Ms Gabi got her physical today and is beginning to move herself around

Today we went with the group and our guide Connie to get the children's physical exam. It was pretty chaotic and crowded. So many children being adopted. Gabi was probably the youngest there. She did really well. We had to go to three different stations. Then we came to the hotel to organize paperwork for the Consulate Appointment on September 4, which is the only official appointment left still. Tomorrow we will be visiting the Safari Park, and then next day we will go shopping and visit Shamian Island. Gabi is doing really good. Sebastian is behaving better, with some outbursts. However, he loves his sister to pieces. He is also eating much better since we arrived at Guangzhou. It is a wonderful city so far, pretty modern but with a wonderful feeling to it.
Gabi is already beginning to move by herself in the ground quite a bit . The changes are outstanding. This girl is so resilient and wonderful.
Today I also went to the supermarket, and among other things I got Gabi teething biscuits. Let me just say OMG, this little girl was so excited. As you can see from at least 3 of the pictures, she really got into it. By the time she finally dropped the thing, there was biscuit everywhere, and I mean that literally. But she loved it. Her brother laughed quite a bit from seeing Gabi so dirty. By the way, a lot of people everywhere always stop us about both Gabi and Sebastian, who is quite the chick magnet let me tell you. Sebastian is really loving the food in Guangzhou, which is wonderful for momma, who was kind of getting scared about the fact that he was only eating white rice. Well, that is over, thank God.
The Garden Hotel is probably the most beautiful hotel we have ever stayed at. It is truly beautiful. Tomorrow we go ot the Safari Park.
p.d. The white haired man with Gabi is Dr. Jerry, the wonderful traveling ped who has been traveling with the group.

Pretty tired, so quick post, but could not let the day go by without saying that Gabriela enjoyed her first plane ride today

We are in GUANZHOU, which in adoption lingo means that we are in the last leg of this wonderful trip. Gabi got on her first plane ride today, and she did great. We also presented her passport for the first time today in order to travel as a family of 4, and let me tell you it felt great.
From what we have seen of Guangzhou the difference between it and Nanchang is pretty big. Nanchang is a poorer province, and tehrefore a bit more limited in its economic resources whereas Guangzhou is a lot more industrialized and you could plainly see that the financial difficulties are a lot less. The Garden Hotel is amazing. We went for mexican food today with a wonderful couple from Boston who are also adopting their son, and are with their almost 5 year old daughter. We had a pretty good time. So long! To sleep!

What happens when you wake up at 5 am in China

I guess my turn has arrived. For days now, Florencio has had trouble sleeping because he wakes up too early, and when I say early, I mean 3 and 4 am. Now it is my turn. I am feeling pretty anxious. In a couple of hours we will be going yet again to the airport, this time to travel to Guangzhou, our last let of this trip, where we will have to sign many more documents and take Gabi to her physical for the visa, and we will have to go to the consulate appointment on September 4. Therefore, today we take Gabi away from her province, and for the first time we will go to the airport and check in as a family of 4. That I still don't understand how it happens, since yesterday we were handed Gabi's Chinese passport, where eventually her visa will be posted, and which she will only use for this trip, since once we reach US soil she becomes a US citizen. Anyway, our guide will be with the three adoptive families, because I for once figure we will have to show and say a bit more than just that Gabi is ours to let them leave Nanchang with us at the airport. Gabi will also be in an airplane for the first time. From what I have heard, understandably a lot of the babies get pretty fuzzy in the airplane. Did not happen with Sebastian, and hoping Gabi will be an exception to the rule. And as always, the proud mamma leaves you with more picutres of her BEAUTIFUL children.
p.d. A la familia en Puerto Rico, se supone que las comunicaciones en Guangzhou sean mucho mejores. es una ciudad mucho mas grande. Ahora mismo el internet esta rapidito porque casi nadie esta despierto, pero yo soy l unica despierta asi que no los puedo llamar porque levanto a Floren y a los chiquitines. Los queremos mucho. Esta todo bien gracias a Dios, pero ya estamos algo preparados de volver a nuestra isla y de volver a la normalidad con gabi y seba. Un abrazo, Ode

