Family Fun

Had a nice evening with family and friends. Tanith playing with her cousins for the first time was fun to watch. We are still the walking dead. Recovering from the time difference is not easy. Now we are off to LAX to pick up Rafa's mom.

Home Sweet Home!

Glad to report that we are now home. The flight was delayed almost 2 hours out of China but most importantly we arrived home safely. My parents and aunt/uncle greeted us at the airport and the Dudley's  decorated the front door with balloons and a sign for Tanith. We are now trying to stay awake as long as possible as we have not slept since we arrived home around 11pm yesterday so as you can imagine  we are tired and not sure how long it is going to take to adjust. Tanith's adjustment will be the biggest. She was okay with the dogs last night so we will see how she reacts after her nap. Will post more photos as soon as we have time to upload them.

Going Home...we hope!

Today in China it is Wed, July 28th and we are scheduled to leave China this evening. It has been raining extremely hard all day and we hope that this will not delay are return home. Keep positive thoughts that we will depart today as we really want to go home. A very special thank you to our family, the Dudley clan and Alex for taking care of the house and our much loved pets...we are truly blessed to have you all in our lives. Hope to see you all soon. Ralph, Iris and Tanith.

Two more days to go!

It is hard to believe that we have two more days to go until we return home. We have been out and about with the other last remaining couple seeing the area, taking the subway to a lot of interesting places and just looking forward for tomorrow when we take the Oath and Tanith becomes a US citizen (well it will be effective as soon as we land in LAX). Tanith is already saying mama and dada and is now walking around with the assistance of furniture and is a stealth scooter...she moves around on her bottom all over the place and is very fast. It is amazing to see how fast she is picking up on things. She is very energetic which is going to make the long plane trip home very interesting. Nothing else to report and will try to post one more time before we leave.

Farewell Party

Yesturday we visited a Buddhist Temple to bless the babies and spent a little while walking around despite all the rain. Later that evening we meet at Super K's a Karaoke dinner place for a farewell party for the families who get to return home tomorrow (4 of the 6 families). We had such a good time with the group signing and dancing that we were all bummed when we had do leave that we carried the party over to Boca for some wine and more food. Tanith loved all the music and dancing and we have a little party girl who made it until after 11pm before hitting the wall :). Today, Thursday we had a farewell lunch for the families who will be leaving for the airport at 4pm and then we will have the rest of the night on our own to relax. Not sure what we will be doing the rest of the time we are here, but will be so happy if I do not need to eat anymore Chinese food...probably not going to happen.

Another day again in China

Tuesday was a very busy day for us. Due to all the construction (which is massive) in the surrounding area the street has a weekly black out, so 8am the power was out and was not expected to return until after 5pm. So we left the hotel and headed to the Guangdong Museum to spend a few hours to learn a little history and keep cool. Our next stop was lunch and we headed for the Grand View Mall to eat at a place called the Las Vegas Buffett. I wish I took pictures inside but forgot. My lunch consisted of french fires, spring rolls, pasta and ice cream. All I can say about the food is that I was not that adventurous as the rest of the group. After lunch we walked around the mall, which is the biggest mall I have ever seen. I do not even think we made it through half of it before heading back to the hotel. Got to experience the mad dash of people walking through the streets as we walked back (someone I know called it Human Frogger and she was right). We had enough time to freshen up (still no electricity) before going on a dinner boat ride on the Pearl River. Had a lot of fun and I know it is because of the group of people we are with. As usual the food provided was not my cup of tea. Needless to say, I am missing the little things like my flat iron, nice weather, good all american food and just home itself. I cannot believe we still have one more week to go. Most of our group will be leaving on Friday and the rest of us the following week. Now it is Wednesday and we had a free day so we walked to the mall to check out more stores and we are now just chilling in our room waiting to go to dinner. It has been raining like crazy here today. As we left the mail it was coming down so hard that we looked at each other and thought how are we going to get back without getting drenched, so of course we buy umbrellas (which if we were smart enough would have brought the free ones that they provide us at the hotel) and as soon as we leave the mall it stops raining...go figure. Not sure what we are doing Thursday, but I think we are having a farewell dinner for the families that are leaving and may visit another temple to bless the children.

Medical Check Up Completed

Last night was our Pizza party and we were named the Drinking Group (go figure). We all tried the Chinese Rice Wine (which is not wine, it is more like gasoline) and I may have had too much and was sick that night. I blame Martin one of the organizers for that. Tanith also went swimming for the first time with her daddy and had a lot of fun. Today was a hard day for little Tanith as she had to endure a medical check up which included 5 shots. It was so hard to see her cry but she recovered quickly from the ordeal thanks to a simple lollipop. As of today she is weighing in at 20 lbs. and 29 inches long

Back in Guangzhou

Had a fairly lazy day today. Only some paperwork and a Pizza Party. We are all doing well. Tanith and daddy are taking a nap giving me an opportunity to update the blog. Rained really hard last night which I think helps with the humidity...still hot but not as sticky. We found a non-Chinese food at a restaurant near the hotel called Boca which had really good food, yeah! I cannot remember what I wrote last time but in case I did not mention it, the plane ride was amazingly seamless. Tanith slept through most of it but we anticipate that the long flight home may be more challenging. Really not much to report today, but tomorrow I think is her medical check up and I will let you know how that goes. Poor baby girl is going to need a number of shots and I think it is going to hurt me more than it hurts her.

