Fall is here in MN! One month home

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I have written.  Things are just rolling right along, and it's hard to have time to fit it in.  Cora is doing new things by the minute it seems like, so I've already missed documenting some "milestones" I am sure:)

Sophie started school on Sept 3rd.  She was very excited to get back to school, for maybe the first time in her career!  Cora must have felt that enthusiasm, because once she realized that sophie was going to school, she was ALL about "way-shu Cora's school?"   She has a constant rolling dialogue of "way-shu" something. It's usually mama or daddy or sophie, or grandma or whoever is visiting that day.  But anyway...she saw sophie get on the bus, and that was it.  I think she was confused by where Sophie was actually going, and was screaming and crying to beat the band.  But then we drove her to her school, to show her, and then all was fine.  But that prompted her asking about Cora's school, in which she WAS registered, but we didn't plan on starting her for a few more weeks  (kindergarten that is).  But we went over that day, and met her teacher, who was very nonchalant about the whole thing, to my dismay.  Cora liked her, though, and was all excited, and was waving "bye" to mom - she thought she was all ready for school.  Not so much.  We did bring her the next day, first day of Kindergarten.  We had an eye dr appt in the morning, so brought her in a few hours late.  The short version is that it did not go well.  She was scared to death of me leaving, was scared of the teacher and classroom, and just overwhelmed all around.  We made it about 20 mins, but she was melting down, and wouldn't even go in the classroom after touring the school with the class.  So we wrapped that up pretty quickly, and decided to take a step back.  Do pre school for a while, and then maybe try Kindergarten again when she is more comfortable with the school idea.

Fast forward a week and a half, and she started preschool on Friday (yesterday).  She did AMAZING!  We got to go in a few minutes early, meet her teachers, let her get lay of the land of the room and stuff.  They had awesome toys and stuff, so she was thrilled about all of that.  Then the kids trickled in, moms and dads left, and I left about 5 mins after "class" started.  She was super brave, and the teachers and other kids were wonderful.  It's only 2.5 hrs, but she stayed the whole time on her own, and only had some tears twice.  Minor moments, which the teachers were able to calm quickly.  And then my mom and I came back, and she was super happy, and very proud of the artwork she had done that day.  When we left for lunch, she said "go get snack, and then come back?"  She really liked it, and I was so happy and proud of her.

So that's the school deal.  She'll do preschool 3 days a week, and I know she will do awesome.  She is a smart cookie, and picks up on things so quickly.  Oh plus - her preschool is in the same building as sophie's school, so that helps too.  Now if only she could ride the bus to preschool, her life would be perfect!  She is obsessed with buses.  She and I even took the bus downtown one day last week, just so she could go on one.  That was a fun outing overall.  Except i forgot the stroller, and she had an owie on her foot, which meant me piggybacking her all over downtown.  Even at 39lbs, I'm too old for that!

So now that Sophie is in school, and James is working, Cora and I just pal around during the day.  She is sweet and funny and stubborn and exhausting, all at the same time.  She wants my (or james') attention pretty much 100% of the day.  She will play with her dolls, or do puzzles or play legos or watch tv - but with all of that, she likes to have a pal.  Which is me.  So it doesn't leave much time to get other things done during the day.  But I indulge her MOST of the time.  This is our bonding time, and man are we bonding!  I think I get an A+ in that so far.  She's such a sweet girl, it's hard to say no to her anyway.  But we are working on her doing more things independently, because obviously that is the path we need to be on.   But in the same breath she IS very independent.  Another constant is "Cora do it" - she does want to do things herself, just me to be there watching, basically, or helping when need be.

But I love our time together.  Sitting in the bean bag snuggling and watching Totoro, or dancing around to music.  Or her doing my hair in the most beautiful styles for an hour+ each day.  (she really is quite talented with that).  I can't wait to see her every morning, padding out to the kitchen, or wherever I am.  I also can't wait for 8pm to roll around so I can have peace and quiet too, I'll be honest about that.  But I think that's every parent.  I'm not ready to send her off to school 7 hrs a day, and I got all weepy thinking about that.  We worked so hard to bring her home, and we missed out on so many years with her.  The idea of sending her off all day already just breaks my heart.  So I'm glad the Kindergarten thing is not happening quite yet.

