Home Alone

In the words of Bridget Jones......

"all by myself, don't want to be, all by myself"!!!!

The day has finally come, after 16 wonderful weeks of having my darling husband at home, that he has returned to work :-( Oliver and I are heartbroken - missing him terribly, and wishing that the lotto ticket we bought on the weekend had come off so that Daddy could stay home and play some more.

We are so lucky that P was able to have so much time off work - and all three of us a grateful that this precious time has allowed him to develop a strong relationship with his little boy. Oliver really is daddy's little boy, and I think it is going to hit him hard not having daddy at home this week....but boy it's going to make the weekends special!!

The last few weeks have been a bit up and down with P sick as a dog for 3 1/2 weeks, and the Ollie-bear teething and having a virus as well.....needless to say it has not made for happy nights for any of us - whilst P has sweated it up with high fevers in the spare bedroom, Oliver has been intent on breaking all sleeplessness records by having 2 nights where he did not keep his eyes closed for more than 20 minutes at a time.....poor darling was exhausted...and poor mummy literally started to fall asleep standing up at 4am on the second night!

Fingers crossed we have turned a corner....P is no longer sweating through 3 pillows a night, and last night Ollie slept for an hour at a time - I never thought I'd be happy being woken up 9 times a night - but it's a hell of a lot better than 25 times :-) It's all relative.....

So, for now, Ollie and I are going to have to get used to our new routine of just the two of us during the week....I'm sure it will take a little while to adjust but in time we'll fall in to some kind of rhythm.....I'll be a domestic goddess in no time!

No photos today sorry - will attempt to get some photos and video of our week at the beach up later this week...as well as some photos of Oliver's first appearance at International Adoption Day yesterday - he was a little star :-)

T xxx

Pass the Salt....

One of Oliver's greatest loves is food...lots and lots of food!

You know how you are not supposed to get between a Hippo and the water (because the Hippo will charge for the water and take you out in the process)...well, it is kind of like that with Ollie and food....as long as you keep shovelling it in at a pace he deems suitable, everything goes well.

It is actually an absolute delight feeding him as the enjoyment of the current mouthful and the anticipation of the next mouthful are written all over his beautiful little face.

When watching the video be sure to look for his eyebrows going through the roof as he opens his mouth as wide as humanly possible ;-)

Bon Appetit!

Monster on the move

From not being able to sit up without support just 11 weeks ago, our little monster is well and truly on the move...

This video was taken about 10 days ago - his technique hasn't improved much...but it's effective, and we think he's pretty clever ;-)

P.S. Mummy is also feeling pretty clever after learning how to upload videos!

Hello Stranger!

Hi guys,

So sorry for the lack of updates – I know it’s slack of me…but life has been pretty busy as you might imagine.

We have stayed underground a bit, just trying to get Oliver into some sort of a routine he is comfortable with, work on him sleeping a bit more and a bit more regularly (mixed results so far!!), and work out how this whole parenting thing is supposed to be done (mixed results again!).

The days just seem to go by in a blur of feeding, trying to get Oliver to sleep, washing, playing with Oliver (the fun bit!), stressing about not getting anything done around the house/in our lives in general (the organised me is not coping well with so little time to get things done), trying to keep the house/our lives in some sort of order (unsuccessfully), and trying to grab some sleep (very mixed results).

Before we know it, it is bin night again and another week has rolled on by….wow life is going fast at the moment.

Our little boy is growing and learning and developing at a great speed – it seems like he is learning something new every few days. We are in awe of him and how much he has caught up on in the last 10 ½ weeks we have been together (is it really only 10 ½ weeks?? Wow, it seems like a lot longer than that!). He has gone from a little baby who could not even sit up and didn’t know what on earth to do with the toys we gave him (he would just stare at them and wouldn’t even try and touch them) to a little boy who crawls (well, kind of crawls) towards towers of blocks that Daddy has made and then delights in smashing them down (such a boy!).

