Sophia is doing very well (still coughing though). She is drinking her formula and eating other baby food. We weighed her, and it appears that she is about 18.5 pounds! We are glad she is putting some weight into her little body.

Assen rode his bike on a trail and we walked and pushed Sophia on her stroller. It was a windy Sunday in IC. We are all sick with a cold. Hopefully, we will get better soon at the same time. Sophia is now drinking all her formula and she is a lot better than a week ago.

Sophia has an ear infection, so she is now on antibiotics. She is also having problems drinking her formula. Karen has tried almost every possible combination and formulas, and Sophia refuses them all. However, she likes to eat banana and other solid food.

We all went to sleep last night after we got home. Karen said Sophia woke up crying at 3 AM (I believe it). Had a nice home made breakfast and played with Sophia. Took a long nap at noon and went for dinner to Los Portales, Sophia's first Mexican dinner. She liked the rice and the guacamole; she still has problems drinking her formula.

Just arrived home! We are exhausted after being in three different airports.

Last day in Guangzhou! We will be flying to Beijing tomorrow early morning. I have no Internet conection from the hotel anymore. We only paid for one week of internet. This morning, I came to Starbucks, so I could get connected and check my e-mail. We went to the Guangzhou zoo yesterday. We had lots of fun. We saw a lot of children visiting the zoo from their school.

Sophia's first summersault! She was playing in this little soft mattress the hotel provided us. She likes to strectch. She stretched so much, her head went out of the matress, and her body went over her head! she cried a little bit, and she got scared. She might like gymnastics!

Thank you to all who responded my post at the Bethany forums. That was right, I just went to blogger.com and I was able to get access to post in our blogspot!
Went for a walk in Shamian Island. Again, we met more children who wanted to practice their English. We all took pictures of each other. Karen and Assen tried to play badminton with a little Chinese girl. She was pretty good!

I walked downtown and had lunch in a McDonald's. A Bic Mac meal cost only 22 yen. what a deal! It was crowded, but I was still able to get a seat.

I wasn't able to post or access any blogspots for a few hours today. Not sure what happened. I've read China blocks blogspots once in a while (???). I am not sure if that was the reason, or something else is going on.

Karen took Jiaqing for her medical examination this morning. She weighs 6.8 Kg (15 lbs). Not surprisingly, she has an upper respiratory infection. We started her antibiotic medication today (azithromycin).

It was an interesting day. Several children approached us because they wanted to practice English. These children were with their teachers. They had a list of questions for us to ask them. Most of them did very well. They gave Assen some gifts. We all took pictures. They were very friendly and shook hands with us!

Sophia had a hard time going to sleep last night. We rocked her in our arms and she felt asleep, but as soon as we put her in her crib, she gets up and starts crying. We were not sure if she had an ear infection, or her tummy was hurting, or she was just getting spoiled. She didn't go to sleep until about 11 pm. But this morning, after bowel movement and a change of diapers, she gave us lots of smiles, and she looked alright. Walked to a park and rode a couple of rides.

Sophia woke us up this morning. We are all so excited to have a new member in our family!

We were able to meet Carol and her cousin Gina this morning. Carol is from PA and is also adopting a Chinese baby.

I talked to a couple of Chinese people who wanted to practice their English. One of them was a young man, James, 19 years old. James told me he was an only child. He said, parents would be charged about 6,000 yen for having a second child. The other one, was an older man, his English was pretty good. He told me he learns English by watching American movies and talking to tourists. I also played hacky sack with some Chinese people.

Sophia slept the whole night through. I guess she most be feeling better. This morning, she also drank her full bottle of formula. We were so happy about that. We went walking along the Pearl River. We saw old people exercising and dancing with different music.

In the afternoon, we went shopping to Carrefour, and then went to this other building to make the adoption official. Went to Lucy's for dinner.

Had breakfast at the Swan Hotel. It was packed with lots of people and also with families with their adopted Chinese babies. Went to the same office we visited yesterday to receive our babies. This time, we met with the notary and the registration. They also took a family picture of the three of us. It was a very hot day. Karen, Assen, and Sophia went to the swimming pool.

Flew to Guangzhou this morning (CA-1351). Got to the White Swan Hotel and found our room on the ninth floor. A small bus took us to the Civil Affairs Office where we met many children that were being adopted. We received Sophia. She is got a little bit of a cold, so we'll need to take good care of her. She is a very quiet baby (so far). She even fell asleep while other babies were crying. Assen is taking good care of her.

We visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City today. It started as a rainy day, but it actually turned into a nice fresh day. Tiananmen square reminded me of El Zocalo in Mexico City, but is a lot larger. The forbidden city was a lot larger than what I expected also. We also did a bicycle tour of Hutong and visited a house in the neighborhood.

Took a bus to visit the famous Great Wall of China with all the adopting families. Joy talked to us about Chinese culture while riding the bus. We visited a Cloisonne factory in our way to the Great Wall. There was a lot of traffic when arriving to the place where we had to park. Took a gondola ride up to the wall and went sight-seeing. There were so many tourists and so many pesty vendors! The tourist crowd reminded me of Niagara Falls.

Breakfast in the hotel was almost as good and delicious as we could have them at home! Met some of the other adopting familes. Assen and dad went swimming for a while while mom ran on a treadmill. Glad we brought our Bulgarian swim caps. Met the rest of the adopting families and went grocery shopping. We were brave enough to try some Chinese food. We asked for two different dishes. One of them was pretty good. In the afternoon, we went to see this Chinese Acrobat Show. It was really worth it! Assen kept attention the whole time!!!

Traveling

Flew from CID to ORD without major events (UA-7116). The plane in ORD was late, so we didn't leave ORD until about 4 PM (UA-851). Assen played for about two hours in the Children's play area. Geography lesson: The plane did not fly west to China, but north! We flew over Lake Superior, Hudson Bay, and very close to the North Pole and the Arctic Ocean. Then, we flew west, and then south through Siberia, Mongolia, and China! The airport at Beijing was huge and amazing (PEK). It looks like they are ready for the olympics. After about an hour-drive, we finally arrived to the Days Hotel and Suites. The hotel room is spacious, with two queen size beds. The beds are really hard, but the bathroom is also spacious and modern.