Livvie goes to the zoo

As we board the bus I look at the faces of the babies, something looks different. It takes a few moments to realize they look calmer, visibly more relaxed. The blank stares and furrowed brows are all gone. These kids are settling in with their new families.

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At first it felt awkward calling the baby Olivia, Liv or Livvie. I can't really explain it. I would look at her and just not think that name. It wasn't that I was detached, I was attached to her and absolutely in love with her before I ever held her. Today I felt that awkward feeling had slipped away. Calling her by her name feels comfortable now. I like to call her "Liv", it fits her well. Now that she is out of that orphanage she will get to live.

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Another thing I notice, at this stage of the game the rookies in the bunch stand out. You can see the veterans moms handling the babies with ease while the rookies stumble and have difficulty soothing their babies when they cry. This trip is hard enough, I can't imagine trying to figure out how a baby works too. It would be like trying to drive a car for the first time at the Indy 500. In the back of my mind I begin to hope that I am surrounded by the seasoned, battle tested moms on the flight home. I know it's mean but it is a 13 hour flight...it's every man (or baby) for themselves.

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We visit the Xiangjiang Safari Park. This place is huge, and empty. I mean EMPTY! At one point we walked for over an hour without seeing another park visitor. It began to feel like we walked into some post-apocalyptic horror film. I was waiting for the zombies to crawl out of the bushes and try to eat our brains. Either that or the park workers were capturing the American tourists and feeding them to the tigers because park revenues were down and they could no longer afford fresh meat.

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I manage to nap on the bus until one of the rookie mom's babies does a full on freak out. Hours of blood curdling screams from the seat in front of me... OK more like 20 minutes but it felt like hours. Maybe Dawn should teach a rookie mom class.

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We went to dinner at a local place called Lucy's that caters to Americans. It's decorated with American memorabilia. There is even a New Jersey license plate on the wall, very comforting. It's becoming apparent that Livvie is becoming an American girl before we ever get home. See she's enjoying and PB&J and some french fries......does it get any more American than that?