Today was an especially frustrating day, more with sophie than cora.  Sophie is still overall doing good, but I think she holds alot of feeling in, and then they all come rushing out when she's tired or cranky.  She is jealous of the balance of attention, of Cora's cute clothes and shoes (yes shoes!), and losing her place as the baby.  So Sophie tried my nerves more than ever today, and we spent most of the morning battling with her.  But then tonight, Sophie took cora out for a walk, got her all dressed up in her rain gear, played with her on the trampoline.  And read her the sweetest bedtime story.  So I know she loves her little sister.  OH, she was even mad at Cora today because Cora got to ride in the burley, behind my bike.  "she doesn't even have to do ANYTHING, she just gets to sit there.  It's not fair".   Meanwhile, sophie had to ride her bike 10 miles.  Yes, it was not a good morning.  I ended up eating many doughnuts today.   James had to talk me down off the ledge a few times.  Thank goodness for him!

And Daddy  - yep, Cora still loves her dad, but now Mom reigns supreme.  But she will follow him around when he is home as much as she can.  Darn work!!  He's busy as every but does a good job of helping out once he gets home.  And as always being the voice of patience when things gets tense around the house.

The language is coming along really well too.  Cora understands so much of what we say, and can get some simple thoughts across to us.  I'm not worried about that anymore - she'll be talking up a storm before we know it.

Other big things that we've been doing:

• Doctors visits.  Eye doctor appt went well.  Her right eye is healthy and strong.  Her left eye is tiny and undeveloped, and not anything they can do to help her see out of that eye.   So we got glasses (today!) to help protect her right eye, and give her better vision out of it.  We will work on getting her a prosthetic left eye in the near future, got some referrals for that.  She is adorable in her glasses, and seems to like them okay.
• pediatrician visit was uneventful, Dr thought she looked great, and all the test results came back clean.  We have a few immunizations to do to bring her up to speed, but overall she is a healthy little girl!
• went to Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's house, overnight.  Did a pontoon ride, swimming in the lake, jumping off the raft, riding 4 wheeler, and tubing behind boat.  whew!  it was a big day.  And sleeping away from home for first time.  Did great with it all!
• Did time with the babysitter alone, and also alone time with gramma Jeanne - making strides!
• Started swim lessons, which she LOVES!  I can't wait to take her again tomorrow night.

Good night!

Michelle

picnic at Minnehaha Falls - sweating to death!

forced hike :)

Minnehaha falls

4-wheeling with grandpa

Cora, Jenny, Sophie, Kyle, Gramma Jeanne and Mariah

lots of time on the screen porch this fall!

pseudo first day of school

hangin' on porch

Paul, Kristin, Jenny and Mariah over for a visit

Couldn't stay awake during story time!

first day of preschool

Sophie the Great!

One week before Sophie goes back to school.  Thank goodness!!  She is more ready than she ever has been.  I think she's finally tired of the "unstructured" summer, and ready to get back to more challenges and brain activities.  I almost said she was tired of playing Minecraft and Skylanders, but that would be taking it a bit too far.   She is turning into such an awesome big sister, though.  She literally just said in the background - "isn't she the cutest thing in the world?"  Yes, referring to her sister (i actually had to ask, because it was an out of the blue statement).  She wanted to help her put her jammies on tonight, and read her a story, and stuff, which was unusual.  But I will take it - i love to see them together.  Cora of course thinks EVERYTHING sophie does is awesome, and tries to emulate every move.  Sophie brushed away my kisses at bedtime, and made a face, so then 5 mins later, Cora did the exact same thing.   Go figure!  We rode our bikes together tonight, and Cora just calls out for Sophie continuously, unless she is in the exact right spot (not too far ahead, and definitely not behind us).  I was still walking/jogging next to Cora, cause though she is doing great on her new Princess bike with training wheels, she still likes to have me there just "in case".  She practiced her brakes a lot tonight, so i think she will be more confident and in control now.

