Trick-or-Treat

I SEE LADY BUGS!

It's hard to believe that summer is over and it's been almost 4 months since we were in China. So much has changed in our lives, and it's all good.

For Samantha the summer has meant three trips to Leamington - cousin Lisa's wedding, cousin Kristin's wedding (both shown playing balloon with Samantha) and Thanksgiving/Oma's 80th birthday, so Samantha isn't the only one whose life has taken a new direction. Each of these have meant a 3 1/2 hour car ride which she has for the most part handled quite well. That was until the last ride back when she choked on a Cheerio and cleared it by throwing up, once again proving my decision to fabric guard the interior of my car was a good one.

The other major challenge for Samantha is her doctor appointments. Not having much of a medical history for her from China we need to put her through the full gamut of tests. Fortunately our pediatrician referred us to a hospital to get her blood work done. Although she cried through the whole procedure, I think mommy actually came through it with the most emotional damage. After it all Samantha still managed to wave bye-bye to the nurses on the way out. We have also decided that we are going to redo all of her vaccinations. Although we were given information from China on what she has already received, there's no way to confirm that they were actually done, or that the drugs used were full potentcy and not expired. This way we're sure that she's received all the right shots and she is fully immunized. It is painful for Samantha, and for us to watch, but well worth it in the long run.

Now for the really spectacular part. We were beginning to believe that Samantha has mystic powers. As you can see, Samantha appeared to be able to put herself into a trance. At first we thought it might just be sleep walking, but then we started to notice that some of her toys had mysteriously gone missing, and were just as mysteriously starting to re-appear. We had done a thorough search for the missing items, but they were nowhere to be found.

Finally Shirley noticed the secret behind the mystic. Samantha was hiding her toys under the entertainment unit. It is just a small opening, so it was tough for us to get under there to recover some of the toys, but Samantha's small hands had no problem. It was almost like she wanted them someplace where nobody could get at them. Her trancelike state was merely a ruse to keep us from looking too hard to find them. The next time Samantha faked going into her trance Shirley exposed her, and Samantha could no longer contain herself. She knew that she had been found out and there was no way that we were going to continue to believe her act.

Now Brian is another story. Not having been around Samantha much, and with his wife Michelle expecting, Brian was open to understanding what goes on in a child's mind. Samantha picked up on this immediately. Once again Samantha fell right back into her old tricks, and knowing she only had one shot at it went for broke. The picture tells it all - Samantha has Brian totally convinced that she can make the object on the floor disappear. She put herself into her "trance" and started the con. Fortunately mommy was watching and stepped in, but not until Brian learned lesson #1 - kids will play you for all their worth.

Okay, so what is really happening with Samantha? Well, in terms of crawling she may as well be planted on a skate-board. She can get from one side of the room to the other in no time flat. She can also get from crawling to standing up against furniture, then walk the length of what she's holding on to without any trouble. This of course has meant that practically everything is within reach. We've secured the family room and kitchen and put gates on all the doors. Unless she develops new super-human strengths, I think we're good for the time being.

She has also produced 3 new teeth - 2 on the bottom and one on top. Clearly this isn't the end of it as she continues rubbing her gums and pulling on her ears, but I think we've been saved from all the drooling by the fact that her teeth are coming in considerably late. Her lack of teeth certainly hasn't slowed her down from eating, and is eating just about everything put in front of her. Clearly showing signs that she's a Wong girl, she follows in her mother's footsteps with her appetite for ice cream and her uncle Terry's love of potatoes. Not sure that she'll get to the point of ordering potato pancakes with a side of fries, but time will tell.

Activity wise, she absolutely loves to swing. She goes down to our local park almost every day, and spends about 1/2 an hour with mommy pushing her. She is absolutely content just going back and forth. She also makes a couple of trips a week to the Ontario Early Years, which is provincially run and provides programs and activities for children and their parents. She has already made a few friends there, and is learning how to socialize with other children. She also has weekly Kinder Gym and Swimming lessons, so she's actually got a better social life than mommy or daddy.

She continues to amaze us in regards to what she picks up, and we really need to be careful of what we say and do. Not that she's talking yet, but she certainly mimicks our actions and sounds. Much to Shirley's dismay the first words spoken were Dada, but Mama isn't far behind. Before we know it she'll be walking, talking and creating huge challenges for us. And we can't wait.

