Day 2 with Jade

Hi Everyone!!
We had a bit of a rough day yesterday.  Alex was still
recovering, and we had "BinBin¨ in bed with us for the
first night and she got unsettled more than every hour,
so Alex would settle her again.  I was up half way
during the night vomiting and it continued until the
morning. We then had to get everyone showered dressed
and breakfasted and organised and meeting the guide by
8.45am.
Needless to say we were late and stressed, I was sick,
and the boys felt quite harassed. We had a day of office
visits and formal interviews and photographs for visas
and passports.  We were glad to get settled back to
the hotel and we made it back in time for the next stage
of my illness.  Although we still had a room move ahead
of us (our third).  Apparently a King Bed and Non-Smoking
floors did not translate very well.  Saturday night
found us all on a smoking floor, and my asthma played
up and Alex had a rough night with it too.  The boys
did not seem to mind it.  On complaining for the 2nd
time and with a bit of help from our guide, they said
they would get Alex and I a room (twin beds still) on a
non-smoking floor, but the boys would need to stay where
they were for now.
Due to my asthma, and the baby coming we agreed to the
move.  I felt like such a bad mother being 3 floors away
from the boys but they did not mind at all. On Monday
they advised via our guide that we could move to a King
Bed room on the same floor, freeing our current room for
the boys.  We are all settled now, with a cot in our
room and a trolley bed for Liam in the boys room, all
on the same floor, Yay!
Last night, we put Jade into the cot, and she slept
from 8pm until 7am this morning.  We found that she does
get unsettled (some bad dreams? Tosses her head from
side to side, she has a bald patch on the back of her
head), but they are in very short bursts and settles
herself quickly if she is left.  We all got a very good
night sleep!
Today no-one is ill (seems to be a 24 hour thing) and we
went on a bus to visit some 1,000 year old traditional
villages.  It seemed funny to see men in suits there,
but they actually live/work in the city and are coming
home to their family for the Spring Festival.  I bought
some local wine from the villages 4.5 rmb ($1) for
500ml, very sweet, tastes like Muscat.
Apparently constipation can be an issue with these
babies initially, but our first day with Jade gave us
4 dirty nappies so no problem there!!  She is drinking
5 bottles a day and 5 small meals of noodles, congee,
fruit in fact anything we can get our hands on,  She
just loves her food!!  The boys are able to interact
with her much more now and they adore her chuckles. We
had lots of laughs feeding her noodles in the bouncing
bus today as she sucks them up like a vacuum cleaner.
Whenever she wakes from sleeping in our arms, she seems
very happy to see that we are still here, she is not
unsettled at all.
The "clothing police¨ have been out in force today.
She gets squeezed by strangers trying to see how many
layers she has on.  She had a singlet, t-shirt, tights,
socks, one piece padded outfit, Jumper with hood,
Trousers, Coat withhood, Beanie (under the 2 hoods) and
we still get told off all the time!!
Their children are padded up like little Eskimos here,
so we are going out tonight to Wal-Mart specifically to
buy more clothing, and some big padded stuff.  We are
visiting the orphanage in Yichun tomorrow (Yay. We
finally got permission after yet another donation) and
I want them to see that she is well cared for.
Thankyou to everyone who has sent us your best wishes
and congratulations.
Sorry I have not been more forthcoming with my replies,
but my time on the internet is limited due to Joshs time
online, and with everything else going on too.  & Last
night I was just still too sick to send anything.
Cheers,
Cindy
p.s. Alex told me this morning that he had worried that
it would take time to bond with a non-biological child
and that fear has now totally evaporated.
I think you would call it instant bonding!  Even just
talking about how he feels about her makes him teary...

Our wait is over!!

