Announcing Piper Mei Rigney

Well 3 years of waiting was worth it! We are now the proud parents of Piper Mei Rigney. It was a long and emotional day for both baby and parents. We left the hotel at 2pm and traveled about 30 minutes to CBA Government office. When we arrived there was a group of parents from Spain receiving their babies and the place was crazy with crying children. Their group of children were a little older so I think the separation was hard for the little ones. It was truly chaotic and heart wrenching. After about 20 minutes they left and it was our turn. The babies were taken into a waiting room and then they called each family's name one by one and we got our babies. Piper Mei seemed a little shocked and concerned by the whole ordeal, but did not really cry. She also did not smile. She clung to us and it was very sweet. On the bus ride back to the hotel she fell asleep. There were a few tears but not too many. Scott had to go fill out paperwork and Steve and I hung out with her in the hotel room. She finally started to feel good about 4 hours after we got her. She would not take a bottle but Scott was able to feed her applesauce and rice cereal. Once she was fed she started chatting.."dadadada". She went right to bed with not tears. Please pray for a restful sleep for us all tonight. It is still amazing that we started the day without a baby and now we are proud parents for the second time. I will post more tomorrow! WOW!

Gotta Day - Nov 24th

We are finally in Guangzhou! In about 3 hours we will go get our little Piper Mei! We seem to have a real sense of calmness today and it feels pretty surreal. We checked into our hotel last night and went to the room and there was a crib waiting for us. Today after housekeeping came they left us an American Barbie holding an Asian baby. It is so cute. The funny thing is that Steve also got a crib in his room and a Barbie. I forgot to tell him he was also coming home with a baby…haha! Guangzhou is a really neat city and located on an island. The temperature is in the 70’s (my kind of weather) and it reminds me a little of Naples, Florida. Next post…..Piper Mei!!

Great Wall

The Great Wall was about 1.5 hours from our hotel. Seems like there is more traffic on Sat as our guide said everyone with a car goes out of the city for the day. The Great Wall is unbelievable. It took us about 1 hour and 15 minutes to hike up the wall and 30 minutes to walk down. It was a hard hike. The funny part is there were women in high heel shoes trying to go up and then every 10 minutes several people were stopping to smoke. Gotta love China! We also stopped at a Jade factory and went to a Chinese Tea ceremony. Then to a Chinese Acrobatic show. This trip has been non stop so far. Tonight we went to a market and it is crazy how they try to get you to come into there booth. "Hey American Lady I got deal for you". It is now about 8pm and we are exhausted! Tomorrow we leave at 8am for our flight to Guangzhou. So far it has been a great trip and only to get better in 2 more days! Hope everyone at home is doing well!

Day 2

Day 2 – Beijing, Olympic Park, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
Wow! What a great day. Yesterday when I said that Beijing felt like a lot of other big cities was totally wrong, it is absolutely amazing and huge. The density of the apartments and buildings is hard to wrap your mind around. We drove the Olympic Park and got to tour the Water Cube or as the kid on the bus said the “ice cube”. They did a great job with the venue and Chinese people are very proud of it. We were ready to see some ancient history so from there we went to the Forbidden City. It was completed in the early 1400’s and we got to see how the Chinese ruling class lived and it was amazing. The power that was displayed and the opulence was staggering. The city went on for miles and the detail of the architecture was spectacular.
The Chinese people have been very friendly and very interested in us. One of the ladies in the group looks a little like Izzy from Grays Anatomy. She had an entire group of people line up to take pictures of her and they kept saying ..”ahh greys anatomy”. When we went to TSquare we got to see a demonstrator throw flyers and how quickly he was hauled away. We were also drew a lot of interest as people wanted to take pictures of us.
When we got back to the hotel we had a 90 minute foot massage. It was somewhere between ecstasy and torture. I thought I would go back today, but I am on the line. Scott’s big buy yesterday was 3 Mao dictator watches. His arm moves up and down in dictatorship style. Too funny! Today the Great Wall! 2 more days until Piper!

We are in Beijing!!

We are here! – Beijing
Our travels to China have been smooth so far. The nice man at Indy upgraded us to Economy Plus, which means 5inces extra of leg room…whooohooo! The flight to China was not too bad Scott and I both slept some watched a couple of movies and read a book. My brother Steve arrived about 3o minutes before us and we found our guide immediately. Several of the families in our group also had a layover in Chicago so we got to meet them and hear their stories. One family is from Nora(15 minutes from Carmel). She works at Lily and is traveling with her parents and her 8 year old adopted daughter from China. Other families are from Milwaukee, Chicago, Knoxville and Seattle. We arrived at our hotel around 7pm and got checked in and then went to the local market to buy water and some food. Our guide asked if we wanted Pizza Hut, McDonalds or KFC, we opted for Chinese and it was very good! I stuck with my tofu and Scott had pork. When I ordered a beer our guide was worried that it would be too big for me to drink, so I told her I would split it with Steve and Scott, 3 shared beers later she was worried about us oversleeping. Too funny! Our hotel is very nice and I got to check it all out at 3:00am. Scott and I both slept from 9:30pm to about 1:30am. So in my sleepless state I tried to workout (fitness room opens at 6am), go to the Starbucks(opens at 6am) so now I am updating my blog!

When we left Indy we were so sad to say goodbye to Cooper and in his always joyous state he smiled and waved and yelled “see you soon”. No tears from him.
Beijing is 13 hours ahead of Indy. So we are waiting until 5am to call home and talk to Cooper.

Today in Beijing we are leaving the hotel at 8:30 to go sightseeing. Last night walking around it was hard to believe we were in Beijing. It has the feel just like all big cities but the amount of bikes is overwhelming. I can’t wait too see what the day holds. 3 more days until we get to hold our precious Piper. Below are pictures of us in the airport and our guide. More soon!

It Takes A Village

I can't believe we are leaving tomorrow. I am so happy to finally be going and so sad to be leaving my little man for 2 weeks. I would like to thank all of our friends and my parents for their help. It would not be possible without you! Next post will be from China!!!

Travel Itinerary

Only 7 more days until we leave, but who's counting...haha!
Here is what our trip is going to look like:
Nov 19 - leave Indy
Nov 20 -arrive in Beijing at 4:30pm
Nov 21 -Tour of TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City and Olympic Green Park
Nov 22- Tour Great Wall
Nov 23 - Fly to Guangzhou
Nov 24 - GOTCHA DAY - we will get little Piper Mei in the afternoon
Nov 25 - Bottles, diapers and naps oh my
Nov 26-Nov 28- Drive 5 hours to Maoming (Piper's birth city) tour orphanage and see city
Nov 29-Dec 3- Hang out in Guangzhou - Passport, visas and medical appointments
Dec 4th - The labor begins;
Guangzhou to Beijing 3 hours
Beijing to Chicago - 14 hours
Chicago to Indy - Arrive home at 8:00pm YEAH!!! (Dec 4th)