First week home...

Everything continues to go really well for us. May and Sen Lin are having a blast together. They would play all day if it wasn't for meal times, showers and diaper changes. They are sharing a room which is a lot easier for Josh and I. Naptime isn't always smooth b/c of May but both kids have been sleeping 10-11 hours per night.

May is a little more fussy and clingly but we expected much worse since we left her for 2.5 weeks. I was afraid she would be mad at us when we returned.

I know the kids don't look very happy in this photo but this is our first family photo together. We will have lots of other Kodak moments later. It is hard to get them both looking and smiling at the camera. Add operator error to the mix...etc

We are getting over our jet lag and I slowly getting over my nasty cold. I almost feel human. It is great to be home with our friends and family.

The Benbrook Early Childhood PTA and the MOMs Group have been so generous with meals for our family. It is so nice not to worry about cooking.

We will have more family visiting in the next few weeks, so I will try to post pictures then also.

Home turf!

We are finally home! Jie's Mom was so wonderful to us. She helped get us a hotel room in Shanghai and then she stocked our room with fruit, bread, snacks, and drinks. She also brought us to the airport for our return flight.

The 14 hour flight from Shanghai to Chicago wasn't too bad. Sen Lin was amazingly easy on us. He watched Alvin and the Chipmunks 4 times in a row, and then he slept about 7 hours on the plane. I think he liked the plane ride b/c every time he woke up there was a meal ready and waiting.

Chicago to DFW was very hectic. We missed our original connection b/c we landed 1.5 hour late due to delays in Shanghai and a route change to avoid bad weather. Immigration took about an hour in Chicago, but as soon as Sen Lin landed on US soil he is considered an American citizen.

American airlines re-booked us on the next available flight to DFW and didn't give us enough time to get to the domestic terminal. Luckily an employee rushed us through re-checking our baggage and security checks. We were the only ones to make the 8pm flight to DFW and we had landed at 6:30pm. We left immigration at 7:30pm.

Edith and Jie picked us up at the airport at 10:30pm. It was so great to see them. It was easier for them to pick us up then to have Aunt Wendy drive at night to an unknown airport. Mom and Aunt Wendy were waiting up for us when we got home. May was sleeping but she woke up briefly from all the noise. Josh and I were able to hold her and put her back down. Sen Lin was a little wired, he investigated his new surroundings and we got him to settle down in a temporary bed in our bedroom. But we did kick Bullvide outside. Sen Lin was a little intimated by him.

Sen Lin slept well last night and napped 2 hours today. He and May play very well together. Well, he did bounce a ball off her head and made her cry but it wasn't intentional on his part. I think he hurt May's feelings more than anything. It was a very soft ball.

Sen Lin has been so easy on us and he quickly adapts to all the changes we have been throwing at him. It is unbelievable. Josh and Aunt Wendy took him to the doctor today and he has a clean bill of health. We have to made appointments for a specialist about his cleft palate but his pediatrician thinks Sen Lin won't require surgery until his permanent teeth come in.

I went to the doctor also with May and my Mom. He gave me a steroid shot to clear my sinuses, put me on antibiotics, and cough syrup with codeine. I feel better and the jet lag is bearable.

Everything is going so much better than we ever imagined and we are so grateful for the wonderful people in our lives. Thank you for following our blog. I hope you enjoyed it.

Love, Malinee and Josh.

We're on our way home!

One more day to go. Even though we have had a great trip, we are so anxious to get home.The delay with our flight being cancelled was disappointing.

I am still getting over a bad cold. We would of spent more time sight seeing in Shanghai if I was feeling better. Jie's mom has been so sweet. She helped us get a good deal on a hotel room and she insists on taking us to the airport tomorrow. We will be arriving DFW at 9pm.

Sen Lin can use the potty. We squat him on the seat facing the wall. Another mom told me to try it this way and it worked. Her first child was in a Chinese foster family and this was how she was potty trained.

We think Sen Lin's foster parents potty trained him but the orphanage put diapers on him when they gave Sen Lin to us. I keep him in diapers but we put him on the potty 4 times a day and he usually does something almost every time.

The internet was completely down this morning, so I apologize if I haven't gotten back to replying to everyone's emails. We are bringing our netbook every where to try to find unsecured wifi locations. I can't upload pictures, they are taking too long or the link is bad.

Right now, I am in an internet cafe and Josh is entertaining Sen Lin outside.

