Consulate Appointment

Yesterday was a rough day for Kinley, Jason, and I. Kinley has not been feeling well--she's been running a fever and not eating or drinking much. She's also had some diarrhea and has a rash on her legs. I think the rash is either from the fever, or it is an allergic reaction because they only used cloth diapers in the orphanage. By the early afternoon I was worried that it could possibly be an ear infection, and the thoughts of flying 14+ hours with a sick baby prompted us to seek a "western style" doctor to have her checked out. The doctor said that she had a "throat infection", but says the rash is allergic and her ears look fine. He gave us some zithromax and some diarrhea medication to use if we need it and sent us on our way. I really couldn't get my questions answered thoroughly because things got lost in translation. I brought amoxicillin to give her if necessary, however the doctor states that it may make her diarrhea worse so we'll hold off on that. After the doctor we went to the Holt office and did some quick paperwork checking before returning to the hotel.

Today we had a very early morning because our group had a U.S. Consulate appointment at 9 am. Our alarms were set for 5:20 am, but Kinley woke us up at 5 burning up again. I checked her temperature and was not surprised to see 103.7. So I put her in the bathtub and gave her tylenol and motrin since the Consulate Appointment could not be changed. We were downstairs for a quick breakfast at 7 and then our driver picked us up at 7:30 am in the hotel lobby. The Consulate Appointment seemed like a formality, really. We had to raise our right hands and swear that our paperwork was correct and that we would take care of Kinley. The officials took our paperwork and tomorrow we should be able to pick up Kinley's U.S. citizenship papers. Kinley will officially become a U.S. Citizen when we go through customs at the Detroit airport.

Once we got back from the consulate Kinley got some more tylenol and then took a long nap. She woke up feeling much better it seems, so I'm hopeful she's past the worst of it. Finally we got to explore more of Shaiman Island because we've been stuck in the hotel most of the time with a sick baby. We did a little shopping and then took Kinley to the playroom in the hotel. We found out that she is a brave girl! She loves the slide and when she was on the rocking pony she kept letting go and laughing. Later we went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant down from our hotel called The Cow and Bridge. I could tell before ordering that we would regret eating out. Kinley was fussy....out of the blue she has decided that it is fun to scream randomly. Hmmm, wonder if this is just a phase or if she's still not feeling well. Jason and I didn't even finish our food and we laughed that eating out was no longer going to be something we will be doing much from this point on. When we got back to the hotel we realized that Kinley had some more diarrhea.......and it was all over. We always have her in the carrier when we are out, and lets just say that everything had to be washed in the tub, including Kinley and I. Not sure what we will do tomorrow because I'm sure the carrier will not be dry for us to use. We've had to wash so many clothes in the sink, we cannot wait to get back home where we'll actually have all the luxeries we always take for granted.

Jason put Kinley to bed tonight as I'm typing this. It's funny...he danced her to sleep, lol. Now he thinks he's the "bedtime Rumba king". Kinley has been hard to put to bed unless I lay down with her. She sleeps in our bed and likes to be right next to me. She actually holds on to my nightgown when she sleeps! When we walk around she holds onto my locket necklace or my hair. She's such a cutie pie! I hope tomorrow she feels better and I cannot wait until we are finally done with the diarrhea! I'm hesitating to give her the diarrhea medication the doctor gave us. I've never heard of it, and I don't want her to get constipated. None the less, another episode like the last and I think I'll at least give her a half dose of it!

Tomorrow we pick up our consulate paperwork and then we have the Red Couch photos. It is a tradition of Chinese adoptive families to take a picture of their children on the red couch at the hotel (red for good luck) while dressed in traditional chinese outfits. We bought Kinley an outfit today that we are praying fits her! Most of the adopted children are bigger than she is, so we've had a hard time finding any clothes or squeaky shoes to fit her.

Enjoy the pictures!

Heather