NATE'S STATS

Nate and Harvard (our Boston Terrier) have been getting along great! The other day, they were sitting side by side, Nate had one hand on his bottle and the other draped over Harvard and they were both watching T.V. ha! Nate will pick up Harvard's rope toy (it's the only thing he WON'T put in his mouth) and try to throw it for him. I hope they become great buddies!

Yesterday Nate had his appt. with Dr. Bean, our pediatrician (no relation to Mr. Bean). He loved him! Gave him big smiles and let him hold him. Maybe it had something to do with the shiny stethascope around his neck. His stats are: 30" tall (90th percentile), 20lb. 12oz (average weight) & 75th percentile for head size (don't remember the measurement). The doc said he's in great shape, healthy and the only thing was what we thought was diaper rash turned out to be a yeast infection. Don said, "They gave me my son wearing a lacy girl's outfit in China and now I have to buy him Monostat 7!" haha!

He also had to get blood work done yesterday....5 vials to fill and 3 holes in his arms later...I'm glad they got it all done in one visit. I had a death grip on him so he would be still enough for them to draw the blood but he was fighting me so hard and screaming bloody murder...I got a good workout! A man who came in for his appt at the same time, passed by our room and said, "Man I thought it was bad enough for me but when I heard him screaming I just wanted to start crying!" Needless to say, he was so exhausted he fell asleep fast last night.

We're getting into a better routine and Nate's adjusting easier. He still cries sometimes if we're not holding him or walk away from him.....unless he feels like being independent and then he doesn't seem to mind. He likes opening and closing doors and trying to open the cabinets (thank goodness we babyproofed before we left!) and crawling around exploring the house. I think he'll be walking soon because he's stood on his own several times now.

We took him to praise practice at our church Wed. night and he did really well meeting some of the praise team. Smiled and let people touch him. He'll let certain people hold him (like the doc & an assistant) but is shyer with a crowd of people. When I was holding him, he reached out for the nurse assistant. She took him and walked off with him and he laid his head on her shoulder...just like he did with me when they first gave him to me. I felt a little heartbroken and regretted letting her hold him....you moms know what I mean. But then Don went up to him and he reached out to Don so I'm glad he's still looking for us. Although he's attaching to me more, there's still a lot of bonding that needs to take place. He probably felt comfortable with her because she looked like me.

He's become more clingy to me now and will go to either of us which is nice. Still hates his naps...I think he's a big social bug and doesn't like to miss out on things...or be away from us. But still sleeps through the night. Makes it kind of hard to get things done during the day if he only naps for 15-20 min. (he usually cries and protests for an hour). Don's gone back to work and I've tried doing work during the day but between that, the house and getting meals together...I don't accomplish too much. By the time he's ready to go to bed at 8:30, I'm ready too! Will just take awhile to get used to a new schedule. He's a fun little guy though and has smiles to die for! His hair's growing back too (they shaved nearly all the babies heads when they went back to the orphanage) which I'm glad for because he had a nice head of hair in his referral photo.

That's the latest! I'm trying to add more photos to our album soon: http://sullivanfamilyadoption.shutterfly.com/action/

NATE THE GREAT

This has been a rough transition with Nate. I think he's going through the "Crying" phase of grieving. The little boy in China who woke up happy from his naps and sleep...who loved his baths & didn't mind diaper changes..who enjoyed playing by himself at times...is still in China I think!

Nate has been crying constantly....he cries when we set him down (even if we're still holding on to him), cries during his baths, cries during his diaper changes, cries when he wakes up, cries in his car seat..HATES it when EITHER of us leaves the room and will cry and crawl after us as fast as his little legs will carry him....in fact, the only time he doesn't cry is when he's eating, when we're holding him, when we take him for his walks and when we went 4-Wheeling today!

I posted a new video on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/ddsullivan2) of our 4-Wheeling adventure. He's met Harvard, our Boston Terrier now and they seem to be getting along ok. It's funny because tonight when I put Nate to bed (crying of course), Harvard stood by his crib looking from him to me like "Well aren't you going to do something about this!?!" I had to call him twice to get him to come out of the room.

We have had a hard time getting into a good routine since we've been home and that's our priority starting tomorrow. We won't be taking Nate to church for awhile until he's feeling a little more comfortable being here. A couple from church brought us dinner the other night and although he was hesitant at first, he warmed up to them after awhile. If any of you want to come by for a short visit to see Nate, just give us a call first and make sure we'll be here. I think that will be the easiest way for him to warm up to the church crowd. His nap time is 10:30am - 11:30am & 2pm - 4pm so if you want to see him awake, you'll need to stop by before or after those times.

We still have adoption follow up to do...3 post placement visits and a little more paperwork. No it's not over just yet! We're still battling whatever cold or sinus infection we came down with and I think we dove in to western food too fast because we've had upset stomachs the last couple of days. No Jamie it wasn't the roast (which by the way was AWESOME!)....just too much of other stuff right when we got back, that we should've taken it a little easy on.

I can't wait until we're all feeling better, in a good routine and get caught up on our Arizona lives. Of course I'm writing all this while it's late & I'm exhausted so pardon the negativity. Anyway....the video and pictures of our 4-wheeling trip are fun to see!

good night!
denise

THANK GOD ALMIGHTY! WE'RE HOME AT LAST!

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.....there really is no place like home.

We arrived in Arizona at midnight, Thursday morning....exhausted, sick but happy to be here. When I saw the sign in LAX that said Welcome to America, I almost cried. I loved our time in China but I missed being home. Over 14 hours on planes and in airports is a rough journey for a 10 month old...no crib to sleep in...having to be woke up from his stroller every time we went through security.. but Nate did ok. He went through "take-off" like a breeze but as soon as they started serving food, he got cranky. It's not easy juggling airline food and a baby. He had already drank his bottle at take off and didn't want it anymore so from that point on, he cried for about an hour and wouldn't be consoled with anything...not even dad.

