Oliver's first night with mom and big sis!

It's 6:25 am in China and Oliver is still asleep ~ he's slept straight through since 10 pm.  I wasn't expecting him to sleep this well, but I'm not complaining.  Sydney is waiting patiently for him to wake up so that she can play with him.  She just watched a commercial on TV for a product that will help grow hair, she thought that maybe we should get it for Oliver for Christmas!
 
Today we're off to have the adoption finalized ~ lots of papers to be signed and the Why do you want to adopt? interview.  Just a few more hoops to jump through!  :-)
 
Shelley, Scott and Kari have all been wonderful with Sydney and Oliver.  Lisa' been great too!  Shelley's gang looked after Sydney yesterday while Lisa helped me exchange money at the Bank of China.  Our group of 3 families took 3.5 hrs to do our transactions.  When I adopted Sydney, I was able to bring US cash, this time all fees had to be paid in Chinese Yuan.  Lisa summed it up very well when we left the bank, consumers are not valued in this economy.
 
Take care and I'll update again Iwhen I can.  On that note, I should thank my friend Karen who is taking these emails and updating the blog.  Most blogs are blocked in China.  Sydney doesn't really understand this and I've been trying to gently explain it to her...she said she's glad to be here but really glad she lives in Canada.  (I'll be keeping this comment to remind her of this when she's a teenager!)  :-)
 
Thanks for reading the blog and again, thanks Karen for making this possible.
 
Linda

PS from Karen, "it's my absolute pleasure!" :)
 

Oliver

Oliver is beautiful!  He did well at the presentation with only a few tears.  He's obviously been held lots...that extra attention boys get in Chinese orphanages!  Sydney was so excited to finally meet him.  He was perfect on the bus ride back and was quite content for about 1 hr.  When we changed his diaper and clothes, he got upset and it took quite some time for him to settle down.  Finally he fell asleep on me at 6:30 pm.  I'm going to let him sleep as long as he can and I'm prepared to be up with him lots in the night.  A little girl in my class gave me a Fisher Price toy which I gave to him when I got him and he hasn't let that thing go...just like Sydney and her plastic keys when I adopted her.
 
Oliver seems healthy, alert and delightful!  Yes, he's stressed but I was expecting and prepared for that.  Sydney on the other hand, was very concerned because of Oliver being so upset, she laid down and went to sleep and woke up when Oliver fell asleep.  She was happy to see that he had finally stopped crying!  As Oliver gets to know us, it will get easier and easier for him.
 
The other two babies from our group are beautiful, as well.  They all seem healthy and very well taken care of.
 
It's been a wonderful day...
 
Love,
Linda
 
PS If you can post this when you get a chance, that would be great.  The rest of the gang is out shopping for Oliver and have their iphones so I can't send you pictures right now.  As soon as I get a chance, I will.

The Coles have arrived in China!

Hey folks,

Karen here.....Linda just emailed and asked me to post this for her (note that it's currently 3:43am Sunday in Beijing right now).

We are all wide awake but have slept.  Arrived in Beijing after an excellent flight.  Heading to Guangdong at 8:30am and will meet Oliver tomorrow afternoon (that will be sometime Sunday night for all of us back here in Canada). 

Oliver's Orphange

Here's a link to the orphange Oliver has lived in since he was 3 months old.

http://www.zhanjiangkids.org/orphanage.htm

Oliver Cole

We're busy getting ready to fly to China Dec. 2nd and meet Oliver Dec. 5th!