April 16

Ah . . . it's good to be home!

We departed Beijing on Thursday after a flurry of last minute shopping that morning. My dad and I headed out to the Wholesale Clothing Market in the wee hours of the morning in search of shoes. What a plethora we found, but only a few vendors with children's shoes. Nevertheless I bought 10 pairs for 200 yuan ($30 bucks Canadian) and found the prices to be about half what I had been paying in the department stores. Being a diehard bargain shopper, I was on quite a high! We arrived back to the hotel, and with two hours to go Joel, Naomi and I headed back to Yashow to get rid of our remaining Yuan. Picked up a knapsack (to hold me new purchases) and also a unique item on the way out. A goosedown vest -- MADE IN CANADA -- for about $20. What a unique shopping experience! Shopping complete we returned to our hotel to finish packing.

Our flights home were relatively uneventful aside from three barfing incidents, no change of clothing for any of us due to having to check a piece of luggage we had originally planned to carry on (cranky attendant at the checkin counter), neither daughter sleeping much and landing in Vancouver 30 minutes early (whew). We breezed through customs and immigration in less than an hour and had time to visit with my friend Mandy and her new baby boy Nathan. At 2 months old, Nathan weighs more than Lilah. He's a cute little guy and we welcomed the opportunity to meet him!

Our marathon ended in Toronto at 10:30pm, with many many friends and family were there to greet us! Lilah was a bit overwhelmed and overtired but we were so happy to share that moment with everyone. We were also grateful to our friends Janet, Sara and Linda who took care of getting us and our stuff home - since neither of us was in any condition to drive.


Now that we're home, Lilah seems to have put herself on a fatten up program. She practically eats anything in sight and almost all the time! Loves her bottles, cheerios, squash and Nestle Rice Cereal. We call her lizard girl because the minute she realizes she's being fed she starts sticking out her tongue and grunting in anticipation. When I find my camera I'll post a photo of it.

All of us are feeling pretty tired from jetlag. The girls seem to be tag teaming on naps and sleeping. It seems like as soon as one goes down the other gets up. Sort of frustrating for us, but we are tremendously grateful to our good friends who keep sending meals and offering to help with Naomi. Speaking of the Princess #1, she's so happy to see her friends. It was a blast watching her chase Frances around at the airport. Yesterday we took advantage of the warm weather in the afternoon and she played for a couple of hours with Gavin. I think all her boyfriends really missed her. Today she was up at 3am and still not remotely tired at 8:30 am despite the fact that Joel and I were paralyzed by sleep deprivation. Sara came and picked Naomi up so she could play with Gavin this morning. Naomi decided she wanted to have a sleep over in Gavin's bed (ok now, but in 10 years, hmmm) and she slept from 1 - 3pm there today. I picked her up at 4 and she was quite mellow. She fell asleep at 5:30 and we're praying that we all get some sleep tonight.

So one journey has ended and another is just beginning. As we get to know our new little peanut, we realize we have so many things to be grateful for.

April 13th

Our last full day in Beijing and we headed back to Yashow to pick up some clothes for the girls. Two hours later I couldn’t have done another deal, was all shopped out and completely out of money again. Things may be cheap here, but money is easily spent too!

We had originally planned that I would go find the shoe mall after Yashow, but Sharon and I were so burned out that we decided to wait until after we did some packing and had dinner to go. The girls all napped, we packed and felt much better by 5pm, so we headed down to dinner at the place we found on our first night here. Once again the food was incredible and we dined for about $5 per person including a beers all around. Lilah is hilarious when food is around and she’s been eating up a storm at dinner time. When she wants something now, she lets us know by sticking out her tongue and wagging it at us until we put something in her mouth. Easy to tell what she likes and when she’s hungry at least!

All our babies are moving through developmental stages quickly now. Where Lilah couldn’t roll over or sit up two weeks ago, she’s now making games out of both. It’s incredible to see her learn new things daily. She adores Naomi and is always looking around for her. I think she’s happiest when she’s watching her big sister.

After dinner, Sharon, Trish and myself caught a taxi to the area around the Beijing Zoo in search of some shoes. When we got to the area, we found an outdoor pedestrian area with people doing ballroom dancing, chatting and doing calligraphy in water on the concrete. It was neat to see the nightlife in China. Unfortunately we arrived too late to do any shopping. There are two malls in the area, one closed at 5pm and the other at 8pm. We arrived at 8:05pm. Being the diehard shoe shopper (I’ll be calling Shoe Shoppers Anonymous when we get home), I’ve rounded up some other diehard troups to head back tomorrow morning. The Wholesale Clothing Market opens at 5:30am and the other mall opens at 10am. I’ve got a short window, but I think it can be done!

