Leaving Fuzhou

We spent our last day in Fuzhou today. We let Caitlin sleep late, then Skyped with our family and friends. Afterwards we met Helen downstairs to go over some paperwork, and to pick up Caitlin's birth certificate and adoption finalization paperwork. Then we decided to enjoy our last meal in Fuzhou at a nice restaurant instead of the hotel restaurant, so Helen suggested a place down the street from the hotel. She stopped by and took care of everything for us, ordering our food and setting everything up since none of them spoke any English. We went with the other family and had our own personal room! The food was really great; I said that it was by far the best meal I'd had since I got here!

Caitlin, however, did not agree. She started to pitch a fit and would not allow me to eat. Every time I tried to put a bite in my mouth, or even take a sip of my drink, she would start to scream. I had already missed breakfast and was not going to miss lunch as well (especially with how good everything looked and smelled!), so as soon as Paul was finished eating he had to take Caitlin outside so I could eat.

When we got back to the room we had only a little over an hour and a half until we had to check out, so I got Caitlin down for a nap, then we started packing. At 2:15 the hotel decided we had overstayed our welcome and it was time to go! They literally kicked us out; the head maid came in and asked if we were still using the baby bed (um, duh, do you see the baby sleeping in it? Yes, we're still using it!), then another maid came in and started stripping our bed and a bell boy came and started taking our luggage, even though I was still trying to stuff things in! It was insane. Paul was downstairs checking out, so I finally had to just close up the suitcases, put the leftover stuff in a paper bag (we had to finish finding places for it all at the airport), grab Caitlin (who was still sleeping and did not appreciate being awaken so abruptly one bit!), and run out the door. Caitlin was grumpy, I was flustered, and I'm still not sure what all we left behind in our hurry to get out.

We then headed up to our "ceremony" to get the babies' passports. It wound up not being so much of a ceremony, but it was nice. The police officer who did the final checking-out was very friendly, and excited to practice his English. He even asked to pose for a picture with all of us afterwards- and asked Helen to take a picture with his camera as well!

Then we headed to the airport. We checked in, got our seat assignments, then decided to eat at KFC (in the airport) for dinner. We got to our gate to discover that our flight had been delayed. We were supposed to take off at 7:30, but now we weren't taking off until 8:45 (PM). We were supposed to be landing at 8:45, and I was worried enough about how little sleep Caitlin was going to get. We had gotten to the airport at around 4 PM, so we had almost 5 hours to kill. All of us adoptive families settled down in one area together and just let the kids play while we talked. Caitlin all of a sudden came out of her shell like you wouldn't believe! I guess she was just so happy to be leaving that horrible hotel room for good so she figured she could finally relax! She was walking, making funny noises, playing with me and even one of the other children. She was so cute and it was just so fun to watch her little personality! She was entertaining everyone!

We finally got on the plane and as soon as we started moving, Caitlin passed out. Thankfully she slept through her first flight. I was concerned about what the pressure was going to do to her ears, but she did not seem to notice. She woke up as we were getting off the plane, and did not want to go back to sleep. There was just too much excitement and those big eyes of hers had to take everything in! We had to wait forever to get our luggage, then met back up with Susan, then had a long drive to the hotel. By the time we finally got here, checked in, and got to the room, it was after midnight. I got Caitlin to sleep pretty quickly, then we still had to unpack and get organized and ready for bed so we didn't go to bed until after 1 AM. I'm worried about tomorrow with so little sleep. We have Caitlin's medical appointment, and she may be getting a bunch of shots. She really needed a good night's sleep for what she's about to have to go through.

There have been 2 things about this trip that I have been dreading: the medical appointment and the 12-hour flight home. At least one of the 2 will be out of the way by tomorrow afternoon!