Samantha continues to grow, both physically and in her capabilities. Two weekends ago we had the challenge of putting Samantha in our car and driving down to Leamington. This was her first true long trip. We have to say that she really surprised us - she played for a while, then slept, then played a bit more when she woke up. The trip was about 10 minutes too long, and it was almost as if she could tell we were almost there and she was running out of time to give us a hard time. Considering how she could have behaved, 10 minutes of whining in a 3.5 hour drive is nothing to complain about.

The trip to Leamington was for our niece Lisa-Marie's wedding, but was also the first time that the Penner clan had the opportunity to meet Samantha. The wedding was fabulous, and Lisa-Marie looked absolutely stunning. Her now husband Herm took a lot of shots for his black on black tuxedo, and the name Johnny Cash came up more than once over the course of the day, but Johnny would never have been caught dead driving a T-Cup. Not your typical limousine, but somehow it was fitting.

Aunt Jean took a bit of abuse from Samantha, but all was forgotten once the Cheerios came out. That is until Samantha started to choke a bit on one of them and proceeded to demonstrate how Cheerios can become projectiles. Thanks Uncle Vic for taking one in the chest to make sure none of the other wedding guests were injured.

Since our normal accommodations were fairly busy, with the wedding reception taking place in the back yard, we elected to stay with our nephew Tim and his family. This gave us a couple more new experiences for Samantha. For one, she met her first dog - Hershey. Hershey is a full-sized Golden Retriever, and we weren't sure how Samantha was going to take to an animal that was considerably larger than her. On their first meeting Hershey came up to Samantha and gave her a big wet lick on the face. Samantha just laughed and waved her arms, not in the least afraid of this beast.

The second thing she was exposed to was a big swimming pool, which she absolutely loved. She's done well in the bathtub and the small plastic one on our deck, and showed no fear here. The splashing and laughs just kept coming, even after daddy backed away a couple of feet and Samantha decided to find out if everything looked the same from under the surface as it did from above. Daddy swooped in and pulled her back up to where there was air, and the smile was still on her face. We're starting to think that she's going to love the water as much as her mother does, so we've enroled her in the swimming program at our rec. complex. The chaufering has already begun, and this ones for daddy. Mommy's turn starts soon as well when she starts taking Samantha to "Tumbling Tots". Daddy may have to go and watch that one to see who's going to be doing the tumbling.

This last week she has started doing a lot of new things, the most impressive accomplishment, for her at least, has been her ability to get to a sitting position from lying down. Samantha has also become comfortable standing while hanging on to things, and we know this is going to totally change our lives. She is also pulling herself up, which means a whole new world has just come into her reach, and one more level of the entertainment unit that needs to be cleared.

We know the next step is just a couple of steps away - the gates. Won't be long before we're going to have to limit where she can get to in the house.

This weekend we're back to Leamington again for another wedding, our other niece Kristin. Hopefully Samantha will be good on this trip as well, and the first time wasn't just luck.

Samantha's 1st Birthday

August 2nd marked a milestone in Samantha's life - her first birthday. We were foturnate to have some of Shirley family present, namely Papa, Aunt Sandra and Uncle Roy, and Samantha's cousins Thomas and Taylor. The day before, August 1st, marked Thomas' 12th birthday, and the day that Thomas became a fully certified "Baby Sitter" having completed the required training earlier this year. After helping his dad change one of Samantha's poopy diapers we're not sure how long it will be before Thomas is ready to take on an infant by himself - if ever.

After 2 big family get-togethers last Friday and Saturday, Samantha's actual birthdate was considerably more low key, but didn't go without the required birthday cake which was shared by her and Thomas.

Samantha and her cousin Taylor kill some of the scorching heat in our backyard pool. Uncle Roy was doing Lifeguard duty.



Besides the gift of having some of the extended family come to visit, Samantha received a number of gifts from family and friends. She wasn't exactly sure what to do with all the packing materials, but will surely enjoy playing with all the toys and wearing the wonderful outfits that she received.

Samantha continues to develop at a rapid pace, and having her cousins around certainly helped.




Samantha and her cousin Thomas share her first birthday cake - but Samantha's not about to give up her Cheerio, which has become a food group of it's own.

