Day 7 - AIT and Taipei 101

Today we went to AIT to apply for Tessa's visa. The AIT is the American Institute in Taiwan, which is basically the US Embassy. They don't call it an embassy because Taiwan is technically a Republic of China and not its own country. Everything went well, and two hours later, we were told to return tomorrow for her visa. Phew.

Afterwards, we were supposed to go sightseeing, but decided to stay at the hotel instead for the afternoon. Tessa hadn't been taking her bottles at all from us, and she seemed really tired so we thought maybe it was time to take a break. She ended up taking about a four hour nap! And, we figured out the bottle issue. We think the first bottle we gave her was way too hot, and she remembered. She's very smart. :) Over the past two days, she'd take water from a cup, but the second you offered her a bottle she'd freak out, arch her back, and cry. Crazy. Finally, this afternoon we made a bottle, then poured some in a cup. She sipped that. Then, we took the nipple off the bottle and let her drink from it like a cup. She sipped that. Then, we showed her the bottle while we put the nipple back on. She finally took it...and sucked it dry. We were SO relieved!! Since then, she's taken two more bottles and is down for the night.

She's really starting to bond well to us and even showed some stranger anxiety and a bit of separation anxiety today. She doesn't seem to have a preference between Todd or me, but does seem to know we're mommy and daddy. She continues to have a happy, content personality, and she falls asleep really easy.

We've learned that in China (Taiwan), she is considered very beautiful (of course)! Alex told her that it's considered beautiful and lucky that her eyes turn up on the outside, like a crane. :) And she has a beautiful mouth. She definitely gets attention when we're in public.

This evening we ventured out on our own and hailed a cab to the Taipei 101. What an amazing building it is. We were very impressed. The bottom four stories are an upscale mall, and we even shopped at this cool grocery store. We took the elevator to the 89th floor viewing deck. It's the fastest elevator in the world! 1,010 meters per minute...whatever that converts to.

Tomorrow, we'll go to the Chang Kai Shek Memorial and the AIT to pick up Tessa's visa. We hope to have time to stop at the Handicraft Market too, as we never did get there. Then, at 2 pm we head to the airport for our 7:30 pm flight. We land in Chicago (via LA) at midnight on Thursday. Depending on how tired we are, we may stay the night in Chicago. Then we'll drive home Friday morning.

We've had a very good trip. Mr. Yeh said that because we arrived just before the typhoon (just in time) that God really wanted us to get Tessa, and that she must be a very special girl. We think so too. :)

We are very, very anxious to get home and start our life as a family of five. We miss our Jake and Sara terribly and can't wait to get our hands on them. Two more sleeps babies!! We love you!!!! XOXOXOXOX