We made it home!!! Yipee!

And to be honest, the traveling home part wasn't nearly as difficult as it could have gone. It was in fact way better! David and I have worked on figuring out how to time feeding of cheerios and other treats and drinks during times that Jamie might otherwise have meltdowns so it went pretty well! He was awake for flight from Guangzhou to Tokyo and played and then when bored we gave him his beloved cheerio cup he is obsessed with. Woe to the adult that accidentally brings it into view at a time not intended! We have to hide it under things in the diaper bag. So that lasted him awhile.

We LOVED Narita, Tokyo airport. Oh my word! The place is amazing, starting with the ultra cool bathrooms. In one stall not only do you have a western toilet with an amazingly spotless and cool floor that looks like imitation bamboo matting (I did surprisingly well w/ the squatties in Chengdu but dreaded using them), but it was also equipped with all kinds of niceties like music, a water jet for the hiney (no, I didn't try either the music or that actually) and other things that I didn't bother to figure out, but it had a full changing table w/ a nice bedding mat covered with a clean sheet, a garbage can, a child seat w/ strap built into the wall and a sink! In each stall! Pretty cool. Then we wandered close to our gate and David spotted a sign saying 'Kids Room'. Hmm, what was it? It was great!! It was a playroom for young children; perfect for Jamie's age. Small slides, areas to climb up short stairs to tumblers on the wall filled w/ beads that clink as you turn them, spinning wheels to turn by hand, etc. It was neat b/c you had to take your shoes off before you go in and along the side was a playroom w/ the traditional walls and bamboo mat flooring. It was immaculate! Cleanest airport and easiest layout I've ever seen. We had a fabulous dinner; ordered plain udon noodles for Jamie that we doctored up w/ soy sauce (his favorite) since he still has diarrhea (has had it since day 3 of trip and still has now.) We had a wonderful beef udon soup; the broth was so good David slurped up the last drops. The mealtime wasn't too bad b/c we've figured out to have some crackers or bread or cheerios for Jamie when we start sitting down and then we get him eating his meal while we take bites when we can of ours. But boy you have to eat fast to make it under his attention span limit! We've gotten pretty used to wolfing and gulping and I know some day it'll get easier. The play time and meal took up much of our time so not as much time at gate. Good thing b/c little son was starting to meltdown and was really whiney by the time we got there. Probably b/c he'd only had a 30 minute nap earlier and used to 2.5 hrs. He fell asleep about 4 hrs into the flight. He was wide open before that but was very enjoyable. He was happy and playful and was actually being a very good boy about staying on our laps and we had an extra seat they let us have in between us for him to play on. Once he slept we had to make sure we were up b/c that boy likes to do some serious moving during his sleep! He winds up in all kinds of positions; legs sticking out of cribs usually, etc. There wasn't space to put him on the floor so on that 11 hr flight I think David and I got maybe 15 minutes of sleep maximum b/c poor Jamie kept almost rolling off onto the floor and would have had we not kept putting him back. He was kicking in his sleep with protest every time we kept him from falling on the floor, lol. I think I told you he LOVES to say, " Da??" in a questioning voice whenever he wants to know what something is. Well while he was sleeping after we moved him again so he was sleeping lighter, he lifted his hand up to protest but when it met David's chin he said, "Da?" and then his arm fell down and then he raised it again to David's chin and said 'da?' again but he was asleep with closed eyes the entire time. He was quite adorable in his large baggie Chinese pajama pants with his overnight sagging diaper. He kept his little knees tucked or legs splayed and it was adorable to look at. I felt the flight was actually good bonding time for me to him and probably some for him to me. I enjoyed him the most of our trip so far on this flight day! You'd think it would have been incredibly stressful but it was good having a lot of time w/ him where he wasn't just running around playing w/ things and having a lot to do. He was very cute.

Jamie had a more difficult time being a happy boy on the last flight from Chicago to Raleigh. He was really tired and nothing was making him happy once he finished his cheerios. So that one was not a flight that any of us enjoyed. But thankfully it was wicked short! ( Yes, I'm from New England originally so I have to say wicked now and then to prove it.)

