Photo Details

Oh, what a busy time the past two weeks! We lost internet access in China for a week and then traveled back to the US during our Spring Festival school break. There was no electricity on our row for the Cathay Pacific 12 hour flight. They wanted everyone to stay in their seats due to turbulence but with no lights or TV, that is a little challenging with a three year old (who was so looking forward to watching Playhouse Disney in English for the first time in months). They gave us a big flashlight to try to hold if we needed to see something. The only open seats were center ones, where I couldn't put Abbey by herself and no one wanted to move. Given the situation I think she did pretty well. We sat next to someone very nice who didn't complain about her wiggling at all. The airline offered us a $25 voucher for duty free goods...I couldn't even respond except to say, "No, thank you." I'm now in correspondence with their customer service department.
We've been in a whirl of business that need to be taken care of here, and also trying to spend some time with family and friends. I have lots to tell, as always, but no time to write : )
I do at least want to take a moment to say a big thank you for all your kind comments here and on FB about Abbey's photo. Many of you asked for more details, so I will share a little here. I was wanting to get some current professional photos and wasn't sure how to go about that in China. I've seen fancy shops with lots of clothes and backdrops but they seemed geared toward babies. My friends had been explaining to me about having them done at a store that I can only liken to BabiesRUs (but really so wildly Chinese and different) but it sounded like quite an ordeal, and very expensive. We were shopping a couple of weeks ago at an infamous place that has 8 floors of knock-offs, pearls, fabric, etc. and were approached by a girl to have photos done. They had stopped us about a month before on our first trip to this "mall" and I just didn't have the time or energy. Abbey really wanted to do it and I thought it would be a good gift for my family. In a very tiny little shop they do your hair, makeup (that's why she looks so much older), costumes, and then take photos. The cost was 150 rmb (about $22 usd). Abbey loved having her hair and makeup done (first time) and I didn't think much about it until later. Because this was a spur of the moment thing I really didn't process it all. Looking back we still would have done the photos, but I would have put some boundaries on things. It was my mistake as a parent, I just got caught up in the moment. Abbey has the most delightful personality, and I want the focus to stay on the beauty of who she is as a person. She is still a baby with fat under her chin, wears a pull up at night, and drinks warm milk from a sippy cup. There will be plenty of chances for make-up and fancy dresses when she's much older. That being said, I do love the photos and will treasure them. I bought a disc and they made a little book that is coated with this great stuff that makes it water and fingerprint proof, it's really neat - kind of like a fancy board book with a matte coating. The disc and book were 250 rmb ($37 usd). We will probably go back and have photos done together because I want to dress up too and you can't beat the price. The ladies there really know what they are doing. We picked a Japanese outfit and a Chinese one. When I went on a hutong tour in Beijing (pre-adoption) I visited a family's home that had a special dress up photo from when their daughter was 2 yrs. old and she was now in her 30's. You could see that it was one of their most important possessions. I also have a treasured photo of my mom when she was three and was a flower girl in a wedding. So it had always been in my mind to do something like that. Now we are returning to our footie pajamas and our regular preschool appearance, I am keeping my girl in 3 yr. old mode as long as I can.