Hangin' out in Guangzhou

Greetings from Guangzhou! It's Keith writing again and I thought I would give Tracy a blogging break and whip up a little ditty to give you the skinny on what's happening in our neck of the woods.

I'm gonna give you a whirlwind tour of life on this side of Gotcha Day. In random order. With no real flow. Just energy and action! Exactly the way our life with THREE kids appears to have become.

Remember how Linus (a la The Peanuts) has his blanket? Well Mia has her sippy cup. That girl goes everywhere with her sippy cup and will not part with it unless it is empty (or there's a cool toy around).

Each morning is extremely cute. She wakes up with this look in her eyes that seems to say, "Okay, I'm still with you weird looking funky talking hairy people," and she stands really still with her back against a wall or piece of furniture and won't move! She definitely needs to warm up to us each day. The good news is she LOVES Tucker and Tate. So as soon as they appear in our room, she starts playing with them.

We've been amazed at how, in just a few days, she is trusting us and doing so great with us. Just think, for her, she is seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling a constant barrage of new things. Yet, she's not crashing from over-stimulation. She just rolls with whatever is happening. She's started waving bye. And we've heard a couple of "uh-ohs" from her when playing with her brothers.

A couple of days ago, I took Tucker and Tate on a hike around Shamian Island. When us boys go out together we call it, "Just the guys!" So we a had a "just the guys" adventure. It was great spending time with my boys, talking about China and having a sister. And listening to them talk about the things THEY wanted to talk about. Priceless. Here are a couple of photos from our walk.



Yesterday we took to the kids to a local park with exercise and play equipment. We got our first glimpse at what a little fireball we now have in our family. Tucker is very cautious and protective. Tate is a ball of fire and energy. Mia hit the playground slides like a pro. That little munchkin would bang it up with the big kids, climb to the tallest slide and JUMP, yes JUMP down the freaking thing. Laughing all the way. Tracy and I both were wide (and wild) eyed.

Here's some photos from our playground adventure.




Today (Friday) was a dreaded day for us. Thanks to the U.S. government, Mia had to have SEVEN shots in order to come home. As I write this, she's not spiked a fever or had any concerning reactions. Yet.

We started today with Mia getting her Visa photo taken.



Then she had her medical exams.



Here she is (with her sippy cup) waiting for her shots.



And here she is back at home (after a LONG nap) playing with her brothers again.



Tonight we ate at a local Cantonese restaurant. No we didn't order insects or snake! But fried cow brain rocks! Just kidding! Tucker has about mastered eating with chopsticks.



And Mia didn't wait for mom to feed her. She shoveled down her rice bowl by herself.



This has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I've never been more proud to be a father. My kids amaze me. And I just keep looking at Tracy (this beautiful woman who held my hand and jumped with me into this crazy life) and I cannot imagine what my life would have been like without her.

This trip has reminded me of what the wise Ferris Bueller said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."