Daddy Time

We are just beginning to learn some of Emma's ques in terms of when she is tired or when she is hungry. Last night I didn't read her quite so well. She was falling asleep in my arms sucking on my neck and slobbering down my back and front. We were hoping to get her into the bath before she fell asleep though so I rushed her into the bath and caught an earful for the next 30 minutes. Emma cried harder than she has since we got her. Mommy stepped in and saved the day with some good old fashioned mommy love and a bottle. She ended up sleeping through the entire night. This afternoon I did a little better. Eileen went to get a massage in the underground area beneath the hotel. I stayed upstairs with Emma. We were playing a little when she began her little whimper cry - I quickly put together a bottle and she slurped down the entire thing as she fell asleep in my arms. Just before Eileen went downstairs she was holding Emma and did a few deep knee bends - Emma giggled and giggled repeatedly and then fussed some when Eileen stopped. This was only the second time she had given us a good deep laugh. It doesn't seem as though she had many opportunities to laugh during her time in the orphanage. I told her that she will be able to laugh all she wants now. She is still sleeping peacefully next to me in her little tiny crib. She has the cutest little mouth that turns down like a little bow.

Our Little Angel

Emma is a little weak in her arms and legs. It is apparent that she was on her back most of the time or for very long periods of time while in the orphanage. The nannie and orphanage director explained that they would put the children in a room with a TV and that the children enjoyed watching the TV and listening to music. They would also put them in a walking toy - but I cannot imagine that Emma would have done well in that type of thing due to her lack of muscle tone. She cannot sit up on her own and cannot be on her stomach and hold her head up for a long period of time. It is not easy giving her a bath - she is not use to sitting upright and has a tendency to be rigid and stiff - so even with four hands it is not easy. However, we are seeing changes each day. She is laughing more. She is rolling to her side and almost rolling over. She is responding to us more and tracking us as we move around. She has hardly even cried throughout this entire ordeal. She is a great sleeper - goes down easily and sleeps hard - this morning I actually undressed her, changed her diaper and was getting her ready for her bath and she still mostly asleep. She takes her bottles each time and eats the steamed egg and a little Congee. Here are a couple of pictures of our sleeping angel. The picture of Emma in the stroller was taken in a Japanese style restaurant located in the underground area beneath our hotel. Eileen and I ate a huge plate of fried rice and a huge plate of fried noodles plus a pint sized Tsing Tao and a Coke Light for under 10$. The other couples had a five course meal with veggies, shrimp, fish, rice, etc for around $25 total. We also found out you can get a 1 hour massage for $10!

Gotchha Day Rewind

I am not sure of the order that the pictures uploaded and posted to our blog - we can post but for some reason we cannot view the blog nor can we view the replies - there was one picture of Eileen and I as were waiting to get Emma - we could see her in the room with us but since we were the 5th of the first group of five we had to wait for the other families to recieve their child she was about 5 feet away but we couldn't go to her - I was pacing like an expecting father which of course I was but I didn't expect it to be quite this way - my mouth was very dry, I was sweating a lot, and I was actually lightheaded a couple of times - it was all incredibly overwhelming - wonderful but overwhelming - there is another picture as the Chinese gentleman is handing Emma to Eileen followed by the picture where Eileen is first holding our new little girl - I got to sneak in a picture as well - I figure you could probably guess what was going on but thought I'd throw in a few words.

Loooong Day + Slug + Shark Fin Soup

I learned a few things about Chinese time today and it it quite different - one person from each family was supposed to meet downstairs and then go and exchange $ (actually a fair amount of $) - it was supposed to take a only a short time - when I got to the bank I realized I had forgotten my passport - ran back across the park to the hotel up 29 floors got my passport - back down 29 floors - across the park - nothing had happened - everyone was still there waiting, and waiting, ... it took 2+ hours to process each of our transactions I was the last person - count the 100s, recount the 100s', check the passports, pass the $ through a machine to make sure it wasn't counterfeit, put the Chinese $ in a counting machine (twice), then triple stamp a bunch of forms then over to me to count then over to the CCAI rep for the orphanage fee - multiply by sevarl people. Then this afternoon we met as a group - we were going to process the paperwork that basically means Emma is no longer a Chinese citizen - it was supposed to take an hour - we got there and sat around and around and around - the whole thing took about 2.5 hours - babies started crying - parents were getting antsy - they actually performed a little presentation where we were asked a series of questions stating that we would care for our baby and not abuse her or abandon her - they handed us a little metal plate in a wooden box with a saying - "With our very best sincere wish that everything will turn out to be what you hoped" and Mountain city-chongqing Lives in my heart forever. We were told they had never done this ceremony before - we sat in a room as each family was called to the front - asked the questions - thumbprints in red ink - pictures and after all this the result is that Emma is no longer a citizen of China - she is not a citizen of the US until we set foot back in the states. Somewhere in the middle of all this we 'gave' gifts to the notary officials - can't give cash but they expect you to provide gifts of thanks. After all this we only had a short amount of time to eat dinner before a doctor was coming to check on all the babies. We ate at the buffet downstairs - I tried braised sea slug, shark fin soup, fried cartilage, fried crad (crab), a seashell thing (actually in the shell - one of those spiral types that you get out of the river), and a fried 'shrimp' that looked more like a fried sea monster thing. I didn't have the nerve to try the more exotic dishes - maybe tomorrow. I walked through part of the underground city beneath our hotel - bizarre - there were many restaurants, lights, people bustling, discos, shopping, and then downstairs a grocery store that was like a super Walmart with all sorts of interesting items - I bought some shrimp chips to try and 2 Chinese beers + some coke light (diet). Emma's checkup didn't reveal much - she is ok - no major issues. When I got back to the room Eileen showed me there were about 150 people or more exercising or dancing down in the park below us - kind of like a slow version of the Electric Slide (booga looga). Emma is getting more and more responsive - I played with her on a blanket and she laughed with or at me, she grabbed her rattle and shook it and she cooed a lot more. She fell asleep easily again this evening but just woke up and cried pretty hard - until now she has been very meek with only little whimpers - this was the biggest cry yet - it lasted for only a few minutes and she is back asleep. Oh yeah, we did find out from the orphanage director that there are a couple of the children in our group that were sleeping near where Emma slept at the orphange - Alexandra Brown and Chloe Beach. Pictures - presentation, Emma with orphange director, nannie, driver (the gentleman who handed Emma to us the day before), Emma's closest crib mates from the orphanage and finally dinner