May 23rd

I keep forgetting to mention that we saw a fight break out in McDonald's in Kunming. It was between 2 older men. One was big, beefy and had nice clothes on, the other man was smaller, kind of nerdy with plainer clothes. They started to yell at each other in Chinese, then the beefy man went after the smaller man. The smaller man picked up a chair to fend off the bigger man. There wasn't any serious blows, just a lot of pushing-shoving and yelling.

Then just an hour ago, we saw a man and woman fighting in the subway station near People's Park in Shanghai. The man grabbed the woman in a head lock and started to drag her away. Only one subway guard got involved at first, but he wasn't doing anything effective to get the man to release the woman. They guy was actually dragging her by the hair. Josh was getting really angry but I didn't want him to get involved. Plus he had Sen Lin in the sling on his chest. Finally a whole crowd of people were yelling at the man in Chinese then the police finally came. We were amazed that no one arrested the man immediately.

Tonight we took the subway to shopping mall called Raffles City in order to go eat at Carl's Jr. The subway was pretty easy to navigate once we figured out which exit to get out of. There were 20 different exits at one station. The underground station is like a city in of itself. All the signs are in Chinese and English.

After I had my Western Bacon Cheeseburger, we walked around the People's Park across the street and met a student who asked Josh a bunch of questions. He even had a worksheet for Josh to answer questions. We already knew this could happen. A few students talked to us already in our travels. Most of them don't understand why we adopted Sen Lin or why his parents abandoned him.

May 22nd

Not much to report today. It rained almost all day. So, we stayed in our room and waited for our laundry to be delivered. We did have hot pot for lunch. I can't get enough of it. Most of my down time is spent finding new places to eat.

We really miss skyping with May. We usually try to video chat while she is having breakfast and dinner. With the 13 hour time difference it was working out well until now. The internet in our current hotel isn't fast enough to support skype. Tonight we specifically went to a restaurant with free wifi but it was a too noisy for a peaceful conversation.

Two more days to go and we will be home.

Nanjing Street

The first picture is of Josh and Sen Lin at breakfast at a great place called Element Fresh. Jie suggested it and the food was wonderful.

Then there are a few pictures of Nanjing Street that we took after dinner.

Shanghai is really beautiful. We are staying in a trendy area. There are more Cauasians in Shanghai then Beijing or Guangzhou.

Shanghai Haigang Hotel

We just arrived to the hotel, Shanghai Haigang Hotel, we are on Tai Xing Rd, near Nanjing?
The airport was crazy busy, it is almost midnight and there were hundreds of people in line for taxi's. Luckily it went by pretty fast. Sen Lin is a real trooper. It was a busy day of traveling for us. I am looking forward to decompressing tomorrow.

We are leaving Monday afternoon. We have a cell phone but our number is packed away. We haven't been using it anyway. Skype phone calls are cheaper or email.

Four more days in China.

We really miss May. As great an experience this has been for us and Sen Lin, we are anxious to get home. We are leaving Guangzhou tonight after we get Sen Lin's visa from the U.S. Consulate. We should arrive Shanghai around 9pm.

Here is our group photo in Beijing, this was before "Gotcha Day".

CANCELLED!

We have to stay in China an extra few days. Our flight on May 22 from Beijing to Chicago was cancelled. So, now we are flying from Shanghai to Chicago on Monday May 24th. We will arrive in DFW at 9pm.

My friend Jie helped us out with getting a hotel room in Shanghai. While we are disappointed we won't be coming home sooner, I am content to spend a few days in Shanghai. We will make the most of our trip b/c who knows when we will return to China?

Right now, it is pouring outside. Sen Lin is taking a nap. Josh and I are going to relax. We have to go to the U.S. Consulate this afternoon for the oath ceremony. We will not be allowed to take our camera's.

Main street on Shamian Island

The group adoption check in at the U.S. Consulate took longer than we expected but the oath ceremony lasted about 30 seconds.

We went to a wonderful Thai restaurant for dinner called the "Cow and Bridge". You can see Sen Lin offering me a piece of shrimp toast.

Here are some pictures of the main street on Shamian Island. We have spent most of our time in Guangzhou on Shamian Island since all of our adoption appointments were around our hotel except for the U.S. Consulate.

Sen Lin is doing great. His nose and cough cleared up a few days ago. He still eats and sleeps wonderfully. He has been more playful the past 2 days and now he is more likely to listen to us the first time we say "no" which is a great relief. In the beginning, we felt like we were constantly disciplining him. I felt like a horrible parent. I got tired of hearing myself say "no" and "don't" all the time. Don't kick, don't spit, don't bite, don't pull on that...etc. We say it in Chinese also to get our point across.

