About my girls, shopping and other ramblings

Finally -- a post from mommy.  Sorry if I start to ramble and write out of order on when the events happened -- I'm just trying to get it all written down. 

 

My family is napping and I was just out shopping in the rain.  Alone.  All by myself.  And it was nice.  Other than stopping at 7-11 last night I haven't had time to do any shopping on the island -- until today.  I got the girls some more little gifts for their gotcha day anniversaries and more squeaky shoes.  I bought 7 more pair.  Since Chloe's feet are dinky she can wear Casssie's old ones.  The poor girl will be getting her sister's hand-me-downs for a while.  At least on the shoes for the next few years.

 

We went with out a group this morning to the Chen Family temple -- we were there last May but I was excited to go back because I knew they had paintings from local artists and also made the best chops (name stamps).  I ordered Chloe a chop with her Chinese and American names -- just like her sister's.  At this place the ink was in a much prettier little container so we got Cassie a box for her chop and a nice ink container too.  Because you know mommy needs to be fair.  We also bought 4 fabric scroll paintings for the stairway to go with the painting we bought last time. 

 

Then we were off to the pearl market -- all this in the pouring rain.  It was kind of funny with us trying to carry umbrellas and both push strollers over cobble stone. Thank goodness for our guide, Kelly, and our travel mates helping us or we'd have never made it today.  At the pearl market I got a purple beaded jade bracelet for myself.  I really wanted a purple bangle bracelet but they didn't have one to fit me.  I ran into the same problem last trip.  But I really liked this bracelet.  I also got a bangle bracelet in Nanjing with a tiny speck of purple in it for myself too.  Plus in Nanjing I got Chloe a nice rat charm.  And today I got them tiny little rats too -- jade ones of course.  They were both born in 2008, which is the year of the rat on the Chinese calendar.    And Chloe got pearls for her wedding.  And by the way - that won't be until she is at least 30 -- just in case anyone was wondering. 

 

In Nanjing I bought the girls some cheaper smaller jade bracelets and some bracelets made from some pretty stone -- looks like fake jade -- but they are still very pretty.  I also got them both some rain flower stone jewelry -- I know that's not the right name -- but when I do a internet search on it errors out -- the interest is weird here.  Anyways, you only get these stones in Nanjing and it has a story that goes with it that right now I can't remember.  (I sure hope my brain will work right again at some point in the near future.)

 

Tonight our group is going to dinner with our guide to a local Cantonese restaurant.  We were there last May and it's really good from what I remember.  Then tomorrow, Monday, our guide will take paperwork to the US Consulate to get the ball rolling so that we can complete Chloe's adoption and leave for home.

 

Chloe's medical exam was yesterday -- our Saturday.  It was uneventful.  We had to stop at three 'stations' and have Chloe checked out.  We first did the ENT station.  Chloe did well on the hearing test but wasn't too happy to have the dr look inside her little mouth.   Nonetheless, she survived.  On a good note, her ears were free of fuild.   That's a big plus, since she's a cleft baby.  Next we went to the medical exam station.  I had to sign saying I knew she was a special needs baby, then had to write out what her special need was. They listened to her heart, lungs, and poked around on her abdomen.  She passed again with flying screaming colors.  Last up was the height and weight station.  My little puddin pie weights in at 22.5 lbs and is 29.5 inches long.  That's all with leggings, a shirt, dry diaper, socks and shoes on.  And that was it for the medical exam.

 

We also got Chloe's passport photo taken -- she even smiled for that.  She's such a happy little girl.  Cassie slept through the passport photo stop and most of the medical exam.  I guess she was bored since she had just done this herself last May. 

 

We have 'officially' determined that Chloe is lactose intolerant.  We know this because the soy based formula seems to agree with her system as she is pooping normally, she's sleeping better, and her little tummy is half the size it was.  This makes us all happy.

 

My girls are now awake so I'll write more later and most pictures once they fall alseep.