This post is primarily focused on the parents in waiting and those who are interested in understanding how an 11 month old baby can literally polish off an 8oz bottle in less than 30 seconds (we are not exaggerating).

I have included here a picture of the bottle that Cleo’s orphanage was kind enough to provide us with, and a close up of the nipple next to a typical Playtex nipple we brought from home.

You can see that this hole makes for some pretty impressive eating!  Truthfully, a very efficient way to get a baby to eat quickly….although it does cause gas…..lots of it.

Of course, Cleo decided that bottles were old news pretty much the week before we left China, leaving all of these bottles and nipples irrelevant.

Left: Orphanage nipple Right: Playtex nipple

Orphanage bottle

The bottle

Cleo awake on the plane... very, very awake

Fortunately customs and immigration were super fast, and our luggage was ready for pickup by the time we were at the luggage turnstile.  So we zipped out of the airport pretty quickly.  It was kind of strange as we were the first to get out of the airport security area and we were greeted by a large number of families awaiting the arrival of the other families with adopted children.  So there were quite a lot of excited cheers as we walked out... the crowd was definitely on edge awaiting to finally see the girls that were joining their respective families!  

Luckily, we managed to get Cleo to sleep at 7:30pm and we followed her lead very shortly afterwards.  (26.5 hours no sleep and counting at that point in time.)  She woke up once in the night for feeding/changing/play time, and then slept through till 4:30am.  I got up and played with Cleo while Steph got some much needed sleep.   So hopefully this means we can get her switched over with the time change pretty quickly.  We shall have to see as Cleo may have other plans for us.

Now it is time to get settled in and comfortable in our surroundings.  It will be a pretty quiet time for the three of us to let Cleo adjust.

Wow, what a trip.  It has been a long and tiring journey to meet our wonderful little daughter Cleo!  Today we fly home and the time here has been a blur of activity and action as we suddenly went from a family of two to a family of three!  Cleo is quite the bundle of activity and energy nowadays and she is eating meals constantly.  She smiles, laughs, crawls, rolls, and keeps trying to walk.  Yesterday's feat that daddy must brag about; Cleo managed to walk between the two beds in our room!  It is around 2 to 2.5 feet between the beds and she had the biggest smile when she managed this little trick! It will likely still be a while before Cleo walks any long distance as she still prefers to crawl.  But it is still amazing to see her develop so quickly.

The last leg of our journey is now finally upon us.  Our flight home from Beijing leaves today.  It will certainly be a trying and tiring 14 hours for the whole family.  Hopefully Cleo will be ok and maybe mom and dad will be able to get a little bit of sleep.  Then we will be back home to start the next part of our journey and adventure with Cleo.  I will always cherish the time I spent in China and am forever thankful for the opportunity we have been given to be a forever family.  I know there will be difficult times and fun times ahead adjusting to life at home.  But I truly look forward to our time together!

I hope to post more thoughts about the journey once we are home, but I suspect it will take a while until my next update as we try and settle in at home.  I would like to thank everyone for checking into our modest little site to follow our journey and to thank everyone that sent us kind words of encouragement while we were in China.   

Our hotel room in Beijing

Cleo's crib in Beijing

Our last bus ride to the airport

About to enter Beijing customs

Cleo sleeping before the flight...

Our final day in Beijing.  It was a free day where we could enjoy Beijing on our own.  Walking around the hotel area was enjoyable and Cleo again slept most of the time we walked.  We are getting anxious to get home now as it has been a long time away from our friends and family. 

Overall, it was a nice wind down day that allowed us to enjoy Beijing on our own.  Well, it was nice until Cleo decided to not go to sleep.  In desperation we packed up Cleo and put her in her snowsuit and went for a 10:45pm walk outside.  30 minutes of walking later, Cleo was out cold... we managed to get her out of her snowsuit and into bed without her waking up.  It was a tiring way to end the day.   

Our hotel in Beijing - the Beijing International

China Post slogans made us smile

Relaxing at the Hotel bar

Enjoying our final dinner

The final dinner crowd