We have now had Sophia for 3 months!

Hi there, yesterday celebrated our 3 month mark with our little Sophia pickle. She is now officially "Sophapia"per Hannah and they are having a ball. Sophia is doing great and the medical doctors are very pleased with how she is doing. We /they think they have found her Phe Ratio now and we are working with mainting that. However, with any 16 month old....they change there minds on what they want to eat. Sophia now has plenty of opinion when it comes to eating....

Sophia is now walking!!! Not 100% all the time but doing really, really well.

We had a very sad event, my mother passed away January 14th after a 14 month great battle with bile duct cancer. We did as a family make it home for my mom to meet Sophia and that was very special.

Here is a recent picture of Sophia! 16 months old

Love to all, Shannan

We are home and VERY tired!

Hi there everyone. Thank you all for your love and support. We are home! We arrived in Newark around 2:00 Friday. After going through immigration at the Newark airport, Sophia is officially a US Citizen. Hooray! The 15 1/2 hour flight from Hong Kong was not that bad. Sophia cried upon take off and landing (more like screamed) but the rest of the trip she did way better than I could have ever dreamed. There were a few very restless times where we did a lot of walking and "crawling" but she didn't upset too many passengers. He he he... Hannah was amazing!!!!! She slept a lot and watched many movies. We really couldn't do too many activities as they kept the plane really dark so everyone could sleep. However, we Paul and I didn't sleep more than about an hour each. We brought the low protein rice with us and the flight attendant was awesome and cooked the rice for us for the flight. It took her several times to get the cooking down (rice /water ratio due to the high corn syrup issue) but Sophia didn't seem to mind.

We then had a 5 hour layover in Newark which was a good thing as immigration took forever, we had to go through customs, claim our bags, re-check our bags and then go through security AGAIN. It is such a crazy process. Then the gate was wrong and we really didn't realize it until seeing the gate was for Copenhagen....leaving about 30 minutes before us we realized it couldn't be right. But we figured it out and arrived at the gate about 45 minutes before boarding.

The departure from Hong Kong was very interesting and we almost missed the flight due to our travel agency having Sophia's lap ticket not the same as our tickets. Long story...but we made it. Whew.

We are struggling pretty bad right now with jet lag.....we are all exhausted. Lots of crying not wanting to sleep from all 4 of us.....most though, Hannah. It is VERY taxing on her and Sophia just doesn't want to sleep when we are sleeping. This soon shall pass.

Love to all. I can't find my USB port in the luggage but as soon as I have time and not too tired I will post some pictures. Thanks again for everything.

Warming up in Guangzhou

We are finally in Guangzhou! Hooray!!!!!!! We left the freezing cold Beijing on Friday. It was 0 degrees. All went fine with check in. Our guide was fantastic and told the check in counter about the huge suitcase we have for Sophia and that it is all her medical supplies and they didn't charge us any extra for all the luggage, not even our own luggage which was wonderful. We boarded the plane right on time but then ended up waiting on the runway for 2 hours. It was truly taxing on all of us. I had the 2 hour 40 minute flight all worked out with food for Sophia. I was NOT counting the 2 hour delay on the runway. It was awful but Sophia and Hannah were both wonderful. When we arrived in Guangzhou it was 70 degrees and Hannah and I were skipping in the airport and all of us were shedding our coats and sweaters.
It is so wonderful here. We love it. The Asian Games are being held here in Guangzhou (not on Sha Mian Island but still a lot of activity)....The Asian Games just finished up and now are the Special Olympic version of the Asian Games which is just as exciting and big for the city!! It is great.
We had Sophia's medical exam the other day and she cried just like Hannah but it was really quick and we were out of there in less than 30 minutes. Yesterday we visited another Buddha temple and today was a Folk Art Museum. It was the same tour as last time but fun to see again. Sophia is doing really well but still getting pretty tired so we are hoping it is not the metabolic formula / food and just normal for a 14 month old.
Tomorrow we will be doing the Red Couch picture at the White Swan. We are at Emma's place and just purchased Hannah and Sophia's Chinese dresses for the pictures. They are super cute! I am using Emma's Internet service so I can't download pictures at the moment but after the Red Couch picture tomorrow I will try to download more. Although I don't miss the smoking, I do miss the convenience of the Internet across the street from our hotel in Beijing.
We miss everyone and can't wait until we get home. Hope to email you all tomorrow. Miss everyone!!!!!!!!

