Yesterday Catch Up Note

Well it is nap time here in the little Fenton household so I have a minute to catch up on yesterdays goings on. The day started off with a bang, our little guy slept OK, not as great as the night before but still OK. He is VERY restless in his sleep. He tosses and turns and flips all over his tiny little bed. We were wide awake at 4 am watching him sleep and he managed to somehow get half his body through the slits on the bed.(i think i posted a pic of this crib, so you scroll down if you don't remember) He had his head and trunk on the mattress and was standing on the floor - sound asleep. We thought it was so funny so we laughed and lunged for the camera but about that time, he wiggled some more and got his head stuck! Yes his head stuck in between the bars. Panic mode kicked in, it was not so funny anymore. Needless to say he now has padding around his crib, much like the seizure precautions we use in the PICU, pillows and blankets. Yikes! I guess China has no regulations about this kinda stuff. This bed for sure would be on the re-call list at home. We tried him in bed with us last noc, just for safety measures. But since he is so restless we put him between the 2 of us on one of the twin beds. A little snug! But he was still too restless, it was awful. At one point he had his feet on Jasons neck, his torso directly on my head, and his head on the bedside table. Still sound asleep! I think we may have a sleep walker on our hands some day. I think this guy is gonna need a king size bed!!!!!!! Needless to say mama and baba did not sleep last noc, so it is back to the tiny crib with padding for Tai tonight.
After breakfast we met Jenny for our shopping trip. She immediately ran to us in the lobby and checked to see how many layers we had on Tai. Apparantly the girls at the desk in the lobby "tattled" on us. They told her we had him out with not enough clothes on. She told us he needs 3 layers! Granted, it is cold and rainy here, but 3 layers! Yikes. While out in the town, several people scolded us b/c he was not bundled properly. She says they were all very nice about it though. Needless to say, today he is properly bundled. You can not see any of the adorable clothes I brought for him, b/c they are the bottom layers but oh well. Atleast no one scolded us today.
We went to 2 different dept stores yesterday. The first was similar to JCPenny. The make up counters were very nice just like at dillards only they were selling LOREAL and Mabelline and oil of olay. I thought it was really funny. Jenny was shocked when I told her that is what they sell at Wal-mart at home. But I quickly told her we think it is very good, it is what I wear. She was happy to hear that! She thinks it is very nice stuff, top of the line! So Tai got 3 pairs of VERY NICE shoes there for only $30 total. I was quite happy with my purchase b/c they were on sale!!! You know me, gotta love a good sale. I couldn't find any clothes I liked for him, we were shopping for a pair of jeans, and a pair of khaki pants. Most of the clothes I brought him are a little big. So we headed for the other dept store. IT was more like Nordstoms. The make up was chanel & shishedo and some other european brands. I managed to find some pants for Tai and some thinner pants for layering!!!! The stores here are so funny. There are about 10 sales ladies to one shopper. They swarm around you. I just let Jenny do most of the shopping and talking for me. She was shoooing the ladies away, it was funny. You don't just browse like at home, there are not racks with different sizes. You just find what you want and the ladies pull out big tubs and find the size, all wrapped in plastic packaging. Then they fill out a ticket, you take it to another area to the cashier, you pay, then you go back and collect your stuff. If you find things in differnt dept. too bad, you pay seperatley. We had 2 different trasactions just for 4 pairs of kids pants. We wanted to use our credit card which apparently was not the norm. After much back and forth with Jenny and the sales clerk, she went and got the "top lady" after more back and forth, it was determined that we could use the credit card. But boy it was a hassle. I said if I can use my credit card I will buy more!!!!! hee hee
After shopping it was Pizza Hut for lunch. Jenny is so funny everywhere we go she pulls out a coupon for me. She carries a wod of coupons with her. The funny thing is they are the size of a postage stamp! Anyway, we got a free chocolate cake with our pizza - with the coupon. OH yeah, and she had a "frequent shopper" card for the dept store so I got a discount there too. Needless to say Jenny and I are getting along great! We are so much alike, I think.
