Guangzhou, Monday

Today was paperwork day for the U.S. Consulate so that we can bring Addison into the United States. Although he'll be a citizen once we land, he leaves China as an immigrant; thus, the paperwork. We were a little spoiled last time with our agency in terms of paperwork. All we had to do was show up to fill out some papers and much of these were filled out for us. This time around, it was up to us to bring the proper paperwork, find out the correct fees, etc. There were some discrepencies between what I understood and what was correct, but nothing that can't be fixed. The two issues: The visa costs more than is listed in our paperwork, but our orphanage donation wasn't quite as high as we had budgeted for, so no problem.

The other glitch is that I didn't realize that one of the papers needed to be notarized BEFORE coming to China. We have to present a signed, notarized affidavit that we will immunize Addison as appropriate, but I thought we just needed to bring it with us and fill it out with the rest of the papers. Fortunately, this too can be fixed: Scott is going to the U.S. Consulate with another dad in the same situation to notarize the paper. What a guy!

Other highlights from the day:

1. Red Couch Photos - a tradition if you are adopting from China. Even though we are staying at the Victory Hotel (half the price, bigger rooms), we all headed over to the White Swan for our Red Couch Photo. Addison was great, until we put him on the couch with all the other kids. YIKES. When we did this with Kate, she was the only one who didn't cry. Talk about a reversal....
2. Dinner at The Cow and Bridge, an awesome Thai restaurant that we both love.
3. Scott and Addison going to the park - no motor planning issues here, thank you!
4. Walking around and seeing the new families and the familiar faces of the shopkeepers from last time.
5. Watching the different photo shoots going on. People will often come to Shamian Island (where we are staying) for photo shoots because of its beauty.
6. Becoming completely drenched in sweat because, in the heat and 95% humidity, my son wanted ME to hold him while we were taking our walk. :)
7. Hearing our son fall asleep without crying or whimpering. He's definitely starting to feel more secure.

We are enjoying our time, but can't wait to get back home. We miss our girl!

The Lucky Ones