Drawing the Blog to a Close

I haven't posted in awhile, mostly due to the fact that I've been  busy  with my new family and settling in comfortably to a new routine.  Partly, I've been deciding what to do with my blog. 

Since we've been home from China, it's like Nevin has been here from day one.  It took him only three nights to turn his cicadian clock around to our time-- sleeping from 8pm to 8:30 am, with an hour nap in the afternoon.  It took about a week for him to stop from panicking if I left the room into another.  It took about one day to be drawn to Heather and Dylan, and Dylan may I add, loves Nevin wholeheartedly.  Heather, well... she does love him, but between Nevin and Heather exists a true sibling rivalry...although they share a bath every night, and she does adore him.  He is more jealous of Heather than Dylan, and I'm currently attempting to curb his biting of his sister when I give her attention.  It seems to be working, despite his objections and sobbing when I do so.

The new routine didn't take long for the entire family to adjust.  What amazes me is how Dylan has taken this entirely different role than I had anticipated!  He has become a responsible little man-- offering to lend a hand, wanting to feed Nevin a bottle, fetching a wipe here and a kleenex there, being a spy and feeding Mummy information.  He has also decided to keep his room clean, and bringing his dirty dishes to the sink-- something I had never imagined. Nevin sees Dylan as a role model and playmate. He sees Heather as a playmate, but competition.

We all love our Nevin, and the grandparents are now able to start their bonding with their new grandson. 

David and I watched the three of our kids in the tub together tonight, and can't believe how long ago China feels.  When we were there, it felt like an eternity to be away from home.  But now, it just feels like another blip in our life line.  

We watched them all stand up in the tub, and I couldn't believe the stretch of Dylan, who will be five in just nine days. I said to David, "Do you remember that little man in the bath seat at the old farm house, having baths all by himself, and how tiny he looked?"  I've just recently put away a pile of clothes that are too small for him, as I did Heather and now Nevin...who is barely squeezing into his 18 month clothes.

Eight years ago, we were uncertain if we could have a family. And here we are,  adoring our three children splashing in the tub.

Which brings me to a encounter yesterday while picking up Nevin's portraits.  The woman who was ringing my order up, looked at Nevin and put two and two together. She asked me, "How long have you had him?"  I wasn't certain how to answer her as I felt a tad bit uncomfortable the question.  I answered politely, " He's been my son for over six weeks now."

She shook her head, and I thought for a moment she was disapproving, but she became slightly emotional and said, "You are a super, super human being for doing what you did." 

I didn't know how to respond.  I thought, "REALLY?"  I said thank you and left but was scratching my head.....

David and I are not super, super human beings for adopting this little man.  Anyone can adopt.  We are not special people, no more special than anyone reading this blog.  It doesn't take a special kind of person to adopt.  There is a place in everyone's heart to open to an orphaned or needy child. You just may never tap into it.  But if you do, there is one orphan in this world who will be happy that you will. 

If anyone is the super, super human being it's Nevin. And Dylan.  And Heather.

And so, I will draw this particular blog to a close.  It was in fact, a travel blog through our adoption journey to Nevin. It was something I wanted to blog for Nevin, particularly. 

I will be starting a new blog, a personal blog on myself, motherhood, and plans for my career after being a stay at home Mom (SAHM).  If you are interested in following along, please leave a comment or email me, and I will add you to my list.

I thank you all for following along this incredible journey.

And now, on with our life.

My first day at the park in my new home town!

HOME AT LAST!

What a journey its been! But I must declare, there's no place like home!

The great wall was wonderful. When we finally made it back to hotel, my pace quickened as I knew this would be our last night in China. 

The three of us slept well-- actually slept in a bit,. Our day began with hearts racing for the big day ahead.  We had breakfast, took a leisurely walk outside.  Walking outside is no walk in the park-- for fear of traffic, and I had enough of the odors emitting from the sewers.  I was yearning for the smell of our farm. We headed back to the hotel to pack.

The day went by quickly as did the wait to board the plane.  I would have lost a hundred dollar bet leaving the runway in Beijing....I didn't cry once.  I was a little teary in the airport mind you, when a young Asian guy was strumming his guitar one aisle over from us. The sound of his guitar (pardon the pun here...) struck a cord in my heart.  I started to sing Leaving On A Jet Plane to Nevin and got a little choked up.

