White Cloud Park

Today was a pretty good day. We met this morning and went to the White Cloud Park, which is just breathtaking. We did get rained on a bit but that didn’t stop us. It was hot and humid as all get out. We all had big beads of sweat rolling down our faces. After the park we headed to a five story mall that sold nothing but jewelry, mostly pearls. We stayed there only a short time but then decided that we would hold off making our big pearl purchases until we meet up with our next guide who will take us to an even better place.

After that exertion we came back to the hotel and Emma and I took a nap, Eli watched some Looney Tunes and Matt headed out for lunch. After lunch, Matt and Eli went off for a little swim. We did a lot more shopping this afternoon and had supper at Subway.

Emma has had some little break throughs, she has begun to babble some and Matt has gotten her to giggle. She continues to sleep well but we are still working on the eating. After switching Emma to only the Enfagrow formula, we noticed that she was only eating about 3 ounces, so we decided that we would try to feed her more often. We are now up to about 4 to 5 ounces and I hope to be up to 8 by the time we head home. However, she doesn’t want anything to do with table food or baby food. She has never had anything but a bottle before and she isn’t interested in it. For now, I’m content with just working on getting good formula in her system and we will worry about food once we get home.

I did try putting her in the bathtub with me last night and that didn’t go well at all. I hope she soon takes to the water. I may try the shower the next time and see how that goes.

Tomorrow will be another hard day. In the morning we will be getting her photo taken for her visa and then we will be going to do the medical exam. I have been warned that this is not pleasant. Thankfully, another couple in our group has brought their Grammy along and everyone just loves Grammy. Well, Grammy has volunteered to keep some of the older kids so that we can spare them that experience. Please keep Emma in your prayers during that ordeal. Pray that they won’t be very busy and that they get the babies in and out as quick as possible. I guess this will be trial run for when we get back and take Emma to our pediatrician, which will be the very next day we get home. No fun but we want her to get checked out head to toe and see what we need to do to get Emma all the help she is going to need.

We are all ready to come home. It is very hard living out of a small hotel room for such a long time. However, it is so helpful to have all the other families here with us that we have really developed a strong bond with. We will miss them when the time comes.