More Nanchang Sightseeing

So today is our last night in Nanchang before our return flight to Guangzhou. Today we visited the famous Yellow Crane Tower which had wonderful panoramic views of the Yangtze River. It was interesting as we had a lot of the locals wanting to take pictures with us crazy looking Westerners. Nanchang is a great place which is a mix of old and new and is also famous for many things, one being porcelain. I am glad we had a small window of time to shop the porcelain stores today and we purchased some things for Tanith to enjoy when she is older. It was a nice hot day and as you will see in most pictures not hair friendly for me. Tonight we will be meeting the group for dinner to celebrate our time in Nanchang and I am guessing we are having spicy Chinese food :). Tomorrow will be interesting as all the babies will be going on an airplane for the first time and I will update you on how that goes tomorrow. It is a little sad to think that tonight is the last night we will be spending time in her birthplace, but we hope to return one day to show her what a great place she comes from. So now it has been almost one week in China and 1.5 to go :)

Checking In from China

All is going well in China. Tanith is such a great baby. She loves her bath time and will eat about anything we give her. For the last few days we have been sightseeing and having a good time. We have been visiting some parks and eating at real nice restaurants (I am sticking to the rice and vegetables and Rafa is trying all sorts of things). Tonight a few of us will go out on our own and try some of the local food near the hotel. I think tomorrow we have some more paperwork to complete, but not really sure. They just tell us what time to meet in the lobby and off we go, which is nice that we do not need to worry about anything.

Its Official

Today, Tuesday July 13 Tanith officially became our daughter. This week we will also be getting her passport, birth certificate and adoption certificate. We are currently staying at the Jin Feng Hotel (aka the Baby Hotel) in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China. It is a busy area and hope to see more of it tomorrow. Today after the officiating the adoption we went to Walmart and did some shopping and will be meeting everyone for dinner soon in the hotel. The weather is extremely humid (today reminded me of Costa Rica when it has been really hot) and the traffic here is interesting. It is craziness everywhere, but it seems to work...I think. We have meet such wonderful people here in China and everyone in our group. We are a small group so we have had the opportunity to really get to know everyone. Here is a picture of the official document ( I hope it posts) saying that Tanith is now a Quesada :)

Gotcha Day!

Today, Monday July 12th was our official Gotcha Day! This is the day we officially were introduced to our daughter. She is amazing, happy and cannot keep her eyes off of her daddy. It is amazing that it has been almost five years since we started this process and as you will see it was worth it. For now here are a few pictures.

Dim Sum Brunch-Sunday, July 11, 2010

Yesturday we had a great time meeting the rest of the couples. We are a small group of 6 families and come from California, Texas and Florida. We ate at a famous Dim sum restaurant called Sky No. 1 which was beautiful inside and had an amazing view. Dim sum is the Cantonese term for a type of Chinese dish that involves small individual portions of food. I will admit that I did not try most of it (shocking, huh) but Rafa seemed to really enjoy experimenting with all the food. After lunch we toured around Guangzhou before heading back to the Ascott appartments. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow (actually today, as it is midnight is officially Gatcha Day, July 12th and I cannot sleep. We will meet the group at 5am (we will be up at 2:30am to watch the World Cup) for breakfast and then we are off to the airport at 6am.  We should have baby Tanith in our arms around 10am....I would lie if I did not say I am soooooo anxious, nervous and the list goes on (that's why I cannot sleep, plus the time difference does not help either). We have waited so long for this day and now that it is here I am a crazy mess.  Will right more later today...I need to go back to bed and try and sleep.  I hope these updates are posting okay as I cannot check, so hugs and kisses, Iris.

Picture of us at the Pearl River

We Made It!

We made to China and will be meeting Tanith tomorrow. I do not have pictures yet but will post some soon.
China is extremely hot and humid as we thought it was going to be, but did not realize how bad until we got off of the plane. Thank goodness the bus was air conditioned. The China Team is taking really good care of us and look forward to getting to know the other couples better over lunch. So far everything is going great and look forward to updating the blog with pictures tomorrow.

At the airport...China here we come.

Sent from I Quesada's iPhone

Travel Day is Fast Approaching

Getting ready for the trip is more challenging than I thought it would be.  Friday is fast approaching and I need to make sure all of Tanith's stuff fits (not shown are 100 diapers and wipes) and what Rafa and I both need to bring. My goal is two have only two suit cases and two carry-on's. The scary thing is that I still have more shopping to do.

Happy Birthday Tanith!

Sending many hugs and kisses to China for our baby girl. Tanith turns ONE today! Wishing we could be there with her on this special day.

Happy Birthday baby girl. We Love You!

 生日快樂
  Chinese Pinyin: sàangyaht faailohk