Guangzhou

This post once again by your awesome new blogmaster Jeff.  Well we made it to Guangzhou and are one step closer to finally being home.  Teagan had her worst melt down that she has had so far on the bus on the way to the airport so I was prepared for one doozy of a flight.  Fortunately, she seemed to get it all out of her system and was awsome on the flight.  Tracy, unfortunately, has come down with a pretty bad cold.  The result of not really sleeping a good night's sleep since we got Teagan, and then never being able to be "off duty" during the day since Teagan still hasn't warmed up to me enough to let me just take her for a while.  So, back to the flight, Tracy was really banking on Teagan sleeping for most of it.  We went and got warm water and made her a bottle and then you guessed it, she didn't sleep a wink.  Not even a minute.  But, she was in the best mood I have seen her so far.  She was absolutely cracking us up.  So, it really went well, but Tracy certainly could have used the extra sleep.

 

It is amazing how different this trip is compared to last time.  It was very different being up North and in the winter.  As a culture they are so obsessed with making sure kids are buddled up that when it is actually cold they want them in a full on Christmas Story getup.  When we went to the park we had two pairs of pants and a blanket wrapped around Teagan, it was a warmer day, probably 45 out, and we still had little old ladies chewing us out in Mandarin because we didn't have the legs covered enough.  It is also very different going with 6 families instead of 17.  Has a totally different feel when it is a smaller group that is still very tight and likes to do stuff together.  We have been so lucky to make great life friends on both trips.  It has been different being the old people on the trip.  Last time we were one of the youngest, and this time we are almost the oldest (one guy that is a few years older than Tracy).  It has also been interesting being the people that everyone asks questions to because we have been through this song and dance before.  It has been different, and much harder, having a little girl at home that we miss very much and think about every single day.  And finally, probably the biggest difference is that last time I was so exhausted every day that I passed out as soon as Izzy went down, and it was Tracy staying up late so that there was a blog posted everyday.  This time the roles have definetly changed on that front.

 

Teagan continues to go through the normal grieving process that babies of this age from an orphange have to go through.  She really shuts down in public, not doing much but sitting and staring and watching with a scowl most of the time.  But, the last two days we have made huge strides with her coming out of her shell for us when we are away from the group.  She will let me hold her for about 30 seconds at a time, sometimes I can stretch it to a minute or two if I am really lucky.  But, we must still be within eyesite of Tracy or the big puppy dog tears come very quickly.  She finally pooped twice last night, without any help from supplies, and that really helped her come around.  Last night as we were trying to pack up the room she decided she needed to be walking all around the room "helping us".  Which is night and day from what she was showing us the first couple of days which was to have Tracy hold her every minute of everyday.  When I went to the orphanage the other day the nannies all told our interpretur that they all loved her so much that they just took turns passing her around and holding her.  Which would explain some of our current challenges.  It would also explain her baby chub legs.  You can tell they didn't make her walk much, for such a little girl she has some rolls on those legs.  She was all over the place again tonight in the new hotel room though, so hopefully we can get those babies toned up a little bit before we get back to the States!  If not I will need to look into a baby thighmaster for her!  The other big improvement has been her interaction with us as we are playing with her.  Tonight she was just babbling away, it was absolutely hilarious.  I have no idea what she was saying, but she had an important story she really wanted to share with us, and it was cracking all of us up, even her.  She also started waving for the first time today which is pretty much the cutest thing you will ever see.

 

Tracy did have an interesting experience at the airport bathroom changing her diaper today.  She went in there with some of the other moms and they were imediately ambushed by all these Chinese women that wanted to look over their shoulders and watch them change diapers.  I told one of the other parents that they should have started to put the diaper on the kids head just to see what they did :)  It is interesting though how very different the culture is in terms of things like personal space.  It is just not something they think about at all.

 

Yesterday we took that day trip to the temple that is literally the birthplace of Kung Fu.  It was amazing and I am so glad that we went.  We went with another couple from Chicago that are awesome people and we had a great guide that went with us, which really made the day great.  My nephews Carter and Graham, as well as Izzy are really into Ninjago and all of that kind of stuff, and I know they would have been really impressed with the show that we saw.  The kids that go there, move there to study it and what they could do was very impressive. 

 

The new hotel here is as good as advertised.  Easily the nicest of the trip.  Best of all there is a Papa Johns that delivers and it actually tastes like Papa Johns and they have someone there that speaks English!  The Chinese food on this trip has been really good so far, but after eating it at almost every meal for the last week and half, I don't care how good it is, you get tired of eating it.  The other night I was talking to one of the other guys on the trip who is from Nashville, but who has traveled to KC several times for his job.  We started talking about Jack Stack, and Joes and all the good joints in town.  By the end of that conversation I think I would have paid 1000 bucks for a Zman.  The weather here is also a big upgrade.  It was around 65 degrees this afternoon and may be even warmer tomorrow.  It was also nice to see that the sun still comes up every day.  With all the smog everyday it was never really sunny even when it was supposed to be.

 

Well, still some stuff that I want to touch on that I haven't gotten to yet, but I should probably get to bed so I don't get a cold too.  Tomorrow we go back to a couple of the sites we saw on our last trip so that will be nice to see and to bring back some good memories.  Say prayers that my two girls sleep through the night tonight!  I will try to post some pictures tomorrow sometime of some of the lastest exploits.