Gabe's 1st Haircut by Nana!

I shot a few photos of Gabe's first haircut from Nana today and thought you all might be interested in seeigng the photos

Enjoy - from Papa

Getting better

I think Gabe and Brian are over their jet lag. Gabe slept through the night the past two nights. I, however, can't sleep for longer than 3 hours at a time. I get up for a couple hours and then go back to my series of naps. Gabe went to his pediatrician on Monday and the doctor was very pleased with how healthy (overall - but he has an ear infection right now) Gabe looked and acted. He admitted that he was expecting something else entirely when we described his diagnosis before we left. It was encouraging. He had to get a chest xray, which I convinced my sister to take him in for me. Then we had to try to get blood for some tests, which was unsuccessful and horribly painful to watch. The nurse said that many factors were making it difficult to get a vain and our other choice was to do a finger prick and fill a vial. She went to my doctor and asked if these were critical at this point because we were getting Gabe so stressed out that he was getting more cyanotic (turning blue) which he already has some signs of in his fingers and toes. However, getting so upset was making his mouth and around his eyes turn blue. He will have to get blood work done before surgery, so we decided all of the less critical tests can be done at the same time. It is so heartbreaking to see a child go through pain and not even be able to explain what is going on to them. I know I am going to have to toughen up here, but it is hard, he is a baby. The good news is that the pediatrician and his surgeon (whom we ran into) both commented on how well he was looking and I am feeling that is a good indication. We see Dr. Shah on Friday and he will be ordering tests for more specific information. I think by the end of next week, we will know a lot more of what we are looking at and have a date for surgery. Again, we will keep you posted. I just wanted everyone to know that on the day to day, things are getting better. I have excepted the fact that my house will never look the same and pretty much nothing will be the same. It is all a good thing! Our families have been SO supportive since we have been back. It is great. I know there are many others who would like to meet our little man, so as soon as we have the date of the surgery, we are going to try to throw a little meet and greet together. We love to show him off . We will keep posting periodically, so keep checking back.

There's No Place Like Home

We are back! I should have posted earlier, but between adjusting to a new home and all of us having jet lag, I haven't gotten to it. Yesterday, I got up at midnight, Gabe was up at 3:00 a.m. and Brian at 4:30 a.m. So naturally, we went to Walmart at 4:30 in the morning. We had the whole place to ourselves! Brian's family all came for a nice visit yesterday, unfortunately, Gabe was so tired that he wasn't the best host. We will get there in the next few days. Gabe sees his doctor tomorrow and we are scheduled to see the cardiologist on Friday. We are hoping that we can move it up a couple days. We are very anxious to get him better and we really want the process to start. I will keep everyone posted as soon as we know about a surgery. Not much to report, I just wanted to let you know that we made it home. It was so nice to sleep (or try to sleep) in my own bed. Yeah!

Getting ready to leave

We are just getting packed and ready to head to the airport. We had an interesting experience last night. We asked the staff at the hotel about getting good seafood and they sent us to a place very close by. There are several seafood markets and several restaurants in a cluster. One had a sign that stated the New York Times rated it as one of the top ten restaraunts in Asia. We checked out their menu and another restaurant (but theirs had no English) and we were trying to decide where to go. This place was crazy because all of the fishing boats are working right on the coast by the market and they deliver the live fish to the market. You then go and pick out what you want, take it to the restaraunt you want and they charge you to prepare it. We were at the really nice place and I asked her if we could just pay someone else to pick out our fish and she said no. This was the only way it is done. So, we headed off to the market. Of course, they are fishing for the same things in the South China Sea, so we didn't really recognize much. We fortunately found a woman working there who spoke English. She picked out some type of trout and a lobster. She was moving on to the scallops and I told her that we probably had enough for the two of us. She told us that the really nice place doesn't cook it as good as the other, and she offered to walk us over and talk to the manager about what we wanted. This guy also spoke some English, so it was helpful. Apparently, people who go to these places don't often get side dishes, which is why she was trying to give me so much seafood. Many of the people in the place were only eating seafood and nothing else. We asked the manager for something, rice or noodles or a vegetable. He didn't seem to understand completely, so I told him to surprise me. He did ok, we got spinach and crispy noodles. The dinner was really good, even though they steamed the fish. The Asians can steam anything. Most don't have ovens, so they have mastered the art of steaming. They even make bread this way. The entire experience was very interesting. Brian got a picture of our dinner before we bagged it. The lobster was pulled out and managed to splash us as she was holding it up. Gabe thought that was pretty funny. It was hands down, the freshest seafood that I have ever had!

We also had a scary experience yesterday. We took Gave to the beach and as we were walking out there, I noticed that his eyes were watering. I thought he was crying at first. Brian and I thought it might have been because we had just seen a European man in the skimpiest thong imaginable, which is why we would have been crying. We sat on the sand for about a mintue and his eyes got worse. We went back to the room and they were swelling. Luckily, we brought every medicine under the sun and we gave him some Benedryl and baby Tylenol. We think he was allergic to something out there, maybe the salt from the ocean? He got cranky and finally feel asleep. His eyes looked much better when he woke up. It was the stragest thing. Now we are worried that he is going to have a problem with allergies. We are especially worried that he will be allergic to dogs. Yikes! (cross your fingers on that one)

I better get back up to the room. Gabe will be getting up soon and we will have to get him ready for the big trip. We are so excited to get home. Upon our arrival, we will go through customs and immigration. As soon as they stamp Gabe's passport, he will be considered an American citizen. Yeah!!! This is a big day. Then it is off to Chili's where I can drink the water and practice my freedom of speech. The joys of America!!! See you all in the States!

