A mellow day in China....

This morning we ventured out to what we thought was a local temple, but actually it was a shopping district with a few temple gardens. Mom called it China's version of Canton (for all you Texas folks). We had a good time browsing around and picked up a few good deals. After our little shopping expedition we came back to the hotel to hang out and started packing to leave Nanjing tomorrow morning. We are going out to a group dinner tonight for Korean BBQ and to celebrate Piper's Birthday. She will turn 5 on March 30th and everyone wanted our guide Grace to be able to celebrate with us.

Since there has not been a whole lot go on today I will do a little Avery Q&A. I have received several comments and emails asking questions about her so I will try to get to all of them in this forum:

Before we begin let me show you how adorable she looks today!
Yes, baby girl, you were definitely worth the wait!!!

How are you and Paul adjusting to being parents?Well, we definitely still fall under the "learning curve" but we think we have done pretty good so far. We have had her for 4 1/2 days and we haven't broken her yet!! Incidentally I was thinking about significant dates today just realized that Paul and I met on March 24, 1989. Avery day was March 24, 2008. Exactly 19 years after the day we met we became parents!!!


How many layers was Avery wearing on Gotcha Day?These are the clothes we took off of her shortly after we got back to the hotel. She had 2 pairs of pants, a shirt, a sweater, a jacket, and socks and shoes. The inner layer of pants are split pants and the outer pants were meant to be but had obviously been sewn shut.

Have you purchased any traditional Chinese dresses yet?As a matter of fact she has 3 so far. We are buying in a variety of sizes so that she can grown into them. We plan on doing alot more shopping in Guangzhou when we are not so restricted on our luggage.

What size is Avery wearing?
She fits perfectly into a 9 month but we don't think it will last very long. We brought a variety of 9 and 12 month sizes with us and the 12 months are just a tad big.

What is Avery eating?
The orphanage director told us she took 6 bottles a day with formula and rice cereal as well as steamed eggs. Well, let me tell you: this girl will eat!! So far we have given her small amounts of scrambled and poached eggs, noodles, rice, ice cream, baby food, bananas, yogurt, and cheerios. The yogurt and cheerios are the only things that she has rejected so far.

Is she a good sleeper?
She is....she continues to sleep with her arms up and her legs out like this. We still believe it is because she is used to being in so many layers that she doesn't realize she can freely move.

Did you really buy her Crocs?
We sure did!! Paul and I both love our Croc shoes and when we saw a Croc store here in China we had to check it out. Daddy bought Avery and Mommy matching Mickey Mouse crocs and Aunt Kathy bought Avery the purple pair. Right now both pairs are a little big but she will grow into them before we know it.

Are mealtimes different now?
That's a definite yes. I can now hold Avery and feed her with one hand and eat with chopsticks with the other. Fortunately Paul eats fast so he relieves me pretty quickly. Oh the joys of motherhood!!

That's about it for today. We leave the hotel at 8:15 tomorrow morning to travel to our final destination in China. There we will complete the American portion of the adoption and then we can head home!!!

Thanks for checking in on us!!!!