Our first day in Guangzhou

After getting in so late Friday night, we were so pleased to sleep in this morning. Jason and I didn't get up until 8, and both kids slept until we opened the curtains at 8:30am. Jason, Mom and the kids went down to the breakfast which they reported was very nice. Food is very important in this family and so the made to order omelets and actual Western style bacon are important things to note. At 9:30 Jason, Max, and I met our guide Elvin to head to the medical exam for Max. Mom stayed with Ellie and gave her some undivided attention which was wonderful for her and for us. Before we made it to the medical exam we met up with two other families from our adoption agency who are staying at another hotel. It was so nice to see some other people in similar situations and to just chat about what we had been up to. Next, we went and got some more photos taken for Max's visa application. They're pitiful. He's crying and his face is all red. But, who did he reach for when he was upset? That's right, mama! We're getting there. We then went into the medical clinic. It was amazing. There were probably 40 other adoptive families in and out during the two and a half hours that we were there. I loved seeing the wide range of families and the wide range of kiddos that they were adopting. There are just so many kids out there with manageable needs just waiting for families. It was great to see these kids finding there forever homes. While we were at the appointment, Max had to be measured, weighed, and had a very basic physical and ENT exam. Nothing unexpected there. He also had his PPD (TB skin test) placed. We'll find out Monday if that is positive or not. If it is, which it very well may be since he's had the BCG vaccine, he'll need a CXR to determine if he has active disease. This is what counts. This has to be negative for us to bring him home. We have no reason to think he does have active TB, but there will be a nagging worry until this is done. While this was all going on, Max had to go to the restroom. I volunteered to take him (this is usually Jason's job). I quickly came to regret this decision. We went into the squatty potty and Max squatted right down to potty. But, he was turned the wrong way so his tush wasn't over the pot. This was fine until he made the last minute decision to take a dump which went all over the floor. I had to clean that up and then, I couldn't figure out how to flush. I feel sorry for the next person to use that restroom.
After we were done with the medical exam we came back to the hotel, had some lunch, and Jason put Max down for a nap while I took Ellie swimming. We had to check out the pool first to make sure there were no swimming caps required. Thankfully it was a good old fashioned western pool. No swim caps required. We swam for about 45 minutes and then Jason came up to swim with her for another hour and a half more while Mom watched Max nap. Our guide came to get me and we met up with one of the other families to do paperwork. We now have everything pretty much ready to submit for Max's visa once we get his medical report back on Monday. It feels so good to have that paperwork done. It's just one step closer to actually bringing him home. Once I got back from our paperwork marathon we got the kids dressed and went out exploring. Unfortunately I was lazy with the camera and didn't get any pictures today. Mom has some, but I can't upload them to the blog from her camera. We walked down the street from our hotel where there is a pet market. There were cats, dogs, fish, chipmunks, turtles, lizards, and birds for sale. The kids loved this. Then we walked over to the pedestrian shopping street and just looked around a bit. We ended up at a Cantonese restaurant next to our hotel where we had a really good meal. We had some fried pork with honey flavoring (yummy), some sauteed chicken with green vegetables (good except for the chicken head on the plate), some fried rice with shrimp and pork (good), and some egg rolls with probably chicken in them (very good). Both kids put away some serious food and were looking tired so we made our exit and came back to the hotel to play awhile and then hit the hay. Both of them fell asleep quickly giving mommy time to blog and daddy time for some extra snores. We're hoping every day in Guangzhou goes as smoothly as today was.