Bamboo Sprouts

We came home to these cute birdies all nested up in the eaves of our front porch.  🙂 

And here is the mommy bird getting lunch for her babies.  So cute.  And now we have been home a week and lots has changed because the birdies have flown the nest already! 

 But enough about them…more about US.   LOL  We have been home exactly a week and we are GREAT.  Can you believe it??  Our overnight in LA was rough with the kiddos only sleeping 2.5 hours as to them it was exactly 2-4:30pm in China…NAP time.  Ok so that was rough but turned out to be SO worth it because we got home at 4 pm on Sat, they went to bed at about 8:30pm and slept ALL NIGHT.  Eight hours.  Unebelievable.  This is still short of their usual 11 or so but I cant complain because the past two trips were MUCH more difficult to recover from.  But you cant claim to be back on schedule after one night because the next night can still be a disaster.  But NOPE.  Every night they have all slept 8-10 hours plus they are taking very long naps during the day.  I am sure once the naps shorten up a bit, the nights will get a bit longer.  So anyhow, what a difference a good nights sleep makes for a mommy!  So all is WELL. 

 Levi continues to do well and seems so much better adjusted at this point then the girls were at the same point.  With everything being so NEW to him, I cant believe how he just takes it all in stride.  It continues to be like he has always been in our family and I just cant say how much this surprises me.  He slept with me a couple of nights and now is comfy in his own bed.  He eats EVERYTHING.  LOL  He cleans his plate.  Not in a frantic way, but he enjoys his meals.  LOL  He is happy, laughs out loud a lot, plays nicely, loves to be held and snuggled and warms up to people pretty well.  He sticks pretty close to me, but this is very appropriate for now.  He is also picking up new words every day.  He also continues to speak lots of Chinese and we sure wish we knew what he was saying but he clams up around others so even when we have been around someone who could tell us…he wont talk.  LOL 

See how normal things are?  LOL  Monkey faces continue…kids are happy and playing nicely together (although remind me if I forget to tell about the MEAN BELLA COOKIE incident) and the weather here is grand.  On this day, Levi and I went to Home Depot and bought plants for the front yard and came home and we did yard work which they all liked helping with.  Their big job was to collect up all the pinecones. 

I have lots more to post and catch up on but wanted to start with this one letting everyone know we are home and settling in nicely.  Come see us when you can!

Edit post.

Turn up your sound…

We are in LA now and will be home Sat at 4pm.  🙂 

When we boarded the plane in China, we sat next to a woman who KNEW us.  LOL  The plane is set up with 3 seats on each side and 4 in the middle so we took 3 in the middle (with a stranger next to us) and 2 on one side (with another stranger there) and it was me and the little ones in the middle and Sophie and daddy on the side.  This very happy Chinese woman was chatting away with Rick when she realized that we were all together and all of a sudden she is beside herself because she saw us on TV!!  LOL  I am telling her no, no, not us as I have no idea what she is talking about but it is soon clear that she is RIGHT!  LOL  She says this one (Bella) in buggy, this one (Sophie) on ground walking and this one (Levi) holding close in your arms walking down the street.  Well sure enough, this is how we trapsed around China for the past 2+ weeks!  So now I am HORRIFIED.  LOL  Dont you always see the news with unknown folks and think oh dear…you should have passed on being interviewed for the news!  Well I DO.  The good news is that we werent interviewed, just filmed.  The bad news is I have no idea who was picking their nose (what are the chances NO ONE was doing this??), what angle they shot my hiney at, what we were all wearing, whether or not Rick and I were having it out at the moment (there have been stressful moments on this trip!), etc.  LOL  I asked what they SAID about us and she said happy happy.  She said it was on CHINA NATIONAL NEWS and they were saying how Americans love to come adopt Chinese babies and this family has THREE- 2 girls and one boy!  So there you have it, our 15 mins of fame occurred in CHINA.  LOL  Rick and I discussed how this happened and we both did notice a news camera SETTING UP but not filming so it had to have been then.  We just didnt think anything of it and didnt know WE were the story.  LOL

This same happy Chinese lady and a few other rows of curious folks had much to say (all in Chinese) about our adopting.  Positive I am sure by the way they interacted with us but weird as they went on and on.  Two finally asked for more details on how this happens and it always surprises me to realize that they dont know about their own adoption process.  They were shocked that China assigns you a child (usually) and you dont “choose” one and also that we have only known Levi for 2 weeks.  They wanted to know how he “knows to love us”.  LOL  Its an interesting question really and something I sort of take for granted this being our third time.  My best answer is that we love them and they respond to that.  We take care of them…feed them, cloth them, bathe them, stroke their cheeks, kiss their boo-boos…all that regular parent stuff.  Kids must just KNOW that is what makes for a mommy and a daddy and not the shape of your eyes, color of your skin, or blood running through your veins.  They respond to the important stuff.  But Chinese people tend to put a lot of importance on blood relations so this is a bit of a foreign idea (no pun intended!) for them.

