FaceTime with the girls!

FaceTime has been a bit of a challenge since getting here due to the time change and how busy we have been. So this morning when we finally weren't rushing out the door to get somewhere we could enjoy some talk time with the girls! Anna and Lucy sang Matthew a song. Anna sang "you are my sunshine" and Lucy sang, "twinkle, twinkle little star". We miss them so much. One week left and we will be on a plane home to hold them! I cannot wait! 

Down day...

See this sad little buddy. He is not feeling well. Last night, about an hour after falling asleep he started to stir and when I went to pick him up he started heaving. He ended up puking all over his PJs, blanket and me. After we got ourselves all cleaned up and this little guy back to sleep I went to work hand washing everything in the tub. When I was finished I came out just as he started to stir again. Thankfully I had brought towels out from the bathroom with me and was able to catch his puke this time in something that would not require me to personally wash it ;) He fell right asleep again and slept through the night. This morning he was still pretty out of it but no more puking. We found out about half of our group is also sick right now with some stomach stuff. Not sure what it is but everyone was glad for a down day today. Our guides went out to the pharmacy here and picked Matthew up some anti-diarrhea meds and probiotics. He has been sleeping most of the day today. Hopefully tomorrow he starts to feel better. Another little personality trait about him. When he doesn't feel good he just wants to cuddle. That active, happy, smiling little guy gets real serious and just goes boneless :)

This is how he fell asleep this afternoon.

This little guy got to go swimming with daddy today while Matthew napped. Happy Halloween to Joseph :)

He's so sweet. Just wish he felt better. Really glad we saw a glimpse of the active and happy little guy the first 2 days. 

Best big brother award goes too...Joseph. He's been waiting patiently to do something that involves leaving the room while Matthew naps.

We are hoping to have a small little hallway trick or treat with the kids tonight. So many parents and kids are sick though time will tell. Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the birthplace of Kung Fu. 

On the adoption side of things, we are still waiting on Matthew's passport. There was a small problem with it. Our guides told us today that the orphanage director marked the box to have the passport mailed back to Taikang. So as it was completed yesterday it went out express mail to Taikang. Which means it won't arrive there until tomorrow or Saturday. Our guides talked to the director and he has to drive the passport directly here as soon as it arrives. If it comes tomorrow all will be well but if not we will have to travel to Guangzhou on the adoption certificate, which I guess isn't ideal but it will work. They will send off his passport to Guangzhou if we have already left and hopefully by early next week we will have it in hand. Which will be a good thing since we can't leave China without it :) 

When in China...

You know that saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", well, we are living the Chinese version of that. I think it's worth mentioning some of the not so frequently discussed caveats of the trip...

1. You can't drink the water out of the tap. Not a big deal when there is an ample supply of bottled water available like when we were in Beijing, but here, it seems like it is more work to get bottled water. Housekeeping does provide 2 bottles daily but that's just not enough for the 3 of us. We found out, almost by accident, that if you ask housekeeping for more water the hotel won't charge you. If you ask the front desk they may request room service bring you some and then you are paying $3/bottle. So we are left to raid the housekeeping cart for more schway whenever we see them. Don't worry, we always ask first! 

2. Washing bottles in boiling hot water is not for the weak...my fingertips can attest to that. I am however very grateful that we are given a hot pot to boil water in or else we would be taking the entire case of water from the housekeeping cart ;)

3. You cannot flush the toilet paper. Yes, you read that right. In Beijing we could. Here, not so much. They give you one small "sanitary bag" to put it in but yeah, let's just say I am so thankful I packed as many of those little deodorant diaper baggies as I did! 

4. Hand washing laundry in a sink or bathtub makes me grateful I was born in the time period and place that I was. Hanging it out to dry, along with waiting impatiently for it to air dry makes me crazy. This Thanksgiving I am thankful for a washing machine and dryer. 

5. For future China traveler's...squatty potties in public areas are dirty. There is no way around it. Bring shoes you are willing to throw out once home. BRING TOILET PAPER because it isn't provided for you. Do not put toilet paper in the hole. Throw it to the side with the other stack of used toilet paper wads. Don't puke. Bring a scarf for around your neck to bury your head into during the experience to break away from the smell. Bring more than one pair of pants and have no shame in rolling them high before you get in there. Oh, and do lots and lots and lots of squats before you come here. Your squatty potty form will be much more efficient. 

Do not get me wrong, this trip has been a trip of a lifetime. But I have never been more thankful for all of the "simple stuff" we have available at home! 

