Finally heading home!

I am writing this on the flight from Tokyo to Boston. We have already taken a bus to a train to a bus to another bus to an airplane from Hong Kong to Tokyo. Now on the 2nd of 3 flights to get home. We are done. All of us. Avery has a cold and the wire from her braces broke. I tried to clip it but it is still poking her lip. She has been an amazing traveler, and this has been a very difficult trip, both physically and emotionally. In some ways, I feel like she grew up overnight, but--we are also dealing with jealousy issues. She is still very much my baby girl and needs to be reminded of that all the time. Mike and I are both exhausted (physically and mentally) and having stomach issues. No trip overseas would be complete without some stomach issues!
We have a quick stop in Boston (unfortunately too quick to visit with anyone or a trip to Anna's Taqueria) and then onto Fort Lauderdale. Our parents, Mike's sister and family, and possibly a few friends are meeting us at the airport. I will never forget how relieved I was to see my mom and dad when we brought Avery home. So looking forward to our homecoming!!
We are very lucky to have such amazing friends, and we love how eager everyone is to meet Jack. We can't wait to introduce him to everyone, but please understand that this is going to be a cautious and delicate process. We can only imagine what he is thinking and feeling right now. His entire world was turned upside down and inside out in a matter of days. We are still getting to know each other and he is making sure he can trust us to keep him safe and meet his needs. Moving forward, we are going to introduce new people into his life very slowly. We will not be passing him around for hugs and kisses unless he seems to want that. Please understand that this is also what we did with Avery, and we hope from the bottom of our hearts that nobody feels offended by this. We have lots of time to make up for and we look forward to sharing Jack with all of the people that we love...on his terms!!
I am including some photos from the last few days. We got some very cute pics of the kids all dressed up with the great friends we made. Heidi, Jason, Tai and Ali helped get us through this trip!!

Lunch is served!

Our last full day in Guangzhou... It is pouring and we are stuck in our room. Mike made tuna for lunch in the ice bucket! We are getting really good at improvising.

Mani/pedi girl time!!

Avery and I snuck away while Jack was napping :)

Maybe not the best toy idea...

Ok, maybe a hammer wasn't the best choice for a child who likes to hit his sister, but we were desperate!! He was having a major meltdown yesterday in Guangzhou (you might be noticing a theme here) and I realized he had pooped and we had nowhere to change him. The nicest person in China happened to be watching us from outside her shop, and told us we could change him in the doorway of her store. While I was changing him, he grabbed this thing and wouldn't let go. She told us to take it with us to lunch, and I promised to bring it back after we ate. Needless to say, I ended up going back to pay for it because he still wouldn't give it up!

Yes, I cry on the scale too :(

I'm sorry, you want to examine me WHERE?!?!

Showers are so overrated!

We finally realized that it makes no sense to shower in the morning...in the time it takes to walk out the front door of the hotel to get to our bus, we have already sweated through our clothes. We will have a lot of bathing to make up for when we get home.
Today we went to Shamian Island, location of the famous White Swan Hotel. The hotel is being renovated and is closed temporarily. We did some shopping and had lunch at Lucy's. Jack loved his chicken congee, Avery had a burger and fries.
When we got back to the hotel, it was raining so we just hung out in the room. Jack had a major meltdown and fell asleep at 5:30, with no bottle or dinner. The 3 of us had a picnic on the bathroom floor. Tomorrow is our consulate appt at 10 am.

Mexican dinner!

We enjoyed our food but Jack didn't eat anything! We ordered him a quesadilla, forgetting that he probably never had cheese before. He didn't like it. He wouldn't eat plain soft tortillas or Mexican rice. So no La Bamba for him when we get home!

Mexican dinner!

We enjoyed our food but Jack didn't eat anything! We ordered him a quesadilla, forgetting that he probably never had cheese before. He didn't like it. He wouldn't eat plain soft tortillas or Mexican rice. So no La Bamba for him when we get home!

Hi from Guangzhou

It seems like I am having some problems with my email. I have tried to send several photos and individual emails but they all disappeared from my outgoing and sent mailboxes. Sorry!!
This morning we went to the zoo and now I am in the hotel room with Avery while Jack tries to nap and Mike is getting us Starbucks!
Dinner last night was fantastic!! On top of the great food, it was nice to enjoy the company of other American families adopting Chinese kids. Jack is the youngest and the only boy in our group. Several families are adopting older girls, about 11 years old and older. I can't imagine how hard that must be for the parents and the kids.
We also had the medical exam yesterday, which I think Mike already wrote about. The best part if the day was watching Jack eat an ice cream!
For those who asked about our VPN, we aren't using one. We have limited Internet access...no Facebook, and we can post on our own blog but not actually view it online.
Can't wait to post later about Mexican dinner!!!

Caption Contest

Excuse me, do you have any shoes?

Medical exam...then ice cream!

Hi everyone. So first off, Jack had his first flight last night...from Nanjing to Guangzhou. And to be honest, it was pretty horrible. He missed his nap during the day and was WAY overtired so he just couldn't sit still. I felt horrible for Lori because she felt like she went through 10 rounds with a heavyweight! He wasn't crying or screaming...just really hyper. And it was only a 2-hour flight! We could be in trouble for our 2-day trip home!

Anyway, now we're in Guangzhou which we already like SO much better than Nanjing. The hotel is beautiful (there's a Starbucks on the first floor!) but more importantly, we're with other families. We definitely felt kind of alone and isolated in Nanjing. We also met back up with friends that we originally met in Hong Kong. So it's much more fun now, and it reminded us of our incredible travel group that we had 7 years ago when we got Avery.

Jack and Avery were also both awesome today. I think we're all just feeling more relaxed. We had Jack's required medical exam (hated it) then got ice cream (loved it). See pix below. I even took Avery swimming and NO swimming caps were required! Good times!

After that we had a delicious family style Chinese dinner with our travel group.

Tomorrow, we're scheduled for the zoo, Walmart, and believe it or not... a Mexican restaurant.

Love.