Along a different line, I am so glad to be HOME.  Not home home but back in the US.  I think its lovely that Chinese people take care of all babies like they are their own babies but my goodness sometimes, especially with kids the ages of ours, it gets tough.  So I am glad to have them back to my self and we probably have some behaviors to correct with all of them in the coming days.  LOL  The lady sitting in our row (mine) at one point told me that she has 2 sons now 15 and 20 and she always hand fed them when they were Levis age.  LOL  Well Levi handles a fork (and chopsticks for that matter) quite well and prefers to mostly feed himself!  I help as needed but let him do as much as he wants to do (he wont LET me help more anyhow!)  but this was clearly her way of telling me to feed my kid.  So she ended up feeding him when he would let her but I was glad when he refused what she offered and picked it up and did it himself indicating he didnt want all that help.  She also fretted that he was cold of course even though he refused to keep anything warmer on and was fine. 

Kiddos did very very well 14 hours on the plane.  They slept a good amount and didnt make anyone want to jump out the exit doors that I know of.  Problem is NOW.  We are in a hotel tonight and they slept midnight-2:30am which is exactly NAP time in China!!  LOL  2-4:30.  Ah well.  So they are in the bath now.  Unfortunately, we arrive at 4pm Sat and to them it will be 6am on Sunday.  I think.  I am having trouble figuring out the time change situation.   Not sure when they are going to get a nights sleep in so hard to predict the condition they will be in by the time we get there.

Alrighty, see you soon.  You will know us when you see us as we were the ones on TV!

Kids are melting down left and right so we will be so glad to get home to a more normal (boring!) routine!! See you all soon and thanks for following along. Its been nice having you along for the ride. 🙂 XO

Kids are playing, they had ice-cream cups tonight, played at the park, all is well. 🙂 Have I mentioned that adding Levi to our family has been the EASIEST transition for us! Isnt that something? I was so prepared for the worst and for no good reason. I would say all these worst case scenarios to Rick during the last 6 mos and he couldnt even seem to entertain my crazy ideas and sure enough, I worried and fretted for nothing. I still cant get over how it seems like he has just always been in our family! I am not even meaning to gush here, its just true. I mean he is still chattering in Chinese (obviously) but other then that, its like we have always known him. 🙂

I went out and about shopping while kids and Rick napped (usually he goes out and I stay with them but he is sickly so wanted to nap too). I just cant get in the spirit of all the bargaining though! My best line is that this is my third time here and I know how it works so just give me your best price NOW and lets get this done. LOL Pretty sad. Shopping is always weird here but this time especially. There is a tea set I liked at one shop and they told me 680y (about $80 US) and I actually have been considering it. Then today I am at another shop and they have the same set and she tells me 160y (under $20). Thats a crazy difference! I bought it without bargaining for the 160y but am sure I could have paid less if I had given it some effort. Anyhow. LOL Sherrys is good at giving me a good price first time out so I go to them if they have what I want. Tonight we went to an art shop and I found a painting I liked and she told me 240y and I was shocked how low but as they were packing it up it became clear she MEANT to say $240 US. UGH. BIG difference. I left without it but ?? because in my mind I already had it hanging in my house! LOL I bought 2 nicer pieces last time and no regrets so I may go back and see how low they will go and just get it anyhow.

While shopping, one of the sales girls kept touching my hair (yes it was odd- LOL) and finally said is that your real hair color or you put stuff on it. LOL I said its my regular color and she said whats that called and I said what color is it you mean? And she said no what you call if you are born with it. LOL I said my natural color? LOL So then she had me write down the word natural and she studied it. LOL Then as we chatted she ended up asking me to also write down the words air-conditioner and insulated. LOL She said she was “learning so much today”. 🙂 Gotta say, their English is a MILLION times better then my Chinese will ever be and they are very dedicated to improving it as they can.

The money thing is weird too because it SOUNDS like I am breaking the bank but really if I tell Rick I need 300y he looks at me like FOR WHAT but its really all of about $40. LOL

Tomorrow night we are going on the riverboat dinner cruise which is something we havent done before. 🙂

It is unbelievably hot and humid in GZ! I cant even imagine coming later in the summer! UGH. Levi’s first choice is always to be carried but sometimes we have to just convince him to walk and hold hands because its just too hot.

It surprised me when we went to the park today and he seemed to have never played on stuff before! He caught on but he hadnt done ladder type steps or a slide. There is no swing here but I bet he hasnt done that either. Strange.

The bfast buffet here is just so so but I never care too much about this as we arent huge bfast eaters anyhow but they have the best TOAST. LOL Their toaster is this funky thing that is huge and you drop the toast in a chute and it goes through a broiler thingy and falls out the bottom. Its super yum and they put out a fab selection of breads that are fun to try so we eat a CRAZY amount of toast each morning. Isnt that funny. LOL It strikes me funny that I totally make like 2 dozen pieces of toast each morning. LOL Ok now that sounds crazy but some of it is french bread that isnt very big. Well maybe there is no justifying 2 dozen pieces of toast. But let me try again and just say thats about ALL we have for bfast now. And there are 5 of us. LOL I am going to take a pic of the toaster tomorrow because its the craziest toaster but I think we need one! 🙂

The monster toaster.  LOL  I am sure other diners were wondering why on earth I was photographing the toaster…

And the great selection of breads to toast up.  🙂

Ok well when I start posting about TOAST its clear I should sign off. 😉