Chongqing Weather

Chongqing City is known for many things like hot pot, fog, being a mountain city and for being one of China's furnaces. Because of this, we've been nervous of the 100 degree temperatures and humidity above 90%. Well,we got lucky! While it's been hot, it's been fairly similar to Atlanta's climate with temperatures not above 86 degrees. We fly to Guangzhou tomorrow and that is gonna be HOT!

Briana's First Hiccups with Us

Warning! New parents with a video camera...

Yesterday Briana must have eaten a little too quickly and came down with a case of the hiccups. Here is two minutes of Briana hiccuping for your viewing pleasure.

Bonding Day and Visit To Orphanage

Isn't she just beautiful? She really is! But boy she is exhausting! I am so tired right now - I am going to make this post short and sweet with a few pictures. Yesterday, Doug, Briana and I hung around the hotel room most of the day just trying to bond. We did have our first breakfast down at the buffet, but other than that, we didn't do much. Briana got pretty bored hanging around the hotel, so we have decided from now on that we need to keep busy.

Today, we visited Briana's orphanage - Dianjiang. We were shown were the babies sleep, we spoke with the director and we did see a few children in Gracie's Room (which is the playroom). It was really amazing. I promise to write a lot more about that in a future post.

Briana did so well today. She slept on the way to and from the orphanage - two hours each way. She was great at the orphanage and at lunch. She is quite the wiggle worm! She did have a 45 minute meltdown this evening though. I think she is teething and that makes for an unhappy baby. After some teething tablets and baby Benadryl, she is fast asleep for the night (hopefully). I have to admit, this is the hardest thing I have ever done. I felt like melting down myself for a few minutes - luckily Doug is my voice of reason. She is wonderful, but everything is a lot of work! We are all still trying to get used to one another. I do believe she is bonding to Doug and I very well - I really feel like she trusts us.

So, on with the pictures!

Briana's first breakfast buffet...

The group at Dianjiang orphanage with several caretakers.

The bus ride home on daddy.

The bus ride to the orphanage on Mommy.

Briana's First Cheerios

Doug and I are doing well and Briana slept through the night 10p - 7a!

Here's a video of Briana eating her first Cheerio. Doug's probably already taken several hours of video but this was one of the shorter videos for a quick post.

Briana Day

Ladies and Gentleman...we have our daughter Briana...

She is beautiful, amazing and has the most gorgeous smile. Unfortunately, we didn't really see it until we got back to the hotel. In all honestly, Gotcha Day was pretty rough - not even close to the scenerio I had always dreamed of. Briana was sooooo upset and crying. The minute they handed her to me she was hysterical. Of course, all the other babies were fine - Briana was the screamer! She cried, and cried, and cried. The bottle they gave us had a broken top on it and the formula kept flying out of it. We were covered in formula in the family photo. Good gravy. And she was covered in mosquitos bites - on her forehead, arms, legs and she was sweating like crazy. She was so hot and upset. We managed to get one or two smiles out of her at the civil affairs office when we walked out of the main room - away from all the chaos. I was so worried that we would not be able to console her. Finally, when we got back on the bus, I sat her on my lap, she finally took her bottle and fell asleep. When we got to the room, she woke up and seemed like another child. Smiling and so happy. She did cry some when I changed her diaper and gave her a quick sponge bath, but after that, we were golden. We finally got her to sleep about 10PM. Doug is already asleep now too. I am so beat, but I wanted to let you know we are parents. She is the most amazing baby in the world.

We are in love...

Here some pics...

Gotcha photo - Doug is covered in formula and Briana is in tears!

The one smile we got at the civil affairs office.

The bus ride back. Look at how hot she was!

Briana happy and smiling in her new sleeper.

Our angel....

3 Hours To Briana

We are currently resting in our hotel room until 3:30PM. That is when we get on the bus to go to the Civil Affairs Office. 4PM - Gotcha! This morning we filled out all of the provincial paperwork and paid the fees. After filling out the paperwork, we all took a trip to the market to buy some snacks and a few baby items. As we were walking out of the market, there was a woman selling toy bubble makers on the sidewalk. Doug asked her how much in Mandarin and she told him "Ershiwu". Doug's Mandarin classes came in handy because he translated it with no problem. It means "25". So he handed her 25 RMB. I am so proud! :)

I am posting a few pictures of the day, as well as pictures from Forbidden City yesterday. The plane ride was rough for me yesterday. After walking in Forbidden City for three hours (and it was muggy), we had to go straight to the airport. The plane was warm and the flight was kind of bumpy. I was just so glad to get to the hotel. The hotel is so beautiful, and Chongqing is huge - bigger than New York City. And you won't believe this, but the temp today 82 degrees. The rain and overcast skies are keeping the city cooler! Yippee! We won't have to deal with the unbearable temps until Guangzhou. I heard it is pretty dang hot there right now.

