I guess every woman has mother's instincts AND fun on shopping excursion (entry by Larry)

Guest writer Larry here. I had to write about two experiences that I have had here in Zhengzhou.

Back home in the states we have a little dog named Jedi. Sometimes Jedi needs to go outside in the middle of the night or she might get scared as a storm approaches (she is a sissy dog). I would always hear Jedi when she needed help, whether it was a little yip, a bark, or even her sleeping chair creaking as she prepared to jump down from it to come let us know that there is a problem in her world. Erin would always sleep through all of that (and more, including when thunder would make the house shake - "What, it rained last night?") I had assumed that the same situation would play out with Abigail, however here in China there is quite a different story. It seems that having a baby brings out an unknown sonar ability in Erin. We have now had two straight nights where Abigail woke up and Erin heard her and I did not. This morning Erin actually had to wake me up to help her. I didn't know that Erin was up out of bed or that Abigail was awake! I am glad that one of us can hear this little monster when she needs us.

We (the adoption group minus Erin and Abigail) went shopping at the Lotus store the other day. I had a shopping list ready to go and was excited about seeing what the CCAI people deemed the "Chinese Wal-Mart" (there are actual Wal-Marts here in China, but I guess the Chinese don't really like them.) When we went in the CCAI guide told us that the first floor of the building was all little self-owned shops, like a market. The second and third floors were the Lotus store. The second floor was all food and the third floor had everything else (clothes, electronics, sporting goods, etc.) They gave us 1.5 hours to complete our shopping. I thought that was too long as this amount of shopping would take me about 15 minutes back home. I tried to get started on my list and immediately found Abigail's formula. I had assumed that all the baby stuff would be together, but sadly, that was not the case. The formula was at the front of the 2nd floor, the diapers were at the front of the 3rd floor, the pacifier was in the middle of the third floor, and the baby snacks were with the crackers on the 2nd floor. I would never have been able to find all of this stuff without our CCAI guide, Rita. I had to accuse her of slipping a tracking chip onto my shirt somewhere because every time that I felt lost or couldn't find what I wanted Rita would show up next to me out of thin air. She would take me to the zone I needed to be in and then disappear to go help somebody else. I would probably still be shopping now if not for her help. Even with her help it took me 70 minutes to shop, look through the meat and veggie section of the store, and check out. The store was full of people in the veggie and meat section. I was surprised as to how crowded it was, however Yisha, another CCAI guide, later said that she was really happy that the store was empty! I guess it is all relative. The only downside to the store was that I couldn't find any Toppo for snacks for Erin and me (and gifts for some O'Broktas back home) and had to settle for Pocky instead.

Back at the hotel now (at 5:30 AM) we are really happy because Abigail doesn't seem to have anywhere near the runny nose problem that she has had since we got her AND Abigail's digestive system is totally working properly now (she was going #1 fine, but we had to wait a while for #2 to happen). She seems much happier now.