New Picture

A couple that was in China with us took this picture of Malia. I just love the coloring in it.

Look what I can do !!!!

Malia loves to try to walk but she needs someone or something to hold onto. We bought this "walker" for her and she loves it ! I think she likes the freedom of it and she doesn't have to wait for a human to help her.

Tellatubies

We bought a set of tellatubies in Chinese for Malia in China. When she saw the cover of the box she got very excited and it made me think that she had seen them before but when we popped in the DVD she didn’t seem too thrilled. although now that we are home she loves to watch them, however, we don’t! Hahaha.

Home made quilt

Leigh’s’ (my oldest sons girlfriend) mother made Malia a quilt that matches her room. It is so pretty and greatly appreciated !! The pictures don’t do it justice.

I think I figured out how to add video !!

At least I think I did. If this works I will add a few others.
This is what my oldest son calls "The magic carpet ride" Malia LOVES this, in fact she loves rough play. I dont think she is going to be the girly girl I wanted....but thats OK.

Update

Well we have been home almost a week now and its going OK. Malia wont sleep through the night here yet. Her poor little body is mixed up. But she is still her happy little self. She clams up around strangers still but thats to be expected. Here are some pictures I took at home.
Some are with her jammie pants on her head, they are so big they fall down to her feet when she stands up. So her big brother put the bottoms on her head. The other is with Gary's hat, she loves playing with it.

Aaaaaahhhhh, Home

We are home !! After being up for 24 hours and a 15 hour flight we were extremely tired and hungry when we got home. We were surprised by my mother and Megan's Aunt jo and my nephew Dan. They decorated the house and had a birthday cake and presents for Malia. That was very nice of them and a great unexpected surprise ! Yesterday (the day we got home) was Malia's 2nd birthday, and the poor baby was soooooo tired she couldn't enjoy it very much. She got a baby doll that laughs when you push her belly, malia loves it and every time you make the baby laugh she will get this big smile on her face. After everyone left (they only stayed about 45 minuets, because we were so tired!) and right before we went to bed we looked in the fridge for some juice and guess what was in there??? A home made lasagna !! Leigh and her mother made it for us for when we come home. Oh my god that was one of the best sights we have seen in months !!!! We were starved. We quickly ate a few pieces of it and let me tell you it HIT THE SPOT ! Thanks Mary and Leigh !
I'm glad to report that today Malia is her smiley, happy self, but Gary & I are still really beat and tired.
*** Aunt Nancy, I got you some chinese and Hong Kong money !!****

One more day

One more day and we get to come HOME !!!! We pretty much hung out in the room today since Malia and I are not feeling to well. Tomorrow we go the US consulate for the swearing in then right afterwards we go to the train station and take the train to Hong Kong. We will stay overnight there and fly home early Friday morning. Here are some more pictures I took today. I may not be able to post again until we are home.

More Pictures

An Li and her mom, Jenny

Red Couch Photos

We took some "Red Couch" photos today, here a few.........

Nothing new

Yuk, Malia, Megan and I all have head colds now. So far Gary isn't sick. We have been pretty much hanging out here in our room, thank god we got the junior suite!
Only
**Only 3 more days until we come home !! Here are some more pictures.






We found these chicken feet for sale at the 7-11 store. They package and sell them just like beef jerky.



Here we came across the police practicing take down maneuvers. They were really throwing each other around !!

Fun with ballons

Today we had fun with balloons ! We blew up a bunch of balloons and let Malia go nuts with them. She loved crawling around batting them with her hand. She is getting better and better by the day as far as giving smiles and being happy.
I'm pretty sure that Gary and I now have what Malia has. We both have sore throats and a cough. Yuk.



Malia's Chinese zodiac sign is the "Rooster" and she looks like one when she gets up in the morning !!




We made the balloons stick to her head, she didn't care for this too much.



Here she is sitting on Ba Ba's lap eating her favorite snack and watching a movie. These Gerber puffs are her absolute favorite food. If she starts to cry all you have to do is show her the container and she stops right away. (Note to self: take a container for the plane ride home!)



I bought a set of Tellatubbie movies in Mandarin for her to watch, she saw the package and got very excited so I popped one in the portable DVD player for her to watch. She really likes them.

Malia is sick :(

I forgot to mention that Malia was coughing a little the past few days and has had a low grade temperature for 2 days. So we took her to the clinic here at the white swan yesterday. Turns out she has Bronchitis, and her ear canals are a little infected. She also has a bit of a sore throat and still has 3 ulcers on her tongue. So now she is on antibiotics, Benadryl (sp?),a cough medicine, vitamin C, Tylenol, and ear drops. Every time I give this stuff to her I tell myself that this is waaaaayyyyy too much medicine for a little body. It seems like I'm giving 5 cc's of this and that, it takes a while to give it all. You can tell she is not feeling well at all, she has been pretty whinny and clingy the past two days. Poor baby, the doctor said she would be better in 2 days, but today she seems worse then yesterday.
I really hope she feels better soon !!!

More paperwork and Grandma said I could

Sigh, did I mention that its VERY hot and humid here? No? Let me tell ya, its REALLY hot and humid here !!

Today we just finished up pretty much that last of the paperwork, we now just have to wait on Malia's passport and Visa. Since Malia AKA YaYen, is from the Guangdong Providence we have to stay an extra 2 days more then the other families. She knows her Chinese nickname which is Yan Yan pronounced Ya Yen. We call her YaYan Malia so she gets to know her American name. I have a feeling we will still call her YaYen in America too. There are now 2 other families here that are using the same agency that we are so we are going out to eat tonight at the "Cow and Bridge" as a group. I hear its really good.
The first few pictures are for you Nana !!! There is also one of Malia and Ba Ba at the white swan play room, we are trying to get her to spend a little more time with daddy because right now she prefers mommy and Megan. The other picture is of her in a ladybug outfit that I bought her here in Guangdong.

She DOES know how to smile !!!!

We got a few good smiles out of her today !! We even got a belly laugh out of her too. She talked some baby talk also.








This is how she cruised around in her stroller all day, she was really content. She LOVES to shop. She pointed to everything she wanted.

The White Swan and Shopping with Ann

Here are some pictures of Malia and me in front of the fountain at the White Swan (where we are staying), I think this hotel is pretty awesome, its huge and really, really nice !
Another family and I hired a personal shopper to take us shopping and help negotiate prices for us. We did pretty good ! I got Malia 7 silk dresses that range from her size now to when she is about 16 and I only paid $2.00 a piece for them.
The other pictures are from when we went shopping at the wholesale markets, its a 6 story mall.