He is so curious and explores everything…perhaps that’s why he doesn’t want to sleep – there’s just so much to look at and touch and put in his mouth and explore!! Current favourite items are Daddy’s shoelaces, and power cords….time to babyproof! He continues to love to “dance” (Daddy is trying to teach him to grapevine…good luck daddy!) and will do anything to be up on two feet rather than sitting on the floor.

We had a follow-up with the Paediatrician this week and Ollie has put on 1kg since we got home…he’s gone from a fairly skinny thing into a little chubbalicious bubba. He now has some lovely fat rolls around his legs, and a good covering on his tummy. Even so he is only 9kg now (compared to the 10kg we were told he was 4 months ago!!). He hasn’t gained any height as yet and is a very small baby for his age…small, but perfect.

We have sent the arrival of two razor sharp teeth (middle, bottom), which given half the chance he enjoys using on Mummy and Daddy’s nose…ouch! Much to our delight, he is also finding his voice (we had a silent baby for the first couple of months and were getting pretty worried about it). In the morning I love to lie in bed and listen to Ollie making Ooh and Aahh sounds, and the little squeal of delight I get when I pop my head over the side of the cot to pick him up makes my heart melt.

P and I are being treated to great big smiles and sounds of delight when we re-enter a room these days – it’s just adorable. Ollie’s face lights up and he shakes his little head back and forth with glee. Such a darling little boy.

Last week we managed to take a day trip to Mt Tamborine and go on a bit of a bushwalk – this did P and I the world of good, and Oliver seemed to tolerate being out and about for most of the day pretty well. In general he is a pretty adaptable little boy…but it all depends on how well he has slept. Like all of us, he gets pretty cranky if he’s tired…and you do NOT want to get between this boy and his food!! Meal times are serious business, and you interrupt them or cut them short at your peril!

We are totally in love with our darling little boy (especially today ‘cause he’s having an afternoon sleep for the first time all week!!). We are slowly starting to get to introduce him to people, although he still does get pretty overwhelmed at times so we’re trying not to overdo it…..in the meantime, here are some recent photos of our precious little Emperor, who turn 11 months today.

T xxx



My very first bushwalk with Mama and Baba

My first haircut (an absolutely tragic haircut....but it will grow out, right?)

Out for my afternoon walk by the water with Mama and Baba...mmm, these fingers taste good!

Warm, snuggly and scrumptious in my Lion hat

Funky morning hair - gotta love the baby mohawk!

Picnic in the Park

Cruising in my new Stokke pram.....

If you looked up "Adorable" in the dictionary...

2 Weeks Home...

Has it really been 2 weeks tomorrow since we have been home - blimey, that went in a flash!! Actually, it has felt like a rather looong 2 weeks in many ways...but I'll get to that.

Oliver was an absolute champion on the flight home. He had a bottle on the way up and then we just kept topping up his tummy with watermelon and whatever else we could find and he was as happy as a lark...he even managed to have a little sleep in the bassinet for about an hour - and Mummy and Daddy got to have a little time out!

We arrived home at midnight and came out through immigration to see a very excited (and very tired!) Nanna and Poppy waiting for us. My poor dad had already made two trips to the airport that day, but I think this last one was the most exciting!! Oliver went in for a little cuddle and then quickly searched for his mummy again, which was lovely.

I think the whole airport knew about us by the time we left - there were lots of tears and laughter and the odd squawk of discontent from Master Oliver...well, it was after midnight and he was tired!

It was lovely to walk in to our beautiful house again...and I was reminded of what a great idea it was to clean it completely BEFORE we left for China...it would not have been nice to come home to a dirty house at that time of the night!

Since arriving home we have been keeping to ourselves most of the time. Initially this was to allow Ollie to have some settling in time, but now it's because we are EXHAUSTED!! The little monkey has decided that sleeping is for wusses, and is testing his mummy and daddy to the extreme by only sleeping for 20 minutes at a time during the day, and trying to survive on 8 hours sleep a night (broken up into small chunks of course!)....needless to say he is one cranky little monster a lot of the time because he is so tired...P says that I am also a cranky monster most of the time, but I'm sure he's mistaken....

