First 7 hours awake in Beijing thoughts

Saying goodbye to her home province...


Asleep on the bus heading to the airport in Nanchang




Waiting in Nanchang airport to head to Beijing
Saturday morning group picture. Yulin trying to get us all together, I stepped out to take this shot :)

First nite in Beijing with Julia, elevator picture
Well the last leg of the race begins here. Baby and I slept well last nite, not long enough but okay. Cara had something that upset her stomach and has the runs, she is resting now and we have taken a few things to try to deal with it, hopefully today will be the recovery day.

Julia and I had our first adventure together today.

With mommy not feeling great I took babe down to breakfast and had a quick bite, then off to Yulin's room to do paperwork.After filling our citizenship papers and trying to get her picture for it( she wouldn't look directly at the camera, made the girls who were taking the pictures REALLLLLY work for it). We finally got a picture that worked. We then went to the lobby of the Presidential Palace Hotel we are staying at for a group picture. Then Cara crashed again, her tummy has not been good today, she has slept most of the day as she was up most of the nite.
Those thoughts above written at the 7 hour mark...now it is later in the day.

After the group picture Cara slept and I got Julia ready to head to the grocery store so we could continue our daddy daughter adventure in Beijing. Hooked into the Snuggli away we went, it wasn't too far, she loves looking up and checking out the tall buildings and soaking in the sounds. We found the grocery store no problem, it was in the basement of a nice mall. Once in the grocery store she was napping, it is soooo warm in nice buildings in China, I think I lost 4 pounds from sweating. So got some water and few odd things and back to the hotel. We much prefer the hotel in Nanchang. Better service, better space, nicer environment. Now this place isn't a dump or anything, it was just that at the Galactic, everyone was super nice, super available and lots of folks to help you, and the room had great features, full fridge, big bathroom, rooms to move. This room has too much furniture and no flat spaces to set up a food prep area, a change area etc. but it will do.

After that trip, got to change her, and feed her for the first time, both her cereal and her bottle. For attachment reasons we have left these areas for Cara, but fortunately she is realizing slowly I am a good guy and she and I are starting to build our friendship.

Although for Cara this was her worst day, it was my best, after gotcha day. Julia and I played together, explored the hotel a bit, got a couple little things to bring home, I tickled her, was able to comfort her when she was fussing, and she has fallen asleep in the snuggli with me, and rested so well after the bottle. To be able to hold her that close, snuggle her, and have her soak it in was beyond words, it so filled my heart, and then as we were playing she looked at me, I mean REALLY looked at me, eye to eye connection, and smiled her huge smile, then blew a raspberry at me, I returned the spit (mixed with tears of joy), flying raspberry to her, it was our moment, a significant first step in our lifetime of building that beautiful sacred father daughter bond TOGETHER.So cherished.

Cara was up a bit in the late afternoon so I had as shower, ran some laundry to the guy who will do it for us, did a solo run to the grocery for more water( I couldn't carry that much with Julia during the first run and who knows when we will be able to make another run, things get busy, if we are able to do the excursions. The group went toe the zoo today, seemed like a good time, from teh few reports I have heard so far, Marina and her little one also stayed and crashed her to build up some energy.

So tomorrow will be the great wall and jade factory, if we are up for it, it is a 9-5 day, so that is a lot to bring baby on, and a hopefully recovered Cara, so we will just have to see if we do it or not.