Mama Thursday, Jan 31 2008

Hi All,

This evening Andy called home and as usual, I asked for him to give Gabe the phone.  Like, most nights I told Gabe that it was Mama and that I loved him.  Tonight after I said these things, Gabe said “Mama” several times!  When I told him, “I love you Gabe” he said something like “lub ooo” and then he said “bye bye” at the end.  Of course, I realize that he was just repeating what I said, but it still made me cry.  It was our first conversation!  I can’t WAIT to see him.  I am not the only person who can’t wait to see Gabe.  Both Jackson and Grace are ready to meet their little brother.  I don’t know how many times they have come to me looking all sad and tell me, “I want Gabe.” 

 I have been very proud of both Jackson and Grace.  They have been very good so far.  There have been no tantrums, o.k., maybe a few sqabbles, but for the most part they have been very good.  I can’t wait to see all three of them together.

Dana

Here is a picture of Jackson and Grace right before bedtime tonight.

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Muslim Restaurant Thursday, Jan 31 2008

Tonight we ate at at traditional muslim restaurant here in Xian. It
was wonderful!!!

We started out with two pieces of very dense flatbread that we
had to tear up into tiny little pieces. When we were done, they
marked our bowls with a numbered clothes pin and took them
away. About 10 minutes later, they brought back the bowls
with a rich broth, noodles and meat (you could choose from lamb
or beef). It was awesome and Gabe loved it! He should sleep
good tonight with all of that bread and broth in his belly. The
Chinese man in the photos is our bus driver, Mr. Wong. He is a
great guy and doesn’t speak a bit of English. Eric and he were
making fun of me tonight and my chop stick skills. One thing you
might notice is that we all have our coats on in the restaurant. It
is only in the high 20’s here this week and many of the places are
not heated. We had a great time, though and it made the soup
taste even better. Eric reminds me that I should be thankful
that the Chinese do not heat their restaurants, because if they
did, we would not have any power in the USA! So true!

Gabe is transitioning well. Tonight when Mr. Wong was done
eating, he offered to feed Gabe so I could continue to eat. Gabe
would have none of that. He only wants his daddy to feed him
(a big milestone in attachment). I was so happy to see this. This
afternoon, we took a nap and I fell asleep before Gabe, as he was
playing with his toys. Eric said that when Gabe got sleepy, he
climbed up into my bed and fell asleep on my chest!

Eric is having a wonderful time and I am so fortunate to have
him as a friend and traveling companion. He is a language nut
(is fluent in several) and is picking up Chinese here very easily.
He loves playing with Gabe and Gabe loves playing with his uncle
Eric. If any of you ever decide to come to China, Xian is a must see.
There is so much history and culture here - you can’t really grasp
it all!

We fly to Guangzhou tomorrow (Friday) evening and please say
a prayer for us. If you have been paying any attention to the
media regarding the winter storms in China, you will know that
there are more than 800,000 people in Guangzhou trying to get
home on the trains for Chinese New Year. We have spoken with
our adoption agency in Atlanta and they have been in contact with
our guide in Guangzhou and she said we should be fine. The
airports are really not affected by all of these travelers, but there
have been riots at the train stations in Guangzhou. This will also
be Gabe’s first airplane ride. I think he will do fine, but you never
know with a two-year old!

We’ll pick up Gabe’s passport tomorrow afternoon before we
leave for the airport. This is the last document we will receive
from the Chinese government. The next step in this process is
dealing with the American government. All of our paperwork
has been approved, but there is still the red tape of the USA.

Also, here’s a video of his babbling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oFn8mJ51F8

Andy

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Swimming Pool Thursday, Jan 31 2008

Good Thursday afternoon from Xian!

Today was a “free” day with no activities planned. We slept in late, took a nap around noon and then went to the pool this afternoon.

Gabe and I spent about an hour in the swimming pool and the hot tub (with no bubbles going) and he really seemed to enjoy the water. When we got back to the room, I gave him a quick dip in the bathtub to wash off the chlorine (you are welcome, Dana) and he had a ball playing in the tub by himself.

This evening we’ll go to a local Muslim restaurant for dinner. There is a large population of Chinese Muslims in Xian.

Andy

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Thursday Morning Wednesday, Jan 30 2008

Hi All,

I just got off the phone with Andy and of course bugged him for more pictures of Gabe.  Being a sweet, sweet man he did just as I asked.  I love that Gabe has on his first Mickey Mouse t-shirt this morning.  Later in the day the guys are going swimming in the hotel pool.  Those pictures ought to be awesome!

When we were in China with Grace we laughed because she ignored all the cool, educational toys we brought in favor of playing with an empty water bottle.  Well, I guess there is something to be said for water bottles, because as you can see gabe likes them just as much as Gracie did.

