Random Acts of Cuteness

Thank you, Hannah.

Now that we have gotten into somewhat of a routine, I've gained some perspective on our whole experience. I would like to take a moment to thank the one person that this whole crazy journey was for.

Thank you for not being too hard on your parents. Thank you for smiling first thing in the morning. Thank you for talking to yourself before you go to sleep. Thank you for fake-coughing after one of us coughs. Thank you for sticking your tongue out whenever you want to. Thank you tapping your hands on the table when I am taking too long feeding you. Thank you for punk rocker haircut. Thank you for crossing your legs whenever I want to get you into a carseat, bouncy, high chair, etc. Thank you for liking vegetables. Thank you for your cuddles. Thank you for your sloppy kisses. And thank you for being Hannah.

:)

Safe and Sound and On the Ground.

That's part of a little prayer I say whenever I land safely on an airplane. But enough about me, let's get to the good stuff. We took pictures of each of the three flights we took in the last three days of our journey. Hannah did well on each of the flights, only a minor meltdown or two. Nothing a couple of brand-new parents couldn't handle.




Now we are back at home, Hannah is doing wonderfully and is adjusting to all of the curve balls her parents keep throwing at her. She has met new people, seen new places, played with new toys and slept in a new bed. I think we are finally on Charlotte time. Jet lag proved to be a pretty tough customer. Hannah still doesn't sleep through the night - she gets hungry around midnight - but she is getting better at it every day. She is a little daredevil and likes to be held upside down, spun around, etc. She is showing a mischievious side that we hope to see more, at least I can say that now.

:)

P.S. I apologize for the delay in this post, we are now just getting into the swing of things. Stay tuned.

Bon Vonage!

We're in the middle of packing up the room and we wanted to post one more time before we get home. Thank you to everyone who has followed our adventure, it has been a true gift to share this with you. Hannah is a wonderful little girl and we can't wait for you to meet her.

FYI - our itinerary over the next few days looks like this:
Saturday - leave Guangzhou at 6:30pm and arrive in Hong Kong at 7:30pm
Sunday - leave Hong Kong at 5:45pm and arrive in Chicago at 7:22pm
Monday - leave Chicago at 9:15am and arrive in Charlotte at 12:04 noon

We are so thankful - thank you to all of our guides during this trip, thank you to CCAI for being a wonderful agency to work with, thank you to group 947 (we rule!), and thank you to the Reynold's family - it was wonderful to make such good friends on this trip. We will really miss you and we'll talk to you soon.

:)

P.S. We plan to keep this blog going to capture the many antics of Miss Hannah Mei Davis that are sure to come. Enjoy!

Elephants, Pandas and RAIN... oh my!

This morning it was raining pretty hard so we were hesitant to go to the zoo. With a little coaxing from the Reynolds we went anyway and we are glad we did. The Guanghzou Zoo is a huge zoo with all kinds of animals. We saw several different kinds of bears, elephants, panthers, hippos, rhinoceros, tigers, monkeys and a panda. However, since is a holiday in China, the zoo was pretty full and we felt like if we stayed in one place too long they would put us in a cage. It gets a little overwhelming when people are always staring and taking pictures of you. I guess we got a taste of stardom and we don't like it.



We would have liked to have more time at the zoo, but as it turned out we got caught in a torrential downpour on the way back to the bus. At least we had enough time to drip-dry before the U.S. Consulate appointment. After the Consulate appointment, we received Hannah's visa and we are free to go home. Yippee!

Since all members of our group leave Guanghzou tomorrow, we had a farewell dinner at the steakhouse restaurant. I think all of us are very excited to get home, but concerned about how the girls will do during the trip. We definitely share the same concerns, in fact this is the part of the entire journey that I have been most concerned about. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

This is a picture of most of Hannah's eighteen gifts. We got her something from China to open every year on her birthday. Since Hannah was born in the year of the rooster, you'll see several roosters in the mix. We also got an antique wedding box with a phoenix (symbol for woman) and a dragon (symbol for man) and a rooster (Hannah's zodiac). It is difficult to look this far into the future, but we figure it is the best we can do for now.

Dog Day Afternoon

Today we took it easy. We didn't have any place to be in the morning, in fact we needed to stay in our rooms from 10:00-11:00am in case there were any questions with our paperwork (Hannah's visa application was submitted to the U.S. Consulate today). At breakfast we ate the largest grapes we have ever seen. I thought they were as big as Hannah's head... Hannah does not agree.


