Gracie's Doctor's Appointment and.....SHOPPING!!!

Hello!! Gracie's doctor's appointment was quick and simple. It wasn't an extensive examination...they didn't even say anything about her cough. Luckily, we have an appointment with Dr. Toupin right when we get home!!! After her appointment we sat down with Simon, our guide, and filled out more paperwork! Over an hour later we were finally finished! I believe we still have more to do....uuugh!!!

We had a hard time deciding on where to eat last night!! We went to the Cantonese restaurant and had a hard time getting ourselves past the bowls and cages of living animals!! We finally agreed to go to a nearby Thai place...which we later collectively decided we might have had a better dinner at the fish bowl place!!! We walked home along the river where there were hundred of people out enjoying the brightly lit boats and buildings....they love neon lights!!!

Today we slept in till eight...even Gracie!! Of course we had to go shopping at our favorite store "Jessica's". Alex bought a couple coats and some gifts for Gracie! I bought a silk jacket and chops (it is like a stamp with your Chinese name on it). The Grandmas bought a ton of stuff, too! They bought Gracie a special Chinese dress for her group photo which will be taken on Monday and 4 other dresses!

Tonight is the first night since Beijing that the whole travel group is back together. We are going to "Lucy's" an "American" restaurant! It will be fun to meet all of the newly adopted children.

Friday

Today we visited the local orphanage where Lucy & Paul's (From New York) daughter came from in Guangzhou. The orphanage was a massive complex that housed around 400 children and was the size of a few high schools. They had different buildings divided up by ages and mental capacity. They sheltered us from the real side of the orphanage and only showed us certain parts that they wanted us to see. It was very emotional to see all of the children just waiting for parents to give them a home. We saw classrooms with pictures colored by the children and we noticed in all of them that they only colored themselves and other children. We then realized that they have never known a family and that the other orphans were their only family they have ever known. It was very emotional to be in a place like that to see the beautiful and loving children just waiting for parents. It seemed that answers to our questions were guarded and pictures were only allowed in secured areas. We are headed to our medical appointment in a few hours at the local health clinic within walking distance. Then our lives our in our brother-in-laws Scott's hands as we have given him the choice of restaurants for dinner. So if you don't see a post tomorrow, the snake we ate was poisonous!!!
AP

Thursday

Hello all!!!!
Well we did the zoo today and saw some wonderful animals. Gracie is a little to young to understand what was going on. The heat here is so hot and humid that it made for a very uncomfortable day for all of us. After the zoo, we went to a local Chinese restaurant and tasted the local food. We placed our trust with our guide and let him pick out our lunch. We told him to take it easy with us and he did a wonderful job on the selection of great food. He didn't pick out the intestine, chicken neck or Scott's most favorite, beef ball. Tomorrow we are off to the local orphanage for a tour and then to the local doctor to get her a check up.

Zoo day

Well another full night of sleep for the three of us. It is 7:30 a.m.Thursday here (7:30 p.m. Wed Indiana) and we are getting ready to go to breakfast. We are then going with our guide Simon and a family in our travel group from up state New York to the zoo. We went to a wonderful Italian restaurant last night and had the best penne pasta I have ever had. We will keep you posted on the zoo trip.

Day three

Well we are on our third day with Gracie and she has progressed so much. She is showing much more emotion through her smiles and laughter. She loves walking with the assistance of her grandma's hands and being pushed in the stroller by her aunt Nicole. We are staying on a small island where most of the adoptive parents stay, and everywhere you go you see other families that are in the same position as us. They have many shops near the hotel that cater to the tourists with lots of trinkets that we are filling our suitcases with. Doreen just loves to barter with the shops over the price of a purse that costs only $10 to buy at full price. The city that we are in is around 11 million people and I think we see all of them in cars or bikes all around time. We went to the police station today to start the process of her passport and then our guide Simon took us to the local shopping mall, jade and pearl markets. We bought new release movie cd's for $2 and and a few jade stones at a good price. Gracie is having her dinner bottle now and when she is don, we are going out for another family dinner. We plan on going to the Guangzhou zoo tomorrow and hopefully see a few of the panda bears. When we started this blog, we thought it would be for everyone to stay connected with us, but I think it has kept us more connected to everyone. Thank you so much for your post's, it's been wonderful for us!!!!!!

It is Official...Gracie is a Pinnington

Hi!!!
We had another big day!! We had an appointment to get all of the paperwork done for the adoption! We went back to the same place where we met for the first time yesterday to fill out the forms and to be interviewed. We finally heard some squeals, giggles, and something in Chinese! So far, she is still really quiet and reserved. She really opened up tonight at the restaurant. She loves to mimick everything we do. Chop sticks are the best toys to make noises with!! We fianlly heard her cry tonight when she didn't want to take a bath...she was so sleepy.
We bought her a pair of squeaky shoes today which are hillarious! Every time she takes a step they make a loud squeak! They really encourgage her to walk. We are learning more and more about her everyday and she is blossoming like crazy. The orphanage told us that she was in her crib by herself the majority of the day and this really is evident in the way she plays on her own. There are so many things that she she hasn't experinenced yet. She dicovered TV today! She is learning how to give hugs, too!!
I hope everyone is doing well! We can't wait to come home.

Nicki

First night's sleep

Well we have successfully made it through the first night with nine hours of sleep and she is still in our bed!!!! She had some big dreams last night and started talking Chinese in her sleep. (We just acted like we knew what she was saying) She likes to suck her thumb and role all over the place while she sleeps. She has a bit of a cold with a runny nose and coughs, but it didn't seem to keep her up. We plan to try our first breakfast in a few hours hopefully with both grandmas help and then we are off to start the legal process of her documents. The weather here is in the 90's with about 80% humidity/ Very hot and sticky!!!!!!!! We have hardly eaten anything since the food is so strange and unappetizing but our brother in law Scott is just loving the food!(he is the brave one)We went to a restaurant and they had snakes, water beetles, worms, frogs, turtles and some strange fish all alive in cages ready for us to pick them out for our dinner plates. We are letting Scott pick out our place for dinner so for some strange reason I think that's the place he will pick.

AP