We got to do a little walking around yesterday, but not too much. It has been cold and rainy since we got here. Bummer. We did see one child maybe 2ish in her split pants. She walked right out of a store front walked to the side of the road to a tree, (like at home a tree with a some dirt or flowers around it on a sidewalk), and popped a squat! Right in front of the world, I see the handiness of this now! After she just tottled off and went about her business. While at the dept store, they had a really nice play area. Jason took Tai to walk around in it while the girls shopped. He said they had a little bucket in the corner. After he saw one little girl do her thing, he decided against letting Tai play!!!!!!! Something about letting Tai play around in the pool of balls (like at Mcdonalds) just didn't seem like a good idea after that. Those kids are stinking adorable though!
Everywhere we go, people are always talking about us according to Jenny. She says they say things like he is going to go to paradise. hmmm not sure if they have ever actually seen Kansas????????
Jenny had an ephiphany today about Tai's name. It just came to her out of nowhere. She said that his nickname Rou Rou (chubby) sounds different with the nanchang dialect. The pronunciation in mandarin sounds just like you think Roo Roo. But in the nanchang dialect it sounds like New New. But it really does mean chubby and not lil girl. So there you have it he is not a little girl after all! So we do call him New New Tai. Apparantly she has lived here her whole life but doesn't speak the nanchang dialect. intersting to me......
At dinner we ordered Tai some noodles, but apparantly we were not feeding him correctly. The waitress came up and took the bowl and put it right up to his face and spoon fed him the noodle soup. This went on for about 15 minutes. Jason and I just sat there in silence we did not know what to say. When she was done, she was very proud of herself, smiling from ear to ear. I think I put a picure up last night of her.
The people here are so friendly. They all love Tai! Everyone wants to say hello to us. Yesterday we were on the elevator with about 15 people all crammed in. It was silent and after about 30 seconds we hear this HELLO, very loud coming from the back. I turned around and there is this guy with the bigges grin on his face, he was so proud of himself! Another thing about elevators. Smoking I think might be mandatory. You hope on and there are 5 or 6 men smoking. You just pray that it doesn't get stuck. Also, if you are in the back you have to push your way out. At home people in the front usually step off and let you out. Not here, you have to push and nudge people out of your way.
So this morning we went to a Pagoday, the oldest in the Jiangxi province, very famous. It was so interesting. We learned so much about Tai's city and the history. We very much enjoyed ourselves today. While there we saw a short traditional show with dancing and chinese musical instruments. The girls dancing were beautiful! Like porcelin dolls. The costumes were so neat. Miki, I couldn't stop thinking about Cameron, she would have looooooved it! These girls were like princesses! They had all these sparkles on their dresses. We really liked the music too. Jenny is going to help us buy some of it for Tai's bedtime lullibys.
We took tons of pics this morning. Today was "mommy day" FINALLY!!!!!!! Tai and I are starting to make some real progress as far as that goes. He still wants his daddy when he is tired or upset. Actually still prefers him over me, but we are getting there. I just feel bad for Jason, b/c he is getting so tired. It has been really hard to be the primary caretaker. But I think it is really good that he is bonding with atleast one of us. For my friends out there that have been down this road before, is this normal? Will it get better? I would by lying if I didn't tell you in hurts my feelings sometimes.
Well gotta get off now, my munchkin is awake, gotta get some noodles in him and then we are off to the orphange! I am sure this will be very emotional, I have lots of tissue packed. I told Jenny I was going to pack a large bag and stuff as many kids as possible in there!!!! Can't wait to meet Tai's foster parents. Mary and Anne, I promise to look for your babies. I have the names written down, and I have Baileys picure and package. I will have on my spy goggles for you!
WOW! That was a long post. If it doesn't post I will scream!!!!!!!!! More pictures and stories later. gotta go, baby needs me! sorry not going to proof this...