There wasn't much we could do except let him wear himself out and fall asleep which he finally did. He slept for 5-6 hours, thankfully, waking only once. When we got to LAX we had to go through customs and immigration and barely made it to our connecting flight. We were running to get there and Don grabbed 2 ICED coffees (Oh how I missed ice in China!) while I did the fastest diaper change ever!

On the short SW flight, Nate did great and the flight seemed really short. We made it home, fed him and put him to bed. He was sooooo tired and out of sorts and cried the longest he ever has before finally falling asleep after 1am. He slept, and slept, and the next morning, we had to wake him up at 10:30am to help him begin adjusting to the time difference.

I expected him to cling to dad again and be moody after all the traveling and in strange surroundings but Nate surprised both of us. Even though we had to wake him up, he woke up happy. And instead of just clinging to dad, he clung to BOTH of us. For the first time since we got him, he wanted ME to pick him up and was content with me holding him too. Yea!

We both got sicker (is that a word?!) after we got home so we put our phone on "do not disturb" so we could rest, recover and slowly adjust to the time difference. We still feel weak and achy today...sorry friends...leave messages for us and we'll try to get back to you as soon as we can. :-)


Other than the first night here, Nate's been falling asleep quickly in his new crib. Last night we closed the door, took a few steps and he was out. Poor guy is just worn out. He's more clingy here than in the hotels. In the hotels, we could set him down and he would entertain himself for awhile. Here, when we set him down, he immediately starts crying and wants to be picked up again. I think part of it is his need for security, part of it's teething and tiredness, and partly because on the plane, we had to pick him up every time he cried or I think the other passengers might have started throwing airline food at us. ha!

He hasn't met Harvard yet, our Boston Terrier. We're picking him up tonight and will introduce him to Nate tomorrow. I think both of them will eventually be good buddies. Harvard loves to play with little boys.

Well friends, Nate is taking a nap and I'm going to catch a few zzz's before he wakes up. I will keep up the blog since it seems to be a good way to let everyone know what's going on.

Oh! I'm putting several new videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ddsullivan2
I've also added several photos to our existing albums on Shutterfly so check those out if you haven't already:
http://sullivanfamilyadoption.shutterfly.com/action/

-denise

HOMEWARD BOUND

And now we've come to the end of our adventure. Today we take the oath at the American Consulate and get sworn in...sort of like a marriage vow...I swear I will treat our newly adopted child with love, not do them bodily harm and provide for him until he gets a great job to support mom & dad.

It's a bittersweet morning but we are more than ready to come back home. I knew we'd been gone too long when we bought Nate some squeaky shoes last night and I said "Oh! We didn't bring socks!" Don replied that he wore socks when we received him on Gotcha Day. I said "Yeah, but we didn't bring those to China, we left them at home". I couldn't figure out why he was looking at me as though I was insane. He tried to explain to me again, and again I argued with him. By now I'm sure he's thinking I've completely lost it. Suddenly it hits me...oh yeah...we haven't been home yet, we've been in China the whole time. DOH! Talk about a major brain fart. I think it's definitely time to be back in our OWN house, in our OWN routine.

Yesterday, I went back to Shaimin Island with Jennifer & Renee. It was my first taxi ride and I felt like "Frogger" as the driver was zipping through the traffic. Best thing to do is just not look! It was nice being on the island again and we returned to "Michael's Store" to do some shopping. Michael and his wife are the nicest people...you almost hate to bargain with them. In fact, I didn't and they still gave us a discount. He did an excellent job on the name "chop" for Nate so I picked up a couple more things.

Last night we took a harbor cruise down the Pearl River with some of the other families. When we arrived at the dock, it was pouring rain, thundering & lightening. I thought greeeeaaaat...are they going to give us our money back? But we ran onto the boat (which was 3 stories) and found us a table. They had a big dinner buffet...our guide said there wouldn't be much food but it looked like a lot of food to me. The rain subsided as we started cruising the river so after the buffet, we went to the top deck and looked at all the building lit up along the river. It was the perfect end to the day and a great memory of China to leave with.

Next stop....home. :-)

WHAT'S UP DOC?

Ni Hau! (hello)

Oh what a fun day! Today all the babies had their medical exams on Shaimin Island and the big group photo. We had to wake Nate up to make the breakfast buffet and catch the 8:00am bus to the island. He was not too happy with us disturbing his sweet dreams. When we arrive at the island an hour later, they whisk the kids in for their Visa photos. By now, Nate understands that when the big metal thing with a round circle in front is pointed at your face, you're supposed to smile. So he totally hammed it up for his Visa photos!

Next we all herded into a small waiting room for the medical exam. Several other families from the Beijing tour have hooked up with us so it got crowded fast. Nate does not like to sit still...either the stroller has to be moving or we have to walk him around...so he immediately got fussy and started crying. Niiiiice. We kept cramming the bottles in his mouth but he gulped his formula rations too quickly and he only had 2 bottles left and 6 more hours to go!!! Not good! Finally they brought him in for a 3-part check...vitals, then height/weight, last ears & sight. He passed everything...they said he was a big strong boy! He weighed in at 10 Kilos (not sure what that is in pounds) but he also had a very full stomach so I think he's a little less. I weighed him in Chongqing and he was 20lbs. but he's also been eating more since then.

After medicals we walked around Shaimin Island which has a very European influence in architecture. It was really humid and I ended up with several mosquito bites (I didn't even think to put on bug spray before we left). It was really nice on the island...lots of shops, (Starbucks!), a great park & playground. I kind of wish we had been able to stay at the White Swan and take advantage of this. There's not too much near the Westin. We loaded up with more souvenirs...I spent a lot more than I planned but I don't know if I'll ever be able to come to China again. We got a few little traditional chinese outfits for Nate up until he starts Kindergarten. Also got a chop (stamp) of his name in Chinese. They hand carve it and there's a little figuine on top of a dog (because he's the year of the dog). I think we'll give that to him for his high school graduation present.

