Good Morning America!

Today we stayed at the hotel almost all day to wait on our medical exam. We are heading to dinner in about a 1/2 hour with our group - everyone wants their baby to slurp noodles:o).

Here's some photos from today...

Just finished my bath. I actually like baths...

Right after I got dressed I needed some more sleep...

This morning I ate rice congee, eggs and fruit on mommy's lap.

When we got back to the room I had a great time...

Oh man..........I mean Old Man! We see this expression a lot. It's hilarious!
I was woke up from my nap for my Dr.'s appointment today. I was gracious about it.
I didn't even cry when the Doctor stuck that stick in my throat. Not the first time, the second time or the third time!I fell back asleep a few hrs. later...
Our sweet, sweet girl...she smiles if I go over to hold her while Alan does something, and when Alan puts his arms out to take her from me, she smiles. Yes we are just about to melt everywhere. She is so wonderful and we are so blessed.

"Slurping" Noodles

We had to leave at 8am sharp this morning. So at 6am I had to wake Mattie up...I wasn't sure how that would go. When she opened her eyes she stretched like I've never seen a baby stretch before...Alan and I were laughing and once she woke up she looked at me and smiled. Ahhh...steal my heart.

Here's our first photos from this morning...

She's a little unsure of the camera. She was happy hanging with daddy this morning...

We met the head nanny and Guixi SWI's Director today...

I know it looks like she's snarling at him - she was actually just yawning when Alan snapped the photo...every time I see this, I laugh!
Mattie had the hiccups for awhile last night and we thought it was from crying...We found out from the nanny and director that Mattie was the only child who cried when she left Guixi...and that she cried until they arrived at our hotel...we could hear a baby crying outside the room and it was her! I am surprised she didn't continue to cry - there must have been some divine intervention:o)! We also found out which children in our group were in the same room with her at Guixi IE Cribmates. And the name of her nanny. This information is not always available to families and our group is grateful the info was given to us.

OK - more photos less typing.

Sorry it's blury but that's what happens when you play getcha getcha goo on baby's tummy! And if you are wondering...is she laughing out loud? Oh yes...the deep belly gasping for air kind of laughing. We got to hear that @ 3 times today. We got big smiles for no good reason too. We have to sneak the photos in b/c the camera is not her favorite thing. She gets very serious when she sees it.

The title of this post is slurping noodles. I would like to sign off with photos from our dinner tonight. Our friend Lee Ann said "Mesa slurped noodles when they were in Nanchang" - as did many of the babies in their group. So the question is - does Mattie "slurp" noodles?
First - we ordered noodles. Since I'm an expert in Mandarin I specifically ordered Mian; bow bow (noodles; baby). Here's what we got...

OK - that bowl held about 2lbs of very, very thin noodles. I am not kidding. I guess they could tell she's a good eater. So, we tried to feed her noodles and she sort of chewed them. There were people standing in the window while we were eating (I'll talk about that in another post) and the lady was telling me to give her longer noodles. Hmmmm....is that safe? As soon as Mattie saw the long noodles she tipped her head back and....well...see for yourself...

No Way! She puckered her lips and sucked them in! We couldn't believe it! I know everyone in America is thinking she's going to choke and believe me - I was wide eyed during all of this. I don't know we will encourage noodle slurping from here fwd., but it sure was something to see!
Night Night everyone...

We're Starting Our Day!

After our big evening we came back to the room. It was reported that the babies had been traveling for several hours and would be hungry, so our first mission was to feed her. When we came back to our room I sat her on the bed...we played for a few minutes (we got lots of video) and then fed her. Within just a few minutes we had sleeping beauty...

I tried to wake her up enough to burp her...then we had crying beauty!
After she was awake and not crying (and also not burping), we got to thinking she probably needed a diaper change. That went pretty good at first, and then crying again...so I picked her up and wraped her in her blankets, gave her a toy...There that's a little better. She's doing really well and also seems very uncertain. When I first began feeding her she would not look at me...after a few minutes she would a little...before she fell asleep she was reaching up and touching my face and making good eye contact...
After I got her in her PJ's... We played on the bed a little and I got some smiles...
OK - so how about the rest of that bottle? She had barely touched it before she fell asleep...I needed to get us together to leave in the morning at 8am sharp, so Baba (Daddy in Mandarin) took over!

It looks like she's going to be a daddy's girl after all!!
She was very tired, and kept looking at the little baby bed in the room. I put her in, and at first I thought she was trying to fight sleeping...she was all over that bed like nothing I had ever seen before! I reached in and rubbed her tummy...she quit moving and looked up at me with wide eyes for a long while. I knew she was exhausted. I remember when my sister (Aunt Rhonda) was little, we used to touch her forhead lightly - back and forth across her eyebrows and down the bridge of her nose. Within seconds Mattie was sleeping...

It's almost 6am here and she has not made a peep since this photo was taken...

Introducing Mattie Gail Yan Yan!

Post typed by Alan:
We received Mattie Gail today at approximately 5:30pm Nanchang China time. There was quite a commotion as 14 babies arrived 2-3 minutes apart! It looked like the paparazzi was there, flashing cameras, and video cameras, recording the happy event. And, one of the last babies to come through the door was our girl, all 12 pounds of her, such a petite little angel. She was alright with Mommy, but a little unsure about Dad, initially...

Mattie Gail is clearly a Mommies girl!!!

More to come tomorrow, we're pooped!

Guess Where We Got To Go Today!

In our original thinking, we hoped to go to Hong Kong Disney by arriving here a day early. Well, we barely got out of the house with our backpacks, 2 bags and 2 suitcases on Thursday. But wouldn't you know it...we WERE able to sneak over there today after all! AND we got to go with Adam, Patty and Elisa!And some new friends M, M and G!Awesome eh? AND there is MORE awesome...

While we were waiting outside the park to enter - the lady you see on the left handing Elisa a paper came up to us and said "you've been chosen to be the first to go into the park today!" We got a one on one visit w/ Mickey Mouse! They gave us special certificates, and had us sing "It's a small world after all" to everyone waiting to get in - and then we shouted "Hong Kong Disney Open!" and they opened the gates to let the masses in! It was a blast! What a special entrance to the park for everyone...especially for Elisa and G!

So today was a very busy and exciting day! But not nearly as exciting as tomorrow will be! I do not know the exact time we will get Mattie...I only know it will happen tomorrow afternoon (China time - so you'll be sleeping). I will try to get internet to share photos afterward...if I cannot, I will ASAP!

We're Here!

We arrived in Hong Kong @ 4am US time and 4pm in Hong Kong. We are going to rest up and tomorrow there's a lot going on with tours and such.

We fly to Nanchung on Sunday and we get Mattie then! We will keep you up to date as much as possible!

We're Off To China!

We leave today! Thursday Sept. 6, 2007. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. I can honestly say I've never felt this way before!

Before we began this journey nearly 3 yrs ago, I knew I had felt Gods presence, heard his voice and could see Him working in my life. Over the last 3 yrs...well...let's just say He kicked it up a notch! I could not have made it to today a sain person without Him. His purpose, ways and understanding are so far above my own that I can barely even begin to understand even this about Him.

As those of you following along wait for us to arrive in P.R. China...please pray for us and for our baby girl when you think to...and give praise to the One who we give the glory to, for getting us to this day.