Anyway, it's been about a week I think since I wrote last.  We've had a bunch of Anderson visitors - Mom, Dad, Jenny and Mariah.  All were big hits, and Cora asks about them often, and wants to skype and say "hi" on the phone when she can.  It is so so wonderful to have her meet her family. I think she thinks they are celebrities, after seeing all the pictures of them in the albums!   We'll be going to Chetek on Friday I think, so she can see g'ma and g'pa's house, and do the lake stuff, and meet Kyle and Mike.   Paul's coming in a few weeks, too!

Everything is just rollin' right along.  We're staying busy with summer activities, and enjoying almost every minute!    Cora just gets better and better about meeting new people, and also separating from James and I.  She loves anything that involves her "listing" the family (like setting the table, one spot for each of us, and naming our spots).  I think she is getting the family idea more, and certainly seems to love it!  She does still have her moments, and her tantrums still come out once in a while.  It usually involves me telling her no, or doing something she is not happy with.  James tells her no, too - but when she melts down and gets really angry, it's almost always with me.  But it only happens now maybe once every 3 days or so?  So not much to complain about there.  We still recognize that even though she seems like a VERY happy kid, there are still feelings in there that she can't express and she still has pain/anger/confusion about this new life.  The language gets better every day, but there are limited things she can actually say, and she gets frustrated by that sometimes.

But yes, the comment from almost everyone she meets is how smiley and happy she is.  We laugh a lot in the house, and she's certainly brought a new spark to us all.

Oh, she is on night number 3 of sleeping in her bed!  We got a bed rail put up last night, after she fell out of bed 3 times the night before.  So now we all sleep sound in our own beds.  I really can't believe she transitioned that fast into her own room.  I hardly slept the other night - mostly cause she was falling out of bed, and I was worried and listening for her all night.   But knock on wood, she is doing amazing on that front.

I did register her for school today.  We'll meet her teacher this week, and come up with some sort of "staged" approach.  Likely starting around the 16th of September.  Wish us luck on that!  We think she's ready, though.   She's smart (of course) and is good at standing in lines and sitting in circles.  It's just the separation part that worries us.  I'll keep you posted.

Pool tomorrow, since we are having a heat wave, and i think lunch with some friends.  Have a good week!

Michelle

Mariah in the studio salon

Cora and cousin Mariah, Jenny's daughter

Grandpa and his girls with their Alaska gear!

Tickles from Grandpa Anderson

At her first bday party!  Happy Bday Henry!

Perfect bday takeaway, Abby!

Hangin' with the big kids!

Her newest accessory, the neck scarf!  LOVE it

With aunt jenny and mariah (how cute is this outfit -thanks Jen!)

selfie

I've got a shopper on my hands!

My mom and I had to laugh today, because we realized we have a little girl who really likes to shop, and really likes shoes (and even more so SOCKS, for some reason!)  Grandma Jeanne finally got to meet Cora today, and I think it was love at first sight from both sides.  Cora completely took to G'ma.  Not that I was totally surprised, but you just never know.  I doubt Cora knew many grandma's with beautiful silver hair in china - but this one is pretty great, so how could she resist!   Chun wu couldn't decide if she could call her Nai Nai (paternal grandma in mandarin), Why-paw (maternal g'ma) or just Gramma in english.  She rotated thru them all, but pretty much settled on Nai Nai.   And then called for her over and over to make sure she was watching her all the time.  It was so cool to see, and just kind of crazy to think our little girl is finally home, and meeting her family.  Pretty soon, she will just be "one of the gang", racing around with her cousins at the family gatherings.  

But yes, we hung out at the house for a while, and then decided we should go do some shopping.  Sophie HATES shopping, pretty much always has, so just Mom, Cora and I went.  Oh, and what made us go is that Cora is hell on wheels on her bike with training wheels.  She doesn't watch where she's going, and just races all over, assuming mama is going to hold her upright and help her avoid wiping out.  So far, we have been lucky, and that statement is true, but it's not going to last long.  A big spill is sure to come soon.  So we thought we needed to go get her a helmet, and some knee and elbow pads.  Then I might have to just let her loose, and she will quickly figure out that she has to be more careful!

