Hannah and Jennifer Rose

Andrew, Michelle, and Hannah came over on Sunday and it was amazing watching the girls playing together. Andrew showed me how to use the Nikon D-40 that I bought after we got back from China (partly as a result of his recommendation). It was funny watching the girls sit their like movie stars while Andrew and I snapped photos with our Nikons (I have posted a few of the good ones).

Hannah has gotten so big and is now talking and running around. The two girls were just beautiful together and it felt good to finally have them together.

J.

J Ro and Ben

Uncle Ben came over on Saturday and it was great seeing him with Jennifer Rose. She tried to take his sun-glasses and also have him a musical concert with the electirc piano toy. Here are some of the photos. We also got some good video of them playing -- I'll post that later.

J.

New Photos of J Ro at Home

Adjusting to Being at Home

We have been in adjustment mode since we got home on Thursday and we are all still out of whack. Every morning for the last two days, I have woken up and had my cup of coffee and said to myself, "I'm over the jet lag". And then by the late afternoon, I'm totally crashed out on the couch somewhere. I have mainly been playing with J Ro and then sleeping during the day whenever she sleeps. At night, I haven't been tired at all so after we put J Ro in her crib, I have been banging around the house trying to organize all of the stuff from our trip, catching up on e-mail, and checking in on the little one. R has tried to stay awake during the day and then totally crashes at night. It has been hard to put ourselves back on DC time but hopefully by Monday, we'll be more adjusted. We think it could take another week to be fully adjusted to the DC time zone.

Jennifer Rose has handled the adjustment well. She was so tired after not sleeping much on the flight to DC that she slept a lot right when we got home. Now we're trying to balance letting her sleep/eat whenever she wants with getting her on a DC-time zone-based schedule. So far, the "whenever she wants" camp is winning since we know that Jennifer is still on a different time zone just like we are. But hopefully each day we can get Jennifer more on a regular schedule.

Our pediatrician appointment on Friday went well but we felt so bad for J Ro since she had to get two vaccinations and had to have blood drawn. She was very unhappy about that and made quite a lot of noise in the doctor's office (I didn't know she could produce such a loud cry!). We had to hold her down while they were giving her the shots/drawing blood and we felt so bad. R was almost crying. But the good thing is that the doctor said Jennifer appears to be really healthy. The doctor looked in her ears and says they look good - no ear infection or sign of fluid. She said that she appears to have gotten good nutrition and seems to have really good developmental progress. The doctor had us take her off the Chinese formula (we were doing a combination of Chinese formula with US formula) and go with the Similac. She also gave us some suggestions on what other foods to start feeding her as she gets interested in solid foods. Hopefully after the shots and blood work, J Ro will be willing to set foot in that office again.

Today, we took Jennifer in the stroller around Georgetown. It was a beautiful day and it was so nice being home with her. R also took her with her when she got her nails done at the Four Seasons George Salon. Everyone there thought she was so cute and I can tell she's going to get a lot of attention wherever we go. Everything is still so new for us that it is taking us more time to do the basic stuff. When we were getting ready for our outing to Georgetown, we took our new stroller out of the box and spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to fold it up so we could put it in the car. We are also still getting used to all the stuff we need to bring with us when we go out with the baby. After we got to downtown Georgetown, I had to return home because we forgot the diaper bag. And when we do pack the diaper bag, we're still figuring out the right balance between taking way too much stuff and forgetting essential items. Still, we have been enjoying being home with J Ro and even figuring this stuff out has an element of fun to it.

Now that we are back home, I have still been enjoying taking photos of the little one (no video so far but hopefully I'll do that later). I hve attached a few that I took Friday -- in the doctors office and then at home (note: I took the doctors office photos before she got the shots so she still looks happy). I know I'm biased but I just think both R and J Ro look beautiful in these photos. Ok - I will sign off now and find out what R is up to. She just put the baby back to sleep after feeding her -- so we have some moments of peace before the next wake up call.

