New Family Pic

For all of you waiting with bated breath for another picture update. Here is one that trickled out of China from Naomi Kuwaye.
Hello from the White Swan Hotel!

For all of you who don't know about the White Swan Hotel, it's a hotel in Guangzhou famous for lodging adoptive families on their way home. It's got a special toy/play room and every adoptive family gets a special edition adoption Barbi! Yes even Kangkang got one!

June 6 Update

Jen wrote a text again this morning.
Received: June 6 12:10am
"6:05pm internet in room is down. Called the high speed internet help desk and still not able to connect. Even tried changing cables without success. We don't want to pack up and change rooms just to get service so we will text. Today we went go Chen Clan Academy, shopping for jade and porcelain. Found 2 nice jade jewelry for Cammile. Ring and pendant to give to her later. Tea set for her too. Tomorrow the babies will get their medical exam and take their visa photo.
6:15pm: hot weather in Guangzhou. Cammile is doing well. No fever since last week Tuesday. She had a mild cold. Bonding well. I will text later. Cammile woke up from her nap. Love you all, Jen, Dean and Cammile"

PS: This was a photo that was taken the day they left for China. Lexi is in great care with Grandma Kaneshiro! Thank you Mrs. Kaneshiro!

Cammile's first plane ride

Hi everyone,
I wanted to pass on you some text messages from Jen:
Received:
June 3 10:22am "Good morning. We have been busy sorry for not emailing or texting. Yesterday we went to pavilion and shopping for porcelain. Ate dinner at authentic Chinese restaurant. Today we are doing lots of paperwork to prep for consulate appt next week. We will be leaving for Guangzhou tomorrow. Will try to email tonight. By the way the orphanage visit was interesting. Will share later. Love you all, Jen"

Received:
June 5 12:37pm "6:25am Sunday...made it safely to Guangzhou. Cammile did pretty well on her first plane ride! I have a slight cold (wheezing, sore throat). I am taking antibiotic and prednisone. But ok. Today we go to some type of academy or museum and then to an open market. Sorry no time to email. Whirlwind. We are not sure of the internet yet. Love you all,Jen"

So from those texts, it sounds like they are quite busy. We will continue to pray for strength, health, and safety for all families. Thank you everyone for checking in on them. I will keep you posted.

Ps: This is a shower picture from a family shower we had for Jen and Dean the other week. Thank you Manago, Iida and Kaneshiro families!!

Update on Fever

Hi again,
Jen wrote a text late last night (11pm China time or 5am our time this morning - June 1).

She wrote: 11p Cammile's latest temperature is 97.9. This afternoon she was more fussy. Todd Kuwaye (one of the other couple/friend, who is a doctor that also works at the same clinic as Jen) assessed Cammile and said that the fever may be from her teething, being constipated (all 3 babies haven't gone #2 yet) or a common cold. So she gave Cammile some teething medication, continued giving Tylenol every 4 hrs, apple juice, and Ibuprofen. Cammile has been sleeping since 5:15pm and hasn't woken up yet. She is tired but at least no fever. Good night.

Today the 3 couples were invited to the orphanage by the director, so I am sure it was a busy day for them. I will continue to keep you all posted.

Thanks again everyone.
Bev

PS. This was a picture of a surprise shower that Jen's coworkers from Kaiser put on for her. They are a great group of people who have surrounded Jen and Dean with much love and encouragement.

More photos

Here are some more photos received today

Day 3 - Fever

Hi everyone
My Mom, Dad and myself just got off of SKYPE with Jen, Dean and Cammile! Boy, is she a sweetie pie. They said that she has a fever of 100.4 today (she may have a cold), so Jen and Cammile are resting and staying inside for the day. Dean will be going to Walmart with some of the others to get some things. It's a mile away and will be traveling with transportation set up by the hotel. Their guide goes along with them.

I will try to set up a slide show of some snapshots that I took of our conversation. She was alittle fussy, then Dean came to the rescue with her bottle of formula that the orphanage gave to them and she calmed down. She then started to play or try to touch the keyboard, then played with her rattle. Qiao (pronounced: "Chow") means "good with hands", "creative", "crafty"...which is so true of her as you watch her. She has 4 teeth (2 on bottom and 2 on top), she eats 4 times a day and around 3-4 ounces per meal. She enjoys humming to herself, likes looking at herself in the mirror, and sometimes appears to be speaking Chinese words.

She is a beautiful girl and we wished that we could have picked her up from the screen to hold her and give her a big hug. Until then, Qiao Qiao... or Cammile will be in the loving and caring hands of her proud parents. Jen and Dean are looking great and so relaxed and content with her...it was a sight to see.

I will stay in touch

Gotcha day: Day 1

Email from Jen and Dean: Received: Sun, May 30, 2010 05:43 AM
Hi everyone!!! Hope u alll doing well!!!

We got back to hotel room with Cammile around 510pm and then it's been a whirlwind since.....We finally were able to sign on to internet around 10p tonight.

Here's a synopsis of what happened this afternoon. WOW, we still can't believe it!!

We finally made it to CAMMILE!!!!!! GOTCHA DAY has come and passed......."What a pregnancy we had!!! Longer than an elephant, however, no stretch marks, no hemorrhoids, no episiotomy, no labor pains!! Whew!!!"

Cammile was brought to us from her home 2 hours away by her orphanage director and helpers. We met her at 5p. When we first saw her, she was being held, NOT crying, looked bright-eyed & curious. She looked around and saw all the people around...............then it came................THE TEARS, THE CRYING, THE SCREEEEECHING!!!! Dean and I had no time to cry ourselves, for we "sucked it up" and put our parenting skills in to high gear. We dashed for her, she was handed over to me immediately, we tried to console her but to no avail. "That's ok", we thought. In fact, we were hoping that she would cry when she was given to us -- that means she has stranger anxiety, she established a trust with her caregivers, she is able to bond with others. "It's aaaalllll gooood!!!"

She's soooooo cute and cuddly, and MUCH SMALLER than we expected. We don't know her actual weight but she seems to be about a 6 month old size, however, she seems pretty tall & lanky. She smells sooooooooooo goooooood too!!!!

We fed her as soon as we got back to our hotel room at 510pm, which appeased her, she napped from 7-745p, then changed her diaper (she get one cute little butt), fed her again, changed her diaper again, held her for another 30 minutes or so, then put her down to sleep at 9p. It's now 11p and she's still sound asleep. She's really good!! We also found out that she likes to look at herself in the mirror - it calms her down right away. She also loves to pull my hair! Ouchieeee! She enjoys watching Dean take pictures of her, coo with her, and kiss her. Soooo touching!!!

We took a bunch of pictures of Gotcha Day, but we're not able to send them to you guys.......sorry....things work differently in China. It might be the internet service (or lack thereof) here in China. Pooh, we really were looking forward to showing off Cammile to all of you.

WE LOVE YOU ALLLLLLL VERY MUCH!!

From Our "Family" to your's,

Dean, Lexi, Cammile, & Jenni