We hit Lands End, and bought all sorts of stuff.  Don't feel bad, Mom - remember, we had 5 years of NOT shopping for her, so think of all the money we have saved so far!  I think I'll be using that excuse a lot - maybe until college?  But Cora loved it - tried it all on, picked out her favorite stuff. and charmed the sales ladies along the way.   Those dimples are hard to resist.

Grandma went home after dinner. It's kind of exhausting being in our house right now - feels really chaotic to me, at least.  So one day was probably enough!  Cora was sad to see her go, but no meltdown.  We just kept telling her we'll see her again soon!

So it's been 10 days home.  I haven't written in a few days - it's been kind of a blur, but in a good way.  James has been working 1/2 days, and that is going really well.  Cora isn't happy about him leaving but does pretty well with it.  Might cry for 5 mins, but might not.  Just depends on her mood that day.  But still definitely daddy's girl.  She's gotten lots of good bonding time in with me and Sophie, too, though, and we all are just getting each other figured out.   Cora is starting to chase Sophie around, and wants to do what the "big kids" are doing.  Sophie is generally pretty good about waiting up for her.  The other day Cora took off at top speed literally chasing sophie down the street.  Quiet street, but still, yikes!  So we had to nip that in the bud :)

We're all sleeping good, usually 10-12 hr a night for Cora, and almost as much for me.  We've gotten to the next step of Cora actually falling asleep in a BED.  Not her own bed (that would be jumping way ahead!), but a bed none the less.  James tells her some story, either about the planets, or might be about roman catholic history, or maybe chinese history if she's lucky.  And she's out in literally less than 5 mins.  James lectures can put ANYONE to sleep, so it's perfect!

At this point, the hardest part is still the communication.  Cora started talking more than ever today.  We said it was my Mom's visit maybe.  Who knows why, but she was mimicking way more than she usually does, and saying all sorts of things.  But she still gets frustrated when she can't tell us something, and still has little fitsl But pretty normal stuff, and manageable.  And just keeping up with her and keeping her entertained is a challenge.  No wonder I'm sleeping 10 hrs a night.  But it's fun mostly.  Oh her first sentence today was "Where's the meme?"

Okay, I better go, I am up WAY past my bedtime!  Jenny and Mariah are coming tomorrow afternoon, and then my Dad on Wednesday morning.  And then we just need to see Paul and Kristin and all the Davis' .  I wish everyone was closer!

chasing in the backyard

At the Edina rec center the other day

pure FUN

This girls  got more accessories than one should ever need! 

You knew it was bound to happen!  Mom had to go through "Cora's Hair Salon"

How do you say "LOOK FORWARD!" in mandarin??

The 5 yr old rules the roost!

Wow, how quickly you forget how your time is no longer yours with a toddler in the house!  Not much time to post, but a quick recap.

I think last time I wrote, Cora had passed out, literally, in the bean bag at about 3pm.  She ended up sleeping that whole night, woke up the next day (monday morn) at 1am.  Stayed in the bean bag, james and i on the couches, and all was pretty hunky dory.  The 1am awakening was not great, but we took turns once she was up, and off we went for the rest of the day.

Last night, we kept her up till 5:30, pm, then she zonked rocking herself to sleep on the porch.  She slept till 4:30 am, in our BED.  YEAY!!   She had a short 10 minute night terror thing before waking up this morning.  But all and all, we were thrilled, and we all got a good night sleep.

She is generally super happy, but VERY busy.  Runs around constantly yelling for Baba and Mama and Sophie to come with her, or do something.  She still likes her morning walks, but has let go of the stroller attachment.   She's completely hooked on James, though, and we now know that will be the next hurdle.  He was going to work this week, but decided he's just going to work from home a few hours a day.  She looks for him constantly, and wants him in her sight, or to at least know where he is.  Me...she can take or leave me!   We'll see how it goes when one of us really has to leave, though.

We played outside a lot today.  James was able to get a solid 4 or so hours of work done.  She kind of forgot about him once we were occupied outside.  He did do a "trial separation", and ran to McDonalds and back.  She was not happy to see him leave, but I was able to distract her with the trampoline, and then she was okay.  I think if we do a few more of the leave and come back quickly trials with him, she'll be okay.