J.

Photos of the Arrival in Washington, Dulles

We had a wonderful reception of people (Elana, David and Adam and Debbie, Jane, Alex and Michael) meeting us when we came out US Customs in Washington Dulles. We are so greatful to have wonderful friends and family that were waiting to meet Jennifer Rose as soon as she got off the plane. Since it's 1:30 a.m. and my body is saying "what are you doing to me!?", I'll keep this post short and just put up the photos. Most of the photos are at the Dulles airport but there are a few with Elana as we are walking into our house (Elana was so great -- she drove us home with the baby in the new car seat and she had filled the refrigerator with wonderful stuff!).

We were so excited to have the US Customs agent stamp Jennifer's Chinese passport with the stamp that immediately makes her a US Citizen (we'll get the official paperwork within 45 days). We didn't have the nerve to ask for a picture with the Customs Agent!

After Elana drove us home, she stayed for a while and R and Elana gave J Ro a bath, gave her a bottle and put her in her new crib to sleep. We had a nice lunch of some of the great stuff the Elana had picked up (nice change from so much Chinese food). After I drove Elana home, R and I both totally fell asleep. We woke up a few times to change/feed the baby -- not something we're used to doing in our own house! Right now everyone is alseep so I'll go join them. We'll get a few hours of sleep and then tomorrow we have our first visit to Jennifer Rose's pediatrician. She'll likely check her over and do some blood work (hopefully no shots yet). We are so excited to be home with Jennifer Rose!

J & R.

We Are Home!

It's hard to believe it but I'm typing this from Georgetown! The last time I was in this room I had suitcases all around me and we we in packing mode!

The trip back was long and tiring for all of us but it went smoothly and the babies were all fine. J Ro was interested in everything on the plane so she would rather visit with people than sleep. She slept a little bit but mostly we just walked around with her and played with her on the floor (so much for the cushy business class seats!). Here's a quick recap of the trip: On Wedesday morning, we flew from Guangzhou, China to Tokyo, Japan. We spent the night in a hotel near the airport (woke up at 3:30 a.m. from an earthquake! and then at 4 a.m. to feed the baby). Then flew from Tokyo to Washington Dulles early on Thursday.

I'll try to post more later but wanted to put up a few photos from the journey home. I'll do a separate post with photos of the wonderful reception we all had at the Washington Dulles airport on Thursday morning. We were all overwhelmed with joy and excitement to finally be through US Customs (so the babies are all now US Citizens!) and be with our families and friends here in DC. More later once we're not bumping into walls and not knowing which way is up!

J.

Photos from the US Consulate in Guangzhou

Per the previous post, here are the photos from the US Consulate in Guangzhou that Jim took with his camera. The babies are wearing their matching red, white, and blue outfits that R picked out for the occasion. We were all so happy to have this step completed and we wanted to celebrate in style! Since we weren't allowed to take photos inside the Consulate, most of these are taken just outside the Consulate.

J.

Guangzhou Day Five -- Continued (Last Full Day in China)

We went to the US Consulate this afternoon and completed our final paperwork. It was a really wonderful way to finish this incredible trip. Before we left for China, R had purchased matching outfits for the three babies in red, white, and blue to celebrate their becoming US Citizens. They all wore these outfits to the ceremony. The ceremony was fairly fast -- there were 50 families with appointments today -- we recognized a number of them from the White Swan Hotel and even from when we were in Nanchang. First, Anli picked up our final paperwork, including Chinese passports with US Visas, the final adoption decree, and the paperwork that we will need to hand to the US Customs agent when we get to Washington D.C. The type of visa that Jennifer has makes her a US Citizen as soon as we clear customs in D.C.

Then we had to show our passports and the baby's documentation so that they could confirm that we were the parents of Jennifer Rose Yu Hua Firschein. Then the Deputy US Consul General made some remarks and congratulated all of the families for completing the citizenship process. Then we all had to take an oath that basically said that all of the information we had provided on our citizenship papers was true and correct. Then we were done!