So we are working on a parenting challenge as old as time itself...how to get the baby to sleep!!

We are strongly opposed to letting him "cry it out" as we think that for any child who has already been abandoned and possibly fears being abandoned again that this would be pretty traumatic. So, the balancing act comes from trying to meet his needs whilst at the same time teaching him to stay asleep (which requires a certain amount of self soothing)....tricky....

So our deepest apologies to all of your whose emails / texts/ phone messages have so far gone unanswered...and to those who have sent gifts to Oliver in the mail - thank you so very much!! We have been so excited to get a few parcels this week - they have provided a really bright spot in otherwise bleak days. I promise to do my best to get in contact with everyone in time, but realistically it is going to take a while....it's taken me 2 weeks to have 10 minutes to myself to write this!

Sorry to say, I haven't even had time to download the photos from the cameras yet, so I don't have anything to put on here today...but I will work on it. We haven't taken many photos the last week or so as this sleep-deprived fog we are in allows for the essentials only..,the occasional meal, and trying to work out how to get back to bed as quickly as possible!

Here's to getting some sleep! Fingers crossed!!!

T xxx
P.S. Oliver has cut his first tooth, and his second one is starting to peep through (which is no doubt contributing to the sleeping problems and the crankiness). I feel sad that his gorgeous gummy smile will soon be a thing of the past....

Just a Quickie...

We are safely in Hong Kong and have found a cafe that does great coffee and reasonably priced internet...but Oliver is getting grizzly (do NOT delay this boy's meals!!) so will be quick...

We felt a real sadness leaving China 2 days ago...and taking Oliver away from his homeland. It's hard to explain, but it felt like the breaking of yet another connection in his little life, and the guilt we both both felt over it surprised even us (and we had been expecting it!). There were many tears shed as the plane left the tarmac in Nanchang. I know we will be back, we have promised him that....but leaving is leaving, nonetheless.

We love Hong Kong (P calls it "China Light" - like China, but watered down). We are staying at a beautiful hotel with an awesome view of the harbour (yay for last minute internet deals!). It is comfortable, clean and has a lovely soft bed....bliss...not that I've gotten to use it much, as the little monster is still having sleeping issues....

Getting excited about being home in just over 48 hours...looking forward to:

Seeing family

Seeing our house

Seeing friends

Our bed

Seeing Oliver in his beautiful pale blue sailboat nursery

Seeing my Mum and Dad's faces when they hold their grandson for the first time (am looking forward to this the most of all!!)

No doubt it will take us a couple of days before I update this again....it may not happen until we are well and truly settled in....so thank you again to everyone for all your support, good wishes, e-love and cuddles, and friendship over the last fe weeks. We are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Here are some random photos to keep you going (I KNOW that's why you're here!!!)

Love,

T, P and Oliver xxxx

Heading Home, Mother's Day, KFC, and Galactic Peace....

What a week it has been! We arrived back in Oliver’s province on Wednesday, returned to the Galactic Peace Hotel (and yes, Sarah, its suspicious green Galactic Sculpture is still there!). It was a little bit like coming home…well, kind of!

We had one night back in Nanchang while we organized the visit back to Oliver’s Orphanage County (the Chinese equivalent of a small town...this one has (only) 100,000 people...), and then on Thursday headed back to the County where Oliver spent the first 8 month of his life. The county is small, about 3 hours drive from Nanchang…and is the real China. No frills, no fuss, and no luxury. We stayed in the county for two difficult, emotionally draining, confusing, enlightening, awareness-building days. We have gained a lot of information and insight into Oliver’s life before us, and we are so glad that we made the trip back.

But now, we’re on the way home. Nanna and Poppy are getting excited!!

We’ve decided to have a few extra days here in Nanchang to regroup after the visit to the county, and have been taking it very easy today.