The last full day in Guangzhou I was able to go out with someone who works at the consulate; just the two of us for fun. She and her husband are from a nearby town and she is friends with a cousin of David's. His cousin told his friends about our coming to the US consulate for the swearing in ceremony and to pick up paperwork last week so she made sure to find us there and wanted to give us some tours around Guangzhou. David turned out to be required to stay in the hotel room to await arriving paperwork on the last day so the woman and I got to go out. She brought me across the footbridge from Shamian island where we were staying first by taxi so we could go to the leather market. I didn't wind up buying any bags but I saw one I really wanted though b/c it was a wholesale market they wouldn't sell just one. Pity. Then she brought me to a large outdoor fish market (everything alive in tanks and buckets.) There were some wild-looking animals there. Some frogs along w/ living seafood. All kinds of clams like I've never seen. One type looked like it must be related to or actually is a goeduck clam: enormous!! I mean really huge! Like the part out of the shell was probably 8 or 9 inches long and about 6 inches across!! They didn't look very lively. Then she brought me to an indoor fruit and veg market but they also sold dead ducks and chickens. Everything still has a head on it of course. She told me not to go to a certain market b/c there would be cats and dogs for food sale there and there ain't no way I want to see a live cat for sale for food, poor things! In Jamie's province I don't think they eat much of either but in this particular province both are popular food items from what my guide told me and what she said. Then we went back to Shamian island (this is where our hotel is) and to a massage place. Okay, get ready for this: massage for 70 minutes for about 12 bucks!! Nice. Normally it is 90 minutes for that price but b/c of the trade fair going on there in that city right now they jack up prices about 20% (like our hotel room) or in this case keep the price the same but cut back on the time. These were *not* relaxing massages though! They were good but these are seriously strong women massaging you and they dig in hard and twist you around! Literally, after doing some moves on your back and arm they take your hand and arm and pull it around your opposite side, kind of like a chiropracter. They also crack all of your knuckles including your toes! Some of it was good, some of it was too painful to enjoy and a couple of times I had to indicate I wanted them to stop! But it was so great to get out w/ another woman and hang out and do fun things. David and Jamie played at the hotel meanwhile and went for an outing in the stroller after the paperwork arrived (his visa to come home.)

So parenting is still incredibly hard and I, being a very lazy person, find it incredibly challenging, lol, but we do have an awfully adorable little guy and you can't help but enjoy hearing him as he toddles about saying 'Da??' to everything wanting to know what it is called.

Jamie is taking it all pretty well so far being home just last night. We put him down in his crib about 1:30 a.m. and he awoke a few times to cry briefly but falls right to sleep when you stroke his head a little. David actually had to wake him up this morning at 10 am (we didn't want him to sleep much later than that.) We all three took a nap at the same time today from 1:30 to 4:15. Jamie saved us by waking us w/ a cry; we forgot to set the alarm correctly for ourselves so I'm glad he woke us up! He is THRILLED with our cat!! He is afraid to touch her but screeches with delight and constantly follows her and points excitedly and shouts ga ga! trying to say kitty cat. He almost got it but not quite earlier. He said something like gee ga for her. It's hard b/c he did try to throw a heavy book he was carrying at her and drop a placemat on her and he gets so close and doesn't look where he is going (of course) that he at some point is going to trod on her tail or her feet. She is old, about 13 yrs so I have to be careful to watch to make sure he doesn't accidentally hurt her. But she is a delight for him so far which is great. He seriously doesn't tire of pointing to her repeatedly, like 5 or 6 times or more in a row and say Ga! and then look at us and wait for us to acknowledge him. He is doing fine w/ the high chair as long as we strategically plan ahead and have food ready as soon as he is strapped in. I seriously cannot wait for this diarrhea to go away so little man can eat normal food. He really loves white bread, noodles, broth and rice porridge but he needs more! He loves all other kinds of food and it is really annoying him that he can't have it. We are giving him watered down formula (he isn't picky) b/c they said not to give full strength. I think the antibiotics (3 day course only though) may have started this or it could be that our guide in Chengdu bought a different formula for us than he was used to getting. I asked her if it was the same and she said sure which is often what she said. But then later she said it was better than what he was getting. I said but shouldn't we be giving him this same formula he was getting and she insisted that this one would be fine and no problem and it was like what he got. Well he's been having diarrhea ever since even w/ meds we got there for it so I have no idea what to do. Will have to get an appt w/ doctor in a few days if it doesn't clear on own I guess. I hate to bring him in to the doctor w/ H1N1 rampant when he's healthy now but I don't really know what else to do and I'm sick of keeping him on this extremely limited, poor nutrition diet if it isn't necessary.

Tomorrow I'm going out to buy a wipes warming device b/c he hates the cold wipes and really protests and I feel badly for him. They *are* really cold to be having on your rump and pee pee!!

We are very lucky that Jamie is such a good sleeper (I say this as he suddenly stirs; I can hear it on the monitor.) He usually sleeps 11 hrs overnight, sometimes more and then a 2.5-3 hr nap in the afternoon. Thank goodness for him and for us!

