Guangzhou - Day 13 - Visa Appt. & Red Couch Photos

Mon-Tues. Lia had a tough 24 hours. Hard to tell exactly what's going on. She is going thru so much right now...all the shots she's had, teething, all the new sights and sounds and people...and the fact that - well - she is an almost 2 year old...there's more than a bit of overstimulation going on right now. There was a Pearl Riverboat Cruise on the docket for last night, but between Steve's stuffy head, my queasy stomach, and Lia being overtired, we decided to bow out of that excursion and try some quite time in our room instead.

We had a three-hour meltdown in the middle of the night last (Mon.) night. We tried just about everything and finally got her to fall asleep in bed with us for a few hours.

After breakfast, our guides attended our appointments at the US Consulate on our behalves. During this time, we could not leave the hotel room in case there were any problems or questions regarding our paperwork. At 11 am, we received a call letting us know that our appt. had been a success and Lia's Visa is officially being processed (HOORAY!)  This means our final steps will be going to take the "Oath" at the US Consulate this afternoon, and then pick up her Visa on tomorrow (Thurs.) - and then...TA-DA...we can finally head home on Friday!

Around Noon, we met in the lobby of the White Swan for the traditional "red couch" photos of our travel group. This is something adoption groups in China have been doing for years. Our group is so large, it was hard to get decent photos of everybody, and the one with the babies-only is just comical, but Lia loved her new fancy dress, which is a little big and should still fit her for Chinese New Year.

Click on any of the photos to make them larger...

Our entire travel group

All the babies...(Lia is the one standing in the back - not happy!)

Family photo

Okay...can we take this dress off now?

OFF! Now!!!

Doing the tulle skirt "hula"

At this point, we are really READY to come home. There are only so many ways to keep a toddler entertained in a hotel room. So far, she is scared of the swimming pool and completely overwhelmed by the hotel playroom...we did however, get her into the bathtub last night (with mama) and had a fun time playing with cups and shaving cream for awhile...and were able to get her hair washed (finally)...so baby steps...(literally!)