2nd Day with Kenzie

Okay, so it's our 2nd day with YangYang. Today, we
went to the Civil Affairs office, the notary place,
and this other building where we got a picture of our
baby. That covered our day from 8:15-12:00pm, not
inculding breakfast. Our hotel has the most amazing
breakfast buffet with everything from French fries, to
Chinese dumplings, to eggs, to spaghetti. Even
watermelon! Just like the paper about Kenzie from the
orphanage, watermelon is clearly one of her top
favorite foods. She's been a very good baby, she
still really hasn't cried, except for an occasional
yelp ever so often. Can you believe she slep 12 hours
straight last night?! Compared to some other kids who
were still screaming, that's really good. In our
group, there are two sets of twins (girls, of course),
and eight girls who aren't twins. I would probably
say that Kenzie is one of the smallest, and one of the
most-adapted, and well-behaved babies. She is totally
content with her surroundings. I mean, she'll
seriously go to anyone, and take pretty much anything.
If she dislikes it, she gives a simple shake of her
head. She also enjoys the great outdoors and looking
out the window, seeing as she is a very curious baby.
Boy is she in for the plane ride home! 13 hours of
nonstop action from our window seat! Anyway, she also
enjoys TV, which fits in good with our family. No
matter what you put it on, from music to news (even
Chinese!), her eyes just bug-out, and all her
surroundings seem to fade from her. Right now, she is
napping. Again. Well, she WAS napping, but then our
guide (the lovely Veronica!) called and said it was
time for our meeting with the orphanage director. (Not to sound
sarcastic there, she really is wonderful!) This
was a session of time in which we could ask him or
other staff members questions, and, naturally, recieve
answers. We found out that she enjoys baths, and her
favorite nanny is Wangpei. She doesn't have any
allergies or previous injuries, although she did have
a cold and fever while staying at the orphanage. The
Lu part in her name is short for the place that she
was found, and Yang means "sunshine." Who gave her
her name? A woman name Hu Xiao Ying. She's the vice
director in charge of the abandoned baby department.
She is just as well the woman who handed over our
precious little YangYang for the first time. They
also showed her the photo album while in the
orphanage, which may be another reason why she's so
comfortable with us. She must've been quite attatched
to it, because we have another one just like it that
we brought with the same photos, and ever since my
mother got it out, she is very clingy to that. She
also totally doesn't mind hairbows. She loves to feel
and look at them. Like I said, she is a very curious
baby. She loves to look in mirrors, and feel things.
If she hears a noise, she'll always pop her head up.
Today was excellent weather. A little breeze, a
little sun. While on this trip, I also met some new
friends. Their names are Collin (age 11), and Lily
(age 5). Lilly is also adopted from China, and is from
Nanchang. So, her parents have already experienced
not only the adoption thing, but coming here as well. This
trip is way more than I thought it would be. It's
challenging (the Great Wall), it's interactive
(meeting new people), it's fun (playing around with
Kenzie). It's all I expected and more. Our guide is
really great, which I know I've already said, but
she's a big help. Great Wall agency may not be the
best beforehand, but they're very good on the in-China
travel. Our hotel room is this amazing suite, and it's
totally sweet! We have two rooms, and two bathrooms.
Each room has a huge windows, with a two foot pieces of wood
that jut out in front, so you can sit and look at the view, or
even sit YangYang, who is way more impressed with the
view. If I look out the window now, I see a much
prettier city than Beijing. Not much pollution, and
it seems so much bigger, because I can see a lot more.
On of the most challenging things over here is trying
to cross the street. It doesn't matter if the light
says stop, the drivers go anyway. I still haven't
really done any shopping, but tomorrow is Wal-Mart
time, and there's tons of time to shop. So if you
know I'm getting a souvenir for you, don't freak, 'cuz
the right one will come along. Till then...what's
Chinese for "bye"? Oh, I don't know. Um...write back
soon? Yeah. I'll post again either later tonight or
tomorrow. 'Bye!