Ba-Ba Da Bomb

Ba-Ba Da Bomb
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Schedule for today: Breakfast in hotel (buffet - comes with the room); Teng Family Paviliion, Wal-Mart Back to Hotel, then to the Porcelain Shop and Baby shop, which are walking distance from hotel. After wrestling with Grace this morning trying to get her hair combed into place and pinned down somewhat, then we put her in her cute "Boo" Halloween Shirt with matching pumpkin socks (Thanks again Target) I managed to get a curling iron in my hair and put on clean clothes (back from the laundry, in perfect plastic bags) we looked presentatble for about 10 seconds -- we think Grace may have figured out that there is a buffet breakfast every morning because she drank her bottle with less enthusiasm this morning and just took a few bites of rice cereal, and then chowed down on scrambled eggs, watermelon and tofu soup. We all then got on the bus, went to Teng Family Pavilion but we just stayed in the park area because Grace was really grumpy and soon our clean clothes were covered in crumbs as we fed our little Gracie cherrios to keep her happy. It was a pleasant place and when our group re-gathered in the park area to leave, we had several people come up to us and take our photo. One group told us the were government officials that worked with old people and had alot of respect for us for adopting. Once again, our very own Jiangxi celebrities - two blonde boys-- of our group had folks grabbing them for photos.

So it was back to Walmart -- it was much less hectic this time and we knew our way around somewhat, so we grabbed more bottles of water, more clothes, alot of snacks for all of us. Then it was back to the hotel. I had a chance to run over to the local grocery store with Rob and Nancy and we stopped off at the the bakery today and pick up a few things for lunch, and we just sort of hunkered down in the room and ate rolls and fed Gracie a bottle and some rice cereal. Gracie now thinks David is the Bomb, only when we leave the hotel she prefers to have Mom carry her in her baby Bjorn -- with Dad doing technical support; but back in the hotel, its all Ba-Ba. She keeps saying "Ju - Ju" to us when we are cuddling or playing so we asked Rui about what it meant. She said its Orphanage slang for "Kisses" (It really means "cake").

We took another walk along the shops near the hotel-lead by our fearless leader -- and it is a sight to behold--we once again drew a crowd at the Porcelin shop. We all wear our "calling cards" from Wal-Mart when we go out. I had one local fellow come up to me and basically indicate that my child is small now but she will be tall. I have heard this also from other folks who have adopted from our orphanage, Fenyi--so much so that the Yahoo group often calls their girls the Fenyi Basketball Team. I did take some photos and I will try to upload one of a little boy crawling up the stairs in his split pants. Our Lady of Nanchang, the wonderful Rui, then ordered Pizza hut for us tonight and we all spread out on the 11th floor, with all sorts of pizzas, kids in laps, the older kids playing ball in the hallway. While things are good, we are all so tired, and so anixous to get home, so we don't have to use bottled water to brush our teeth, or pour boiling water over all of our utensiles, but its all worth it for our delightful little Gracie.

You might want to check out the blog, OkieAngel (see link on our page) of our fellow travelers, Steph and Jubal from Oklahoma. They are delightful folks with a wonderful blog and their daughter is quite the beauty, definitely the fashion-ista of the group.

Tips for soon to be travelers: Walmart doesn't quite have the same selection of baby clothes, so we are very happy we brought along the clothes we did, along with bottles, dishwashing soap. Alot of stuff is in Chinese, and in kilos, so its sometimes hard to figure out what you are buying.
The hotel floors are less than optimal for crawling kids. We used our travel blanket for the first days, then it went into the Laundry, now we are using a hotel blanket, which will be replaced by a sheet we bought at Wal-mart.
Hair Curling iron (dual voltage, most are) works just fine with adapter, and I suspect it does without one. However, it doesn't make a difference. It is hot in the hotel, and humid outside and its always a bad hair day. I should've brought a hat.
Water: There is always lots of water to purchase very cheaply, but just remember what you purchased vs what was in the honor bar, as I have accidently opened up water from the bar, and not what I bought. Same with beer.