Shopping and Noodles

We are all EXHAUSTED today. The trip is starting to wear on us, so I am not going to write much tonight. We are usually up very early and we do not have to be anywhere until 10 am tommorrow, so I will write more in the morning. Tai had a more challenging day today, we think he is getting a cold. Has a loose cough and keeps tugging at his ear, but no fever. So we gave him some tylenol and are trying to get him down now. His personality is really coming out. We see more and more of Tai's personality each day. Anyway, lots of love to all of you! Enjoy the pics!

some pics for ya'll

Finally A Forever Family

For some reason I can not get the pictures loaded today. Bummer, I know that is disappointing for everyone. Will try again in the morning. Today we had another great day! Every minute we fall more and more in love with this little guy. He has such a sweet personality. He loves to laugh and giggle. He is very curious about everything and looks at you and the world with these big curious eyes. He doesn't get upset much, he is very easy going and laid back guy. The only time he cried today was when his mama tried to hold him. He is definitely a daddy's boy. But by the end of the day we made huge headway in that area, he is now running to me and playing with me. He let me feed him all his meals and give him a bath. But still likes his daddy for bed time routine.
Tai is also a great sleeper! Woo Hoo! He fits right in with us! He slept last night - ALL NIGHT - for nearly 13 hours! We had to wake him up this morning b/c we had to be at our first appt at 9:30 AM. We started off the day at the hotel breakfast buffet. Tai didn't eat much, just mostly played with his food. But he sure loved the cheerios. Jenny came and got us at took us to the civil affairs office to do all the official paperwork and pay all fees. It was crazy in that place. There were so many families and babies there. Most babies were screaming. But not our Tai he was chillin with his daddy checking out the sites! Anyway, there were all these rooms down the hallway and Jenny would run us in and out of each one for the different tasks. She moves like the speed of lightening, but seems to know what she is doing. So we just followed along and did what she told us. We took family pictures, did our interview where we promised to educate him and never abandon him. Then it was to the office to pay the fees. We gave gifts to the people in each office and in return the civil affairs gave us a gift too. It is a beautiful porcelain holder for calligraphy pens. Then we signed alot of forms and put our fingerprint over all of our signatures. Then it was Tai's turn, he put his whole hand print on some form. Guess he decided he would keep us too!!!!!!! Then after all of that, Jenny handed us a document and said Congratulations He is yours.... Forever!!!! Yeah! So in the eyes of the Chinese Hong Tao Ming in now officially Tai Alexander Fenton! The best thing was that our guide rocks and she had us in and out of that place so fast, the other families that were there before us were still there when we left! We LOVE our guide! We also saw the orphanage director and the assistant director over the children again, we took a picture with them and got to ask a few more questions. We will see them again when we visit the orphanage on Wednesday. The next stop was the notary office. Again we had an interview and paid some more fees. The funny thing is that no one can figure out how to translate "perfusionist". It is kinda funny, so by the end of the day after numerous interviews we settled for calling Jason a cardiac technician. Poor guy all that education only to be called a "technician". While at the notary office we met some nice girl waiting. She spoke great English, she told us she learned it watching American horror movies! She told Jason he looked like a movie star. She was eating this package of crackers that Tai obviously wanted. By the end of our visit our son had eaten her whole package! oops! Guess that's what we get for letting him play with his breakfast. At some point we may need to work on the stranger danger thing! After that our last stop was the police station to take a photo of Tai, for what I am still not sure. But the other adoptive families we saw before were there. Once again, we were in and out while they still sat there!
When the paperwork was done, it was off to the Wal-mart. It is just like in America, crazy and so many people. It was 2 story! They have this special escalator thing that you put your cart on and it goes up to the next level. Kinda cool. Anyway we stocked up on things we needed or forgot to bring, diapers and junk food and those crackers that Tai apparently likes. We forgot the Cheerios though. Oh no! We are almost out of our stash. We gave Tai the little bowl with the handle full of cheerios on gotcha day and he hasn't let go of it since! He loves that thing. We strung cheerios all over Nanchang today. He loves to feed both of us cheerios too. The Wal-mart has KFC on the ground floor, so we opted for a bucket of chicken to go for lunch. It was way past nap time. Tai once again slept like a champ. Nearly 2 1/2 hours. We also got a good nap in. After nap time, he was a whole different kid. So happy and playful, laughing and loving on BOTH of us! It was great! We spent the whole afternoon, just the 3 of us as a family. We played and played and played some more. For dinner we gave Tai a box of noodles (just like Ramon) that our guide suggested we try. We hit the jackpot with the noodles with chopsticks. Finally, this kid ate for us. He couldn't get enough of them!
After a long day of playing. Both boys are sleeping soundly. I of course am not sleeping. Seems to be the trend these days. Tai goes down like a champ. We turn down the lights, Jason reads him books which he looks at so intently, then we play some music and he is off to sleep in his own bed. Hopefully tonight he will sleep good again.
We are having a great time here in China and feeling more comfortable. We feel so lucky to have our very own guide. Jenny is the best! She told us that she had a group of 23 families a few weeks ago. Yikes! She said she couldn't even talk to some of the families b/c she was so busy with all the paperwork and other stuff. She also said that GWCA is her part time job. She works for other agencies in other countries. Last week she had families from Iceland and New Zealand! Seems so crazy huh? Jenny has a 5 yo son, so she has been a huge help to us first time parents. We will forever be grateful to her!!!!
So tomorrow is shopping day. She is taking us to a "department store" to shop for Tai. He needs some shoes, the ones I brought are way too big. He also needs a few clothes. Crazy I know when you look at the closet. But I didn't bring enough 18 mo size clothes with me. Plus, anytime you mention shopping - who am I to say no.
I am sorry again about the pics. I will keep trying. We miss everyone! And of course we love the emails and notes. Please keep em comin - we look forward to checking them everyday.