He is a lot happier recently and there are less melt down's per day. But he still hates showers. Overall he is adjusting so well to us and hopefully we are adjusting to him also. He is amazing. Very smart and friendly.

Guangzhou Safari Zoo

We also visited the Guangzhou Safari Zoo, which was huge. It was a fun outing but also a very long, hot day.

This was the same day as the red couch photos.

The famous red couches on the White Swan Hotel

This morning (May 18th) we took pictures of the kids on the famous red couches on the White Swan Hotel.

One of them is of Sen Lin with the 2 other adopted children from Kunming, and then there is a picture of all the adopted children in our group.

Shamian Island

The weather is hot and uncomfortably humid, we will be going to the pool after Sen Lin's nap and a group picture of all the kids on the famous White Swan Hotel red couch. Thousands of adopted children have taken pictures on this couch.

There is a water fall and koi pond in the main lobby of our hotel. Sen Lin really enjoyed watching the fish. Then we went to Starbucks were he pouted a bit b/c he wanted Josh's coffee. It was a beautifully decorated Starbucks with a wonderful veranda and comfy furniture.

We are on Shamian Island, it only about 3/4 of a mile long but the buildings and the trees remind of me the old south. Lots of tall trees with vines, sweeping veranda's, flowers and water fountains.

Today was a slow day for us. Josh and I weren't feeling well so we didn't do anything until the afternoon. We visited the jade and pearl market with our adoption group. It was fun to shop for about 15 mins and then the heat combined with boredom ended Sen Lin's good mood.

One picture is of Sen Lin in the White Swan Hotel children's play room, another picture is Josh feeding Sen Lin melon we bought from a street vendor, one of Sen Lin and I at lunch, and the last is part of Guangzhou city viewed from our hotel room.

3 ladies.

This picture was taken by another family if our group.
Only 3 families from Holt International went to Kunming to adopt children this month.

The lady next to us was one of Sen Lin's caretakers at the orphanage. I do not know her name. The lady in the back in the pink t-shirt was our tour guide Nancy. The lady next to her is a manager at the orphanage.

$200 Undies!

Today was our first whole day in Guangzhou. This morning we had a very expensive buffet breakfast at our hotel, The White Swan. We won't be doing that again. We also spent $200 to have our laundry done at the hotel. Another thing we won't be doing again also. We found out after that there are cheaper laundry services a few blocks away.

After breakfast, we went to have Sen Lin's visa picture taken, and we went with our group to a medical office b/c the children had to have a few basic medical exams for the visa process also. Almost everything we need to do in Guangzhou is related to getting Sen Lin's visa to leave China and travel to the U.S.

Sen Lin is doing great. He is a bit bored staying in our room in between appointments and he continues to test his limits with us. I feel like we are constantly saying "no" to him and correcting his actions. But it is all normal toddler behavior. He is very easy about eating and sleeping. Sometimes it is hard to get him to stop eating or to stop begging for food after a large meal. He also screams a lot over things like taking showers and having his nose cleaned. Note: he might be screaming but there are no tears. But he is perfect fine getting a TB shot test or getting his teeth brushed.

I got some tips from another veteran adoption Mom about testing if he is potty trained or not. So, I will try some of her suggestions tomorrow. She is hopeful that Sen Lin was potty trained at his foster home but the orphanage put diapers on him for convenience.

Sen Lin definitely has had candy and soda before. Something which is very odd for us to deal with since May does not like sweets at all. He has had a rude awakening since being with us.

He also spits a lot, other weird behavior for us. We watch him carefully or else he will spit on the hotel room carpet and rub it in with his foot.

Sen Lin is picking up English words and baby sign language rather quickly. He knows to ask for food, water and more food in baby sign

Yay, squid skin!

Last night, we went to this wonderful Thai restaurant. The food was great but we ordered something that included beef, squid skin and liver. We ate all the beef and vegetables.

Later today we are leaving Kunming to go to Guangzhou. This is where we will finalize Sen Lin's adoption paperwork and get his visa for him to travel to the U.S.

We have Sen Lin's Chinese passport already. He will become a U.S. citizen as soon as he lands on American soil with us. Until then he has to travel as a Chinese national.

Forest Park

We visited the Kunming Orphanage today. We were not allowed to take pictures of the children or inside the rooms.

Sen Lin was here for 5-6 months before he was put in foster care. There are about 100 children in this orphanage and 500 in foster care.

