48 Hours with Noah

One can learn a lot about someone is 48 hours. Here's just some of he things we've learned about our little man:

1. Cutest smile
2. Loves to have his belly tickled
3. Know how to shake his head no (we see that a lot)
4. He can crawl (when he thinks no one is looking)
5. Awesome sleeper- sleeps for 12-13 hours a night + a 2 hour nap
6. Hates the hotel room- needs to be out and about looking at things
He actually cries when we walk down the hall to our room
7. His musical drum is his favorite toy
8. Good arm- likes to throw his ball
9. He has a wicked temper
10. Very big set of lungs

That's just a start. There are many many more great things to come.

Noah Li Ming Bower

After checking in we had 10 minutes to turn around and get ourselves in order before we had to meet in the elevator lobby to go do the paperwork and meet our Noah in person! The whole group went together to the conference room and there were all the kids with their caretakers and other staff. It was a bit of chaos and crying while the paperwork began and the children meet new faces (who don't look at all like anyone they knew!) Noah had the shortest trip of the three babies being adopted. His orphanage is an hour and a half away. Noah's doctor, nurse, and caretakers came to meet us. They were very nice and provided us with food, diapers, new clothes, and gifts for the family. We were given an album with pictures of the orphange, staff, his bed, and friends. They also gave us earth from his orphange. Not sure what to do with the earth- afraid to bring it home. ( No need to get arrested on the way back to US.) Fortunately for us there were no tears and Noah came to Mama without any trouble. As long as the sweet potato puffs kept coming he was a happy boy. Noah seems to really like being held by his new MaMa and even managed a few smiles. He has the sweetest smile!!!!! The only tears were when BaBa held him! We did the paperwork and Noah signed too. We went back to our room and tried to have milk and some other things to eat but our little man was beat. Tomorrow some more official details are to be taken care of - after breakfast of course.

Arrival in Fuzhou

The flight was OK, and we landed in Fuzhou without incident. We were very excited to be reunited with Lisa our guide from Nanchang. She was our guide in Nanchang when we adopted Sophie and Avery, and she remembered us. Tracey the guide we were scheduled to have had a conference in Beijing. Lucky for us. We love Lisa. Along with Les in Beijing, its great to see an old friend again. The ride to the hotel was about an hour and the scenery on the way was captivating.


High mountians on one side, the ocean on the other and then as we go further inland is farmland with 2 - 3 story houses of brick construction. I got the feeling though that if there were and earthquake all those buildings would collapse.


There were some very cool bridges - I couldn't get the camera out fast enough in some cases and of course pictures aren't the same as being there and seeing with your own eyes. Fuzhou is also known as hot spring city for local geothermally heated pools and also as Banyan Tree City because the Banyan tree is the official tree and planted all over the city.

Leaving Beijing

Last night there was another, very loud thunderstorm. Except unlike the previous night the storm left no trace and the air and sky were clear and bright with beautiful blue skies and a view all the way to the mountains.

There are cranes everywhere in the Beijing sky, and new buildings and construction everywhere.

Tom, our guide, met us at the hotel and made sure we got to the airport and checked in for the right flight.

Look how ornate this toll booth is!!

Next stop, Fuzhou and Noah!

Noah Update

Who remembers the "Avery face" from her referral picture????? You haven't seen nothing until you've seen the "Noah face". The furrowed brow is quite prominent. He is definately the thinker of our group. Whether playing with his friend Chen Xiao Ge , playing with his toys or taking pictures with his nanny, Noah always has a face on. He is quite cute.

He's gotten a bit bigger since our August report. He is now 23 pounds and 34.5 inches. He is a big boy. He likes noodles, rice, and congee. Fortunately, he is not a picky eater. Best of all, he is mostly potty trained. He only wears a diaper at night. Whoo-hoo!

We fly out soon and will have Noah in a few brief hours. I cam already feel the tears coming.

Learn to count in Chinese

Ok TMS, you've been awfull quiet. let's see if you can learn to count to 10. My corrt spelling for the numbers are packed in my suitcase but here is how ou pronounce the numbers:

one: ee
two: are
three: sun
four: shir (like shirt without the t)
five: oo
six: leo
seven: chee (like cheese without the se)
eight: ba
nine: joe
ten: sure

Would you like to learn some more?

I love you: Wall eye knee
I love you too: Wall ya eye knee
I kiss you: Wall chin chin knee
Thank you: Share share
Pepsi: Bi-sure
Diet Pepsi: oo town bi sure
Don't want it: Boo yow (We said this a lot)

Good luck. I look forward to hearing from you.

Hutong Tour

I think the Hutong Tour is my absolute favorite attraction in Beijing. It transports you right into this old world culture. I told Doug that I felt I was in a movie. It's quite surreal.

Hutong Village is the oldest and most expensive vilage in Beijing. It was built during the Qing Dynasty for the officials to live close by to The Forbidden City. It is great community where everyone knows everyone. There is an old saying,"It is better to have a good neighbor, then a good child." Children go away and get married, but a good neighbor is alwas there when you need them.

In order to take a tour of the vilage we needed to take rickshaw ride. (Pictures will be uploaded tonight.) The rickshaw is pulled by a man riding a bike. The braks on the rickshaw are constructed by a piece of ribbon and one or two water bottles used as weights. The rickshaw behind us rear ended us a number of times... time for a new brake system?????

The village is made up of narrow streets mostly used by bikes and walkers. Unfortunatly with 1000 new cars registered a day, there was a bit of ar traffic. At one point our tour group came to a stand off with a car in a narrow road. There was a lot of yelling and whooping. Eventually the car won and the 7 rickshaws in our group was backing into a teeny tiny alley next to th public potty. It was hilarious! All we could do was laugh at the craziness. Coming out of the alle, it must have looked like a clown car. I could only laugh more.

This attraction is something not to be missed if you ever hav the opportunity to visit Beijing.