Can't sleep

Good morning everyone! It is the middle of the night here in China and I can't sleep. Don't know if it is the jet lag and the time difference or if it is just new mommy nerves/anxiousness. Regardless I decided to hop on the computer and write some more. Both of my boys are in bed sleeping soundly. What a wonderful sight! I now have the most perfect family, two very handsome boys! Anyway, thought I would share a few things that we learned yesterday about Tai. We found out that he has been living in an apartment at the orphanage with a foster family. Apparantly the orphanage has families, a husband and wife (whose child is usually grown) live in these apartments at the orphanage with 4 or 5 kids. Most of the time these are the older children. My guide says it is unusual for Tai to be in one of these situations. When I asked her why, was it b/c of his heart defect. She smiled this big smile and said "oh no, it is b/c he is a boy and he is very special". She keeps telling us over and over again how special he is b/c he is a boy and that he really probably is their favorite. Of course I can see why!!!!!!!!! He is just too precious and has the best little personality. We also were able to learn a few things about what he likes to eat and his routine. They said he likes to drink warm milk. So Jenny took us to the store for some milk. She pointed out these small containers of milk sitting in the aisle, not a refrigerator. She said they told her this was his favorite kind. I questioned her b/c it was not kept cold? Are you sure this is milk? OH yes,she says. She read the label on the back and says yes it is good for 3 months. Who am I to question, huh? While in China right? Anyway, we get home and I taste this "milk". Oh my, it is STRAIGHT SUGAR! No wonder he gulped that down. Wonder if we can find some good ole cows milk here? hmmmmm The orphanage also sent us a large bag of his "favorite candy". At our gotcha day I was trying to find some candy to give him to stop the crying. But oh my, this candy is all crazy. Mostly choking hazards!!!! Lots of small hard candy! Or it was in long tubes and was a gooey liquid. ummmmm, does he really eat this stuff? So we settled on a small cracker thing. Which he loved. He was having no part of the cheerios in the beginning. I tasted the cracker, very sweet! Of course he loves cheerios now.
We did not take too many pics today, mostly video. My gotcha day was nothing like I had imagined it to be in my head. Bringing him to the hotel really threw me for a loop. Jason managed to get video of when he first walked into our room, so I am anxious to see that. He arrived in a bright yellow puffy outfit. I was very surprised when Jenny told me to take off his coat that he may be hot! We had been told NOT to take off his layers. But again, who am I to say no. Under he was wearing a sweater and one other shirt. He had on 2 layers of spit pants on the bottom. We will save these clothes forever, what treasures! His shoes were these cute little blue sneakers with a string attached that ties to his ankle. What a great idea! He is a tiny little thing. I am not sure yet, b/c all we put on him were the PJ's. They were 18/24mo Gymboree and they fit great. A tad long but fit great around his booda belly! So I am thinking that the 18mo will fit good for now, until we fatten him up at home!
Apparantly they call him "New New" at the orphanage. After the ladies left we asked Jenny what that meant. She giggled and smiled and said "well it is kinda a girlie name" she says it translates to " something like little girl". Hmmmmmm. A few hours later when Tai started laughing and smiling Jenny says "oh yes, now I see, he smiles like a girl". So funny! Anyway he does not seem to respond to Tao, Tao Ming, or Rou Rou, but does respond somewhat to New New. So I think today we will call him New New Tai and see how that goes.
Tai also likes to give kisses. We would say mama chinga or baba chinga or Jenny chinga, he would lean over give us a big ole kiss! I managed to get in a few big smacks on the lips!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Jenny for teaching us all this wonderful little tricks. We could not have gotten through today without her, she was wonderful!
Well,my little munchkin is starting to stir so I am afraid I am waking him with the typing. Thank you for all of the emails and notes. I sat here and bawled reading them! Tai is one lucky lil guy to have so many people that love him already. I can't wait for you all to meet him, he really is very special! We are all so blessed! Hug, kisses, and lots of love to you all in the United States, Brazil, and Chili!!!!!!!!