My first mother’s day (yay yay yay!!! Finally!!!) was spent making a trip to Wal-Mart for essential supplies (nappies, more cute little short sets for Oliver, and Oreos) and having a “special” lunch at KFC. Now, we don’t eat KFC at home….so why on earth we thought it would be a good idea to have KFC in Nanchang, I have no idea. It was awful – just awful. I think the chicken died of old age! Thank goodness we had bought Oreos (as a side note….it always amazes me that wherever we go in the world – Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Bulawayo…there are always Oreo cookies in the local shop, and they are always cheap!).

“My Boys” (I love saying that) and I also skyped Nanna, Poppy and Aunty J, and this afternoon caught up with P’s sister and her lovely family on Skype – they watched Ollie have his dinner (fascinating stuff!) and, like us, were amazed by the amount of food one little 9 month old boy can eat!! Groceries are going to be more expensive……

So that’s where we’re at. Just hanging out here for a few days and then having a few days in Hong Kong before heading home late Saturday night.

Thank you to everyone who has asked about coming to meet us at the airport – we really appreciate your excitement and support. We have decided to just keep the airport for Nanna and Poppy though…they have been waiting for every minute of the 7 ½ years we have been on this journey, and we think it would be nice for them to have some quiet time with their first grandchild when we first hit homeland soil. I hope you all understand?!!

Must run….my darling little boy has gone to bed quite early and given me a mother’s day gift of some precious time with daddy tonight. We have a bottle of wine (I won’t get my hopes up!) and some room service on its way…..sounds perfect.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mummies out there. I finally know what it’s like to be in your exclusive club…and I like it!

T xxxx

On the Road Again....

We've packed up and moved on from Shanghai - absolutely loved it though, so know that we will be back.

We've had a few ups and downs over the last few days...a few pretty bleak moments as a result of lack of sleep, frightened baby, viruses, Oliver's grieving, and walking the floor 2 nights in a row collided. Thank you to our darling friends who showered us with empathy and understanding, we really appreciate your support.

We also had some nice moments though...like visiting a park and then having lunch with a fellow adoptive dad who is now living the expat life in Shanghai, and walking down Nanjing Road early in the morning and watching the traditional fan and sword dancers practice their arts next to the group doing line dancing to "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to".The contrasts between old ad new in Shanghai are phenomenal.

It seems like things are on the up at the moment (long may it continue!). Oliver is a happy, contented, gurgly little baby today - he coped very well with the flight from Shanghai to his province, and is lying beside me on the floor doing major damage to a vegetable flavoured rusk.

Tomorrow we are heading to his hometown and orphanage for 2 nights. We are really not sure what the trip back will bring, but it is our hope to do all possible to get information about his life before us that may (or may not) be important to him throughout his life...we'll have to see how things pan out, but we are hopeful of filling in a few gaps and coming away with a greater understanding of his life before we became a family....fingers crossed things go well....it's going to be a tough few days both physically and emotionally I think.

We haven't taken many photos over the last few days, but I'll leave you with a couple to keep you going. We are back online over the weekend, so will probably update again then.

Sending lots of love to our friends and family. We love you. Thank you again for your messages and support - sorry we're not answering many emails (Internet access in Shanghai was incredibly expensive, and time has been tight) but we are reading and enjoying them all.

Love,

T, P and O xxxxxx

Take a book they said.....

When you are preparing for an adoption trip, and self-respecting parent writes lists…and hunts out other people’s lists on the internet, and then makes lists of their lists, and checks their lists against other people’s lists…packing lists are pretty high on the lists of lists that are needed before heading off to meet your baby…and let’s just say, I was the queen of packing lists. I have lists of my packing lists.

But have the lists been useful?

Yes, and no….

Many BTDT (been there done that) China adoptive parents listed books on their packing lists, with the rationale that once your darling angel is fast asleep at night, there will be many, many hours of Chinese TV time…and once your bore of CNN, you will want a good book to help pass the hours and hours of boredom you are sure to have to endure.

Obviously, these people were all on drugs.

Free time? Hours and hours to watch TV? Hours of boredom? Not in my hotel room baby!!

