Day 10: An Upgrade

 We love Guangzhou.  Love it!  It is green and lush and warm.  The people are friendly, the food is delicious, and we have been upgraded to a suite because we are such dedicated and loyal Marriott members.

In that first picture, you might notice the pile of laundry behind Zoey.  That is LAUNDRY that the Laundry Guy is washing and drying for us and bringing back to our hotel room tomorrow morning!!!  Our guides arranged this luxury and I cannot tell you HOW EXCITED I am to get clean clothes-really clean clothes.  At this point I don’t even care what the price is, I am just so excited that everything will be clean. 

Zoey also needs some clothes-I was told that we only had to bring an outfit or 2 for her and we could go shopping for clothes that would fit her, since we really didn’t know how big she was.  So, I brought a size 3 and 4 each winter clothes and summer clothes.  Well, let me tell you, that we never did find any clothes to buy in Hefei, and 3 year olds can be very messy.  She is also bigger than we thought-about 35 pounds and fairly tall, so the 3s are too small-so my girl is in floods every other day.  She will finally have clean clothes. The picture is her trying to pull down her skirt to her ankles-she was very distraught.  After breakfast, Amy from our group loaned us an outfit so that she would be more comfortable. 

We have been reunited with the rest of our Beijing group-so cute to see everyone with their children.  One couple has a set of 2 year old twin girls, another a 2 and a half year old girl, and the last couple a 2 year old boy.  All of them are so cute.  Tonight the rest of the group arrives-10 more families.  We are all going to dinner tomorrow night-should be a hoot.

The kids had their medical exams today. 

My girl chillin' on the bus on the way to the medical exam.

Guangzhou-notice the greenery??

Walking into the medical exam building.

First stop-visa pics for her to be allowed a visa to qualify her as a US citizen. 

Usually this wait is a nightmare-but since the Tomb Sweeping holiday will take up most of this coming week, only a couple days of consulate appointments are needed for medical exams today, so we were very, very lucky. 

First stop-ENT.

Second stop-height and weight.

Next stop-the actual medical exam. 

The final stop was a TB test.  I put down the camera, but the woman in pink is Maggie, explaining to Zoey what was going to happen.  They put a needle under her skin and injected fluid for the test-I was expecting her to scream and I would rush in to her rescue.  Nope-no screams.  No whining.  Not even a blink. 

She walked out and showed Jenna her trauma.  lol

  When we arrived back from the medical appointment, we went down to give the front desk our Marriott number for the internet service.  They ended up upgrading our room to a SUITE (and we are using Marriott points to stay here, so this is even more exciting)!!!  Woohoo!  We are living large-there is a circle for Zoey to run around-living room to bedroom to bathroom to closet hallway to foyer to living room to...  Around and around and around she goes.  To say that she is very active is somewhat of an understatement… not sure if we are just a manic family, but she is going to fit in just fine.  Go go go go go… pass out.  That is her motto.  But all the while she is super-pleasant and loves humor. 

She had a great day today.  Lots of smiles.  Not a whole heck of a lot of quiet moments - even when the staff at the medical center spoke to her (during the past days that is what usually sets her off is another person speaking her language).  Today, she was pretty perky all day long.  Chatting up a storm-even in front of others.  Her favorite is to say “Hello” over and over again.  She was cracking the guides up on the bus. 

We did walk over to the women and children fashion mall down the street.  Got her a pair of pjs, some socks, and a couple outfits.  She is so cute-we’ll ask her if she likes something and she’ll shake her head yes, or no.  Most girly things she does not like.  She gravitates toward the boy toys-trucks, cars, figurines.  But she loves Hello Kitty.  So-she now owns Hello Kitty socks, leggings, a shirt and a dress. 

Walking back from shopping-she thinks big sis is so cool. 

McDonald's near our hotel-Zoey wanted to stop and have her pic taken here.  lol

New room!

Yes.  That is a glass door on the toilet.  There is a second toilet over to the right with a proper door.  I can't imagine anyone thinking that this would be a cool idea...haha.

Dinner with Chloe

Candy shop in our hotel-she loves gummy anything.  Sam-this is a gummy worm.  Better beware... she'll steal all your candy!

 We had a great dinner at a Chinese restaurant attached to our hotel.  Cold beer-yum.  And the kids were so funny at dinner.  They had a lot of energy left in them, so we headed to the outdoor kids area on the fourth floor of our hotel.

Wearing out the kids.  All of them.  lol

Hands down, the best part of the day was when we were hanging out in the room around lunch time-I was fixing noodles and apples (again), and we all were joking around.  Zoey was being funny and kept doing silly things.  She wanted to get my attention and shouted “Ma ma…” – I stopped and looked at her-she did something silly.  About 5 minutes later, she did it again.  So now I have been upgraded and have a name.  And it was not a fluke-she used it over, and over, and over-about 7-8 times over the next couple hours.  :)  I did notice that during the second half of the day she was more likely to try and get my attention, hide behind me, make contact with me-and smile at me.  She was tired on the way back from shopping and I picked her up-instead of squirming, I got an arm around my neck, then another.  I think we are making progress. 