Well I need to go to bed in case he gets up in the middle of the night, etc.

Looking forward to coming home Saturday

I cannot wait to get home! I thought I would enjoy being in China more but honestly have wanted to come home since the first day here. I think it's just all overwhelming for me. David is really really ready to come home as well. Can't wait to be home with the cat and of course our family. My parents will be visiting for Thanksgiving so we'll get to see them soon too.

 

Parenting a toddler is not for the faint of heart I am finding out. Phew! It's a ton of work and certainly not a breeze. If you're having a breeze raising your toddler than you must have a really easy child! Can someone tell me when this gets fun?

 

Today Jamie signed more a couple of times so we're trying really hard to work in the more sign for him so he will hopefully learn that he can have more without having to start squealing and crying and kicking his legs. I noticed that he seems slightly better today with feeding than he was yesterday and previous days so I'm hopeful things will get easier/more normal as we go forward. I dread the time change for poor Jamie. I think he is coming down with another cold (probably the one I'm finally getting over) and I feel so badly for him. Unfortunately China Southern airlines, the one we take from Guangzhou to Tokyo on Saturday morning doesn't allow liquids like you can do on most airlines (no 3 oz and under rule) so I don't think I'll have any baby medicine like tylenol with me to be able to give him for the flight home should he need it. I really wanted to give him some for ear pain w/ the pressure changes since we won't have anything for him to drink during take off. Also, I won't be able to bring my saline solution w/ me so I have no idea how I'm going to handle that on the trip home. I'm hoping maybe someone speaks English in the Tokyo airport that can show me where to buy some approved sized saline there. Pray for us for the flight home. We're both dreading it b/c Jamie hates to be confined on a lap. He prefers dada to carry him standing. We are so thankful that the flight from Tokyo to Chicago is overnight. But we really need some empty seats to be able to lay Jamie down on. He is solid and we don't look forward to having him on our legs for hours on end.

 

Tonight we got to do a neat thing: a river boat cruise w/ the other 3 families from our group on the Pearl river around Guangzhou. The buildings are brillianly lit up w/ tons of neon and colors. Jamie enjoyed being outside on the deck on dada in the ergo carrier. Poor dada's back was tired so we went to sit. Jamie let me hold him for 5 minutes but wanted dada again. That poor boy is going to miss dad something fierce when it's time for him to return to the office! He strongly prefers David.

 

Jamie said bye bye several times again today. He closed the door to the bathroom once he stepped inside there with me in the hall and said bye bye. He says bye bye to the room whenever we leave it. Every time he is excited about something like an animal he sees he makes a funny growling sound. Today it was the koi and goldfish in a small pond in the park. He has great fine motor coordination and enjoyed tearing leafs and throwing them into the water. He also enjoyed trying to write on paper with a pen. He often picks it up and holds it like an adult. Funny! Then of course he mouths it and holds it typical baby style. He is really into trying to see how things get put together or taken apart. He enjoys trying to fit things together and does a pretty good job of it.

Pictures from Tuesday, November 3

All these photos are from our trip to the zoo in Guangzhou today.  (No animals appear in this set; we didn't actually take many photos of the animals themselves.)  The little girl in the stroller beside Jamie belongs to one of the families in our group.  The last two photos are of Jamie in the van on the ride back from the zoo, having fallen asleep sucking his first two fingers, as he often does.

 

--David

I forgot to explain...

Oop! I forgot to explain a few of the pictures from the last post! I wanted to point out the rich embroidery that looks like a painting of a woman. It is amazingly detailed. Our guide we had in Chengdu, Sichuan brought us to this institute of Chengdu brocade and embroidery where they still produce embroidery and brocade by hand. Chengdu is considered the original place in China for brocade and embroidery! It's still one of the main three locations it is made. We bought a bit for ourselves here. It is amazing b/c while one person is working putting the threads in place on a large loom like device another person is standing on a higher level of the loom machine having to place different colored threads in place depending on what color comes next in the pattern. They have actually memorized the patterns so that they do not use a pattern to look at. How they can remember exactly when and how fast to put a thread color in place for the weaver I have no idea!

 

I couldn't resist showing a picture of the unusual and unexpected items that show up in your dinner over here. We had ordered some chicken congee for our boy since his diet is so limited b/c of diarrhea and after we fed him I put some in a bowl for myself to eat. After eating some I stirred it and this chicken foot came up to greet me! Well David had no appetite for the porridge after that and honestly neither did I so we threw out the rest. Lovely. At least it was cheap! Ick.

