Day 5

Our day is winding to a close.

Grace slept all night last night. We put her to bed a little before 9:00, and she slept until about 6:00. That was so wonderful!! She had a bath and a bottle, then we went down to breakfast. I have never seen a baby eat so much. She had 2 bowls of congee, a Chinese rice soup. Plus she had some Cheerios and a few bites of watermelon. Then she had another half a bottle. By the time she stopped eating her belly was so big it wouldn’t stay pulled down. Her daddy said, “No more belly shirts for you little girl!”

After breakfast we went to the Hunan Museum. It contains artifacts that are over 2100 years old. In the early 70s archeologists discovered the tomb of the wife of the first ruler of Hunan Province. It kind’ve reminded you of the Egyptians, with all the stuff buried with her. There was food, including animals. They had decayed but the bones were still there. There were containers of beans and wheat with some still in the containers. There were paintings and manuscripts on silk, there was clothing, and statues of musicians and dancers. And there was a preserved body. It wasn’t mummified, just well preserved. They had some of the internal organs in jars, and some of the acid found in the stomach was in a jar. The body was inside three coffins, and each were elaborately painted. They were beautiful. Dimple said the body was so well preserved because she had been buried very deeply.

We went shopping afterwards at a baby store. “Everything you need for your babies,” Dimple told us. I had forgotten to pack baby washcloths, so we got some there. We got four washcloths for 8 yuan ($1).

We finally got to go back to the hotel. We had lunch with the Pestingers, Melissa’s family. Nancy and Matt adopted a 3 year old boy named Jonathon.

After lunch we went back to our room. Grace was beyond exhausted. Nancy said she wanted to see if Jonathon would take a nap, then she would take the girls swimming. Melissa decided to come to our room to watch Kim Possible. Grace went to bed, but not willingly. She cried and cried and cried. She would wind down like she was going to stop, then she’d rev back up. Once she got to sleep, however, she slept for a long time.

When the movie was over I took Melissa up to her room. On the way down, for some reason, I went down one floor too many. The thing was, I didn’t even realize it until I got off the elevator and started toward our room. I was obviously too tired. So when I finally got back to our room I laid down and took a nap. Miracle was gone swimming when I finally woke at 5:45. I had slept for over two hours! Grace had woken up and was eating crackers and watching The Princess Bride with Mike when I woke up. Actually, she had been. Her daddy got to change her dirty diaper, not me this time.

She ate more crackers and congee later, and Mike and I put her jammies on her, along with some cream for her rash.

We ordered room service for supper. Now we’re watching National Treasure. I’m hoping we get to go to bed early tonight.

We made amazing strides today. Grace will now sit in a high chair and eat. She also sat in a stroller today. Right now she’s sitting on the floor beside her sister. She’s being very quiet, playing with some toys, and picking stuff off the carpet. Did I mention she’s a disaster of a cracker eater? She gets them all over everything. She tried to talk to Miracle, but Miracle is more interested in the movie than her sister. But she’s sitting on the floor!! That is so amazing!!!!!!!

I wish you all could see our hotel room. You would crack up! We wash out our delicates in the sink. It’s so humid here, they take forever to dry. We’ve got bras hanging from lamps, and underwear draped on the top of them. There are socks over mirrors, and baby clothes everywhere. I just hope everything dries before Friday morning.

I think Grace is about ready for bed, so I’m going to go. I hope you all have a good day. Talk to you tomorrow.

PS Please pray for Mike. He's starting to get a sinus infection. He has no antibioltics to take, and he's quite miserable. I don't want the flight home to be aweful for him.