The flight was perfect, as was Nevin.  He was such a good boy, and slept from 9:30 straight through until we had to wake him up to land.  He was so patient, and so sweet.  And I did have a good little cry when we land on the runway at Pearson.  HOME! HOME!HOME!!! I couldn't wait to step off on to Canadian turf!

I welcomed Nevin home and smothered him with kisses.

My Dad met us at the airport, and it was so wonderful to see him. As was introducing him to his new grandson.

We were on the 401 around 8pm and stopped at Tim Hortons.  We let Nevin burn off a little steam as we still had a good hour drive home. He cried almost all the way to Barrie and then fell asleep. Pulling into our driveway held as much excitement as it did leaving for China.  I've never loved my driveway so much.  When I got out of the car at 10:30pm, there was a light mist in the air and it smelled heavenly! I could smell worms in the dewy grass!  What a beautiful aroma, and I took about twenty deep breaths.  My Dad looked at me like I had two heads.  I told him I was just breathing in what I've been missing for weeks.  Beijing could never smell like this.

Nevin never woke up. We brought him in the house and laid him on the couch, figuring he would wake up soon.  There were four ogling grandparents adoring him in the living room. I ran upstairs, stealth silent yet frantically fast, to see my kids. They were both fast asleep and angelic and beautiful and perfect and healthy and looked like they grew while I was gone!  I laid gentle and silent kisses on their entire faces while they slept, smelled their hair and said goodnight.  We had missed them beyond words.

I went back downstairs to see my new son, sawing logs on the couch. Family left shortly after, and we watched over our son as he slept until 2:30 am. Then we played with him, and showed him around the house. He was unsure, and never let go of his Mummy until the children woke up. He cried when our 100 pound German Shepherd, Ace, licked his face.  But now, he's grown quite accustomed to him.

He stayed awake all day. Then went down at 4pm and slept straight through until 4am.  Down for a nap at 11:30 until 3:30 and then down for the night at 8pm.  He has shown incredible resiliency, an outstanding sense of humour, his tender and gentle nature, and his need for comfort, trust and attachment.  At this time, I would say his adjustment has been beyond anything I could have dreamed of. Many people have been saying he is so lucky to have us and what a wonderful life we can give him.  I say, we are so lucky to have Nevin, and what a wonderful life he has given us. The same applies to Dylan and Heather. 

Life, here we go again!!!! What a blessed journey!


Look at me!!! First Class, AND Caillou with my own headset? SWEET!

Some of the Proud Grandparents!!! Shhhh...

The Great Wall, Ya'll!

Watch your step

(a late entry due to internet failure in China)

I have to begin my blog entry by saying that our babies went through so much travelling today, and I give them the credit they deserve being thrown off their schedules.

Our van left with all the families in our travel group for the first time since we've been in Beijing. It was great to have Allison and Tim with their daughter Lily with us today, as they have been cooped up in their hotel room coping with a sick little girl since we arrived back in Beijing. And being first time parents, they are dealing with these challenging issues, in addition to being in a hotel room in very foreign country, with flying colours. I can only imagine how much they wish they were home.

(ONE MORE SLEEP!)

The first leg of our trip lasted about an hour, during which Nevin had a medium-sized melt down from fatigue and most likely fed up from being in the van for an hour....as were all the babies and families. One thing we've learned about Nevin is that he is strong willed. My, oh my! He is going to fit in with his brother and sister...

Our first stop was the Beijing Jade Factory. Our factory guide explained the differences between soft and hard jade, and the variances of colours. I had always believed jade was green. Not purple, yellow and blue. The factory store was enormous and we only had about half an hour to shop. I could't take it all in that amount of time. I felt pressured and being in a group made it that much worse. The jade in this factory was top notch, top graded jade. And it was very expensive. I was actually more interested in the sculptures-- but they were too large and heavy to bring back home. I left the store Jadeless. But was okay with that decision. We are coming home with a new son, and that is the real reason why we were in China. Priceless in comparison to Jade....it is a belief in China that Jade is considered to be priceless....

Then back in the van and off to the great wall, another good leg on our journey, and it seemed the babies took turns at their cry fest-- but could you blame them? At one point, all the parents went into fits of laughter- part because the babies were actually rotating in melt downs and partly absolute exhaustion.