After negotiating a lower price on our items..we almost left them all because we were late getting to the group photo and the salesgirl wasn't lowering our price....she finally did and we raced to the White Swan hotel. We had to buy a cheap extra suitcase to hold our extra purchases. Doh! By the time we got to the White Swan our hair and clothes were plastered to our face because of the humidity...I lifted Nate out of the stroller to change him into his chinese clothes and the poor kid's butt was soaked! We were so into the shopping, we hadn't checked his diaper and he had overflowed! No wonder he was so grumpy! I rushed him into the bathroom to change him. He was so moody I told Don to hold him for the group photo so we would at least have a decent one without him crying. It was a challenge to get all the families squashed together for the photo, plus it was hot in the hotel so the babies were getting fussy.

We thought we were done and then they wanted all the babies together on the red couch for a photo. Yeeaaah riiiight. Nate had had enough and started crying even before we got him on the couch. Try getting several squirmy babies to sit still and the more time we take trying to get them all on there, the more Nate is getting mad. Finally they tell us to sit all the babies down at once and back away quickly. But by now, Nate is REALLY mad and screaming. All the other babies are looking at him and a few are laughing. That's our spicy hot pot! Oh well...at least the group photo turned out decent....I hope...we haven't seen it yet. ha!

We all went to lunch after that and had dim sum. Now that we've had Nate for a week, he's asserting his inpendence more. He likes to feed himself and won't let us feed him anymore. We just hand him his bottle and he goes to town. Or we give him table food and he feeds himself. It's nice in one sense but we also discovered that his foster parents spoiled him rotten. He expects to get what he wants, when HE wants it. How do you teach a 10 month old manners?!! If you try to clean up the area around him when he's eating he shoves your hands away. Or when he starts getting full, he'll smear his food all over the table or high chair or purposely knock stuff to the ground. We've got some habits to break and new things for him to learn, but one thing's for sure....he's got a mind of his own, he loves trying different foods and he loves being wherever we are.

We took him to a Thai restaurant last night, thinking it would be a grueling experience because he was moody yesterday too. But in fact, it turned out to be the best restaurant experience yet. First off, the food was AWESOME!!! We were in heaven! We gave Nate some crispy shrimp chips to keep him occupied until the food came. He was devouring them. I took a bite of one and realized it had a little kick to it...but Nate loved them! Don was so proud that his son was enjoying spicy food (he had a nice mushy diaper for Don to change the next morning too. ha!) We fed him bits of egg roll and rice and he was totally content.

Tonight, Don went swimming and Nate and I spent some time bonding. He was better than I thought he'd be and ended up falling asleep in my lap. He's a funny kid. When he's feeling good, he'll babble to himself and start bopping up & down like he's listening to music or something. He LOVES looking at himself in the mirror and is teething like crazy...a regular drool monster. When someone called me on the phone while I was making his bottle, instead of screaming, he just watched me..babbled a bit and acted like he was listening to the conversation! Yeah, he's a keeper. :-D

Tomorrow we have more paperwork and tomorrow night, we take a short harbor cruise down the Pearl River. We've had such a great time here. We're ready to come home to a more normal routine but I am really enjoying being in China. I'm glad we had this incredible opportunity. I can't wait to travel more with Nate. He's done so well going to different restaurants, different places....yeah he's been moody but nothing we haven't expected. He'll be fun to see the world with!

-denise

GUANGZHOU

I sitting here in the Westin in Guangzhou..which unbelieveably is even nicer than the InterContinental. They even brought us extra bottled water, a baby bath tub, a white robe for Nate, baby travel kit and wipes! Oh yeah…and a blond Barbie doll holding a Chinese baby. Ha! I’m thinking we’ll pass that on to one of the other families!

Nate is acting different today. He woke up in a good mood…he always wakes up quietly, sitting or standing in his crib looking at us. We never even realize he’s up until we hear him babble a bit. But at breakfast, he hardly ate. Only drank 4 oz ( he usually downs 8oz plus 4 oz of diluted apple juice & whatever breakfast food we feed him). Then he got fussy sitting in the high chair which means we had to shovel in our food to get moving. We went back to the room and finished packing and he got mad when we tried to put him down for a nap but eventually fell asleep. Only bad thing is that we had to wake him up to leave for the airport. That never goes over very well….for the rest of the day!

We got on the plane at 1pm, delaying his feeding for take off so of course, he was REALLY cranky. Started crying as we were boarding and while we were waiting to taxi. We thought they’d never get that plane in the air but as it started up, we gave him his bottle. Now you’d think that having a light breakfast and not eating again until 1pm, he would be starving. Well he started drinking the bottle but as soon as the plane lifted off he took it out of his mouth to play with it. So of course the pressure started hurting his ears but he would NOT suck on that bottle! So…the crying starts again. Did I mention the plane is packed with people? Now he’s squirming on Don’s lap, pushing away the bottle and we’re thinking..greeeeeaaat…this is going to be one long flight. Finally we get him to drink it and would you know it….he ended up drinking 16 oz during the flight plus a bunch of Cheerios after that! His poor little tummy was bloated up like a Buddha belly!

Then, on the bus ride to the hotel he drank another 4oz of diluted apple juice! We went through more diapers that afternoon than any day yet! By the time we got to the hotel we were exhausted and decided that room service sounded really good right about now. Nate was moody the rest of the night and when we put him to bed, he zonked out immediately. Just a minute ago, he’s woke up twice grumbling, sitting up in his crib but lays down and goes right back to sleep. Not fun to mess up the kid’s routine. Fortunately, we fly back home right when he goes to bed. It will be dark on the plane and hopefully he’ll sleep through most of it.

