Nap time for Alexandria

Well as you can see by the title, it is nap time for Alex and blog time for daddy. Today we had her medical exam, and the doctor says she is looking really good, her eye is clearing up and her cough is lessening, she also said her ears are looking better. I have about a hour and a half until I have to go and fill out more paperwork, but that is OK it is right here in the hotel. We went and did a little shopping and ate some lunch at a little park cafe, mostly american food and Faye found a place where she could get iced tea and actually eat the ice, they make the ice from bottled water (Remember you CANNOT drink the water in China). Faye was very happy to have a refreshing glass of iced tea. We are down to just over 2 days before we start heading home and it is a nice feeling, hotel life isn't for me. I think that we get to go have our baby blessed by the monks tomorrow and Faye is really looking forward to that, all the blessing going on the last couple of days, one more couldn't hurt. I think we are also going to a jade store (factory) I don't know if we will buy anything or not. If it is anything like the whole pearl market experience I may pass and let Faye and baby go if they want.

For those of you that are getting ready to come to Guangzhou, China it is very nice here, the morning breakfast buffet is excellent. I wouldn't miss this meal(the buffet is much better at the white swan than the one we had at the Kuntai royal hotel in Beijing), there is just about everything that you can imagine and it tastes pretty good (I stay away from the eggs due to them being so runny, I have no idea what the deal with cooking eggs is here but they always seem to undercook them. Be early to the buffet if at all possible, it is from 6am - 10am and it really gets busy about 8am. Remember cheerio's and congee are on the buffet, just bring a bib for your baby. Looks like the swimming facilities are excellent, I forgot my trunks, but all the kids seemed to like it, for families that brought other children. I may take Alexandria down to see what she thinks of the water. She has no problems with bath time. The clothing police thing is kind of a myth as far as I am concerned, it has been hot here and the humidity is insane, we had to put light clothing on her and no one gave us any flack. Now yes if it is cold bring heavier clothing, I highly suggest checking the weather channel on line and checking to see how the weather is going to be where you are going and also in Guangzhou. We did that and I believe we packed just right. Getting laundry done here is easy and the cost is I guess average, we had about 20 pieces laundered and it cost us about 15 US dollars. They really package the clothing really nice also when you pick it up. There is a 7-11 just down the street, we pretty much only buy water and cokes there (they sell water there by the gallon, it cost about 12 yuan a gallon or $1.50). All the rooms have hot plates for boiling water, remember to bring dish soap to wash bottles, you unfortunatly have to wash everything in the bathroom sink, space is tight on those counters. We have found that fast flow nipples work just fine, I don't think that we had to cut them, I had to cut one, but it wasn't a fast flow nipple. Now I am sure that different babies prefer different things. I haven't really heard of anyone in the group having any issues except one couple, they fixed that by going to a local store and buying a bottle that they use here in China and that seemed to fix their problem. Sippy cups, bring at least one, we didn't and sure enough Alexandria tries to drink from one, she doesn't really know how yet, but she is really trying. Make sure to bring some small toys for your baby to play with, Faye got some cheep little toys at I think wal-mart and she loves them, some of them make noise and some don't but we brought about 4 and it keeps her occupied for the most part. Well I'm getting tired of writing, just thought this might be some useful information for some of you. Take care. Todd>>>>