Nov 30, Adoption Day...it's official!

Unfortunately for Ethan, there's no backing out now. He's stuck calling us mom and dad for the rest of his life. Was a little anti-climactic since all we did was paperwork and then got to take a quick picture with the notary official who presented us our adoption certificate. Still, very thrilled that he's officially a Reuter. We talked to the girls this morning and they got to hear some of his jibber-jabber which they thought was cool. He had a great night last night once we figured out his bedtime routine. Tried several methods....rocking, bouncing, and going for a walk to no avail. Finally Chris popped a bottle in his mouth and laid him in his crib. Wa-lah. Works for now but he'll have a rude awakening once we get home. Ever heard of bottle mouth? This kid could be the dictionary definition of it. Suffice it to say, his poor teeth could use a little fluoride. Anyway, he only woke up once freaking out that he had no idea where he was or who we were. It's pretty heartbreaking that we love him so much and totally feel like he's our son, but to him, we are still strange and a little scary sometimes. But it's getting better. He has warmed up today even more and will tolerate a little cuddling. Most of the time he is such a happy guy...so sweet and smiley and playful. And quite the charmer. Everywhere we go, Chinese women crowd around Ethan going ga-ga over him. And he smiles and waves back to them, which makes them go even more ga-ga! He has learned the "I'm gonna get you" game. He likes to sneak over and smack us on the leg, then starts running away. We went to the Lotus Center today (Chinese Walmart) and picked up a few toys for him. Mom really blew it in that department. Only toy I brought for him was a one of those textured teething stuffed animals. He acts like it is way beneath him to play with it and prefers playing with the hotel phone. We finally unplugged it from the wall and let him carry it around. Seemed like a good idea until he puked on it and now it doesn't work. Oops. Anyway, now he has a toy phone and some baby leggos and he's having a blast. Tomorrow we take a 4 hour round trip bus ride to visit his orphanage. He only lived there for a few months before being sent to the New Hope Center, but still was where he was taken into care. Chris is loving life becoming a dad again, but the lack of acceptable food choices is starting to wear on him. The hotel has some western food for breakfast so for him breakfast is truly a feast and he spends the rest of the day a little hungry and a little cranky:) This is already a long trip for all of us. Missing the girls and ready to come home now that we have Ethan. Unfortunately we're not allowed to leave the country until Dec 9th. Enjoy the pictures!

Here he is!!!

Well, Chris is pacing up and down the hotel hallway with Ethan as I type this. Not CARRYING Ethan...I mean CHASING Ethan! God has blessed us with another high-energy kid and it's going to take mom and dad a few days to get reconditioned! In all seriousness, he is absolutely PERFECT! We couldn't be more thrilled. After fussing for about 10 minutes when the nanny first passed him to us, he immediately started warming up. Feeding us cookies, playing keep-away with his toys, and laughing when Chris hit himself in the head with a toy. We were totally shocked since this so unlike our experience with NiNi. He is a total charmer. He says "ma" in the sweetest little voice. Pretty sure he's not referring to me in any way shape or form, but it's darn cute. He has a cough that we hope does not turn into anything else, but other than that seems healthy. He is very small...more like a 9 month old in size, but stands, walks, runs, and says a few words in Chinese (we think). It is quite hilarious and amazing at the same time to watch him run around on his short, skinny legs. He does has some obvious feeding problems. He ate a big lunch when we got back to the hotel then promptly puked it up. I think he has a pretty bad case of reflux...nothing a little Prilosec won't cure. I feel bad for him that he's probably been puking up most of his nutrients his whole life. In spite of the nanny saying he was very tired, he has not slept but 20 minutes the entire day and we're starting to get a little nervous about how the night will go. He has latched onto my phone and seems to know that the keyboard is for texting because he moves his little fingers around on it and won't give it back. So cute. Overall he is a happy little guy, unless we don't give him what he wants...so we just give him everything he wants. Problem solved! Tomorrow we head back to the registration office for his official adoption day. Today is just a trial period... sort of like a test drive, I suppose, so that we can return him if we don't like him. (yeah, right) Nope, he's definitely a keeper! Can't wait for you all to meet him!

