Thursday/Friday Update

Yesterday was our last day in Fuzhou (Fujian province - where William is from), and so Ms. Cosette and I went out shopping nearby to get last minute souvenirs with our guide Iris which was nice because Billy got some good time with him, and we got a much needed short break. We were concerned about him the whole time and felt a lil rushed to get back, and it was nice to get back and see that he did well being left with the guys!

Around 3p we left for the airport, and before getting there we stopped at the ocean, and Billy and the kids were able to get out and snap a couple pictures and pick up some shells to keep (sweet boy was sleeping).

This was William's first airport experience, and it was definitely stressful for him. Through security, they made me put him down (he *has* to be carried in new environments), and she hand-patted him down while he screamed. Eventually we boarded, and he actually did well on the flight (could've cared less about take-off), but towards the end he did *not* like when they asked me to put him in his seat and buckle him up, so at this point, I just sat him down and put my arm infront of him during landing. I can't say I'm looking forward to a 12+ hour flight home!! 😳

We got into Guangzhou around 8p or shortly after and got into our hotel maybe 30 minutes after where we saw a few other adoptive families with their children, I assume all exhausted also. :-) We met another couple with their 2 1/2 year old boy who live fairly close to where we're moving in Ohio! So we look forward to getting to know them more during our stay.

This morning I went with lil William alone to our visa medical exam appointment (along with all the other adoptive-families with our agency - 8 other families!). I chose to go alone with him to save on transfer fees, but quickly realized it would've been well worth it to have the extra help.

First I'll say that William doesn't do well at all with official-type-environments, and gets quickly stressed. I also think, like many sweeties in his shoes, he has some medical trauma and does *not* like doctors and/or medical staff. The doctor didn't even have to say a word to him and he began crying, and you can imagine what the lil guy thought when the doctor started look in his ears, mouth, etc. Next stop was basic weight and height checks - not a fan either. Then the general exam which went even worse (it was like a progression of pure torture for him). They checked his body after removing his clothes, and the poor lil guy *really* hated the doctor taking off his diaper (who wouldn't?!). Last part of the total exam was the TB test...of course, worst of all because needle-poking is involved, and guess what? The nurses just take your child away into the room and do not allow you in. :-\ The second that took him he began wailing. And when they opened the door - of course even worse wailing. :-( So that was that, and I think we were both very happy to have that over with!!

We got to the hotel and after a while they needed just 1 parent to do some paperwork and to attend a brief meeting (just to go over the itinerary for the rest of our stay here in Guangzhou/China), so I went by myself to do all that while Billy and the kids stayed in the hotel room. When I got back, lil William was sound asleep and took a nice 2 hour long nap (nice but hoping he sleeps tonight!).

He is a sweet sweet boy but he definitely has an ornery-spunky side that keeps us on our toes! He has a huge personality when he's in the hotel room where he's most comfortable.

The weather is sort of crummy right now here (fairly cold, windy, and rainy) so we may or may not go to Shaiman Island tomorrow (William does not like wind or rain!). We hope to go to the zoo on Monday though!

Still wont get in the pool, but likes to watch!

Here you can see a bit of his personality!

Saying goodbye to our wonderful guide, Iris!

Some fun in the new hotel room :-)

Wednesday Update!

I'll start to say that the hotel we're in now is very nice, and the people here have been so very accommodating for us. Examples being reserving a table for us every morning, and making sure William has warm milk and the first night we had William and he was grieving hard in our hotel room - someone came to our door with a plate of fresh fruit. And, they brought in a separate cooling unit when Billy asked about cooling our room (even on the coolest temp setting it feels very warm). Interestingly, the owner or top manager came up to us this morning in the lobby (a tall very formal European man) and started some small talk (it seems he knew our situation and that we had been here), and told us that he has a daughter adopted from Malaysia and was very complimentary and sweet with us.

Outside of the orphanage visit - some main highlights included William calling Billy Baba for the first *real* time (he has actually said "Baba" but in a very casual-non-relating-way).

