Day 10, Saturday, August 13, 2016 First full day in Guangzhou

Day 10, Saturday, August 13, 2016 First full day in Guangzhou

We woke up for our first day in Guangzhou after another full night’s sleep. We were feeling bad for the other family in our group (Jenny, Christy and Kimberlyn who we’d been with in Beijing) because their flight got super delayed and they didn’t get to the hotel until 5am!! We had to leave for our medical appointment at 9:30am, so it would be an early morning for them.

We headed to breakfast after having a Starbucks coffee and letting Scarlett sleep in. This breakfast takes the cake! You can get rice bowls, omelets, French toast, pancakes, eggs, fruit and so much more! It’s hard to choose!! While we were eating, Jenny came in with Judah (the little boy they adopted is 2.5 and has a major heart condition). They sat with us and it was so great to get to chat with them! We headed to our medical appointment together. The first thing we had to do was get a picture of Scarlett for her visa. She did a great job. And then she got a check up. She fussed a little bit, but was mostly super brave. She’s under 2, so she didn’t need a TB test, but Judah did. They don’t let the parents in for the blood draw, so it’s super hard for everyone. Jenny was crying because she could hear Judah crying from the other side of the door and she couldn’t be there to comfort him. Scarlett and I went over to sit with her while she waited. I started crying because she was crying and this momma knows how hard that is! I’m so thankful that Scarlett didn’t need that test. It was neat to see all of the other American families there going through the same thing. What an experience! We saw lots of kids with many different special needs. Scarlett was the happiest in the room. This girl has a serious light about her!

After the medical appointment, we headed back to the hotel to do our “paperwork party.” Helen got the things she needed to get Scarlett and Judah’s visas. It took maybe 5 minutes. No biggie. We told Jenny that we’d meet up with her, Christy, and Kimberlyn for dinner, and headed to our room to get ready for lunch. We headed to find a popular noodle place and finally found it. It was very good. Pretty much any kind of noodles you wanted. Scarlett was in heaven, of course. We ran into a few other adoptive families from America at the restaurant. It’s like so exciting to see Americans doing the same thing you are and you can TALK!! A family sat down with us for a bit and we got to chat.

We stopped at the 7-eleven for water and headed back to our hotel to explore. There’s a cool outdoor space on the 4^th floor with a waterfall and bridge. There’s a little kid’s play area too with slides and swings. There’s also an indoor kid’s play area with some toys and climb on things.

Scarlett really wanted to put her hands in the waterfall, so we went back to the room and got swimsuits on to check out the pool. She seriously looks adorable in her watermelon swimsuit. Pretty spot on for our watermelon loving girl!

She was a little timid at first- we let her splash her hands in the water and eased her in slowly, but she warmed up to it quickly and loved being in the water. Success!! It felt so good to be in the water on a hot day!

After swimming, we came to the room for nap time. Scarlett slept and we worked on our blog/journals. She was coughing a bit more- she’s been fighting a cold for a few days- hoping she’s not getting worse! We had an incident with the bottle during naptime. It’s my fault- I should have emptied it first. She got some during her sleep in her mouth and coughed it up. We’re watching her for signs that some got in her lungs. It’s always something to worry about, right?

After nap, we went with our friends to a Cantonese restaurant and it was really good. Scarlett was a bit cranky because her nap got messed up with the coughing issues. We walked back to the hotel and got ready for bed. We’re all sleepy by 8pm. I usually stay up late at home, but here, we’re in bed by 10pm. It’s very busy days and our internal clocks might still be messed up a bit. It’s been fun to be with the others in our group- we laugh and joke a lot. So refreshing!

We check in with the kids back in the states when we can, and they are not missing us at all. I asked Riley if he was missing me and he paused and said, “I guess…” I’m glad they are doing well with their grandparents! They’ve been getting spoiled plenty. I’ll be excited when we’re all together as a family (and that dreaded 15 hour flight home is over), but honestly, I’m really going to miss this trip. I haven’t made a meal in almost 2 weeks!! And we’ve been eating so healthy and we just love the food in China. I haven’t had any tummy issues with this food!