Where's Justin?

We have had a few comments and emails from our faithful viewers on why there are so few pics posted of the proud Papa and his little angel. Maybe the t-shirt I am having screen printed will explain it...the shirt reads "I went to China and all I got was this kid who hates me."
Honestly, it's not quite that bad, but our little 8.96 Kilos of joy does currently favor her Mommy over her Dad. Helena and I have had several serious conversations about it--over a handful of cherrios, and she assures me she is working on it.

There are several people in our group in the same boat. Most of the kids have taken to their Moms, and a few will only talk to Dad. One Dad had to move down an extra seat at breakfast this morning before their little one would allow him at the table. With us, when we are both around Helena would rather be in her Mom's arms. And that's ok, because Dad would rather be behind the camera rather than in front of it.

Today we had a couple fun little experiences. The first was in a local department store. The store was fine, but the way of securing your purchase was right out an episode of the reality show The Amazing Race. For this "roadblock" teams will have to buy four items. First you will go and select your item from one of four departments, then you will take your claim tickets to a central location to pay (using a credit card that may or may not be accepted), then you will return to the four departments, present your claim ticket (or the handful of claim tickets b/c you can't read which ticket is for which item), then the clerk will hand you the item and you can leave the store. If the clerk neglects to give you a claim ticket for an item you wanted to purchase (and you didn't know it b/c you can't read what she wrote on the ticket), you will then have to repeat the entire process again (including the possibility that your credit card will be rejected for no apparent reason on this second purchase). Whew, fun stuff with a irritable baby.

The 2nd experience was a physical examination, performed by a local doctor in the clinic. We forked over $80 dollars for a "doctor" to remove Helena clothes (I guess to make sure she was a human female child), weigh her, squeak a toy at her (hearing test), and generally traumatize her for any future doctor visits. Needless to say, she passed with flying colors. Oh, and I am seriously thinking about going to medical school in China (Pediatric Medicine, of course).

We topped the night off with the memorable experience of Helena's first and probably last bath (ever). I know, we really should have gotten that one on film, but cameras and slippery, screaming babies don't seem to mix too well.