Tomorrow we have a free day and the last few days are filled with paperwork and other legal stuff. All the families are anxious to get back home and get in a better routine. It’s not easy unpacking and re-packing from one hotel to the other with a new child. But I figure, if we can do this in a foreign country with a 10 month old new baby…we can do about anything!

-denise

ZIE JIAN.....CHONGQING

Last night was our last night in Chongqing. By the way…we found out that Chongqing means “Double happiness”..totally appropriate! We also found out that our son’s first name is Li and Wang is his middle name. I thought that was interesting considering all of the families babies had the same first name, “Li”. We’re known as the Li group!

Yesterday we went with Troy and Aimee (2 other families) to stock up on Chinese formula to take back to America. Nate was still “off” yesterday and this time he had a battle of the wills with Don. He refused to leave the remote alone (sorry bud, it’s not a toy!) so he and dad had it out. Very stubborn spicy boy. In the afternoon, we took Aimee to the Guonyong Cave and vendor area. We stopped by a previous vendor, Guong Jian Li (not sure how to spell her name)…and she gave us a little ceramic dog whistle because our babies are the year of the Dog. We met her husband and children and picked up a few more souvenirs. I didn’t realize how many souvenirs we had bought until I started packing. I think our suitcases are over the weight limit!! Doh!

That afternoon we did more paperwork…I think we owe Kristi some whiteout..ha! Got Nate’s passport…his photo looks like a refugee. They had shaved his head before they took it. Then we had a free evening and decided to venture out on our own to a local Sichuan restaurant. We went back to the cave area and found a nice restaurant next to the Starbucks. We figured if it was near that, they would cater to foreigners & tourists so our chances were better of having a good experience. Haha!

They found someone who spoke basic English and they led us upstairs to a table that looked out over the Yangtze River. We looked at the menu, which was all in Chinese but fortunately had very nice pictures of the food! We asked the server what she recommended and she pointed to a few dishes..”This very good!” We took her word for it. She was absolutely right! The dinner was awesome! We had some cabbage type veggie that had a flavor similar to the Four Season Green beans, spicy chicken and fish. The fish had the head and tail fins left on the plate. If you didn’t look at the blank eyes, the fish was the best I’ve ever tasted. We had asked for bottled water but the server didn’t understand and brought us boiling water in wine glasses! Hmmm…guess we’ll stick to the hot tea. All in all, the whole meal was less than $20.

We were looking for the elevator in the plaza when we noticed 2 ladies standing next to us..suddenly a camera flash goes off. I look up and the girls are giggling and the man with them points to Don and says “They think he look very strong!” (This happened constantly). So we humored them and I took a nice family photo for them next to Don. Ha! After finding the elevator, we’re waiting to push our way in and the people in front of us are curious about us and Nate. They’re speaking a mile a minute in Chinese to us and we’re looking at them like deer in headlights. (This also happens a lot). Finally I say the Chinese word for son and they understand. Then they ask something else and we just smile and nod. Apparently they must have liked us because they helped us push our way into the elevator which was totally packed….or so I thought until we stopped at a floor on the way up and 2 MORE people pushed in. By this time I have the diaper bag on Don’s back shoved in my face and I think I’m standing on the person behind me! Someone behind us asked us where we were from and Don says “America”. Then they ask “Where in America?” and Don says “Arizona”. Suddenly the entire elevator bursts out laughing. So of course we start laughing although we have no idea what’s so funny. Then a young lady in front of Don says “State of Arizona! I was accepted into the U of A there”. This still doesn’t clear up the reason why everyone was laughing. At least they’re a happy crowd! Finally we herd off the elevator…there’s no such thing as standing in line in China. If you don’t shove your way forward you’ll be left behind and they give no preference to elderly or children.

We walk a bit through the lit up square near our hotel and I think about the things I’ll miss. I’ve enjoyed our time in Chongqing and we both felt very relaxed here. I’ll miss the friendliness of the people. Every person we pass looks at us and Nate and smiles, points or if we stop, there’s always a small crowd that have to stop & see the baby. I’ll miss dodging the “Grandma Police” who tell us the baby carrier is making Nate too hot, or that he’s slumping too much in his stroller, or coming up and wiping his runny nose! I’ll miss seeing the bright lights, women everywhere in pretty dresses and high heels as though they’re going to a party, the countrymen with their bamboo poles carrying baskets of fruit, vendors selling rice congee in the mornings, holding your breath as you dart across the street in a suicide run against the taxis and buses who think pedestrians are invisible!

I hope one day we can bring Nate back to his hometown when he’s older, so he can see and appreciate his heritage. Today we fly to Guangzhou to complete the adoption process. I’m not looking forward to the plane ride but thank goodness it’s only 1-1/2 hours. We leave at an odd time…in between Nate’s meal and nap so we have to alter his routine. Ugh. Well at least he won’t be the only baby crying on the plane!

Signing off…
-denise

FIRST FAMILY PHOTO

Here's our attempt at the first ever Sullivan family photo! Haha!

Also added one other entry below.

-denise

BATTLE OF THE WILLS

Yes I know we've only had our son a few days. Yes I know he's frustrated and grieving.. Yes I know he's only 10 months old.. But I also know he's smart as a whip. He already looks at us when we call him Nate and we haven't been doing it very much. You can see his little mind thinking as he's checking out both ends of his bottle and the best way to grip it, or stacking his stack cups in the proper order.

Yesterday I mentioned he was having an "off day". Last night was a big test for us. He was very moody..happy one minute, mad the next. He tried to stand up at one point, lost his balance and smacked his head on the trash can. Big bruised lump on his forehead. I scooped him up to comfort him and he let me for just a minute. His cries were subsiding and he wanted down so I sat him down across from me. He looked at me and all of sudden that spicy temper flared up! He SCREAMED..his little face turned beet red and he looked like he would pop a vein in his forehead. He reached out to me so I picked him up but he fought me pushing against me, squirming, screaming. Maybe that wasn't what he wanted...so I sat him down again. He looked at me crying and suddenly another spicy temper tantrum erupted. He crawled to me and reached out again, so again..I scooped him up and again..he fought me, refusing to be comforted.

