Five Months Together!

This week marks five months with Li!  All we can say is “What a Long Strange Trip it’s Been!”  Wonderful, but definitely a unique experience for us.

We’ve had a few rough mornings this week.   Li and Dad have both been sick, Dad a little more than Li.   Li’s not sleeping much at night as you can see from her Dad’s face but she is happy, she has her apple and her DaDa. 

When your high heels slow you down, just wear one and use the bare foot to keep up your speed.  That’s Li’s secret to success in Barbie shoes.    

“Hey Little Girl” by Jack Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp8sNiOArwo

Doll Baby

When Li’s Great Grandfather made this doll bed 75+ years ago for his little girl, never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined this precious doll baby sitting in it.

Trey just added “Most people don’t know she’s meaner than a hornet!”.   A “cute” hornet I will add.

First Week Back to Work

It’s my first week back to work….well, I’ve been working overtime since March 8th but this is my first week back to a job I get to clock in and out of.  Thankfully, Li’s Grandmother’s are here so leaving is a little easier for me, she’s in very good hands.  

Here’s a sampling of what I see first thing in the mornings!

Li had a check up with the doctor today….and a few shots…. and all is well.  She’s 33.5 inches tall, 3.2 inches more than when she was measured March 29th! and weighs 21.8 lbs, up 1.7 lbs from March 29th.   She loves sweet potatoes, fresh fruits out of the garden, cheese, yogurt, tomatoes, watered down Juicy Juice (she’s not wise to that yet) but really most foods.   Trey refers to her food selections as requiring “AFDA” (Angie Food and Drug Approval) before Li gets a taste.   To Funny!

New Shoes

New shoes from Nana, I think.   We were playing dress up but only made it as far as the shoes. 

Cheat sheet ..

     I was unpacking one of our bags yesterday and found what I called my ‘Cheat sheet’. The front side was my Chinese RMB (yuan) to US dollar conversions. That gave me some idea of what I was paying for something. The other side was what little Mandarin I could use. It was just enough so I could be polite without having to pass around my phrase book. I never got brave enough to try and say ‘Mineral water’ which is ‘bottled water’.  One of the other husbands in our group tried to say ‘mineral water’ one evening and they brought him a pot of boiling water.  I stuck to my phrase book after that.  This little piece of paper went everywhere with me.

RMB to US dollars

Mandarin

Last post from China

     Ok, this is what we’ve been waiting for, Li’s Passport, Visa and Immigration papers. We recieved them this afternoon.  We are now packing. I need to pack up the laptop so this is probably the last post from Guangzhou, China.  The fun starts at 6am (5pm Cookeville, 13hrs difference). We fly from Guangzhou to Shanghai, Shanghai to Newark where we present Li’s paperwork to US Immigration. We then fly from Newark to Nashville. We are due in Nashville at 10:30 pm US Central time. That’s a 30 hour ordeal – everyone please wish us luck, we’re going to need it. blah.

-Trey

Last walk ..

We took our last little walk around the block this afternoon and passed the restaurant we ate at the first night we arrived in Guangzhou. I forgot to post any pictures about this interesting place to eat. 

When you order Duck, they go out front and grab one of these:

If you order Crab, they grab one of these:

Same for fish:

Li watching the fish:

I didn’t get a picture of the toads and snakes but they are in the video I took.

Flat Sisters are packed.

The Flat Sisters are packed. They said this is a wonderful country to visit but they are ready to go home now. Flat Savy is about to lose an arm anyway, we need to get her back before it falls off.