I am exhausted.  It's 7:40pm, and Cora fell asleep in the living room chair.  I'll move her to bed in a bit, then I'm sure will pass out myself.   We are not as on edge anymore, worrying that she will cry, or melt down (though she still has a few moments here and there).  But she just doesn't want to be alone, and really wants one of us doing something with her at all times.  I know that will change with time, but it's tiring.  We all have so much fun with her, though, so it's not like it's torture, I just can't get anything done!   She is such a character, really a funny kid.  Though she can't talk, her expressions are worth a thousand words.  I know that is cliche, but it is so true.

We have someone coming to clean the house tomorrow morning - hallelujah!!   That will be a big relief.  Now if I can' just get caught up on some of my admin, I will feel more in control.  I guess control is something we all want, right?  Makes sense why these little kids are so out of whack when they feel like they have none at all over what is happening to them.

She is so sweet - more playful than affectionate, I would say.   She'll let us hug her, though, and sometimes will run up to me and give some snuggles.  But she also is stubborn as all get out, and her anger come out now and then, too.

That's all for Tuesday night.  I really can't believe it's only been 5 days since we have been home.  Thank you to you all for the emails, calls, texts, notes!  I promise they mean the world to us, and I will get back in touch with you all soon!!  

Hugs,

Michelle, James, Sophie and Cora

Hanging outside today with the Gracie "big girl"

Honeynut cheerios all around!

Honeymoon is over, I think....

We are now on Day 3 of being home.   The first night we only got a few hours of sleep, then laid pretty low on Friday.  Maybe got 4 hrs of sleep on Friday night.  We keep reminding ourselves that it's like bringing home a new baby - we have to be ready for sleepless nights.  There are so many factors at play, jet lag being one of the biggest one, though, I think.

Saturday (yesterday) we were all just zombies.  We stayed home all day, but I think made the mistake of being too busy, and too social.  Cora LOVES seeing people and visitors, but cries and cries when people leave.  My friend Hui from work came over, who speaks mandarin, and brought her kids, too.  It was a great visit (thanks Hui!) and I think Cora loved hearing someone speaking her language finally.  But she was pretty angry and upset when they left.   We also spent most of the day outside, playing with our good friends and neighbors and their kids.  Again, Cora loved being with them, but was beside herself when we had to separate.  We were walking on eggshells all day, just waiting to see what would set her off.   She screams and gets so angry, and we just don't know how to snap her out of it?  The stroller is still a good distraction, or just getting her to play with her dolls or something.  Or having her new BFF "big girl", come hold her hand and bring her somewhere.  But I think the poor thing was just SO tired yesterday, she just was losing it right and left.  And James and I were also on the brink, many times.

We had an early dinner with the Tbacks, and then got her to sleep at about 7:30.  We all slept on and off, but in the end, were thrilled cause I think she (and james and I too!) ended up with almost 7 or 8 hrs of sleep!  Sophie also got a good night sleep.  She slept the whole night in the magic stroller, though.  Kind of funny.  Reminds me of the days when sophie would sleep in her car seat when she was sick.

The hard part is, when she wakes, she just rages, like she is a completely different person.  James has been reading lots today about night terrors - we think that is what going on.

So today is Sunday, and we are completely taking a step back in our "schedule".  We went for a walk this morning, then have just been playing all day at home, just the 4 of us.  Cora has been doing awesome. She is such a sweet and funny thing.  She is saying more words, and playing with some new toys, and just hanging out.  Oh and news flash - SHE IS NAPPING right now!  She was chillin' on the bean bag, and fell asleep watching the old school smurfs.  I think the extra sleep helped for sure, but I also think staying inside more, and just hanging with the fam is what we need to do for a few days.  It's hard, because my mom and dad, and Paul and Kristin were going to come over today, but we decided to postpone.  

A few little tidbits - she loves cherry tomatoes, she loves changing her clothes, and pretty princess dresses, and still is practicing on her hair styling skills.  Oh, and loves to do the trampoline with her big sister.

sleeping as I type!

playing outside with Daddy yesterday

Messin' around with big sis

Home Sweet Home!