Our TV is currently being used as a drying rack for bibs, muslins that have been puked on, and various items of baby-fied clothing. The second Oliver is eventually asleep we are cleaning up, washing dishes and clothes, and getting ready for tomorrow's onslaught before dropping dead tired into bed...

There has been no need for a book…unless you can hang washing on it, eat it or change a nappy on it, it’s just not necessary!

So packing lists have their place....but not books...

We have had a quiet day today, we’re all still feeling quite under the weather so it has been goof not to have any commitments at all today.

Our batch all went home yesterday, and there were a few tears when saying goodbye to our darling friends. We are so blessed to have shared the past few weeks with a few couples that we are so lucky to be able to call our friends. Some existing friendships have deepened over the last few weeks, and another has developed…we are grateful for all of them. It’s going to be lovely for Oliver to have such gorgeous Aunties and Uncles and China-cousins when we get home.

So we are now on our own in China. The plan is to stay in Shanghai for a few more days and then head back to Oliver’s province for a week. We’re not sightseeing, just hanging out as a family and learning more about Oliver’s life before we met him.

As I type this, my little munchkin is sitting on the couch next to his Dad and I, playing with daddy’s thermometer (first the stethoscope, now the thermometer…is there a pattern here?) and looking absolutely adorable in his Bonds light blue fluffy onesie (thanks Nanna!). Honestly, he gets more and more beautiful every day…he really does.

Tomorrow’s plan revolves around following Oliver’s needs for sleep and food (we are letting him dictate the family routine at the moment) and having lunch in the park with a fellow adoptive parent of two China babies who is now loving in Shanghai. We’re looking forward to it immensely.

I’ll leave you with some photos of my little emperor playing on the couch right now, and sucking on his toy cow earlier today – isn’t he beautiful?

T xxxx

Forget Sleepless in Seattle….we are sick in Shanghai….

It's 5.30am and we're all awake....well, P is semi-comotosed, but O and I are up...grizzly, but up...

All three of us have caught the dreaded cold, and poor P seems to have a tummy virus on top of that…he's not slept a wink all night (neither have we)...not happy, Jan! We have had another rough night, with our little snotmonster becoming quite upset as he became more congested…and when mummy tries to wipe his nose (he HATES it!!)….needless to say the end result is not at all satisfactory….there will be no photos today :- )

Apart from various viral bugs, we are trotting along pretty well. Oliver seems to be starting to feel OK about being with us, and is going to sleep a little easier than he was a few nights ago which is fantastic…for all of us!

We have been really enjoying Shanghai – it’s such a vibrant, energetic city. Recent adoption groups have hated it here, and I have to say I have trouble understanding why..but each to their own. We have visited the beautiful Yu gardens, had a lovely dinner in an old factory converted into the most wonderful rustic restaurant in a hutong-type area of old Shanghai, seen the stunning light display on the river, walked up and down Nanjing Road, spent a fortune at the underground Children’s market, and enjoyed the satisfaction that can only come from a fantastic mocha grande from Starbucks…

We love Shanghai so much that we have decided to extend our stay here by 5 days before heading back to Oliver’s province where we will spend another week (not part of the adoption process, just us on our own). We are looking forward to having some more free time both in Shanghai and in his province just to hang out, look around and soak up the sights, sounds (and smells – gotta love fermented tofu – not!) of his birthcountry. We also think that having extra time in China as just the 3 of us will help cement our little family together a bit more before day-to-day life at home gets in the way….

We cannot believe how far Oliver has come in just over a week with us. We are learning more about him every day – yesterday we leant that he actually will drink water…but only from an eye dropper…a slow, but effective hydration technique. We can also now tell if he has filled his nappy purely from the look of satisfaction on his face (useful now that P and I are crook and can’t rely on the nose detector). He is such a darling, happy little baby….we are beyond blessed.