Today we also bid our new friends the Littlejohn family, the Vanderhorst Family and the Ireland family farewell as they headed back to Canada. It’s sometimes hard to believe that two weeks ago we were strangers. Now, I feel the families in our group are now a part of our extended family. We’ve shared some really fabulous moments together as we met and got to know our daughters, as well as their homeland. Our group has been terrific, very closeknit and always banding together whenever someone needed something. For us, this group has been part of what made our trip go so well. There has always been someone to share a glass of wine or Bailey’s with, someone to borrow a diaper from, someone to entertain Naomi during desperate moments and someone to offer an ear when things were tough. Thanks everyone!

The other person who has been indispensable has been my dad. We could not have done this trip without him. Not only has he been there for the girls (which he has done lots of), he’s also learned so much about China which he will take back to Canada with him to share with the Naomi and Lilah as they get older. When you adopt internationally, your waiting room full of loved one’s is on the other side of the ocean and two weeks away. It has been special for me to share this trip, this country and our “birth” with my dad. I think each family in our group has adopted him as well and he’s Papa Tom to 7 other little gals. He’s a special person and words cannot express how grateful we are to him.

So this will probably be my last post from China. Tomorrow will be a busy day with the shoe shopping expedition in the morning and we must depart from our hotel by 12:30pm. We are pretty much all packed and ready to go. This trip has exceeded my expectations and I’ve enjoyed myself, but I am definitely ready to go home. I'll post once we get settled at home!

Hunan 208/209 Couch Shot - Lianna, Lilah, Olivia, Phoebe, Tasia, Shauna and Julia 

April 12th

This morning most of our group visited Forbidden City and Tiannanmen Square. We decided to skip the tour and catch up with the group for a Hutong Tour. A good decision on our part because I think Naomi is starting to feel the effects of no schedule and is needing to get back home. She has had a few more than normal “moments” today, and while it’s not over the top I can see that she’s maxed out. On top of that, while we were waiting for the group at the North gate of Forbidden City lots of Chinese people came up to her and were poking and prodding. Since we were waiting, there was not much opportunity to escape it despite my trying to protect her in my arms. Naomi just pushes their hands away and yells NO at them. Not pretty but I can’t blame her as I wouldn’t want a million strangers patting me and wanting to give me a hug if I was her. I felt badly for her, not only is our family conspicuous in Canada but we stand out even more in China. We still strongly feel that bringing her was the best thing for our family as she’s connected with Lilah with few issues and she’s loved many things about her homeland. I just think it’s time for us to go home.

The Hutong tour was fabulous and a must see. I think it should be on every adoption journey, but there are so many things to do here and to try to do them all would require more time. As it was, everyone else in our group felt this was a really long day. First we hopped in our rickshaws and headed to a local home for a delicious lunch. The food was good and we all, including Naomi ate piles of it. The 2 hosting women carried our babies around and entertained them while we ate. Naomi surprised us and didn’t want the ladies to hold Lilah. She kept asking for Daddy to take Lilah back, which we took as a sign that she figures that Lilah is hers. At this rate, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Lilah’s boyfriends later in life!

We then headed back out to walk to a local kindergarten school for children aged 2 – 6yrs. The four older girls were in their glory seeing the kids and their play equipment as you can tell by the photos below. They visited the students in class and while they do not share the same language, all the girls seemed to “fit in”.

Next stop was an older area where we stopped in on a woman for Jasmine tea and cookies. We also learned from our guide about the Hutong, how old it is, who used to live there and what life is like. Very interesting.

Our last stop on the tour was a street filled with stores. There was art, jade, tea, clothing, porcelain and many other items for sale. We only had 20 minutes, but could have spent hours exploring.

As we reached the end of the tour, I was starting to feel a little weary. It seemed everytime our feet hit the ground through the Hutong Tour, the hawkers were there to peddle their watches, Beijing 2008 hats, fans, calligraphy brushes, balls, etc. By the end of the tour, I was feeling like Naomi must have felt at Forbidden City and just wanted to be left alone. I left with a greater sense of understanding.

We arrived back at the hotel with only an hour to get ready for our Peking Duck dinner. We checked in on our family who had been with a specialist today regarding their baby. They will have to wait another week in China for the results of a test. I would be falling to pieces in their situation, but through their agony they remain hopeful that things will be in their favor and they will be able to take their daughter home. We all feel for them and hope you will keep them in your prayers too.

