Bringing Natalee Home: We are medically cleared for arrival

Today we went down for Natalee's medical exam (type thing) and got her visa pictures taken. The medical exam was probably a little more detailed than the one Maks got in Moscow, but not by much. The first room we went into was to weigh and measure her. According to the clinic today, she weighed 16.2 pounds and was 28.75 inches long. That is quite a bit smaller than the medical clinic that checked her four months ago, so either she is shrinking (and anyone who has seen her eat will tell you that is NOT the case) or someone's scales are a little off. Next was the Ear, Nose and Throat room where they checked to make sure she could hear (she can) to make sure she could see (she can) and to make sure she had a throat (she does). Finally we went into the body exam room and, sure enough, she has a body. Natalee does have a little bit of a heat rash, which is really no big deal at all, but we are getting more advice and medicine given to us to clear it up than you can imagine.

That was pretty much it for today. While we were sitting around waiting for our group for lunch we were visiting with a family that was picking up their baby today. We got to talking about where we were from and found out that the mom grew up in Cheyene Wells (for those of you not familiar with Southeastern Colorado, that is the tiny little dot on the map about 30 miles from the tiny little dot on the map where Tonya grew up and about 60 miles from the much larger tiny little dot on the map where Kevin grew up). Turns out one of her best friends growing up ended up being Tonya's older sister's best friend after she moved Lamar. We ate lunch at a little deli shop near one of the hotels and came back to the room for a good nap (which the girls desperately needed). We ate supper at the Cow and Bridge Thai restaurant again with our travel group and it was great again. After supper we walked down by the Pearl River and some of the pictures from the river walk area are below. We have a free day tomorrow, so we are not sure what we are going to do.

Natalee is doing great. She is starting to pull herself up on her feet quite a bit today which is good to see. She is definitely a night owl as she really comes alive after 8:00.

Chinese Calamine lotion for the heat rash. We just wanted to see how funny she looked with it smeared all over her face. Man, I hope she forgets this picture before she gets to the point of picking our nursing home.