We've Got Her!!

It is official, Olivia is ours. Monday was unbelievable. It is hard to describe it but I will try my best. I could best describe it as semi-controlled chaos. We started out the day getting up early to catch our flight out of Beijing. Our guide to take us to the airport was 10 minutes late picking us up from the hotel. (it was us and Allen and Marilyn travelling together) So, we had to race two vehicles loaded down with people and way too much luggage as fast as possible to the airport, run us and all the luggage into the airport to rush to the gate just in time to check in and get on a bus that drove about 10 minutes before it stopped by a plane and we were finally on our way on a two hour trip to Chongqing. We arrived in a rainy, overcast Chongqing at 11:00 am. They hauled us on a bus to the beautiful hotel. They told us we would be meeting in the lobby at 2:30 to travel again to a government office and getting our babies at 3:00 pm. Chaos is putting it mildly. They seem to make plan changes very often and give different info to each couple. Anyway, when we met in the lobby we had to go through some paperwork and rush-rush-rush. When everyone was done with the paperwork, back on the bus (I'll tell more about the driving some other time) and finally got to the room where another bunch of couples had just gotten their babies. Altogether, in our group, there are only four families. Us, Allen and Marilyn and two couples from Oregon. The Oregon people were getting a 2 1/2 year old and a 20 month old. We waited in a glass office for just a few minutes and then they started calling off our names. The 2 1/2 year old walked up to her parents, then they called off Fu BaoXing. She was carried by a male director to us and hopefully the pictures will show up on this blog. It is kind of a blur right now but Jenny was video taping and Kyle was snapping the pictures so I think we caught "the moment". She did not cry, whined a little but was kind of listless and out of sorts. We went and sat together on a couch and they brought her a bottle of formula. She started eating right away and kept at it until she finally fell asleep, just exhausted. We were all a little overwhelmed and just wanted to get back to the hotel. But, first they had to take the "family photo" and get all of our fingerprints. Before we left the guide brought us medication for her. They said she had a fever and Bronchitis. She also has a raspy noise in her chest and a bad cough and cold. At least they gave us an antibiotic and some other medicine for the other symptoms. Finally, back on a bus and back to the hotel. She has hardly cried at all and given the circumstances, is being great. She slept through the night (better than we did) with just some coughing every so often. She woke up pretty happy today, she eats/drinks formula and water and takes her medicine. Oh yeah, last night before turning in we went to the hotel restaurant. She ate some rice and watermelon. Boy, you should see the stares we get. During our touring in Beijing Jenny and I were stopped and asked if we would have our picture taken with the Chinese people as if we were some kind of freak show.

Oliva is actually a little bigger than what we thought. We don't know what she weight but fits best into 9-12 month at least maybe a little bigger. We will have to get some clothes when we get to a department store. There is one right next to our hotel room.

Tuesday.....Jenny has been an incredible help. This morning we plopped her down on the floor and Jenny can get her to laugh very easily. She loves playing with Jenny. They laugh and clap and she will coo and sing once in a while. This gave us time to shower, clean up the room and just get organized. We then later this morning needed some groceries and misc. items. That is an entire story in itself. There is a grocery store underneath our hotel. Some of the chicken, fish and whatever we saw was so fresh it was still in a cage waiting to be chosen for someones dinner. The little old Chinese ladies stopped us and smiled at us and gave us the thumbs up. We fortunately have not run into the "clothing police" yet so we must be doing things right so far. We bought some bananas, rolls, juice and yogert and came back up to the room. She has been very happy, drinking water, taking her meds and she was really talking before I laid her down for a nap before heading to Marilyn's room to do this update. Steve and the kids were setting up the DVD player to the TV to watch a movie. Hopefully Olivia is getting her nap in.

So things are going very well. Each day I am sure will get easier for us as we get more organized and used to a routine. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we are going to go to the Chongqing zoo. We will see the regulare Panda Bears and Red Panda Bears and who knows what else? I think we are stopping somewher else to but cannot remember and they are talking about going to dinner also so it will be a very busy day. Thursday we are taking the trip to see the Orphanage (yes, we decided to go along and see the city where she was born). So the next couple of days will be busy but I will try to add to the blog as soon as possible. I am going to try to post some picture from GOTCHA DAY but forgive me if it doesn't work.

We miss everyone at home but want you know that we are well and having a good time. Until the next update.....take care!!

Dawn, Steve, Kyle, Jenny and Olivia!!