Our guide took us to a more picturesque entrance to the Great Wall (can you imagine a more "picturesque" view ? REALLY?") The benefit to going to this entrance is there are hardly any crowds in comparison to the first. However, the flip side to that statement is the pitch to one section of the wall is literally about 85 degrees. Once we stood at the foot of that particular stair case we decided it was too dangerous to take Nevin. Besides, neither of our knees nor backs would be capable of the journey carrying our new son. So we took turns climbing to the first lookout. When I reached the half way mark of this steep pitch, I actually came down a few steps-- fearing the pitch and the height! I am not normally a person who fears heights, but I did feel a sense of vertigo and the need to lay flat on the ground to save my life. After convincing myself that I am in China, at the Great Wall... just turn around and DO IT! I took a deep breath and hid my line of sight under the brim of my hat and grasped the side rails, and slowly took each step. I was in no rush (except that I needed to be down to let David have his turn and take Nevin...all within 45 minutes to meet our guide and families on the bus....). My legs burned, and I could start to feel the adrenaline rush through me as I realized I was close to the first tower. When I got to the top, and felt safe to look up, my knees started to shake when I saw the view. Of all the pictures I took, none of them could do justice to what my eyes actually saw. The wind picked up and blew a sensational force of wind in my face, I let out a scream (with a smile mind you) and the moment was so profound, that all I could say was "wow" about fifteen times. There was an elderly man sitting behind me on the ledge, having a cigarette, and looking sombre, as if it was his last moment on earth. It is said in China that a man is not a real man until he has walked the Great Wall. It would explain why so many domestic tourists come to the wall. I felt the urge to give him a high five, but just offered him a small nod and he nodded back-- as if to say, "yeah, this is pretty cool..." It was then I realized this would be our last night in China, and felt a little emotional when I thought of Nevin. This would be his last night in his homeland.

Many young Chinese people wanted to take my picture with their groups and spoke to me in their limited English and I attempted to speak to them in my very limited Mandarin. They were very pleased when I spoke to them, and even more so when I held up the peace sign with them....something I've seen all the young Chinese people do in all the pictures they take.

Then I looked up and decided I wanted to go higher, as I thought the view would be more outstanding. And it was. Thoughts of wanting to pack a tent to walk along the thousand or two kilometers of Great Wall. But that would be absolutely impossible as I don't believe my legs would let me.

On the way down, I was as careful as possible...fearing how dead I would be if I tripped. And in that thought, young teenagers were tap dancing down the steps in the middle of stair case....whizzing past me like I was a senior citizen. I got to the bottom where David and Nevin were and we switched turns. As I stood there for about 15-20 minutes I could feel the lactic acid rushing through my legs, and I started to shake. I forgot to mention that I wanted to count the stairs as I went up, but lost count at 36 from the fear.

The weather was so perfect-- the sky was the clearest blue, no smog and we could see the mountains for miles and miles and miles, the wind was cool and the sun was warm. We were disappointed we had such a limited amount of time to enjoy the wondrous scenery.

We loaded on the bus with babies that were beyond their naps, and drove to the Friendship Store for lunch for another traditional Chinese lunch. It was very good. I shopped a little, as it was within a Cloisonne factory. I didn't buy cloisonne, but silk clothing. I made a deal with the manager...as I wasn't sure I could dicker, but she approved of the offer. Nevin was right on the cusp of happy and angry. But he enjoyed playing with the babies while Mummy finished up her transaction.

Back on the bus to meet heavy traffic with tired babies. It is moon festival here in China, and the traffic was insane. We got back to our room just before 5pm and decided that since Nevin didn't have a nap, to keep him up a little and put him down for the night. He went down around 6:30pm after a fun bath and a bottle. Hopefully he'll sleep through the night.

At 8:30, I will meet our guide in the lobby to receive the scroll we ordered by a master artist of Nevin's Chinese name. We also ordered three chops for all our children in their English names, and Chinese names. I asked our guide if she will translate the Memory Book our orphanage made for Nevin and will record it on our DVD Handycam. We have discovered that the orphanage Nevin was from was sponsored by an organization called Half the Sky Foundation-- a very reputable organization that provides funding and essential care for the orphans. We also discovered that we were the only family to receive such documentation, and makes me more excited to hear the content of the book in English.

So tonight, its packing!

