Congratulations Karen and Kevin!!!

Mayson Gwen Ritchie
August 9th, 2006 2:34 PM
7 1/2 pounds
20 inches

Harper's Cousin

Harper's cousin will be born today!

Karen will be having a c-section this afternoon since little Mayson seems to like wedging herself in positions that has made it difficult to get her out.

Dan and I will be thinking of Karen and Kevin today as they finally get to meet their daughter.

...We know how special that can be.

Dragon Boats!

On Sunday we went to see the Dragon Boat races in Burlington. It was a gorgeous day and Harper was able to meet her new friend Braeden. They got along very well and it was fun to see the boats, too.



 

The Breakfast, The Boyfriend, The Belly

 

Cheeky Cheeky Update

These are the cheeks this morning...


 

Rashy Red Cheeky Monkey

Here are pictures of Harper's Rashy Red Cheeks. She is currently sporting a greasy film thanks to "Grins and Giggles" moisturizing stick. Anyone have any other suggestions to rid The Beast of her not so jolly marks?

These pictures were taken yesterday and her rash does look better this morning.




 

Tyrant-Osaurus Rex With A Hint Of Godzilla

... and a sprinkle of King Kong on the side.

I Fed Myself One Cheerio Today...

 
 
 
  

But That Cat Sure Looks Juicy!

 
 
 
  

Available Again

Videos are now watchable, sorry for the interruption. As for more pictures, I will do my best. I think you-know-who is teething... maybe? Or maybe she just really likes to get her hands all juicy and put them on Mommy. (Mommy doesn't like drool.) Anyway, you-know-who is now temporarily known as Rashy Red Cheeks. Rashy Red Cheeks has told me that if her fans want more pictures, then more pictures it is... as soon as Mommy can find her camera. I think I put it somewhere with a bag of Cheerios...

Temporarily Unavailable

The storage site that we use to host our video links is currently unavailable while they "are hard at work" upgrading their site to provide us with "an even better service."

No worries, we should be online again soon.

Still Breathing

We have been home for just under 5 days now. Dan and I are still feeling a little jet-lagged, but Harper seems to be sleeping very well. We are very lucky that she is taking it easy on us.

I have to say that I can’t wait to feel normal again. I love Harper and she has been such a trooper with all of this upheaval, but I simply can’t wait until this different lifestyle we now have… feels normal. It is so weird to feel like I have to skulk around my own house so I don’t wake The Beast, like she as somehow usurped our power, in an instant, and made it her own. She also comes with a lot of… stuff. Now, I am not against stuff in general, but if it was calculated and made proportional to age or weight, I may understand it a bit better. Boy, has she got baggage.

Our trip home was a test of fortitude. Thursday morning in Guangzhou (Wednesday evening here on the east coast) we left via plane to head to Hong Kong, to then fly 13 and a half hours to LAX. I can’t sit still for that long, I also can’t sleep. When there was only four hours left of our flight I felt like turning cartwheels up and down the aisle. I couldn’t wait to get off the plane. No, really… I… Couldn’t… Wait. Lives were at stake.

We thought we were making a good decision by spending one night in Los Angeles before we flew back to Vermont the next day and it would have been if we were actually able to get on a plane. Due to a power outage at LAX and many cancelled flights previously to our arrival, we ended up in lines far too long to reach the check-in counter before our flight closed its doors. Very discouraging. Not only did we miss our flight that had a stand-by list of 40 to 50 people, we had to somehow get on a different flight. The best that anyone could do was a flight the next day with a lengthy layover at Dulles.

Since there was nothing we could do we went back to our hotel. Since we had checked out earlier, we ended up with a different room, a room with some weak air conditioning and some weird bugs that would occasionally show themselves. We were tired and disappointed that we would not be home that night. Then the water in the hotel was shut off and we were REALLY disappointed that we would not be home that night. After four hours and a few phone calls, we had water… brown, yucky water. It truly was a comedy of errors.

We flew out the next morning and made it safely to Dulles where we were greeted with the departure board listing our flight to Burlington as delayed until 11:19 pm. (We had arrived at 6.) There was a line of thunderstorms in between us and home. Our departure time was listed as the last flight leaving for the night and I have to say that I was scared $&%*less that we would have to overnight in Washington, too. Our flight actually left earlier than listed, but we had no idea that it would until they called us for boarding. The pilot rocketed us home and we finally arrived very early Sunday morning.

