Getting Settled In

We are starting to get settled in and everything that has been broken has been fixed. I bought Sydney a new crib on Wednesday from IKEA and it will be assembled later today. I'm looking forward to reclaiming my bed, although Sydney will have a very vocal reaction to having to sleep in her own bed after spending 5 nights with me.

Sydney's first breakfast in her new home

Sydney has had many crying fits this week, and as a result I'm hesitant to meet my neighbors right now. I heard them outside my door yesterday as we were ready to leave and we waited in the apartment until they entered their apartment. No need to get yelled at right now. There's plenty of time for that after I've caught up on my sleep.

I think Sydney is starting to feel a bit more settled now because she is sleeping better at night. Our trip to Toys R Us yesterday really helped. Here's Sydney with her favorite toy.

Despite my rantings in yesterday's post, there have been some high points this week. We've been able to do some sight seeing and trying out a couple of restaurants. Tyra has been in charge of picking the restaurants, and she has great instincts. We haven't had a bad meal yet. You will definitely never go hungry in this town. We've had Thai food, Italian food, Shanghainese food, continental food. To the Nguyen family, we've had the BEST roasted duck the other night.

We have visited the Old Town, Yu Garden, People's Square, Shanghai Museum, the Bund, and the Pearl Oriental Tower. Old Town is actually an outdoor pedestrian shopping center with hundreds of stores. This is where our bargaining skills were put to good use.

We made a pit stop at Starbucks in Old Town Image from Old Town

Walkway between Old Town and Yu Garden

Inside Yu Garden

Sydney giving the Shanghai Museum a thumbs up

Sydney pointing to the pigeons in People's Park

We are in front of the Pearl Oriental Tower

Sydney gets A LOT of attention when we are out. People would stop and stare at her. I asked Tyra to push Sydney in the stroller in hopes that people would be too shy to touch Sydney. Someone even took a picture of her on their cell phone when we were at People's Park. I know it's because she's very cute, but it makes me nervous for her to get so much attention. I mean, it is over the top. For example, I hired a driver and a car to take us out a couple of days this week. And our driver, Lily, told me today that she asked her 21 year old daughter to come with her to pick me up so that she can see how cute Sydney is.

I've only been getting between 2-6 hours of sleep a night this week. As a result, I have napped every time I'm in the car in the last 2 days. The traffic is horrible in Shanghai so it takes at least about 20 minutes to get anywhere. So I make the best use of that time by sleeping. Again, thank goodness that Tyra was with me so that she can make sure that we get to where we need to be. She is super organized and has great common sense. She should be a super hero and a member of the League of Justice (ok, I'm dating myself here). If you are planning a trip anywhere, I highly recommend that you befriend Tyra and persuade her to go with you. She likes cash and Starbuck's lattes.

Sydney and I miss you all.