It was such an incredible feeling -- we have such a beautiful baby and we are so happy. We weren't allowed to bring a camera into the US Consulate so unfortunately we don't have any photos to post but Jim had his camera outside and got one of all of the babies in their red, white, and blue outfits in front of the US Consulate sign. As soon as I get those photos from him, I'll post them.

That's it for now -- we just put the baby in her crib and just started packing. We have SO MUCH STUFF! We bought an extra suitcase to take everything home but it still will take a while to get everything packed by tomorrow a.m. We're departing early tomorrow. If I can post from Japan, I will. Otherwise, the next time I post will be from Washington DC with J Rose next to us!

Off to pack!

J & R

Guangzhou Day Five

It's hard to beleve that this is our last full day in Guangzhou. We are meeting at 2:30 p.m. this afternoon to go to the Consulate to pick up the US travel visa and final adoption documents and to take the US Citizenship oath. We're not sure exactly what the oath involves but we are all nervous and excited about that.

While we were waiting to go to the US Consulate, Anli arranged for our group to meet in the White Swan lobby this morning so we can take our "Red Couch" photos with the babies wearing the traditional Chinese outfits that we bought while we were here. This is something that a lot of the families do when they are staying here. The babies all looked beautiful -- I have attached some of the good ones as well as one video that I call the "making of the Red Couch photo shoot." It was hard to get a photo of all three babies looking at the camera at the same time so hopefully between all of our cameras we got at least one in which all babies are looking the same direction. Still, I like the ones where they are looking at each other.

Right now, Jennifer Rose is asleep in her crib and everyone else in our travel group is out doing some final errands as we get ready to head to Tokyo tomorrow morning for the last leg of our journey. We stay in Tokyo for one night before heading home to DC on Thursday. This has been the trip of a lifetime and it has exceeded all of our expectations. Still, we are so excited be heading home soon. I'll try to post again after we come back from the US Consulate.

J.

Guangzhou Day Four -- Continued

Here are three videos from today -- all of us following J Ro's every move. All of these crack me up: there's another one of J Ro with her electronic piano thing (this time with tamborine accompaniment). There's a really nice one of R playing with J Ro. And finally, there's the obligatory baby-in-a-bathtub scene. These pretty much capture how we spent our day.

J.

Guangzhou Day Four

Today we were both totally wiped out from walking around in the heat yesterday, fighting our various colds, and from not getting much sleep (J Ro woke up in the middle of the night and didn't want to go back to sleep). So here is what I can recall of our day in a nutshell (disclaimer: R did a lot more than I did):

5 a.m.: get up and hang out with J Ro and R - do the diaper, bottle, and bath thing. Play with the electronic piano toy that J Ro seems to love so much. Try to sing her back to sleep but the only song I could think of was Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen as well as other Bruce songs that are not particularly baby-friendly (mainly the dark stuff like Nebraska or Ghost of Tom Joad). R is not a big fan of my singing dark Bruce tunes to the baby so I'll have to go back to the pooper scooper song I made up yesterday.

7:30 a.m: put J Ro in stroller and roll her around the hotel hallway to try to put her back to sleep. Although it worked yesterday, it doesn't work today. She just wants to play. Figure out that she's a bit of a thrill seeker and likes to go fast in the stroller. Note to self: don't let Jennifer have the car keys until she's well out of high school.

10 a.m: hotel breakfast buffet with Etu and Eugenio and R (and J Ro).
As much as we have really enjoyed the traditional Chinese breakfasts, I am starting to get a little tired of Dim Sum buns and dumplings so I kept it simple: scrambled eggs, french toast, and a bowl of corn flakes. Etu seems to be the only one in our travel group who is not tired of the Dim Sum buns. Major milestone of the day: Eugenio was able to interest J Ro in some of his oatmeal. Until today, she had no interest in anything solid. Although she only had a few spoonsful (or is it spoonfulls?) of oatmeal, we hope this is the beginning of a new eating trend.