So, we are home and our laundry is finally clean, although still not put away. I know that we had left only 23 days ago, but if feels like three years.

Dan, Harper and I greatly appreciate all of your comments, emails, and phone calls. They were one of the few things that kept us going. We are very lucky.

Now, to anyone that I have not responded to yet… I will… I promise. Please bear with us. But it just may take another three years… in this weird, baby-esque space/time continuum.

We love you.
Dan, Janet and Harper

P.S. More pics and video for our die hard fans (Grandmas, et al.)

Homeward Bound

Good Grief

After a long couple of days, we are home. This is Harper getting strapped into her very first car seat. It was a very late night last night and by the time Harper went to sleep it was 3:15 in the morning.

She slept until 10:30 this morning and will get some good naps in today, too.

We have many more photos to post, but we didn't get to sleep until 4:30 so it may take a bit before they are posted. I hope these will hold you over while you wait for us to become human again.

We love you all and we are SO glad to be home!


 

Farewell, China

This will be our last post from China. We are excited to return home. It has been a long time away.

Thank you all for your kind and supportive words during our journey. Getting daily messages from everyone has certainly helped us not feel so far away.

We'll be home soon.

It Was A Good Day

Harper had a really good day today. Not a lot of crying, but there was a lot of laughing, smiling, and 'talking' with us.

We did a lot of things today including a Red Couch photo which every adoptive family does with their tour group when they stay at the White Swan. Harper did really well, didn't cry and was smiley most of the time down there. The following photos are right before we went down for the photo. She was chatting and laughing with us the whole time. The first three pictures are a series I'd like to call "Jolly Buddha in Pink" She was a real ham today.




 

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

Yesterday afternoon, we noticed small squads of the Chinese Army in the area around our hotel. It's China so we didn't think too much about it. Well now we know why...The King and Queen of Sweden arrived in our hotel yesterday for an official State visit. See the article below for more information.

A special Swedish chef has been flown in an is serving Swedish dishes all week long. I wonder if they will have my favorite dish...Swedish fish! We did miss the Royal Family at the breakfest buffet this morning, maybe we'll see them tomorrow.


The King and Queen of Sweden visit China – arriving on board the ship Götheborg
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia will visit China July 17-22. On July 18, they will be on board Götheborg when the ship arrives at the outer harbour of Guangzhou. The arrival will symbolize the return of the ship to China after 262 years. On July 19-20, the King and Queen will visit Beijing as the guests of President Hu Jintao. On July 20 the President will receive the King and the Queen.


There was a spectacular light show all around the harbor last night that included lasers, music, and lots of neon lights. It was very much like a Disney World parade.

We are very happy to report that we will not be forced to leave the hotel because of the King's arrival. The hotel was emptied earlier this year when Kim Jung-il, the leader of North Korea, arrived at the White Swan Hotel. I can't imagine having to move, again.

End of 2nd Day in Guangzhou

I added additional pictures to the new photo link.
Today was a long day and we have a semi-sleeping beast so I have to be quiet. I will post more details tomorrow. 

Yes, We Are Still In China.

We are now into our second day in Guangzhou. I apologize for not posting anything yesterday. We have a simple adorable, charming and fussy baby right now who has a cough and has been sneezing a little bit and her usual naptimes have not been usual at all.

We love Harper. It makes us sad to see her not feel well and it also frustrates us to not be able to do very much for her. She likes to go out and enjoy the sites, but she gets really sleepy after a while and takes a nap in her carrier. Then when it is naptime she is a little discombobulated.

We have had a couple of really intense crying sessions that have to do with fear or not feeling well and we are not really sure which. During these times she is inconsolable and it is upsetting for us to watch her struggle. Although this is really hard at times, I think she is learning to trust us and is feeling safer day by day. Dan and I were really glad to be at the White Swan and out of Nanchang, but to Harper it was just another upheaval of her world that she didn’t understand. Other than her cold, she is doing a lot better today and we are getting more fun play time, smiles and giggles from her. Unfortunately, we still have a few more transitions to make before we finally get home.

