Homecoming take #2

Thanks for giving me a heads up Miss Ashley,  I haven't been checking out the usual blogs and I didn't realize that my sweet friends had taken some great photos of our homecoming and posted on their blog here...  I just hijacked 'em from their site... Thanks Em for the great pics. 

We all slept through the night last night, and I am actually sitting here by myself- some kids off to school the littles still sleeping.. a glorious half hour of silence :)  .  It is sure to be a better day with a full night of sleep under our belts!  Blessings to you all

ok, so I ain't gonna lie... re-entry it tough. I am a shell of my former self, aged nearly 10 years in the last 3 weeks. I know it will all be a distant memory in a few weeks but right now I'm feeling rough.
It's amazing the small moments we take for granted when we watch our new 5 1/2 year old son who has obviously never been on a swing, touched a dog, eaten an orange, tried to draw a straight line, watched tv, done a puzzle but he can fold blankets and towels to military precision, use chopsticks, wash dishes, help his baby sister with anything she needs. The kids are all doing great together, much better than I could have hoped for. Ty is a real people person, and he goes out of his way to be kind to the other kids. He is my little shadow around the house and seems to really look out for me.. it is really cute. It is really tough to realize how little he has been exposed to and in many ways he act much younger than his 5 years, and in some ways he seems wise beyond his years. I'm sure he will change so much in the next few months. Something is really off with his tummy, I'm not sure if it has to do with being sensitive to milk, or maybe just the stress of the changes but he has a really weak belly...looking forward to figuring it out :(
I have been horrible at taking photos... I can't even seem to get it on my radar right now. He did get the cutest little hair cut.. but still haven't taken a photo.

Last thing we did in Beijing... so fun

Our first and only family photo...yeah I know, I'm gonna have to work on that :O )

Ty is absolutely fascinated my our dog, Maggie.  He was nervous at first but now can't seem to get enough of her every move.  His other favorite.. the water dispenser on the 'fridge...who woulda thought? 

Jack couldn't wait for a brother to play video games with... too bad Ty has .7 seconds of an attention span for it,  we have to take the batteries out of the controller because he just isn't ready... He doesn't seem to mind,,, yet.  

We are HOME!  the kiddos are doing great,  It is so wonderful to be home.  Ty hasn't missed a beat hanging with the crew.  I will post photos tomorrow when I can stare at the computer without my eyes crossing from lack of sleep :)  If any of you wonderful ladies that met us at the airport last night have any photos please email me... so I can post 'em.  You all are the best for greeting us at midnight...in the rain no less.  What a wonderful homecoming.  Love you girls :) (misty, I got your hug :) )  

LAST POST FROM CHINA!!!!!

We have had a wonderful time here, and have been blessed beyond measure.  We can't wait to see y'all in the good ol' USA Sunday Evening!  We are praying for safe and timely flights.  Blessings to all of you :)  

Amazing Day!

So I will admit that when we left Guangzhou yesterday we were a bit jealous of all the people headed straight home, we miss our kiddos and our routine like mad.   But we are really ending our trip on a high note here in Beautiful Beijing! We spent the day climbing the Great wall and visiting the Summer Palace.  Stunning.  We leave for home tomorrow evening :)  Love to you all!

These two are getting along so fantastically

What a difference a Daddy makes :)

Kobi is getting tons of attention :) 

engraved medals for climbing the wall

our little goof-ball

playing at the summer palace

Sleeping in tomorrow morning, going on a Hutong tour and then headed for the airport !!!!  Can't wait to squish all my babies  

booger

Crazy bummed tonight as my iphoto library just crashed...my last 3
years of photos on an external hard drive and it won't let me get the
photos...of course I took some really great ones today, and had to
recover just these thumbnails from the depths of my files. I hope and
pray that I can get the rest of them soon... they were my favorites
so far this trip, as I set out this morning just to get some good pix :(
Tomorrow will be a long travel day as we head to Beijing. We have a
few stops before hand so we leave our hotel at 1:00 in the afternoon
and won't get to our hotel in Beijing until around 11:00 tomorrow
night. So I won't be posting tomorrow,,,which may be a good thing,
because right now I feel like chucking my laptop into the streets of
Shaiman Island!

Kobi is still loving China which thrills me. Ty is doing well, he is
such a crack up. He loves to copy our English words but doesn't want
to talk to anyone in Chinese, unless we are alone in the room -he just
chatters away. He catches on really quick, he's gonna give Mina a run
for her money as "star of the show". :)

All is well here :)  We were thrilled to be done with our Visa appointment yesterday, and even had our swearing in at the Consulate, which was bumped up from Thursday.  We still have to stay in Guangzhou until Friday to get Ty's visa.  After that we are headed to Beijing.  We just couldn't resist taking the kids to the Great Wall and a few other sights before heading home.   But we miss our kiddos, our beds and our Gramps and Abui (Grandma) like crazy. :)   We did get a chance to hit the red couch for the infamous photo, although I am now bummed at how my photos came out.   

  

Kobi loves the pet and herb markets :)  She sees the crates full of puppies and begs to sneak one home.  As any good Mama would do, I lie through my teeth and tell her, "of course you could have a new puppy baby, if only they were allowed on the airplane."  She's too much of a skeptic to believe her silly Mama though.