11 a.m: go back to room and hear even more of J Ro's electronic piano toy. Get really happy because J Ro takes a bottle from me without fussing (normally, only R has the magic touch with the fuss-free feeding but I have had more trouble getting the bottle angle just right). So I am starting to get the hang of the feeding thing.

12:30 p.m: everyone in our travel group meets for lunch and shopping near the hotel, but I happily stay with the baby in our room and we both sleep for almost 2 hours. It is so relaxing being with her when she's sleeping -- she seem so peaceful and happy. When J Ro finally wakes up, we have a fun time playing with the electronic piano toy and other toys that R has bought on this trip. I also enjoy reading to J Ro the two baby books we brought with us on the trip. One is about a baby catipillar that eats through a variety of foods over the course of a week and J Ro enjoys putting her fingers in the holes in the book where the catipillar ate through each of the food items. I wonder if she has any idea what I'm reading about.

3-5:30 p.m.: Jim H stops by the room and bangs around on the computer posting to his blog and making backup DVDs of his and our photos while R and I play with the baby. At one point while R is playing with the baby, I find a copy of the South China Post and don't miss the fact that the front page has no news on the US Presidential election. A lot of the front page news is about whether China will unload their US dollars (consensus appears to be no) and whether the problems in the US subprime mortgage market will affect Asia (consensus appears to be yes). After scanning these headlines, I go back to playing with the baby and the electronic piano toy. At some point in the afternoon, Anli calls and says that her meetings at the Consulate went well today and it appears that our paperwork is in order (but we will continue to think positive thoughts until everything is finalized tomorrow).

5:30 p.m.: R has her nail appointment at the hotel salon. I take J Ro in the stroller and walk with her to the appointment. This is my first venture out of the room except breakfast. After 5 minutes at the nail appointment, the baby and I both get tired so we head back upstairs to the room and the baby falls asleep on me while I sit in the big cushy chair. I love the fact that she falls alseep on me and I just watch her for most of the time that she is asleep. She's absolutely beautiful -- and looking at her while she is alseep makes me think of numerous cheesy light rock songs that that R usually can't stand. R gets back from her nail appointment and plays with the baby while I lounge some more in the big cushy chair. I then get up and make up three bottles with formula -- all ready to go (just require hot water).

8 p.m: Since Jim and Debbie had gone to dinner earlier, we have dinner with Etu, Eugenio, Scott, & Elaine in hotel restaurant -- again, I opt for a change from the Chinese food that I have been enjoying for most of the trip and I order spagetti bolognaise. R and I both enjoy walking around the hotel restaurant with the baby and looking at big fish in hotel lobby pond. She's so social that she wants to say hello to everyon we meet. After dinner, R and I take the baby back to the room to give her a bottle, bath, and diaper change. While all of this is going on, R humors me as I try to video everything - the bath, the feeding, the playing with the electronic piano toy. Finally, R gets the baby to fall asleep and then puts baby in the crib without waking her up (this is a move I have not yet mastered). R is now crashed out on the couch while I type.

As slow as this day sounds (and it's the total opposite of how we spent our time in Beijing seeing all of the sites), we both have really enjoyed the time we have had in Guangzhou and also Nanchang to play with and hold the baby. I'm getting more proficient at the basic blocking and tackling (ok, sports analogy) of being with the baby -- the diaper changes, the bottles, the putting her to sleep. But I also like the improvisation involved -- the songs, the watching her develop and hit new milestones, reading stories, etc. I'll have to come up with a sports analogy on that later.

I have posted some photos from today. I just love the ones of her sitting on the floor of our room -- the different facial expressions and her beautiful smile. I'll try to post a few the videos later tonight or tomorrow. Tomorrow, we have our appointment with the US Consulate. We're looking forward to it and will keep our fingers crossed that all goes well. More on that later.

