pictures from taiwan

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Kai seems to be adjusting fairly well.  He is getting much better at sleeping through the night.  Even when he does wake up he understands that it isn't play time but time for sleep.    We are having a hard time getting him to leave the space heaters alone.  He understands but thinks it is a game and can play with them.  Also, the cat is being very tolerant so far of him.  He is not gentle with her.  What he can do with the dog doesn't work as well with the cat.  He is starting to give me kisses and will make eye contact.  At either times I can't get him to look at me.  After his nap today, which wasn't long enough for him, he was cranky and crying still not sure what he wanted.  He refused to look at me.  I finally got him settled down.

He still wants to be picked up all the time.  He loves to throw a tantrum when I am unable to pick him up, like when I am washing my hands.  I am still trying to figure out how to make sure he knows when I microwave something I am not putting it away. 

Connor usually tries to be very helpful and will put Kai in his chair at the dining room table and get him all buckled in. 

Home at last

We made it home.  Kai slept 8 hours of the 10 hour flight.  Which was great in one way, but not so great as he only slept 2 hours last night.  I have to wake him and big brother soon.  I would love to go back to sleep.  Connor has his last soccer game today which I want to go to.  Hopefully, trying to keep Kai up the rest of the day will mean he might sleep tonight.  We shall see.

I realized I never did get any pictures at the airport either going or coming from taiwan.  I usually am good at taking pictures but this time around I wasn't the best at it.  I also realized we forgot a picture of the outside of SLC.  Our oldest son did get a picture of the cab driver who brought us to SLC.

I know there is more I was going to write there was last time and I remember after I logged off.  :(

Hopefully, I will get some pictures loaded it was to slow to upload and post using the netbook I brought to Taiwan.

misc info

At the zoo yesterday some girls stopped to take their picture with Connor.  Then on the MRT this evening two young women got on board and one of them was touching his cheek.  At the night market last night more girls stopped to take a picture with him.  He has had a lot of people noticing him.

Connor has managed to do something his mom has yet to do use a squatty potty.  He had to go poop at the zoo yesterday and used one, I was very surprised.  I managed to find western toilets, some off the handicap ones are.

We fly home tomorrow we leave at 11 p.m. and have to check out of the hotel by 1 p.m.  We have to pick up the chops we had made for kai and connor.  Then maybe head to taipei 101 and take the elevator to top.  Longsham temple and snake alley. 

At the night market yesterday we found some good almond candy and bought two bags.

Finally, we did receive Kai's visa yesterday.  The courier came just before we were leaving for the zoo.  It is amazing how much better my stomach felt after getting the visa.

taipei

We went on a mini tour of northern taiwan today.  The taxi driver wanted to take us to all the tourist spots while we wanted to ocean.  we had to tell him to shorten the trip.  what we saw was cool, just not we had planned.

gotcha day and everything else

After much worry and emails to my slc yahoo group our taxi driver got us to slc in about 10 minute.  Both sets of directions were correct that I had.  We got shown to a smaller room as the "green coach" room was being used by another family.  We have Kai's clothes to Jessica for the nannies to change him into.  We got the blanket and towel the b.m. brought kai to slc in and some other items from her.   Holli, Kai so far refuses to try the gerber banana snacks we brought.

We met with the b.m. who brought kai a gift which we will keep until later.  I am glad she showed up.  She also tried to give us a usb drive of from when kai was with her for 5 months.

kai fell asleep around 8 p.m. last night then woke up at 3 am drank about 3 bottles and refused to go back to sleep.  he was tired and scared.  took a very long long nap, kevin just woke him so he isnt happy.  he ate rice porridge and eggs at breakfast.  as we had ait it was very rushed.

AIT visit was this morning it took 1 1/2 hours.  I didn't realize the officer would ask about b.m.visit and pictures to her plus fees paid to orphanage.  I am so glad my in-laws were here to watch connor during visit as he would not have been able to use his ds.

we are off to ding ding pharmacy after dinner.

Tainan

When I first bring up blogger the screen is in chinese I have to remember where the sign in button is.

We made it to Tainan around 5:30 pm yesterday, Friday.  After a very long taxi ride as it was rush hour and who knows if he went the short or long way we finally made it to the Shangri La, a very nice hotel.  A five star hotel.  We made the mistake of trying to get our son Connor to eat something other than McDonalds which isn't working out well.  He was so exhausted and hungry he ended up thowing up at one of the hotel restaurants.  The staff was wonderful they had our dinner sent up to our room.  We had bought a hamburger which turned out to be a very expensive hamburger which he wouldn't have ate anyway's as the taste was different and I didn't care for the pizza.  I got Connor some french bread.   Kevin went out and got Connor McDonalds and found a food court next to the hotel which the staff hadn't told us about when we asked
about food.  Our new plan of attack is a nice breakfast in the hotel which has many western style choices.  Then chicken nuggets for dinner then we adults can go eat.  Kevin didn't really want to have Connor eat all his dinners at McDonalds but oh well.