What an amazing day!!  We have one wonderful daughter,
who is an absolute delight! full of mischief and
laughter, who came to us wet and hungry and crying…  She
is currently (as I write this) sitting on the bed with
Alex eating soft rice crackers, chuckling away and
talking baby talk including her only word so far DaDa…
She loves her Panda – and keeps trying to give him her
cracker…  Don't get me wrong - We have had "lots" of
screaming times when she did not want anymore congee,
when her milk was not coming quick enough out of her
bottle, and really – any time that Alex is not in the
room!!  She knows exactly what she wants and she loves
him completely already, and settles only with him…
Which although a large part of me wishes it was me, I am
really thrilled about it, because as the stay at home
Dad it is so important she bond with him…
Poor Alex though has had to be out of the room a few
extended times due to his upset stomach (gastro).
Personally I don’t think it is anything to do with the
food, as we have all eaten the same things and none of
us are ill, but he did clean his teeth with tap water l
ast night…
Taylor and Liam have both had lots of chuckles out of
BinBin (her Chinese Nickname), by playing peek a boo.
She is very smart as she knows exactly where they are
when they hide, and she looks for them…  Her pincer
movements are perfect – she holds onto her cracker with
pointer and thumb – but fiercely – don’t try to take it
away.…
She loved her bath – spashing and enjoying it…  Again
more crying when she came out…  She has these black/blue
marks up her back which we already learned is very common
among the Chinese babies, but we will need to take
photographs to show the kinder teachers so we do not get
accused of bruising her, as this has happened in the
past…  She also has dark dots all over her body and down
her arms… I have given her a coating of scabies lotion
after her bath…  But apart from that she seems very
healthy!
The emotional journey of going to get her was such a
roller coaster!!  I came down to the foyer at 3.45pm and
my heart jumped into my mouth as there was a group of
people with two Chinese babies the same age…  Sharon was
there, and was quick to reassure me they were not ours!!
We had to wait in the lobby for Joshua (get off that
internet please!!  Right now!!) and then Meng and Hong
Shi Yu were not there.  Coby rang them on the way – but
we headed off – for the 2 minute walk up the road to the
adoption centre…  They joined us as we crossed the road…
Crossing the road is dodging the cars in each lane of a
6 lane roadway…  + bikes + pedestrians + horns tooting
constantly – total mayhem really…
With my heart hammering, we nearly walked past the
building but came up to a room full of babies and
waiting parents.  I got tears straight away, trying to
spot our baby Jade…  However, we watched as one by one
the babies were matched with the waiting parents…
Another emotional roller coaster – I was in tears just
watching the 6 of them meet their babies….  We waited
with Sharon and John from Melbourne and another couple
from Kentucky, along with Sharon & Johns, Brother &
Sister In Law and Meng and Hong.  We waited with bated
breath – for any sound of the lift opening (our babies
were travelling 2.5 hrs from Yichun).
We watched as the couple from Kentucky were presented
with their 3.y.o daughter who sadly seemed to be handed
over asleep… & who was very upset when she woke up and
kept calling for her "MaMa"…  Both Alex and I were in
tears…
Then we had to compose ourselves again (after handing
out tissues) when Coby came in to say they were down
stairs!!  Joshua on the Video Camera and Taylor on the
still camera along with Neil made for quite a waiting
media throng…
Jade and Jessica entered – dressed up beautifully in
red Chinese Clothing with White fluffy trim and Red Hats…
Simply gorgeous!!  I did as planned and wrapped her in
her 100 Good Wishes Quilt, but Jade did not settle easily
and started crying quickly…. Meng took her and tried to
settle her, but she tried to reach for the drink of
another baby – she was hungry!!  So we headed back to
the Hotel as quickly as we could…  (We were to leave the
paperwork until tomorrow morning…)  Again across the
traffic, this time with Jade in my sling – no guide
this time to hold the traffic, so Alex was quick to
point out holes in the road and when we could continue
crossing to keep her safe…
So many stares…
This is after a lovely day shopping and spending time in
the amazing Peoples square…  They have massive water
fountains that play in time to music and kites and
balloons and spinning tops… the tops you keep spinning
by whipping them with a piece of string and they are
spinning all over this massive public square…  Taylor
bought one (8rmb - $1.80?) and he and Liam took turns in
whipping it to keep it going…  Although it was happening
all over the square, Taylor and Liam drew quite a crowd
watching and laughing… Josh soon joined in too… They
continue to get an amazing amount of public interest –
especially Josh with his blonde hair… It will be
interesting to see what happens when we have Jade out
in public… Even the walk back to the hotel from the
handover was watched very closely by all…
Time has gone by while I have written this, and I have
stopped to help Alex occasionally with an extra bottle,
or to get some smiles from my daughter – she is not
scared of me, she is happy – but she much prefers her
Daddy…  He puts it down to his small eyes, and his
glasses… (she keeps pulling them off and laughing…) he
thinks her carer must have had glasses…  But I think
she just loves him and it is wonderful to see…
He has had to rock her to sleep and she is sleeping
between us, snoring softly…
She usually wakes at 6am, and we need to be at the
adoption place by 9am, and we have a busy few hours
ahead of us then…
Time for me to sterilise some bottles ready for
tomorrow.
We feel so totally blessed and happy – she is going to
bring much light, laughter and love to our home…
Love, Laughter and Light to you all…
Cindy…