J.

Guangzhou Day Three -- Continued

Scott stopped by our room late this afternoon after we had finished filling out adoption paperwork in Anli's room and asked if I wanted to go with him to the driving range. I was like "what driving range?" Turns out the White Swan hotel has a frickin' driving range on the hotel roof (you drive into nets but have an incredible view of the entire Guangzhou skyline and the river next to the hotel with big boats coming down it).

After being totally worn out from our walk into the old part of Guangzhou and also still getting over my cold, I was not particularly up for being outside in the Guangzhou humidity hitting golf balls. But sometimes, the story is just too good to pass up. So we headed up to the roof and a hotel sports club attendant got us some golf clubs and a few buckets of balls. We were the only ones up there and it was really funny. I wish I could have been nonchanlant about it -- just hitting a few golf balls in the afternoon like any other Sunday. But we were hitting golf balls IN CHINA. On the roof of the WHITE SWAN HOTEL. Overlooking a river filled with HUGE BARGES with big RED CHINESE FLAGS on them. The day before we filed our final adoption paperwork with the US Consulate after more than a TWO YEAR WAIT. It was just so wild and hard to keep a straight face as we hit balls up there and it felt really good. We did a couple of buckets each and then the heat got to us and we called it quits. As we were up there, I was trying to think: how do you even begin to describe this scene? I really wanted to start this blog posting with something casual like, "So Scott and I were hitting golf balls off the roof of the White Swan hotel and he said to me..." But I couldn't pull it off. Too bad we forgot to bring our cameras up there. It would have been good video footage. As we were coming down from the roof, Scott reminded me that today is the one week anniversary of when we got our babies in Nanchang. Has it only been a week? It feels like a lot longer than that. I feel like R and I are different now -- we are three instead of two and it feels great.

Now we're in our room and just winding down the day. Compared to the crying baby scene and R and I both feeling really sick and rundown yesterday, everything feels much calmer and better today. I don't want to temp the fates but I think I have mostly beat my cold. R is still caughing pretty badly but seems to be feeling a little better as well. The baby is quietly sleeping in the crib and she has been great today. She's eating well and seems to get stronger and more comfortable with us every day. We'll just hope that this continues.

Tomorrow is a light day as Anli is filing all of our paperwork with the US Consulate. R and Etu will likely continue in their quest to buy every cute baby outfit in Guangzhou. Eugenio and I will continue in our quest to avoid those shopping excursions and hope that they leave us enough cash to buy a bottle of water or two. Maybe Scott and I will hit a few more golf balls off the roof of the hotel tomorrow.

I have posted one video -- of J Ro with her new electronic piano toy. Maybe I'm biased, but J Ro seems to have musical talent. She wants to bring the little electronic piano toy with her wherever we go. Tonight, we took it to dinner and played it for her in the restaurant. But I won't count on the college music scholarship just yet. Ok - signing off now. Will try to post more tomorrow.



J.

Guangzhou Day Three

It's late in the afternoon on August 12 and we are all resting up after Anli took us all on a walking tour of the old (non-touristy) part of Guangzhou. It was really interesting but also HOT (made even hotter since I was wearing the baby in the Snugli baby carrier thing!). Although we were all dragging from the heat, Anli said it is normally a lot hotter this time of year in Guangzhou so we were thankful it wasn't even worse. The babies were fine with the heat and humidity -- again, they seem to be used to it so it's the adults who are overheating.

Basically, the part of town Anli took us to is a shopping district that felt a bit like a farmers market except the things people were selling were very unsual -- huge mushrooms and bags of various dried roots and things used in traditional Chinese medicine. It was hard to tell what some of the stuff was but there were big bags of dried out sea horses, starfish, snakes, etc. There was also a big section with live animals -- rabbits, mice, turtles, fish, birds, etc. There were also pets for sale -- dogs, cats, fish, etc. There were also stalls selling prepared food and drinks. It was unlike anything I have ever seen in terms of the scale, the number of people, the smells, and the unusual variety of items for sale.

