What the fans have been asking for, pictures!!

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit but we have been so busy with Maisie Miao Miao, the official paperwork and just taking in all that we can as far as the sites, the days have been flying by. China is fabulous and though living out of a hotel room isn't always the easiest thing to do, I do wish that we could slow the days down and have more time here. We loved Chongqing and hope to return one day soon so that we can see much more than we were able to on this trip. I feel like we got one lick of a tootsie pop and have yet to get to the chewy center.

We're now in Guangzhou at the White Swan Hotel where there are hundreds of families with their new children. It's just crazy to see so many new families and to finally meet so many of the people whom I've been talking to online or whose blogs I've been reading for so many months. Eammon and I have had dozens of people come up to us and introduce themselves to tell us that they've been reading our blog for so many months and were excited that they'd be able to meet us here at the White Swan. Not only do we get sort of celebrity status from the Chinese people who crowd around us to see the baby but we're sort of getting it from all the wonderful people who have been following our journey and reading our blog. I've loved meeting every single person and of course meeting their beautiful babies too.

We also have a great travel group and we've been having so much fun with them, plus they all tolerate Maisie's screaming and laugh along with Eammon and I when she goes into one. I'll have to post more pictures and tell more about the sites we've seen but that will have to be in another post. So as I said, we're at the White Swan and we had to take the flight from Hades to get here. Not that there was anything wrong with the flight, it's just that Miss Maisie prefers that whomever is holding her, is standing % of the time. She also decided to do a Linda Blair from The Exorcist on the plane throwing her head around in circles as she arched her back and screamed continuously. "Your Mother darns socks in Hell!!!" Sorry, that was the BBC version there. Once off the plane you'd never know that she been a screaming banshee the entire time, she was just all smiles and not a care in the world. Well, that and I was carrying her walking around.

More about Maisie:
She loves both the hip hammock and the baby bjorn but you have to be standing and preferably moving.
She hates the stroller so Eammon and I have very sore backs right now.
She loves playing with other babies, especially ones a little older where she'll imitate them and try to do whatever they do.
She hates the crib.
She's a flirt with the boy babies and has a little crush on baby Kai.
She will not eat any food or any liquid other than her formula.
She loves being kissed and nibbled on and will belly laugh when we nibble her ribs.
She doesn't like crowds or when the old ladies come up and surround her or try to touch her.
She's shy and will snuggle into our necks to hide her face.
She doesn't like having her diaper changed, but hates having a dirty diaper.
When held, she likes touching skin.
She hates if Eammon or I leave the room or are out of her view.
She loves being with both of us but when upset generally will snuggle into my neck.
She thinks that prime play time is from 2-5:30 am.
She's the cutest, "bestest" little girl in the world.

Since we went carry-on-only, I've been asked what from our list we could have done without and was there anything that we feel we missed in our packing. Here is our packing list and I can only base what I'm saying on the three cities and hotels where we've stayed thus far so I'll update this information after we have our stay at the final hotel in Beijing. Our three cities and hotels have been: The Regal Kowloon, Hong Kong, The Golden Resources Hotel, Chongqing and the White Swan, Guangzhou.

There is nothing that I've needed thus far that we didn't pack so I would have to say that for us, my packing list has worked out really well. The one thing that I know I packed and just couldn't find until after I went out and bought some more, were diaper pins which I've been using to tighten up Maisie's pants as she's so thin her pants keep falling down. Other than that we've bought formula, the rice cereal and water, everything else we've bought, chocolate, pastry and souvenirs are just things to buy.

All three cities have had an abundance of western snack foods and western fast foods if you want that, so don't worry about bringing snacks and food. We did bring 12 granola bars just in case we were stuck at an airport or hungry along the way and Eammon may have had one or two, we didn't need to bring that many with us.

We don't use one, but all the hotels have had hair dryers in the bathrooms, so you won't need one of those.

All the hotels provide new toothbrushes and toothpaste daily so don't bother bringing a toothbrush but if you want toothpaste with a minty fresh taste, bring that along or you can buy it in any of the cities at the supermarket.

All the hotels daily, provide disposable double blade razors and shaving cream and will give you as many as you need.

All the hotels provide these wonderful little wooden combs and there too, leave a new one or two everyday.

I had been concerned about the bath gel, shampoo and conditioner as I have very dry skin and hair and can easily look like Rosanne Rosanandana, but the quality of what all the hotels have provided has been great so I wouldn't bring any of that next time.

We haven't used 99% of the meds that we brought, but better safe than sorry on that one.

I feel that we brought enough clothes and have done laundry a couple of times so I wouldn't change anything there either.


OK, enough talk, here's the eye candy that you've all been wanting.
Travel group 1077 at the Golden Resources Hotel, Chongqing.
Moms with their babies.
Dads with their babies.
Happy Maisie at the White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou.
And she sleeps.
So cute.
Our little princess.
Toothy grin.
Coming for the camera.