sign it, please. If this bill had been passed before we went to China, Andy would not have had to get 7 shots in 3 days by an unknown doctor - he could have been vaccinated on a slower schedule by our family doctor.
Immunization Waiver Petition
There are over 600 signatures.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
YuanYuan has named his sisters
He calls Evie "JieJie" (juh-juh) - Big Sister in Chinese. He yells this up the stairs whenever she goes up, he doesn't like it when she goes up to her room! He follows her around and mimics her - she sits down on the floor, he sits down on the floor. She climbs on the couch, he climbs on the couch. It is very cute.
He calls Emily "Emma" - she is his favorite person, I think. She plays with him and carries him around, sometimes gives him a treat, but doesn't do any of that mean stuff like change his pants or give him a bath! If she goes where he can't follow, he growls her name!
I am Mama, and Richard is Baba (Daddy in Chinese). He yells Mama, but whispers Baba!
He calls Emily "Emma" - she is his favorite person, I think. She plays with him and carries him around, sometimes gives him a treat, but doesn't do any of that mean stuff like change his pants or give him a bath! If she goes where he can't follow, he growls her name!
I am Mama, and Richard is Baba (Daddy in Chinese). He yells Mama, but whispers Baba!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
home at last!
We are finally home. I didn't think that the flight would ever end... YuanYuan was pretty good on the flight, he slept most of the time. There were a few screaming incidents, but not too many.
Things are going well overall. YuanYuan is grieving for his foster mama pretty hard, especially at night. During the day, Em is his favorite person. She is enjoying having a little brother, but he expects her to hold him whenever he sees her - kind of exhausting for a 13 year old! YuanYuan loves Evie, too, and whenever she goes upstairs to her room, he stands at the bottom of the stairs and yells JieJie (big sister)! Evie is having a bit of trouble adjusting to her new role of big sister and having someone else fill the baby spot. There is jealousy now and then, especially when Em pays a lot of attention to YuanYuan.
He is kind of scared of the cats, but terrified of the dog. The phones and remotes are not safe - he pushes buttons, then throws them when they don't respond to him! He loves to dance to music and play with his sisters. Tortillas are yummy, but refried beans get spit out! Mashed potatoes are a delicious new treat!
Things are going well overall. YuanYuan is grieving for his foster mama pretty hard, especially at night. During the day, Em is his favorite person. She is enjoying having a little brother, but he expects her to hold him whenever he sees her - kind of exhausting for a 13 year old! YuanYuan loves Evie, too, and whenever she goes upstairs to her room, he stands at the bottom of the stairs and yells JieJie (big sister)! Evie is having a bit of trouble adjusting to her new role of big sister and having someone else fill the baby spot. There is jealousy now and then, especially when Em pays a lot of attention to YuanYuan.
He is kind of scared of the cats, but terrified of the dog. The phones and remotes are not safe - he pushes buttons, then throws them when they don't respond to him! He loves to dance to music and play with his sisters. Tortillas are yummy, but refried beans get spit out! Mashed potatoes are a delicious new treat!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Wednesday Feb 10 2010
Wednesday Feb 10 2010
Wednesday Feb 10 2010
giraffes
YuanYuan liked to watch both - when I would start pushing the stroller to leave he would shout Mama! and so we would stay a bit longer...
Wednesday Feb 10 2010
The little dogs, inside for today, and a donkey who is not to be hugged.
Wednesday Feb 10 2010
A monkey that makes a silly call, it kind of sounds like a child. It would make the noise, and the people around us would make the noise back to the monkey. This went on for several minutes. Richard got a video, but it is too large to upload by email.
Wednesday Feb 10 2010
YuanYuan liked to watch these baboons.
Wednesday Feb 10 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
lunch yesterday
our consulate visit is done!
Now Alexander Fuyuan will be an American citizen when we go through immigration in Chicago!
We took a 40 minute bus ride with the other two families from our group who had their CA yesterday. Only families adopting kids under two went today, the other families in our group will go tomorrow.
Then we went up several floors on the escalators, showed our passports, and went up one more escalator. Then "American-style" security - shoes off, even for babies. People go through metal detectors, bags and shoes go through x-ray machine. No electronics allowed in, even baby toys with batteries.