Samantha's first hit of sugar had it's ups and downs - mostly ups.






She was really more into the chocolate cake than the icing.








Samantha has also gotten her first slide and swing set. It might be a little while before she's able to go down the slide by herself, but she does like the swing.
With everyone gone the house has become very quiet and Samantha is very sad that her cousins aren't around.

Mommy has decided that it's never too early to learn how to do laundry, but somehow I don't think that Samantha has quite figured it out yet.

Wow...Where Did 20 Days Go?

I can't believe that it's been 20 days since my last post. No wonder I've been getting some rather pointed emails asking what she looks like, since there haven't been any recent pictures posted. It's not that the pictures haven't been taken, it's apparently just that I've become lazy.

We continue to see amazing progress with Samantha. With Shirley's family visiting, she's had the opportunity to interact with other people, especially her cousins Thomas, Taylor, Tyler and Aliya who are always on the look-out for ways to get her in trouble. Oh yeh, if we're talking about trouble we can't forget Auntie Lana who's constantly on the look-out for ways to stir the pot. Fortunately "Papa" is here as well, and he is still the head of the family.

Terry, Heidi, Tyler, Aliya and Lana flew in on Wednesday, but unfortunately were only able to stay until Sunday. Sandra, Roy, Thomas, Taylor and Papa showed up on Thursday and will be here until this coming Friday. The visit from the family is a welcome distraction for us, and the extra sets of hands are probably the things that we will remember most from their visit. We also can't undervalue their child raising experience and the wealth of knowledge they have passed over to us - you know what I'm talking about, the stuff every mother eventually comes to understand but you can't find in any book.

Samantha has been absolutely wonderful in large family gatherings and her few recent visits to restaurants. She's still challenged in long car rides, but I'm sure we'll get that worked out in time as well.

Anyway, enough of the words and on with some pictures.

Moving Forward

Well, life continues to progress in the Penner household. Samantha seems to have adjusted her time and is now sleeping through the night, going to bed around 8:30 and getting up around 7:00. Unfortunately she still wants a couple of bottles during the night which keeps mommy ever alert listening for her fussing - need to get the bottle into her before she wakes up. So, as you can imagine, mommy is a little sleep deprived. Daddy gets to sleep, but still wakes when he hears Samantha and mommy, so he's not getting as much sleep as he's used to either.

Daddy has gone back to work, but is working from home as much as possible. Mommy still appreciates having a 2nd set of hands around, and daddy enjoys having lunch with the family and taking a break from work to go for a short walk with them. Samantha has finally gotten used to her stroller, and doesn't scream when we put her in it. She actually fell asleep yesterday when mommy took her for a walk. Hopefully this is a good sign for the car seat as well. We've taken a few drives in the car and she seems to be getting better, although she's not too keen about just sitting with the car not moving. She likes to see action.

Samantha is really coming out of her shell, and we're seeing a lot more of the little girl going through the learning stages - like all the funny noises she can make with her mouth. Drooling aside, she can be quite funny. Teeth still not here yet, but they won't be long. Samantha also doesn't let us forget her roots. She is definitely going to be the hot tempered girl from Szechuan Province.

Interesting how Shirley and I seem to have lost our names - we are now mommy and daddy. Kind of has a nice ring to it.

Dealing with Jet Lag and Time Change

Well, the first few days at home have been quite interesting. After the initial terror when we got home, Samantha seems to have adapted quite nicely to her new home. We still have her sleeping in our bed as we make the adjustment, and she seems to be taking over from Shirley by infringing on my side of the bed. We are still struggling with the jet lag and the 12 hour time change. Last night was the first time she sort of slept through the night, although she woke up at 11:00, 02:00 and 04:00 wanting a bottle. Finally at 5:30 she woke up again and that was it. This wasn't bad considering the first 2 nights it was up at 4:30 and 3:30. I don't know about you but I wasn't really in the mood to play at that hour, but that doesn't seem to matter. She is getting better at sitting and playing by herself. This morning she played from 5:30 to 7:30 with very little from me - I was just sitting there half asleep pouring coffee down my throat.

