Sunday, March 1, 2009

Today was filled with shopping! It is tradition to get children that are adopted “gotcha day” gifts kind of like birthday gifts, to be given on the anniversary of the big day, through their 18th birthday. Jen has been having fun getting Addison’s gotcha day gifts throughout our trip, but let me tell you, before we leave, Shamian Island will be wonderful to Addison for the next 18 years! There isn’t a shop that Jen hasn’t been in. And they are wonderful sales people! Many of the shop owners and workers have trained themselves to remember names and faces (at least for a period of a week or so), they are also self taught from what we hear in their English language speaking skills – which have become pretty good since they have been catering to adoptive families and other tourists for a long time. It’s a site to behold, and one I try to stay away as far away from as I can – but Jen is in her glory wheeling and dealing trying to get a great buy!

Besides shopping we had to meet with our tour guide Shiyan to go over some paperwork, and we had to confirm our flights to Shanghai. But other than that the day was ours to be with Addison. We have come a long way with her and her with us. She is starting to open up a little more every day, and tonight was the most expressive she has been with us. She is sitting up on her own more everyday, and she was crawling a little before bedtime tonight. I must add that when she got to where she wanted to go, she was quite quick to try pull herself up and teeter back and forth with a little support from Jen or I holding on to just her hands. It’s fun to see that she is building strength and trying new things on a daily basis!

I do have a story from today that only reiterates the fact that Jen and I are first time parents. To make a long story short, Addison went through five diapers in a matter of 10 minutes. I don’t think that we changed her to fast except maybe with the first two, but the last three were needing to be changed when they were. We had noticed that during past two days Addison didn’t seem very comfortable and was having problems having a movement, and when she did they were rock hard, no exaggeration, poor kid! Anyway, we feed her a lot of fruit this morning for breakfast along with as much prune mush out of a Gerber cup as she would eat, which wasn’t much. However, at about 3:00 pm today, what a difference a poop makes! Or should I say 4 poops and one wet diaper! She cleaned herself out all right, and you can certainly tell that she was needing to do it. She went from being a little fussy to being real animated and easy with a laugh or giggle.

One set of parents in our group wanted to celebrate their daughters birthday, along with all of the girls’ birthdays tonight at supper, so Addison and her sisters were all treated to birthday cake and everyone at the restaurant singing happy birthday to them. It was a special experience to have with all of her sisters being able to celebrate a birthday together, even though Addison won’t turn 1 until March 24th and some of her sisters have already celebrated their 1st birthday before being adopted. Addison seemed to like the cake but was a bigger fan of the frosting!

Thanks for all your love and prayers! It is nice to know that Addison has such a huge support system of family and friends that she will be able to count on as she grows as part of our family. Jason and Jen.