Nee-How (Hello) from China. Amelia is doing so well. Everyday she just seems to relax and show us her sweet personality more and more. She is a good eater, she does not fuss, she loves to cuddle. She is starting to make eye contact with us and smile and giggle. She still will not go to Vaughn. But she will let him read to her or play with her if she is sitting on my lap. She has just had so much to absorb. It still is taking her 2 to 3 hours at night of crying and screaming before she goes to sleep. Several of the other parents have mentioned that they have the same issue. It has been nice to touch base with the other couples and compare notes on the babies and their progress. But, overall, she is just wonderful! It is amazing to me to watch how Vaughn has changed over the week also. He is becoming more comfortable around her and even a little upset when she will not come to him. But, it will come in time.
Thank you so much for all your emails. We love reading them all! We are saving everyone of them to put in a scrapbook for Amelia. We appreciate all your love,prayers,and support.
We are unable to access the guestbook. We are anxious to return home so that we can read those notes also. Our email is hit and miss when it works. I guess the access is just not that good in China. I usually write the updates late at night by flashlight after everyone is asleep. I hope all the sentences are complete and make sense. If not, just chalk it up to new mommy stuff. I cannot believe how absent minded I have become. I go to the suitcase to get something and then I forget what I am looking for. Or I get Amelia's outfit out for the next day and then put away a toy and forget to get the socks to go with it. Oh the joys of motherhood!
Vaughn is getting a cold and not feeling well. So he decided to stay in the room Saturday and skip our sightseeing trip. Janet, Amelia and I went. Bruce had a bus for our group. The entire city is covered with ice. The tree branches have at least a 3 inch layer of ice on them. There are lots of broken branches all over the city. They even have palm trees with ice on them. So our tour was slow. The bus driver was very good and cautious. We were thankful for that. (They drive a little crazy here). We of course, had Amelia all bundled up. We did not want her to get cold or to be scolded by more Chinese ladies. Bruce took us to a Buddhist temple first. It was very interesting for the history. There were lots of steps and they were icy. We had to be very
careful since we were all carrying our babies. Next, we went to a pagoda. It was built in 904. Offices and apartment buildings had grown up all around it. The pagoda is 8 stories high. All the men and a couple of the ladies, including Janet, decided to climb up it. The staircase was old and wooden. It was more of a ladder than a staircase. Janet went to the 5th floor and took some great pictures of the city.
Our last stop of the tour was to a porcelain factory. The province of Nanchang is know for their porcelain. I bought a little tea set for Ameila since it is from the area she was born in. Janet got some nice items also. We were all freezing cold. The bus or buildings do not have heat in them. We headed back to the hotel.
We decided to head to Pizza Hut for lunch. Vaughn decided he felt a bit better and could make the trip. We put Amelia in the stroller and bundled herself and ourselves up and off we went.
The menu had something called Western crispers. There was no picture so we were not sure what they were but, we had hope. We ordered them and yes, they were waffle fries!!!!! We ordered a 2nd order (the portions they serve are very small, and we have Vaughn with us). We also had the onion rings and pizza. Our waiter was a very nice young boy, but, he did not speak very much English. After watching Amelia for a little bit, he told us, "your daughter, she is very clever". It was so cute. We think she is clever also!
Because the weather was so bad, LiPing arranged for a special dinner in a banquet room at the hotel for our group. It was very nice. We were able to chat more with the other families and share baby experiences with each other. Our original itinerary had us leaving Nanchang on Tuesday for Guangzhou. But, then Bruce and LiPing had moved our travel day up to Sunday. We thought they were trying to push things up because of the upcoming Chinese New Year. But then, LiPing told us at the dinner Saturday night that because of the bad weather the airport had been closed for 2 days. He said that we would be leaving on Monday instead and that we would go on a 6pm flight which would give the roads time to melt some to make the bus travel to the airport safer. LiPing told us Sunday would be another free day to relax and bond with our babies.
We awoke Sunday morning to more ice. Vaughn's cold was getting worse. He stayed in bed most
of the day and just hung out in the room. Janet, Amelia and I went shopping. We 1st went to another "department store" to look for things for Amelia. I was in search of hair bows and barrettes. We did not find anything for Amelia's hair but, we did find her some cute little mittens. Right next to the department store was Pizza Hut! So we had a girl's lunch! We were very happy with our western crispers and pizza. Amelia was waving and looking at the people around her. It seems that people always want to come over and see her and talk to her. There were some locals sitting next to us. When their pizza arrived, there was something moving on top. It must have been snail, or fish, or something. It was so disgusting. Janet and I could not believe it. After lunch we went across the street to Wal-Mart. It was packed with people. We do not know if it is that way all the time or busier because of the upcoming new year. We picked up some basic items we needed and we found some barrettes for Amelia! As we were leaving Wal-Mart a Chinese lady stopped me to look at Amelia. She said the she was beautiful and then she looked at me and said so good. That moment was very special. When we got outside, we discovered that the weather had gotten worse and it was very windy. We rushed back to the hotel.
We gave Amelia her 2nd bath. She did not like the bath itself but was very happy afterwards.
Vaughn learned how to do patty cake with Amelia. She loves it when he does it. Now he adds
his own little versions to it. Amelia waits until he is finished and then she just smiles and laughs.
I was unpacking the Wal-Mart bags. I gave Amelia some little socks I had just bought.
Vaughn was feeding her cheerios. He would give her a cheerio and she would give him a sock.
This repeated several times. Then he gave her two cheerios and she gave him two socks!
Everyday she just amazes us more!
In the evening Janet ran downstairs for something. When she came back several of our group
was in the hallway talking. They said that LiPing had been working all day Sunday on trying to
get us to Guangzhou on Monday. This ice storm was very bad. LiPing said that they had not had
this cold of weather in 20 years and that they had not had an ice storm like this since 1951.
He said they are calling it the storm of the century. It is covering most of China. We had no idea
since the TV and newspaper is all in Chinese. We just thought this was normal weather for China.
He said that the airport was closed and they may have to rent a bus(with no heat) to try and
drive us to Guangzhou. He said it will take 20 hours because of the conditions. None of us our
excited because they have heard of lots of bus accidents because of the weather. We have to wait until Monday morning to find out what is happening. We are having a group meeting at 10am Monday.
We know our church family and all our friends and family are praying for us. Thank you!
