Final Day, City of Guangzhou, Guandong Province

Emily Gazing over Guangzhou...

Today was our last full day in Guangzhou. Tomorrow is our consulate appointment, then we prepare for a trip to the airport and many of us will undergo 24 hours of grueling travel with our little ones. Five out of eight of the families will travel together from Guangzhou through Hong Kong and to Los Angeles. Cindy and Russ Bolton will travel with us all the way to Orlando. We hung out with the Boltons and little Abigail tonight in our bedroom, which has become the hangout spot for our group. We just leave the door open, inviting anyone in with a little one. It's been great fun.

It's also been great fun shopping, believe it or not (I HATE shopping in the states). The men have become great hagglers. Earlier today, we visited a pearl store, and in several cases the women picked out pearls for their daughters, stepped back, the men stepped forward, and the haggling began. It's customary in China, but I would have none of it. Kevin said I'd end up paying double out of sheer honesty and guilt. He's probably right!

Poor Emily was severly constipated today and had a painful bowel movement right in the store! (Well, in her diaper in the store). We needed to change her, so the storekeeper gestured us to a glass counter in the back of the store. As I changed her diaper atop the counter, Kevin whispered and gestured around the room. Dozens of large bags of pearls surrounded us in various colors, and pearls and other semi-precious stones lay inside the glass cases. It felt pretty weird changing Emily's poopy diaper amidst all the splendor, but hey, this is China!

We received our "Going Home" adoptive mom Barbie courtesy of the White Swan Hotel and Mattel. We were a bit surprised to see Barbie looking, er, a bit more like a teenage mom than an adult adoptive mother! I'm ashamed to say I nicknamed her "Going Ho Barbie". One of the other people in our group calls her "Teenage Unwed Mother Barbie".

Personally, I think we need a more realistic version with a sweat-stained, formula-stained mom with frizzy hair (from the humidity) sporting a baby carrier, backpack, no makeup, and a screaming Chinese baby. Now THAT'S an adoptive mom! :D

Before we hit the later part of the day, here's a picture for the Vocu family. Look who's walking with Mommy's help--it's Lia!

Emily is changing, too. Today she held her arms up to be picked up...for the first time!! She did it to me, then Kevin. And she now seeks my lap the minute I sit down, and regularly seeks eye contact whenever we hold her. It's a wonderful feeling.

Later in the day we had our red couch photos, which was just hilarious. These are traditional at the White Swan, where each group of adoptive parents take photos of their group and then the babies on the red velvet couches at this gorgeous hotel. The Chinese were watching in amusement, and other folks stopped and stared in fascination at the hilarity, as eight sets of families cooed, clapped, shouted, whistled, and made other crazy sounds in an effort to make their babies sit still and smile for the camera.
A couple of Italian women stopped to ask what was happening, and remained close by throughout the wild photo session, telling us we were very kind people. We replied that we were very lucky, and then wondered what they'd think when they see the breakfast buffet line at 8am, or try and negotiate past a half dozen strollers in the elevators!!



Then it was time for the tiny group photo. Some of the babies started to make a run (rather, crawl) for it, so we had to jump in and get them back on the couches for 9 sets of cameras to flash!

Here's a family photo, with all of us in Chinese traditional outfits. Ok, so Kevin's wearing shorts and I'm in sweats and sandals 'cause it's all we packed for the trip, but our top halves look authentic! Emily's dress was too big for her, and the silk made her really slippery to hold.

This will probably be our last post until we return home. We leave for the airport at 3pm tomorrow afternoon, and fly out in the early evening. Take care, everyone! Zaijin, China! (Goodbye.) We'll miss you!

--Caroline