 Last night I was visited by the stomach bug that Marc had so nicely shared with me...  I felt like gremlins were at war in my belly.  Then I realized I shared my starbucks with Kobi yesterday and now I am praying that she is immune to the grossness.  

  2 1/2 more loooongggg days in Guangzhou :)   Love from China.

So how sweet is this, last night we got a call from the front desk of our hotel.  We had a package waiting.  Kobi and I went downstairs and we were met with the legendary Ann (of redthreadchina.com) .  She had several bags full of goodies for us.  My dear friend Erin  had contacted her and asked her to deliver all these wonderful goodies to us.  What a sweet gift. Ty's eyes about popped out of his head with all the goodies!  Thank you so much Erin, you are so wonderful!

Today we went to a great park and got to spend some time with other families in our travel group.  It was really beautiful but soooo hot.  I checked weather. com and it says 97 degrees but feels like 111 degrees.  We both grew up in South Florida so we usually don't mind the heat but this is just ridiculous!

 Ty is such a good boy and we love him to pieces.  He is started to test us a bit.  It seems like the first few days he was just so overjoyed with everything and he is just now starting to test the limits.  He is really becoming a Mama's boy.  Kobi and I went into the restroom this morning and I could hear him screaming, "mama, mama, mama" and giving Marc a hard time.  Bedtime has been a little bit of a challenge too, but other than that he is a total love baby and a real sweet heart... ALL boy!

My little man is so intense with his writing :) 

posted my silly scenario answers on yesterday's post :)

Day one in Guangzhou

We are having a good day here in Guangzhou, even if it is hotter than Hades..holy smokes! 

I just love this little crooked smile :)

 Ty had his medical exam this morning and he took it like a champ, he didn't even flinch when he was getting a shot, he just kept with his game face.  We have yet to see anything close to tears. Even when he fell once on some stone steps and hurt his knees pretty good, he just kept stoic and raised his arms to be picked up.  

  He gets so thrilled with simple things.  I gave him a banana while we were walking through the breakfast line and he was jumping up and down with excitement... so sweet and so heartbreaking at the same time.  We had been thinking that we would put him in Kindergarten a few months after returning home... if he was ready of course, but I highly doubt that will happen this year.  He seems much younger than the typical kindergarten kiddo.   We took him to a playground this morning and he had fun but you could tell that he was unfamiliar with most of the equipment, as most of it made him very nervous.  He is very careful!    

Ok... thought this would be fun... a little "What would you do- China style?" type quiz from two funny scenarios that happened to me yesterday..

 

#1.  You are on a flight with your new son.  Thankfully he falls asleep on your lap 20 minutes after take off.  An hour later, he stirs awake and in his slumber he stretches his legs.  His little feet cross the invisible boundary of the man sitting next to him, invading his space.  Said man then swats at your sons little feet.  Then your son falls back asleep, 30 minutes pass and same scenario happens again... boy stretches, man swats.... WHAT DO YOU DO????For the first scenario,,, let me just say y'all are nicer than I am.  Maybe on my own turf I have a bit more patience but after a long week my mama bear side comes out a bit easier.  The first time I let the leg swat slide, maybe more out of complete shock than anything else.  The second time... I followed the old saying...."when in Rome" ... The second time he swatted at his leg I grabbed his wrist and moved it off and then wagged my finger at him like any good Chinese mama would do :)  .  I did make sure he kept his feet to himself after that.  If need be I would have switched seats so I could have sat next to pushy man.

#2..  (please stop reading if you are offended by potty-talk)  You are hot tired and homesick at a late dinner with your family.  Your new son finally figures a way to tell you that he has to go to the bathroom. You can tell it is urgent.  You jump up, and run to find the closest restroom.  After walking 2 blocks (the restaurant does not have a bathroom) you find one.  Your son is obviously doing a serious potty dance.  You realize that your only choice is the dreaded squatty potty (see photo above).  You get him situated and then you find yourself squatting as you hold him over the squatty.  Just as he starts having the serious runs you realize...... there is no toilet paper anywhere to be found in the bathroom!!!  So hot, stinky, sweaty, messy, gross, and squatting......WHAT DO YOU DO???  Ahh,, for this one, most of you had my same thought process.  In my hurry to get to the restroom I forgot my backpack that is loaded down with anything you would need for most any scenario..  So it was just me, my boy, and the mess...  I tried to think of the one piece of clothing that we would miss the least and it came down to one of his socks.    You gotta do whatcha gotta do :)  So nasty

I will finish my half the story tomorrow,, but I just had to see how y'all would handle it :)

Guanzhou :)

We made it to Guangzhou... what a long day.  

 I am missing my babies horribly!  We talked to the kids on skype this morning and Mina kept asking when we were coming home so I have been feeling extra homesick all day.

 

Thankfully Marc is feeling better and I continue to pray that no one else gets ill for the remainder of our trip. 

I am wiped out tonight so I am going to keep this one extra short and sweet. We are looking forward to a chill week here in Guangzhou.  Blessings to you all back at home!