We repeated this "fun" cycle a few times..he's still screaming & now his face is covered in tears and snot and he's stuffing his fists in his mouth, grabbing his gums. Once more he reaches out to me..once more I pick him up only this time, not only is he fighting me but now he's digging his little claws in my arms and face in anger and frustration and ripping my skin out. That's IT! MOMMA HAS HAD ENOUGH!

We realize he has anger issues and we have to figure out a way to redirect that anger. No matter how frustrated he is...hurting mom is NOT acceptable in venting anger. And so begins the battle of the wills. I sit him down across from me and firmly say & "sign" "NO!" He screams, crawls to me & reaches for me again, and again I sit him down & say & "sign" "NO!" We repeat this wonderful learning process several more times...he doesn't realize that momma is as stubborn as he is! Finally I sit him back again, raise his chin so he's looking me straight in the eye and I say & "sign" "NO!" This time, he hesitates for a few moments, crying before he starts to crawl to me again. Again, I look right in his eyes and repeat the command. He hesitates again, crawls to me but stops before he gets to me, looks up and sits back down crying. I think he's understanding.

He starts to reach out again, and this time, instead of sitting him back down I say & sign "NO!" and he stops in the middle of his reach and sits back again crying. By now I realize he's got it. Smart kid! Now he tries to get dad to comfort him. He pulls himself to a standing position on the bed and reaches out to daddy. But he doesn't realize that mom & dad are a "team"! Dad says & signs "No!" and now he KNOWS he's not going to win this game. He clings to the bed screaming and wrenching his gums. We give him his panda bear and he immediately crams the paws and ears into his mouth and starts chomping on them. We've found a "pacifier"...a way for him to vent his frustration. Chomping on the panda calms him down. Hard to cry when it's stuffed in his mouth!

We have a very strict rule in our family...the one who disciplines MUST be the one to do the comforting. Otherwise he will learn to hate the person disciplining if someone else comforts him. I've seen this happen in other families. So I wait until he's calmed down...scoop him up and sing to him. He tries to fuss but the panda is calming him. You know the song "I'm a Little Teapot". Well I changed the words and this what I sang:

I'm a little hot pot
Short & stout,
Make me mad
And my temper comes out!

Haha! Hey it worked...suddenly he's sleeping in my arms. Success!! Even better..he slept through the whole night and woke up happy..smiling at me and reaching out to me to start a new day. :)

VIDEO OF NATE & PHOTO LINK

Hi everyone, I just got a YouTube account and posted a video of Nate (above). Here's the link to our YouTube Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/ddsullivan2

Will try to do some more. I accidently deleted all of our Links on my blog. Unfortunately everything is in Chinese so I don't know how to get them back! ARGHH! Here's the link again to our photo album if you need it:

http://sullivanfamilyadoption.shutterfly.com/action/

Thank you everyone for your awesome comments! It's great that we are able to update you and have you be a part of this journey with us. Your comments are so encouraging..keep them coming!

Love Denise

LOCAL ADVENTURES IN CHONGQING

Don & I wanted to experience the more authentic part of China, so we met a friend, Joan, who lives here in Chongqing. Joan is a mutual friend with Kathy in Phoenix, who also has 2 daughters from Chongqing. That's how we knew her. She met us at the hotel with her daughter and nephew and took us to a local hotpot restaurant. I'm glad she was with us because first of all, we would never have found it. It was on the 3rd story of a commercial building, and secondly, no one there understood English and the menu was in Chinese. Hot pot is like fondue. You have a big metal bowl in the middle of a table, filled with a spicy broth. They bring out trays of raw meat and veggies and you just cook it in the spicy broth and eat it. You can also dip your meat in a small bowl of sesame oil, garlic and vinegar. It was really good and not as spicy as I expected it to be although most westerners would beg to differ...unless you just love spicy food. Don thought it was perfect! The only thing is I thought they would give us rice to counter the spiciness but we never got any. No one else had any either and Joan said that some people will put hot chili powder in their plates, then roll their cooked meat in it to make it even hotter! There were some interesting dishes that people were eating...pig brains and other stuff we preferred to leave in the kitchen!

One of the families said they were inspired by our adventurous spirit and went out to try local food on their own. Unfortunately, since no one in the restaurant understood English, it took nearly an hour for them to figure out how to order steamed rice! When they finally ordered an entree, they discovered they had ordered steamed pork fat!! Like getting bacon with no meat on it. ha! Needless to say, they went back to the hotel and got room service. :-D

Today we went to the Old Town which is a small road with charming shops and vendors. It's totally touristy but fun to look around. Our guides, Ricky & Kristi, helped us bargain for items. Don wanted this interesting flute made out of gourd and they were asking 220 Yuan (approx. $31 USD). Ricky helped us bargain them down to 130 Yuan ($18). Then when Don tried to play it in the street, an elderly man came up and showed him the proper way to play it! ha! We saw vendors doing intricate embroidery on silk, a lady making candy "lollipops" that were extremely thin & translucent and in the shapes of the chinese zodiac animals.