In Jade's Province

Hi Everyone,

I know I said I would not email until tomorrow, but here
goes…
It is so amazing to be in Jiangxi finally, (it’s really
hard to explain how you feel about the area that has
given you such a precious gift…) and what a difference
to Hong Kong and Guangzhou!  The drive in from the
airport showed us our first real glimpse of some China
Countryside, although our guide, Coby, assures us it is
not traditional countryside like we are going to see
later in the week.  Coby seems to be lovely, and we have
learnt so much from him already!

We were really very lucky to catch up with my workmate
Yin’s best friend Meng and her daughter Hong Shi Yu
today in Nanchang.  They are so lovely!
They took Alex, the boys and I out for a lovely meal
this evening – far too much food and a few Ganbai’s as
well!!  We got to try some amazing local dishes
including duck tongues, and they boys were staggered to
find that there is no age limit on alcohol!  Taylor was
the only one of the boys game enough to have a local
distilled alcohol, although they all tasted it.  But
Alex had to finish it for Taylor…  They have also
generously offered to take the boys for Karaoke while
Alex and I cope with the more mundane governmental stuff
with Jade, so they are in for another local treat…

Joshua has been unable to stop smiling since he found
out the internet connection at this hotel is free… And
he now has a webcam and voice connectivity with Moni, so
we may have to make sure we drag him away from his
laptop occasionally over the next week.

The big news of course is the handover tomorrow – 4pm
local time (7pm Melbourne time), and we are thrilled to
have Meng and Hong come along to be a part of it!!  Poor
little possum, I am upset with what Jade is about to be
going through…  And although I hope it is not too
terrifying for her, I am equally sure it will be…

Update soon,
Cheers, Cindy…

Arriving in China

Hi Everyone…

We loove being in China - it feels very surreal after
such a long wait...
We feel very priveleged to be here on such an amazing
journey.  The locals have tried to be so helpful and
friendly...
We caught the train to Guangzhou on Thursday – and
although the boys got very tired of dragging the luggage
on the 5 different subway journeys in Hong Kong before
catching the big train, they were pleased we then had
upstairs first class to spread out a little for the 2
hour journey.  When we arrived though, it was back onto
another subway, and then a 1km walk through teeming
alleyways to arrive at our hotel at 9.30pm.  Smack bang
in the middle of a non-touristy zone - awesome.  We have
spent today shopping, (being hassled), and went to a
local Buddhist temple.  Although we have eaten many
dumplings from local vendors and squid on a stick, I
must admit to giving in to a few Maccas meals for the
boys – and found the McChicken is exactly like the KFC
Zinger!! Hot and Spicy!! 
So far on our journey (mostly Hong Kong – as China do
not seem to have much English) we have seen some funny
names/translations for businesses including “Wrong
Design” (gee I must get something designed there!) and
“Dear Restaurant” (gee I wonder how much it costs?). 
There was a van called “Gastro Food Delivery”, there was
the “Yu Kee Food Company” as well as a new Fast Food
chain coming called “Fatburger” (Mmmmmm…..).  On the
subway in China there were a few laughs from the boys
when reading the rules such as “No Graffiti or
Scratchitti” and “No Hullaballo”.

