Sunday, June 12, 2011
DAY OF RELAXATION!

Piper continues to do great during the day! She is much more animated and babbles all the time now! Her voice is so cute! She has this quiet little voice! She is also beginning to laugh when we laugh. It is so precious! Piper still is having difficulty sleeping at night! She is waking up many times during the night and is having night terrors. Erik is having her sleep in bed with him and taking comforting her during the night, so I can get a good night of sleep. He worries about the baby and me getting enough rest! The heat and humidity are starting to wear me down! It is just so hot here that I am starting to get tired more easily!

We started our day once again talking with the children. We were glad to hear that P-man is feeling better! We are so happy that Sophia and Graham had a great time at Dutch Wonderland. Thanks Aunt Linda for watching Parker for us! It seems all your love and attention made him all better! Sophia made us laugh when she had to put on her new t-shirt from Dutch Wonderland to show us on skype! We miss the children so much and can't wait to be home together as a family of six!

We went to breakfast and Piper ate a little bit, but not as much as she has been eating for breakfast. She loves tater tots and watermelon! Erik gave her a hard boiled egg to try, but she didn't want it. She prefers to eat foods that are familiar to her! She will occasionally try new things, but pretty much sticks to her favorites! We certainly enjoy the breakfast buffet at the White Swan. It is the best meal of our day! After breakfast we took a walk around the island. Piper got her very first pair of squeaky shoes! She absolutely loves them! We stopped at Subway for lunch and headed back for our afternoon nap! We decided to skip the sightseeing tour this afternoon. It is just too hot for me to be walking around outside. Piper slept for about an hour and a half. I never really fell asleep, but did get to rest. Erik took his daily walk around Guangzhou! We took Piper to the playroom for a little bit this afternoon. She really loves to play with all of the toys. Her favorite toys are the blocks. She loves to dump the blocks and put them back in the bucket. She does this numerous time and then moves on to something else. She loved the little piano too! She was swaying and dancing to the music with Erik! Erik also was pushing her around the playroom on the little ride on toy! She doesn't know how to move her legs yet to make it go by herself. We headed back to Lucy's for dinner. We ordered Piper a hamburger and french fries. She ate a little of the hamburger and many french fries, but she absolutely loved Erik's spaghetti! She ate quite a bit of the spaghetti! We were happy to see her eat a big dinner because she really didn't eat much for breakfast or lunch! We headed back to the hotel room and gave Piper her bath. Hopefully, she will get a good night of sleep tonight!

Tomorrow we head back to the medical examination building to have Piper's TB test checked! It looks to be okay and we are not anticipating having to get a chest x-ray! Our consulate appointment is on Tuesday and we receive Piper's visa on Wednesday.

Notes from Dad:
It was good to have a free day to relax. Last night was another rough one with Piper. She woke up around 2:00 crying and continued for the next couple of hours. I rocked her and walked her around to calm her down. I think it's the transition that has upset her. Sophia had the same difficulties at night for the first year she was with us - every night around 2:00 she would wake up screaming and it would take her a long time to calm down.

The other thing about Piper is that she loves TV. Like, a lot. When the TV is on she stares at it mesmerized. We think she watched a good amount of TV with her foster family. If she wakes up again tonight crying, I'm going to try and use it to try and calm her down. She'll have some hospital stays coming up and her love of TV might help that time go a little faster.

The other thing that we've noticed about Piper is that she coughs whenever she drinks something. We're not sure why - she might have a tough time swallowing. We've had her drinking from a straw that we pinch to slow down the flow of liquid. That's helped somewhat - but she still coughs every time.

Tricia is doing Ok. She walks slowly, snores a lot and her belly is growing. But she's hanging in there. Everytime we're in a physically stressful situation (crowded bus, long walk in the heat, etc), I fear she'll go into labor. A silly fear, but I mentally try and figure out what I'd do if she did. It takes me twenty minutes to explain a room service of congee, so I can only imagine how difficult it would be to say "Please help, my wife is having a baby!" It would probably look like a game of charades.

It will be good to run again when we get home. My legs get cramps and hurt - especially at night because I haven't been running this week. Just reading the last two sentences you'd think I was a world-class Olympian instead of a middle-aged jogger with a pudgy belly - but it's true!

Dear Sophia, Graham, and Parker,
We love and miss you so much! Only four more sleeps until we come home and only five sleeps until we see you! We can't wait to see you! We are so glad you had so much fun at Dutch Wonderland! We love your new t-shirt you picked out! We also loved seeing the pictures of you having fun at Dutch Wonderland. We were happy that Parker is feeling better! We love you!

Lots of love,
Mommy and Daddy