Tomorrow, several families are interested in seeing the Olympic Village, but we are going to stick around the hotel for some down time before our big journey back to Canada. There is a shopping centre across the street we haven't been to so we thought we'd do a little shopping.



Nevin, you'll soon be home.

Our gang from Canada, Children's Bridge Families (left to right)
Quin, Paul, Meredith, Scott, Kate, Jennifer, Alex, Me, Nevin, David, Allison holding Lily, and Tim. What a wonderful group of people! 

A Busy Two Days

Yesterday all the babies and parents headed to the SOS International Clinic, right across the street from the Canadian Embassy.  A very clean and westernized looking clinic, open 24 hours, staffed by international doctors-- including a Canadian doctor who went to McGill, looked after our children. Nevin was a very good boy, and was among the very healthy babies adopted in our group.  It was a long wait, but all the babies were very tolerant, and kept busy in the children's play area.  All of the parents were impressed with the clinic.

We headed back to the hotel and put our babies for a nap, and the Mommies went to the super store next door to the hotel to do a little staple shopping.  I bought an extra suitcase to take home the sundries and souvenirs, which cost about $18 CAD, some new shoes for the kids, and a pillow for the plane ride home.  We are flying first class, and the only thing to make the flight nearly perfect would be a nice pillow, especially if I am to sleep with Nevin on the way home.

In the evening, we ventured to a theatre and watched a Chinese Acrobat performance, and the babies were mesmerized. The parents, including David and I really enjoyed the entertainment.  Just before the show, we walked through an art show and marvelled at some of the Chinese paintings.  As we nearing the end of the display, there was a gorgeous painting of three young Chinese boys rough housing in a Chinese garden. Our guide commented on the irony of our three boys, who were standing in front of the picture.  Not only have we been the centre of attention as westerners, we are among the very few families who have adopted boys, which is rare. I wanted to buy it, but it was too big, and at that point in the day, fighting off jet lag and the thought of arranging to have it shipped overwhelmed me a tad. Maybe when we take Nevin back to visit China, I will look for it then.

Today was a little cool and rainy-- not the best weather to visit the Summer Palace, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.  We went through too quickly, and only saw a small portion or the Forbidden City.  My favourite part was walking through the Summer Garden.  It was breath taking, with the most stunning, ancient looking cedar trees, and everything beautifully manicured.  The cobble stone walkways were intricately designed into art themselves. I could have stayed there all day, but it was too cold, and the babies were getting wet and shivery.  If we were here a few more days, I would have gone back.  We just did not have enough time. 

The most fun during the day was being accosted by the street vendors in Tianamen Square.  We all had so much fun being harassed and teased by the vendors, and looking at their tourist trap items for sale. Who doesn't want a Chairman Mao wristwatch?  We did make some purchases, some fun things to take back home, but the most fun was listening to the offers the vendors were pitching at us.

In the evening was our dinner provided as a courtesy by our travel agency here in China.  Our guide and driver took us to a real Peking restaurant, the name translated was The Big Pear Peking Restaurant.  And let me tell you, it was the most delicious Chinese food I have ever had.  The only thing I didn't eat was the scrambled eggs with some sort of shell fish, possibly even eel or octopus.  Not really sure.  But everything looked and smelled wonderful.  And nothing came to the table with a head on it, so that we were all pleased.  It was a good night of laughs and banter with all the families, and the babies did really well.  Nevin had eaten a lot during the day, so he nibbled on his tofu and enjoyed playing with Mummy and Daddy.

Its like we've been Nevin's parents since the day he was born.  Both David and I continue to gain his trust, and he is quite attached to the both of us.  His gigantic belly laugh is a daily occurrence throughout the day, and he generally is a very happy boy. We feel so blessed to have a lovely new son, and cannot wait to take him home on Thursday to finally get settled with his forever family.

Tomorrow its the Great Wall of China and then the Jade Factory, where I am hoping to make a special purchase for ME! I cannot wait until the evening to PACK FOR CANADA!

Goodbye Inner Mongolia

Emotions snuck up on me again yesterday as we prepared for our leg back to Beijing.  Our hearts fluttered when we saw our children on Skype, even more so that the trip to Beijing meant just one more airplane ride back to Canada.  I also had a heavy heart knowing that we would be taking Nevin from home province-- but then again, leaving made him feel more like he was really ours....like coming home from the hospital with a newborn baby.

