Day 8 - Guanzhou

Today was our first full day in Guanzhou. After breakfast, all three girls had their medical exams. I’m happy to say we all have very healthy and happy babies. Hannah weighed in at a little over 17 pounds, and is 27 inches tall – she’s the smallest of the group. The medical exam was relatively painless. Basically, we go to three stations: one where they check height, weight and temperature (and Hannah did NOT like having a thermometer shoved….under her arm!! What did you think I was going to say??). The second station was to check hearing, throat, ears, eyes, etc. And the third was chest, heart, etc. We were in and out pretty quick.

After the medical exams, we met with our guide, David, to complete all of our paperwork for Monday’s meeting with the U.S. Consulate. This was fine, too. After that, we went to lunch at a place called ‘Lucy’s’ and walked around a few shops, and went to see the White Swan Hotel. The White Swan is a beautiful hotel, and is where we were supposed to stay, but plans got changed at the last minute. We’re all sort of upset about that. One of the traditions of adoptive families is get the picture of the girls taken on the red velvet couch at the White Swan. So, all three families went over and had the pictures taken with the girls, and then some family pictures. It was quite fun!! It was an experience trying to get all three girls to look at the camera at the same time. I have new found respect for photographers!!

We walked around a few more shops, and bought Hannah a few pairs of squeaky shoes. These are sort of Chinese children’s thing, and are very cute. She and Eva are wearing their new shoes in the picture. We also bought Hannah her own ‘chop’ which is like a rubber stamp with her Chinese characters on them, along with her English name. The shops around here are quite nice, and really cater to adoptive families. There are a lot of clothes, jewelry, and other goodies that are really hard to pass by.

Tomorrow, our guide is taking us to a shopping area nearby. It should be pretty fun, as we’re all having a really good time buying things (like that would be hard to do anyway, right??).

All three girls are doing really well. They're all eating great, sleeping really well, and have really come out of their shells. They're all taking on their own little personalities, have wonderful smiles and laughs, and it seems like they're all bonding really well with their forever families.

Well, that’s all for now. Hope you enjoy these latest photos. We’re all doing great, and can’t wait to see everyone next week!!

Joe, Darese & Hannah




It was a messy lunch!!












The girls on the red velvet couch, with big sisters Olivia and Kaleigh. Ever try to get 5 girls, ages 7 and under, all to look at the camera at the same time?? I failed miserably with this shot!!












Daphne with Olivia, Eva, and her parents.













Jill, Kaleigh, Brianna, and Bill.


















'Got my squeaky shoes...life is Good!!'














So we went to put Hannah down to bed tonight, and here's how she said 'nope, not ready yet!!'