Bulldog Day

Saturday was Bulldog Day at Longji's school. Avry, my niece, came with us and we had a fun time with the kids. Yiqun was taking it all in. She got a heart painted on her face and she was so excited. Longji got a lightning bolt on his hand and Avry a bulldog.









This next week is our last week at home. At least for two months and then we are out for summer. We have four visits to various doctors and hopefully finishing the enrollment process for Yiqun to start school. Not sure how she is going to do, but we will find out.

Proud Mama!

So proud of Longji tonight. He tested for his yellow belt in front of the entire class and passed. He was nervous and so excited at the same time. I left early and John took over so I missed the test, but he had a huge smile on his face when he got home. He insisted on showing me all of his "moves" so I could completely understand what his test was like. Let's just hope he doesn't use any of these kung fu tactics on Yiqun...they do have their moments.

Spring Break

Over spring break we took Yiqun for her lab workup. Unfortunately, they needed so much blood that she had to make two trips. We did get a call regarding the first round of tests and everything looks good so far. All doctor visits are scheduled so we will hopefully have more of a medical history here in the next couple of months.

Last week we took the kids to a couple of parks. It takes Yiqun a little while to warm up and then when she is ready she is all over the place. She and Longji had a good time. We also took some bluebonnet pictures this year. We didn't have a chance last year and we couldn't resist with all of the pretty flowers that are blooming everywhere.















We took Yiqun for her first haircut here in America. We only cut maybe two inches to even out her layers. She didn't want to go, but she did fine once we were there.




This week we have our first post-adoption visit with our social worker and we will make a trip to Yiqun's school. She will start April 2nd. We did start working on basic letters and number activities. She is going to be a busy little bee the next two weeks between school work at home and doctor visits.

We did buy a rice cooker since typically half of our family is Asian. The kids picked out their own chopsticks in China so we started using these last week. We were pretty impressed with our first rice cooker meal.





These are pictures of the kids playing with the play-doh and Jordyn and Yiqun decorating the front driveway.

Update

Things are fantastic at the Laymon household! Yiqun slept through the night last night without coming into our room. Yay! John and I are still waking up throughout the night, but we are sleeping more every night. Longji went back to school and he was excited to see his friends. He is very tired and a bit cranky in the evenings, but I am sure he is still recovering from the trip. Today is the first day Yiqun hasn't run around the house screaming at the dogs. She usually leaps from furniture to furniture trying to avoid the dogs. Today she is actually walking by them and even attempted to pet one of them. Baby steps, right? This is good considering Ginger has had a few seizures this week and when we took her to the vet she said it is because of stress. Leaving for two weeks and returning with a screaming child who will have nothing to do with the dogs has really stressed them out. The vet gave her a Valium yesterday so she was bumping into things all over the house. Hopefully this will improve soon.

The pictures here are of Longji and Yiqun playing one morning with a Simon Says game and puzzles. Yiqun loves to do puzzles and she is fast with them. In one of the pictures she is wearing her pajamas and brushing her teeth before bed. She just got out of the bathtub and put this red headband in that she just had to have at Old Navy. She insists on wearing it everyday, but I explained to her with my Chinese translation app that it doesn't match her pink clothes which she insists on wearing. She is too funny.

We met my brother, Jeff, and my parents for breakfast this morning. I made Jeff take a picture with my mom and Yiqun.

Tomorrow is her first doctor's appointment with her pediatrician. We waited a little longer before taking Longji, but Yiqun does have some medical concerns and we do not want to waste any time. Her pediatrician is very conservative so we have an idea of the tests that she has ahead of her. Longji is already a little protective with her and shots. He won't admit it, but I think he is beginning to like her. He is not quite there with the "love" word, but we will get there. Baby steps, right?

We are home!

Sorry I haven't posted any sooner. Between airports and airplanes we spent 24 hours traveling to get home. Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got here and are all still recovering. Yiqun is doing fantastic. She had two really good nights of rest; however, last night she didn't sleep past midnight. She went to bed just fine, but woke up at 12:00am and never went back to sleep. I stayed up with her so I am definitely feeling it today. We are hoping tonight is a better night than last. She loves her room and she opened all of her Christmas and birthday presents. We did take her shopping yesterday for shoes and clothes. She definitely knows what she likes and is not afraid to tell us. She really doesn't like the dogs at all. She walks around the house with a toy baby stroller to guard herself from them. I have video from our homecoming, but no pictures yet. I will post these as soon as I can.

Below are pictures from the train station. We had to catch a train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, spend the night in Hong Kong and then take our flight to San Francisco. John took a picture of the toilet so everyone can understand what it's like.




These are from our layover in San Francisco. The kids kept themselves busy coloring and drawing.



This is breakfast yesterday morning. Yiqun is getting pretty selective with her meals so we are stuck on bananas, boiled eggs and noodles right now. In China she ate anything and everything for the first few days. Longji did the same thing. I guess she is getting more comfortable so she is actually making decisions on what she likes and dislikes.




Tonight I painted her toenails for the first time. That was an experience...
She picked blue for her toes and pink (of course) for her fingers. Try explaining to a seven year old who speaks Chinese only to stop moving and be still. It is impossible!

Consulate Appointment and Red Couch

This morning was our consulate appointment and oath ceremony. You are not allowed to take cameras in so there are no photos to show anyone. We were back at the hotel at 10:00am so we went to breakfast and then caught the bus back to the island to pick up our laundry and hang out. Longji took a picture with a gentleman named Michael. He owns one of the shops on the island and he remembered us from the last trip. We ate a snack at Lucy's and took a picture of Longji next to the motorcycle picture. He pointed to this picture and said "motorcycle" during our first meal with him two years ago. Since we are not at the White Swan Hotel where the famous red couch is there is no group or family photo opportunity set up by our agency; however, we did make a stop by the red couch and took some of our own photos. We didn't make Yiqun wear her silk dress because it is just too cold. She did have a mini meltdown earlier and we actually saw some tears. This is really the first time she has cried while she has been with us. Right now she is napping and Longji is playing with his Nintendo DS. We are eating dinner later with some other families and then tonight we begin the packing. Tomorrow is our train to Hong Kong and then we head home on Friday! I can't wait to be home again. I miss my family, my dogs, my bed and my American food.

Asian Games

Yesterday was a warmer day outside and much more tolerable. Our guide took us to the area that was built or put together specifically in 2010 for the Asian Games. It was a neat place to visit. There was some type of ceremony going on that we came across so we took some pictures of the different dancers. The architecture is beautiful. We did spend the afternoon back on the Shamian Island for some shopping. We have picked up a couple of little things for Yiqun, but also some pearls and a tea set for her wedding...many years from now of course. We stumbled upon a wedding photo shoot on the island yesterday and Yiqun told our guide Kelly that she wanted to marry Longji one day. He said, "no way, that's disgusting." It was funny. They have some sweet moments and then they are enemies within minutes.