We sat in chairs and waited for "the parents of Qing Fu Yuan" to be called, then we went up to the window. Richard signed a couple of places on YuanYuan's DS-230 form, then we sat some more and waited for all of the families to be done. Then one of the Consulate staff came out and talked to us about China, Spring Festival and its impact on travel, etc. Then we all raised our right hands and took the oath on behalf of our children, went down several floors of escalators, waited for the bus, and rode home.
Tomorrow we will go to the zoo. Sometime late in the afternoon we will receive Andy's passport and visa. The day after tomorrow, we leave for the airport at 6:40 am to catch our 10:00 am flight to Beijing. We get to hang out in Beijing for a few hours before we catch our flight to Chicago. It is an overnight flight, so hopefully YuanYuan will sleep. (please, please, please let him sleep!)
We are so excited to be coming home soon! We miss our girls so much.
We took a 40 minute bus ride with the other two families from our group who had their CA yesterday. Only families adopting kids under two went today, the other families in our group will go tomorrow.
Then we went up several floors on the escalators, showed our passports, and went up one more escalator. Then "American-style" security - shoes off, even for babies. People go through metal detectors, bags and shoes go through x-ray machine. No electronics allowed in, even baby toys with batteries.
We sat in chairs and waited for "the parents of Qing Fu Yuan" to be called, then we went up to the window. Richard signed a couple of places on YuanYuan's DS-230 form, then we sat some more and waited for all of the families to be done. Then one of the Consulate staff came out and talked to us about China, Spring Festival and its impact on travel, etc. Then we all raised our right hands and took the oath on behalf of our children, went down several floors of escalators, waited for the bus, and rode home.
Tomorrow we will go to the zoo. Sometime late in the afternoon we will receive Andy's passport and visa. The day after tomorrow, we leave for the airport at 6:40 am to catch our 10:00 am flight to Beijing. We get to hang out in Beijing for a few hours before we catch our flight to Chicago. It is an overnight flight, so hopefully YuanYuan will sleep. (please, please, please let him sleep!)
We are so excited to be coming home soon! We miss our girls so much.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Out for a walk this morning, part 3!
Out for a walk this morning, part 2!
The excavator on the canal, it was quiet when we took this picture, but this and another one had been busy working the day before.
Out for a walk this morning
Look, Evie, Bear by a statue on our walk this morning!
more White Swan Lobby
red couch photos Tues. Feb 9 2010
Monday Feb 8 2010
After breakfast, we walked across the pedestrian bridge to a market area. There are a lot of Westerners on the island, but not many at all when you cross the bridge. It is really an entirely different world.
At first we saw the traditional medicine market, vendors were selling dried mushrooms, seahorses, turtles, snakes, lots of unidentifiable things (to us, anyway). Girls, we saw lots of pet kitties (not ones for food) - even one on a leash that a man was walking around! Cat on leash = not a happy cat!
After the traditional medicine market came other markets - we even saw what had to be a plumbing supply store, Papa! Lots of PVC strung on ropes across the top of the door and the windows! Em, there were lots of stores full of bags, scarves, and clothes. Then came the electronics market - store after store after store of cell phones, cell phone accessories, cell phone parts, and other electronics as well. Em, I looked for a cell phone case for you, but I wasn't sure any of them would fit your phone. You would have had fun looking, though!
We found a Pleasant Goat toy for Andy - he just put it in the trash can. I wonder if that's where some of his stacking cups went? We are missing a few. Note to self: check trash cans for toys before the maid comes to clean our room!
We must have walked several miles today, with YuanYuan in the mama back ride (Evie's name for the baby carrier!) After lunch we came back to the hotel for a nap, but YuanYuan wasn't tired. Mama and Daddy were!
Before supper tonight, we went for a walk and stopped at Mr. Jordon's store. They had a nice, small stroller for sale, so now YuanYuan has a new ride. (He is a big boy, and Mama gets tired!) Mr. Jordon also did a calligraphy of Andy's name for us, and we bought a couple of presents at his store. I would like to go back there tomorrow and get a few more things. We really like shopping at Jordon's - it is the one store on Sha Mian island where you are not constantly hounded from the minute you walk in the door.
