Red Couch, Consulate Oath and final day

I apologize for not posting to the blog last night. But I felt it was important to rest up as much as possible before we fly out tonight. Yesterday morning we attempted our red couch photos of Jin Bei. She was in no mood to be photographed, as you will soon see. She did fine with Baba and Ge Ge. But then she had a complete meltdown before taking photos with Mama because I wouldn't let her have Caleb's camera. Caleb was also in no mood to take photos. But we managed to get a few.

After taking photos, we headed over to Lucy's for lunch. Jin Bei did really well, surprisingly. We had to head back to the hotel quickly so that we could be ready to meet Helen at 2:15pm to head over to the consulate for our oath taking ceremony. Helen surprised all the kids with carmel lollipops. They were quite a hit...and quite a mess, too!

Once at the consulate, we ran into a few families we've met elsewhere: a really nice family from Chicago we met in Wuhan and a family from Atlanta that will be on our same flight to LA tonight. It didn't take long for all the families to be called up to finish our applications for our children's immigration visas. We soon said our oath and were back on our way to the hotel. Leaving the consulate at rush hour certainly made the trip back longer. And precious Jin Bei couldn't resist a nap.

After arriving back to our hotel room, I stayed back with the munchkins while Baba headed out to our favorite noodle shop. In typical fashion, the kid munched on pringles while watching TV until Baba returned with dinner. We all enjoyed our meal. And then it was time for Jin Bei to have a bath. Baba poured her bath, and I busied her with some lovin'. But as soon as Baba came over to her, she started to cry. She knew what was coming up. Boy oh boy, did she cry. But she eventually settled down and actually sat down in the tub and finished her bath without crying.

Bedtime was really cute. Baba read a story to Caleb while I read a story to Jin Bei on the other side of the bed. Naturally I read the story to her in English, but she laid there the whole time and then started pointing to some of the pictures in the book. It was really really sweet. Then for the first time since she was placed in our arms, she went to sleep by herself. She actually didn't want me to place her on my chest. She just laid next to me. It was the first time we could see how she's put herself to bed. She likes to suck on her middle and ring finger on her right hand. And then, as part of her self soothing she likes to rub her eye with the corner of the bedsheet. She has done this type of thing before, once with the shoulder tie of her dress and just earlier in the bus with the curtain. But after last night, we finally know why she does it. It calms her down.

This morning, we just finished packing up. We also headed to our favorite noodle shop one last time for lunch. We took some photos of the pet and spice markets that we'll have to share once we get back to the U.S. We have truly enjoyed our time in Guang*zhou. It was so great to see much more of where Caleb was born. We will surely miss this place. Our flight leaves tonight at 9:00pm. We will arrive in LA at 7:00pm today, 2 hours earlier than when we leave Ch*in@. We will have about 3 hours to make it through customs and will then catch the red eye back to Orlando. We are so excited to come home and have you all meet our precious daughter. We're signing off for now from Ch*ina. USA, here we come!

Baba and his precious little girl

This was the only photo I got of all 3 of them looking in my direction.
Our two precious kiddos
A brief moment of no tears





Clearly not interested in having her photo taken anymore

If you look closely, you can see Jin Bei blowing bubbles with her mouth. Too funy.

Jin Bei getting some sugar from mama

She finaly stopped crying and relaxed a little while taking her bath