We are just hours from meeting Ethan!

We are just hours from meeting Ethan! Will try to post pictures later this evening. Arrived in Zhengzhou yesterday. It's warmer here. You can tell from some of the pictures how cold it was in Beijing. Really bitter cold and the olympic stadium was the last stop (I had totally lost interest in the sights by then, dreaming about a hot bath!) The air here is so polluted. Makes me want to go home and go greener. Really just a thick fog in the air much of the time and makes you feel like you're sucking on the end of an exhaust pipe. I wondered why all the people wear medical masks outside...I thought they were just really germophobic. Now I get it. We got some more info about Ethan. What he eats, sleeping habits, etc. Two of his little friends are being adopted by folks in our same travel group so it will be nice to keep up the connection. We probably will not be continuing his diet of sugar water bottles....hmmmmmm. Not trying to be critical, but really? Sugar water for an underweight baby? Talked to the girls this morning and got a little choked up. REALLY missing them and the trip is not even half way through:( Here are some pictures from the wall and bird's nest and water cube at olympic stadium. They are sitting as monuments really since the local government has yet to find a use for them now that the olympics are over.

Update

Just a quick post before we head out to Ethan's province this morning. Another exciting but exhausting day here yesterday. We are certainly getting our money's worth out of the tours. Our guide keeps us going from early in the morning until late in the evening. Finally getting used to the time change...was able to stay awake until 7:30 last night and slept until 3:30. Not too bad for our 3rd night here. The big tour yesterday was the great wall. Talk about breathtaking. The U.S. just has nothing to compare with the history of China. Even with so much being destroyed during the cultural revolution, it's still amazing to have structures over 2000 years old. It took 1 million people 14 years to build the great wall. All by hand. Stretches 6000 miles across China by some estimates. I'll post pictures later, but they still do not do it justice. It was 20 degrees outside but we quickly worked up a sweat climbing. The steps are all different heights..some 2 feet steep, some 4 inches...this was by design to frustrate any enemies who would try to climb it. Pretty frustrating for us too! Chris made it higher than I did, but I enjoyed just hanging out and taking pictures of the people and scenery. I didn't realize how famous I was until some Iranian men stopped me and each wanted their picture taken with me. I guess it is a big deal for them to meet an American. In their broken English they kept saying, "Iran and America...we are friends!" Very funny! Beijing is very international, both with visitors and many of the Chinese here in the business district speak English. Had our first experience with the poverty here while exiting the Forbidden City the other day. So many women with babies begging for money from the rich Americans. In spite of being warned by our guide to ignore them, my tender-hearted husband shoved some yuan in one of their hands. He was subsequently mobbed by women and babies. I was a little nervous for him for a minute! They all got something. Gotta love Chris. Today we fly to Zhangzhou and then just wait around for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we receive Ethan. I hope he likes us!

First day in Beijing

We got into Beijing last night at about 9:00 and had a full day of touring today. The flight was long and brutal, just as we remembered from the last trip. It was cool to see people doing Tai Chi in the back of the plane, then emerging from the tiny airplane bathroom in a 3 piece suit looking totally refreshed. I'm beginning to think there is really something to that Tai Chi stuff. I am again reminded of how in the Asian culture, people are so adaptable, efficient and non-complaining. It is very cold here. Even in my hat and arctic-rated jacked, I was still freezing! First we took a rickshaw and visited the Houtong district. We got to look inside one of the homes and meet the owner...a very nice lady. Her sons and their wives and families live in this historic little cluster of homes. The son races pigeons (yes, this is a real thing) and also is an artist. We purchased one of his paintings. Then visited Tienneman square and the Forbidden city. Also had a fantastic lunch. I really like authentic Chinese food, at least for the first week or so! Tomorrow we get to climb the great wall. As much as I love taking in this amazing culture, I am wishing the we could pick up Ethan already. Day after tomorrow we fly to his province!