Chilling out and FAMILY bonding

We have been really chilling out both yesterday and so far today at the hotel. It has been big family bonding time.
A little bit more about Gabi. It appears that her caretakers really took great care of our Gabi. She is a very happy baby, only cries when she is hungry, tired and falling asleep. She now looks for us when she does not have us in her line of vision, grasps everything, puts everything in her mouth (believe there is some teething going on, and good thing I brought Hylands gel and teething tabltets), eats really well (milk, puffs, congee, fish and chicken soup, rice and some noodles) and loves music. Seriously loves music, and in fact is quite the dancer. She is in love with her brother and looks for him quite a bit. Sebastian is also in awe of his little sister, and in fact sometimes I think he believes he is almost like her dad. She grasps toys and takes them from one hand to the other with no problem, turns from one side to the other really fast, and have seen her a couple of times crawling a bit to get to a toy. Since yesterday, she also gabs the puffs herself and takes them to ger mouth. In short, we believe that she is really moving along. We are totally in love. And as to her personality, she is quite the attention grabber.
Sebastian is going through a bit of a difficult phase. Many changes being thrown at him, and all in all he is taking it all in stride. I think he is a bit jealous, and in fact yesterday and I sometimes feel a big lump in my heart from seeing him trying to make sense of it all, trying to understand that he is not the only baby in our house anymore. Thankfully he loves his sister, and I know it will get a lot better. He is the sweetest boy.
Tomorrow we leave for the last leg of our trip. Flying to Guangzhou, where Gabi will get her physical, and we will have to go to the US Consulate for the last consular appointments prior to leaving for Puerto Rico on September 6.
Therefore,we will leave Nanchang, which is our daughter's province. It makes one sad in the sense that it is where she was born and I know that she will be leaving everything she has known in her short life behind. We have been buying things to give her in the future. We really thank her birth mother, and wish her the best wherever she is. I am sure that your decision was very hard for you. Just know that we will always love your birtth daughter, who will already feel is part of our hearts and could not imagine not being a part of our family. Thanks for this immense gift. We will cherish her always.
p.d. As you can see Gabriela has a bit of a punk do. No matter how you brush her hair it stands up. LOL

A visit to the Pavilion of Tengwang, more office appointments and most important, updated pictures of the kids

Today we began the day with a visit to a store that specializes in porcelain, which is one of the things that Jiangxi is known for. We purchased some gifts as well as some keepsakes for Gabriela to eventually have. Then we visited the notary office, and from there we went to the Pavilion of Tengwang, which is over 1000 years old and has been rebuilt at least 29 times. It is totally precious, and we also were able to witness a beautiful show of dance and some traditional Chinese music. Sebastian loved it because there was also a lake full of fish and a couple of other animals.
Tomorrow we have a free day, which is kind of cool.
The kids are doing great, and Gabriela shows her pretty big personality more and more every day. She is a really happy baby, and pretty much laughs at everyone and everything. She does strawberries, signs bye bye, and already learned how to move the hand as per the Linda Manita Spanish lullaby. She crawled a bit I believe that for the first time today. She is a really bright kid that pretty much notices everything around because to say that she is curious is is an understatement. I believe that Seba and Gabi are alike in many things.

Gabriela is officially our daughter

Today we had to go to the office of Civil Affairs office, where we signed a lot of documents and where we obtained a document known as the Red Book, which means that Ms. Gabi is officially our daughter. We then went to the Public Security office, where Gabi had her picture taken, yet again.
In the meantime Seba had a huge meltdown, HUGE, because it has gotten in his head that he has to do everything for his sister, and he wanted Gabi to sit in his lap. Of course I believe there are other issues involved, namely a huge change in his life and tiredness. For the rest of the day, he was fine. Seba likes to sleep right next to his sister when she is in the crib, and for her to at least lie down next to him for a bit until he falls asleep. The good thing is that he is sincerely happy and excited to have a sister.
p.d.- This is a message for my September FB friends. For some reason I have been unable to post. I ill try again, but wanted to let you know that it has not for lack of trying.

DRUMROLL PLEASE: MEET GABRIELA MERCEDES ANLI

Today was a seriously exciting day. We finally ended up meeting Ms. Gabi around 6:40 pm. Up came our guide Yan, the orphanage director, and 2 of the caretakers. They were very nice people, but the best was watching Gabi for the first time. I will write out more tomorrow because I am still quite overwhelmed, but even the director commented that it was obvious that fate had had a hand in Gabriela being part of our family. She also said that my eyes just looked like Gabriela's, which my husband had also commented upon before. She did not cry, and was smiling almost from the get go. Love her toothy grin with those 2 teeth in her bottom. The ped came later and examined her and found her to be perfectly okay. Sebastian was also the best. He did not want to let go of his sister, and asked me before going to sleep whether he had been a good big brother. He also wanted to sleep right next to the crib. I just love my children. OMG, our family is really complete. We are officially four in our house.
p.d- The picture of the white haired man with us is Dr. Jerry, who is a travelling doctor. He is a wonderful man with a lot of passion for what he does. We were so happy to have him with our group.

This sucks. We are still waiting. Of all the days in the year for the orphanage car to break down, it had to be today. We were called around 40 minutes ago by our guide and she said that the car would not start up, and that therefore Gabi was still at the orphanage, but that she should be here by 6 pm. Sebastian is totally over the top right now, and he asks every other 10 minutes why Gabrielita is still not here.

Faltan 10 minutos para las 3 pm

Estamos en el cuarto esperando porque nos llamen. La verdad es que estamos todos con los nervios de punta. Seba está super emocionado, pero definitivamente "acting up", lo que entiendo que es normal, dado que su vida está a punto de cambiar para siempre. Cada par de minutos pregunta por cuándo llega su hermana. Está de hecho parado en la ventana verificando los carros que dizque que están llegando.  En el video, pueden ver que Seba estaba pendiente de todos los taxis que llegaban, pensando que llegaria ahi su hermana. 

