We had been told on Gotcha Day the boys ate their primary meals at 5am, 2pm, and 7pm.  They had 2 snacks between these meals.  The boys went to sleep at night at 8:30 P.M. and took their afternoon nap from 11:30-2:00 P.M.  The nanny also told us that their favorite foods were watermelon, tomatoes and bananas.

Today started at 5:30 A.M. on the nose.  They woke up screaming, just like they had gone to bed the night before.  I took Hao and was able to get him to drink some sweet milk.  Meanwhile, Mary was having no luck getting liquid into Ming.  Mary cut up some watermelon, bananas and made some rice cereal (I know what you’re thinking, that sounds like cooking…).  Both boys started eating like there was no tomorrow.  This went on until 7:00 A.M.
 
The boys had not screamed during this time so we figured that we would tempt fate.  We setup a bath.  I got in the tub with the boys and they did not scream, we were thinking that the common denominator was “water”.  Mary and I were both able to get ready to go down to breakfast.  We decided to try one of the soft carriers that we had gotten and it worked pretty well.  Mary had Ming strapped in and I carried Hao.  And sweeping up the rear (literally) was Cindy. 
For those of you who don’t know who Cindy is let me explain.  When Mary moved to Millis, MA, Cindy was the first person that she became friendly with.  They became fast friends and that has continued to this day.  Cindy was also Mary’s matron of honor.  When we found out that we were going to be getting the twins we knew that we would need another person to travel with us to help out.  Mary being the mathematician knew that 2 on 2 was not going to work in our favor.  Cindy has been a godsend.  She has helped us with everything along the way and she still thinks that we are doing her a favor by having her along.  We cannot express enough love and gratitude for Cindy.

At the breakfast buffet both boys continued to eat.  They ate everything that we gave them and they kept going for everything on our plates too.  We were afraid that they were going to ask us to leave and not bring the boys back for the free buffet again. 

After breakfast we went back to the registration office to finalize the Chinese side of the adoption.  I made it clear to our facilitator Nancy that we did not want the boys to see their nannies.  We did not want what little progress we had made to fly out the door.  When we arrived the nannies were standing by the doors.  Mary and I covered the boys faces and went into the registration office.  Nancy explained our concern and the nannies went into the back room.

We were able to complete the process with a moderate amount of screaming.  When we got back to the hotel we put the boys down for a nap and both Mary and I tried to sleep too.  We woke up at about 3:00 P.M. and the boys woke up at 3:30.  And yes, they were screaming.  We did the dining-in routine again and they continued to stuff their faces.
After lunch both boys were completely inconsolable.  Nothing we did made a difference.  We just couldn’t calm them down.  Theirs was not just a regular scream, but a scream that comes from some unknown part of their body and soul.  It is horrible.  And this went on and on.  We decided to get some more groceries.  So we strapped both boys into the soft carriers and headed to the local market. 

You have to realize that these boys are celebrities in China.  Most of the adopting parents have heard about them and when the locals see them they cannot believe that we are taking home twin boys with blue eyes and curly hair.  People on the street stop us and start ogling the boys, touching them and talking to us like we have been speaking the language forever.  For the most part it’s okay, they are very nice about it.  But there was a women in the market who was adamant that the boys were too hot in the carriers and that we should take them out.  After the 3rd or 4th time I was about to start an international incident.  Mary got me out of there without the help of the Chinese army.

Once we got back to the hotel the boys were screaming …so we fed them.  We know that this is one sure way to keep them quiet.  We have not yet found out what their limit is and I don’t think that we ever will.  The boys are showing a more animated side on occasion that is so pleasant.  Mary and I cannot believe the emotional swings back and forth.  We took them down to dinner where they just kept going.  We are still amazed every time we sit down to a meal.

After dinner we came back up to the room and turned on the TV to a station that plays Chinese easy listen music and the boys were mesmerized by this.  After 15 minutes we were able to put the boys down for the night (8:45 P.M.).
This has been a tiring and frustrating day.  I think that Mary is handling this much better than I am.  I’m sure that doesn’t surprise anyone who knows both of us.  At this point I was reading the fine print to see what the return policy was.  There were small victories today.  A smile here and an arm draped over our necks there.   I am trying to be satisfied with coming out of the battles in one piece.  And hoping that tomorrow is a better day.  Today was a better day than yesterday.