Christmas Eve Gift

Ha. Gotcha this year. Every year my family wakes up early, calls one another and says"Christmas Eve gift" which means you owe me one early. I never win. It's past noon here in China, so I've made the rounds and am one up on the fam. They insist that it's not Christmas Eve yet, but it is legit. Sooo....I haven't typed in a few days. We are here now at the White Swan, located on a beautiful river. I feel like we're at Opryland Hotel in China with the windows, waterfalls, shops, etc. We have our beds turned down each night and we're no longer sleeping family style. I may have mentioned that. The craziest thing is that there is a concierge on each floor, so you can't roam different levels. And before you need an elevator, she has it waiting for you. We got the infamous world-renown limited Barbie. She's blonde (go figure) holding a Chinese baby. I wish I looked like her. But instead, my lack of Pilates+rice-routine=Buddha belly. For dinner the first night Troy ate escargot and caviar while I fed the baby and shared a burger with Dodger - I already mentioned that it was $18. We went to a whole sale mall yesterday and Troy gifted me with a strand of pearls. Now I'm aching to go back for other things. They have 2 towers of shops with jewelry and clothing and pretty much anything you can imagine. We had a little bit of an incident last night, though. After our cab ride back and laundry pick-up, Li Li started tooting and making a red face. Then she cried like I have never heard before and stuck out her bottom lip. It was so sad. Come to find out (very quickly by the smell) that she needed to "make a poo poo" and was constipated. I'm glad we have been around this block before and I didn't wait to get help. We tried to put her on the potty the Chinese way by holding up her legs and grunting but it just didn't work. So we went to the clinic (is this too much info?) and the doctor (an older Chinese man with a big smile and white lab coat) and younger nurse gave her an enema and quickly fixed the problem.. We were so anxious to get her back in a diaper after the emptying process that the doctor stepped in the bed pan of poo while on his way back over to the bed. The one thing that really amazed me in the process was that our guide, Dennis is a single guy of 30 and he was more involved in the process than I was. What single guy do we know that would do this? We love him and are trying to tempt him into coming to the US and visiting...or settling down. Today we had to go to the WHO clinic for Li Li's medical evaluation. Seems like they would have done this BEFORE we adopted her? Like what are we going to do if she doesn't pass... stay here with her? It was a packed room and the last place I wanted to be on Christmas Eve but we now know she is 16.6 lbs and 72. 5 something long. Don't know what that means in inches, but I have a converter on the laptop. In about 30 minutes we are going to the zoo but I'm wanting to shop. The thing is, it's a sunny day and it rained yesterday, so the group doesn't want to take their chances on tomorrow. I just want to shop til I drop. Did I say that? The plan for Christmas is to eat Thai and ride on a river boat. Not sure if they are simultaneous events or separate. And I need to figure out how to get some Santa gifts and stash them before tomorrow morning. Dodger is with me every time we go out, so it's hard to be secretive. I'm about the blow my cover but he's only six. Have any advice? Gotta run. Li Li needs me. xoxoamy