Hello From Guangzhou

Hello from Guangzhou!  We had an easy flight today from Nanchang to Guangzhou and now all the girls are nestled in their beds and we are not far behind.  Isabelle did well on her first flight.  She was a bit of a wild woman, however.  She hadn't had a lot of play time today and she was restless.  Fortunately it was a short flight and she sacked out on the bus ride to the hotel.  We are glad to be on this part of the trip.  The area where we are staying is much quieter and calmer than Nanchang, and we look forward to being out and strolling a bit.  We are in Guangzhou because this is where the American Consulate is located, and we will get Isabelle's visa here.  Tomorrow she has her medical exam for the visa, and then we have our consulate appointment on Tuesday, and  fly home on Wednesday.  Hard to believe we will finally be bringing her home!   Isabelle's personality is really starting to come out.  I think she is feeling better, and more comfortable with us.  Last night we went for a Chinese dinner and our guide ordered steamed egg (custard with salt and soy sauce in place of sugar and vanilla) and rice noodles for the babies.  Isabelle inhaled the steamed egg.  I have already asked for the recipe.  I was going to cut the noodles up for her, like I had at the hotel, but there were no knives…only chopsticks.  So, I just folded one of the long noodles in half and put it up to her mouth.  She sucked that noodle in so fast she almost got my finger with it.  Clearly she had had noodles before.  Well, somehow that whole experience renewed her hope in our ability to care for her, and today she is like a different child.  She's chowing down at every meal (loving the long, slurpy noodles!), smiling and flirting more, and showing a determined spirit.  She even started pulling up on her own today.  I was a happy mommy because after a day of no eye contact with me, today she can't get enough of me.  I must have passed some sort of test, because she was hugging and loving on me all day.  Yippee!!!   Tomorrow we will start exploring Guangzhou and do some shopping after the medical exams.  We are also rejoining the 5 other families that we were with in Beijing, so we are looking forward to meeting their daughters.