Hello all!! Today we finally had a day off. We used this precious time to relax, sleep, take naps, and sleep some more. What a very relaxing day! Noelle had a very bad night, so we did not get very much sleep. She has been constipated pretty bad, and was awake last night from 1:30 to 3:30am, then again at 4:30ish... However, she did produce her first little nuggets for us, so hopefully the stress on her from the adoption is waning and she will feel better soon. Additionally, she has a little cold (all the babies had some sort of respiratory thing going on) so she has not been feeling very well. She is very clingy to both Brittany and myself, so hopefully we do not catch her cold. We had the option to go to an aquarium today with the group, but due to the rough night we had we elected to pass. We were going to go to Walmart in the afternoon to buy an additional piece of luggage and socks for me, but it was raining and cold and it would be about a mile walk. We will try again tomorrow. Well, it was a very relaxing day and it definitely something we needed. Tomorrow Noelle gets her passport and we have a museum trip planned for 9:30am. We are doing well, but we all are looking forward to coming home..........

There was an optional trip to an aquarium yesterday but we stayed back and had a rest day instead. It was a good choice. Our bodies are sore and we were tired so yesterday we did mostly nothing. Everyone got naps, watched HBO, had an Italian meal inside the hotel for lunch. Around dinner Noelle got crabby. We asked Tom and Matthew (dad and 20 mos son to join us for dinner). That entertained Noelle! Tom is here alone. His wife and other son (also from China) are back in NY. I picked up Matthew yesterday and he is heavier than Nick! Imagine carrying him around in China!! Good thing his Daddy is strong.

Noelle slept from 8:30 to 5:30. She is stuffy and spit up right before bed so this morning she had to have a bath. She has discovered the use of her feet and likes kicking and feeling around with them. She is pivoting all around her crib. She is also cutting top teeth. She has been grinding her bottoms on the tops and Jim can hardly stand it. Plus he seems to not be able to tell her no.

We have found that Noelle doesn't seem to know how to eat food. She doesn't open her mouth for a spoon, chopsticks or our fingers. She only seems to know the bottle. Our guide Yisha tried to feed her some soft food and agreed that for now we will just do the bottles. We have been able to sneak a few little pieces of bread or waffle in her mouth and she does suck on them and swallow them but sometimes she spits up later. I think we will need to start with baby food when we get home and get her caught up.

She is so tiny and expressive that she gets a lot of attention. The young men that work in the breakfast buffet sneak little touches and smiles at her. They rehearse very formal sentences to deliver to us about her: Your daughter she is very quiet and different! (big smile) Very different! They fuss over her and bring her things to drop off her baby chair (high chair). Also the men in the lobby check that all the kids have head covering and adequate clothing for the 10 foot journey between the hotel and our bus. They are very serious about covering their heads! It's funny to see men doing this.

Today we are going on the optional 1/2 day trip to the Provicial Museum of Zhengzhou. I have no idea what is there but it seems good to get out and about for the morning. It's free admission and we just have to split the bus cost among the adults. This has been 50-80 kwai each, around 7-10 bucks per adult. If all the families go, it will be less. I think we get Noelle's passport today. Tomorrow night we fly to Guangzhou (Gwang Joe).

We found out yesterday that our fingerprint updates and criminal background recheck from the FBI are set. Can you believe that the US Consulate in Guangzhou had MLK day off? Seriously! That's a load off our minds. When we go to Guangzhou we will be working with US officials at the consulate to show that we have met the US regulations for adopting abroad. After we get through that, we can come home and the moment Noelle's foot hits US soil, she will be a US citizen!

Brittany