He also came up to me with the biggest hug in a very cuddly-lovey way, and seemed to enjoy a cheek-kiss and neck-snuggles. This all happened after the orphanage visit so I was pretty happy. William has taken to me in some ways, but there is still *much* work on attaching. It's obvious that he was very attached to his nanny, which will make true attachment take longer, but it should work out for the best in the long-run.

William is still picking up word after word, and is way too smart and a "DIY" baby (likes to do most things himself proving to be a big boy). He walks around with some spunk like he's got places to go, and he's got a contagious laugh and smile, but also has a little ornery side (what two year old doesn't though?).

He's getting more and more comfortable with me changing him. He was so uncomfortable the first two days that I *really* limited it. I only did what was absolutely necessary to keep him as comfortable as possible, but now he will willingly let me change his diaper and now *thank goodness* clothes.

Bath-time is still a no-go. It is *not* worth the struggle at this point. It's obvious he hasn't taken baths (most don't), and has had very limited-to-no interaction with water. So tonight a big win was when he played outside of the bathtub playing in the water with Billy (just splashing). He even got water on his face and didn't care at one point! So...I see a bath in the near future (until then, wipes will do).

Tomorrow is a completely free day with nothing scheduled so we'll stick around the hotel or take a stroll nearby in the city. Then Friday we get his passport and fly out to Guangzhou where our last week in China will be spent. I've heard Guangzhou is a sigh of relief (in regards to the adoption trip as a whole), but I admit, it will be hard to say goodbye to Fuzhou and basically the province where William is from.

Won't get in quite yet, but he enjoys playing 

On our way to the orphanage via a bullet train

Having fun in a play-place inside a market nearby his orphanage

Having fun splashing outside the tub with Baba

High-fiving Baba at lunch

Orphanage Visit (Wednesday)

We got up early, ate, and went to the high-speed train station (which is pretty much set up like a smaller airport - pretty nice!). We boarded the train, and William enjoyed watching the scenery out the window, but at this point my stomach had plenty of butterflies. I was honestly pretty worried because lastnight was pretty rough for lil William, so I feared the orphanage visit would be catastrophic basically.

So we arrive in Nanping (where he is from). I was a wee-little nervous because Billy and Micah were in one taxi with our escort Iris, and Ms. Cosette, William, and I were in another on our own...and eventually we got separated and I didn't see their taxi and it seemed our taxi had gotten away (Nanping is a "small" [for China] and more rural city where quite honestly you stick out even more than you do in other places, which is saying a lot). Thankfully, we all met up, got out on the side of a street, and began walking to his orphanage. Nanping has very very seemingly poorer parts, then the downtown area is nicer which is typical. We walk upon his orphanage gate, and immediately see the "safe box" where he was found. My heart drops, but quite honestly, I couldn't even fully process it because my mind was so busy being concerned about the visit. The orphanage director met us at the gate to let us in, and immediately William goes to her, takes her hand, looks at us with a big smile on his face as if to say, "C'mon!! Let me show you this place!!" and while he seemed happy, I felt I was about to die just a little bit inside.

His orphanage comprises of different buildings, including a home for elderly/disabled. So we first walked into a building for social work and "therapy" rooms. I see a familiar face from William's album his director gave us, then another boy (8ish years old) who seemed eager for attention and immediately came to me and hugged me. At this point, I knew I needed to fight back any tears. The liklihood of some of these children being adopted is 0 to none. It got worse as we walked through the hall, and outside where I see this tiny lil boy (or girl) with Down Syndrome sitting in a wheelchair all by themselves, very obviously neglected...and just sitting there listless and fairly still. I think to save face someone quickly came out to bring them in.

We walked into this next building with the room I recognized from William's pictures - and probably the most impressive room in the whole orphanage. It has a small ballpit, and some neat lit-up water tubes that do different things - and he showed us some of the neat stuff. The whole time by the way the nannies and staff are making over William and so happy to see him once more, and he went to all of them very happily (expected), and the way he was acting had me so concerned, but I knew it was normal.