I started this post early this morning and am only finishing it now, at 9pm- life is like that these days! I have Ollie on my lap so will sign off before he hits the delete key again…little monster loves to hit the keys when mummy's typing!! No photos from today…P has not lifted his head off the pillow all day except to help me go and collect the washing…gastro and a cold doth not make him a happy camper….he is weak as a kitten and looks dreadful...fingers crossed he will feel a lot better tomorrow as his is absolutely miserable right now.

I’ll leave you with piccies from previous days…sans snot.

Oliver says uytuytuiyt98y809089 - what a clever boy!! Time for bed now Ollie!!

Goodnight!

T xx

With daddy the first day we met...about 1 1/2 hours after meeting

The eyes have it.....Oliver cruising in his sling, with muslin head dress :-)

One Week....

Well, it's been one week since our lives changed forever...one week since we held our darling Oliver in our arms for the first time.

What a week it has been!

Less sleep

More love

More cuddles

Less bathing

More Congee (rice soup that Oliver loves to eat)

Less time together with P

Less sleep

More spit

Less clean clothes

Less sleep

More smiles

....and did I mention less sleep and more love?

We have all laughed and cried a hundred times this week...our emotions (all of us) have ben put through the wringer...but slowly, ever so slowly, we are all getting back to our normal selves. It is going to take a long time, but we will get there, and we will find our own groove as a family soon.

We had a great flight the other day. Oliver was a real pro and took his bottle on the way up and down, and slept during the flight itself. What a champion - and so clever and handsome!

We are in Shanghai now and we love love love it (and no, not just because it has Starbucks...although that doesn't hurt!!).

We underwent the Australian visa medical procedure today - it was far better than I had feared it would be, and once again Oliver amazed us with his calmness and strength. He is one special little boy. We were so so proud of him.

Daddy got his stethascope out this morning and did an initial medical exam on Oliver to try and get him used to being poked and prodded....I really think it helped. Oliver then promptly fell asleep with the stethoscope and would not let it go. I hope he's not getting any ideas for future professions!!!

I know you are all here for the photos so I will not disappoint you all.....here is Oliver!

Love to everyone,

a very happy T and P....and the amazing, gorgeous O xxxxx

Oliver, gorgeous boy

My darling boy is not settled at all tonight so while daddy has a go at getting him to sleep, I thought I'd quickly share some photos....

Oliver is feeling much better, thank you all for your thoughts. We are flying to Shanghai tomorrow, so positive vibes for a smooth plane ride please...especially since his little gums and ears are still hurting....poor darling.

All in all, things are going really well. He continues to delight and surprise us, and has us in stitches with his funny little ways.

We are head over heels in love.

Thank you to everyone for your emails/texts/comments. We are reading them all, but have not had the time to answer you all - so sorry! We really appreciate your thoughts though.

My little monkey is stil not settled, so I'd better go and give daddy a hand....we are ready for bed, but it seems that Oliver is not....don't quite know when the packing is going to get done??!!!

Talk to you from Shanghai!

T xx

A Really Quick Hello

Hi everyone.

We have him...he is beyond beautiful....

We are a family of three and we could not be happier (or more exhausted!)

Promise to write a proper post soon, but it is so busy at the moment as Oliver will not settle without being in our arms, so we are quite restricted - and there's lots of things to do (who knew having a baby was so hectic!).

Oliver is grieving quite a lot, and is clearly quite frightened of us a lot of the time. He is also sick and we have spent quite some time this afternoon at the hospital which was traumatic for all of us....nothing serious, but he's crook enough to make him feel pretty awful lot of the time. Still, through all of it we are getting gorgeous toothless grins, some brief giggles, and increasing amounts of eye contact...all good signs that he is starting to take to us a little bit.

We are absolutely head over heels in love!!

So enough of that.....here he is....Oliver

Love to you all,

T, P and O xxxxx

45 minutes

to go.....

don't quite know what to do with ourselves....P has decided to iron something (don't know why?!), so I am sitting here...neither of us can really speak much.

42 minutes to go...

Bring on the Baby, Baby!!!

Oh baby!

We are 1 hour and 45 minutes away from Oliver.....

so close....so close.

