Counting down to Home

As I mentioned, it is getting tougher and tougher to make updates, so sorry about the wait. Allison is doing great. She is so happy and social during the day. Bedtime is a different story. She fights sleep and she is up every 2-4 hours. Her Nanny had her on a schedule of 2 bottles per night, so we need to try and wean her off of that when we get home. We also will try to get some protein in her to stick to her ribs a little better at night.

The new hotel is another scary new change for her to deal with, and we have two more to go (our Hong Kong hotel, and our house). We are trying to help her through it as best we can.

She loves to go to Darcie and play with her but she still needs Dad for comfort at night. She also HATES the crib in the White Swan hotel (as do we), so we will all be glad to stop living like Gypsies out of hotel rooms.

Darcie and I have both picked up head colds -- so that and lack of sleep means we are exhausted. We don't know if it is a virus or if it is the exhaustion combined with the pollution in the air. You would not believe the smog in every city in China! Many other families are coming down with it, too, and there are differening opinions as to what it is.

Not surprisingly, I love the food here and have rarely found something I didn't like. Darcie enjoys most of it and Becky is a good sport, and the good news is we are all losing weight.

We had a "test" flight from Nanning to Guangzhou, and that went very well. We were worried about her ears, but she did great! She barely cried. We think when she cries and pulls on her ears, that means "I'm tired". She has pulled on my ears once or twice, so I think that is what it is instead of ear infection. We are going to the Dr. tomorrow she he can check her ears for fluid. However, she has never had a temp.

When we go out during the day, we are sure to bundle her in multiple layers and coats and a blanket, and we still sometimes get scolded by the Chinese ladies on the street for not dressing her in enough clothes. It is pretty cold now for Guangzhou (it's about 50 degrees). All of the locals really make over her and our Agency gave us a card to explain in Chinese what in the world we are doing with this Chinese baby. We always get the "thumbs up" from the locals which means "the best".

We are busy every morning with paperwork and group outings, so that makes it hard to call home with the 14 hour difference. Hopefully I can provide another update or two before we leave.