We had supper at Lucy's. YuanYuan ate a whole bowl of chicken congee. Richard had Thai green curry chicken, and I had Malaysian fried rice. Yum! We also had iced tea, I hope we don't regret that tomorrow. It tasted really good, though! I was really contemplating getting the chicken enchiladas as I am having a wicked craving for Mexican food, but I just couldn't make myself do it. I was sure that I would have been disappointed. There is a store next to our hotel, a clothing store, and the name of it is Mexican. I think it is teasing me. We will have to stop at Habanero's or Las Agaves when we get home!
We did a bit more shopping after supper, and bought a couple ice cream bars on our way back to the hotel. I think mine was green tea with soybeans, and I'm not sure what Rich's was. Something reddish brown. We only had a few bites each - they were good, but very sweet and just a little too different! Andy still doesn't like ice cream - he wants to taste it, but doesn't like the cold. Evie, you were just the same way when you were little. He always wants to take a bite, then makes a face like he is going to cry afterward!
Right now he is snacking on some raisins and pushing his new stroller around the room. He really likes it!
Tomorrow the group might go to the zoo. I hope it stops raining! Evie, we will try to remember to take the Bear along for some pictures.
The attached photos are: Andy playing peek-a-boo with the raisin box and Andy and Pleasant Goat (the main character in the popular Chinese cartoon Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf)
Sunday, February 7, 2010
not a lot going on today
We went to a government store (selling tea, jade, cloisonne, etc.) and the wholesale market with our group. We bought a couple things at the gov't store (tea and tea cups) and looked at the wholesale market but didn't find anything we liked enough to buy. Em - do you remember the wholesale market? It is the big 5 story market - the one building has all of the jewelry stores, with the pearls, gold, silver, and other stones, and the other building has clothing, dvds, etc. We looked for those necklace kits that you got last time, the ones with the oyster shell in the little can, but we didn't find any. Sorry.
We finally got our laundry back today, so we should have nice clean clothes for tomorrow. I had sent out all of our laundry on Saturday, so I had to wash what we wore yesterday in the sink and hang it all night to dry so we would have clothes for today. (had to help it a little with the blow dryer before we got dressed!)
After this morning's shopping trip we went out to get some drinks at 7-11 and pick up lunch. Richard bought us lunch at the deli shoppe while I brought Andy and the laundry back up to our room. We got curry chicken and potatoes, some kind of greens, rice, and some kind of soup. YuanYuan loved the soup with some rice stirred in, but spit the curry and the greens back out. He thinks it's funny when I feed him rice with chopsticks, and he slurps his soup off the spoon like a pro (and says "mmmmmmmmm" afterward!)
Tomorrow morning we are heading back to the doctor at 7:30 am for YuanYuan's last 3 shots. Not looking forward to it! We might skip the tour tomorrow, as we've already done that one (Folk Art Museum/Chen Clan Temple) We might do some exploring on our own if he is feeling better.
Em, I hope you had fun at your party today, and good luck at your volleyball tournament tomorrow. We love you a lot.
Evie, I hope you had fun with Sissy and her friends, and that you had fun swimming. Daddy and I love you a lot, too.
We finally got our laundry back today, so we should have nice clean clothes for tomorrow. I had sent out all of our laundry on Saturday, so I had to wash what we wore yesterday in the sink and hang it all night to dry so we would have clothes for today. (had to help it a little with the blow dryer before we got dressed!)
After this morning's shopping trip we went out to get some drinks at 7-11 and pick up lunch. Richard bought us lunch at the deli shoppe while I brought Andy and the laundry back up to our room. We got curry chicken and potatoes, some kind of greens, rice, and some kind of soup. YuanYuan loved the soup with some rice stirred in, but spit the curry and the greens back out. He thinks it's funny when I feed him rice with chopsticks, and he slurps his soup off the spoon like a pro (and says "mmmmmmmmm" afterward!)
Tomorrow morning we are heading back to the doctor at 7:30 am for YuanYuan's last 3 shots. Not looking forward to it! We might skip the tour tomorrow, as we've already done that one (Folk Art Museum/Chen Clan Temple) We might do some exploring on our own if he is feeling better.
Em, I hope you had fun at your party today, and good luck at your volleyball tournament tomorrow. We love you a lot.
Evie, I hope you had fun with Sissy and her friends, and that you had fun swimming. Daddy and I love you a lot, too.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Andy babbling
I don't know if this video is too big or not. It is kind of tricky to email them in, I hope it works.