More pictures and update...

Jacqueline here. David has put up some pictures during this past week before this post. This is the first time I am able to post to the blog b/c we didn't have a computer easily accessible in Chengdu. It has been a challenging week and we had some rough days but today seems a lot better so far. Jamie tends to have a lot of meltdowns and tantrums later afternoons, even with good napping so I don't know what later will be like. He is easily angered if he doesn't have exactly what he wants when he wants, so it's more trying than we expected, but we're starting to get a bit more used to being parents day by day. I had so hoped I"d be able to post a glowing report but it has been seriously rough!

 

The meeting and first couple of days were the easiest days so far except for today. I am hoping we're turning a corner maybe. Or it may be that we skipped the highchair today at breakfast and David held him to eat. Poor little dude had a bad cold that required a trip to a children's hospital for Rx antibiotics. The med gave him diarrhea so we've had blow outs all week every day and let me tell you, this little man does *not* like his diaper changed! So it tiresus all out. He's on medicine for the diarrhea and a bland diet which makes him very mad at meal times b/c he sees people eating the food he wants to try and we can only feed him bland stuff like congee (rice porridge) which he doesn't really care for, and soup noodles. He loves bread so we've been giving him some today  and yesterday. One thing that has been really helpful for us and especially for Jamie is that he sleeps well for the most part. He cries for a few seconds several times during the night but I think it is b/c he gets a leg stuck between bars of crib, or perhaps that is when he's processing grief over the changes.

 

He awoke smiling for me today. He is okay with me but clearly prefers his dada. He still gets the names confused and calls David mama, lol. I was shocked that even on the 2nd day he was imitating our words already. On the 2nd day he tried to say his first English word 'people', gotcha, button, dada, bee and thank you. He loves when we say thank you as he hands something to us. We just wish his happier moods were longer lasting and his rages were shorter and less frequent but today has been significantly improved so I'm hopeful to some extent. We'll see what this afternoon brings! We go out w/ families for dinner tonight along w/ the woman that matched our family and the other families with their children (her name is Lilly.) We already anticipate that David won't spend much of the meal at the table since Jamie will likely be very upset that he can't eat what everyone else is eating.

 

He stuffs too much food in and won't swallow while he stuffs more in and gets outraged if you don't keep shoveling it in. I hope over time he'll figure out he should swallow some first. He is a serious cheerio addict and you'd better not take his cheerio cup away from him or he'll let the world know your offense. Hard to tell if this is all his regular personality or if it's b/c we're new and he doesn't understand and can't express himself and he's sick. If this is who he is he is very strong willed and firey!

 

I wish I could post videos here but youtube is blocked. His voice is incredibly cute and high pitched. He likes to point at everything to hear what it is called and he says, " Da??" and we tell him whatever the object is. He loves to watch cars and buses. He said 'bus' yesterday. He called me mama a couple of times today. The picture in the list with the older Chinese man holding Jamie is from his finding spot. That is the man that found him!!!!! We were floored that we got to meet him! He is named after this man. When we went to the finding spot (number 2 gate you see us under in picture) we looked around and our guide said some people went to go tell the man that we were there so he came to meet us! Wow. We found out that he and his wife tried to adopt LuQuan but were told no by their government b/c they already had a child and were older. He took him to the police station shortly after finding him and was told to bring him to the children's welfare institute (orphanage.) I am so happy that we have a picture of him holding our son. What a treasure for Jamie some day to see. We also will be able to send him pictures of Jamie once we are home!!

 

Well that's about all I have time for now. Hope you like the pictures!

Pictures from day 2 with Jamie LuQuan (Tuesday)

1. Daddy and Jamie all strapped in to the baby carrier

2. Jamie in the van with his ball toy

3. Mama in the van with Jamie

4. Jamie at the Panda Research Center with Mama and Dada

5. Jamie looking over the back of the couch, out the hotel room window

6. Beautiful boy!

7. Walking a bit with Daddy, even though he doesn't really need the help

8. More looking out the window (thank you, cinematographer Mommy!)

9. A bit of a smile

10. A *real* grin

11. Hi Mama!  I like to be tickled!

 

Pictures from "Gotcha" day

Daddy holding Jamie LuQuan

Daddy and Quan-quan

Our guide Susie (center, in pink) and orphanage personnel completing the necessary paperwork

Jamie was asleep as we left the orphanage and remained sleeping for the van ride...

...and in the hotel room

Mommy giving Jamie a bottle