Gotcha Day

Isn't he the cutest thing you have ever seen? We are so in love!!!!!!! Finally after a big and emotional day our sweet baby boy is sleeping in his crib. He looks like such a sweet angel. So here is how the afternoon went.......
Jason and I sat here quite anxiously for "the call" from Jenny. When she called us from the lobby she told me that our son was here and that he was adorable! It seemed like hours for her to make it up to the 11th floor, we were so ansy. Finally we hear a little one crying and then the knock. Well Tai was not a happy camper. He cried for quite awhile. The orphanage director and some sort of assistant that is over the children brought Tai to us. We all went out into the play area. I walked around in circles with him for awhile and then it was Jason's turn while I talked with the orphanage director. We learned a few things about Tai. After the ladies left it was just us and Jenny. Tai continued to cry for quite awhile. Jenny was wonderful and finally she was able calm Tai down, speaking chinese to him. Then we started feeding him some of the crackers that the orphanage sent with him. From then on it went much better. We were able to get him to laugh and even give us kisses! We played for quite awhile and did some paperwork. After a bit of playing we all ventured out to the grocery store. We needed some milk and snacks for Tai ( and a few beers and coke for us). We came back to the room and played some more and then it was bath time. He loved his bath. Then baba read Tai a book and rocked him to sleep. Tai is definitely a daddy's boy! He likes me too, but seems to really like his daddy. He cried when I tried to rock him to sleep. For some reason there are fireworks tonight. Guess they are for our celebration! How fun!!!
We are so in love with this little guy. He has the biggest smile and gets so proud of himself when he does something good. He loves to clap his hands and laugh. He also loves to imitate us. He is about to eat us out of cheerios! He talks and babbles, but of course we have no idea what he says. It is so cute. Oh, he also throws the ball with his left hand!!!!!!!!!! His daddy is awfully proud of that! Well we are off to get some rest since Tai is sleeping we probably should too. Tomorrow we have to be up early for civil affairs and more paperwork. Enjoy the pics of our handsome new son! Thanks for all of the emails and notes. We LOVE hearing from you everyday!

One Hour Til Tai!

Well we are sitting here in our room waiting for our lil man to arrive,so to kill some time thought we would catch up on some blogging. Today started off very early. We met our guide at 5:45 am to catch our flight. It was a wirl wind event at the airport, but we made it with a few minutes to spare! Thank goodness! The Beijing airport is HUGE and crazy! Our new guide Jenni was waiting for us at the airport as promised, waving her big green flag. She is very nice and we love her already. She told us that she talked to the orphanage today and that our son is doing well, so that is good news. Apparantly they will be bringing him to us at our hotel at 3 pm. We are to wait in our room and she will call us and then bring him to us. Oh my, we can not hardly stand it!!!!!!!!!! To pass the time, we unpacked and organized our room. Then we went to lunch at the hotel. We each had a nice noodle dish (not too adventurous yet) and 2 beers to calm the nerves. A very nice meal for only $11.00! WOW!
Nanchang is so different than Beijing. The traffic here is crazy to say the least. In fact it is kinda scary. Our guide was talking to me in the car and I was trying so hard to focus on her and be polite but deep down I honestly thought we were going to die. No joke, it is that awful. She was telling us all these places that we can walk to with Tai, but we are not sure if we even want to attempt crossing the street!!! Sometime when we feel our lives are not in danger we will take some pics of this traffic for you.
Our hotel room is very nice. Our two twin beds are very soft. A step up from the bricks with sheets that we had in Beijing. We have a little crib for our little Rou Rou and a little baby bathtub. Too cute. We are also on the same floor as the play room. Now the "playroom" is kinda funny, it is actually 2 baby walkers and 2 plastic rocking rabbits. Kinda funny! But atleast it gives us a large space to run and play. Jason found the cartoon channel and they have Thomas the Train and Sponge Bob in chinese.
Hope you enjoy the pics. I am getting quite proficient at the squatty potty! The one pic is of our group at the silk factory "making" a silk blanket. We miss you all and we have SO many stories to tell! We are having a great time. Exhausted but still in great spirits. My heart just lept out of my chest b/c there was a knock at the door - only housekeeping. But 30 minutes to go! We will write more later. Love you all!!!!!!!!!
Jason wants me to leave a few trivia questions for you.....
1. What is the most popular fast food restaurant and child birthday party spot in nanchang?
2. Who will cry harder today, Tai, Heidi, or Jason?
the winner gets a fried sea horse on a stick.... hee hee