Visit with Grandma

Grandma Scott, Aunt Patty and John came down for a visit on Sunday.
Margaret took to them pretty much right away, grandma was very happy:)
We are having sleep problems which are to be expected but are still
very difficult. Margaret cries frequently in the night and it wakes
Lillian. Debating whether to move Lillian back down to her old room
until Margaret gets better adjusted. Just worried about Lillian's
sleep, she has school and I don't want her too tired. I'm getting
about 4 hours a night and the rest is disrupted or not at all. I have
a problem, when I wake up, my brain kicks in to overdrive and I can't
get back to sleep. Well, off to bed. Big day tomorrow, Margaret's
going to Children's for her overall check-up at the International
Adoption Clinic. It's a four hour appt and she really doesn't like
doctors. Anyone want to trade places? LOL

Clocks turned

The clocks have turned and they slept until 7am this morning. YEAH! Lillian is off to school, Joe to work, and me to the home routine. Margaret finally went down for a nap and I'm going to take one, too:)

We're home

We made it home in great shape. We were lucky and the kids slept some
on the flights, no one was sick or had blocked ears. We were a little
late getting home last night but it wasn't too bad. Got the kids down
at 1AM and they were up at 5AM, that hurt! Made breakfast, started the
mountains of laundry, went grocery shopping, and had a walk all before
11am. Made lunch and went back down at 1230. Woke them up at 4, it
wasn't pretty. Gave baths, which was fun and stopped the crying, got
dinner going and now they are down again at 9:30. Let's hope it's for
the night. Thanks to all that kept in touch the long time we were
gone, we are soooooo happy to be home.

Last blog until we are home

Ok, this is the last blog home. We have a 7am pick-up tomorrow
morning. We fly to Beijing, sit for 3 hours, fly to Chicago(12hr
flight), sit for 2.5hrs, and then finally a flight home to Cincinnati.
We leave at 7pm Thursday night Cincinnati time and land 9pm Friday
night. Just pray that it goes as planned, no one has blocked ears and
no one is throwing up,

Oath today

Today we take our oath at the American Consulate for our children. I
can't remember exactly what we are swearing to but they will remind us
once we get there:) Hit the bottom yesterday but we are back up again
today. Think the weather helps, it was pouring yesterday and we were
cooped up inside. We did go to the White Swan Hotel(we stayed there
with Lillian) and swam with some friends. They have a very beautiful
pool with a waterfall in it. Yes, it was pouring but you're wet
anyway, right?! Today is sunny and nice and we all feel better. Some
of our group are going home tomorrow, lucky dogs, and the rest of us
on Friday. One person doesn't get to leave until Saturday! It's all
about consulate appt and when they can be scheduled. It's been a good
trip with the people we have met and our experiences here in China.
I'll be ready to bring them back in 5 years for their Heritage tour.
By then the 'pain' of 'labor' will be a distant memory. LOL

Bad Mood

Ok, we're hitting bottom, we are so over being here and living in this
hotel room. The sibling rivalry is up and running. A 5yr old is
regressing to a 2yr old and a 2yr old is doing alot of testing. I need
a pitcher of Cancun's margarita's!! Joe is so bored that he's checking
on work stuff and I'm wondering how I can run away. LOL:) Joe said one
family is leaving on Thur and I want to know how that happened! I'm
ready to pay the extra fees to get the Hell out of here a day early.
Lillian is going to swim later today with Callie, the friend she met
in Beijing. At least one of us will be happy for a while:) Maybe some
pics later.

Temple and Arts and Craft Museum

This morning we went to a Buddhist temple and an Arts and Crafts
museum. We have been to the temple before with Lillian and had her
blessed, we did the same with Margaret today. The temple is 1400 years
old and is a very interesting place. Afterward, we stopped by another
temple that was only a 100 yrs old and attached to it was an Arts and
Craft museum. The museum was also very interesting because it showed
the daily life of the local people, had many old items from homes that
had been destroyed to build apartment buildings. It's hard to explain
just how many people live in the Eastern part of China without
actually seeing it in person. So many old, beautiful homes are torn
down to