We were not allowed to visit his foster family.

Sen Lin was placed here 3 days before we got him. Quite a few
of the female workers recognized Sen Lin. They called him by his whole Chinese name Guan Sen Lin. He did start crying when we were in one particular room and he didn't want the nurses to hold him.

At 1 month old, Sen Lin was found in a park called Forest Park in the district of Guan, almost outside Kunming city limits. That is how he is named. Sen Lin is written as 5 Chinese wood characters together, which means forest.

Our guide told us that this is one of the nicest orphanages in Kunming.

The Stone Forest

All of these pictures are from the Stone Forest, we went there with our tour guide/translator Nancy and 2 other families from the adoption agency. It was a 2 hour bus ride from Kunming.

Sen Lin had a great time running around with the other children from our group. It was so great to see him having fun.

The Stone Forest was huge, extremely beautiful and peaceful. We weren't allowed to walk on the grass but there were many paths to wander around.

We did find a hole in his mouth on his upper gum, hard to find.

Sen Lin is slowly opening up to Josh but when he is tired he won't let Josh hold him. Two steps forward and one step back.

Hot Pot = YUMMMM

Yesterday was quiet for us in the afternoon, we stayed in the hotel. We did go to a hot pot restaurant for lunch. The food was great. It took a little while to get our order across. I left my food related flash cards in the hotel room. They are regular postcards where I wrote English phrases and my friend Jie wrote the Chinese translation.

Sometimes the flash cards don't work so well. Josh thinks that the people reading them can't understand why I don't speak Chinese. At lunch, the restaurant workers read all of my flash cards and they really got a kick out of them. When they got to the one that said "We are Americans", it was like a light turned on and they were excited when they read the one about Sen Lin being our adopted son.

Hot pot lunch by the way was cheap. Our whole meal cost us $10.50.

Breakfast at the 5 start hotels in Beijing cost about $30-$40.

In Kunming, the people are so happy that Americans are adopting Chinese children. A few residents have told us how grateful they are that we are adopting Kunming orphans.

Last night, Sen Lin was starting to open up a bit. He was more relaxed and playful. I am amazed that he sleeps so well. He also eats everything we put in front of him. At lunch, he fed himself using the spoon I gave him.

11 hours!

Unbelievably, Sen Lin slept 11 hours last night. 6 in the portable crib and 5 hours in the extra bed in our room. He doesn't like the crib very much. He ate a great breakfast this morning. Then we gave him a bath.

Sen Lin is very stoic about everything. The only time he smiles is when Josh plays ball with him or tickles his tummy. Sen Lin prefers to be carried by me or sitting in my lap. I am trying to get him to walk beside me and hold my hand b/c I can't carry him everywhere.

The past 24 hours have been incredibly easy for us. More so than I ever expected. He is very quiet and easy going despite all the changes in such a short period. Sen Lin doesn't allow Josh to hold him but Josh can feed him and change his clothes. Josh and I are happy but we also feel disconnected from reality.

Some great news, this morning I looked and his palate was completely closed. He has some upper teeth issues and other minor problems associated with cleft lip/palate but I am pretty sure he won't need any major surgery. Yesterday, he wouldn't let us look into his mouth, so I wasn't able to see until today.

GOTCHA DAY!

What an incredible experience, we met Sen Lin this morning at 9am. It was very emotional.

The orphanage worker put him directly into my arms and Sen Lin looked shell shocked but he didn't cry. He wouldn't let Josh hold him at all but he stayed in my arms from 9am-2pm. It wasn't until we finally got settled into our hotel around 3pm when Sen Lin started to relax.

Another veteran adoption mom in our group suggested that Josh should only feed Sen Lin, so he will get used to Josh faster.

I am not sure how bed time is going to go down. Sen Lin freaked out when I first tried to nap him in the crib earlier.

He ate a bit, drank water and juice.

I got him to say "mama" "may may" and "gu gu (dog)". He is healthy, albeit with a lot of mosquito bites, content enough as long we do things slowly, and happy playing with make shift toys.

Night before our flight.

We are all packed and maybe over packed but ready.

Josh intends an staying up all night so he can sleep as much as possible on the 14 hour plane right to Beijing. We have two stops, San Francisco and Tokyo.

I am happy but nervous. I am going to miss May so much. I wish we weren't leaving her for so long.

Thank you for all your kind words, emails, texts and phone calls. We really appreciate your well wishes. I am sorry if I didn't get a chance to respond back.