Seriously? November 12, 2009

OK – not even funny anymore. Here we are, just trying to get through the stinkin’ week, mindin’ our own business, adoptin’ a baby and clearly the gods are angry with us. Well, me at least.

First of all, the temperature plummeted in Beijing and it was a frosty morning when we all headed out on a bus trip to the Great Wall. The fog (or ‘smfog’ as I like to call it) was thick and Russ was still riding the last of his nausea waves. The sky was so dense that we cold barely make out the Olympic Village as we drove by and we knew it didn’t bode terribly well for the sightseeing trip.

Sure enough, when we arrived, we realized we could barely see 20 feet in front of us. No hope in hell of actually seeing the breadth of the wall. Russ wasn’t feeling well enough to shlep the baby so I gamely strapped her on and up we went. Has anyone ever mentioned that there is no symmetry to the steps up the Great Wall. One is, say 12 inches high, while the next might be 17, and the next 20 and the next 10, etc. Now try to navigate with 14 lbs strapped to your chest and a little pink hat obscuring your vision. Not so easy. So I stayed pretty low and Russ went a little higher but truth be told, we didn’t see a helluva lot – near or far. Ah well – it’s only one of the 7 wonders of the world. How exciting could it be?

All in all, it was a good but very long day (we hit a pearl factory and a cloisonné factory as well) and we all fell into bed pretty early. Beckett was a trooper until the end when she started to melt down in traffic. That’s my kid!

So we wake up the next day and decide to take it pretty easy. I’m feeling a bit nauseous and we all want a bit of a break. We unpack, wash some clothes, walk to the supermarket, take a mommy and me back and generally kill time. I was a little paranoid about my bug returning cuz I was feeling a bit…umm…how to say this delicately, loose on the bottom half (ewww – that’s didn’t come out the right way. Hahaha – but you know what I mean), so I took an Immodium pill in the afternoon.

Cut to the next morning (yesterday morning). We had planned a leisurely breakfast and then a trip out in the afternoon. Beijing was completely snow covered (another freak storm – weird!!) so we figured we’d go slow. Beckett woke us up like clockwork at 7am, I fed her a bottle and then hopped into the shower. I’m lathering up, happily singing away to myself until I look down and see, to my complete shock, that my legs are completely covered in the red welts. MAJOR welts. Whole sections of my legs are swollen with giant patches of red while other areas just have big red spots. Then I look at my torso – yup, welts. Arms, check. Butt, check. Houston, I think we have a problem.

So off I go to the International clinic about an hour’s cab ride away due to the storm. Meanwhile, my ears are swelling, I’m starting to itch and hoping that my throat doesn’t swell shut. Russ and B stayed at home. I was afraid I was catchy! $150 later, I was told that it the hives might just be another lovely side effect of the fabulous virus swimming around in my system – that, or I’m allergic to Immodium. Hmmm. Thanks. But at least I knew my throat wasn’t going to swell shut. Several antihistamines and probiotics later I was back on m way to the hotel and feeling slightly more positive about things.

I got home to find Russ and Miss B playing happily. He officially passed his first solo Daddy test with flying colors. So I’m alive. In fair shape and literally counting the hours until we come home. Check out the pix of the hives. That’s the only part I can show you but it gives you an idea. And here’s some of the Great Wall – what you can see of it anyway.

Next post will be devoted to more scoop on the fabulous Beckett Mei-Li and all of her quirks…