Today we made the adoption official! Amaya LuLin is officially my daughter! I can't tell you how it feels - it's such an amazing and surreal experience to be in the room at the adoption center with other families who are going through the same thing. You really form a bond with your travel group. I met another single mom at the adoption center today and we are going to stay in touch by email. All the babies in our group are doing so well and are already attached to their moms, even a 3 year old waiting child in our group has already bonded with her mommy!
We are all doing good but we are TIRED! My friends and family who know me know that I normally don't drink pop or caffeine but today I had to drink a coke at lunch just to stay awake!
I kept waking up last night to look at my baby girl. She is so beautiful and I love her so much! She has the sweetest most precious personality - at the orphanage her nickname is baobao, which means precious or sweetheart so that's what I've been calling her. Also I've been calling her lulu and my friend Amy in the group's baby we call lili. They are like cousins cuz they were in the same orphanage together with the same nanny.
Now I wish I could take a nap cuz Amaya and Nini are napping but the caffeine is giving me a second wind and I wanted to stay connected with everyone on the otherside of the world! :-)
It's nice that even though we are so far away we can stay close with my blog and email. We miss everyone and wish you were here with us and can't wait to bring Amaya home for you to meet her! You are going to fall in love with her!
Okay I am having ADD due to my lack of sleep and pop consumption. So back to what we did today. We went to the adoption office and we took a family photo and had a 5 minute interview with the registrar on why we wanted to adopt a chinese girl, info about us (occupation, etc) and how we plan to raise and educate our babies and we promised we would never abandon or abuse our daughters. Then we left that office to go to another office for another short interview and paperwork, then another office for baby's picture to be taken. Then after 3 hours of this - it was official - Amaya is my daughter - it's legal and official! It's such an amazing feeling, after all this waiting and waiting and preparation and traveling so long and far - now I am a mommy!
She is doing so good, I am amazed at how much she has bonded to me so quickly! I was prepared from other famlies stories for babies who wouldn't make eye contact, screamed, didn't want to be held and Amaya did none of those things. She didn't even cry at all, I thought maybe she was in shock but today she is as happy as ever! She likes to be held, she loves to play with toys that make noise and she likes her carrier - she fell asleep for her nap today twice in it. The nannies gave us the babies schedule at the orphanage and their diet which was so nice to have. So far she is right on schedule!
After the appointments we all had lunch at the hotel - it was a buffet and it was really good. I was a little worried yesterday because we didn't like the food from room service but today it was great! Amaya had her first taste of congee and loved it - although she loved putting her fingers in it more than actually eating it! We also read on her schedule that she eats noodles and 1 egg so we fed her that too! She was a little fussy and tired after lunch but then I put her in the carrier and walked up and down the hallway and she fell asleep in 5 minutes! They are playing christmas songs in the hallway so that helped I think too!
I am slowly getting the hang of this mom thing - I have made a few fauxpas but she is such a good and laidback baby - very forgiving of her new mommies mistakes. like the bath situation yesterday - let's just say we are going to sponge bath for the next few times! And today I was changing her diaper and it took longer than it should because she is so small and the diapers we bought are too big so I kept having to readjust. Tomorrow we are making a group trip to the Walmart and I am alittle scared of what I've heard about it. I get sensory overload at walmart at home and I heard this one is so crowded and crazy! I'll tell you how it goes!
So after the diaper scenario I was putting on her adoption day outfit I put on her pants first and then realized her top was a onesie so had to take off pants and put back on again! She was happy and smiling the whole time! what a baobao she is!
Well I am going to take a half hour nap and then the babies are getting checked by a doctor who is coming to our hotel and get this - it's only about 13 american dollars for a checkup. not those prices in the states, huh?
Tomorrow we have a free day - just the walmart trip scheduled so it will be relaxing after the whirlwind of the past couple days!
I will post again tomorrow or the next day!
We miss all our loved ones and are thinking of you!
1 comment:
Yay teacher! At first I was sad because I was not getting your blogs/emails, but then I figured out it was going to my junk mail! I fixed that problem:) I am so excited for you! I can't wait to meet Amaya. I leave for Colorado Friday right after work. I decided to drive I won't be back until after the 1st so I will see you, sister and the rest of the family then. I can't wait!
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