medical exam and stuff!

Last night's dinner was our first group dinner. We walked with our guides to a nearby restaurant called Macau Street. It's a local favorite and features a wide variety of food - Portuguese, Southeastern Asian and Chinese cuisines. The guides had pre-ordered for us, and thankfully everyone loved the food. Lucy Mei is definitely a rice and noodles only girl. No dumplings or veggies for this girl.

Our group sat at 4 large tables...and of course, Lucy and Warren were seated next to one another. Lucy Mei is such the "mother hen" with Warren....and very in charge! If his bowl was too far away, she'd move it closer. If his hands got dirty, she'd grab a tissue to clean them. If he did something "out of line", she lets him know and corrects him...and he listens to her! We so enjoy the company of everyone in our group. The kiddos are all amazing and it's such a blessing to watch them all bond and flourish with their new loving families.
We walked back to the hotel and toured the pool and playground areas with Warren's family. It's very nice!! Can't wait to get Lucy Mei on the toddler swing outside! Unfortunately, (not really) we can't swim until after the TB test is read in 48 hours. The pool is supposedly heated, not so much.

Then, it was back to the room for nighty night. Lucy Mei was NOT wanting to go to sleep because Mama was watching TV (CNN) and eating Pringles (ok, with a little TsingTao). Sweet Lucy was having none of it. So lights out for us all. Apparently, Greg is up half the night though - work emails, text messages (updates on Sam's basketball games) and watching football. He's napping now....after posting photos and polishing off a huge 600ml bottle of TsingTao. Oh, the joys of single child parenting!!!! Carpe diem!!!

Lucy Mei was a happy camper again this morning. She's ready to get dressed first thing....and eat! Luckily, I had gotten up around 5 a.m. to shower, so I was ready for her! We skyped with the kiddos back home....one at a time (it's the only way). Lucy Mei was busy eating Gerber puffs and waving as each kiddo took their turn. We miss them sooooooo much. It's so hard seeing their beautiful faces and hearing their sweet voices. I'm just not the same without them...a piece of my heart is missing. I know they are in great hands, but I cry just thinking about them. Only 5 1/2 days until all my babies are together!!!!!!

After skype, we headed to the breakfast buffet and were seated in the absolute furthest corner of this huge restaurant - we refer to it as the "adoption" section. A lot of families adopting from China, who are not in our group, also stay at this hotel. We are all seated in the "adoption" section. Hmmmm. Highchairs already at our tables. It's so fun! 

New Lucy Mei breakfast item today: apple juice! Yay! Would not touch anything other than banana, rice and noodles though. She is definitely the pickiest eater of all the kiddos in our group. Good news though, she isn't food obsessed and knows when she is full.

1 week ago we met our precious girl. Wow. It seems so much longer!!! She behaves very much like a typical 2 year old. Not a lot of patience (and it's lessening as we bond with her more :) and irritable and whiny when tired (overstimulated). But, she's also extremely happy and sweet. She gets over things VERY quicky. Not a tantrum so far!!!! Praise the Lord!

Honestly, she's amazing. Given everything this precious baby girl has experienced the past 7 days, we are in awe. Every single thing is new to her. She lacks nearly all typical toddler life experiences. It's like an infant that is 2 1/2 years old....but with a history and a life we know nothing about.

She has the sweetest little voice ever. Her smile and laugh will light up a room (and definitely her Mama and Baba's hearts!). She is strikingly beautiful and, we believe, very smart. She seems to understand almost everything we say. Unlike Ben, she's not so big on sign language - like nada. But, she understands a smile gets her most anything!!

She's also not a fan of cleaning up toys (that must have been Warren's "job" - he's a great helper!) and she doesn't know how to blow her nose. (Ben knew this immediately and was quite good at it!). She does NOT like hair clips / bows in her hair....but, Mama is as feisty as she is...so I sneak them in when I can. Her hair is very thin, like Ben's, due to diet and lack of vitamins. But, it IS styled every morning with gel and spray. Just sayin'. :)

She has the tiniest teeth I've ever seen. Her third "dimple" is the cutest thing EVER!!!! She can say, "up" and we're working on "please". She also points at every man and says, "ye ye" - meaning Grandpa. She also says, "Jie Jie" - Warren's nickname. She also says "Mama" and "Baba" and "Hi" and "Bye bye". She's working on "car", "tree", "nose", "eyes", "ears" and "mouth". She can also say "Ge Ge" (brother) and she's trying so hard to say all the kid's names. She almost clearly says Jack. She makes sounds close to Sam, Ben and Ellie. She seems to like to learn.