The air quality is what we expected and climbing 10
flights to the top of the temple today required a few
puffs of my asthma medication.  We bought a couple of
padded outfits for Jade today, and some gloves for the
boys, as well as a webcam for Joshua…  Although the 1
RMB per minute for internet connection at this hotel,
means he will be limited to pre-writing and then just
sending emails for now…  Same as I have for this…

“Emergencies” so far in the boys hotel room have
included a bad blood nose (needing a major cleanup), a
blocked toilet (we gave up flushing), and squishy splat
balls that exploded gunk everywhere.  I wonder what’s
next?
Anyway the plan for tomorrow is to visit the Jade market
 before checking out at 12noon and heading out to the
airport for Nanchang…  Hopefully in time for an early
night to rest up before meeting Jade on Sunday.  I plan
to send another email on Sunday evening to let you know
how our big day went, and send a few photos of our
precious little daughter/baby sister…
Take care everyone,
Cheers,
Cindy…

First Stop Hong Kong

Well - Hello from Hong Kong...

Sorry I haven't emailed earlier - but we had a very
delayed flight in last night,getting to bed about 1.30am
HK time (4.30am Melb time)... (due to cancelled flights
from Melbourne, delayed flights from Sydney, extra
taxiing in Sydney, flying around bad weather and flights
ahead of us taking the "optimum" cruise level for fuel,
meaning we needed to detour to Darwin to take on enough
fuel to actually get us to Hong Kong.) 
What a long long day!!

Today started early with a long walk through the local
older traditional part of Hong Kong, and Taylor & I had
our first taste of the amazing street side dumplings!!
We visited the ANZ Hong Kong branch - seeing first hand
the expansion project we completed last year, and
understanding the expansion plans for this year!
The boys were also lucky enough to be given their first
"Hong Bao" (red packets) for Chinese New Year - very
special! - Thanks Simon!

We then spent the day up at the Hong Kong Peak,
Underground Subways, Harbour Ferries and great
restaurants! We only had two separate meltdowns during
the day (quiet tears) - from the 2 overtired younger
boys - who both went to bed at 8pm tonight...

I have attached a couple of photos - 1 of our family in
Hong Kong, and then some of the 2008 Olympic Mascots.
We had some giggles at wondering what the innocent
mascots were up to in the first photo, and as you can
see they took personal offence at our giggles and they
took their revenge!!

We catch the train tomorrow to Guangzhou - we are only
just coping with 4 big suitcases and 5 hand luggage...
It is going to be very interesting with a young baby and
the extra luggage to come!!

We are all looking forward to Sunday - when we meet our
daughter/sister!!

I will send an email again most probably on Friday night
from Guangzhou...

Cheers,
Cindy...

ANZ to the rescue

I am currently working (via DWS) in Asia Technologies at ANZ. Yesterday (my last day at work for 5 weeks) they held a Chinese New Year Party for a gold coin donation. They raised $100 and donated it to Jades orphanage. Then my boss matched it to $200! & then Senior Management at ANZ matched it again to $400!! Their amazing generosity astounds me. We will be buying quilts and formula for Jades cold affected Orphanage and delivering them this week!!
Today I went with girlfriends to see "Menopause the Musical" - very funny, I cried with laughing - but at 40 it was too close to the bone really - I can see the trains light heading directly my way...
Now back to getting packed for those colder climes...
3 more sleeps until travel, and 7 more sleeps until Jade is with us...

Please send warm wishes & thoughts to our Jade

The worst winter storms for 50 years have caught Southern China unprepared. Many of the SWI's (Social Welfare Institutes) are not coping with the cold and are having trouble keeping babies warm... One has not had electricity or running water for 8 days!!

This website lists SWI's that the charitable organisation "Half the Sky" works with, and the conditions they are experiencing.
http://www.halfthesky.org/work/littlemouse.php
Although Jade's is not listed (Yichun SWI , Jiangxi - I don't think they work with them?) 3 others from her province are listed as in need.
I just can't wait to get to her - hopefully we can get quickly through the travel chaos!!
& of course we are thinking of all the other little ones too... It just breaks your heart!