Happy Anniversary

We are finally in Hong Kong and I think this is the most beautiful city that I have ever seen. The downtown is very modern and cosmopolitan. We are staying in, what the cab driver referred to as, the countryside. Our hotel is on the beach and there is a harbour on one side. We are watching the boats go by in the ocean. We took Gabe to the pool for his first real swimming experience. The very first time we tried was in an indoor pool and he hated it. Today was outdoor and he was indifferent. He mostly wanted to sit in his floaty and watch the kids play. We didn't keep him out long because it is very hot here. Both of my boys are sleeping, so I am going to head back out and lay out for a little bit. Later in the day, we will take Gabe to the beach. I think he will really enjoy playing in the sand. We will be sure to get some pictures of that.

Our last day in Guangzhou was a little bit sad. We have gotten pretty close to some of the families and our goodbye was a little abrupt. We went to the American Consulate to have an "interview" and then we took a group oath. After that, the bus dropped 4 families off at the train station and we were just able to give a shout out goodbye to the families. Fortunately, we have email address and we will be able to keep in touch. It is quite an experience to share with others and it seems weird to not have them around now.

The family that we were to our province with had similar problems getting their visa. They were supposed to come to HK with us last night and they are not able to leave Guangzhou. They are still waiting on their paperwork. We were lucky to have 3 other families with us on the train because once we left, we were completely on our own. No more guides or language assistance. We all got through the train station together and had to change money again. The interesting thing about HK is that is is technically China, but they have their own money. They say "One country, two systems." Also, I am able to blog in Hong Kong. There is a much different feel here. So far, most people speak quite a bit of English, so I am not too worried.

We had planned to go to Ocean Park today and see some of the animals and sights, but I think we are going to stay around the resort. It is our 4th anniversary and we thought just bumming around would be a great day. For the last 15 days it has been pretty scheduled and busy, so relaxing will be nice. I am also glad that we took a day before we make our big flight. It will be good to get rested up. We are dreading the 14.5 hours with a baby that doesn't like to sit still. After the in country flight, we aren't as worried about the heart condition on the flight. He did so well on the other one. We are more concerned with keeping him entertained and hopefully getting him to sleep. Luckily we are on business class and we will have some room for him to play in front of us. I am sure the people around us tomorrow will be wishing they were sitting somewhere else!

The train ride to HK was interesting. So far it seems that there isn't much to the middle class in China. It is mostly both extremes. We saw some shacks on rice fields yesterday that were shocking. People were living in these fields. It was very sad. I have gained a great appreciation for my home, family and my country during this process. I think some of these kids in our group, especially the older children, are not going to believe their new lives. Apparently, in GZ, the apartments are all about 1000 sq feet max and they cost around 300, 000 US dollars. We went to many parks and they are always packed with people because that is the only place that people can have space. Can you imagine?!? There are no houses, only apartments. I can't wait to have Gabe experience his own yard and all the space in our house.

I am rambling now, I will will sign off. I am going to lay out and enjoy some quiet time. We are so looking forward to getting back home. We will post when we return to let everyone know that we got back safely. Gabe will see his pediatrician on Monday and his cardiologist on Friday. I suspect that the cardiologist will go ahead and schedule the open heart surgery for the next week or two. We plan to blog through that process as well to keep everyone informed.

We have so appreciated the support and love from everyone during this process. It has been quite a journey and knowing that people are checking in on us and sending messages really helped. We will plan to have a "Meet Gabe" party at some point, hopefully before his surgery. Anyone is welcome to stop by and say hello. I will keep everyone posted on that date. Thanks again and we will post in two days!!!

Last day in China!!!

After a couple hours of back and forth emails late last night, we got the paperwork we needed to leave today! Gabe will get his visa and we take our oath at 3:00 today. Our train for Hong Kong leaves at 6:15 and we should be there around 8:00 tonight. We will have a couple days of r & r on the beach. I went to put a post on Facebook today and they have now banned it. We think it is because of the political unrest going on in part of the country. None of us have been able to access FB since yesterday. It will be nice to be back in a country where we can use our freedom of speech! Thanks for all of the prayers and support. We are getting ready to go to the park and then for dim sum for lunch. Last night's restaurant had a live market of any kind of sea food or fish that you would want. They even had large, live alligators (mouths taped shut) that you could pick out the one that you wanted. It was bizarre. Gotta run. I will post again in Hong Kong! Love you all!

Ang, Brian, & Gabe

Visa Problems Resolved!

Apparently Angela contacted someone in the US who was able to fax the consulate in China all the necessary paperwork and, for now, all is good. I think they have it resolved in time that all their previously made connections will be intact. We still expect to meet them at O'hare on Friday 7/10.

Bill Calliss (Angela's Dad)