The bad and the ugly

Ok, so I am reading through the blog and besides for when were sick in China, my blog seems pretty rosey~~things are pretty rosey-most of the time, but there are times when this process is just plain ugly. I also have met many parents who will be traveling soon and I do not want them to feel isolated or alone if they hit some ugly patches while in China or at home. So, over the next few days I am going to discuss the tough parts that I left out.

The plane
On the way to China the airplane was freezing! Well, to me it was. Tim was hot the whole time and had the fans all blowing on him, which blew somewhat on me! Dress comfortable! I wore a sweat suite and am so glad I did. No one is looking at you as I was covered in one of the airline blankets most of the time! Economy is very very cramped. If we would have realized just how cramped we would have went ahead and paid the $50 more per person for economy plus-there were a lot of seats available up there. I thought for sure I could sleep on the plane as I can sleep in a car just fine-well with the cramped conditions I just couldn't. Get water right away-we were glad we did. WE were exhausted and wished we would have had some crackers with us as our guide showed us where the cookies were in the store, but no real food. We were just too tired to go out to get anything to eat that first night.

Gotcha Day
It is really important that you go in without any expectations of this day. Ours went really great, but it was not like some of the videos I have watched or like a Hollywood happy ending. Our civil affairs office was so crowded. There were families all over and children coming in left and right and crying all over! It was so chaotic! I was so glad Tim videoed Gabe coming in and those first few minutes as it was all so fast it would be hard to remember all the details of that moment.

Right away the communication thing was there. I had read many people who have adopted older children 2-5 yrs saying that the communication thing is not bad and you can understand each other. Well, that is true to some extent, but when we went to lunch that first day and he tried to tell me he wanted his rice on the plate-not in the bowl and not on his high chair tray-wowza he screamed bloody murder! It is scary that first day and they are trying to tell you something and you don't know what it is and they are upset and all you can think of is how he is either going to hate you or be scared because you are not answering his needs!

Be prepared for many bug bites and scars on their body from past bites. Do research and know what a Mongolian spot is-Gabe has a huge one that covers 1/2 his back and his buttocks. If possible do online research that can help you distinguish between bug bites and scabies. It can be stressful if you are not sure about these and the Mongolian spots look like a huge bad bruise! At first we honestly thought that Gabe has a secondary need. It was scary at first. We were not sure what to do. We never once considered not bringing him home, but it throws you for a loop at first. It involved his privates, but I can now say it was not what we thought and he is fine.

As I write some of these sound more like advice things rather than ugly moments, but our really ugly moments came later. So I will write more tomorrow.

Here are a couple of pics from our first Autumn Moon Festival Dinner with the Wagners. Gabe chatted a little with one of the waitresses at China Buffet, what I could tell was that he told her his name was Su Xulu! LOL We then came back to our house to celebrate Ayi Melissa's birthday.