This morning was also our first walk around the neighbourhood with Samantha in her stroller. The whole concept of being restrained is something that we are going to have to work on, whether it's stroller, high chair or car seat. Samantha does not like to be strapped in, and begins to scream immediately. In the stroller she does settle down once you start to move, and in the high chair she's good once the food starts. Still need to figure out the car seat, but then again her only experience was from the airport when she really wasn't at her best. Like everything else, this will take some figuring out.

Some of you have also been asking how Rusty is doing with another person in the house demanding time from us. We had really expected that Rusty would become a recluse and basically stay down in the basement. We couldn't have been more wrong. Not sure if it was because we were gone for 2.5 weeks and he didn't get any attention, but Rusty has been up and around most of the time. He is for the most part keeping his distance from Samantha, preferring to be on the other side of the room our just outside in the hall, but he's not hiding. We are making an effort to spend time with him as well, and he's currently under the desk on my feet, a place he has always spent a lot of time.

So, we are adjusting. One thing for sure, Samantha's appetite hasn't changed at all and she'll eat almost anything you give her. The only thing she has refused so far is pork liver, and I can't really blame her for that. We thought Rusty's wet food smelled bad until we smelled this.

We'll continue to post for a little while, as we all adjust to expanded family life. We hope that you have all enjoyed following us in our journey as much as we have enjoyed sharing it with you.

Home Safe & Sound

Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it home safe and sound. Not to say that it was the easiest trip we've ever made. The flight started out ok, and Samantha was really good for take-off. She and I had gotten comfortable and everything was going great. No problems during the ascent. Then things changed. Not sure what happened, but she did a Jeckyl and Hyde. She started an unconsoleable scream. I wasn't able to get her to settle down, so I handed her off to Shirley. Even her touch wasn't working, and Samantha got more and more agitated, to the point that she decided to share her last feeding with Shirley. This was at about the 1 hour mark, and didn't get much better for the next 3 hours. She had missed her afternoon nap, and it was past her normal bed time, so she was really over tired. Screaming, walking up and down the aisle, trying to get her to eat, nothing was working. I've got to say that the other passengers on the flight were very accommodating, even the poor guy that was stuck beside us and trying to sleep. We finally got her settled down, got some food in her, and she was actually playing real nice in my lap. Then, another unknown trigger and she was off to the races again. This time we walked her to the back of the plane where one of the flight attendants volunteered to try to console her. She was able to get her to the point where once again she would take some food and settle down. This time she went down and slept for 5 solid hours. We actually had to wake her to get off the plane.

Customs and Immigration were a breeze. We actually got a civil servant at immigration that wanted to help. One of the challenges is that she is traveling on a Chinese passport and Visa based on her Chinese name. This would have her immigration processed in her Chinese name. Our immigration agent asked if we had anything that indicated that we had renamed her in China. Fortunately we have a document that states that we have renamed her to Samantha Helena Penner. He accepted this and processed her under her Canadian name, which means that we do not have to go through an officical name change process.

We then had a wonderful surprise as we exited the secure area and saw signs saying "Welcome Home Samantha" from some of our friends that had shown up to greet us. We had expected Donna and Wayne, Cliff and Theresa, but Joanne and Kaitlyn and Bev and Peter were there to greet us as well. Kaitlyn is another Chinese adoptee who is now about 3.5 years old and very inquisitive. Once she found out we were bringing home a baby from China she wanted to be there to greet us.

Donna, Wayne, Theresa and Cliff had a great gift waiting for us when we got home - steak, baked potato and caesar salad. Just what the doctor ordered after 2 weeks of rice, noodles, etc. Even though we had been fed 3 times on the plane, this dinner was great. We can't say enough about how comforting it was to have someone pick us up, drive us home, and wait on us once we got there. We are truly blessed to have such great friends, and we don't know what we would do without them.

Now we just need to get our clocks flipped around and figure out what our new schedule will be. Samantha went down about midnight last night and slept until about 4:00. We then played for a couple of hours and we have just put her back down to sleep. Not sure who's going to have a harder time with time, but we're in this together and couldn't be happier.

Going Home

Ok, we’re starting to wind down, and looking forward to our trip home. As much as we enjoy China, we’re pretty beat and not really into doing a lot of sight-seeing.