Gotcha Day #1

April 13, 2008- Gotcha Day– what an amazing experience we had today – Although we woke up very early to catch our flight to Chongqing, the morning went by rather quickly with much excitement and anticipation for this, finally, was GOTCHA DAY. We met some another couple on the flight over, Phil and Leslie, from Jacksonville. They have two sons, Jeremiah 9 and Alex 11 traveling with them. Both of the boys have already ‘adopted’ some of the younger children traveling with their parents and have been awesome with them. They’re little sister doesn’t have a clue as to how fortunate she is. So now, three families are from Florida. What a great thing for us and Emma.

Our hopes to relax a little at the hotel before the arrival of Emma were quickly diminished as Marie, our new CCAI representative, went over our schedule for the day. Between paperwork, grabbing lunch, showering, getting ourselves ready and getting Emma’s diaper bag packed, our rest and relaxation quickly became a race against time.

The hotel, The Golden Resource , is quite extravagant. It’s a 32 story, five star hotel with multiple restaurants and underground shopping adventure complete with more restaurants, lounges, stores and nightclubs. We checked in, showered, got Emma’s things ready, and then met downstairs to fill out some paperwork. Afterwards we found out the babies from our orphanage arrived early. This particular news really hit me quite hard. As my already crazy emotions went wild. My stomach was all in knots and I felt as if I was in labor. Actually this was somewhat harder. I didn’t have a real job, just had to stand there, watching and waiting.

We were the fifth family called, the last from our orphanage. When they placed her in our arms, the tears of happiness began to flow from both Andy and me. Finally all that we had been dreaming came true. Having Joshua next to us to meet his little sister was the only thing that could have made that moment more complete. Emma is cuter than her pictures and I think a little smaller than I thought. We can’t wait for her to meet Joshua and all our friends and family when we get home.

Initial Preparation and an Update

Eileen is downstairs filling out the first set of paperwork - only 1 person per family - there is only one father - all the rest are the moms - the other spouses go down at 1540 followed by the rest of the crew - kids, travel companions after 1600 - the babies are supposed to arrive by 1530. Some of the babies have traveled for up to 10 hours to get here today so they have been traveling about the same amount that we have - I am exhausted - Eileen is exhausted - I can't imagine what the babies are going through. Everyone is nervous. After waiting for 2.5 years and putting together the paperwork and double and triple checking over and over you still get worried thinking you have forgotten something. It is very surreal. Oh yeah, we received an update on Emma that says she is crawling which came as a surprise to us. Another family had similar news and they were surprised. The report said she was active, social and enjoyed going to the gorcery store which didn't quite make sense but I am sure we will find out soon. The report also said that she had only had one cold, sleeps all night but might take a bottle around 0130 before falling back to sleep. The report also said they explained to Emma that she was going to a nice family today. More to follow ...

Chongqing T Minus 2.5 hours and counting

We are finally in Chongqing and will get Emma in about 2.5 hours. Everything is a little crazy right now as we prepare gifts for the orphnage director, the nannies, etc - get ourselves ready, sneak in a bite to eat (McDonalds chicken sandwich, fries) - get a baby bag together, ... it was beautiful as we approached Chongqing with terraced or layered rice fields, beautiful green fields, but you wouldn't know that even existed where we are this place is constantly moving - there are lights and sounds and people, people and more people. We are on the 29th floor of the Golden Resources Hotel - there is an underground shopping, nightclub area underneath our hotel. I made a mistake and rode the glass elevator up thinking it would be on the inside of the hotel - NOT - after 3 floors on was on the outside and I am afraid of heights. We will post some pics soon!