Ella and Mom's First Trip to the Doctor

Well, we survived our first plane trip. It was actually amazing, she fell asleep during take off and didn't wake up until we were taxiing into the gate in Guangzhou, hopefully this bodes well for our much longer flight home in a couple of days.

Once we were all loaded up into the bus, we headed to Shamian Island which is where most of the adoptive families (from our agency and many others) stay to complete the American side of the adoption paperwork. Due to the trade fair being hosted here as well as the short notice for travel, we were unable to stay and are in a nearby city Foshan at a very nice hotel. We had lunch first at Lucy's (sorry, Kristi) and then headed to have the babie's Visa photos taken. It is amazing the difference in Ella from the passport photo (taken on my second day with her) and the one taken today. It really helped to put into perspective how much she has changed and opened up in such a short period of time. Her personality continues to blossom and it just a pure joy.

Then, on to the fun part, the medical appointment. We had to go to three different stations and it was just bad from the word go. First we went to the ENT who seemed to be really looking at hearing issues and she just scared the c--p out of her. Then on the have her temperature taken (luckily under her arm), then to be weighed (drumroll please... my little one weighs in at 21.3 pounds) and measured (72 centimeters). She cried during this second part but nothing like what happened when we saw the main doctor and he tried to listen to her heart. Interestingly, one of the other moms (I love saying that!) had said to me earlier in the afternoon that they had not really heard Ella cry. We fixed that perception and good! She was just inconsolable, big tears running down her face screaming and sobbing. It was very hard to watch (Mom, good luck with that doctor's appointment next week!) and she was so upset. Finally the ordeal ended and we headed out of the building and she got back to her usual happy and funny self.

Once we were all finished, we headed back to bus for our 1-1 1/2 hour trip to the hotel. She was just amazing and fell asleep again on the bus and was so good. Given how long today was she was just amazing and I am quite lucky. She is just an absolute joy, even when she is screaming!

So, before I close and head off to bed (Ella and Rob are both sleeping at the moment)someone asked that I tell you a little about what she can and can't do (or what we know). She is still drinking from a bottle and getting a mixture of formula and rice cereal along with some table food for the three meals (we are still trying to follow the schedule given to us by the SWI staff). The one thing she will take from a cup is she likes to drink water from my glass at the table if she sees it. She is not a big fan of being on her tummy and I decided not to worry about that until we get home. The few times that she has stayed on her tummy for a few minutes, she doesn't look like she is crawling but she does like to scoot backwards for a little bit. She is not walking yet but loves to stand up and is pretty good at grabbing my two fingers and pulling herself up. Like lots of little ones, she is not a fan of the diaper change and doesn't like putting on shirts/sleeves. Pants don't seem to bother her much. It sounds like she says, "mama", "ella", "dada", "hi" but those may just be sounds. She does like to shake her head "no" and she waves backwards with both her hands when you say "hi" and "bye bye". She just starting clapping yesterday and absolutely loves the attention paid to her by everyone. When the developmental reports indicated that she is an extrovert, I think that is an apt description.

I hope all is well with you at home. We think of you guys often and are happy to have you take this journey with us! Tomorrow is a big shopping day so I have to go rest up. More later...