Weighing in at a whopping 19 lbs. Abigail has earned the title of Heavyweight champion of the FTIA/ Jiang Cheng orphanage group. We took the babies today for their medical exams and Abigail won the title in our group of 7 babies! All of these Jiang Cheng babies were born between August 13 and August 31st. Abigail is the oldest and the biggest! The funny thing is she doesn't look all that much bigger, but she is solid and sturdy! She has been wearing mostly 6-9months clothes and a few 3-6 months size! But the way she sucks down the congee, I am sure she will be in 12 month size before long! The other babies weighed on average of 16-17 lbs. with the exception of Rebekah who tipped the scales at just 15 lbs. We think Abigail and Rebekah were crib mates, so perhaps Abby was overindulging and eating Rebekah's bottle too! We are blessed that all the babies received healthy reports and each and every one of them is absolutely beautiful! They each have a distinct personality and it is truly amazing to see the transformation in them after just 5 days with their parents! The transition from the orphanage went really smoothly anyway, but to see them blossom is just the neatest feeling in the world! Meika is crawling all over the place and a few of the babies are starting to pull themselves up! Meika was trying to teach Abigail to crawl in the hallway, but decided to give Abigail a dental exam instead! Meika is our future dentist of the group! She is fascinated with people's teeth! Abigail is still working on sitting up by herself and hasn't attempted to crawl! But then again her big sister is here waiting on her and she doesn't really need to! :)
The exam itself was interesting and conducted in a series of stations. First they weighed her, then the doctor listened to her heart and lungs, and finally the ENT screening! Abigail passed all with flying colors! She never once cried and was all smiles!
The temperature has gotten much hotter today and it is quite sticky! Much too hot to be out shopping during the afternoon! Emily spent a good part of the day in the pool and tonight after dinner we ventured out for more shopping and dinner at Lucy's. Emily and I had chicken quesadillas and they were pretty good! Our fellow travel mates from Beijing were all due to arrive here in Guangzhou tonight and we are eager to see them especially Scott and Tina's little Hannah Mei! I am afraid Scott the pizza here in Guangzhou is not as good as it was in Beijing.
When Lucy, Tommy, Jenna and all of us were walking around Shamian Island, we passed three young Chinese young men who were all dressed up in shirts and ties! They eagerly greeted us with "Hello, How are you doing!" We were so relieved and asked them where a certain store was! Unfortunately we embarrassed them a little because the "Hello, How are you!" are the only English words they knew! Too funny! The people here in Guangzhou are really warm and friendly! We get a lot of looks and double takes! They don't necessarily understand adoption too well but they go out of their way to assist us and make sure we have more dresses and squeaky shoes than you could possibly imagine. It is a lot of fun!!!
We are eagerly awaiting the news of the next set of referrals especially for our fellow June Jitterbugs and the FTIA family! We will celebrate here in China for you and look forward to hearing your news!
We miss you all and while we are really enjoying China far more than I thought I would, I am eager to get home just so you can all meet this baby! She is amazing! I can't believe I got this baby! She is incredible and so much personality! As long as you keep her belly full, the sky is the limit! Emily sends her love to all of you! Jamilla, Emily can't wait to play with you again and just 5 days to go! We will probably be on China time the first few days, so see if your Mom and Dad will let you play at 11pm at night! :)
