Juggling kids

Scott is the master of juggling the kids. Here we are at the city park yesterday - check name on sign. The locals definitley love to take a double take on Scott.

Pretty in Pink

Yesterday went to the baby store next door to the hotel. I had to get her a couple of tops to fit under her clothes. I want to give her some peace from the stares. So if i at least cover her shoulder and pin the back, her clothes seem half decent on her. I am definitely not an overly cute baby clothes mother, so almost all the 12m stuff was too babyish for her. So finally found this outfit that makes her look more like a three year old.

Life after the medical zoo!

Ah, the kids needed some entertaining after the session at the medical clinic. It is like walking into the local government health office where everyone and anyone can be found getting free testing of all kinds.

So here are the kids with a short video - seems like Taylor has had exposure to this in the past. Similar to Kaitlyn the short video's work best - limited attention span. But I think once we get home she'll enjoy the music ones i used for both Reagan and Kaitlyn. I use to play them over and over and it seemed to help with them learning english.

Can she hear me?

We'll after having been exposed to more indepth hearing testing, this is a bit entertaining. You have the child sit in the parents lap. Then they play a couple of toys to see if they respond. Yep, Taylor passed :-)

Medical Day

Well here is a pretty good shot of Daddy and Daugher waiting at the medical clinic to get Taylor's once over to appease the Visa God's. It is an interesting set up. By now we know the routine.... this time we had the doctor I saw a few days ago, a bit younger. Taylor was not a joy for the doctor as Reagan was. But we have rarely seen a kid pass through without crying and screaming. Who knows how many fearful and scarey doctor's visits most of these kids have had in the past. We dare imagine. Taylor did her part in making a joyful noise and she definitely did not like her ears looked at.

This of course reminds us of our first visit there with Reagan. His hair had never been cut - and so we were spared the stares and looks and sometimes scoldings from Chinese mother's for taking one of their boys. We did not get that until trip #2. We of course had heard the stories and even Susan who we traveled with experienced it. Well it was all explained to us at Reagan's doctor visit.....
The older doctor who I like... was giving Reagan the full check-up and took his pants off and diaper and step back surprised! Noting "It's a BOY!" I guess Reagan's long hair had many fooled he was just another unwanted girl baby on her way out.

The Doll Girls

Well Taylor is a dolly girl.... Glad I have two waiting for me at home! I brought this one of Kaitlyn's she got from her cousins since it is soft and easy to pack. Well Taylor loves to dress her and she is busy talking her babble talk about all she is doing. Here she is telling Kailtyn how to dress the doll in full animation - priceless!

The Dideon Sibling's

The kids are bonding..... Both Reagan and Kaitlyn are taking to looking out and after Taylor. Here is a shot of Kaitlyn pulling Taylor on to her lap. Reagan decided to join the shot too. They definitly look cute together.

The Carlson's

Here is a great shot of Mark, Melinda and Anna in their new place. Anna poor thing did try to smile. Oh I do remember those days in my youth. Such torchore to endure your parents guests who are complete strangers to you, let alone having to try and entertain 3 toddlers who are thrilled by the littlest thing! The place they live in seems like a great place and so many nice people. What a wonderful opportunity.

Melinda and Anna at the pool

Here is a great smiling photo of Anna who is almost 8. Mark and Melinda adopted her from China when she was 10m old. She is a beautiful girl. The older two were already staying with friends. They really have been blessed and are making some great friendships already. Anna is struggling and really is having a hard time adjusting to life in China. Keep her in prayer.

Swimming

Here is a shot of the kids swimming last Sat morning at our friends kiddy pool. We were visiting the Carlson's, but Scott forgot to mention to me to bring the bathing suits. So we have Taylor in her underwear that are big on her, Reagan in pink girls bottoms and Kaitlyn in some blue ones. Scott borrowed Mark's. The water was pretty cool but the kids had a blast and Taylor definitely loves the water. Which will be great for our Hawaii vacations and our hot tub which we never got running this year.

Hungry?

This is Taylor at Lucy's - we prefer not to eat there, but it works with the kids. American food, high chairs and if you eat outside you can be messy and noisy. It is about a long block away from the White Swan. I think everyone eats there at least once. We have broken down and eaten their quite a few times since it is a fit for us. In the past we almost boycotted the place, but our lives have changed LOL.

Tuesday a day at the Park

Hey there will have to load photo's later. Yesterday we had another free day. So Scott hired a driver through our guide for a few hours to drive us to a local park he saw on our map. It was a very large one. Actually after viewing it - we think it is nicer than the Green Lake park we went to daily in Kunming that everyone including us raved about. This is one of those hidden secrets and definitely not on the tour route. So we never saw one foreigner the whole time, but got lots of stares from the local's exercising or playing cards.

It is a huge garden, very clean and well maintained and we saw many couples getting their wedding photo's taken there. It cost us about $.70 to get in and that was it. We had paths galore to walk and spent a few hours there. They had some kind of mini amusement park so we all took in some of the rides and Taylor did better than Kaitlyn riding the mini train with Reagan by herself and just loving every minute of it.

The first ride we did was some go cart type thing which we all did. I drove with Taylor and Scott with Kaitlyn and Reagan was the master who just kept on going and loving every second of it.

I brought bubbles along and the kids had fun with this too. Will try and do this more at another park soon.

It is iteresting as we stroll along in a row, you can see people just counting....one, two, three and just look at us and just have this surprised look on their faces. If they know any english they will throw out a few words at us and try to ask questions. Many times we feel like a side show, but knew this would happen since we experienced this last time with bringing Reagan along.

In the morning we had to take Taylor to the medical exam and get her passport photo done. Of course we could not find the papers we had brought, until after the event which our guide got to the doctor to confirm her ribs since he seemed concerned. But she seemed to pass and with her shoes on she was 10.5 kg - as we had learned the other day at the hotel. Which is about 22-23 lbs. So our peanut is a tiny thing.
This took about an hour and I was able to get the older female and male doctors, the photo's of Reagan and Kaitlyn. I figured they rarely see these kids again and thought it would be nice.

For dinner we hooked up with a family from Portland who just adopted a beautiful five year old girl. We went to the CowBridge and had a nice dinner. It was too long for the kids and finally I had to leave early and pace outside with Kaitlyn and Taylor to keep them from having meltdowns.

Well will try soon to catch up on today - Wed.
Lavonne