Dana

 

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Hot Pot & Dumplings Wednesday, Jan 30 2008

Good Wednesday evening everyone!

Today we spent the day touring Xian. We started off at the Shaanxi provincial history museum. Just as we got there, Gabe decided to take a nap, so he and I stayed in the bus. Uncle Eric said it was very interesting. After the museum, we went to a restaurant that featured Hot Pot. I was very interested in eating this, because most of my Chinese students say that hot pot is their favorite food to eat when I ask them. I will have to agree! They basically put a large pot of water with a heating apparatus in the middle of it in the center of the table and then bring out dozens of things to put into it (meat, vegetables, noodles, etc). You basically put what ever you want in it and then eat it with a great sauce. At the end of the meal, you can then drink the broth from the soup you made. Very tasty!

After lunch we climbed another wall in China. This is the wall surrounding the old portion of Xian. The wall is 8 miles in length and circumnavigates (Eric’s big word for the day) the downtown area of Xian. Our hotel is located in this downtown area. It was really cool.

This evening, we went for a traditional dumpling dinner and had more than 10 different varieties of dumplings - all of which were great!. Gabe found out that he loves traditional boiled dumplings. He probably 8 or 10 dumplings.  Also he has shown us he can eat with a fork!

We had lots of ups and a few downs today with Gabe. He is starting to grieve his former caretakers and we notice it most when it is time for a nap. He had a really rough time waking up this afternoon, but after a while, he was fine and as you can see from the photos at dinner time, he was great.

Right now he and Uncle Eric are having a pillow fight in the room and he is running around giggling like crazy!

We also received all of our paperwork from the Civil Affairs office today. Everything is complete except for the passport, which we will get on Friday before we fly to Guangzhou. 

The other little boy in today’s photos is Joel McKenney, the son of the other family who we are traveling with. Joel is progressing nicely and took his first steps yesterday. 

Thanks again for the e-mails. It is great to hear from everyone back home. One week from right now, we will be on our way home! We’re halfway done!!!!!

Andy

Eric and Joel 

Gabe loves that thumb! 

Gabe NOT in a car seat - he’ll have to learn from his mom (AKA Car Seat Nazi) when he gets home!

Joel again

Out seeing the sights!

Andy and Gabe with some impressive Xian characters.

I can use a fork!

I love my Uncle Eric!

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Update on my Mom Wednesday, Jan 30 2008

First of all here is another video clip of Gabriel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlSJUOeqE1M

Now an update on my mom.  On Monday night I got a call from my sister.  My step-dad (Ed) had taken my mom to the ER in Woodward (larger hospital about 30 minutes from our hometown).  My mom has had the flu for a week or so.  She was getting better and then on Sunday had a relapse.  When I spoke with her on Monday morning though she said she was feeling better.  Monday afternoon at about 5:00 Ed noticed that my mom had a strange look on her face.  When questioned she didn’t know where she was and she didn’t know who Ed was.  At the ER she didn’t recognize my sister and would ask her “Now who are you?”.   In fact the only name she was really saying was “Gabe”.  As the evening progressed she could carry on conversations and she obviously recognized people, she just couldn’t get their names.  For example when my Aunt Ruby got there she knew that it was her sister, but couldn’t come up with the name “Ruby”.  When the doctor held up a pen she could say that you used it to write with and it had ink, but she couldn’t get the acutal word “Pen”.  Obviously this distressed my mom very much and she was pretty agitated.

Thankfully my best friend Michelle was on shift at the hospital during this time.  She was able to relay to me all the details.  Thank you ‘Chelle - you were great for my peace of mind!  They did a MRI, CAT Scan and x-rays.  They admitted her to the hospital and as the night progressed she started getting back more memory. 

The final diagnosis was that the tests showed no signs of stroke on that day, but they did show that over the last several months my mom had had a series of mini-strokes - which explains her overall bad health during that time period.  The doctors believe that the aphasia was a result of a spike in her blood pressure and a drop in her blood sugar (she is diabetic).  They also adjusted her medication (blood pressure and arthritis) and put her on aspirin - I assume to thin her blood.

She got to go home last night and I when I spoke with her on the phone she sounded like her old self.  We did find one amusing thing out of a very scary experience.  At one point my mom could name all her grandchildren (Jackson, Rowdy, Grace, Rholton, Rhiata and Gabe), but she couldn’t think of my name or Tracie’s name.  We always knew she liked them best!! 

Here in Hays I am home with both kids.  Jackson and I both have the crud - sore throat, hacking cough, congestion and fever.  So, it wouldn’t hurt to say a prayer for the health of the Stanton family.  I find it somewhat ironic that we were worried about Gabe’s health - and he is the one healthy as a horse!!