Yesterday was a bit of fun. We walked down to the Silk Market, which is about ½ an hour walk from here. The plan was to meet two of the other couples there, and then go next door to the Pizza Hut for lunch – yes, we’re getting a little tired of rice and noodles. Now the Silk Market is 5 floors, crammed full of small retailers and tourists. We walked around all the floors and weren’t able to find the other couples, so left and went to the Pizza Hut. Just as we got there it started to pour, so we figured we’d wait it out and have lunch, and then either take a cab or continue to walk. As it turns out, we missed the other couples at the Silk Market and they were still there when it started to rain. They just caught cabs back to the hotel. Anyway, by the time we were done eating the rain had stopped so we started walking back. Wasn’t long and it started back up again so we found shelter under an overpass. One of the nice crossing guards covered up Samantha in the stroller with his jacket and flagged down a cab for us.

Dinner last night was Peking Duck, or actually Beijing Duck since the city has been renamed. This was organized by our guide, and was absolutely wonderful. Besides the duck she ordered way too much North American style Chinese food which was more than any of us could eat. It was nice to have dinner with the entire group, and we have made an awful lot of good friends. We are looking forward to getting together with many of them back in Canada.

We’re also starting to pick up on Samantha’s cues, and can tell when she’s hungry, thirsty, tired, or just has gas. She is also going down much easier now, and is fighting it far less. It’s nice to not have to struggle to get her to sleep, and have her wake up with a smile on her face.

Today was travel day for most of our group. We went down at 2:00pm to say goodbye to them. We have all gone through a lot together, and our children provide us a common thread – maybe a red one. Most people are a bit anxious about the trip, 13 hours non-stop. We’re part of a group of 4 couples that are traveling tomorrow. The rest of the day is going to be very quiet, just getting our bags packed and trying to get rested. Who knows what tomorrow’s flight will be like.

So with that, we end the postings from China. The next posting will be after we get back to Toronto, and we look forward to getting back to a regular routine. We’ll let you know how the travel went at that time.

June 26

Today’s outing, which we did not partake in, was Tianamen Square and The Forbidden City. With temperatures nearing 40˚ again and everything being outdoors, we decided it was much better to spend a little less time outside. So what did we do? Shopping!

Back to the Silk Factory. Just as we were leaving there last Sunday Shirley noticed a few items that she would like to get, but time didn’t allow. So back we went today. They really do have a beautiful selection of a large variety of products made from silk, with very reasonable prices. This includes everything from sheets, shirts, jackets, pajamas and scarves to shoes, purses, pillows and quilts. Fortunately our limited wallet prevailed and we left there without having to take out a 2nd mortgage.

In the afternoon we ventured out into the heat for a short walk. About 15 minutes from the hotel is the Oriental Plaza, a very large, high-end shopping mall. This was a great place to just walk around in an air-conditioned environment. We’re also trying to get Samantha used to the stroller. She doesn’t like sitting in one spot, and has a limited patience as to how long we can leave her in there. We were told by colleagues that recently lived in China that the girls from Chongqing were hot-beautiful, and hot-tempered. She is so far proving both of those to be correct.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful; although we find that every day Samantha is becoming more and more familiar with us and is opening up a lot. She is more comfortable sitting and playing by herself, as well as rewarding us with that beautiful smile merely for the fact that we look at her.

One of the things that I don’t think that I’ve covered yet is the traffic here. I have a lot of respect for these drivers, and as comfortable as I normally am behind the wheel I would never consider driving here. They live by a totally different set of rules, which are governed more by individual respect rather than mandated laws. Traffic lights are reserved for only the most heavily congested intersections, and the rest is by mutual agreement. Traffic merges, separates and generally flows as people make room for vehicles entering their lanes, using horns where required to advise drivers of their intents. Nobody seems to get upset, and traffic generally flows fairly well, although slow.

The other thing is that you need to be an extremely cautious pedestrian. In the pecking order on the streets, you’re at the bottom. Crosswalks really only indicate to drivers that they may suddenly encounter a new speed bump. Buses have priority, with cars, motorcycles and bicycles fending for their share. To give you an example of how low pedestrians are, if you are crossing with the light, traffic turning across the crosswalk has the right of way. To make matters worse, red lights seem to only impact left turn and straight through traffic. Traffic making a right on red in reality has a green light with higher priority than the pedestrian crossing with the light. This traffic basically merges with the flow of the traffic that has a green light. It is very difficult as a Canadian where the pedestrian always has the right of way, whether they are in the right or not. There have been many times that we have been crossing a street only to have a car cut us off.

