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Yesterday was a bit traumatic... Jet lag is a bitch! First of all, they kept delaying and almost completely cancelled our flight! Then I got a migraine as we were boarding the plane. Luckily it wasn't terrible, but Brian let me sit by myself anyways.

Ginny was great on the flight and through the terminal. My mom, Brian's parents, Zoe and Connor were waiting for us outside security. As soon as we got to them, Ginny clamped up tight. She started crying when I put her I the car seat, which I expected as she's never sat in one before.

We pretty much spent the whole day sleeping yesterday. Brian woke Ginny up after a while and let me sleep, but when I got up at 7pm, they were both asleep on the couch.

One thing is for sure- she does NOT like the animals! Anytime one of them gets too close she starts screaming like we haven't heard her scream yet! Hopefully, she'll figure out that they're good doggies and kitty and she'll get used to them.

I for her to sleep till about 4:30am and she's been pretty good. She ate breakfast, played with books and is watching Wonder Pets. She's been happy and inquisitive and even let me leave the room a couple times without crying. Hopefully she'll stay happy when everyone else wakes up and the day starts!

Chicago part two

Well, all flights into Buffalo were canceled last night, so we got stuck in Chicago. They gave us a half off voucher for a local hotel, so we're stranded at the Crown Plaza, unable to sleep because it's the middle of the afternoon in China!

Ginny is being super goofy and we're just trying to keep her quiet! She is rolling around and giggling like crazy. She even started hitting us and laughing! I think we have a normal 3 year old on our hands! Uh oh!!!

We'll probably get going early and have breakfast at the airport.Let's how the fog disperses by 10am when we're supposed to land.

Chicago

Ginny was an absolute doll on the long flight. She fell asleep after dinner and except for rolling off the seat once and kicking me a few times.

We almost freaked out before boarding... I went to change her diaper and they weren't in the diaper bag! I must have left them back in the bathroom in the domestic terminal! I raced around while plane was boarding and finally found a shop that had some. Whew!

Everything has gone fairly smoothly here in Chicago. Immigration and customs was a breeze. We even had to go through new citizen immigration and had no problems. Ginny has been goofy all the way through the airport! She only started crying when we sat her in a cart, but that lasted about 30 seconds. She's been playing on the poles while waiting in line, asking to be picked up, and I think she said mommy a little while ago!

Oh well, boarding is about to begin! I think I'll continue to blog over the next few weeks, so keep checking back to see how Ginny is doing?

Shanghai

We hopped our plane and after about a half hour delay, we were flying through thick fog and clouds on our way to Shanghai.

Over the past few days we have given Ginny a few nicknames, two of which she definitely reinforced on this first flight. Destructor 5000 is one nickname because she likes taking things apart and ripping them up. She kept taking the headphones apart and then handing them to me to fix so she could take the apart again.

The second nickname is Ginny McWiggles. She never stopped wiggling on the plane! She'd take out the magazine and look through it for a few minutes, then put it back and take out the information card to look at, then switch again. Then she found the buttons on the side on the armrest. Then she tried to get into my phone for about 20 minutes or so! She did figure out how to take pictures of herself without unlocking the phone!

We're at the Shanghai Pudong airport and she's sleeping. We can check in to our flight in about an hour, then we're going to grab something to eat before heading through security to our gate. Hopefully our long flight goes as smoothly as our first one!!

Last day!

I can't believe it's almost over! These past few weeks have been incredible and we have made some (hopefully) lifelong friends!

Ginny is absolutely blossoming! She has been so goofy today, both in and out of the room! She has barely stopped laughing the whole day! Hopefully she doesn't regress too much with the travel and meeting Connor and Zoe, etc!

I'm going to keep this short as we have a LONG day tomorrow! We have to wake up at 5am Guangzhou time (which is 5pm Thursday evening Buffalo time) and we don't get in to Buffalo until 11:30pm Friday night! We have a 7 hour layover in Shanghai!!! Everybody pray that all our flights are on time and everything goes smoothly!

Oath taking and Round three

The oath taking ceremony was very uneventful today. We had to get up wicked early so we could shower, eat breakfast and be in the lobby by 7:50. We took a bus to the consulate and the line to get through security was longer than the rest of the process. We had to go through one security that checked our passports, then another with metal detectors. We had to check our phones there and when we set the metal detectors off they said "go through, it's just your shoes".

There were about thirty families with us. When we were all there, a woman came to the window and told us what was going to happen. We all had to stand, raise our right hands and swear that all the information we have provided is "the truth to the best of our knowledge". Then they called each family up separately. We were the first in our group to be called and as soon as we got up there she started crying. They checked our passports and then let me take Ginny away while Brian stayed and they checked the paperwork. That was it! Tomorrow we get Ginny's visa so we can bring her home with us!!!

We went back to Shamian island to finish up our shopping and Ginny figured out that she can swing her body from side to side in the backpack to see around me. She'd whip over to one side then back over to another! She also started kicking things while we were walking through stores!!! I kept grabbing her feet and pulling them forward around me saying "my feet"!

We brought board books, crayons, coloring books and sticker books to keep her busy. I think I've already mentioned what she does with the board books in a past blog. She's just as funny with crayons and sticker books! She mainly just organizes and reorganized the crayons in the box. She has also figured out how to take the crayons apart and tries to put them back together (they're the "twistable" kind)! You can see a pick of that below. She can spend hours doing that! It's so cute!

She is definitely a silly girl and is going to fit in perfectly with Connor and Zoe! One more day here and then a wicked long day flying home!

Shamian Island round 2 and River Cruise

We went back to Shamian Island today and did a lot of shopping. We bought nothing for Zoe and Connor! (I know they are going to read this so I have to say that!) We're working on getting "Gotcha Day" gifts. One of the other mothers said that they were looking for small gifts to give their daughter every year on her "Gotcha Day". So we were looking around for small-ish things to give her every year.

We went on a river cruise tonight, which was really nice, but through the middle of the city. First of all, we got Papa John's pizza to take with us. Funny being in Southern China and eating Papa John's delivery... Don't think I've every even had it at home! The bridges on the river were beautiful and the boat was gorgeous. There was this huge screen that lit up like fireworks on the side of the river. It had to be about as long as a football field and a third as wide! No where else but in China...

Ginny did well today. She cried twice randomly. We think the first was from hunger and maybe the second was thirst? We are starting to doubt her ability to talk. She hasn't said a word and her crying, laughing and even the murmuring we were hearing aren't very vocal. They are more nasal and guttural. I keep moving her mouth to say "mama" and she thinks it's really funny, but doesn't say anything. Hopefully she'll come around, but it's definitely something we'll be working on and talking to the doctor about when we get home!

We have our Oath Taking Ceremony tomorrow. Only 2 more days in Guangzhou and then a long long long way back home on Friday! Can't wait!!!