We finally get to the bigger playroom where his main nanny was along with his friends (including the one being adopted next month who's pictured with him in his photo album) -- he ran to his nanny and was very happy to see her. Eventually she was trying to get him to openly come to me and tell and show him that I was his mama but he stayed in her arms...and at this point I'm halfway wishing we hadn't come although I knew later I would be glad we went. Eventually we said bye to them all, and I thanked his nanny for taking care of William, and she got emotional but quickly said bye, and not wanting to prolong the moment, we left quickly. We then were walked to an office where the director offered fruits and water, showed us an album of past families coming back to visit, took his handprint for memories and had us sign his name below. As we left he started to cry and cry and it broke me. I knew deep down this was okay (and sometimes a good thing), but I just needed to hear it from someone else, so I asked our escort (who works with our agency and is used to this) if this was normal and she said yes. We then walked 10 minutes through Nanping to a restaurant (seemingly a very "fancy" restaurant for the area). Halfway through the walk, William perked up as we tried to play with him. We then sat down to eat, but I just couldn't relax very well..just trying to keep William happy as much as possible. We then left and walked into a neat marketplace, where we did some more shopping for William (mostly for dried peas which we found out he absolutely loves from getting some as a snack on the train). There was a neat and nice play-area in the shopping area, and so since we had time, we took William in to play which he loved! He then picked out a toy in the toy section (four trucks), and was a seemingly very happy camper (by the way, he doesn't like toys..he doesn't quite know how to play with them and just tosses them aside).

Many things today that I will need time to process, but I do know those children's faces will be forever ingrained...

With his main nanny (obviously very attached to her)

Finalizing Adoption & Some Fuzhou Touring!

Edited to add that this post was written a couple days ago but somehow failed to post!
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This morning he woke up similar as yesterday but a bit better (a little in shock, sad, but warmed up fairly quickly). We then went to breakfast where he had a little too much fun with the congee but found out he loves pork sausage.

We then went with our escort to a local main attraction (Lin Zexu's memorial), then shopping in an incredible shopping area, and ended at a baby store where many locals gathered around and helped us shop for sweet boy - we got him a stroller, new shoes, a couple outfits, etc). He loves his stroller, and keeps getting in it in the hotel room and asking to be pushed.

This morning we saw the couple (form Italy) who was also adopting and staying at our hotel, and they didn't have their child with them, so we asked our escort and she said they terminated the adoption..:-( It was awkward because they were watching us eat breakfast..

This sweet boy has some spunk, and can throw a ball - I think we may have a future ball player on our hands!! I'll upload videos as soon as I can.

He's already picked up a few words, which is amazing considering he only apparently knew 2 words when his file was written, which led to the doctor reviewing his file that he had a significant language delay, so I think this is a good sign.

He also lets me console him when he's upset, which I count a blessing.

So tomorrow morning we're going to his orphanage via a bullet train with our escort, so please pray William does well through the visit.

We did find out his best friend from the orphanage is being adopted next month!! And they're a Holt family as well, so we hope to get in contact with them. :-) We have a picture of him and his bestfriend in a photo album his orphanage director gave us when we got him!

Lastnight we went to the pool and watched Baba and the kids swim while we sat by the pool. He watched very closely, and was intrigued enough to walk up to the pool and splash his feet just a lil bit. We're going again here in a bit to see if this time we can get his legs in. :-)

First breakfast in the hotel! He ate two full bowls of congee

Finalizing his adoption in the Civil Affairs office -- I'm a hot mess covered in sweat/urine..but that's alright.

Copying big brother and trying to blow up a balloon (don't worry - we're very careful and watchful with the balloons)

We Have Him

So sorry for the delay!

WE HAVE HIM!

We got him around 5:30 lastnight. He grieved very hard for a while, and then slowly calmed and warmed up some. The first big smile we got was when I tried to feed him some noodles, then he fed me a puff and lit-up like you wouldn't believe!!! He then played around a long time putting stickers on our faces and giggled.