Last day in Beijing

Hi there, one more full day in Beijing and then off to Guangzhou. Thank goodness. I am trying to download pictures from the Great Wall Tour so I hope they work. Today we picked up Sophia's passport and then off to visit Olympic Village. It was huge and freezing so we were not able to really see everything but we did see the Bird Nest and the Water Cube which was super cool. Hannah picked out really cute small stuffed mascots from the Olympic games which represent different parts of Chinese culture. Pretty neat. Hope you enjoy the pictures. There is a cute one with Sophia on the bus making her funny "Ma" noise and smiling. Super cute and she does it all the time.

We ate at a dumpling restaurant today. Our guide, Grace, who is really nice, took us to an authentic dumpling restaurant. It was so yummy. We had about 6 trays of different dumplings and veggies on our table. It was a little embarrassing but fun!

We REALLY miss everyone and hope all is well. Take good care of yourselves. Hugs and kisses from Beijing. We can't wait to get on that plane Friday morning......Less than 48 hours away.

The Great Wall

Hello everyone and happy Monday morning. We are counting down the days. Only 4 more days to go in Beijing....we leave Friday morning for Gounzhou and I am sooooo ready. Then 1 more week...then home!

I am so sorry I can only download 2 pictures. The "tape" on my camera just gave out on me so I can't get it to stay stuck to download any other pictures at the moment. Bummer. Internet cafe does not come equiped with tape.

Anyway, Hannah climbed the Great Wall with Paul Saturday. It was so exciting. They had 1.5 hours to climb and they did it just in the nick of time with 1 other woman. The other group in town for 1 day joined us for the tour and everyone ended up back on the bus within at least an hour but Paul, Hannah and another women made it to the 7th guard tour. I have an awesome picture of Hannah with a huge smile on her face getting on the bus with everyone clapping. It was really awesome. Sophia and I climbed the first 5 stairs. So we are still called "heros". It was super fun. Yesterday was a free day and we just stayed in the hotel room and rested. However, we started to get cabin fever and ended up walking around Beijing a bit...but not too far as it was so darn cold.

Today we visited the Temple of Heaven and although it was colder, I thought, than any other days it was a fun trip. I have really excellent pictures that I will try to download again in the next day or two. Oh, Paul was very tempted to purchase a "real" Rolex for $50.00. Ha, too funny!!!!!!!

I hope everyone is well. I hope you all had a great Black Friday shopping day......So sad I missed it. First one in my adulthood that I have missed. We miss you terribly and want to come home so bad. We are going to a museum tomorrow and then we hope Olympic Village.

Sophia's diet is very challenging. But, I know He would never have led us to Sophia if He didn't think we could handle it. I am having to make many decisions about her diet that I just have no real idea what I am doing. Everytime I think I know what I am doing, I am faced with all these other questions. The Chinese to English translation is just not working and I am praying every day she will be ok until we get home. She is just such a sweetie, with giant almond eyes and a smile to match. Much love!

Miss you! Love, The Ellig family!!! :O)

More from China

We are all doing great. It was a great Thanksgiving. We got to talk to both sets of parents which was wonderful. Hannah had a hot dog and french fries from room service and Paul and I had cereal. It is just too bloody cold to go outside when it is not totally necessary. Sophie is doing so great. I have come to realize that the formula chart they are having us use can't be right as the #s just don't match up so we are really and truly winging it with her diet and hope and pray we are giving Sophie what she needs. We can't wait to see that dietician when we get home to ease our minds.

The hotel is now decorated all in Christmas which just blows my mind. Way too funny but Hannah is thrilled.