Traffic was crazy in Hohhot City Centre, but it seemed our driver drove with some caution and kept his speed below the flow of traffic when we hit the highway It was as if he were keeping the safety of the baby in mind.  Not only were we escorted by our guide, we were met at the airport by two of the Nanny's from Nevin's orphanage.  We upgraded our flight back to Beijing to first class for an additional 1250  Yuan, a reasonable amount for the extra space for our son's first flight.  And the Nanny's helped with the translating and ticket exchange. As we were passing through the security check point, Nevin's Nanny began to cry and waved to us.  It struck me profoundly, and I found myself standing in the doorway blowing kisses while fighting back the tears-- and I was losing. I stood there as long as I could, until I couldn't see them anymore....it was like I was in a heart wrenching scene of a movie. 

David came through the carry on baggage-xray and we started to walk to our departure gate.  Then my tears were too hard to fight back, bottom lip quivering, about to have an ugly cry.  I just tried to breathe, and kissed my new son's head and held David's hand.

Our departure was about 40 minutes delayed due to air traffic congestion.  Hummm.... traffic congestion in the sky made me a little nervous. I took the opportunity to change a diaper and feed Nevin the last of the rice cereal I brought from Canada.  He ate the entire package since Monday. Did I mention he likes to eat?

Nevin seemed to enjoy being in the big seats, and didn't fuss a bit during take off.  He looked out the window and watched quietly. As we flew over the breathtaking mountains of Inner Mongolia, Nevin and I sat at the window and waved goodbye to his birth province.  The view was incredible.  Mountains were poking through the tops of the clouds and stretched as far as I could see. I only wished we had the chance to see the country side and grasslands of Inner Mongolia, and to be closer to the mountains.  David wanted to ride full gallop on a horse in the grasslands....maybe he can do that with Nevin when we go back for a homeland visit.

The flight was quick, and smooth-- except for the airplane I saw pass over top of us....hummm traffic congestion in the sky....The flight was almost too quick, and Nevin was remarkable--as if it was just another van ride somewhere.  We touched down just an hour later. But I wished we could've just kept going to Canada.  

Another family from our travel group arrived just 15 minutes after us and their baby was sick.  He had been throwing up for over 24 hours. And then we learned that another family from our group took their baby to the hospital and had been on IV fluids with a bronchial infection.  I felt badly for them, and lucky at the same time. Nevin is as strong as an ox, and healthy (knock on wood).

And on to the new hotel.  A lovely hotel, but the travel company cut corners again and put us in the small rooms.  Our other family couldn't even put the cot in the room for their older daughter.  It was late in the day, we were all hungry and decided to deal with it the next day.

This morning I was up just before 5 am.  Still turned around from jet lag.  Showered, Skyped and ready for breakfast before 7am.  Breakfast was more westernized here in Beijing, so there were more familiar offerings.  The dining room was beginning to fill up with families from all over the world with their new babies, most of them girls.  It seems that our families were the only ones who adopted boys.

Our trip to the Great Wall was postponed, as half of our group had sick babies, and one family were on their way back to the clinic to have their baby checked for pneumonia. So David and I took Nevin next door to a giant supermarket.  We stood like two dummies not knowing where to enter, and not entirely sure we were allowed to go in. It almost looked like a Costco idea....like a membership store.  But once we were in we enjoyed looking at all the Asian products, spirits etc.  We picked up a bottle of wine, and NEW CASTLE BROWN if you can believe it, some rice cereal, milk and some little crackers that nearly burned our face off! We had the very same type of cracker the night before, but of course, can't read Chinese. David and I took a couple, casually eating them while we were chatting--  and at the same time, our eyes popped from our heads, desperately trying to find something to drink. They were so hot! We laughed insanely for about 20 minutes.

So the afternoon agenda was changed to a trip to the Silk Market.  Oh My God!  You've never seen anything so crazy.  Five floors of booths filled with anything you wanted to buy. The sales people were very aggressive, actually touching me and grabbing my arm.  One even tried to take Nevin from me when he was fussy.  Don't touch my baby!  Nevin did well, and fell asleep in Daddy's arms.  I bought a few pieces of traditional Chinese pj's for the kids, and other trinkets, and some beautiful wall scrolls in Chinese calligraphy and art work.   We ended up in the middle of a small brawl when a local attacked one of the sales girls.  He was a big guy and I got bumped in the arm by the hooligan.  I was more concerned about Nevin but he was fine.

