Thursday events......

Yesterday we went to a local porcelain store and bought a really nice tea pot set for us and a set of 4 little container type things for Jenna. Then we went to the People’s Park and walked around there for about 40 minutes. I love being around the people. I think I get a kick out of them just as much as they enjoy watching us. I took a picture of a little boy who came to say hello to Jenna and he was wearing what a lot of the children wear here….split pants. They have no underwear under these pants, just an opening for them to squat and do their business. Again, it was really hot and Gary and I were drenched. We’re starting to get used to feeling that way around here. Hopefully in Beijing the weather won’t be so hot. Jenna doesn’t seem to do well in the heat as she gets a heat rash all over her face and legs….poor thing. Our guide sent us to the store to get some sort of spray that we’re suppose to use but as of yet, it’s still not helping all that much. I don’t know if it’s a combination of the heat, the soap I use to bath her, the laundry detergent I used back home to wash her clothes or the sunscreen I put on her. I’m clueless here!!! We’ll probably still see that doctor in Beijing and hopefully he’ll have a remedy for it.

Anyway, I should start getting all of our stuff packed and get Jenna up for breakfast. She always has such a hard time waking herself up. Yesterday we had to be downstairs by 9:30 and she was still sleeping at 7:30 (had to have time for breakfast and that’s a long ordeal for us), so we woke her up. Are you suppose to wake a sleeping baby….probably not. Well she did not like it one bit! When she finally stopped whining and rubbing her eyes, she opened her eyes a happy baby! She is such a good baby. She’s teething right now so the poor thing is a little cranky but she still manages to giggle and be happy. Gary taught her a bad game yesterday where she stands holding the edge of the bed and then she just pushes herself back. Gary is always behind her to catch her and I think she knows this but one of these times he won’t be and my baby will crack her head open of something…..she has no fear this little one! We love her to pieces!

Porcelain Store (I had another picture up here but it's not showing up????)
















The 'Tidal Wave' at the People's Park














Children painting pottery
































Could it be love....?















The 'sweaty' family....














Daddy loves teaching Jenna how to walk.














Ladies in the hotel lobby greeting guests for some convention happening yesterday morning. The hotel lobby was so crowded!

Tour of the countryside....

Today we took a tour of the countryside. The scenery was absolutely beautiful and the weather extremely hot. I’m sure these locals see hundreds of tourists come through and invade their space quite often but all were still quite interested in eying us foreigners up. When we first got off the bus, a lady walked right up to Jenna’s stroller and started unhooking her belt. I discreetly gave Gary the “look” so he took her out himself. Well, this lady really wanted to hold my baby so Gary let her. A sweet woman who I know wouldn’t harm Jenna but I’m still trying to get use to the forwardness of it all. So, in light of it all, I took her picture and she seemed quite pleased. I know that our guide explained to us about this tour (something about the 3 dynasties) but the bus ride was so bumpy and I thought a sleeping Jenna was going to go flying out of my arms. Nonetheless, I’m so glad we went. She said that most likely the foster parents’ for all of our babies’ were from the countryside so it gave us a little glimpse of how the last few months of Jenna’s life was lived. It humbles you and makes you appreciate all that you have in this world. Although our Jenna will never know this life, we will tell her about it and show her pictures so that she will always know and be proud of where she comes from, and maybe, hopefully, have appreciation and compassion for how people, no matter what walk of life, live their lives.


The locals selling their goods...
















Men playing Mah-Jong....I should have asked if I could join in! The man standing saw me taking a picture and started walking away. I felt badly for taking the 'tacky tourist' thing a little too far!!















Cutting up peppers...














The 'Foreigners' and all their gear. What a sight we all must have been.
















How cute! They start young here...















Sweet lady who wanted so badly to hold my child.















Jenna being a bully.... Look at her little buddha belly. That's our little chunk!
















She's a thumb-sucker and it's so cute!

