Day 10 - Guangzhou - The medical "exam"

Don't fall over...it's actually Michelle posting this time. Coee and I took a two plus hour nap this afternoon so I am spry as a spring chicken and ready to help Terrell out with the post. Today was the day that we went to Shamian Island to the medical center to have all of the babies "checked out." This consisted of them measuring her head, checked her tummy, weighing her, measuring her length, and "testing" her hearing and eyesight. The hearing test consisted of holding a toy to one side of her head, squeaking it, then doing the same thing on the other side. She turned her head towards the toy on both counts so she passed. She weighed in at 8.6 kg (almost 19 lbs.) and her length is 75 cm (approx. 25 inches).

After we finished and passed the medical exam, we were free to shop on Shamian Island. Shamian Island has largely become the adoptive families haven. There are many small shops geared towards the adoptive family and their Chinese daughters. We bought everything from squeaky shoes for Coee (see picture below, but I'm not finished shopping for those yet) to a traditional Chinese dress to two new suitcases to carry all of our purchases home in. Trey and Dillon racked up by each getting a SET of swords, plus a practice sword each. They are out in the hall now "practicing" with them. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we only had two hours to shop. Boy did we do some damage in those two hours.

Then all of the families met at the White Swan hotel for the traditional "Red Couch Photo." As all American families adopting from China have to pass through Guangzhou to receive their daughters visa, most families have stayed at the White Swan Hotel. It is a tradition to have the babies pictures made on a (the) red couch in the hotel in their traditional Chinese outfits. Imagine the chaos. Eleven babies, each with at least two accompanying adults and some with accompanying siblings. Lunch time. Let's put them all on the couch and take a photo! Who thought of this tradition? Coee was in the middle of her bottle, so she cried the whole time - big time. She was not alone. I'm guessing there were maybe two babies that were not crying. Big fun. See picture below.

Following the photo opp, we all went for a traditional Dim Sum lunch. This is where you sit at a large round table with a lazy susan in the middle of it. They bring lots of different dishes for all to share. Trey and Dillon generally hold out for the fried rice or noodles during these dinners. Fortunately, they generally end up having one or the other to eat.

After our big morning, we spent the afternoon in the hotel watching movies and resting. Trey and Dillon have had ramen noodles for dinner, and Coee is following in their footsteps in regard to their love for ramen noodles. She had to have some too.

Coee is doing great. We have had much better bedtimes the past two nights. Instead of rocking her, we just put her on the bed with us and she WOLLERS (sp?) all over the bed until she finally gives out and falls asleep. It took almost 45 minutes last night. She is happy the whole time, doesn't cry, and doesn't try to get off the bed or even near the side. She was non-stop activity, like a wiggle worm, for the full 45 minutes. But it works, and it is better than the hour of crying that we had a week ago. Can you believe we have had her over a week already? We can't, but it kind of seems that she has always been here too. It's good to have that week behind us and know her and her wants/needs. I know that she doesn't cry unless she is hungry or tired. We know that she is a funny, funny little girl, full of personality. She knows how to get attention (by being loud) and LOVES the camera. We got the camera out a bit ago to take a picture of all of her shoes. She got so excited, thinking we were going to take her picture. She loves noodles, and watermelon. I told her that it is going to be sad when we leave here because we won't have watermelon until next summer, but I bet there are several people that will happily plant extra so she'll have all she wants. Oh -one more thing we have learned - she really wants a Nintendo DS like her brothers have. She can't keep her hands off of those things. We told her it would be several years. She can do patty cake. Terrell has been trying to teach her that he is Daddy, so he says "Daddy" and pats his chest. Since she is an expert at mimicing, she will pat her chest too. So now if we ask her where is daddy?, she pats her chest. Oh well. She loves to laugh and smile and does so at every opportunity. When she cries she goes from "waaaa" to "mmmmm" to "ooooooo" and it is REALLY cute.

We have a free day tomorrow. The only thing we have to do is be in the room from 10:00 - 12:00 while Dennis takes our paperwork to the U.S. Consulate to complete the adoption according to the U.S. We have to stay in the room in case they have questions, so he can get in touch with us immediately. After that, we will be back out shopping. Looking forward to Friday and seeing you all. Thank you so much for all of the comments. Please keep them coming. Trey and Dillon wake up before dawn and want to see the comments. Terrell and I usually read them around 3:00 am. Obviously, they are very important to us.

Trey and Dillon's class, here is another question for you:

In China, a "large" city is one that has over 5 million people in it. How many large cities are in China and in the US?

Talk to you tomorrow! The beginning of a serious love affair with shoes!!! And we aren't even done yet!


Coee was pretty good at the Dr.'s office.

They checked her hearing too.

Happy kids..................not! Coee is on the front row, far right. Crying like there is no tomorrow!

This is our missing suitcase! The Chinese don't mess around with missing luggage! We couldn't believe it came crated!

Real swords................the perfect gift for 8 yr old boys....................wow, what were we thinking.