I am so excited and nervous. My stomach is flipping! Oh goodness!

Here are some pics!

Doug and I filling out paperwork.

Our hotel - Harbour Plaza.

The toy bubble maker!

Our group at Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square - Chairman Mao

Me and Doug at Forbidden City

Made It To Chongqing

Just a quick post to let you all know we made it to Chongqing. Doug and I are so tired. We did Forbidden City this morning and flew to Chongqing this afternoon. We are about to go to bed now, but tomorrow is Briana Day!

We fill out adoption paperwork in the morning at the hotel and get Briana at 4PM Monday (China time) at the Civil Affairs office. I will post more about Forbidden City and the plane ride later. And of course, I will blog about gotcha day as soon as Miss Briana allows me too.

Wish us luck!

Jade Factory, Great Wall & Cloisonne Factory

Greetings again from China! This is just a quick post because we are on our way to see the Chinese Acrobat Show. I wanted to show a few pics from the day. We did the Jade Factory, Great Wall and the Cloisonne Factory. I had a great shopping day! Ha! At the Great Wall, there was a row of merchants waiting to sell all sorts of merchandise and we had a ball bartering with them. It actually rained overnight, so it cooled things down so much today. (But there was enough humidity in the air to still frizz my hair.)

Oh - and today is my father's birthday! Happy, happy birthday!!!!!!! Wish I could be with you!!!!

Here are pics from the day!

The Great Wall of China...


Our CHSFS group (the ladies on the left with the children are not adopting now - they are revisting China after adopting a few years ago). Everyone else is in my travel group - and Chandler (in the orange shirt) is our guide.

Doug and I eating lunch in the Cloisonne Factory - another delicious meal! My hair still frizzed in a ponytail - so sad...

Cloisonne Factory workers.

Tomorrow morning is the Forbidden City and then we fly to Chongqing. I can't believe we get Briana on Monday! Yippee!

Hutong Rickshaw Tour

I can't tell you how happy I am that Doug and I felt good enough to go on this tour. It was amazing! We did the rickshaw tour with two other families in our travel group, as well as a nice sized group of people who used our agency to adopt their daughters 10 years ago - they were making the trip back to China.

We traveled via rickshaw through the area of Hutong - old Beijing. We drove through the extremely narrow streets and alleyways of Hutong and made several stops along the tour. First, we stopped at the home of a family who has lived in their Hutong home for 54 years. We sat in their living room and had a nice question and answer session. Then we visited a kindergarten class. The kids performed two songs for us - so cute! Then we went to the Drum Tower which overlooks Hutong. We climbed up 69 very steep steps to get to the top - ugh! Last, we had lunch in another Hutong home. Before we ate, our tour guide showed us how to make dumplings. Then the lady of the household prepared us the most phenomenal food. It is the best Chinese food I have ever had - seriously.

I do actually feel bad about something. Doug and I are not the skinniest people in the world, and I felt a little sorry for our rickshaw driver - LOL! He did well though - he got us where we needed to go. Our agency guide told our group how much we needed to tip our drivers when we were finished. So, we tipped him what we were told. Then we spoke to someone in our travel group who told us that they tipped their driver double. We really didn't know that we could do that. Tipping is a touchy subject in China. We really wanted to tip more because our driver was so nice, but we didn't. Now I feel bad. He probably thought we were cheap Americans!

Ok - here are some pics!

Line of rickshaws waiting for customers.

Doug and I in our rickshaw.

The grandmother at the first Hutong home.

The cutest kindergarten class ever!

The Drum Tower performance.

Doug enjoying the delicious lunch at the second home. The girl sitting next to him just adopted her baby girl through our agency and she and her husband are doing Beijing on the back end of their trip (her hubby was on the other side of the room with her new little one).

What an amazing day! We have the rest of the evening to ourselves now. Tomorrow - Great Wall of China, Jade Factory and Beijing Acrobats!

Oh - and it may look like it is an overcast day in these pictures. Not the case. It is so smoggy here in Beijing that the sun cannot make it through the crud layering this place. I can't believe how bad the air quality is. It was very humid today, but not unbearable. Maybe it is because the sun can't beat down on us!

Rest, Rest, Rest

Ok - this is a quick post! Doug and I got lots of rest yesterday! We did manage to walk up and down the street the hotel is on around lunchtime and it was pretty neat! I felt like I was in a dream! I can't believe I am here!

We are about to head to breakfast and then go on the rickshaw tour. We are not 100%, but the rest was a HUGE help. Thank you to everyone who posted such sweet comments!

I want to say a special hi to my bloggy bash gals! You are all the best! (I posted Heather - you happy now? - Ha, Ha!!!!!)