Doctor visits

So Ginny does not like the doctor's offices. Pretty much as soon as we stepped in she started wailing. We'd calm her down only to have to go into a new room and have her start crying all over again.

First, she had to get her pic taken for her visa. The photographer and his assistant we ridiculous!!! First of all, when you're taking pictures of infants and toddlers, you take the pics FAST! No, these people had to fuss with the kids to "make them look nice". They both tried to push Ginny's hair behind her ears and couldn't seem to get over the fact that she didn't have any! They got one pic before she started crying and then continued to take pictures!!! Our liaison was FURIOUS and is actually planning on taking the group tomorrow to different place tomorrow just for the pictures!

The rest of the visit was a typical physical, although Ginny was apparently the first "older" child and they had to put the scale together right there! Ginny also had to get a TB test, which went just as everything else... with tears. We got through fine though, and have to go back on Monday to check the TB test.

We have introduced Ginny to the magnadoodle, coloring and stickers. She's got the idea of the magnadoodle (although she does other interesting things with it... See pics) and is a typical three year old with stickers (pulls/rips them off the page and sticks them wherever). I think she enjoys pulling the crayons out of the box and putting them back in more than actually coloring. She does like looking through the pages and putting one scribble on each page.

Ginny definitely has anxiety. She has started crying randomly a few times today. When we're in a new situation or around unfamiliar people she sometimes starts crying. We ran into another father with his new daughter this evening (all the families we met in Beijing are getting here today) and Ginny started crying while we were talking. She also doesn't seem to like the dark very much. I have a feeling it will be awhile before we get all the anxiety out.

Lazy day

Well, I got food poisoning last night so I spent the whole day in the hotel room. Brian went out twice to get food and we ordered in dinner.

We did learn a lot about Ginny today, as she has been opening up to us. First, she likes McDonald's chicken nuggets. It's the first food that has brought a smile to her face! She is also incredibly ticklish, a fact she hid for the past three days!

She started murmuring to herself today while she was playing with the books. It's this kind of low grumble and completely indiscernible but adorable nonetheless.

That's all for today, but we have her medical checkup tomorrow so we'll see how that goes!

More pics from today

Apparently my blogger app can only handle a few pics at a time, so here are more from today!

The pictures below:
The three girls - Anna is in the middle and Joanne on the right.
There's one of the view from Shamian park and one of a funny sign for bathrooms in the park.
There's also one of Ginny playing with books. She'll stop and open one and look through it, but mostly she piles them up, "sorts" them, moves them around, etc. I would give anything to know what is going on in that brain of hers!!!

Enjoy!

Shamian Island and smiles!

We got smiles and a bit of giggling today!!!! You can see pictures below!

Shamian Island is a beautiful place. It kinda seemed a tropical- thick foliage, muggy, only difference is that it was fairly chilly! We got a lot of souvenirs there, walked around, ate lunch while listening to 80s music. Before any of that, we dropped our laundry off. Most of the souvenir shops (named things like Sherry's Place, Michael's Place, Susan's Place, see the pattern?) will do your laundry and even deliver it to your hotel! They will also let you borrow a stroller, free of charge for the entire length of your stay! It's amazing!

We ate in Shamian Park, which had two restaurants, bathrooms, a playground and a wine store! After lunch, we went over to the playground. We got little half-smiles on the slide. Then I started throwing her in the air and that's when the big smiles and giggles came! (We took a video, but this app won't let me post videos!)

When we left the park and went to Jordan's who made little poster with Ginny in English and Chinese and what the characters mean. 'Gin' means grace and 'ny' means tender. He didn't charge us for it, except to talk our ears off! He was really nice, but definitely liked to talk!

She fell asleep on the ride home (pic below), slept all the way up to the room and woke up as soon as I put her down! We've been chilling since, trying to figure out what else will make her smile, what she likes, etc.

She is definitely opening up to us and our next goal is words! We'll take any word in any language!

Ginny Day two

She woke this morning crying but quieted down after a few sips of water. She started crying again when we went down for breakfast but maybe she was hungry because she stopped when we got her food. She did start whimpering when we both stood up at one point, but I was getting up to get food and Brian was moving to sit next to her, so she stopped right away.

This morning we had to go back to the Civil Service Office to get our picture taken for our adoption, and have two interviews. They all went very well. The officials were nice with good senses of humor. It was also lucky fast, which was lucky because Ginny left me her first present in her pants! When we got back on the bus our liaison informed us that our visa appointment got moved from tomorrow afternoon to this afternoon! Well, there went our afternoon, but it will leave our whole day tomorrow free!

