Guangzhou!

Yesterday we flew into Guangzhou. We will stay here until Friday doing the American side of the paperwork. All families adopting from China finish there paperwork in Guangzhou because this is where the US Consulate is. It's about a two hour flight from Chengdu. However our plane had sensor issues so we were stuck waiting on the plane an extra hour before taking off. Yep, same thing that happened to us in Chicago! Girls did great in the flight and Elliott did ok. He is your typical two year old that doesn't want to sit still for very long. We were able to play and keep him happy the majority of the time.

Guangzhou is fabulous! This South Texas girl is tired of the cold and fog so I was thrilled when we stepped off the plane into sun and 75 degrees! I am pretty sure if I lived anywhere in the north I would experience seasonal affective disorder; my mood requires sunshine.

We are staying at The Garden Hotel which is just amazing. It is a beautiful hotel with wonderful staff. Many, many adopting families stay here and we are enjoying seeing other families carrying their sweet little China babies. It is very nice to talk to others who are going through the same things we are and hearing their stories. 

Our guide, Elvin, is very good. He is super nice and has quite a good sense of humor. Levi is appreciating that of course. He has been a guide for 9 years and really knows his stuff so we are in good hands. Today we went shopping. We bought the girls tea sets, all the kids traditional chinese outfits and Elliott a stamp with his name in English and Chinese characters. While we were there wesampled  several types of tea. The girls love oolong and jasmine tea. A

There are several shops and restaurants within walking distance to our hotel and the area is very safe so we can venture out on our own without a guide. Yesterday we went to Pizza Hut. Here, it is a nicer restaurant than in the US. We just ordered pizza, which was delicious...a little taste of home:) but you can also order steaks, seafood, and several Chinese entrees. I loved watching the locals eat pizza with a fork. They seem to be much neater eaters than my clan.

Elliott continues to do very well. He is full of smiles and giggles. He has the sweetest personality. He very curious, silly and vocal! He fits in our family just perfectly:) He is still attached to me at the hip quite a bit but is starting to venture off a little. He will explore the hotel room on his own which is great, allowing me to at least go the bathroom alone. Every day we see progress of him getting more comfortable with Levi. Levi is able to get him smiling easily. Elliott will let him dress him, change his diapers(yay!), and hold him a little bit. I am sure by the time we get home Elliott will be quite a daddy's boy! He is napping in the crib and sleeping with Levi and me at night. He is sleeping very well and will eat just about anything. We keep all the food out of sight unless it is ok for him to eat it. He is not used to seeing food around unless it is time to eat.  If he sees it and can't have it he gets quite stressed. And we are trying to be careful not to feed him too much because his nanny told us he gets sick easily if eats too much. 

Tomorrow we will take Elliott for his physical exam. It should take about an hour. Our guide told us there is a nice park nearby which we can visit afterwards. 

I will attempt to post pics of the past two days soon.