Rock around the clock!

I have actively been pursuing a rocking recliner, after the recent demise at my Sisters of my Grandma's prize possession - which had an active life of 30+ years and quite a few great-grand-children rocked to sleep within her arms!
We know only too well, after copious amounts of reading and classes, that rocking a child coming from within care, can help stimulate the switched off areas of the brain that are linked to attachment. (& by the way, also jumping on a trampoline can help too!)
So we were staking out the "sales" of the Jason Recliner/Rockers when Alex did an a e-Bay search and found a retired couple not only selling two 8 year old Recliner Rockers, but a matching 3-seater sofa and a Recliner-only for a bargain price (of far less than the one "on sale" Recliner/Rocker)! The whole family catered for!
Today we picked it up and have it installed ready for those late night rockings... Not long to go now... I can't wait!!
By the way - I have to admit to a personal love of rocking. I spent a few years of my youth on the "top bunk" where the wobbling my foot rhythmically shook it enough to rock me to sleep each night. Alex will tell you that I still, in the depths of my slumber, rock my foot...
Happy Chinese New Year to you all!!
Love, Cindy...

Our Itinerary!!

We have our itinerary from CWTS (China Women Travel Service). We were thrilled to learn that Jade will be brought to us the day before our Registration and Notary visit. The 17th February is our new Forever Family Day. Here is our details...

12th Feb - Depart for Hong Kong.
14th Feb - Train to Guangzhou.
16th Feb - Fly to Nanchang arriving at 17:15 - taken to Galactic Peace Hotel.
17th Feb - meet baby (Jade is 9 months on this day)!
18th Feb - Registration and Notary.
19th Feb - visit Luo Tian Village, Jing Tai Village and Shui Nan Village.
20th Feb - visit Yinchun City, the finding place.
21st Feb - the Teng Wang Pavillion.
22nd Feb - get passport.
23rd Feb - fly to Shanghai departing 10.25am - Arrive 11:45 am get taken to Bund Hotel.
24th Feb - the Yu Garden and the Cheng Huang Temple Market.
25th Feb - Medical check for Jade and apply for Visa.
26th Feb - the Bund area, and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.
27th Feb - the Zhou Zhuang Water Town.
28th Feb - get Visa.
29th Feb - Free Day.
1st March - Free Day (Alex's 45th Birthday).
2nd March - Depart for Melbourne at 20:20pm 3rd March - Arrive in
Melbourne 13:30 (via Sydney)

It is getting very exciting:
7 days of work left.
13 days until we travel.
18 days until Jade is placed in our arms.

Still counting !! :-)

NTT's have arrived!

The department sent a message today to say that our Batch NTT's (Notice To Travel) have arrived from CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs). Without this we were unable to travel and it means our travel plans can now be officially locked and loaded, and paid for.. (we had jumped the gun there - so it is a relief!)
Not long now Jade - I now have 10 more working days until my leave starts, and 26 more sleeps until we can hold you...
p.s. I have finished my 100 good wishes quilt - finally! Not a moment too soon...

The Working Mum!

You may have noticed, I have 3 biological adorable boys - & I was sooooo lucky to have that very first year with each of them, while we were in the process of still growing my career... It was a very, very precious, irreplaceable time. I loved the bonding with them - the breastfeeding - the total reliance of the newborn on me... Alex will tell you, he loved their age later - when they were giving back - from later in the first year to toddler hood, that was his favorite time. He has now been home for 11 years - when Liam turned 1... (& what an amazing Dad he is!)
But I feel really ripped off this time. My 4th child - whom I love totally, but as a working Mum supporting everyone, I simply cannot take the year off. I get a total of 5 weeks, 3 in China. The max I can get. Perfect for Alex as she is going to roll into that perfect age for him, but I grieve for what I have lost...
Silly I know. I have worked for so long for this to get to this point, let's go with the flow...
Thanks everyone for being on this journey with us X
Cindy...