UPDATE FOR TUESDAY-THURSDAY

Sorry again for not updating everyday but it is hard to find time to get on our friends computer, plus sometimes I'm just too tired.

Monday night went fine, Tuesday we had the day to ourselves and Olivia opens up a little more everyday. Here are a few more details on Olivia. She has a couple little teeth showing through on the bottom and signs of more coming in the top. She takes a nap from around 11:00 am until 1:30 pm and sleeps pretty well through the night from 7:30 to 6:30 which is really nice. We are feeding her formula with cereal and cereal with bananas in, or we also tried the prunes, which is an explanation for part of my story later. She will also try some rice, watermelon, congee (sp?) and steamed eggs, which she likes but unfortunately came flying out last night. We give her a bath in the morning before breakfast and then we sit on the floor and play. Jenny and I can really get her laughing and smiling now. It is hilarious.

Tuesday night Jenny was up most of the night sick, throwing up mostly. Not sure if it was water, food or just a bug going around. Mid-way through the night Olivia also woke up screaming at about 2:00 pm. Finally she had a diaper full of the equivalent to stones. Ouch!! But she went back to bed, seemed to feel better but was pretty restless the rest of the night. Steve was running back and forth to the bathroom with Jenny while I tried to comfort Olivia. Kyle just complained about it being too noisy for him to sleep. Needless to say Steve and I are pretty exhausted. In the morning we were supposed to be ready to go to the Zoo at 9:30. Jenny was completely wiped out so Steve sent me, Kyle and Olivia out on our own for the Zoo and a Flying Tiger Museum tour. I was a little nervous about this but we did great. Major-major mommy and baby bonding time. The zoo was really nice and we saw a bunch of Panda Bears, hippos, Tibeten bear, Bengel Tiger, baby monkey, 6 month old panda bear. We took a lot of video so Steve and Jenny could watch it when we got back. We then went to a Flying Tiger museum by way of the oldest street in Chongqing. Very interesting ride down a small, winding road with open markets everywhere. Lots of poverty and places I can't imagine anyone living in. The Flying Tiger museum was very boring for me, it turned out to be more of them trying to sell us items more then anything. I did manage to change a diaper for the first time in a small, smelly bathroom stall with Olivia on my lap so we didn't touch anything we didn't have to. I was pretty proud of myself. Olivia was sooo good the whole time and is getting pretty attached to me. She gives me big smiles, it takes a little work but the smiles are coming more often all the time.

When we finally got back to the hotel room in the early afternoon, Jenny was still zonked out and just slept all day long. Olivia also produced a smelly diaper so she was all smiles after that!! I think there is still some soreness in her stomach but she should be over the worst now.

Now, about today-Wednesday. We all got pretty good sleep and woke up in good spirits. The bath goes faster everyday and breakefast went well. Then we met in the lobby at 9:30 and it was off to the Fuling orphanage. A two hour ride, Olivia slept most of the way and we arrived at the gate of the Fuling orphanage. It is hard to describe the feelings that went through me today. Almost more dramatic than Gotcha Day. We were greeted by the caretakers right away and they were so happy to see the babies. I was glad Olivia grabbed on to me tightly. But as she recognized them they got her to warm up and smile as they played with the babies. We were able to see everything! The walkers, the bear in the referral picture, the playroom, the actual cribs all the babies were in and Olivia's main caretaker actually showed me the exact bed that she was in. Then she made me put Olivia in it!!! Very weird and Olivia started crying so I took her out right away. Jenny has everything on video so we will be able to show the whole thing. It was a very emotional day. The very strange thing that happened though was a young girl hanging around us the whole time. I thought she worked at the orphanage but found out she was just a visitor. She was vey interested in Kyle and especially Jenny. She took pictures with Jenny and asked a lot of questions. The video shows this girl watching us and she looks very sad. She also disappeared for a while and reappeared with a gift for Jenny. Then she and another woman left the area. Maybe Olivia's biological mother? Not sure. We will be studying the video later. Olivia is all ours though and she is already bonding so much more everyday. I can't wait to show everyone the great pictures and video we have. We got pictures and video of the spot they found Olivia in front of the orphanage gates. Like I said, very emotional day.

We finally left there and stopped for lunch. The food is so interesting here and very good. There are so many different dishes put in the middle of the table and you spin them around to take what you want. Although we did order room service Wednesday night.....a big hamburger with french fries. It tasted soo good. The Chinese food is good but we are really starting to miss the US. Olivia slept most of the way back. The countryside is so beautiful here it cannot be described.

I am trying to remember as much as I can as I type. I will keep posting updates and more pictures as much as possible but please be patient. Tomorrow is a free day for us. We may go out on our own touring around the hotel and some shopping. Very interesting things to tell about the grocery stores. I am also trying to get used to the many stares we get as we walk around. The Chinese people are all very friendly though and very nice to us. We feel very safe here but it is a little overwhelming. We are all looking forward to getting back home.

Saturday we are getting an extra tour around Chongqing. Can't remember what they said but I will take pictures and give updates. Sunday we go on another tour and Monday is a free day until we pack and leave Chongqing on Monday afternoon, around 5:00. We are then on our way to the last leg of this unbelievable journey. We fly to Guangzhou and meet up with the rest of the adopting families for medical appts, consulate appts, etc.

Thank you for the comments that were posted. The internet hookup works much better here than in Beijing so I am actually able to read the comments so please, send some more. It is nice to have that connection with home.

We all send our love to everyone back home and look forward to introducing you to Olivia.

Until the next post.........

Dawn, Steve, Kyle, Jenny and Olivia!!!