I can say with certainty, we all were never so happy to get home the other night!  We arrived back to the house at about midnight on Thursday night.  A big thank you to Teri for picking us up, waiting with a big teddy bear for Cora (which she loved) and hugs for us all.  And another shout out to M&M for having groceries for us when we got home, and a welcome home sign.  And lastly, to Michael and Barb for helping out with the house and Sheeta.  Everything looked great when we walked in!  Oh, and before I forget, James and I just finally got back on Facebook and read all the notes.   I wish I could have read those while in China - I forgot to tell y'all that we coudn't access FB or the blog from China, so the only way to get msgs to us would have been via Gmail.  Your words of support and encouragement are so sweet.  We definitely need them, maybe even more so now that we are home!  We were happy to be able to talk to our family and some friends via skype while were in China a few time, so at least we had that connection.

But back to the trip home....

I think we figured it was a 26 hr travel day.   Left the hotel at 9am for the airport on Thursday.   The flight to Seoul was fine, 3.5 hrs.  I kept thinking, MAN, I have not had to deal with a busy 5 yr old for a LONG time!  I was laughing about the fact that Cora is not obsessed with screens like Sophie, so it makes plane rides so much more difficult.  She has an attn span of about 10 minutes, and then wants to move on to the "next thing".  Well, I only have about 5 "next things" for her, and then I was like Uh Oh!    But that part was fine, I think I got her to watch some Ponyo (really the only movie or tv we have that she is interested in). I don't think any of us fell asleep on that leg, well I am sure James did some, but we all know that is just a given.

We got to Seoul, and had a very short layover, until our 10 hr flight to Seattle.   A nice Korean Air attendant grabbed us, and a few other families, and rushed us through customs and security so that we could make the flight.  Kind of stressful, but we were happy NOT to have a long layover, so I guess it was good.  Except the lady was going so fast, and I was carrying Cora, and I was like, "wait up!!".  She did not care that i was carrying a pretty heavy, small chinese person.

Next leg was pretty terrible, but we made it through.  Sophie sat on the aisle, I was across the isle, and then Cora next to me, and a koren guy on the other side of her.  James was 4 rows back, unfortunately.  Sophie was an angel, except I felt bad because she really wanted to snuggle with someone and fall asleep, and she was all on her own.  So instead of sleeping a wink, she just "tableted" and "ds-ed" the WHOLE 10 hours.  Cora slept about 5 hrs, I think, but woke up quite often kind of crying and writhing around.  The korean guy seemed kind of pissed off, but whatever.  I was just trying so hard to keep her comfortable, that I maybe slept an hour or so myself.  So yes, the 10 hrs felt more like 15.

But Cora was SUPER happy for most of the journey.  Smiling and laughing, and literally pulling me onto the planes and around the airports.  And she started talking in Chinese!  Like she decided we were okay, and she could could open up more.  So that was super cute, and we just love hearing her talk.

One funny thing once we got to Seattle.  Sophie was exhausted, almost falling asleep standing up.  We unfortunately had a 6 hr layover, so we decided to set her up with a bed on the floor.  When Cora saw that - Sophie with blankets and pillows, she just kind of lost it.  All we could think of was that maybe she thought this was our "home", and she did not think it was cool?  So the poor thing was pretty upset.  I found a chines family, that I heard speaking what I thought was mandarin.  I asked the younger boy if he would translate for me.  He was really sweet, and explained to Cora that is was not our home.  That was have ONE more plane ride, and then we would be home.   After that, she was good.  She obviously was very tired too, so who knows what was going through her head.  So again, dang it for us not speaking some mandarin!

The last 3 hr flight was a breeze - slept a little, watched more ponyo, and we were home.  After Teri got us home, Cora just had fun checking everything out.  She was very curious about Sheeta - I think that was kind of a lifesaver for us.   And maybe after seeing a bunch of pics and videos of sheeta, it helped her put together that this is home? Who know, really, but she loved the going up and down the stairs, was excited about her new baby dolls and room, and generally pretty happy.

It took us till about 2:30am to get her to fall asleep, though.  She was in the bed with me, and just wasn't having it.  Combo of overtired, nervous, and just "screw you, I'm not done exploring and don't want to go to sleep"  And then our STUPID alarm went off at 4:30am, and woke us all up.  So yep, 2hrs was our big first night sleep.  She just cried and cried after that, and then we just decided to throw in the towel, and get up.

