Day 7 Tuesday, April 17

It's 4:30 pm Guangzhou time--I think it's late Monday back in the States--but I was the first one up after our afternoon nap, and wanted to let Tami and Allie sleep a little more. Allie has cried a lot today--Tami has noticed she's more sad than yestereday--so Mom and daughter need their rest. :) Personally, I'm wondering if Alison is finally coming to grips with the fact that yesterday was not just a 'field trip' to the city on the train, and that she's truly not going back to the orphanage. Maybe I'm just being a pop psychologist, and she's just off schedule and cranky (another trait she will share with her father, eh).

We had a good night though. All three of us slept through the night, then Tami fed Allie a big bottle of formula at 6 this morning. Boy, was she ever hungry, reaching for that bottle and gulping it down. She also really liked the congee that Tami gave her at breakfast in the hotel restaurant. It's clear that she's a big eater, that girl. :)

Our only scheduled event of today was to go back to the Civil Affairs Bureau (CAB) in older Guangzhou. We had to meet with two separate government officials (a Registrar and a Notary), short meetings that took less than 5 minutes each, but were interesting in that they both asked us the exact same 6 or 7 questions (e.g. age, date of marriage, why we wanted to adopt, would we ever abuse or abandon Allie, etc. Ironically, these are also the same answers we have stated numerous times in our dossier/application....oh well, we just smile and nod our heads agreeably). And of course we then had gift presentations to them...I so wanted to explain the signifigance of Almond Roca to the Tacoma area, but Tami thought better of it!

In between the two meetings, Cordelia shuffled us back and forth to a play room/reception area, where the two nannies that came up from Maoming yesterday were waiting. It was nice to see the aunties interact with "Yu Yu", holding her and playing with her on the ground. (I could see Tami was a little reluctant to let go of Allie). :) They didn't know a word of English, and we obviously didn't know a word of Cantonese, so at times it was funny to see us trying to communicate and take pictures with them and the baby. Also, we had to have an official adoption photo taken at the CAB, where they presented us with an official red-covered book of some sort, I still haven't even looked at it.

A real touching moment was when we and the Gonsoulins presented the nannies with our gifts for the orphanage, and for all the nannies at the Maonan SWI. Hope had brought a ton of toys (I still haven't figured out how she was able to pack so much in her luggage....it's amazing, each day she keeps reaching in and bringing out more stuff!), and you could see the usually reserved aunties really light up with smiles and bright eyes. Cordelia had to translate many of the games/gadgets that Hope had brought, including an Etch-o-Sketch. (I guess they had never seen one of those before). Anyway, tears were all around the room, as we were trying to break the communication barrier to tell them how much we appreciated their efforts in taking care of our girls. Great picturs sure to come (someday anyway right)...

On the way back to the hotel--appointments only lasted about an hour--I could tell that Allie has really bonded immediately with Tami, which I'm grateful for. The things we read before coming here said that these Chinese daughters will initially bond with one parent more than the other. I'm okay with that, I think it's going to get me off diaper duty for a few days!

Back at the Victory, Ralph, Christian and I took a walk around Shamiam island. I think I might have over-estimated the size, it's really really small (8 blocks by 4 blocks maybe). We took our respective laundry to be done at the "Lady Bug", a small shop/store across from the White Swan. (Truth be told, every place on the island offers laundry service, we are very thankful for that). After dropping that off, we walked over to "Lucy's", the only American style restaurant on the island. We ordered some cheeseburgers, french fries, and Caesar salads to go, and brought them back to the room for all to eat as a group.

Then we all conked off for a nap, and here we are. I'd still like to do some exploring of the shops here. The island obviously caters to the adoptive families, since this is where all parents have to visit on their way out of China. From walking by, there are some really cute baby shops, and I'm really interested in checking out the infamous "squeeky shoes", a must I am told.

The weather has really cooled off today, thankfully. (Overcast, high 70s, rained overnight). The Victory hotel is really busy/crowded, as we have both adoptive families and many businessmen going to the Trade Fair.

Even though we haven't done much in Guangzhou---other than getting to know our daughters of course---I can already tell that the traffic here is even worse than in Beijing, if that's possible. Our two trips to the CAB have had our jaws dropping and our heads shaking.....the streets here are much narrower, and the weaving in and out of bicyclists/pedestrians while avoiding all the other cars is just one image I will always have stitched in my mind. Today, for example, our driver had to go up and over the curb onto the "sidewalk" to avoid being hit by two other vans on either side of us! Again, I'm also impressed with the fact that none of the drivers seem mad or the least bit surprised at the driving style. And we have seen no accidents so far in China! If we tried this method back home, the pile-ups would continue all day and night.

Tomorrow we go to another official appointment, this time to file for Allie's passport and visa. As of today's proceedings, she is officially our daughter. So please help me welcome to the family Alison Joy Yu Yu Masenhimer.

(Yu Yu is "little rain" in Chinese, so we are calling her our "little drip" :) ~I think Marce helped us figure that one out!....it's so appropriate for her to come back to the rainy Northwest.)