Lisa and I were talking tonight-we can’t believe how far the girls have come in the short time we’ve been together.  In just 5 days Zoey is learning to communicate with us, and us with her.  She is starting to use a bunch of English words (Jenna is trying to get her to say "buttface" next).  We "get" her personality (and love it) and can read her signals.  While she will likely change when we get back to the US and she meets the rest of the crew, I hope this personality sticks with her.  She is an absolute doll.  

Day 9: Leaving Hefei

This one is for Bryan.

Today was pretty tame, which was nice after the last couple days. We went to breakfast with Chloe and her parents, packed to leave for Guangzhou, Chloe and Zoey took an hour-long bath, and we were off to the airport.  We just kind of hung out in the hotel room and played.  Kids were silly-lots of smiles and giggles from Zoey.  She ADORES Jenna, and Jenna loves her.  I did see a little big sis-little sis frustration go on today-which was cute.  They are starting to bicker like siblings, which to me means that things are moving in the right direction and she is settling in.

Although Hefei will always be a very special place for us, as that is where we first met Miss Zoey and had some amazing experiences, it was time to leave.  We look forward to moving toward being a family of 6 (instead of the family of 3 that we are temporarily right now).  We have many wonderful memories of Hefei, and will always treasure them, but it is time to move on and look toward the future. 

Reverse planking-check out those abs!

This was actually from last night-she tumbled off the bed and came up giggling her head off.

Hoping to be able to flush the toilet paper at our next stop.  Ew.

We will miss doing laundry in the sink and hanging it in the bathroom, miss the “air conditioning” which cooled the room down to about 75 degrees and not a degree lower, and miss not being able to flush the TP but instead having to throw the TP into the garbage.  I am hoping to leave some of my computer issues behind as well.  In Guangzhou, the US Consulate is there and more of our traditional US comforts, and we are one step closer to coming home.

Baby Hercules x 2.

Another hour long bath with Chloe. 

Her eyelashes are adorable.  Apparently short eyelashes are more socially acceptable here in China.  Thought that fact was pretty wild.

She loved splashing in the water.  We might be okay this summer.... lol.

Two Peas in a Pod.  They were cracking us up with their chattering in the tub.  Couldn't understand a word they said, but it was darn cute.

Party Rockin' in the Holiday Inn, Hefei.

Good bye Jane.

 We said goodbye to Jane, the “baby whisperer” as I dubbed her-she was absolutely wonderful.  I could not have done this week without her (well, her, Jenna, Lisa and Tim, to be accurate).  Her support and knowledge were invaluable, and she made a potentially difficult trip totally doable and almost (dare I say) “easy.”  (I will also note that as you can see in this picture, I am average or above-average height here.  Hehe)

The Baby Whisperer (or more accurately, the pre-school/kindergarten whisperer)

We are off.

Zoey's first plane ride

 I have to report that Zoey was a bit of a maniac during the flight.  We thought we’d put her in the center seat on the plane, in between Jenna and me.  She was a little miffed that Jenna wanted the window, so Jenna gave in and sat on the end.  Zoey immediately began fighting us because she did not want to wear her seat belt, so I moved Jenna to the middle to see if she would respond better.  Jenna had to deal with the Mandarin Tornado during the flight.  Tray table up, down, up, down; HATED her seat belt, kept trying to sit on her knees and take off the belt (they do not use seat belts here-she is going to pitch a huge fit when we get back and not only does she have to use a seatbelt, but also sit in a car seat); kept kicking the back of the seat in front of her; dumped Jenna’s sprite all over Jenna; window shade up and down, up and down… All in all, typical 3-4 year old stuff.  But we finally spoke a language that she could understand-we just fed her candy and gave her my iPad, and she calmed down.  Ha!  She fell asleep about an hour and a half into the flight-15 minutes before landing.  We are SO EXCITED about the 14-hour plane ride we have next Friday.  Lol. 

Ready to land.  Lol.

The China Hotel, Guangzhou

I don't think motion sickness is an issue with Zoey.  She loves to spin.  Megs-you, Jenna and I might have another roller coaster addict to join us soon.  :)

Welcome gift from the Marriott

Another crazy see-through bathroom.  Zoey saw it and started to run her own bath.  Had to say no, as much as I want to keep this love for water going-it was late late late.

Dinner for the 3 of us.  She is a pretty hefty eater.  Loves spaghetti and pizza.  Thank goodness. 

Gave her the option of sleeping in the crib, or in the bed again with me.  She took the bed.  Not sure where I am supposed to go... :)

Tomorrow-medical appointment, we see our group that we left in Beijing, along with their new additions.  Maggie, our new guide, gave us our itinerary-crazy but good week.  Lots of business and fun planned for us, as our group of 8 families joins a group of 10 families that are one day behind us in our itinerary.  Should be a hoot watching all these little cuties acclimate to Guangzhou and their new lives.  We might also hit the 7-Eleven down the street for Zoey’s first slushy...