I really miss home. Things are so foreign to us right now, (please excuse my pun.) Dan and I can’t remember what day of the week it is, what time it is, or that lunch is something that we need to eat. (No worries, Harper does get her lunch, though.) I have a hard time remembering details of Hong Kong already. It feels like it was years ago. Our weird new life consists of a hotel room, polluted water that has to be boiled, strange colorful money that I can never remember the exchange rate for, hot humid weather (although I think it is hotter in Vermont today than it is here.), daily schedules that NEVER meshes with Harper’s schedule, and tag-team maneuvers between Dan and myself around such tasks as feeding, appointments, and potty-time (ex-cell-ent!). I don’t think I quite remember who I am anymore.

To everyone that has had a child, you have my apologies and admiration. Now, I understand. The tears, crying and stress doesn’t seem so bad when you finally get a gummy, little smile and a goofy, happy chuckle in return.

… But I am still tired. : )

* Hopefully before our Monday is over and your Monday is starting, I will get some more pictures of Guangzhou and Harper. We uploaded some to the “New China Photos” link, but I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera when we went for our walk today. Oops.

Oh yeah, did I mention that Harper is growing a cute pot belly? Very Buddha. 

Exhausted.

We had a long day today even though our flight was a little over an hour. We had to have our bags packed at 11:30 and check out of our room. Then we had to wait in the lobby of our hotel in Nanchang until 1:00 when we were driven to the airport. Our guide was wonderful and personally checked us in and all of our luggage. (There are 19 families in our group. It was the largest group sent to Nanchang so far.) We stood in the airport while this was happening for over an hour. It was also very hot and humid in the airport. Very limited air conditioning.

We spent over an hour on the plane and Harper did very well. Only minor fussing and a surprise diaper change. Once we landed it was more waiting in the airport for our baggage, then waiting for all of our group to gather together, then more waiting to get on the bus to take us to the White Swan. The ride was 45 minutes long. While waiting in the airport Harper was very stoic. She didn't make any noise or have any real facial expressions. Once we were on the bus she was more fussy, but I think it was do to exhausting.

We didn't arrive to The White Swan until after 7:00. It is a gorgeous hotel and I haven't seen anything but the lobby, elevator and our room. Once in our room Harper came to life and was rolling around on the bed, smiling and laughing. She was like this for quite sometime.

Then of course it was time for bed and we set her in the crib. She howled and screamed like we were trying to light her on fire. It was exhausting. I think it was scary for her to be in another new place that she was expected to sleep in. The last time she had a different crib was the night she was handed to us and we knew that she was terrified then. After quite some time she was able to calm herself down, but we needed to stand over her crib. We tried to avoid eye contact as not to engage her, but to stand there long enough so that she knew it was safe and we weren't going anywhere. She is asleep now, but Dan and I are very, very tired.

I hope it isn't this bad tomorrow when it is time to take a nap.

I am sorry that there are no pictures now, we will make up for it when we wake up in the morning, evening for you all.

I hope I can sleep. I can't wait to try.

Love,
Janet

Teething

I think that Harper is teething. She just learned that she had hands yesterday and today she realized she can chew on them. She hasn't sucked her thumb, but she has gnawed on it a bit. She has also learned how to blow raspberries. She is very good at making the spit fly. Mommy doesn't like spit. She has also been a bit fussy at times, of course you won't see that because we don't take any pictures of 'the beast', it is strictly not allowed.

Today we received her Chinese passport so we can now take her out of the country. Tomorow we fly from Nanchang to Guangzhou. Our posting may take a bit later in the day tomorrow because I think it may take us some time to get to the White Swan and then settled in. Tomorrow is also Harper's first flight. I think it is only an hour so at least it is a short one to see how the beast takes to flying.

Raspberries

 

Misery Loves Company

Thank you to all of you who played the "It Could Be Worse" game. It does make me feel better knowing that a lot of you are miserable too. (Totally kidding... I know how much I hated yesterday so I have a deep empathy for those of you suffering.)

That being said... Jim, I think you win. Qatar is apparently the arm pit of world and then when you add a uniform and boots to the mix Qatar is the arm pit of the world, stuck in someone's gym locker. My deepest sympathies.