Day 5

Yesterday seemed like a pretty long day for us. The only thing on the agenda was going to a mall with the group. I wasn’t really in a shopping mood (did I say that out loud???) but we still managed to get a few things. We bought a few things for JiJi, like a bottle as the ones I brought aren’t working so well. First of all, I made the holes in the nipples a little too big and she’s practically choking on the milk and then the extra nipples I bought don’t fit the bottle very well. Oh, and we bought her some shoes because all of the shoes I brought are way too big. She’s a short little thing but we’re told that she’s a little chunky. We think she’s just right. Most of the 6-12 month clothes seem to fit her okay, just maybe a little long.

On our way back to the hotel, she fell asleep so when we got to our room, she ended up having a 2 hour nap. Gary and I played crib (thank goodness for the crib board). Then when she woke up, we went back to the local grocery store with another travel mate and hung out there for a while. The orphanage gave the Wanzai families each a bag of milk and rice formula. I was able to buy the milk formula but they didn’t sell the rice one so I’ll have to try to get it in Beijing. Then we stopped at Tiffany’s, a little shop just across the street from out hotel and bought JiJi a white silk dress with matching shoes and hat. This will be perfect for her baptism. This is when we were told out baby is big because I wanted to get a size one and the lady said “No, size 2, baby too big”. Then on our way into the hotel, she fell asleep again. She’s running a low grade fever so I gave her a half a dose of Tylenol in the morning and before bed. Her thighs are peeling very badly and she started scratching the crap out of them yesterday. She also has this wicked bite from something on her tummy. If it doesn’t heal by the time we get back to Beijing, we will see a doctor.

Our experience with the local people is always very interesting. They are either just standing right in front of staring at you, or calling over all their friends so that they can all stare at you as a group. It’s quite comical. Gary, I think, has gotten use to this and plays right along. It’s not uncommon for ladies to just grab JiJi and pick her up. It startles me sometimes when we’re out somewhere and Gary is standing without my baby. When we were at the grocery store, I went up to the second floor and Gary took a good 20 minutes to make his way up with the baby. I couldn’t figure out why it was taking him so long…it’s not like he can strike up a conversation with anyone. It turns out that a lady with her son was playing with Jenna and she wouldn’t let him leave. For someone who has a very big personal space, Gary is doing so well with all the attention. I’m actually starting to think he likes it…..but he better soak it in while he can.

JiJi disposition still seems to be very happy go lucky. We keep saying how lucky we’ve been with her. I can tell that she’s bonding quite well with us because our guide tried to hold her and she started crying and reaching for us. She fussed a little more yesterday but all in all, she’s an absolute joy to have around. Gary is trying to teach her how to walk by holding her hands. When he first started doing this, she could barely stand. Now she’s starting to move her legs. She also loves to play this game with Gary where she grabs his hat and throws it on the floor. She just laughs so hard, it’s the cutest thing. And Daddy can play this with her for hours. She’s making such great strides…..it makes you believe more and more that the power of love is the strongest of all. I love to watch her sleep right before she’s ready to wake up because she gets very restless and thrashes from one side to another, back and forth and lets out a little whimper. I also love rocking her to sleep as she sucks her thumb and just stares at me while I whisper to her…….how can it get any better than that!

Today we are touring the countryside to see the rice farms and a little more of the Jiangxi. It should be an interesting day with lots of pictures. My baby is waking up so I better go…..







The locals crowed around Gary at the mall entrance (those are his arms)















Jenna being so happy at breakfast.

Paperwork.....and more paperwork

Well, where do I begin….I have 2 days to catch up on……

After we survived the heat walking to the supermarket yesterday, we prepared our room for the arrival of Jenna. I started to get antsy at around 5:30 and made Gary get ready to come downstairs with me. When we got the room, we were the first ones there. I walked out of the room to the top of the back stair case and could hear the babies being brought in….most of them crying. I lost it. Gary ushered me back into the room where, about 10 minutes later the babies all came in. It was surreal to say the least. I scanned the crowd of babies to see if I could spot Jenna but there were so many of them…some were sleeping, but most of them were crying or screaming. It broke my heart into a million tiny pieces. Some more of our travel mates started making their way in and even before everyone got there, some of the families that were there early were called to receive their babies. When they called us over, the baby that I watched just minutes before standing with the help of one of the nannies doing a little dance was none other than our baby. When I stood before her to hold her, she just stared and stared, probably wondering why this strange lady is crying and holding out her arms at her. She was wearing an ID tag around her neck that she held on for dear life. When I finally had her, she just stared for what seemed like 10 minutes before she started to cry a tiny little cry…a whimper almost. Then I handed her over to Gary and we were both talking softly at her, then she started that inconsolable cry that I thought would never stop. I realized she has a cold from all the stuff coming out of her eyes and nose and she had a tiny cough that you could hear coming deep in her chest. We could have seen a doctor this evening, but her congestion seems to have cleared up. If it gets worse, we can see a doctor in Beijing.