After breakfast, we decided to stay in the room and veg out. This trip has been a long one and I think we are both homesick. After Hannah's nap, we walked around the pools and Chris got artsy with the camera. Then we headed over to the Pearl Market in a taxi ride we now like to call "Close Your Eyes and Hope that the School Children Get Out of the Way in Time." It's an experience to say the least. We got Hannah a pearl necklace and matching earrings for her eighteenth birthday gift.

After our return taxi adventure, we propped the girls up near the waterfall in matching outfits that we bought in Nanchang. Audrey sits so nicely, I think Hannah felt like she had to step it up. We think both looked absolutely adorable and hope that this is not the last of the pictures these two will have together. Tiffany & Mike, we kid because we care, of course we want to stay in touch... besides when we adopt again we can be adoption buddies! Mike - I'm just kidding, just kidding Mike, calm down.

You may not be able to tell in our pictures, but there are several bronze statues all around Shamian Island where the hotel is located. We saw one of these statues and felt that we had to get Hannah to ride it. It's perfect Hannah-size and reminds us of our sweet Mickey-Moo.

That's all for today. Tomorrow we go to the zoo and U.S. Consulate. Hmmmm, I wonder if they will be similar? Unfortunately, we cannot take any photography equipment into the U.S. Consulate for the Oath ceremony - so tomorrow's pictures will be zoo-oriented.

:)

Red Couch Potatoes

We woke up to find Hannah had rearranged her crib bumper. I guess it was not feng shui.



Today we had physicals for the babies and the red couch pictures. Hannah did really well during the physical even though we had to walk fifteen minutes through the pouring rain to get there. And yes, we wore the ponchos. There were three stations to take the babies to: height & weight (26" long & 15.3 lb.), ear nose & throat (all normal) and the general physical (Dr. said she was skinny in Cantonese but did not write it on the report).


After a nice long nap it was time for the red couch pictures. Our picture turned out pretty good, but the baby picture is always a long shot. Hannah leaned over almost immediately after I put her on the cushions - I had to hurry because I was getting yelled at to get out of the way. But at least she didn't cry. Hannah seems to listen to the other babies and figure out whether out not she needs to cry too. And most of the time she doesn't think so.

I included a shot of the impressive waterfall and coy ponds in the White Swan's atrium - pretty cool huh?

Tonight we went to dinner to the 2nd Street restaurant. The last picture is Hannah with mashed potatoes on her face. We were feeding them to her and we both turned away and when we turned back this is what we saw. I still don't know how she got that much on her forehead.

Tomorrow is the Pearl market to get Hannah her last of eighteen gifts.

Triple H

Hazy, Hot & HUMID.





During the day it is really humid... and here we thought we were used to humidity living in North Carolina. Wrong. The evenings are cooler with a breeze and most evenings it rains, kinda like Florida. We took some pictures of the streets just to give you a sense of the Charleston-thing. Chris also took a day and night shot from our room. Those tours boats look really cool maybe we will take one later this week.



Today we toured the Six Banyan Buddhist Temple, the Provincial Arts & Crafts Store and the Provincial Folk Art Museum. All were very beautiful and interesting - its just that I feel bad for Hannah. She has been on a bus everyday since we got her. I'd like to just hang out for an entire day. Oh well, hindsight is twenty-twenty. At least now we have the afternoon to relax. We do need to buy Hannah a traditional dress for the red couch picture tomorrow. It has become a tradition to take a picture of all the daughters on the red couch in the White Swan Hotel lobby - not sure why, but we're up for it.




Last night we went to the famous Lucy's for dinner. Lucy's serves American food and I think that is why it has become well-known in the adoption community. Hannah got to hang out with Audrey (Mike & Tiffany's daughter). We then strolled over to the coffee shop and got a hot cocoa (I really wanted a Iced Coffee drink, but I can't have the ice. Darn.). Notice how shiny my arm is in the picture - that's the bug spray, yeh the mosquitos will carry away small children if you are not careful. I still feel like they are buzzing around my ears. Anyway, we tried to find a good bottle of wine to share along with some Cuban cigars Chris bought for the fellows, but let's just say that China is not known for its wine.

Hannah is doing well. She tried the fruit puffs today and she is a big fan. She rolls over really well now. We need to build up her arm strength so she can crawl, or she might just skip crawling and go straight to walking. Who knows.

LATER THE SAME DAY...

We found an outfit! We scoured all of the shops for just the perfect outfit and shoes and I think we got it. We had a dress rehearsal when we got back to the room and Oops! please pardon the wardrobe malfunction. Mom and Dad will make sure that does not happen tomorrow. Glad we tried it out.

:)