The post you have all been waiting for!!!!!!

It is 3:30 in the morning here and I my beautiful family is sleeping soundly, I however can not sleep.  I tried to post last night to the blog but the internet was down so I am happy that is up and working now.  Today was a bit of a rough day for all of us, but also one that we will never forget.  The nannies along with our guide brought Alice to our room this afternoon and when I opened the door there she was standing there very stoic and serious.  We tried to lure her into the room, but she would not budge!  The nannes finally picked her up and carried her in.  She is a very serious and curious little girl.  She just stared at us and watched us.  Tai and I tried and tried to play with her and she just stared at us.  Finally we (jason,tai,and I) played cars and stacking cups and she finally decided to join in... but not too much.  She just stood next to her nannies and would not move an inch closer to us.  After some time, they finally picked her up and handed her to me.  And unleashed the water works.  Oh, the sweet girl cried and cried.  Eventually the nannies left and our guide and Jason did paperwork.  Tai and I were able to calm her down and she actually played a little with us.  After we did the paperwork and put our thumb prints on every page, our guide took us to the market across the street for some formula and bottles.  Apparantly, she still takes formula and a bottle.  None of which mama brought.  Alice will not let me put her down and so I carried her to the store.  She did finally start to talk a little bit while we were at the store.  She seemed to like the escaltor.  (the escalator is like the moving sidewalks at the airport only they go up and down floors, so no stairs like we have at home).  Tai also loves them!  After much debate, my guide and I finally chose a bottle and some formula.  My guide asked her if she would like noodles for dinner and she said yes.  And so we walked away with a case of noodles and some Avenger goggles for Tai:) and a somewhat happier child, although still very serious!  She finally let me put her down at the hotel, which was a relief to me.  We are on the 11th floor and she and Tai stood and looked out the window.  Tai was so sweet and adorable with her.  He was holding her hand and pointing out all the cars and motorcycles to her and telling her all about the sites.  It was so very sweet and we have some video of it.  When we got back to the room, we played a little bit more.  By this time it was about 8pm and we knew it was time for bed.  And that is when the real screaming began.  She cried and screamed for HOURS!  An awful and heartbreaking cry.  She would point to the door and cry "mama". It broke all our hearts, I know she is so confused right now.  She would not eat or drink anything.  We tried numerous varieties of cups/sippies/bottles and every food and snack imaginable.  I finally gave her a sucker and she did grab onto it and take a few licks.   Tai was so good during the meltdown.  We just put on a video for him and if I walked to close to him with her, he would sweetly say "can you take her over there, she is kinda loud."   Eventually we put on one of Tai's chinese Mei Mei videos and we all sat on the bed and watched it.  I am not sure if it was the chinese or the complete exhaustion or both, but she finally dozed off in my lap.  I gave her the bottle and she just put it in her mouth but never drank.  She fell alseep in her Angry birds outfit holding her sucker.  We were finally able to get her shoes off her and pry the sucker free and we put her in her crib.  She has been sleeping since.  She is a very sweet girl just very sad and grieving.  We do hope that tommorrow we can get a few smiles out of her.  It was a rough day.  Today was very different than Tai's gotcha day....for sure!

Tai has done exceptionally well.  He is a good big brother and wants to do everything for her.  He has begged and begged to hold her and pick her up.  We keep telling him maybe later when she is more comfortable with us.  At one point while they were walking together, he just reached over and picks her up. For one thing she is not that small, and of course it freaked her out.  He wants to feed her and hold her bottle for her.  Mama made a HUGE mistake by trying to take her shoes off her (yes, slap my hand, I should have known better.  but I was dying to see if all the cute ones I brought would fit her) - anyway Tai was extremely upset b/c I was quickly trying to put them back on her and he wanted to do it.  That is when Tai had his meltdown.  Honestly, this was the first one of the trip, so not too bad.  I just took him to the couch and rocked him and let him cry.  Alice just sat on the floor and watched the entire thing while Jason tried to play with her.  And so that was my night, I went from one screaming child to the next.  Jason is getting a break:)  As we all know, he was the one if that boat last trip and so the tables have turned.

I am very bummed that we did not get any of the stuff we sent to her returned.  We did not get the 2 disposable cameras, the blanket, the lovey, the toys,  or clothes. All they sent was the backpack and the video camera. I haven't checked yet, but I am not  hopeful there is anything on the camera.

Guess I should try to get a little sleep.  I have to be up in 2 more hours.  We have a busy and early morning.  We are going to the notary and some other official stuff.