For lunch, Joan took us to a local restaurant that served traditional Sichuan food. It was AWESOME! We had spicy chicken that actually had more of those crisp red peppers than chicken, rice, 4 Season Green Beans that were REALLY good and cabbage. The whole meal for the 3 of us was only $10!! Unbelieveable! Next, Joan took us to the countryside where we saw the rice terraces and farmers houses. It was beautiful...all the farms built into the hillsides. They spread their corn out to dry in front of their homes so you could spot bright yellow patches around the houses on the hills. We visited a farmhouse and met a couple who make bamboo baskets to wash your veggies in. Of course I had to have one (I just hope I can squeeze into our suitcase!) Only 20 Yuan.. but we gave them 40 (a little over $5). The farmer's wife showed us where she grinds rice & corn, the kitchen which had a dirt floor and stone walls. There was a small wooden counter with a huge metal wok for cooking. Next to that was a small room with a buffalo munching on grass. Outside, they had their corn spread out and grinding stones near their vegetable garden. It was definitely a big difference from the upscale city. These farmers were very poor but I have to say they have a gorgeous view and peacefulness that you don't get downtown.

Nate was a little off today. He wouldn't eat much at breakfast and just snacked on his bottle during the afternoon. He never got a proper nap because we were out and about so much, so when we put him down at 4pm, he screamed in his crib for awhile before conking out. He was VERY clingy to Don today and although he smiled at me more, he would not let me hold him for very long and always ended up wanting Don. The locals keep commenting on how beautiful his skin is. I guess because it's pale and smooth. I asked Joan why a boy like this might be abandoned. She said sometimes, young unmarried women will get pregnant and in China, you cannot get married until you are 23. If you are unmarried and pregnant..that's illegal. Sometimes I wonder if Nate's birth mom tried to figure out a way to keep him since he was 2 weeks old before he was abandoned. The other babies were around 2 days old. It makes me sad to think about it and I pray that if that was the case, that she is able to be blessed with a husband & other children one day.

Tomorrow is a free day..not sure what we plan to do yet. In the afternoon we get his passport and turn in some of our dossier paperwork.

More tomorrow, Zia Jian
-denise

CHONGQING & OUR LITTLE "HOT POT"

Well my laptop power cord finally arrived from Beijing last night so I can start catching up on my blogs. *Blog Warning*...this is a long one but so much interesting stuff to tell you all. I'm also putting a new photo album called "Chongqing" soon. Click on our photo album link to the right to view it.

The last few days have been full of discoveries. Nate is already starting to bond with us and has attached himself to daddy first. He is the cutest thing when he's smiling and happy but when he's mad..wow! I've nicknamed him our little "hot pot" because of his spicy temper. Hot pot is a popular dish in this area. It's sort of hot & spicy soup that you throw a bunch of different food into. We're going to try some of it tonight.

Well I'm not sure where to start so I guess I'll just start with the city. Our hotel is SWEEEEETT!! Big rooms with a desk & sitting area and a bed to die for! At first I thought it was pretty extravagant for all this but after the last few days, I am so thankful for a nice place to relax after all the stress and change we've been going through. Our hotel is very close to the Liberation Monument in downtown and surrounded by TONS of shops, malls, restaurants and people! I've never seen so many people of all ages walking the street at all times of the day. There are people dressed like "westerners" and people from the country with a wooden pole draped on their shoulders and 2 baskets full of fruit or other things on either end. Some women have these big baskets...like the laundry hampers at Cost Plus World Market..that they strap to their back like backpacks and carry their toddlers in them.

Our hotel is right across the street from a Starbucks! I can still get my Cafe Mocha fix. ha! But they also have interesting treats like Green tea cheesecake and are currently selling Mooncakes because of the upcoming Autumn Moon Festival. I am getting good at charades trying to combat the language barrier. However, I am amazed at how many chinese people know basic English. Enough to say Hello, Goodbye, Cute Baby, How old is baby? etc. People in Chongqing LOVE babies and we are stopped everywhere we walk because people want to look at Nate. One vendor, an elderly lady tried to take him out of his stroller, and you should've seen the look he gave her! Nate, does NOT like the attention and turns his head away or pushes them away when they try to touch him or his face. That's good! We want him to look to us as his caregivers.

The hotel is also in walking distance to the Yangtze River.. a lovely brown murkiness that's usually covered in a foggy mist. We ventured out yesterday to a touristy area called GuongYoun Caves (I might have spelled that wrong). It's right by the river and they have several floors of vendors. We wanted to try the local food but were too chicken. We'd like our first experience outside the hotel to be a good one and not one where we're "toilet huggers"! We did bargain for and buy some souvenirs which was a fun experience.

These last few days have been full of discoveries with our son. The first 2 days he was grieving..pitching fits when he didn't get what he wanted...especially when he didn't know WHAT he wanted! Was clingy to Don and did not want him out of his sight. He hated his diaper changes, having his nose wiped and going to bed. He would get so frustrated that he'd dig those claws of his into your skin, hit you and push you away. It was hard not to react because he just doesn't understand what's going on.

Last night we saw a new change. He still cried when put to bed but this time comforted himself with a stuffed panda that our niece gave him (he hated the panda the first 2 days). He would sit in his crib sobbing, stuffing the panda's ears in his mouth until he collasped in his crib exhausted. He's been sleeping through the entire night, which is good for us, but I still find myself waking up during the night to make sure I can still hear him breathing. Last night was hard..he was sick and coughed a lot. None of us got much sleep and it made for a fussy, grumpy boy this morning. Plus I think we're getting his cold so we're popping Zicam and Airborne like crazy.

Today we went to the Chongqing Zoo and saw the giant pandas. It was EXTREMELY humid and all of us were dripping...make that pouring..sweat from the humidity. All the babies hair was plastered to their faces and since most of us had to carry them, we were dripping too. We ended up buying a cheap umbrella stroller (THAT was an experience) and it worked out well for the zoo and for walking downtown. When we got back to the hotel, we put Nate on the bed with us and let him crawl all over us, pulling our noses, feeding me Cheerios, yanking out my hair and protecting my glasses from his curious fingers. He laughed and played and this time when we put him in his crib for a nap, he hardly fussed. YEA! An achievement! Maybe it was the sight of Don doing a funnny dance in front of him that kept him entertained, but he eventually sat down, stuck his panda bear in his mouth and babbled. He didn't seem to mind his crib at all. He still LOVES to go out in his stroller or carrier. He's very curious..always has to touch things, grab things. He likes the challenge of figuring things out, like how to stack his stacking cups or how to get the Cheerios out of the snack cup. We are quickly learning how to work this little guy into our lives. We've learned to wait and feed him when we eat so we can all eat in peace. Don't leave the forks and knives or hot plates too close to him. You have to remember...we never had to worry about this before! haha!