Our Peking Duck dinner was not done at a traditional Peking Duck hall. Instead our guide Lily, took us to a restaurant that had a show of some of the Minority dancers. Both Naomi and Lilah were fascinated by the music, dancing and costumes. Papa Tom was selected from the audience to join one of the dancers on the stage, and he was a great sport about it. During the dance, Naomi decided she didn’t want Papa to have all the fun and hopped off her chair to join him. We had a great time teasing him afterwords. Even Cheryl got in on the action and then a whole lot of our group was up there. When it was all done, Naomi looked at me and said, “more princesses please”. As far as I’m concerned, I have the two best princesses in the world on my lap!

Tomorrow is our last full day in China. We’re heading back to the Yashow market to get some last minute shopping done while my dad and some of the others go to the Temple of Heaven. Now that I’m half packed, I know what I have room left for. After Yashow, Joel and the girls will head back to the hotel and I’m off to find the shoe place near the Beijing Zoo. I feel like I’m nearing the end of a marathon now and the finish line will be the escalator in Toronto!

Jie Jie's 

The Ireland Family 

Phoebe 

Naomi helping out her papa 

watches 

hawkers 

Having tea and cookies 

Lilah and Mom 

Lilah and Mommy 

Papa Tom and Sherry 

Universal Language 

Naomi, Savannah and Mya 

Tasia's crew 

The Thompson Family 

Naomi at the "boys" table 

Savannah and Naomi at Kindergarten 

Naomi and Lilah 

April 11th

We had to be up early this morning for the babies’ immigration medicals. Our departure at 8am from the hotel was delayed as a taxi driver purposely banged into our bus and claimed it was the driver’s fault. He had a loose mirror but no other damage (we suspect that the mirror was loose before and the taxi driver only wanted money -- which he got). The bus driver and the cab driver ended up in a heated discussion outside of the bus which resulted in the cab driver punching our guide Lily in the face. The Chinese cops showed up shortly afterwords and we headed on our way about 30 minutes late.

We arrived at the Vista Medical Clinic and began the final leg of paperwork. Our daughters were each weighed and measured. Just as we suspected, all the babies are very underweight with Lilah being the smallest at 6.1kg fully clothed (smaller than her referral weight in December). She’s not even on the growth chart for weight, but we’ll take care of that at home soon enough. She is 70 cm tall, so in the 50th percentile for height. Most of the babies are still recovering from a cold they came to us with. Several now have ear infections and are battling bronchitis as are their new parents, and as such were prescribed antibiotics.

Many of the gals are really starting to display their personalities. Lianna strikes me the most as having come out of her shell. Yesterday on the bus she was playing PeekABoo with me and giggling up a storm. Today she’s learned that old game of dropping stuff. This from a kid who was pretty much expressionless for several days last week.

We returned from the medicals, packed a bag, had some lunch and then headed back out for the Hongxiao Market (or Pearl Market), then Wangfujian pedestrian mall. I came back with only 10 Yuan – poor Joel nearly choked, until he saw the deals I got.

This evening Naomi, my dad and I took in a Chinese Acrobat show. I got the biggest kick out of hearing Naomi repeatedly holler out, “I just can’t believe it” for the whole theater to hear. She’s really changed so much during this trip and become a big girl.

Tonight I started the daunting task of packing. One more time and we’re home – I can’t wait. Actually, I need to figure out how much room I have left so that I can figure out how much more stuff I can buy.

Tomorrow most of our group is touring the Forbidden City in the morning. We plan to skip the tour in favour of having a relaxing breakfast for change. We’ll do lunch on the Hutong tour that we’re going on in the afternoon. Tomorrow evening is our last night as a group since four of our families are returning home early to accommodate Air Canada’s baby numbers. Hence we’ll be doing the Peking Duck Dinner then. I cannot believe we head home in two short days. I really enjoy Beijing and feel like we could stay here longer, but I'm also looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, if two kids ever really allow you to sleep!

Before I forget, here is our confirmed flight information. We are travelling Air Canada on Thursday April 14th.

Flight AC 30 departs Beijing at 4:30pm and arrives in Vancouver at 12:05pm on the same day at the Main Terminal. Anyone planning to meet us in Vancouver should know that we'll have a very short window to visit as we have to clear customs, then immigration and get to our next gate in three hours. You can meet us after the customs/immigration checkpoints, as we exit the glassed in area for international arrivals.

Flight AC100 departs Vancouver International Airport at 3pm arriving in Toronto at 10:29pm at Terminal One. As you exit the parking garage to enter the terminal, go right and head to the arrivals level.

The Quesnelle/Littlejohn family and the Vanderhorst family will be a day earlier. The Ireland Family will be staying in Vancouver and also doing the trip a day early.

Can't wait for you to meet sweet little Lilah. She's such a wonderful addition to our family.

Vanderhorst  

Gordon and Olivia 

Back in mom's arms 

Julia 

Not too happy about being weighed 

Phoebe and Gerard 

Vanderhorst