 Dana

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Gabe laughing Tuesday, Jan 29 2008

Hi All,

Here is a video Andy took with his lapotp of Gabe laughing.  I have never posted a video here, so we’ll see if it works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5m75OYAGtY

Dana 

P.S.  Here are a few more pics!

 

Gabe likes his phone.

Have you seen my Uncle Eric?  I think he is in here.

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Terra Cotta Warriors Tuesday, Jan 29 2008

Today we visited the world famous Terra Cotta Warriors. These were created 2,200 years ago (200 B.C.) in the Qin Dynasty (pronounced CHIN). There are more than 8,000 warriors in the pits and all of them except one were completely destroyed 2,000 years ago. 

In 1974, some local farmers were digging a well and found the pottery pieces. Since then, these warriors have been put back together, piece by piece. It was simply amazing. 

Gabe did great today, but had is first two-year old temper tantrum. Where, might you ask? At the terra cotta warrior museum! I guess our little guy is a true warrior!

He’s taking a snooze right now and will be as good as new after he wakes up.

Thank you for all of your e-mails. It is great to get mail from friends back home. On another note, please keep Dana’s mom, Carol Long in your prayers. She is currently in the hospital in Woodward, Oklahoma after a high blood pressure scare that has affected her memory. No sign of stroke, but we’re all worried about her. 

Enjoy the photos!

Love, Andy

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P.J. Pics Monday, Jan 28 2008

Hi Everyone,

The guys went to sleep too early last night are up at the crack of dawn so they gave me a surprise call at work. I told Andy to send me some pics of Gabe in his pajamas. So here they are!

Dana

This picture cracks me (Dana) up because he seems to like things neat and in a row - just like his Mama!!

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It is Official! Monday, Jan 28 2008

Hi all,

Today was a great day, as Dang Hui officially became Gabriel Andrew DangHui Stanton. We started out our first morning with Gabe with a pleasant wake up - no crying, followed by a good breakfast. Then it was off to the photo studio (yes, an actual professional photo studio)for a photo of Gabe, of me and one of us together for the adoption documents.

Then we headed to the Civil Affairs office to finalize the paperwork.By the time we arrived at the Civil Affairs office, Gabe had a poopy diaper and the three of us had quite the male bonding experience. The bathroom floor at the office was completely wet (we’re not sure
with what), so Uncle Eric held Gabe,while I took care of business. We got things taken care of and how all three have a bond we’ll never forget!

After the official stuff was over, we came back to the hotel for a nap and some lunch. This afternoon we headed to the police station for Gabe’s passport photo and then to a local supermarket to get some basics. Supermarket shopping is quite a bit different than Dillon’s in

Hays, America - it was like an ant hill with people everywhere. The store was about the size of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in the states and busier than any day I’ve ever seen (remember, I survived seven Wal-Mart Christmases!!!). We bought a cart full of groceries
(ramen noodles, crackers, snacks, water, juice, etc) and the total bill was less than 20 US dollars.

This evening was downtime. We played in the room and Gabe ate an entire bowl of ramen noodles. He is definitely a good eater. He was in his jammies by 6:30 p.m. and asleep by 7:15. He is very relaxed with us and only cried when he fell off the bed this evening (we were having just a bit too much fun).

I finally got a chance to look over the materials the orphanage gave us yesterday and was able to read a full medical report regarding Gabe’s kidney condition. He does have two scars (one above his left kidney and one under his belly button) and the medical report gave details about his surgeries that our American doctors will find helpful. Also in the report was the actual bladder stone that the doctors removed from his bladder during his first surgery in the winter of 2006. It is HUGE (about the size of an apricot). Eric said
that it is probably the size of his entire little bladder!

Also in the report, it gave a history of when Gabe was found. He was found abandoned in a hospital on December 1, 2005 with a note attached to his clothing stating that he was born on November 19 and his family was too poor to take care of his arm. A few pages later in the report was his ACTUAL FINDING NOTE. We’ll have it translated as it is an entire page of writing.

We’re having a great time getting to know this little one and he is definitely a keeper. He laughs all the time and is very inquisitive.  He might have a future in construction, as he stacks everything we give him (we bought him some oversized legos at the supermarket and he had a ball with them this evening). Don’t think that because he has a limb difference, it slows him down. He uses his left arm (the one with the missing forearm/hand) for many, many things. Well, I’m headed for bed now. Hope you all have a great Monday, as ours was wonderful!!!!

Andy

Gabe and his Uncle Eric.

Andy signing the official papers.

Gabe signs the papers - with his footprint!

It’s official!

Joel, Marye, the Orphanage Director, Andy and Gabriel

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