We've quickly become friends with the others in our group and it's great that we are able to go through this together..trying to figure out what works, what doesn't. Yesterday we got our paperwork that says we are officially Nate's parents! They took a small family photo and put it on a nice "diploma" and gave us a small gold seal of Chongqing. It was an thrilling moment!

Tomorrow we are going to see the Ancient Town. I can't prounounce the name but I'm curious to see a different side of Chongqing besides the massive sky scrapers that we are surrounded by. If we get daring enough, we might use our last free day to see the 3 Gorges on the Yangtze River.

Well, I'm sure I've forgotten to write a lot of things but I'll catch up again next time. Thanks for all your prayers..they have been working and are encouraging to us. We look forward to bringing Nate home, but a part of me will be sad to leave China. After all, it is our son's heritage and I hope we can help him remember it in the years to come.

Until next time,
Zi Jian (goodbye)
-denise

GOTCHA DAY!!!

August 5, 2007....the day we'll remember forever. We were nervously pacing in our hotel room when we got the call at 4:00pm from our tour guide, Ricky. "Don & Denise Sullivan? Your baby is waiting for you in the hotel lobby"! We grabbed our bag of toys we hoped he would like, got on the elevator with another nervous family, walked into the hotel lobby....and there they all were. Lined up on a sofa, just sitting there looking around...except for Nate. He was being held by a young man who traveled with the babies on the 6 hour ride from the orphanage.

Then they called us one by one and held out our babies to us. When they gave Nate to me he immediately laid his head on my shoulder...no crying no fussing. Just curious. In fact, none of the babies cried. It was a very calm reunion. I gave him to Don and he immediately started bonding to him (we found out later that he preferred his foster father.) He wouldn't let me hold him after that but all in good time.

We went up to the hotel room and that's when all hell broke loose. He was NOT happy. Screamed and was very wiggly..pushed away his bottle, HATED having his diaper changed and still wasn't happy after that. He sounded a little congested and had a runny nose so we thought he wasn't feeling well...until they brought his report from the foster family. It said that when he got fussy to take him out for a walk. We thought "what else do we have to lose?"..bundled him up and as soon as we stepped out of the hotel room, he quieted down. When we got out to the street he was laughing, smiling...go figure! Fortunately, we are right in the heart of downtown surrounded by tons of shops, malls, a Starbucks right across the street! YEA BABY!! So there's no shortage of things to do and see. He was exausted last night and slept from 9pm to 6:30am! A good night's sleep for mom & dad too!

People in Chongqing LOVE babies. Nate gets attention from everyone, men & women both who constantly say "Ooohh cute baby. How old? What's his Chinese name?" Nate loves going for walks like his mama...loves watermelon, like ba ba (dad). He is a beautiful child, happy when he's content and a typical "spicy" Chongqing temper when he's mad. He's crawling, pulling himself up, wants to see and touch everything. Yep, he's our boy! We've definitely got our hands full but full of the best thing ever.

Thank God for our beautiful son.

P.S. I left my powercord to my laptop in Beijing..they are shipping it to me because my laptop battery is dead so I apologize for the delay. I'm on the hotel's computer.

More to come.
love denise

DAY 2 - TREKKING THROUGH BEIJING

I'm sitting here writing this blog and trying not to fall asleep. It was an exhausting but awesome day! We started out by meeting up with the rest of our group and heading to the Forbidden City. Just the name sounds exotic and mysterious. The place was HUGE and PACKED with people. Poor Don hates going to Disneyland during high crowds and this was 10x worse! Our guide, Chloe, led us on our tour. Before we went in, we posed for a group photo. The chinese locals are very curious about us westerners and while Chloe was taking photos for us with our cameras, several other chinese people passing by took photos of us or yelled out "Cheese!". It was hilarious. Or if Chloe stopped to tell us something interesting about the City, locals would join in our group listening intently, although I highly doubt they understood any English. It is amazing to me how this City was hand built so many thousands of years ago. The architecture is beautiful.

Next we headed to a restaurant for Peking Duck! Beijing was originally called Peking..hence the name of the dish. They actually brought out several dishes in addition to the duck so we ate well! I thought the duck would be more flavorful but I thought it tasted a bit bland. After that, we headed to The Great Wall. The day was foggy and misty so our photos didn't turn out the best but the Wall is INCREDIBLE! We climbed...I don't know how many stairs....and it's hard to imagine workers spending their lives building this massive structure. The steps were steep and my legs are KILLING me now. It was extremely humid so we were drenched by the time we got as far as felt we could go. The views from the top are killer! Going down was not much easier since our legs were shaking by this time! What an amazing experience. I'm adding more photos to the "Beijing" album in our Shutterfly photo collection.

Driving through the streets of Beijing is an adventure. There are people walking everywhere...bicycles everywhere, some with HUGE loads of stuff balancing on the bike. Crossing the street is suicide because the cars don't stop. They'll literally come right at you full speed and you're running for your life to get to the other side! I don't know how we made it back to the hotel alive.

Tomorrow is the big day! We leave for the airport at 5:30am..a 3 hour flight to Chongqing and that afternoon they bring our babies to the hotel lobby!!! YEAAA!!!! :-D

going to bed now. will be hard to sleep!
denise

DAY 1 - CHINA ON MY MIND

19 HOURS ON PLANES..TWO-5 HOUR LAYOVERS LATER.......and we're here! This is really strange. I logged onto Blogger and everything is automatically in chinese. Good thing I already have the buttons memorized. ha!