Medical Exam day
The worst part of all? When they translated the immunization record, YuanYuan needs 7 shots to get up to date with American kids the same age. Since we are an I800/Hague case, there is no waiver we can sign that would let us get his shots back in the USA, with our family doctor, on a delayed schedule. (that is what we did with Evie, when we were an I600/pre-Hague case) They took us in a room, and I told them he could only get 4 shots today, they would have to do the rest later. Our guide told them that, too. So the nurse got all the shots ready to go, and then tried to argue with me when I wouldn't let her give him all 7. I think they had to throw the other 3 out because she had already stuck the needle in them, so she was mad, but I told her 4 from the beginning. I wasn't going to be bullied about this. He screamed and fought and cried, I felt so bad. The lowest point was when he held my hair and started screaming Mama over and over. I don't know if he was calling me or his foster Mom, but I tried to comfort him. If you were at the clinic in Guangzhou, I was the crying mom holding the crying baby. We had to stay there for 30 minutes to look out for side effects, so we went outside and sat down for a little bit and rocked. Then we put him in the baby carrier and walked and stood by the canal, watching the workers dredging it. There was a backhoe on a raft that was scooping up sediment and filling up some smaller boats. It was a bit smelly, but LOUD, so our little guy was interested. We finally were allowed to leave, so we walked back to the hotel.
On the way, we stopped at 7-11 to pick up some water and drinks, and at Subway to get lunch. By the time we got back here, he was a happy boy again. He likes to eat the turkey off of my sub, and he bummed some of Rich's chocolate chip cookie (he said "oooooh" after he had a bite!) We played for a bit, then I gave him his noon bottle and wrestled him down for a nap.
Poor guy, we get to do this bright and early again on Monday morning. (waaaaah)
some Lanzhou memories
sorry, no pictures.
When we walked to the grocery store from our hotel, there was a very busy street to cross. Luckily there was an underpass - down some stairs, under the road, back up the other side. On one of the notice boards under there, someone had spray painted "New York City Graffiti" - it made me laugh every time I saw it!
After we went to the Lanzhou museum, Megan took us to Pizza Mira and ordered us some pizza. We ended up getting the Traditional, which had ham, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, and artichokes. The crust was kind of like a cross between cornbread and biscuits, but it was good. YuanYuan loved the sausage and the mushrooms, so I picked my pieces apart to find them for him.
The waiters would come around and fill up your water glass - tiny little juice glasses full of hot water! I was thirsty, though, so I must have had half a dozen little glasses of hot water!
A family came in and sat in the booth next to us. A mom, a dad, an older daughter, and a younger daughter. Megan had told us at the zoo that in some places, if your first child is a daughter, you can have another child in 5-8 years, depending on where you live and what ethnicity you are. So, the daughters were about the same age spread as Em and Evie - the younger was probably in kindergarten, and the older one was probably 10 or 11. They argued and played together, and reminded me so much of my girls that I got kind of teary at the restaurant!
The younger one took one look at us, smiled very big, and kept repeating "THANK YOU VERY MUCH! HAVE A NICE DAY!" I am guessing that she learned it in school? She thought it was funny when I said Ni Hao back to her.
We also met a man on our flight from Lanzhou to Guangzhou - it was after the layover in Xi'an. He asked where we were from, and I said America. He smiled really big and said "USA! New York City?" I told him that we were from near Chicago, and he got excited and said "Chicago Bulls! Basketball!" He wondered if we were going to live in China, or just visiting. We told him visiting. He asked how old Andy was, and laughed when I told him "ar". which is two in Mandarin. (he will be 2 the beginning of April)
At the zoo we met a woman who was of one of the Muslim minorities. Megan said that the woman was from in the mountains, a very rural area. She was very curious as to why we were with a Chinese baby, and kept asking me about him. Finally our guide came over to translate and said that the woman was shocked that people adopted babies from China - that in her ethnic group there is no one child policy, and that babies are never abandoned, and special needs babies are not abandoned, either. I don't think that she was in favor of Americans adopting from China, judging from the tone of the conversation.
When we walked to the grocery store from our hotel, there was a very busy street to cross. Luckily there was an underpass - down some stairs, under the road, back up the other side. On one of the notice boards under there, someone had spray painted "New York City Graffiti" - it made me laugh every time I saw it!
