Hockey and Hairbows

Loves to be up side down-- How fun!!!

She is pretty much all smiles now. She has always been happy, but now she shoots us smiles everytime we look at her. She is just always smiling and happy!!

Look at our Big Girl in her high chair. She pretty much can sit on her own now with no problem. She has come a long way since Monday!

Had to put one cute bath picture in the bunch!

Today was a day of travel. Sorry, there is no video and few pictures as we spent most of our day getting to the airport, waiting for our flight (those are the upside down pics), flying and then getting unpacked in Guangzhou. The flight was interesting. It was only an hour but Mia had a hard time with the descent (sp?). She was totally tired when we took off and fell right asleep. She slept for about 30 minutes, woke up and had fun playing for about 10 minutes until the plane started to descent into Guangzhou. At that point she just started crying with pain. It was obvious it was not just fussing-- her ears hurt and she was wiggling around in pain and could not get comfortable. Poor little thing!! Once we landed she was fine and stopped crying. I really felt bad for her but there was nothing we could do. A bottle wouldn’t help-- nothing. She just had to ride it out.

Anyway, after we landed, we met our guide, Helen who is very nice. She took us to our hotel-- The White Swan!! It is a wonderful hotel and it is the haven for adoptive families from the US. All families adopting from China who are US citizens have to spend about 5 days in Guangzhou while the babies visa is prepared and all the medical exams and other stuff is done. So, all those families stay at the White Swan or the Victory Hotel. Both are very nice and both are on Shaman Island (sp??) which is very small and is like the mecha for adoptive families. Everything caters to the adoptive families. There are a ton of baby shops and really cute things. The city borders the Pearl River which is all lit up at night and is very beautiful. Our hotel room looks out on the river so it is a sight when they are having the laser light show. There is a Starbucks and a 7-11 which is fully stocked with DIET COKE!!!!! I am like the happiest mommy on earth as I can get diet coke anytime I want-- plus I can walk to Starbucks in about 5 minutes so really, this is like the pinnacle of happiness for Kev and I (Mia too- happy parents make for happy babies :)

We had dinner at a western restaurant named Lucy's. It was really good to have a Hamburger. We were surrounded by Americans and it was really fun talking to all the families. One woman walked up and she, her husband and their newly adopted GEORGOUS 4 year old daughter sat by us and we started talking. In the middle of conversation she said, "Are you Christy?" and I happily said yes!!! Come to find out, we totally know each other from our October DTC board and she has been following our blog. She totally knew what happened to our file and knew about Mia. We had such a great time talking to Ellen and her husband. They are great people and I look forward to spending more time with them and their beautiful daughter.

Anyway, sorry there are not more pictures or video. Today was just too busy with travel, but I am sure we will have a lot tomorrow. Mia is doing just great! She is smiling at us constantly and is just a joy. We are whole heartedly in love with our little girl and are so proud of her. She is just adorable and is growing close and closer to us everyday. She was totally tired out when we got back from dinner and she had fallen asleep in her carrier so we put her in bed and she fell asleep and is currently still asleep so let’s hope for the best. So far, we have only had trouble getting her to fall asleep. Once she is asleep she stays asleep and sleeps until 7 or so in the morning. We love that!!!

So, that is it for today. I will write more tomorrow. I think we are going to like it here in Guangzhou!!

Ethan and Owen, We love and miss you a ton. We are looking forward to seeing you soon. Have a good weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Bock. We know you will have a great time! We have been buying you some cool gifts and we think you will really like them when we get home. Have fun this weekend and we will call tomorrow. We love you!!! Mom and Dad