!!

And the Winner is...

So sorry to those of you who were waiting in suspense. This post is long overdue! We printed out the comments from the giveaway post and put them in a basket. Xander shut his eyes and picked....
'Thinking of you' as the winner of the My Adoption Website! Congratulations Elisabeth and Sean! We'll put the certificate in the mail to you first thing Monday morning. We hope that you are on your way to get your little one very soon! Enjoy!!!

Fun With China Adoption Friends...

A few weeks ago, Dana organized a lunch get-together with our China adoption friends. I was eager to meet with her and benefit from her BTDT advice for our upcoming trip to China!

Dana and Heather surprised Shannon and I with gifts!

So fun to get girly things!

Still lovin' the ladybugs!

Thank you ladies! It has been wonderful to share the LOOOOONG journey with you!

Baby Shower!

A couple of weeks ago, my good friend, Shana, hosted a shower for Meili! All through the festivities, I kept saying to myself, 'This is really real! We're actually about to bring our baby home!' It was awesome!

The shower started at 9am. Here we are enjoying a scrumptious breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls, fruit, yogurt parfaits and a delicious breakfast casserole. My mouth is watering just thinking about it... :oP The table centerpieces were baby wipe packages wrapped in black tulle with yellow daisies-beautiful AND practical!

Audrey with Olivia and Morgan
Addie and LaWana

Polly (You may recognize her as one of the MJ mourners)

Suzanne, Kay and Judy

Patty, Chloe and Ronda

Dianna, Radonna and Addie

Shana-The Fabulous Hostess

Great neighbors, Keira and Torrey. Are you sure you don't want to move to FL with us???
Me and Shannon (in China now and should be getting her Avery very soon!) We're both wearing our referral photos around our necks!
Watching the Referral Call Video. I had to leave the room-I still cry when I watch it!

So many wonderful gifts! According to Taylor, Meili now has more clothes than Paris Hilt*n! Can't wait to dress her up in all the cute outfits. It's been a LONG time since I've dressed a baby girl! Thank you, ladies!

The China Adoption Matching Game

Thank you, Shana for a wonderful shower. You are a dear friend!

Care Package #2

Shortly after we received our referral, we were thrilled to be contacted by a family (Hi, Cathy!) that was preparing to take a birthland tour to China and specifically to Meili's province and orphanage. They very kindly offered to take a package to her for us! We put together a package that included two cameras (labeled with Meili's picture and the Chinese characters for her name), a blanket (washed with our usual detergent and sprayed with a little of my perfume), a snuggle bunny that was a secret pal gift, a photo album with pics of each family member holding Meili's referral picture, some Jelly Bellys for the nannys, and Saf-T-Pops for the orphanage children. Instead of having to send the package all the way to China, we only had to send it to a city about an hour and a half from us and they placed it directly into the orphanage director's hands. What a blessing!

You can read about the family's experience in Meili's province here. I really enjoyed reading Cathy's posts and getting a feel for Jiangxi province and for the experience of a China birthland tour. I really hope we can return to China with Meili one day! Thank you Cathy and family. We are so grateful!

I've been an adoption social worker for about 3 and a half years now and I've made several observations based on my experiences. One of them is that there is just something very special and cohesive about the China adoption community. This is one example out of many of folks being willing to go out of their way for one another. I hope we can pay it forward to another family one day.

Care Package #1

I've been asked about Meili's carepackages and the letter that we sent along with it. I've raved about her before but can't say enough how helpful, prompt and generally wonderful Ann at http://www.redthreadchina.org/ was to work with. As part of her packages, she will translate a letter for you. That in and of itself made the whole process worthwhile. As far as the letter goes, sometimes it helps to look at an example. In fact, I'm sure that the letter we ended up with was crafted from several others that I have peeked at over the years. Ours is below:

(Part of me hopes that the cake is actually average size and Meili is really, really petite but I'm sure that's just one freaking huge cake!)

Dear Fu Zhou Social Welfare Institute Director and/or Caregiver of Fu Yan Cong,

We are looking forward to visiting China and becoming parents to our little girl currently in your care. We have attached our Letter Seeking Confirmation showing our Daughter’s name and our desire to make her part of our family. We eagerly look forward to adopting Fu Yan Cong. Thank you for all the love and care you have given her. We are more grateful than can ever be expressed.

