Sunday: Free Day in Guangzhou

Today was a free day as we wait to get Jay's blood work results and wait for our Consulate appointment. At breakfast, we talked with a family who I'd met briefly at breakfast yesterday. It's a mom traveling with three of her children and a new 4 year old son. Her husband stayed at home with their other children. I immediately was drawn to her a few days ago because she seemed to be having similar struggles as me -- communicating with an older boy who knows what he wants. We chatted at breakfast and she talked about having a backpack to carry her son in, but that he refused to get in it. She offered me to try it out and see if it would help contain Jay when we're out. It was really nice to talk with someone who was travelling as an only adult and who had other kids with her. It made me see that my difficulties in this trip are totally normal!

Jay's been very into mixing together foods. For breakfast, he wanted hot milk and then he soaked about 6 pieces of bacon in it. Then pulled out the bacon and drank the milk (bacon-infused milk). I'm thinking he may be onto something.

After breakfast, we went with the three other families from our agency to do some sightseeing and shopping. I spent this time in the most humid place imaginable, drenched in sweat, and chasing June Bug trying to prevent him from breaking glass tea sets. I really should've tried that backpack before our day out today! Audrey who has not complained yet agreed that she was the most miserable she's ever been in her life. Sam actually did the best out of everyone on this hot day. He kept a good hold on Jay and talked to him as we walked the streets.

We got back to the hotel and everyone was ready to jump in the pool - and it thundered - and the pool closed. So we decided to totally veg out this afternoon. We watched movies in our room and read. June Bug is such a character. We were walking around the hotel and he started acting like a robot and even strangers stopped to videotape him. He's so funny!

Then this afternoon, the hotel delivered a beautiful cake to me for MY BIRTHDAY! The best birthday present I could ever ask for happened as soon as the cake arrived - Haijun started singing to the tune of Happy Birthday but in Chinese and then as soon as he finished, all three kids started singing Happy Birthday in English. It was so sweet. I tried to get them to reenact it. Here's the best I got...

We decided to go down to the Executive Lounge again for "evening snacks" (AKA dinner) again tonight. We met the same family from breakfast at the lounge. We hung out with them all evening just sharing stories about our families and adoptions. Our sons have really similar stories, similar special needs, same age, etc. It was really great to connect with them. Then they brought out birthday treats that they had picked up for me - so sweet! We ran back to our room and grabbed our cake and had a birthday celebration in the lounge. Haijun fell asleep in the lounge, and I got much needed adult interaction. All in all a great birthday.