A LONG TIME COMIN'

I finally found a minute to update the blog.

Lian is doing great! She weighs 22 lb and is 76 cm tall. She babbles away in her own language and says "dada", "mama" and "bab" (her word for books). She is very opinionated and has a very loud voice. She is one tough little girl. She pushes Buster, who weighs over 100 lb, out of the way and yells at anyone who needs to be told off. When she is told "no" she looks at us as though we're crazy. She has 8 teeth and 2 more on the way. She loves to be the centre of attention!

HOME AT LAST

It has been a rough few days so far. The time switch has been brutal. We're tired all the time and poor Lian is totally confused. She sleeps for only 4 hour intervals at night and some nights are better than others. She is, however, in very good spirits. She is always laughing (even at all of the new faces), but she prefers not to go to anyone but me and Nik.

BYE BYE FROM BEIJING

Ok, this is really the last post from China. Today we visited Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. See you in a couple of days! (Lian is waving good-bye after enjoying her lunch of pumpkin paste and formula.)

VERY BUSY

Hi again,

We are now in Beijing. We have been very busy over the past few days. We've been to an acrobatic show (which was great but we forgot to bring our camera), we visited the Great Wall, the Jade Factory and today, Lian had her medical examination. It was done by a Canadian doctor from Montreal. She was very nice and great with Lian. She said that she is quite tall however a little low in weight. She is 74 cm and 8.04 kg. She is eating very well and I'm sure she has gained weight since gotcha day so we are not worried about it at all. I am posting of the Great Wall and the Jade Factory. Only 2 full days until we fly home. ( This may be our last post to the blog as we have to pay for internet service). We arrive in Windsor on December 7th at 7:55 p.m.. See you all soon!

EMAIL

Deb Grima,

Could you please email me at saraadzic@yahoo.ca. I have a question for you. Thanks!

Sara

LIAN'S HOME FOR THE FIRST 10 MONTHS

Yesterday we visited Lian's orphanage and finding spot. It was a very long and emotional day. The orphanage is a four hour drive from our hotel and we went there and back in one day. Lian did quite well on the bus, with the exception of a minor blowout (no not the bus tire, Lian's diaper). We had to change her clothes and borrow a pair of pants for her from someone in our group (thanks so much Marnie). Before we went to the orphanage we visited the place where Lian's first mother left her. It was an intersection on a small street. There were quite a few people around when we got there at about 12 in the afternoon. It was quite a poor area of the city. The people looked very surprised to see a bus pull into their neighourhood (not to mention the white people with cameras). The first photo is of us at Lian's finding place. We visited six finding places for children in our group. The rest of the group, unfortunately, could not visit their babies' finding place as they were too far out of the city. We then went to the orphanage. We received a very warm welcome from Mrs. Yu, the orphanage director, and the rest of the staff at the orphanage. It was a very clean place. There were about 20 babies in the orphanage, with about 10 of them being adopted next month to an American agency. Lian wanted to get in one of the cribs at the orphanage so I put her in and she was quite happy. The nannies held Lian for a short time. She was a little hesitant to go to them and then wanted to come back to me. It's amazing to see the transformation in this baby. We know that she was very well taken care of in the orphanage and we can never thank those who took care of her for the past 10 months enough. We gave the orphanage a gift of little girls' clothing which was bought over here. It's amazing how cheap it was so we got quite a lot of outfits.

MORE PHOTOS

A DAY AT THE ZOO

Today we visited the Guangzhou Zoo. It was a beautiful day - sunny and much less humid - about 70 F. Tomorrow we have a very long bus ride to Lian's orphanage (4.5 hours each way). We leave at 7:30 a.m. and return at about 7:30 p.m.. We're off to the mall this afternoon to pick up some necessities - diapers & food.

MORE PHOTOS

PARTY IN THE HALLWAY!!!!

It started with 2 babies and ended with about 8 of them and their parents having a party in the hallway. There were a lot of laughs! The babies had a great time being together on the floor. We plan on doing it often. Lian is in the pink and white flowery pants.