Monday, January 21, 2013

Your questions answered! Day 4/5


*Coming to you from our hotel bathroom at 4:30am (so I don't wake the crew) I wanted to do a post where I answered some of your questions. 

Yes, we are very jetlagged.  I have quit trying to work on it though.  T sleeps a lot during the day and we can too.  This will hopefully help us all to adjust better once we are home… or not? 

Yes, it is so much fun to dress T in sweet girl clothes.  She did actually wear THREE hats yesterday on our outings.  She really loves to play with them so once we get home to the real cold (not sure if they make it above single digits today) she will be sporting some super cute and functional hats with flaps that have a neck strap that attaches.

We learned that it is indeed OK to not tip in China, whew!

We learned that the beverages and ice at KFC go through a sanitation process and are fine to drink.  Whew!

Yes, I did get a little sick after my cabbage meal.  Not awful and possibly worth trying again as it felt so great to be full.

T seems to be wearing 6-9 month clothes quite nicely.  The PJ’s were 6-9mo.  She did wear a pair of 12mo leggings, but when I held them up to the 9mo at home they were the same length so I am going with 6-9mo.  She is pretty set with onesies, but we don’t have many pairs of pants in either size.  Not that you all want to give us gifts of course, but someone did ask… and I am sure the grandmas are curious.  She is swimming in most of the 6-9 onesies though so she could totally do a smaller size of those.  I am not sure of her head circumference, but we can safely say that she and big brother both share large heads!  As I said before she has bigger feet than I thought so 12mo size socks are on the shopping list for sure!

We have been spoiled (at home) with non-smoking sections and really a lack of smoking in many places.  Wow, how did I not know about the amount of smoking that happens here.  I guess it is a part of the experience, I was just surprised.

No big grieving yet from T.  We are hoping that the dark nights happen before we get home so we can both be there to soothe her and not disturb M.  Also, we just really want that behind us.  She did cry a little bit last night, but I don’t think that was grief. 

She totally was (maybe is) a daddy’s girl.  I think she really liked the orphanage director who is male and she seems to respond great to Brandon.  He is so fun, so really who wouldn’t.  Also, I am the nose cleaner, bath giver, diaper changer, lotion applier and all things that are essential yet not as fun.  Saying all that, she and I had such a great time together last night that when Brandon tried to put her to sleep. (because I was blogging the last post) she got a little sad.  It seems that she really does like both of us, whew!  Actually, I had little fear because M liked Brandon way more at first too, but I quickly won him over. 

She is a great sleeper and eater and a generally super happy and low needs baby… here… sound like anyone else?  Yes, M was the same way.  Once home everything headed south.  We are enjoying the full nights of sleep now!   

Speaking of low needs, this makes sense of course.  As we show her what it means to have parents we will also teach her that we will respond in a positive way to her needs.  By the end of last night it almost seemed like she was reaching for Brandon once.  This is a milestone as reaching to be held didn’t seem to be something she considered.

The flipping the camera to see yourself trick worked so well for M, so far T just gives a blank stare then too… since she likes to hand out smiles to us, I am pretty sure they will eventually come for the camera too.

Yes, I totally forgot lots of things.  I am making do without, but with that I would have remembered a little container of dish soap to wash bottle nipples.  I can’t say enough about Playtex drop-ins for Intl travel.  It is so nice to only have a tiny part of the bottle that is actually dirty.  I have learned that washing them in the sterilized very hot water seems to be killing and cleaning everything.  We also have pacifier wipes for added cleaning.  I also forgot drooling bibs.  We have lots drool bibs that M never wore at home and we are going to make it without them, but she loves to drool and we only brought one food/plastic bib.  Brandon wishes he would have packed more easy mac and other food that can be made in the hotel room with a hot pot.  We are going to have to get some noodle bowls today, but a small taste of home is nice for one smaller meal a day. 

So far I anticipate us using most of what we brought (while except hopefully all the meds, right?).  One thing I would not have needed to bring was a blanket for T.  The hotels and airplanes supply them, but it might still be helpful in airports or other chilly places. I am glad we didn’t bring any more dressy clothes than we did because it seems we simply won’t need them in province. 

Yes, we have taken other photos from our travels of the area we are staying, funny signs, and things of interest, but I am focusing on getting the T photos up.  Maybe sometime I will post the other photos.  While they are interesting to document, if you are like me when I read adoption blogs you would be scrolling through them hunting for T photos, right?!

OK, this is enough for this post.  Sorry that it is boring and has no photos.    We continue to treasure your comments (which we will copy into a file for T) and your prayers!

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