Thursday

Yesterday we had very little on our schedule. This turned out to be a good thing because Maizie was fussy. We think she is teething. She also had a fever, but otherwise seemed fine. We gave her some infant Tylenol and that helped.

We did go to the store again yesterday for more formula and bottles. She likes her formula thick and so we are really going through it. We also picked up some more bottles. She does not like the Playtex ones we brought. (Erin, I picked up a bottle for you in case you want to take one when you go to meet Hope. Let me know if you want me to show you how Maizie likes her. It is a little different than all the bottles I have made for my nieces and nephews.) I hope we have enough supplies so that we do no have to go there again. It is just too crazy.

We also walked around the island and went and checked out The White Swan Hotel. The White Swan is traditionally the hotel that most parents stay at when them come to Guangzhou. We chose to stay at The Victory because we heard the beds were more comfortable and it is a better price. The White Swan has a beautiful lobby, but I am glad we chose to stay at The Victory.

Otherwise we spent most of our time in the room playing quietly with Maizie. She took a lot of little naps yesterday. So far this morning she seems to be feeling better. She and Jeff are playing on the floor with the stacking cups.

We also made the decision yesterday to not go to Yangjiang. Yangjiang is Maizie's hometown. We were hoping to go see the outside of the orphanage and her finding spot. It is about 2.5 hrs away. We just could not envision having her in a car for that long without a car seat. Jeff asked at the hotel front desk and the tour guides and it is just impossible to find a car seat around her. I know of one couple that managed to find a car seat a few years ago but it took some dedicated looking. There is also some reports of flooding in the area. Instead we made her a promise that we will bring her back when she is older and she can see for herself. We are extremely disappointed because we feel it is important to give Maizie as much information as possible about her first ten months.

We have tried to do a little shopping but it is not going well. I hate negotiating the price. You would think with all the negotiating I do with my job, I would be a pro here. Jeff can do it better than I can but has not found anything he wants enough to really purchase it. Jeff just negotiates it down, decides it is still too high and walks away. (Mary I will try and pick up those items you want but maybe you should email me with what is an appropriate price to pay for it, otherwise I do not know if we will be able to get it done.)

Maizie is a constant joy for us. We feel so blessed to get to be with her. We are not really sure how she feels about us. Every morning when she wakes up she spends a long time staring at us and thinking before she will give us her smiles. Once she start sticking out her tongue and blowing raspberries we know she has decided we are ok for another day. She loves to stand and stare at herself in the mirror. She has incredibly long eyelashes. She has a belly button that sticks out and sticks out even more when she is full. She will crawl to Mommy, which makes my heart just melt. When we cuddle to have her bottle she sticks her fingers in my mouth and takes my glasses off. She is already learning things so fast. When we first played with the books, she did not really get the idea and now she is turning the pages. She laughs when Mommy and Daddy throw the beach ball back and forth. She is just perfect.