When we got the room, she seemed to calm down quite a bit. I sat her on the bed and Gary and I played with her and her new toys for about 15 minutes. Then I gave her a bottle, which she seemed to be really hungry for. The babies hadn’t eaten since 1:00pm and it was already 7:00 when we fed her. We had to bathe her as she was filthy…..and she absolutely loved her bath. I rocked her to sleep and finally at around 9:30 we laid her down on our bed where she slept all the way straight through until around 7:00am this morning. I couldn’t get any sleep because I was so worried about her but she was a trooper! Tonight, she's in her crib right beside me.

Today was all about paperwork. We had a meeting with our guides to go over and sign all the paperwork then we went to the Civil Affairs Office where all the families legally adopted these precious little babies. Then we went to the Notary and were asked some more very informal questions.....like do you like your baby? Ummmm, let me think about that for a minute....

This baby is the most amazing little thing we’ve ever laid our eyes on. She’s always smiling and very easy to please. She has such a great disposition and we love her to pieces.

During her bath tonight, Gary was taking her out of her little bath tub after getting all squeaky clean to hand her to me in her big towel when he noticed poo poo floating in the tub. Well I already had her in her towel so we waited for Daddy to drain and clean her tub with Lysol Disinfectant wipes (I knew there was a reason why I brought those with me!!). What a great guy. Although he flushed the whole 8 wipes he pulled from the container down the toilet so that plugged the toilet and we had to get someone to come and fix it. By the way, do you realize how hard it is to describe a plugged toilet and the need for a plunger to someone over the phone who speaks very little English? You get my point.

One more thing…..yesterday after we got the babies, our guides' translated documents from the foster parents to give to us. Here’s a little bit of what it said:

- weight 8.4kg
- she has 8 teeth
- she’s recently had a cold and took medicine for it
- gets up @ 7:00am, naps twice a day, goes to bed at 9:30, has 4 meals a day
- she likes to sleep on her side and is a good sleeper (and we found out that she’ll switch from side to side a million times before she gets it just right, and that she’ll sleep right through a diaper change)
- she likes noodles very much (although we fed her some this morning and she didn’t like it…then Gary realized it was too spicy!)
- and last BUT NOT LEAST…….her nickname is JiJi and she’ll answer to this name. Is she perfect for us or what!!!???


Tomorrow, WE SHOP!!!!

Mmm....watermelon

happy baby









she loves this thing

orphanage workers who say Jenna's foster mother loved her very much and has been very worried about her. Worry no more, this baby is loved!

Sweet dreams baby.....

Jenna-Day

What a day yesterday was!! How can you describe a day that you have been talking about, preparing for, and dreaming about for the past year and a half...........it was incredible and undescribable. More on the story later though.....here is our Jenna!









(You can click on any picture to make them larger.












I'll post more later.....time to go stare at her sleeping some more. We are so in love.....words escape me!

Getting closer....

I know some of you think we already have Jenna.....but I made a mistake on the last post about when we get her. It's now 5:00pm on Sunday....that would make it 3:00am Edmonton time. We get the babies IN ONE HOUR!!!! We're now settled into the Gloria Hotel and even went and ran to the grocery store to get some bottled water for Jenna's bottles. It is crazy hot here, so much so that after about 5 minutes outside, your clothes start to stick to you.

We're heading downstairs in about 1/2 hour......stay tuned!

This is the crib that's sitting in our room......OH. MY. GOSH.

Some pictures....

Here are just a few pictures from the last couple of days......

Contact shopping....