After we went to the Lanzhou museum, Megan took us to Pizza Mira and ordered us some pizza. We ended up getting the Traditional, which had ham, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, and artichokes. The crust was kind of like a cross between cornbread and biscuits, but it was good. YuanYuan loved the sausage and the mushrooms, so I picked my pieces apart to find them for him.
The waiters would come around and fill up your water glass - tiny little juice glasses full of hot water! I was thirsty, though, so I must have had half a dozen little glasses of hot water!
A family came in and sat in the booth next to us. A mom, a dad, an older daughter, and a younger daughter. Megan had told us at the zoo that in some places, if your first child is a daughter, you can have another child in 5-8 years, depending on where you live and what ethnicity you are. So, the daughters were about the same age spread as Em and Evie - the younger was probably in kindergarten, and the older one was probably 10 or 11. They argued and played together, and reminded me so much of my girls that I got kind of teary at the restaurant!
The younger one took one look at us, smiled very big, and kept repeating "THANK YOU VERY MUCH! HAVE A NICE DAY!" I am guessing that she learned it in school? She thought it was funny when I said Ni Hao back to her.
We also met a man on our flight from Lanzhou to Guangzhou - it was after the layover in Xi'an. He asked where we were from, and I said America. He smiled really big and said "USA! New York City?" I told him that we were from near Chicago, and he got excited and said "Chicago Bulls! Basketball!" He wondered if we were going to live in China, or just visiting. We told him visiting. He asked how old Andy was, and laughed when I told him "ar". which is two in Mandarin. (he will be 2 the beginning of April)
At the zoo we met a woman who was of one of the Muslim minorities. Megan said that the woman was from in the mountains, a very rural area. She was very curious as to why we were with a Chinese baby, and kept asking me about him. Finally our guide came over to translate and said that the woman was shocked that people adopted babies from China - that in her ethnic group there is no one child policy, and that babies are never abandoned, and special needs babies are not abandoned, either. I don't think that she was in favor of Americans adopting from China, judging from the tone of the conversation.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Mother River in Lanzhou
Megan says that many cities along the Yellow River have their own sculptures along the river, but that this one is the most beautiful of all.
Waterwheel Park in Lanzhou - Friday
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Feb 4 2010
We walked to KFC for lunch today. It was an interesting experience. We walked up many stairs to the restaurant, and they showed us a picture menu. Somehow, we both ended up getting kids meals - Richard got a sandwich, and I got nuggets. We also had a small box of popcorn chicken, we thought that YuanYuan would like them, but they are spicy in China, so we ended up giving him some of my nuggets, and the mashed potatoes instead! He loved the mashed potatoes. They are different in China, the flavoring is just not quite the same. With our meals we had a choice between milk and orange pop. We both chose the orange pop - imagine our surprise when we discovered that the orange pop was served hot (with a straw!). It was good, though. Richard went back up to get a small strawberry sundae - we thought that YuanYuan would like it. Apparently, the cold ice cream does not agree with him - he made horrible faces and almost cried!
After lunch we walked to the grocery store. If you have a bag you have to get a ticket from a machine, then a locker pops open and you put your bag inside. When you are done shopping, you scan the ticket in the machine and it opens your locker for you. We picked up some bottled water, a coke, and some diapers for our boy.
I think there is someone important or something important happening at our hotel. When we walked into the lobby after shopping, we were ushered to the elevator and the bellhop pushed the button for us, and waited until the doors closed before he left! Tonight we went to the Cantonese restaurant on the 4th floor, and after we ate we were again ushered to the elevator and watched until the doors closed. I had the feeling that we weren't supposed to be there, although everyone was very polite about it.
In other news, Andy finally pooped today, the first time since we met him on Sunday. He wasn't feeling well at all, but is doing much better now.
ok, enough for now. We fly to Guangzhou tomorrow, so I probably won't be able to update until Saturday. bye!
our view
Depending on the haze, we can see the mountains in the distance.
You would think that being 18 floors up would lessen the sound of the traffic down below. It does not! We hear honking and beeping and squeaky brakes any time we have the window open - and we have the window open a lot because the hotel is kept extremely hot. We can't figure out the thermostat (everything we tried made it hotter in here!).
I think that in China, your horn automatically goes off whenever someone else steps on their brakes! Traffic lanes and lights seem to be more suggestion and less law, and the traffic cop in the middle of the intersection we go through often has to be the bravest person in all of China!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
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