Zhoukou City

This morning we had to meet early so we could take a van ride to Zhoukou city, where we would file for Matthew's passport. Even though Matthew is from Taikang county, his passport needs to be processed in Zhoukou city. And for reference, in China, a county is smaller than a city. So there were 3 families total in our group with children from Zhoukou city (2) and Taikang (1). We asked Viviene, our guide, for more info on Taikang and she explained it is about another hour and a half drive past Zhoukou city (which was already a 2.5 hour drive from Zhengzhou). She explained that Taikang is very small and that his orphanage is more of a foster home than an orphanage because of it's size. We still feel so blessed that Matthew has had such a small setting to grow up in thus far. Of course because of that more personalized attention he has a lot more "only child" tendencies than the behavior you would expect from a child living in a large orphanage. It's a good thing he's so cute ;) 

Wondering what that picture was of? This was our view of the trip from Zhengzhou to Zhoukou city! It was a cold and rainy day here. The van we were in did not have air that worked properly so the driver kept manually defogging his window with a towel. Couple that with driving >65mph in the rain with no child seats or seat belts and you can just about guarantee that was the most terrifying 2.5 hour trip of my life! 

This was the driver's view.

Thankfully Joseoh kept himself occupied nicely. 

Marthew did too :)

Just before we got there this little one woke up one happy kid!

This little hand movement he does, he does it when he dances or hears music. That is when he is most happy!

Joseph shared the iPad with his little brother and even taught him some things!

Like how to wear headphones...

And play games. Joseph was so sweet with him holding Matthew's hand to show him where to press. 

We finally arrived at the passport office.

And look who surprised us! I didn't realize that the directors would be there but they were. Matthew got a huge smile on his face when he saw him. He was very loving to Matthew and picked him up and had us take pictures with him and for him. 

Just before he left we asked Viviene to translate that we wanted to thank him for all he has done for Matthew and for loving him so much. He got a bit teary and walked out quickly. I know that must have been so difficult for him. Matthew was very sad too. He watched him leave and cried some. Just as soon as the directors left we also left to go do a drive by of the orphanage the other 2 children were living in before gotcha as well as the finding spot for one of the children.  Matthew's orphanage and finding spot were way too far away to even be a possibility to travel too. It was a privilege though to still see some of the city where he had spent some time during this last year of his life. The city itself was very typical of China. Very crowded and a mix of old and new. There was a lot more old than new in this city though. And you can see the poverty more distinctly here than in Zhengzhou. We were told today that Zhengzhou has about 9 million people and Zhoukou city is "small" with about 4-5 million people!! 

I took this picture because it shows the crazy traffic patterns. There are bicycles, motorcycles, carts , cars and large trucks all going in different directions. That small bike with the girl in pink on it...she looked like she was 12 or less, driving through all of that traffic. 

Random beautiful modern looking park in the city with a giant screen playing Ice Age...

High rise residential buildings 

This lady carting around all of that in her wagon! 

We are so, so blessed to be this kids mama and daddy! 

On our way out of town we stopped in at McDonald's. It was so good!! And you know their apple pies...they had a banana pie option here. Maybe I missed this one at home but that thing is so good!! 

II

This kid took my camera again...

And actually took some cute pics :) 

Yep, photographer Joseph's work...

When we all were sufficiently full as well as sufficiently grossed out by the squatty potty in there we left to head back to Zhengzhou. Thankfully this sweet child slept the whole way back. 

Reference for how little his hand is :) 

After getting back to the hotel, we gave the boys a bath (cause Matthew had his second blow out diaper with us so far just as we were pulling up to the hotel) and then headed out to dinner. We went to the noodle place at the Holiday Inn where they make homemade hand stretched noodles. We ordered some as well as some dumplings and discovered Matthew loves dumpling wrappers! Glad I have some in my freezer for when we get home! 

So it's a good thing we also have chopsticks at home because Matthew loves playing with them. And drumsticks and drums because he loves to bang things together or drum on anything he can as long as it is the loudest surface possible! 

When we got back to the room we got ready for bed and played a little. Matthew was struggling today with anything related to Ronnie. If Ronnie holds him he cries. If he even looks at him he will pout. He has definitely picked a side and is making it known. On one hand, it's good to see him attach to someone since the first day he really was just in pleaser mode. We can tell he is grieving and therefore starting to show some signs of survival attachment with me. He cried a sad, sniffle, deep breath, quiet cry for about 30 minutes this morning on waking up. I am no longer able to be out of his sight. Thankfully he will let me put him down still but if I leave the room he will immediately start crying and come to me with his hands help up for me to pick him up. His stomach has been upset the last two days too so I know that can't help him to feel any better. Sow more good things though, today was the first time he ran to me to pick him up in a public setting. And he is starting to pick up a few sign language signs we have been using to help us communicate better. He really is as clever as they described him! 

Tomorrow we have our first free day of this trip. No appointments, tours or paperwork to complete! Just a fun little Halloween celebration with the other families. Looking forward to sleeping in some and just bumming around the hotel/surrounding area. For those of you who have emailed or commented on all of this so far, thank you, I haven't had much time or energy by this point of the nights to respond individually but we can feel the love! Thanks again!