U.S. Consulate: "Mia is Welcome in America"

In a trip full of big days, this is one of the biggest. We got the call from Veronica at noon today, telling us Mia's INS petition has been approved.  Our little girl is going to become an American!!  As I write this, I shed tears of joy for her and pride in our great country.
Her Visa is being processed right now.  Tomorrow we go to the Consulate for the swearing-in ceremony.  Our daughter Ji Lu Xing will leave China and when we land in Mpls she will become Mia Lin, American citizen.  We're so happy that she'll become a citizen in MN, where Jeff and I were both born. 
I wish I could post a photo now, but this little gal keeps us so busy, it is hard to find 20 minutes to transfer photos from camera and go online. Maybe tonight???

Mia Passes Her Medical Exam

We had quite a morning at the medical office.  Imagine multiple examining rooms, narrow hallways, a couple dozen baby girls, strollers, and parents.  Each baby had to go through 3 different examining stations, the ENT, height/weight, and heart/lungs.  All in an office smaller than some Starbuck's cafes.  Once the thermometers and stethoscopes came out, the din of crying babies was amazing. These girls really don't like doctors. 

When we got out of there 90 minutes later, all 3 of us were wiped out.  Fortunately, there is a Starbuck's on the way back to the White Swan.  Unfortunately, I had no desire for a hot drink when it it was 85 and humid outside, and ice in your drink is a bad idea here. Mia and Jeff shared a chocolate chip muffin, and I enjoyed watching Mia enjoy her first Starbuck's visit. 

Next steps: On Wednesday, we'll complete the INS and Visa applications, then Thursday we'll head to the consulate for the swearing-in ceremony. 

(P.S. Mia weighs 9.2 kilos, or 20.2 lbs. No wonder our backs ache.) 

To Barbie or Not to Barbie? That is the Question...

First the important stuff: Mia is getting better already :)

Now to the question of the day. Will we encourage Mia to play with Barbie dolls?  My sister Paula objects to them due to their unrealistic body  proportions.  Last I checked, Claire is enjoying a happy childhood sans Barbie. I'm not sure where Lisa stands, as Kira is only 3. My brother's children, Emily and Melissa, have lots of Barbie's. (Unless they've disposed of them in favor of Bratz dolls.). When Melissa got her first Barbie over 10 years ago, I was so appalled at how trashy Barbie dressed, I bought a sewing machine and made several cute yet demure outfits, including a doctor's white coat.   All in all, I hadn't given much thought about which camp I was in, when it comes to Mia. Until today.  You see, one of the interesting amenities available exclusively to adoptive parents staying at the White Swan is a Barbie doll (blonde, blue eyes, skinny as usual) carrying a Chinese baby girl. Compliments of Mattel.  It is awfully precious! If I knew how to set up a poll on this blog, I'd hold a vote.  I invite your comments. (Sent from my blackberry)

We are at the White Swan Hotel

On Friday, Mia received her passport. Our business in Nanchang complete, yesterday we flew to Guangzhou, where the American Consulate is located.  This week, we will complete the Visa process, which will allow Mia to enter the U.S.
The White Swan is often called the "baby hotel" because most American adoptive families stay here. It is quite luxurious. As Jeff and I both have bad colds, we're mostly just happy to have a clean, pleasant room to take a nap in!
Mia was diagnosed with an ear infection.  Fortunately, there is an on-site Dr. Who practices Western medicine. Our guide, Veronica, translated for us. (Did I already mention that Veronica is an angel as well as supremely capable?  We don't know what we'd do without her.)
More tomorrow...

Our Precious Girl

Mia is adjusting very well. We can really see her personality emerging. She is the most active and energetic of all the girls in our travel group. She loves the color blue. She hates being dressed or having her diaper changed. She is so fascinated with technology (cries when she can't have our iPods or Blackberries) that I sent Jeff back to Wal*Mart to buy her a toy cellphone, which has music and voices. The weird thing is that the cellphone speaks English, not Chinese. We keep the cellphone by the changing table for diapering emergencies.

Mia's gross motor skills are developing every day. She is getting better and better at pulling herself up to a standing position.

Take a look at her in her traditional Chinese outfit.

Gotta run, somebody just got up from her nap!

Wednesday in Nanchang

We've been very busy learning to be a family together. Mia is just adorable. Her growth report from the orphanage had described her as active and restless, and that has proven very true. She really keeps us on our toes. She loves her Mommy and Daddy a lot. You'd never know she joined our family just 3 days ago.

Today Mia rode in a stroller for the first time, and she had her first McDonald's hamburger. It wasn't too bad. She would have tried the apple pie as well (the orphanage says apples and crackers are her favorite foods), but when I attempted to order that through our guide, she said their response was that they don't serve apple pie, they have green bean pie instead. We passed.

Each morning, the eight families go somewhere in Nanchang together. Yesterday Wal*Mart, today a pavilion (i.e., pagoda) that is the only tourist destination in Nanchang. Our guide tells us that Nanchang is a working-class city, and doesn't attract a lot of tourists. Jiangxi province is largely agricultural, and is known for rice and green tea. It grows most of the green tea consumed in Southern China. In Northern China, they prefer jasmine tea. Jiangxi is also known fo its porcelain manufacturing. We went to a porcelain market this afternoon to purchase a souvenir from Mia's home province.

The photo is from Monday, Mia's Adoption Day.

Mia Visits Wal*Mart

Mia is doing great.  She had several firsts today.  First bath (which she enjoyed!), first laugh (at least for us). Her gross motor skills are improving very quickly.  She can crawl fast, and is now pulling herself up to a standing position.  She can walk with a lot of assistance.  We suspect that she might actually start walking by the end of this trip. 

Today's big event was an excursion to Wal-Mart.  It was just in the nick of time, as we were running low on formula, diapers, clean baby clothes, and Honey-Nut Cheerios for Mia.  We had a guide (Susan, who filled in while Veronica was on other business), but with 8 families, we had to split up.  Jeff, Mia and I were in the grocery section sans guide, and we couldn't find anything that looked like a cereal aisle.  Cookies, crackers, potato chips, yes, but no cereal.  We tried asking one of the many Wal-Mart employees for "Cheerios" (after all, you can order a Coke or a Sprite by name here!), but the name meant nothing to them.  We were about to give up when I realized that I had some Cheerios in a baggy in our diaper bag, so I could show them what they looked like. They looked puzzled at first, with several employees holding the bag up to the light to scrutinize the cereal.  Then one clerk got the "a ha" look, and proceeded to lead us over to the dog food section and pull a bag of dog food off the shelf.  Jeff shook his head and pointed to the baby, which got a laugh from everyone.  We never did figure out whether they sold Cheerios.  However, it turns out another one of the families brought a big box and their new daughter doesn't like Cheerios, so our troubles are over.

Mia just conked out for the night, and we're not far behind, so that will have to be enough for now.  Sorry we aren't able to post pictures.  We can submit text for the blog via email, but when we go to the blog site itself, everything is in Chinese except what we've posted.  That makes following the menus to post a photo a bit difficult.