We stayed away from purchasing any of the food items -- that probably would have finished us all off. But I did buy a watch for $2 (my watch stopped working in Nanchang) and Jim bought a big suitcase. R bought a small Hello Kitty suitcase to put the baby's things in on the way home. After we had been out for a few hours, I started fading and the baby was starting to feel really heavy in the Snugli. We made it back to the hotel just as I ran out of energy.

After a quick lunch break, Jim, Scott, & I met Anli in her room to fill in the adoption paperwork that Anli needs to submit to the US Consulate tomorrow. There were about five forms and they all had to be completed exactly right. Anli walked us through line by line. In some forms, we had to fill in the baby's name for "name". In other forms, we filled in our names. In some forms, we had to use Chinese date format. In other forms we used US date format. As we had done all along on this trip, we just did whatever Anli told us to do. It felt good to get all of the forms filled out and also to get Anli's confirmation that we had brought the correct forms with us to China. We'll find out tomorrow afternoon whether the Consulate is ok with all of our paperwork.

I have posted a few photos -- mostly of our trip to the old part of Guangzhou plus one really cute one of J Ro in our room. More later.

J.

Guangzhou Day Two -- Continued

After we completed the baby's medical exam this morning, Eugenio and I spent a few hours hanging out in the room with Jennifer Rose (Rachel and Etu were busy shopping). Then R came back and we got some good videos of us playing with J Ro. As much as she's a very cuddly and sweet baby, her "very, very strong-willed" nature seems to come out more and more each day. She seems to decide whether she wants us to sit with her or stand with her or whether she wants to take a nap or not. So far, there's no going against her will. We just want to do whatever we can to make her happy.

Right now, it's just after 9 p.m. and R is in the bedroom trying to get the baby to stop crying. Why is she crying? We already fed her and she doesn't seem to want any more of her bottle. She doesn't need a diaper change. We think she may have some teeth coming in. The other theory is that she may be getting an earache (she has been pulling on her ears a little). Etu and Eugenio don't think that's the problem. Still, it's hard to hear her cry and not be able to make it stop. Ok - I'm off to try to help R. More later.

Ok - I'm back now. It's almost 11 p.m. The baby finally stopped crying but only after a mini-drama where we called on Elaine and Etu to come in and advise us on whether to give the baby some baby Tylenol (we decided "yes). Then we had to see if the baby had a fever (consensus was "no"). I was hovering around worrying and not making things any easier so R sent me next door to Scott and Elaine's room where Scott had a bottle of Johnny Walker Black scotch and Jim, Scott, and I each had a drink while Elaine went in the other room to check on R and the baby (I realize that's not what the baby books say on how to deal with one of these situations, but it seemed to work for us). By the time I got back, the baby was fast asleep and R was happily surfing the Internet on our computer. Elaine said the baby was fine - there was no fever and the baby was just acting like, well, a baby. I don't like this lack of precision thing. I want to know what the heck is the reason for everything so I can anticipate and make things perfect. It's going to take me a while to get used to things not being that way.

Meanwhile, R and I both have full-blown colds. We just ordered more tea with honey and I have been downing Sudafed. We feel like this is one of those around the world races and we are lagging with another few thousand miles to go. But we'll pull through. As long as the baby is healty, that's all we care about. But seriously, everyone in our group except Etu and Eugenio (and the babies) is dealing with some malady and we just want to finish up all of the adoption paperwork so we can get home. Ok - off to bed now.