Itinerary

Busy, busy around here getting ready to head out. Finally have our itinerary nailed down. Hard to believe that 10 days from now we'll be feasting our eyes on some juicy little toddler cheeks. For now, I'm still working on the "master plan" of getting the girls cared for and taxied around while we're gone. Oh, and putting up the Christmas tree, cooking up an early Thanksgiving dinner, and tying up numerous loose ends at work...all in the midst of a head-cold induced fog. Actually, 75% of us are sick. Me with a cold, NiNi on antibiotics for strep throat, and Meagan is at the Immediate Care center as we speak with a fever/sore throat. I figure if we're all on antibiotics, at least we can't come down with something else.

11/24 Leave U.S. for Beijing

11/25 Arrive in Beijing

11/26 Tour Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Hutong Tour

11/27 Tour Beijing: Great Wall and Ming Tombs

11/28 Depart Beijing for Zhengzhou

11/29 Receive Ethan today!

11/30 Adoption day (adoption is finalized)

12/1 Free time

12/2 Free time

12/3 Leave Zhengzhou for Guangzhou

12/4 Visa physical and immunizations for Ethan

12/5 Free time

12/6 Consulate appointment

12/7 Free day while paperwork is being processed

12/8 Receive Ethan’s visa.

12/9 Leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong in the morning.
Tour Hong Kong and leave for U.S. just after midnight

12/10 Home Friday afternoon!

Star Speller!

Meagan competed in the Indiana Academic Spell Bowl this week. Only a handful of the top spellers from her school were selected to compete against other schools in this area. She spent the past 3 months learning 750 words (80 words/week) on top of her regular school work. Words like "bureaucracy" and "Aborigine." Words that I don't dare type without hitting spell check. She is amazing and we are SO proud of her!

Babysitter Machine

Meagan was supposed to design a machine at school so she came up with this. It's called the "Sister Babysitter." It may be hard to tell from the drawing, but each little robotic arm has a function: Underwear changer, bottle feeder, comb, mirror, alphabet board (for teaching letters) and an extra hand to do miscellaneous tasks. The central screen plays "Dora the Explorer" non-stop. Oh and the part of the drawing that would not fit on my scanner shows a little girl laying on a pillow in front of this miracle machine. Hmmmm...I think she's getting a little nervous about having a new sibling on the way!

TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!

Just received TA today! Working on consulate appt and travel plans now but could leave as early as Nov 24th. YIPPEE!!!!

No news.....(snore)

It looks like we may break the CCAA's record for longest time to issue a travel approval. We're always breaking some kind of record. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but this Friday will be 1 month since our Article 5 was issued. We fully expected to be close to shipping out by now. Problem is, there's something much bigger than adoptions (at least from their perspective) going on in Guangzhou Nov 12-27th...the 16th Asian Games . They are being held in the same city where all adoptions are processed and we happen to be staying at the same hotel which houses all the athletes. Guangzhou has been gearing up for this for a long time and the hope is that the Asia games will do for Guangzhou what the 2008 Olympics did for Beijing. My hunch is that the CCAA is SITTING on our travel approval until the games are over. I hope I'm wrong!

Halloween

It appears as if Meagan's Charlie Brown ghost costume was just something we threw together. I assure you it was not....she had planned this for quite some time and thought it was the coolest thing ever. And for the cost of a $4 sheet at Walmart, what mom in her right mind would say no?

Taking inventory


By the way, I went to tuck the girls into bed later that night and saw them both with their buckets of candy in bed with them. I guess the've experienced too many Halloweens where mom and dad got into their candy while they were asleep and unarmed. The past few days, Meagan has been like the gestapo...checking the trash for wrappers, smelling my breath, etc. Silly girl. I have my ways...