Saturday, July 29, 2006
GIGGLES FROM GRACIE!

It has happened!!!! The long awaited giggle has gurgled up out of Gracie’s heart and we heard it with our very own ears this afternoon! :) Her Daddy was the proud recipient of the giggle, as he had been carrying her and giving her a little tickle as he walked with her to the pool. We were all around him when she giggled and everyone stopped to say, “Listen! Gracie is giggling!” My friend Eileen and I whipped out our cameras and started taking photos as fast as we could to capture the smile and the moment. It was music to our ears. She has been smiling on and off every since and we are so happy and thankful that she seems to have turned a corner. John is the best at making her smile and laugh. He will do something and she will reward his silliness with a sweet smile, but if I do it, she often gives me a disgusted look, like, “Oh, grow up.” But I did earn a few smiles on my own this morning, and so I am content with that for now. It has been a great, great day so far.

We had a long journey yesterday to Guangzhou. It was pouring down rain in Nanning, so we could not do anything but wait around the hotel lobby from 2pm yesterday to go to the airport at 5pm. Thankfully, we have been blessed with many families to travel with that are really, honestly so fun and enjoyable to spend time with. Even if you are just sitting in the lobby on a rainy day. After the trip to the airport, we found out our flights were delayed, so there was more sitting around…and finally, we got on our flight around 9pm. Gracie took her first airplane trip of her little life, and did NOT like it. It appears that she too was made for the more luxurious accommodations in business class, as she kept pushing at the seatback in front of her, and pushing on the lady who she felt was sitting far too close to her beside us. She screamed most of the descent as she did not want her bottle to suck on and we could not convince her that it would make her ears better. Once we arrived though, she fell dead asleep for the bus ride to the hotel, which is AWESOME.

The White Swan is very, very nice and is on a part of Guangzhou called Shamian Island, which is rather European looking. It reminds me a lot of old Shanghai and is just lovely. She slept very well last night (with her yucky white hotel towel on her pillow) and woke today ready to chow down for breakfast. The buffet here is excellent and she really made the most of it. The hotel is very big and very crowded with many, many adoptive families. It was amazing to look around and see all these families with their newly adopted children. Very heartwarming.

After breakfast we had to go to the medical appointments for Grace, where we learned she is now 26 pounds and 85 cm. She behaved very well in the clinic, so we rewarded her with a fun outing to the hotel pool. We and our new friends were some of the ONLY people in the pool, which is beautiful, so all the babies had lots of room to explore with their parents without worrying about too much splashing from other kids. She really liked the pool and had a fun time with John splashing about. On the way to the hotel, we passed some funny statues that we had to pose with. One was commemorating the “American Adoptive Parents”, and it made us howl with laughter….it depicts two old people, I mean OLD people…the man is hunched over and bald and carrying backpack, video camera and camera, and the woman is fat and has big boobs and is pushing a stroller with a Chinese baby in it. That was next to a statue of perhaps the fattest woman in China…I felt since I arrived like the second fattest woman, since all of the Chinese ladies are so, so, so, tiny! So I had to pose with that one as well.

Now Gracie is sleeping soundly after a big lunch of cup o’ noodles. She loves to feed herself and is a very thorough eater. After she finishes, she will even put the empty bowl on her head as the finishing touch. She has kept us smiling in adoration all day today. It has been a great day!