Fu Yan Cong not only has a mother and father waiting for her in the United States, but also three older brothers (ages 13, 8 and 5) and an older sister (age 11) who has been wishing for a baby sister since she was old enough to speak. Even though we have a large family by many standards, we have had room in our hearts for another child for many years. We feel blessed beyond measure to be given the opportunity to welcome Fu Yan Cong to our family.

We feel that children are a most precious gift and we take our role and responsibility as parents very seriously. Please know that we will love and care for Fu Yan Cong just as we do our other children. We also want you to know that as we welcome our new daughter into our family, we also welcome the opportunity to celebrate and honor the culture of her native country. We have been studying Chinese language and culture and have developed a love for China and its people. We hope to give our daughter many opportunities to learn about and explore the land of her birth throughout her life. It is our goal to return to China with our daughter one day when she is older and to be able to sit down with you and have a conversation without the need of a translator. We will do our best!

In the report that we have received about Fu Yan Cong, it states that she is fond of foods that are sweet. We hope that she enjoys the birthday cake that we have sent to her and is able to share it with some of her friends. We will be thinking of her on her special day and are saddened that we can’t be there to celebrate with her. Please give her a kiss on the cheek and a hug from us and tell her that we will be together soon.

We are enclosing a disposable camera in this package, hoping you might be able to take some photographs of Fu Yan Cong at the orphanage, with her caregivers and cribmate, (or with her foster family if she is in foster care) and anything that you feel may be important to us or her in the future. We will keep these pictures to share with her when she is older so we can tell her about her first home. They will mean so much to us.

Enclosed is a list of questions. We know that the answers to these questions will help us to make the transition easier for her. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to answer these questions.

Thank you for all you have done for Fu Yan Cong. We will forever be grateful. Please hug and care for her until we can be united with her.

Sincerely,
The Bouton Family
Mathew, Jennifer, Taylor, Audrey, Noah and Xander

Questions about Fu Yan Cong:
Does Fu Yan Cong’s name have any special meaning?
Who chose her name, and why was that name chosen?
Does she have a nickname/petname?
Please tell us about when, how and where she was found. Can you tell us who found her? How old do you think she was when she was found? What was she wearing?
Was there a note found with her, or any other memento? If there was a note/memento, could we have a copy of it?
Do you have her finding ad? Could we have a copy of her finding ad?
Has Fu Yan Cong been at FuZhou SWI since she was found? Has she been in other orphanages or in foster care?
Is she close to a particular caregiver? What is that caregivers’s name? What (if anything) does she call her caregiver?
Does she have a special friend or cribmate in the orphanage? (Or, if she is in foster care, does she have any foster siblings?) What is that child’s name? Has that child been adopted?
Is Fu Yan Cong accustomed to hearing Cantonese or Mandarin Chinese language? We have been studying Mandarin and hope that we have made a good choice!
How would you describe her personality?
What makes her happy? What makes her angry or upset?
What are the best ways to soothe her?
What are her favorite activities?
Has she had health problems or allergies? What kinds of medical treatments has she had?
What kind of food is she eating now? Does she have any particular likes or dislikes? What is her favorite food?
What else would you like to tell us about her?
Does the orphanage or caregivers need anything in particular?
Is there a telephone number or email address so we can contact you about the orphanages’ future needs or send updates about Fu Yan Cong as she grows?

Our Beautiful Daughter

Yesterday, we received an email with this pic of Meili from our travelmates. What a gift! Micalee celebrated her 2nd birthday a couple of days ago and was kind enough to share her cake with her little friends. I think Meili remembered her cake from a little over a month ago and this time knew exactly what to do with it. In most of the pictures, she is either diving into the cake or seriously thinking about it. All previous pics we have of her show a shy and timid little girl so it's nice to see some spunk in her.

Grandma Judy noticed from the pics that Meili is feeding herself with her left hand. Not sure if it's because there is a toy or something (choking hazard if you ask me) in her right hand or if we truly may have a lefty on our hands. That would make her left-handed Daddy very proud. I've also added hair clips and 'socks that match' to the packing list.

Last night, Matt came home from a meeting, sat down at the table and said, 'I'm in love with that baby!' She's already got Daddy wrapped around her little finger and he hasn't even met her yet. Two weeks from tomorrow, we'll board the plane to China. Time seems to be moving slower than ever. This is by far the worst part of the wait.