Gotcha Day continues...

Day 5
Yes, we know we have been out of touch for a while!  The past two days have blurred together in a mass of movement and activity!  Most importantly, we are getting to know Anna Mei.  She is an absolute doll, that loves to sit and play.  Mostly she loves to climb on Daddy, beat him up a bit, and then giggle herself silly.  We are realizing how deprived Anna Mei has been since she has only been bottle fed (yes, she is 2 and being fed baby formula).  Her facial expressions, hand gestures and body movement are so beautiful and so insightful.  She is a beautiful little girl deprived the basic necessities in life but her spirit is strong and full of life.  She reminds us every second on why we made this decision and why this journey has meant so much to us...she needs us so much and we are realizing how much we need her.

Photos from days 5-6

(If you can't see the Flash slideshow above, click here.)

Day 5 began calmly.  Anna Mei slept in until 7 Am or so.  The boys are still up around 5, but play with their games in their room until breakfast.  Down to the hotel breakfast again.  She will take her bottle from us, but sometimes is grumpy and refuses.  Anna will NOT eat anything solid.  Tiny bits of mashed banana made her crazy mad.  Everyone else ate well, and we were back to the room to pack.  Chris took the boys to the pool.  They said that while it was indoor, it was FREEZING.  Even the hot tub area was cold.  Anna Mei was exhausted from the past few days, and fell asleep for a long morning nap.  We needed to grab lunch before meeting Mrs. Li, so we walked across the street into the mall area.  There was a sushi express with lots of little plates of suishi and terriaki going past the tables.  We took all we wanted.  I think Christopher counted 15 plates!  The best news of the meals was Anna Mei finally let some rice in her mouth, and then had a great time playing with the sticky rice on her fingers.  The total bill ended up being a bit more than $10.  Crazy cheap.  We feel like Bill Gates.

So, Mrs. Li was ready to take us on another tour, this time to Heaven Temple.  This is a large public park at the entrance.  Here we saw a large group of senior citizens doing gentle stretches and exercises in unison and chanting.  They were clapping and chanting, "We exercise today, we exercise for our health (in Chinese of course!)"  Then we walked to this long alley where along the entire fence, one game of poker after another was being played.  There were probably 50 groups of about 6 people engaged in poker games at once.  Betting is illegal, so this is just a nice way for the elderly to pass the day.  They were selling their version of a hacky sack and the kids love them.  They are plastic feathers with a rubber bottom and tin in between for sound effects.  They were a whopping 10 RMB (1.75 us dollars for all 3).

Into the Heaven Temple itself, we learned this is where the Emperor himself would come to pray at the moon/spring festival.  The long walkways were for the special dignitaries to watch his procession to prayer.  He would be expected to fast for 3 days before this long walk.  We felt the long walk ourselves carrying Anna Mei, and after the past few days. The coolest part was the final outdoor prayer area where all sets of stairs were sets of 9, and the rings surrounding the stone upon which he would pray went out in multiples of nine.  The belief is that there are nine layers of heaven.  Symbolism of the sets of nine has been everywhere in our travels.

After the heaven temple, it was back to pack some more.  This was a tough time for Anna Mei.  This was her most fussy.  She liked walking the halls, but after a while, even that did not help.   We rallied and headed out to dinner with Mrs. Li and her husband.  They are a very sweet, kind couple.  We tried many different dishes, but Anna Mei was having none of this.  She screamed her way though the first part of the evening.  Then, something Wil ate brought hives to his face.  Chris wanted to wait it out, but an overly tired mom would have none of it.  Not willing to take any risk here in China.  Mom gave him Benedryl.  Within 10 minutes Wil was asleep in his chair (but hive-free!).  The restaurant we ate at was over 160 years old.  The walk back to the hotel carrying both Anna Mei and Wil felt like it took about that long.

The kids collapsed, and we realized there is no question this girl is battling an ear infection in her left ear.  Easy to tell from the grinding of her fist deep into her ear, amidst lots of crying.  We decided it was time to use the pharmacy we brought with us!  Some infant Motrin, and a dose of Amoxicillin later, she was on the road to happiness.  We also discovered what we thought was her body temperature, was absolutely not.

Fever gone, we are on to getting her to eat!  The very sad truth is that for the first two years of her life, this girl has been fed baby formula, and a little bit of rice cereal.  Her caregiver said she would sometimes get mashed fruit.  Her body size is tiny.  She is not walking.  Only standing holding on to things, and she scoots more than she crawls.  The good news.  We were right.  They are "smart eyes" we saw in those pictures.  She is coming out of her shell more and more every day.

Day 6

Anna Mei is a good sleeper (yes!).  She is much happier this morning and we are continuing the medications.  Our final breakfast at the Beijing Hotel, and off to the airport.  Today is all about flying to Guangzhou.  Everything going through the airport went smoothly, and we boarded our flight without much trouble.  Our seats were scattered throughout the plane, but the airline stewardess was fantastic and sat us mostly together.  The plan was for Anna to hang with mom.  She decided this airline thing was not for her.  She screamed even while were still boarding the plane.  After walking around with her and trying just about everything we could think of, Dad bit the bullet and took over.  She kept crying long enough that Chris actually went into a bathroom for a while just to try to give everyone's ears a break.  Finally, she fell asleep.  Daddy slept with Anna Mei sleeping on his belly the rest of the flight.  Mom hung out with the other boys and played video games.

We met our guide easily at the airport, and had an easy ride to our new hotel.  The Victory Hotel.  The stress of the past days and the big city melting off us as we see a cute, quiet town, a nice clean hotel with both wifi and a water filter at the sink.  Life is getting easier.  Anna is getting easier.  We walked to a playground and let off steam, then went to Lucy's diner.  Lucy's was the diner I read about online that all adoptive families come to love.  The big cheeseburger and fries was rejuvenating.  Anna at off a spoon for mom some chicken congee (mushy rice with chicken stock).  We left full, smiling, and walked to buy some better formula for Anna Mei.  Home to bed.  The beds are small, but comfortable.  The rooms are small, but clean.  Day 6 ended as a very good day for all of us.