As much as we are enjoying this experience, we're ready to come home. We've started the countdown.

June 25

Today was doctor’s day, part of the requirement for Immigration Canada to approve her entry, and part of the requirement for our peace of mind. For this we went to SOS which is an International Clinic staffed by doctors from around the world – one of which was from Montreal. We had a few things that we wanted the doctor to check along with the normal routine.

As we had mentioned earlier, Samantha has a cold, and the doctor confirmed that it is just a cold and nothing else. We’ve also noticed that she’s been pulling on her ears. The doctor checked and said that there is some wax buildup, but she can see past it. She gave us some hydrogen peroxide drops to help clear that up. Along with the expected Mongolian spots, she also has a red patch on the back of her neck which the doctor confirmed was just a birth mark and will most likely fade. For those of you unfamiliar with Mongolian spots, these are grayish patches on the skin that normally fade as the child ages. They can easily be mistaken for bruises, so it’s important that our doctor document these when we get back so that we don’t get suspected of child abuse. These are very common among Asian children and are absolutely nothing to be concerned about.

The rest of the medical was relatively normal with no concerns:

• Length – 70.5 cm (~25 percentile)
• Weight – 8 kg (~20 percentile)
• Head circumference – 42.7 cm

These are pretty consistent with what we expected, if not actually a bit better.

We have now signed off to the Canadian government that we accept Samantha, and that we wish to proceed. The documents were delivered to the Embassy in the afternoon, with the expectation that her Visa will be completed and ready for us on Thursday.

The remainder of the day was open, so we went back to the room and had a bit of a rest, then put Samantha into the stroller for a little walk – in the 38˚ weather. Just a quick walk down to the grocery store and back. Samantha was good in the stroller for about three quarters of the trip, but then I had to carry her the rest of the way back. Not bad for her first time.

After that we just had a quiet afternoon getting to know each other better. Some of the others in the group were heading out to Pizza Hut for dinner, but Samantha had already gone down so we passed, although we did ask them to bring us one back – needed a break from the steady diet of Chinese food, and it sure was good.

Samantha’s smiles and laughs are coming a bit more freely, but she does have a number of other faces that she is more than willing to share with us as well.

June 24

Last night Samantha was a real treat. She is doing real well going to sleep, our typical routine being that we get her ready for bed, play with her a bit and then quietly lie her down. She then falls asleep with very little fuss. Last night this routine went great as usual, that is until I crawled into bed shortly after 11:00 only to find her laying there wide awake. She had a huge smile on her face and was ready to play. Needless to say daddy wasn’t, and mommy was already fast asleep on the other side of the bed. I thought if I just ignored her and went to sleep everything would be fine and she’d go back to sleep …right! Anyway, eventually got up and played a bit with her, then walked her until she seemed tired enough to go to sleep. We then both went to bed and slept the rest of the night. Can’t wait to have to get her to change her internal clock 12 hours when we get home.

Today is the day that we see the great wall. It’s slightly less than 2 hours from our hotel, but we’ll break the trip in ½ by stopping at a Jade Factory on the way. Here we were able to see how raw jade is taken through the process and how it is carved. Some of the work is absolutely incredible. What we learned is that there are basically 3 grades of jade, “A” which is the best quality and most expensive, “B” is the more common grade that many people purchase, and “C” is the grade that you buy for your friends. They brought out bracelets of each grade to show us how to tell the difference. When you strike them they have a very distinct and different tone – “C” sounded like clinking a glass, “B” sounded like fine crystal, and “A” had a very pure, crisp, high pitched ‘ting’.

They had some very beautiful pieces there, but we opted not to purchase anything at this time – not even from the “for friends” category.

Next we visited the Great Wall. Let me start by saying that we got to there at about 11:30, and the temperature was starting to creep past the 36˚ mark. Samantha was still asleep and we decided that we would hang back and let her continue to sleep, and head out once she woke up. By that time people were starting to come back, totally drenched and exhausted from the heat. Shirley decided then that she’d stay in the bus with Samantha while I ventured off far enough to take some pictures and say that I’ve climbed parts of the Great Wall. Mission accomplished, but not without getting my own shirt drenched.

