Officially a Schaadt!

Wednesday, April 06, 2016

Our little princess officially became a Schaadt today!  We returned to the Civil Affairs office to sign our paperwork and use the red stamp and all and then had to go over the notary office to…well…get everything notarized!  The notary office was nothing but 5 floors of wall to wall people.   People.everywhere.  People in the halls, in small offices, in big waiting areas, in the stairways…all over!  I asked our guide, and she said that that office is the only place in the entire city to get anything notarized, so no going to the bank or taking something a few cubicles down from where you sit to get it notarized.  I think they gave us a special little treatment, because we were in and out within 20 minutes or so.  Ahem, that could’ve had something to do with the screaming and impatient little lady we had with us who wanted nothing to do with being confined in such a small and crowded place.  

 

After we got back to the hotel, we walked over to KFC to grab a quick lunch and then took a walk.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but our little lady is used to spending lots of time outside, and she loves walking.  It was a beautiful day, so we walked and found a park where we got lots of fun stares from the locals!  After about walking a mile or so herself, she finally stopped and looked like she was going to do a forward face plant on the sidewalk, so the Mister picked her up.  Within about a nano second, she was taking her beauty rest.  Precious!  We headed out for pizza for dinner at the mall right around the corner from our hotel, (which we may know now better than the locals,) and then walked all three floors before going back to the hotel.  The little lady didn’t throw up too much of a fight for bedtime tonight, and slept great!

Gotcha Day!!!!

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Our gotcha day for our little lady couldn’t be more different than it was for our little man!  First of all, we were early to the civil affairs office, and got settled into the room before she arrived.  It was a very small room, in fact, it was an office of the woman who was in charge of processing the adoption.  Very not private!  We both decided that arriving late might be better since this time we had time to just sit there and wait in anticipation!  Then, about 15 minutes after we were expecting her, she arrived!  She walked right in the room like she owned the place, and had absolutely no problem with us being her.  Even said “Hi” to us!  We gave her her baby doll, and she was kissing her and holding her.  She had no problem leaving with us, and was feeding us snacks on the way back to the hotel!  What?!?!  Generally speaking, it is not a great sign of what's to come attachment-wise when leaving with strangers is ok, but today we were willing to take it! We had a great day playing and walking around.  We had to make a run to the store right away since they told us that she sleeps with a pacifier and they didn't bring one for her...wait, what?  So off to the store we went!  Things went really great until bedtime.  She wasn’t a fan.  Like, at all!  I think she was so exhausted from the day that it made things even worse and harder for her!  She finally fell asleep on the Mister, and slept all night until 7am.  Success!  She is adorable, and has a very outgoing and spunky personality!  The other kiddos at home loved her instantly, and I can’t wait to see them together!

Kisses for her baby!

New parents...again!

She let me put a headband on her...

....and she left it there!

Finally fell asleep.  Dad makes the best pillow!

Beijing Take 2

So...let me preface all of this by saying this time around while in country, our Internet connections were slow, and I had lots of troubles while trying to blog so I kept an ongoing journal so that one day, (4 months after being home,) I could post about our travel adventures as we brought home our little bug!

Monday, April 04, 2016

The last few days have been a whirlwind!  We arrived Saturday afternoon to Beijing and walked to a nearby mall for the Mister’s birthday dinner.  A great way to spend a birthday, right?  On a plane for half of it!  We got a decent night’s sleep and left bright and early on Sunday to visit the Great Wall.  It was amazing!  It was a perfect day, with no clouds (or smog,) and a perfect temperature too.  It was especially beautiful because all of the Cherry Blossom trees are in bloom.  We spent a little over an hour on the wall, but we probably could’ve stayed up there all day if our guide wasn’t waiting for us for lunch. To get down off the wall, we chose to take the toboggan ride, which was also really fun.  The Mister would’ve preferred to go a little faster, but the man in front of him didn’t share that desire so we poked along!  It was still nice though!  

Have you ever seen such a blue sky in Beijing?  It was perfect!!!

Graffiti wall inside of one on of the wall towers.  I thought it was beautiful.

Total tourist alert!

  Once we got back to Beijing, our guide drew us a map of how to get from our hotel to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City...because seeing one of the Seven Wonders of the World in one day just wasn't enough for us.  Totally kidding!  Anyway, the square was really busy since this weekend is a holiday weekend here because Tomb Sweeping Day is on Monday.  We didn’t go in the Forbidden City since it was later in the day and all of the tickets had been sold, but it was still cool to see!  We got laughed at by more Chinese people than I would care to admit as we were taking a selfie with our brand spanking new selfie stick on Tienanmen Square, trying to catch the Forbidden City in the background.  It was painfully evident that we were selfie stick rookies, which is an art that the Chinese have mastered for decades….or at least a few years ;) 

The Mister looking cool at 'The Square

 From there, we walked to the snack street, which is a famous place where you can buy street foods.  We saw starfish, sea urchin, spiders, snakes, and pigeons.  Yum-my!  We stuck with our potato on a stick!  

How adventurous, right?

 On Monday, we flew to Xining, which is the city where our little lady currently lives.  I’m happy to report it was an uneventful plane ride, which is the kind I like, especially after our last domestic flight experience in China, which you can read about it here.  The highlight of the flight was that I sat next to a Tibetian monk on the plane!  We tried to take a sneaky photo, but it turns out I’m just not all that sneaky, so it was a picture taking fail!  We are now safe and sound in Xining, and settled into our gorgeous hotel!  We have a little suite with a living area and mini kitchen, a HUGE walk through closet with a washing machine, (adoptive parents swoon over those,) and two bathrooms!  Whoo hooo!!!  Xining is a beautiful city high in the mountains.  It’s elevation is actually higher than that of Denver.  You can tell we are high up, as the mornings are quite cool and it takes the entire day for it to warm up!  Tomorrow morning we will meet our little princess!  We are so excited and can’t wait!