Emotions are high - fear, anticipation, sadness (for Oliver's loss, and his birth family), excitement, pure joy, love...did I say love?

So many emotions.

We leave the hotel in 1 hour....1 hour....1 hour.

We are beside ourselves.

Our son is on his way...

We're coming darling...we love you, we will always love you.

See you soon.

From years, to months, to weeks, to days...

To hours...

As I sit here in our hotel room in my son's province in Southern China, it is merely 44 hours and 45 minutes until we meet Oliver....wow....

It is merely HOURS until we have our son in our arms, and the 7+ year wait to kiss and cuddle and smooch our child is over...as is Oliver's 8 1/2 month wait for his forever family. 3pm on Monday afternoon is when it's all going to happen....wow.

Unfreakingbelievable!!!

Our trip from Hong Kong was great - we shared the journey with 3 other couples who are in our "batch"of 6 couples. There was a lot of nervous tension in the air on that plane!

Our hotel in Nanchang is called the "Galactic Peace"...ambitious (no, let's not just go for world peace, let's shoot for the stars people...Galactic Peace!!). We have a suite which is great as we have a little extra room for the moo-ster to hang out with us in. When the housekeeper wheeled in a little white cot yesterday afternoon and placed it in our bedroom we got really choked up...

Last night we all met for an early dinner, checked out the local brew and the "Great Wall" red wine (not bad...but to be honest I would have drunk firewater last night!). We all had a relatively early night, and a relatively uncomfortable night's sleep on the rock hard beds (why oh why does every bed in Asia need to feel like a concrete slab?).

Today we headed out with a local shop owner called Tiffanie, who owns "Lucky Tiffanie's", a shop stocking all sorts of souvenir-type stuff. Tiffanie is associated with a small school about 50km out of Nanchang, where local children come to learn English, calligraphy, and music. The taxi ride to and from the town was terrifying.

As most of you know, P and I have done some pretty extreme travel over the last decade and a bit....from undertaking a torrential glacial river crossing in Patagonia and finding that a couple had slipped during the crossing and been killed there just 3 days before, to being abandoned by our guide and left with no food in the middle of the Amazon jungle, and surviving on eating pirhanas for 2 days (sorry mum - had I told you that already or did I choose to keep that quiet?), to nearly going off the side of a cliff in a bus doing hairpin turns in the dark with no headlights in Peru, to crazy taxi drivers in Bangkok, Rio de Janiero, Beijing and Zanzibar....but never, ever have I felt so afraid as I did in this taxi today. He was crazy. We clocked 140 miles per hour (P says for the record it was only 120 miles per hour....whatever, but it was bloody fast) on the wrong side of the road, going UP the offramp for the freeway, with other cars coming straight at us. I have never been so convinced I was going to die, and actually made P promise to fight for the right to still adopt Oliver on Monday if I was killed and he survived. It really was that scary.

I'm shuddering just thinking about it!!

Anyway, back to the nice stuff....

Once we made it to the small town (my legs literally gave way as we stepped out of the taxi) our group of 4 couples were the star attraction for the children who attended the local English school. They have not had foreigners visit them before, and I suspect we were the first non-Chinese people they had seen in the flesh. The children were shy to start with, but slowly practiced their English with us, and posed for photographs (they just loved seeing themselves in the playback of the digital cameras!). They were so lovely. Their music teacher gave us a beautiful demonstration of the zither, and then we all had a chance to have a quick lesson with him. The calligraphy teacher then taught us ""calligraphy 101" and we practiced writing our own names which was fantastic.

We headed back to Nanchang after about 2 hours at the school (different taxi driver, still crazy...offered to pay him double if he went slower....he didn't) and hit Walmart (or perhaps mor correctly., Walmart hit us...hard!). How to describe Walmart...um, overwhelming. Fantastic, but pretty noisy, smelly (they have great piles of dried fish on display and a million other things in the meat department that will fuel my nightmares for many weeks to come!), crowded and bustling! I tried to take a sneaky video just to try and capture the sheer chaotic-ness (is that a word?) of the whole place.