We stopped on the way home for a group lunch. Our guide selected about 8 different dishes from the menu and the food was similar to what we would find in Canada – minus the sweet and sour.

The rest of the afternoon was spent quietly in the room, letting Samantha play a little longer in the bathtub to cool off. Hopefully she’ll love the pool as well as the tub. After that there was playtime, more feeding, more diapers, more bottles, then finally bed. All in all a good day.

One of the things that we have realized is that these tours in this weather take a huge toll on everyone. Samantha still naps in the morning, which is always difficult during a tour and never comes at a convenient time. We seem to be constantly waking her shortly after she’s fallen asleep, then not being able to get her back to sleep. So, along with her cold, Samantha can be a bit of a cranky baby – and understandably so. Add the fact that Samantha really doesn’t like the bus and we’ve decided that we’re done taking any more tours. We’ve seen the major things that we wanted to see anyway.

June 21-23

Well, we had said that we would play it by ear in terms of what activities we would and would not participate in. Thursday was one of those days. I wasn’t exactly feeling up to snuff so we decided we would have a quiet day and just rest up. The rest of the group did take in the Panda Zoo and a trip to an Ink Painting shop. The group was kind enough to pick up a small stuffed panda and an ink painting for us. The ink painting is actually painted on the veins of big-leaf Banyan tree leaves, which are the city tree of Chongqing.

Friday was the day that we finalized our Chinese paperwork. Samantha is now officially and forever ours. Then it was off to the airport and Samantha’s first plane ride. This was another basically uneventful flight with excellent service from our local guides. The only thing that we would have preferred would have been to have an earlier flight, but given the paperwork that had to be finalized I don’t think that we could have done any better. Our flight didn’t arrive back into Beijing until 7:00 pm and it was almost 8:30 by the time we got to the hotel and checked in. It was another hour before our luggage, along with the bags that we had stored here, made it to our room. We decided not to bath Samantha and just got her settled and asleep, which at that took until almost 11:00. We then got our luggage unpacked and sorted and finally made it to bed ourselves.

I’ve included a few shots that we took while in Chongqing to give you a flavour of what the city was like.

Today has been pretty good. Samantha woke up once early in the night and we gave her a small drink of water (thanks Joanne and Sandra for your words of advice) and she went promptly back to sleep. She then slept until 6:00 when she started to fuss. Shirley made a small bottle of formula and fed her while she slept and she was good until 8:30. Of course Shirley and I were now awake and took advantage of this time to get showered and take care of some things. I took off in search of more water – something you get used to here since none of the tap water is drinkable, although the tap in the bathroom in this hotel says drinking water. What I hadn’t taken into consideration as I left the room is that today is Saturday, and shopping would have a different time schedule. Starbucks doesn’t open until 8:30, the grocery store doesn’t open until 10:00, nor does the other mall across the street. I did find a small grocery store which was no bigger than our typical corner store, so did manage to find some water. What I also found along the way was a KFC and Dairy Queen – we already know where the McDonald’s is.

The only appointment that we really had today was with a photographer to get Samantha’s picture taken for a Canadian visa which she’ll need since she will be traveling on a Chinese passport. Our guide had also arranged to have a couple of tailors to come in with some fabrics. One tailor came in with silk so we have ordered a couple of dresses for Samantha. The other had some wool fabrics so I felt compelled to order a suit. Shirley passed on both.

One of the things that we hadn’t gotten yet, but will need tomorrow is a stroller. Shirley and some of the other girls entrusted the babies with their fathers and went shopping. We had originally thought we would just buy a cheap one and worse case throw it away at the end of the trip. She didn’t find an appropriate selection that she liked, but found a nice little stroller that, although probably more that we had originally wanted, is quite nice and we plan to take it home. Life back in the room was quite uneventful – basic dirty diaper, couple of bottles of formula, cereal, some play time, walks around the hotel, etc. Lots of smiles and only a few tears. All indications are that Samantha is adjusting quite well to her new family – not going into the bonding discussion since it will be quite some time before we are able to tell whether bonding has occurred, not occurred, or really ever was an issue.

For now we’ll just give you a glimpse of what our darling daughter looks like when she smiles. It took a while for it to come out, but we're seeing it more and more often as the days go by.

Then again ... there are times when she's just had enough of daddy and his camera.