I wanted to so badly take off some of his very warm clothes (which were layered) as well as his shoes, but he quickly became very uncomfortable and desperate to make sure everything stayed on, so I ended up not changing one thing lastnight. He got sleepy and quickly fell asleep in my arms as I rocked him, then I laid him into his crib and he was out. He slept well through the rest of the night.

We woke him up around 7 to get ready for breakfast, and he did so well eating! He ate two full bowls of congee and enjoyed some orange juice. We then set off for Civil Affairs to finalize his adoption. I was concerned he'd reach out to his orphanage director since she was there, but he absolutely didn't care. We then headed to the notary which was up 5 floors of stairs (thankfully he allowed baba to carry him for the first time). We then went to the passport agency to apply for his Chinese passport, and he became very upset with getting his picture taken when we tried to pry his sippy-bottle out of his mouth. At this point (well before) we were both covered in sweat and urine. Finally I got it from him, he cried, then I got him to calm down enough to sit and look forward for the picture. It was quite the scene I'm sure as I along with 3 other women were trying everything possible to help him settle down enough for a picture. The worker pulled out her cellphone with a video of a lil girl bouncing on a trampoline and that seemed to work! :-)

He's comfortable enough with me, and he's comfortable enough with Billy but prefers me to do most of the holding/carrying. He likes Micah, but he's still trying to figure him out..:-) He's still trying to figure all of us out, and I know it'll take time.

The Miss and I are now at the hotel while he's napping, and Billy and Micah are out shopping with our guide Iris at the local Walmart for some things needed.

We'll be visiting his orphanage Wednesday which we're happy about (we were unsure if that'd be possible). It's a 3-4 hour drive into rural Fujian.

I will post again here soon and with more pictures!!

Please keep praying. The journey has now just begun, and so much change has already happened for him, and he's still figuring us out. Our main goal is to make him as comfortable as possible, and of course work on attachment/bonding, but at the same time to give him some space.

Stay tuned.

Beijing

In Beijing...

We made it to Beijing yesterday around 3:00pm. The flight went well, and navigating the airport was seamless!! There was quite a bit of smog and it was incredibly gloomy out when we arrived. We finally got settled into our hotel around 4:30 or so, and upon our arrival, our Beijing guide (David) was there to see that everything was good, and even helped with ordering pizza for us! We then relaxed the rest of the evening. And we all fell asleep around 6p and basically slept from then until 6a. We then woke up and began getting ready and ate a really nice breakfast at the hotel's buffet. Our guide and driver picked us up at 8a and we set off to tour the Great Wall (along with two other families who are also first time adopters - so it was nice to meet and chat a bit with them). Some locals asked for pictures with us - for now on, after any ask for pictures with us, we'll ask for pictures with them afterward. And did I mention the traffic? It's exactly what you've seen in videos and whatnot - I could be entertained all day long by just watching the traffic!

We also ate an amazing lunch at a nearby restaurant, then got an incredible view of the Forbidden City. Tonight we ventured out to walk around, and found a restaurant near our hotel and decided to eat there. We had some translation issues, but our waitress was so very sweet and we made it work. :-) Google Translate must've not done so well because when we showed her something, she had a confused look on her face (so who knows what she thought we were saying - ha!!). We also had our first experiences with "squatty-potties," which honestly aren't a big deal (if you've been camping a few times or more, you're good..;-). After eating, we then found a lil market down inside a building and got a few treats. So we're now relaxing in the hotel room, and plan to go swimming in a bit.

Tomorrow we get him!!!!

We fly out of Beijing tomorrow morning around 7:30a to lil William's province, arrive there around 10:30a, then he will be brought to our hotel about 4:30p (about 3:30a Sunday your time). We should definitely have an update by the time you wake up Sunday morning. :-)

Yummy hotel breakfast

Random picture in our hotel

Toboggan slide down!!

A-m-a-z-i-n-g lunch at a restaurant near the Great Wall

With our amazing guide David

Overhead view of the Forbidden City