For those who know me, I love to shop so when we met up with some of our group members at breakfast this morning, we tagged along with them to this 6 story shopping centre. It was small kiosk after kiosk of items like clothing, shoes, handbags, wallets, scarves....you name it, they had it. What was funny was that they would be selling a "Polo" shirt that had the Burberry plaid on it....go figure. It definitely put Tijuana to absolute shame as far as bartering goes. For example, I saw Burberry scarf and asked how much. They take out the calculator so that you can see the number for your very own eyes. The calculator said 1850RMB. I walked away and said no thanks, I'll come back later. Well, she grabbed my arm and held on for dear life until I bought that thing. I ended up getting it for 50RMB, which is equivalent to $7US. And the whole day went pretty much the same way. The most aggressive sales people I have ever met. They will even yell at you as you're walking away....like 100ft away and chase after you. I see I haven't lost my touch for bartering though that's for sure. Gary sure got a kick out of all of it as well.....he even got fondled by some of those girls!! Oh ya, and people stare at him like he's got a monkey on his head.....it's quite funny. He's starting to get a complex!

So we just got back finished dinner at a revolving restaurant on the top of our hotel. When we first started to walk to our table, I started to feel a little queasy and when I sat down, I realized it was because the turning of the floor wasn't very smooth, rather quite jagged. Nonetheless, our seafood buffet dinner was fabulous. It was our last official dinner before we become parents!!

Before dinner, our travel group met with our guide Mary so that she could go over the itinerary for the next couple of days. We fly out of Beijing at 10:40am and we receive the babies at 5:00pm (that would be Saturday, July 1st at 7:00am...CANADA DAY!!!!). We were originally going to travel to the Civil Affairs office to get the babies but now the babies are being brought directly to our hotel. They will be coming by bus from the orphanage and we are told that the bus ride is about 3.5 hours long. Poor babies are not going to realize what hit them. After they are safely in our arms, more paperwork needs to be completed. We head back to Beijing on July7.

So far, it feels like Gary and I have just been on vacation and the real reason for this trip hasn't quite hit me yet. I do get butterflies every now and then but the magnitude of it all just hasn't quite sunk in. We spent a good 2 hours rummaging through our bags yet again as we only need to take what we need for the 5 days we're in Nanchang, the rest of our belongings get locked up.

Sorry no pictures tonight....I've packed my card reader! The next time I post will be as Jenna's mommy. I. CAN'T. WAIT!!

Pictures from yesterday...

The stuff.....

















The food.....

Where our van broke down.....

Day One – Thursday/Friday

Well it’s actually 1:40am on Saturday but I was way too tired to sit down in front of the computer last night to write anything. I should really be sleeping as I’m sure the day will catch up to me way too early but once my eyes opened a half an hour ago, there was no going back to sleep

Wow, where do I start…..

The flight to Vancouver was a little over an hour and was very uneventful. But let me tell you, when we loaded the plane to Beijing, all I can say is WOW. Business class is the way to fly! I had my reservations when I first bought the tickets as they were just about double in price but it was definitely worth every penny!!! What did we do to pass the time on the 11 hour flight you ask? EAT!!! I swear they fed us straight for the first 3 hours of the ride, a 6 course meal!!! Then we watched “Match Point” (good when I fist saw it, not so good this second time around), and then we were offered a personal DVD player to watch. Gary watched “Four Brothers” and I watched a drama (can’t think of the name) but fell asleep half way through it. During this time, we had tea and snacks (Mr. Noodles and finger sandwiches). Then about 2 hours before landing, they fed us a full meal again! I’ve never experienced anything like it…..it was definitely a nice treat!

As soon as we got off the plane, the heat and humidity hit me like a ton of bricks! I thought I was going to throw up until we reached the safety of the air conditioned terminal. We had to line up to get through customs and I think every plane coming in from every imaginable destination decided to arrive at the same time because the throngs of people just took my breath away…and that was only in customs! Nothing could prepare me for when we got out of the baggage claim area….there were literally hundreds of people waiting with signs. We managed to spot ours but people were pushing from every which direction to get to the other side of the ropes that it took us a bit to find her on the other side. We pushed our bags to the parkade where cars literally driving inches of other were fighting to get out. One thing I’ve learnt so far is that there is no such thing as line ups or waiting your turn. If you have the tiniest of room to squeeze by, go ahead, butt in. There is no need to make eye contact or to say excuse me, whether you’re in a car, or in line at the airport. I don’t think they’re being rude, that’s just the way it’s done here.

