Busy Day

Day 10
1/09/06

Sydney got up at a better time today, but still later than before. She got up around 7:45 and we had a quick call home before breakfast. Today we had to be ready at 9:30 again only this time we couldn’t be late because we had an appointment to get the medical examinations done. The Us Consulate uses a medical center on Shaiman Island where all the shops are, so the plan was to get the examinations and do some more shopping. We got started early enough so we could enjoy our breakfast before leaving for our appointments. Brandon was feeling pretty miserable, so he hardly ate anything, just enough to take his antibiotic. He started feeling bad before we left Chongqing, but it has gotten much worse. I’m not feeling great either, but nothing like him. I decided yesterday with only three days left we would just go on the antibiotics to be safe. A lot of people from our group have bad colds or worse and I think we are just spreading it around between us. Anyway definitely pray for Brandon because the trip is no longer fun for him. Sydney had a good breakfast of congee and pears again.

Everyone made it to the lobby at 9:30 for the bus ride to the island medical center. I dressed Sydney in one of her new outfits and I must say she looked good. She had a long sleeve onesie, a cool pair of frilly bell bottom jeans, her white leather squeaker shoes and a new sweatshirt with flowers on it. I topped it off with her new pink hat with the bunnies for earmuffs built in while we were outdoors. She got a lot of complements and I’m guessing the whole outfit cost about fifteen bucks.

We arrived at the medical center and were sent to the back of the building to the adoption area. The adoption checkup is just a small part of the office, the rest is for local people to get treated like any other quick medical center. There were three stations you went to for the checkup, heart and lungs, ears, nose and throat and height and weight. We started by filling out a quick form that you carried with you to each station. It is certainly was not a very thorough exam, but they did help Dennis and Carrie's daughter Emily by giving her some antibiotics. Sydney passed all the examinations fine and was not the heaviest baby in the group! Hattie was the biggest at 28.5 pounds with Sydney pulling a close second at 27.9 pounds. Maggie, one of our guides, wanted to know how much Sydney weighed and I finally told her I’d tell her what Sydney weighed if she told me how much she weighed. She didn’t go for that!

After the doctor we had two hours to shop some more. I found a few more outfits and some gifts for people, but we ended up doing more walking than shopping. The island isn’t that big, but there is a large part of it that doesn’t have any shops. Fortunately it was a beautiful day, sunny and in the mid sixties, so we enjoyed walking. Sydney fell asleep in the carrier soon after we left the doctor and napped for about 45 minutes while we walked around. We finally found one of the shops Lori had talked about called Sherri’s Place. They had a very skinny cat (I’m guessing they stay skinny for a reason ;-) that I got to show Sydney in preparation for meeting Summer and Petunia when she gets home. It had a bed in a box someone had made for it so she couldn’t reach it, but smiled and giggled when she saw it. We ended up buying a suitcase there to bring all our stuff home in. While we traveled around China, we had to keep our checked in luggage to 44 pounds maximum per person or we would be charged extra. Now that we only have the international flight left we can check 5 bags total at 70 pounds per bag. At about 1:00 PM we got back on the bus to go back to the hotel. I think I’ll need at least one more trip to get all the rest of my shopping done.

When we got back we met JJ, Francis and their family in the lobby to go to McDonalds for lunch. I know I said I was sick of it and I am, but there is nothing else quick and cheap for lunch. In the lobby we met a group that was getting ready to leave to go get their babies. They were very excited and loved Sydney and Sophia. Francis, JJ and I told them about our gotcha day and they started getting teary eyed, it really is an emotional day for everyone who goes through it. After lunch Brandon and I just looked through a few shops on the street our hotel is on, but didn’t find anything exciting. We did pick up sunglasses. I’ve had the same pair for a while now, but the day we came to Guangzhou I gave them to Sydney to hold and never saw them again, who knows where she put them.

We got back and I gave Sydney a bottle for her nap. One member from each family had to meet in Rosa and Maggie’s room (our guides) to do the paperwork for the consulate at 4:00 and I wanted to get Sydney to sleep so Brandon would have an easier time watching her. When I left at four, she was still whimpering a little but she fell asleep soon after I left and she was still asleep when I got back at 6. The paperwork was a little stressful, because everything had to be filled out exactly and Kevin and I had extra stuff to do since our wives were not there. I was very glad to be done with it though and to make the last cash payment for the adoption. Now I can spend the rest on clothes for Sydney!

After the paperwork party, Kevin came over with Greta so she could play with Sydney and we ordered pizzas from Danny’s Bagels, the takeout place. It was a very funny sight watching the two men feed their babies. Kevin had bought a cheap umbrella stroller and was sitting on the floor feeding Greta while she sat in the stroller and I had strapped Sydney to the desk chair using the waist strap of the baby carrier while I sat on the floor and fed her. It may not have been pretty, but we got the job done! Well the evening has ended and we are just three days from being home. I can’t wait to hug Lori and Ryan, I’m missing them very much.

Love, Steven