God bless Sue Sorrells..our travel agent, who talked us into flying Premium Economy on China Southern airlines! I think that was the most fun I've had on an airline. The staff was very gracious, we had plenty of space and fun little perks like slippers, travel kits and good grub! Our strategy for combatting jet lag was to sleep most of the time and try to stay awake when China was awake. Actually, it worked. We met 3 other couples during our LAX layover who were adopting through different agencies and different provinces but we were all going to be in China the same time. Two of them were adopting special needs boys who were toddlers. One couple had their first adopted child with them, also a boy, from Chongqing...same as Nate.

Toward the end of the plane ride we had our first chinese meal. They asked if we wanted chinese or "western" breakfast (at 3am China time!) and we opted for chinese. They served congee (a rice-type soup), a beef/pepper noodle dish, salted hardboiled egg, and fruit. It was very tasty! We had several choices for in-flight movies and Don was very happy to be able to watch Mr. Bean. ha! At the end of the flight, we landed in Guangzhou (gwong-joe), and met the man sitting next to Don, Wen-Cheung. He gave us a few pointers before we got off the plane. Customs was a breeze...much easier than I expected. I visited the bathrooms and had my first experience with a squat toilet...basically a porcelin toilet fit into the tile. Squat & go! Just like camping.

We entered into the main part of the airport and ran into Wen again. Fortunately the signs were in English and Chinese but he said, "Follow me! I'll take you where you need to go." We didn't protest! China is so crowded that personal space is redefined here. If you want to get in line, you better push your way through or you'll never get to the front. But no one seems to mind if you push in front of them. Just the way it is. Wen manuevered his way to the ticket counter, got us our boarding passes, told us that the Autumn Festival was coming up and that's why there were all these vendors selling mooncakes. The souvenir sucker in me wanted to buy it all! I did notice that when I bought bottled water upstairs it was 25 Yuan and a short walk downstairs it was 15 Yuan! So I guess it pays to shop.

The flight from Guangzhou to Beijing was hardest. My butt was sore from sitting so long, Coach was cramped and crowded and thank goodness it was less than 3 hours flying time. I felt like a 5 year old forced to sit for too long and was jumping out of my skin! I've never been able to sit still very long anyway. In Beijing we met Jesse, our CHI coordinator who lives in Beijing. She spoke very good English and gave us a few pointers about our stay. She showed us Care-Farr, the local market store which was kind of like a Wal-Mart. We got settled in our room and decided to walk to Care-Farr and get our bottled water. There were people everywhere on the streets..like in a downtown area, and several approached us to hand out flyers. We responded "Boo Yao" (boo-yow) which means "I don't want it". In the market, they have employees everywhere in almost every aisle just waiting to assist you or shouting out the latest promotions. The grocery store was like a very authentic 99 Ranch Market. Turtles, skinned & roasted pigs, eels, yummy baked goods (we bought a few of those), all kinds of stuff. After you pay, you pass by a few vendors selling items. One of them was a tea vendor. Whenever you walk up you're immediately approached and they want you to try everything. After saying "no" several times, Don asked if they had green tea (he likes the real, earthy tasting kind). They did and the girl promptly cut a bag open to let us smell. Of course at that moment we thought we were committed to buy but she instructed us to sit at a tea table where she made the tea for us to sample. Then she brought out a tray with green tea goodies and cookies. It was a fun experience and of course we ended up leaving with a bag of tea & treats!

By the time we got back to the room we were totally exhausted so we got room serivce. It was more than I wanted to pay..more like a dinner at The Outback but we didn't have enough energy to go find a restaurant. It's interesting that there's a Pizza Hut & KFC right down the street! However, we're not ready to resort to western food yet. We want to soak up as much of the culture here as possible. On that note, we do want to find the Starbucks just to say "been there, saw it!"

Now we've had a good rest and feel pretty good this morning. The buffet breakfast that the agency provides was amazing! So much good food..I didn't know where to start! Wish I was more hungry but I don't eat much when I'm away from home. Met one couple in our travel group to Chongqing and will meet up with almost the entire group in just an hour to go see The Great Wall & Forbidden City. I'm totally excited! I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE REALLY IN CHINA! Never in my life did I think we would get to see this part of the world.

Thank you for your prayers during our trip. Everything went smoothly and we're looking forward to today. More to come later. Check out our photo album too (link at the right). I'm going to post a few photos from yesterday.

love denise

TAKE OFF!

Aaaaaaaaaaand....we're off!! Well almost. We're sitting here in LAX in a 5-1/2 hour layover. :-p

It's not too bad. We had a nice dinner at a restaurant in the airport and now we're hanging out with 3 other couples who are flying to different provinces in China to adopt their kids. We live all over the U.S....Kansas City, Cincinnati. Two couple are adopting their second children..both girls. Another couple is adopting their first, a special needs little boy who is 2.

The international terminal here is interesting. We're trying to combat the jet lag by staying up 1/2 the night so our first thought was..coffee! We walked aaaalllll the way to the end of the terminal...no coffee. So we walked aaalllll the way to the other end...ok, one little coffee kiosk but it was hot coffee. By this time we were working up a sweat and we wanted iced coffee! No luck. Water and M&M's will have to be our kickstart. However, during our "around the world trek" we saw Britons waiting for their plane, Filipinos waiting for theirs (which was totally crowded), Thai, Chinese...you name it, we saw the whole world in just 20 minutes. ha!

We decided to take a photo of the gate sign to Guangzhou and the next thing you know, all the other families were standing around with their camera flashes following suit! Now we're just kicking back with everyone else, reading, listening to iPods or playing games on our cells trying to pass the last 2 hours. Don's conking out on me. He starts catching zzzz's around 9pm.

See you again in China,
-denise