So then, we’re driving to the hotel and our guide is telling us all about Beijing….when suddenly, the driver pulls over to the side of the road because the van decided to quit on us. We waited a whole hour for another driver to pick us up. The heat was starting to stick to me like bees to honey and I was getting crankier by the minute (so Gary pointed out to me). What was supposed to take us 20 minutes took us almost 3 hours. We were exhausted. I told Gary that we should try to stay up later so that we could acclimatize to the time change but we could only hold out until about 8:00pm……that’s why I can’t sleep anymore! And the booming thunder is no help either.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with some pictures I’ve taken so far….most of which is our meals on the flight…….I’m all about the food baby!

(I can't seem to view my blog here but I have no problem adding posts.....)

(It seems I also can't post any pictures at this time....I'll try again later!)

Oh. My. Gosh. It is now down to one more freaking sleep and I just can't believe it. Yesterday was a horrible day, a day I'd rather have slept through but I did manage to get a lot accomplished. It's been about 28degrees here the last couple of days and it's been quite difficult packing suitcases on the second floor with no air conditioning in the house. I think I may have lost a few pounds just from the heat alone. I would really just like to get on that plane and away from all of our luggage so that I don't have to keep worrying and checking over them every time I walk by. I figure once I'm on the plane, if I've forgotten something......OH WELL, the 3 of us will survive! It's quite amazing how much stuff you need for such a little girl....good heavens! She alone has about 2 suitcases and the husband and I are sharing one for ALL of our clothes. I guess I have to get use to the fact that, from now on, it's ALL ABOUT HER!!!

This will by my last post from home...me and my dear laptop will be separated for 2 whole weeks!!! How, oh how will I ever make it through. I was contemplating taking it with me but since the husband needs his to do work while we're down there, it would be silly for 2 new parents to lug 2 laptops half way across this world, cuz, like we'll have time for work and surfing the net right??! I will try to update the blog daily with pictures and updates of Jenna, but there are no promises. It will probably take a day or two to get use to this new Mommy gig so be patient. Also, I will be checking my emails daily so, please, I would love to hear from you!

For the family and friends who are asking if they can come greet us at the airport, please do. (Friday, July 14th @ 4:55pm on Air Canada Flight #242). I figure Jenna will be use to all the different faces right when we fly in so it will be the perfect opportunity for everyone to meet her for the first time. I would just ask that there be no lunging, grabbing or stealing of the baby (Mom, that means you).....and if she looks at you strangely or the lip starts to quiver when you speak to her, don't feel badly, she'll probably do that to us when we first meet her!

Hold on tight our little miss Jenna.......Mommy and Daddy are finally on our way!

Goodbye my dear friend....

Today we made the painstaking decision to put our boy to sleep. As hard as that decision was, we knew that he would suffer no longer.

In the 11 years of his life, I've not known a more loving, faithful dog, and we will miss him terribly.

Sleep well my friend, mommy and daddy will never forget you. Until we meet again.....

4 MORE SLEEPS!!!!!

It's so hard to imagine that in 4 more sleeps, the "Journey to Our Sweet Jenna" will finally begin. Everyone asks if I'm excited, and of course my answer is yes. But quite honestly, I would of thought I'd be more excited. I guess with all the loose ends left to tie up, my mind has been completely focused on paperwork, buying supplies and making sure I don't forget anything. I know that I'm bringing more than enough with us to China, and I also realize that things can be purchased there, but I guess I'm just on super-extremely-anal mode right now. I guess, at the end of the day, I have to stop and realize that it doesn't matter what outfits I bring her to wear, or whether or not the shoes I bought her are going to fit, or if we have enough medication for all the just-in-cases. What matters is that we're going there to pick up our daughter and finally bring her home where she belongs.

Am I excited. Sure. Am I nervous? Hell yah. Am I packed?...........not yet.