We headed back to the hotel with plenty of  bags, tired and hungry. My head was spinning a bit from the jet lag.  We ordered room service, which was very good, and then it was about an hour of paperwork in the hallway with our guide.

Tomorrow its off to Immigration at the Embassy for Nevin's medical.  We are there from 8:30 until noon, as there are many other families attending as well.  In the evening, we have tickets to attend the Chinese Acrobats, which is said to be marvelous.  I can't remember what else is going on this week, as all I am looking forward to is seeing the wall, and packing to head home. I miss Dylan and Heather tremendously.

A Little Home Sick

The three of us slept in and realized we were late in our blog time to see the kids.  In a panic we logged on to see our silly twerps perform in front of the computer camera, pulling faces and delivering anecdotes in a manner only little children can.  Both David and I are truly grateful for Skype, and its helped tremendously in times when we miss them badly.  And Nevin is enjoying seeing family as well, reaching for the screen, pointing waving.  Its also getting him used to some new sounding voices.  He enjoys seeing the kids, and getting accustomed to his grandparents.

Breakfast was a long, leisurely meal as we hadn't and tours planned. We did roam the streets in the Muslim populated area and took some interesting contrast pictures-- ie: Kentucky Fried Chicken with a Mosque-like building in the background.  We decided to enter a low end shopping centre to see if we could find Nevin a new pair of shoes, as the ones he was wearing from the orphanage were a little tight.  Way up on the fourth floor we found a shoe dealer and he fitted Nevin with a pair of cool led-flashing-lights shoes.  We haggled a bit with him, but he was still smiling after we bargained so we know we didn't pay his bottom dollar.  In the end it cost us about $6 for a pair of shoes.  Its a strange concept that I was unaware of-- bargaining in nearly every shop.  I learned that lesson too late in a tea house on the street when I purchased a tea set for Heather.  The price was on the box and I gave him the store owner the money and he looked at me like I had two heads. I was confused, and didn't realize he was waiting for me to haggle with him.  Then he shot me a big smile and laughed all the way to the back of the store to get me my change.  Obviously, I paid his top dollar.  When I realized what happened the deal was already made.  And really, for a few extra measly dollars, I made this guy's day. Kind of like the taxi drivers when you insist they keep the change, they just cannot fathom why we would pay more than what it costs.  I tell my guide that in North America, it is customary to offer a tip when we feel the service provided is above normal.  And in my books, here in China, if the driver gets me to my destination alive and unscathed, I will give him a tip!  At least now we are trained to haggle when we go to Beijing today.

As we were leaving the shopping centre, a fabric store caught my eye and I went up the stairs and left David and Nevin for a moment.  The stairs were high and we didn't want to carry Nevin up in the stroller.  I looked around and was met with kind smiles.  When I headed back to the stair case David was being surrounded by curious locals.  I had remembered in the morning to bring a piece of paper provided by our adoption agency with Mandarin phrases written in Pinyin and in Chinese characters.  So at least we could offer the phrases we knew how to speak and when we realized our pronunciation was poor and the locals were struggling to understand, we could point to the Chinese characters for them to read.  They were all delighted to learn we adopted Nevin and we were his new parents.  David said they literally gave him the thumbs up.  When I came back, Nevin was uncomfortable with the crowd we had drawn and began to fuss and reached for me.  I lifted him up, with everyone watching, and put him in my sling and he hugged and snuggled into my chest.  The curious crowd reacted like I pulled a rabbit out of my hat.  We said goodbye and we were off.  Within minutes, Nevin fell asleep.