Relaxing it ain't!

So that brings us to now....we have changed hotel rooms (first one was on a smoking floor and stunk to high heaven so we changed to nonsmoking this arvo...a pain, but worth it) and are now sitting and doing nothing. We are pretty worn out after today's adventures. We have a bottle of "Great Wall" and intend on doing nothing more than drinking it, ordering room service, and counting down the hours until we kiss our baby.

44 hours to go....

T xxx

Langham me Baby

A glorious massage, a facial, a comfortable bed, my darling husband, French Champagne, sleep ins, handmade chocolates, finding out that dear friends have gotten "the call" about their children in Thailand and China, a pillow menu, hours of time to really talk an connect with P, cable TV, a hundred belly laughs with my husband and our darling friends (and batch-mates), winning the fight against a new laptop gone bad, a good book, 2 x afternoon naps, stunning views, buffet breakfast, quiet reflection on impending parenthood, a rain shower, dreaming and talking and contemplating our son, Skype-ing my family, and unlimited snacks and drinks.

A snapshot of the last 2 days in Hong Kong.

Perfection.

China...we're ready. See you tomorrow.

T xxx

Meet you at The Club....

Well, we are finally in Hong Kong....8 hours closer to our baby boy, and a million miles away from the stress of packing, repacking, and getting ready to leave.

We. Are. EXHAUSTED!!

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror this morning (I've been avoiding them of late) and wondered who the spotty-faced panda was in our hotel room....ahh yes....that's me. Bags under my eyes big enough to pack a week's worth of clothes in (if only we had the weight allowance available!!). Just quietly, P is not looking much better....we looks like Ping and Pong, the zombie pandas!!

We're hoping that the 2 days of rest and relaxation we have planned in Hong Kong (Honkers for the Aussies out there) will go some way towards fixing our panda problem...and the sore throats we both have.

We are staying in the most magnificent hotel room ever - at the Langham Place, in a Club room. Bloody hell this place is nice!!! We selected a lavender pillow from the pillow menu last night (or the "dream menu" as they call it here in Langham Land), and slept for 7 hours straight. Can you imagine it?! We have access to a club room here that provides complimentary food and drink all day, massage chairs, and magazines etc. I don't think we will step outside the hotel until we leave for China...

Decadent? You betcha!

Time to go and enjoy breakfast, then perhaps a swim in the rooftop pool....and enjoy our last few days together as a couple.

Jealous?

Txxxx

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Don't know when we'll be back again (not just the John Denver song...quite seriously, we don't know when we'll be back!)





Well...we are packed...finally. Initially packing weight was 11kg over our limit...eventually, at 3am this morning, we reached weight limit. God knows what we threw out of the cases in the end - we were so tired and hungry we couldn't think straight (I wouldn't let P eat until we got the suitcases sorted 'cause once he eats he does his little "homer simpson" act and is useless for the rest of the night!! treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen I say!!). Sorry...got sidetracked there!

We're hoping that we might get extra weight limit once we get Ollie....which I fully intend to use purely as "shopping weight". Oh yes, I'm looking forward to shopping in China - one of my batch buddies (yes YOU Princess SarahB) is known throughout the land for her shopping prowess..I am a mere beginner but I look forward to learning from the best.

So, we are heading to Hong Kong TOMORROW and will have 3 nights there (sleeping. eating. sleeping. getting massages. sleeping) before heading to China on Friday the 17th. We'll then have a couple of days to find our way around before

Meeting Oliver

on the 20th (don't know what time yet).

Still all feels so surreal...maybe because we are so sleep deprived that we can't think straight! I think I will be the first mother in history who gets more sleep after the baby comes home than before...

Hopefully we will be able to update this blog from Hong Kong and China. We have our lovely new (small) laptop, so internet connection willing, you will hear more from us soon.....

We are also on email and T's mobile will hopefully be able to send and receive texts....we'd love to hear from you!!

Love,
T and P - the soon-to-be weary travellers xxxx