How does it feel to know that in a couple of hours we will get Gabriela

Very emotional.
I feel that if I stop doing things, I will cry.
I cannot believe that after 6 years, it will finally happen. We will get to complete our family.
Gabriela's crib was just delivered to the room, and it is very surreal.

Papa por fin escribe

Hola familia, ya hoy llego el primer dia del resto de nuestras vidas. Son las cinco de la madrugada y no puedo dormir. Hoy nos traen a nuestra chica y estoy con papitis aguda. Es interesante como uno puede querer tanto a alguien que todavia no ha conocido. Bueno parece que mama y seba tampoco pueden dormir; ahi esta seba viendo tom y jerry, y mama preparando algunas cosas. Hija mia quiero que sepas que tienes la mejor mama del mundo, y tambien un hermano mayor lleno de energia y amor para ti. Yo pues, dare todo lo mejor de mi para darte la vida que mereces; nos vemos orita mi amor.

Crazy Day and Less than 24 hours from meeting Gabriela

Today was CRAZY. We left the hotel at 6am. We caught the first flight from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. Arrived there at 9:30 and were supposed to catch second flight at 10:55. However, that never happened. We met 2 other families also adopting from our agency. They were very nice, and one of them had another almost 5 year old.
However, that is when things began to get tricky. Not many people spoke English, we had to take our bags out in order to check them in again. There were a lot of people there. Anyway, we lost our connecting plane. Only 1 of the other families was able to catch the flight. As for us, the airline was able to accomodate us in another airline. We then went through customs and after that, this guy from China Eastern Arlines asked us what time our flight was. He began saying problema, problema, and got us in this car where he pretty much zipped us all through the airport to our gate. He was our angel without whom we would definitely have not made our flight. We were the only non Asian travelers in that flight. We arrived at Nanchang at 2 pm. Since we missed our original flight, our guide was not there when we arrived.
Today we were able to see that we are now in the real real China. It looks a bit like Puerto Rico, at least what we saw from the airport. The climate is also somewhat similar. The only thing is that I am thinking that in Nanchang they definitely not get a lot of Latin people, which is understandable, because we have been stared at quite a bit. Not in a negative way or anything, more like as if we were a curiosity, especially Sebastian, who attracts quite a bit of attention.
When we got to our airport, we met our guide, whose name is Yan. She is very nice, and explained that we will get to meet Ms. Gabriela tomorrow around 3 pm, when she will be brought to our hotel. She told us that the people from the orphanage, especially the director, were very nice. We are now less than 24 hours away. Next time I post, we will be a family of 4. The nerves are definitely there, as well as a lot of anxiety, but there is so much emotion and happiness and feeling as if we have been on this path our whole lives.
Pd Today I saw my first squatty potty. Quite the experience!

Hong Kong Disneyland with Sebastian and Dim Sum for breakfast

Today we woke up kind of disoriented, but ready for to enjoy a day in Hong Kong. We opened up the window of our hotel room and noticed that we had a wonderful view of the 360 cable car that takes people to the biggest Buddah in the world, called interestingly enough the Big Buddah.
We then walked to a really wonderful place called the Federal Palace. We were the only non Oriental people in the restaurant. The food was wonderful. It felt kind of weird to be eating Dim Sim for breakfast, but well, the reality of it is that for us it was strange, but for this people the strange people would have been us if we had ordered bacon and eggs or something like that.
We then went to Disneyland, where Sebastian had a wonderful time. It was very crowded and hot, and after the jet lag yesterday Seba was ready to call it a day at 3:30 pm. By the way, I will say that it is true. Chinese in general do not like to make lines and you really have to watch it if you do not want to lose your spot in line. They are quite inventive. Disney was also mostly filled with Asian people. Never heard anyone utter a single word in Spanish today. Very strange. A lot of people stared at Sebastian and were obviously talking about the cute dark kid who spoke loud. LOL! Probably almost everyone thought we were from Mexico, since he had a Mexico soccer shirt. We did get asked yesterday if we were from India though, which we have been asked plenty in our lives. For some reason when we are far away, no one ever asks if we are from Puerto Rico. I am being sarcastic by the way. Someone today heard that we were from the Caibbean and his eyes bulged like seriously? BTW, he was this wonderful older man in the breakfast dim sim place who helped us not look like we were ignorant. He really helped us out.
We have loved Hong Kong and are sorry that we will not have time to really see a lot of it, but we are happy and so scared of tomorrow taking that final flight to complete our family. Yes, tomorrow we fly to Nanchang, the province where Gabriela is from, Nanchang being the capital of Jiangxi.
p.d Sebastian no longer has a fever. Those are great news.
pd the photo of the bathroom is because believe or not there is transparent glass between the bathroom and the bedroom.