J & R

Guangzhou Medical Exam

We just got back from having the baby's medical exam as required by the US Citizen and Immigration Service. All three babies passed with flying colors. It was quite the hectic scene getting there and just being there. R and I had a bit of trouble getting ourselves out of our room at the required time. Everyone always told us to add extra time with the baby -- it's totally true. We were on time as we ran out the door of our hotel room but we didn't bring all of the right stuff. We forgot to bring the Sunggly baby carrier and we also forgot our umbrella (it's raining really hard). We brought the stroller which we totally didn't need since it was raining so hard. So R carried the baby in one hand and a borrowed umbrella in the other hand. I brought all of the various diaper bags, backpacks, bottles, toys, etc.

When we got to the medical exam office, it was fairly chaotic -- crying babies, people waiting in line, doctors, nurses, etc. Anli managed to thread our group through the crowd to get us to the place where we needed to have the adoption medical exams. R and I went first and the first doctor checked her fingers and toes and looked her over. He also listened to her heart. Then we went to a second set of doctors. They took the baby's temperature and also weighed and measured her height. Then we went to a third doctor. He checked her hearing (he had an electric piano toy and played it next to her head to see if she turned). Then he checked her eyes to make sure she could track the light. Then he looked into her mouth and ears. She was cooperative the whole time and was smiling to the doctor. All along the way, the doctors would write stuff on the medical sheets we had with us but they didn't tell us anything. When we finished, we gave the forms back to Anli and she said that everything came out ok. We assumed that Jennifer Rose would pass but it felt good to have this step completed.

I have posted some photos from the medical exam. There's a good one of all of the babies together, plus one of us with the first doctor who examined the baby. We are so glad that the baby is healthy. If anything, we're all the ones who are ailing medically and the babies are all fine-- we're all coughing and sneezing and wheezing after the strain of this trip and not getting much sleep. Still, we're all deleriously happy and don't mind going through all the boxes of Kleenex.

One thing that was touching was that we saw a number of babies at the medical exam office who were not healthy. A number of people choose to adopt "special needs" babies -- some with serious medical conditions. We saw some of those babies this morning. The families adopting these babies are so filled with love and strength that we know that the babies will have a good life wherever they are going. Plus, we have heard that with US medical technology, many of the medical problems can be corrected when the babies get to the US. But it was still a little sad to see the babies that are not healthy and it made me even more thankful that all of the babies in our travel group appear to be healthy and strong.

Right after the baby medical exams, R and Etu did a quick shopping run. They bought more than a few baby outfits -- including one each for nieces Jessica, Elli, and Noa. Eugenio and I couldn't handle being in the baby clothes store so we went back to the hotel. Eugenio and I made the mistake of asking why Etu and R need to keep buying baby outfits when we have plenty for this trip. They both just looked as us like we are crazy. We clearly don't get it. Still, R knows I'm in total heaven with the baby and she can do anything she wants as far as I'm concerned in the baby outfit buying department. Also, they are buying traditional Chinese outfits that we won't be able to get in the US and they are also buying outfits for special events in the future -- like Jennifer's one-year-old birthday. The set of shops outside the White Swan hotel totally caters to moms who have just adopted babies so the stores must do really well. There are so many shops that there's a lot of competition -- so the prices say good. R said that the three outfits they bought last night were $20 total. So I can't complain too much.

One final note: when we got back to our room, the hotel had left us a present. It was a "Going Home Barbie". It's Barbie with a little Chinese baby girl in her arms. We were surprised -- we didn't know there even was a Barbie like that. We just thought it was the cutest thing. It can go along with the "Chinese New Year Barbie" that R bought when we were in Beijing. So now little Ms. Firschein is now the proud owner of two Barbies. Who would have ever thought that was possible!? I thought I would be anti-Barbie but Jennifer Rose is so cute that I'm happy to let R get her stuff like that.

Now we're just relaxing in the hotel room with Jennifer Rose and Etu and Euginio. The baby is just giving all of us so much joy. No more major plans for today except that Anli may take us to a store that sells pearls. We hope to get a little keepsake that we can give to Jennifer when she's a little older as a small reminder of how special this trip has been for us. More later.

J.