During our venturing, we headed down another back street-- there are some neat little stores in those back streets and we felt fairly safe.  It was a dead end but there was a Christian church back there!  A woman came out of the door a greeted us with a big friendly welcome in Chinese.  I wonder if she thought we were coming to visit the church or maybe have an offering of some sort, but we were simply curious travellers.  I thought it best we didn't go inside without our guide, so with a friendly goodbye in Mandarin and letting them know we were from Canada (again the rabbit out of the hat reaction...) we decided to be on our way.  We enjoyed looking in the windows of the stores on the way back to the hotel.  Beautiful bakeries, many scooter and bike stores....and then it hit us.  We couldn't wait to get back to our room to pack for Beijing.  Although we still have some other sights to see and the real shopping is yet to come, we both have had our taste of the Inner Mongolian culture (although I still would have enjoyed to see the grasslands and witness how life is out there...that is the true Inner Mongolian culture).  I am growing a little tired of the food in our hotel.  Now we could venture out to eat, but having Nevin with us, and drawing a crowd like we were Brangelina, we chose to mellow in the comfort of our hotel.  And we both crave to smell the air of Canada, even Toronto wouldn't be so bad right now!

So today is a big day for Nevin-- he is leaving his home province, only a small part in his great journey to his new home. We should be in Beijing just after 2 pm China time.  Our agency has switched our hotel when we return, so it will be a fresh start to the last leg of our China journey.  The restaurant offers a wide variety of cuisine, including Szechuan, so it should be a culinary adventure.

Good bye, Inner Mongolia! We'll be back one day.

Shopping

(As I write this blog, David is giving Nevin his bath, with me out of sight. Big step!)

Nevin woke up cuddly and snugly with Mummy as we Skyped our family. He enjoyed some bottle and off to breakfast we went.  He ate all of his green bean con gee and whatever else I put in his mouth.  Not once has he turned his nose up on anything I have given him.

Barbara, our guide, met us in the lobby with our driver and off we went to SHOP!  She brought us to the Inner Mongolian Mengsheng Cashmere Products Mill-- where all of the products are made by hand. They even have a food processing plant.  We had a tour of the factory and met some of the factory workers-- mostly women.  They were very friendly and were paying much of their attention to Nevin, offering smiles, coos and compliments.  The factory produces many of the products representing the culture of the Inner Mongolian people.  Surprisingly, both David and I have found the culture to be similar to our natives in the prairies.  We bought jewelry, clothing, and a few traditional keepsakes David and I picked for Nevin's treasure box.

After touring the main factory we toured the grocery outlet.  Now I must declare at this time that neither David nor I have felt the ill effects of weird food or bacterial mysteries-- without thinking I had a cocktail with ice cubes...no problem, and I have wet my toothbrush nearly every time with the tap water and I have not died. So, when there were samples of the Hohhot cheese, comprised of mutton and goat milk, we decided to be daring and stand on the ledge of digestive recklessness.  It was a lovely tasting cheese, a little sweet and salty and the texture was very dry.  One sample was brown, and I was deeply curious why. Apparently it was mixed with chocolate of all things.  It was actually quite lovely.  I chose not to buy a package as I could not be sure it was pasteurized, and I wasn't sure if my iron gut would be so iron-like had it been infected with listeria. I had Barbara translate all the other foods that I could not identify-- plant or animal?  We really felt like we were in a different world....

I did come away with several purchases, one of them being a popular drink they refer to as tea milk.  Its comparable to our Chi latte but only milder and sort of ovalteen like, but not so geriatric tasting. I think it might be nice cold.

Nevin fell fast asleep in my arms in the van, and we put him down in his crib when we got back to our room.  He slept soundly for two hours, and when he woke, he reached for me and fell asleep on my chest for another 15 minutes.  Then, the wild child awoke from within and he played like he was our son his entire life.  His delightful, deep belly laugh erupted when David tickled his tummy-- I managed to capture that laugh on video.  He played and played and sought David's attention for two solid hours.  He came to me in between to be picked up, but always went back to David.  It was assuring that he allowed his Daddy to feed him a bottle, and they hung out on the bed together like two old pals watching television.

I'm sure it won't take long to fall asleep tonight after being so active all afternoon.

Tomorrow is a free day for us, nothing planned.  The weather is very windy, rainy and cool. So everything will depend on the weather. If we end up staying in, I may go to the spa on the third floor for a back massage while Nevin has a nap.  Dude!  He's 33 pounds!  So glad he loves his stroller as it has given my back some rest.  In fact, he loves it so much, he white knuckles the safety bar with a death grip when the wait staff brings the high chair. He's eaten his last three meals in his stroller, right next to his Mummy.

And now, the count down is on for Canada!  Seven more days! Yay!  Can't wait to squeeze my kids, smell their skin and hair, and hear their voices.  My little goofy cherubs....I think Nevin is going to fit in with them just fine.