We got back at around noon and went back to the room to try to take a nap. Let's talk about Ginny and food for a second. She will eat whatever we put to her mouth. If we hand something to her, she will take a bite and hold on to it until we tell her to take another bite. The few things that she has continued to eat without reminders, she will take the smallest nibbles and not put the rest in her mouth until she has the tiniest crumb left in her hand. She has done that at every meal today!

On to the visa appointment! We got there around 3pm and then waited around for over an hour, the lobby getting more and more crowded by the minute! Kids were running around everywhere and Ginny was watching them all. Finally the officials came down and we got rushed up, got our picture taken again and were handed out adoption certificate and we were done!! All that waiting for about 30 seconds in front of the officials! Oh well, we're free tomorrow!

We came back around 4:30 and decided to meet the other two families back in the lobby for dinner in an hour. We went back up to the room and I decided to give Ginny a few things and ignore her. She has this plush toy thing that my friend Cindy got (anyone reading this from tkd, please tell her this!) that she hasn't let go of since I gave it to her. I also gave her a coloring book and crayons and a Winnie-the-Pooh board book. I showed her how to color, she took the crayon, swiped it across the page a few times and looked at me like "are you happy?" Then I read her the board book and then let her keep in in her hand. She was the cutest thing looking through that book, opening it, closing it, flipping through. You can see her looking through the book in a pic at the bottom.

Dinner was delicious! We went to an Arabic restaurant right next to our hotel. We had hummus and shish kebabs. The other two little girls are pretty amazing as well. Anna, who is going home to four siblings, one of whom is three weeks younger, it string willed and super funny. Joanna, whose parents are first-timers, is very sweet and easygoing. Ginny is definitely the conundrum of the group.

We are gently trying to crack through Ginny's shell without traumatizing her any more than she already is. When we got back to the room, I gave Ginny a bath, sat down with her on the bed, put her head on my chest and she was out! Tomorrow we're going to Shamian Island so check back for all the fun!

PS~ enjoy the pics below and try not to OD on cuteness!!!

We got her!!!

Today was Gotcha Day and we just picked up Ginny from the Civil Service Center!!! It was a very emotional experience. There were about 30 families there receiving their children. We walked in and it seemed complete chaos. Kids running around, kids crying, people walking every which way, all in about a 30 square foot room!

We had some papers to fill out and sign and then our liaison disappeared for a few minutes. When she returned we followed her to where the children were. The other two families received their daughters first, both of which are a year younger than Ginny. Then Brian started calling my name and nudging me. I looked around the other family and there she was.

Our liaison called us forward and I kneeled down in front of her and she came right into my arms... And then started crying... Luckily, that only lasted about a minute! Brian got the doll out and she immediately stopped and stared. We took her over to where we had been sitting and "bonded". Mainly, we talked to her and she stared at us, our mouths and everything going on around.

After a little while, our liaison came back with the people from Ginny's orphanage. We got to ask some questions and take some pictures. All in all we were there for just around an hour and we got to bring this amazing little girl home with us!

Right now, the two words I would use to describe Ginny's personality are compliant and inquisitive. I'll start with the second word first. Her eyes are always saucers looking around and soaking it all up. Her hands are usually busy playing with something or just feeling it. She is the most compliant three year old I've ever met. You dress her and her limbs move to help you, you put food up to her mouth and she opens it, chews and swallows. You put your arms out to pick her up and she lifts her arms so you can grab her. That isn't to say she reaches for you, she just lifts her arms. She hasn't asked for anything yet, in fact has not even made a sound except to cry when we laid her in her crib! I was so relieved I immediately picked her up to comfort her. I let her fall asleep on my chest and now she's sleeping peacefully beside me. Brian thinks I'm starting "bad habits" but I wasn't going to let her cry herself to sleep only a few hours after finally getting her! Hopefully this will help with attachment and she'll start to come out of her shell for us soon!

Enough for now, I'm exhausted and we have a fairly early day tomorrow! We have to go back to the Civil Service office for our interview. Wish us luck!

WE GOT GINNY TODAY!!!!!!!!!

Finding comfort...

Starbucks is not a place I frequent very often at home, but there is something comforting about being able to order a mocha frappaccino and it tasting EXACTLY like it does back home!

Also there's a 7/11 next to the hotel that is almost identical to the 7/11s I used to frequent when I lived in Korea! Many of the same products and everything!!!

Just a small note- I've been able to post on here from my blogger phone app, but haven't been able to get to the site! This means I've been getting your messages in my email, but haven't been able to respond. I appreciate everyone's support and thank you all for following along! I'm sure my next post will be very emotional!

Lastly, I do get voxer, so if anyones wants to talk to me in China, go for it!!! (I think it takes awhile to go through, though...)