We are going to try and check out one of the temples today and perhaps the Jade Market.

Our agency also said the birthmom wants to meet us on Monday.

Taiwan

we finally made it.  We left Seatac at 2 am and arrived in Taipei around 6a.m.  Our  9 1/2 year old only slept about 2 hours of a 12 hour flight.  He is still awake and will not take a nap.  He looks so tired.  It was great going through the airport with my mother in law she requested a wheel chair so we got to go through all the short lines and have someone with us at the Taipei airport.  I didn't even have to worry about getting the hotel address translated the taxi stand knew where the hotel was.

We managed to get an easy card to ride the MRT and took the train to go to Taipei 101.  We decided to take the free shuttle bus from the MRT station to Taipei 101.  We ended up on the wrong shuttle which stopped at a hospital.  We found a taxi to take us back and found a driver that speaks english and drives a small mini van style vehicle.  We took his card in case we want to go on a day trip next week after getting Kai as we can all get in the vehicle.

Tomorrow we head to Tainan for 3 days before getting Kai.  Connor is upset as he wants to get him now.

Ready to leave

Suitcases are packed we are bringing a total of four suitcases, plus a stroller.  We leave for the airport in a few hours.  It is going to be a long wait, we fly out at 2 a.m.  I hope our 9 1/2 year old will fall asleep while we wait at the airport, but most likely he will not.  He is currently annoying me!  Our flying time over is around 12 hours, I am very thankful we have a non-stop flight. 

Kevin had to set his watch for me to take my antibiotic in 24 hours, with the time and day change I am sure I will take it at the wrong time. 

Packing

I figured I should try and download a picture from the new camera my son will be using on the trip to the net book I bought for the trip.  We aren't sure if we are going to take the above suitcase with all of Kai's clothes in it or pack it in our suitcases.  We will be in Taiwan for 5 days with him.  We may also get clothes back from St Lucy's we sent over in a care package. 

One week before leaving

Hotels are booked.  Paying a little more in room charges than I wanted, but oh well.  A cheaper hotel would have been a further walk to the MRT, so I figured centrally located would be better.  Especially as the price difference wasn't that great and if you ended up taking a taxi somewhere, there is your price difference.  We are staying at Caesar Park in Taipei and Shangri La in Tainan. 

I went and requested some Taiwan currency from my bank today, I should get it tomorrow or the next day.  I didn't want to deal with exchanging currency as soon as I got to Taiwan.

New picture

We received an update, last one was in June and a new pictures.  I am a little concerned as he is 1 1/2 pounds over the recommended weight for his car seat.  Hopefully he puts on weight quickly.

Packet of Documents

I spent almost an hour at Kinko's today copying the our last three tax returns.  I tried to make as much double sided as I could.  A lot of paper I get to carry around for the entire trip.

Update

Tickets have been sent Fedex I should receive tomorrow.

The hotel I was going to stay at in Taipei before we leave for Tainan is only available on Thursday not Friday.  I don't know whether to go to Tainan on Friday and have two full days of touring before getting Kai Monday afternoon or choose a different hotel.  I had originally planned on going to Tainan on Saturday. 

Air Plane Tickets Booked

My bank account is feeling poor at the moment.  I book 5 r/t tickets for our trip.

Flying EVA deluxe, non-stop!

Leave WA Wednesday, Nov 3rd arrive Taipei Thursday, Nov 4th at 5 a.m.

Fly home on Friday, Nov 12th arrive 5:30 p.m.

WE HAVE TRAVEL DATES!!

We pick Kai up on November 8th at 1 p.m.

No Update

We still haven't heard anything from Taiwan.  We received our first decree about one month ago.  Still waiting to hear about final and AIT appointment.

Room

My husband finally put the crib together.  I am surprised we were able to find all the hardware for it as it has been in storage for a while.  We are leaving the twin bed up in the room as well incase one of us needs to sleep in the room with Kai. 

Getting ready

We finally have the crib up and my friend gave us some toys her daughter no longer plays with.  I went through what few clothes I have been buying and realized I need to buy some warm winter clothes and pajamas.  Kai is going to come from a very warm 90 degree climate to 50 degrees with lots of rain.

New pictures

We were not expecting new pictures as we received some last month.  Kai is looking at the photo book we sent.