Here are some pics from our first morning....we did a stroller walk at like 7am, and she was a super happy camper!

Laura and Lucy at the Chimealong Circus!  Our friends from Atlanta that we palled around with.  Made our trip SO much more enjoyable to hang with them!

Sophie on the way to airport

Cora sitting next to big sis on way to airport

Cora's "artwork" as james calls it.  She is obsessed with hair accessories.  Takes them in and out, just loves them!

TaTablet time for both for a few minutes at least

Cora and Lucy, in Seoul, before we parted ways with the Kirklands :(

Sophie and Zoie Kirkland in Seoul

again, obsessed with hair, and she is darn good at doing ponytails on her babies!

omelets with Sophie in first morning home.  too busy to eat, though

painting project!

Last Day in China!

Well, not really last day, but last full day before we fly out tomorrow at noon.

It really does feel like so much has happened in these 2 weeks.  And while yes, we had one of the biggest events of our life, we also had a lot of down time, and sometimes feel like we didn't "do" much at all. 

Our bags are packed, and I should be sleeping, but feel like I need to write one more time.  I know once we get home, people say it's really hard to keep up with the blogging.  And we'll be so jet lagged that I won't want to for a few days, I'm sure.

Today was an awesome day with Cora.  Almost too good to be true.  Now my stress is - What is going to happen when we get home?  She can't REALLY be this easy of a kid??  I talked to a family at the pool today who assured me she won't be.   Thank you lady, for bursting my bubble!  No really, I do know that we will be in a whole new phase when we get home.  I know she will be grieving for some time, and will go through more confusion about "home", and what that all means.  But I was just enjoying every minute with her today.  She let me snuggle her down by the pool when we were done.  She fell asleep on my lap on the drive home from the Circus.  We are all constantly hugging and kissing all over her, but today was the first time day she seemed to really relax into it, and enjoy all the attention!  She was laying all over James too, and playing with Sophie's hair.  Oh, it is just so great!! 

I am less sad about taking her away from China tomorrow, because she is seeming to be really getting used to us, and I know she will be happy.  But I still get teary thinking about taking her from everything, and everyone she knows. 

She went on an excursion with her big sis today.  They headed down to the lobby to buy some lunch from the bakery together, and then mail a letter to grandma and grandpa davis.  Yep, I sent them by themselves, and they both were thrilled!  Cora said and waved bye bye, and took sophie's hand, and off they went.   That was a cool moment, and Sophie was all all proud that she figured it all out successfully.  Lunch was these delish pastries wrapped around a hotdog.   We have been eating OH so healthy here :)

Sophie had some more sad moments down by the pool.  "you don't love me as much", "you are always so mean to me, and so nice to Cora".  I hope that once she is back on home turf that will get easier...but we have been expecting that reaction all along.  She gets over it pretty quickly, but today she was extra sad.  Poor thing - it's been a LONG trip for her, too.

I need to speed this up, so this is what we did on our last day, and some pictures to go along with it.

• Breakfast again outside
• Toured with Richard to this crazy wholesale food market.  You'll see pics of us walking up and down the streets, and then some dried lizards, a bunch of bags of who know what kind of chinese medicine "stuff".  And many many many deer parts. Along with fish parts, scorpions,   dried sea horses, and the list goes on and on.  Quite interesting!  Next time you see sophie, as her about the "3 squeak" story!
• Toured a Buddhist Temple.   We thought it was cool, sophie did not
• Back to the hotel to swim, and wait for Richard to deliver Cora's passport and Visa.  It came, and we are SET to leave!
• Pizza in the room, and then off to an AWESOME circus!  If anyone come to Guangzhou in future, you should totally make the trip.  We went with Laura and Shawn and crew, and it was the best show we'd all seen in a long time.  Amazing acrobatics and animal performances.  Great light show, music, costumes.  I'm not a circus fan, usually, but I was very pleasantly surprised.    We had good seats, and the kids all really loved it. 
• Got home late, kids passed out, and we packed.

And now I must do the same!  Thanks to everyone for all the support and prayers along the way.  See you back in the States very soon!

Love Michelle, James, Sophie and Cora