JUST LIKE BUFFET'S PLACE

So we've been very busy, sorry! Little Natalie is becoming so much closer to us and we are spending every waking moment with her and trying to meet her needs and by the time we get her to sleep, we have both been worn out! We will try to catch you up...Natalie doesn't like to go to bed, doesn't like to get up in the morning, just like a real 2 year old. We have found that if we feed her 7 or 8 times a day and give her snacks in between, that she will fall asleep if we push her in the stroller for 3 or 4 hours, ha. She tends to get silly at bedtime and will try every trick available, including playing with me, to keep from turning in. Yep, you heard me right, my little one will actually let me touch her now, mainly my job consist of throwing her up in the air a few times and then it's back to mom. She has forgotten a couple of times during this process and actually hugged me. Although it doesn't seem like a big deal to most, I now get to help change diapers and put on clothes and jammies, it's a beautiful thing!

We left Nanchang Sunday and flew to Guangzhou. Natalie did wonderfully on the plane, no problems at all. She enjoyed looking out the window. When we arrived in Guangzhou, we were pleasantly surprised. We're staying in what I would call a resort area, because of a couple of reasons, one is that they charge for everything, Internet, mayonnaise (no joke), water and the second is that we can walk everywhere we want to go. Guangzhou has about 10 million people, but is a richer city than Nanchang, so there aren't nearly as many bicycles and scooters, although I did see a 3 wheeled scooter here, which is a new one on me. We are staying on Shamian Island, which is like a city inside a city. The buildings here are less Chinese looking and more Spanish. The trees here remind me of St Thomas. It appears that most of the people are here for adoptions too and everyone is very friendly, especially the people, like us, that just got here and are happy to find someone with which they can communicate. The view outside our window is absolutely beautiful. We look down on a large river and the other side of the river is lined with shops and restaurants. There's a boat that you can ride to cross. One of the folks in our group said it's like a Chinese Disneyland. We have had a couple of group dinners since being here. The first was Tai, pretty spicy, but very good. We try to stay with beef and chicken, but you still have to pick your way around if you don't want a chicken head of foot. Our guide told us that the Chinese eat everything that flies, except air planes, anything that has legs except chairs and they eat every part of whatever it is they prepare. Last night we had dimsung. It's several different kinds of dumplings and our guide said that if we didn't want to know what was inside, don't ask, but we did and there wasn't anything weird. We did have baked pigeon, which was much better than dove and now I am thinking Charlie and I could open a new business back in the states and rid the cities of some their pigeon problems. Watch the yellow pages in the future.

We took Nat to the Doctor here today. They did a few tests and everything was fine. Natalie didn't like the parts when they handled her, but after a few screams, it was all smiles again. After lunch, we ventured out across the barrier around the island and visited the shops across the river. The shops were a little neater than Nanchang, but still very small, with a few things we recognized, but mostly they had roots, nuts, plants, we had no idea of what they were. We walked for a few blocks and ended up in a the nice shopping part of town, with tons of people, all of whom wanted to see Natalie and the other babies of the families that went with us. The stores were very nice and modern, just like going to Dillards. We bought Natalie some jammies and headed back.

There's an American restaurant here by the name of "Lucy's". No one there speaks very good English and the service is poor, but the food is good and you can get a hamburger and fries. It's a famous place to all the adopting families and was the first stop we made after unpacking. It turns out that Natalie loves hamburger meat and pb & j sandwiches.

We are starting to get this parenting thing down. We have learned that not only do you have to remember what to take with you when you go out, you also have to remember to pick up what you brought with you when you leave! I won't bore you with the story, but the little bowl with the bears is now back safe and sound!

Natalie is saying Ma Ma! It's usually when Steph is ignoring her and she wants her attention, which seems to be working. Can't wash the smile of either of their faces.
Just a few more days and we will be returning home. We can't wait to introduce her to you!

We hope you are well. Be well, God Bless.