Yesterday we went to the Lama Temple which was pretty amazing. This is the Buddha Temple with a giant statute of Buddha. You are not allowed to take pictures of it but it is in the Genius Book of World Record. I have a CD of the tour but it is a tiny mpeg cd...and as most of you know I am seriously computer challenged so someone is going to have to show me how to convert this to play.....here is a picture of Hannah spinning the Buddha doctrines which are supposedly good luck!

Another group of families came in late last night. During our morning ritual breakfast at 6:30 am, several families came in looking exhausted from their long flights but excited about their long tour to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. It is AWESOME to see other families. I didn't really realize how I was missing conversation (in English) with other families. It was fun to share our Gotcha Day with them and give them a glimpse of what they can look forward to...they all look so excited. These are the families we will eventually team up with in Guangzhou and then take the train with to Hong Kong before flying home.

Tienanmen Square and Forbidden City is about a 3 hour tour and so bitterly cold that we are not joining them this morning; however, the bus driver is picking us up around 12:30 today to meet them at The Great Wall. We really want Hannah to see this and I am pretty excited as well. I have gotten down the Rice Congee gig which seems to now stay warm and mushy enough to bring as a meal for our precious Sophie so we are going for it today!!! Yea!

Oh, one funny thing. Every time the elevator doors open, Sophia screams in delight. She loves it and her huge cheeks just light up with laughter.

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We are READY to come home. Only 2 more weeks....

So much to be thankful for!

Here is the most recent email from Shannan. I am so happy that she sent so many photos!! Apparently it takes a really long time to download them and she is in a very smokey (yuck!) internet cafe. Hopefully she'll keep 'em coming!

Hi there -
Everything is going great.Sophia pooped last night for the first time. Hooray! It was almost 4 full days before she pooped so, as you know, big deal. She was in so much discomfort and cried for about 30 minutes before I realized she is trying to poop. i put her on her back and rubbed her belly for about 10 minutes as it worked ... its... way... out. Poor little think but she was so incredibly happy after she pooped. When she pooped today, she was laughing. She is so darn cute with such a sense of humor.

Oh, Happy Thanksgiving!!

I can't believe how much we have to be thankful for this year.

My perfect sleeping world has ended however. Sophia now knows very well who her mommy and daddy are and instead of being fascinated with this new pack and play, she has now found out that if she cries, we will pick her up, love on her until she falls asleep... so, today I had to walk her in her stroller for about 15 minutes, while she smiled and giggled at me until she finally fell asleep. Can'r really let her cry herself to sleep since there are people next to us and the walls are paper thin.

Yesterday we went to Civil Affairs Office and finalized all our paperwork, then off to the Notary ...3000+ yuan later (that is about $450.00 U.S.) we were off to the police station where they take the passport pictures. Well, Sophia was exhausted. I was thinking the notary office a fast process. NOT!. So by the time we got back on th bus she was crying so hard. She ddrank her bottle and ready for a nap. Well, you are needing to have your passport picture taken you can't be taking a nap. She screamed little bloody murder. her eyes have to be open so we had to leave, get her ccalmed down and try again. Well, thankfully the Orphanage Director met us there and scanned an extra picture she had and all was good. Whew. That was bad.

We ar finding Sophia's diet is difficult but not so bad. the hard part is the low Phe Rice. you can't make it ahead of time and bring it with you. It gets too hard and impossible to eat. So we are resorting to Gerber low Phe items I brought and apple sauce while we are out. But we are spending mos of the time in the room. today we visited the Summer Palace which was extraordinarily beautiful. Hannah had a great time and bought a souvenir of a bird; almost like a puppet. Too cute. We had a great time but Sophia wanted me to carry her almost the entire time so my back is now a little tired. But worth every minute as she stares at me. Every time she smiles at me I want to cry. She is just precious. We are the luckiest people on earth.

Here are some pictures of the last few days. Love to you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. Shannan also mentioned that a) it is FREEZING THERE and b) that Hannah is becoming quite the expert at eating with chopsticks. As you can tell, she sounds really, really happy! I can't wait to hold that precious Sophia!!