She bites her nails, sucks her thumb and plays piano on her nose with her other fingers....when she's sleepy. She loves her bath, but not the water poured on her head. She loves all children and children's TV shows. Other than the Chinese phrases above, we've heard her say nothing in Chinese. She seems to understand Chinese when spoken to her, but does not respond.

She loves to grab items off the shelves in stores....and attempts to chew the bag. The aisles are narrow in the 7-eleven, so we have to be quick! She can climb stairs but walking down a hill / incline was new for her. She did it, but was very unsure of herself. She's always proud of herself when she tries something new. We see her confidence building, day by day!
Ok, back to the morning -- after breakfast, we met our group at 9:45 a.m. for the trip to the medical exam building. Knowing our Lucy Mei, we knew it wasn't going to go well.

The first station was weight, height and temperature. She wanted no part of it. Seriously. Would NOT step on the scale. Screaming in terror. So, the nurses laid her on an infant scale. Poor girl was terrified. Big alligator tears, shaking and clinging to me....and that was just weighing her!!! Oh my. I think they guesstimated height (didn't see what they wrote down) and took her ear temp quickly, which I'm assuming was ok.  

Next station was eyes, ears and throat...all in about 10 seconds. After a very quick squeeze of a squeaky toy on each side of her head, hearing check complete. Ears then checked. Last, was the dreaded throat check. Girlfriend was not happy having her mouth pried open for this strange man to place a stick in it. Lucy is soooo strong and fought and kicked with every ounce of her being. I'm guessing she passed. On to the next station.

Next was medical and surgical. A doctor reviewed her orphanage medical records and noted her identified "special need". He attempted to listen to her heart and lungs but she was kicking and screaming. It took both Greg and I to hold her down. He also examined her unclothed (only her shirt on) and pointed out her Mongolian birth mark (on her lower back), which we obviously knew about. He asked about her gross and fine motor skills, and if she could walk without shoes....which he requested she demonstrate. We're guessing she passed because we were then instructed to head to the TB shot area. Stress!!!

Soooo sad. I covered Lucy's eyes as they stuck the needle in. Obviously, she was NOT not a fan. Vaccinations at home will not be pretty. Poor girl. But, a big hug and a few kisses from Mama and she was good to go. :) We will return to the medical exam office in 48 hours for the TB test to be read.

We arrived back at the hotel around noon. Lucy (who had a late breakfast and snacked on Cheerios most of the morning) ate a nasty vienna sausage thingy, a swig of apple juice and off to nap. She started to cry very loudly though - which seemed odd. I went to check on her and the poor girl had her shirt half off and twisted around her neck. So, no shirt at nap-nap. Just like her brothers!! Then, she was out. The over stimulation and stress of the morning wiped our sweet girl out.

She did let Baba hold her today in the elevator and he even kissed her a few times on the bus! She is definitely opening up more to Greg. He dressed her this morning and he had her laughing while playing ball.

She pooped on the potty again....a little bit....and then proceeded to pee on the floor as we walked to the bed to put on her diaper. So sad. She definitely gets the hang of the toilet...maybe Mama was rushing her a little today? :( She is definitely not a fan of pooping in her diaper. This is a very good thing. We likey.

Tonight we are going on the Pearl River Cruise with our group. We didn't take the tour last time, so we opted for it this time. It includes dinner and lots of photo ops. :) We meet our group at 5:45 p.m. - so a later night for our girl. Tomorrow is the Safari Park. We LOVED the Safari Park with Ben, so we're looking forward to it!

Speaking of Ben's trip....Greg was in the lobby yesterday and ran into our guide, Jon, from Ben's trip last year!!! We love Jon and, needless to say, he was shocked to see Greg back again!! He remembered "Gang Gang" Ben....and Greg showed him pictures of Lucy Mei. He is escorting another family staying in our hotel this week.

I guess that's it for now. Lucy Mei (and Greg) will be up from nap soon. We're hoping to visit the playground before the dinner cruise.

As always, thanks for following! New photos are posted!

Blessings,