Second Day with LuXue

LuXue spent the night between us last night.  She will not go in her crib.  She is a snuggler and loves to be held.  She will ONLY let me put her down if it's to play on the bed or on the floor with toys.  I cannot believe how much she "seems" to love me.  She watches Daddy like a hawk and likes to touch his hands.  But she will not let him (or anyone else) hold her.  She hugs me and pats me and laughs when I give her raspberry kisses.  She also mimics me a lot.  Uh oh!  She has said Mama a few times but I don't think she associates the word with me.  But she seems to be so smart, and it "feels" like she knows.

Our guide tells me not to spoil her but I am taking every bonding opportunity I can.  I suddenly have physical strength I did not realize before - I mean I can barely carry a 16 lb bag of catfood upstairs.  Corey calls it Mama Adrenaline.

She noticed Corey's goatee today.  So cute!

The people in this country are SO nice!  Very curious!!  But supportive once we explain :).

On the way the office to finalize the adoption today, she vomited, I mean projectile puke, I mean ALL OVER her dress, me, the van floor, even got a little on Corey's shorts - and he was sitting across the aisle from us.  Keep in mind this child has not been in vehicles, and there are no car seats.  We had to take her dress off and carry her in to sign the paperwork with just her diaper cover on!  At that moment I decided that LuXue and I were not going to the orphanage and finding site tomorrow, that Corey would go to document for her.  But I have changed my mind at the advice of other adoptive Moms.  We will only feed her a light breakfast.  And not the formula, oranges (which we could see in the puke), watermelon and scrambled eggs.

The notary offered us her 5-year-old son's long-sleeved plaid flannel shirt.  But then we had to leave it with the driver to take it back because her son has a game tonight and will need it.  They bundle their children up here.  We had to turn our AC DOWN - especially due to her heart.  But she always feels warm to me!  I am always holding her and I feel she will get too hot wearing long pants and a sweater on outings as our guide wants us to dress her.

LuXue's Nanny appeared at the signing today, and it was very emotional.  She cared for our daughter so much.  She took her and held her and cried and talked to her one last time.  I was crying too.  I cannot imagine doing that job.  Because of this woman, my child is healthy, well-fed, and has attached to me.  I have the ultimate respect for the volunteers and professionals who care for our world's millions of orphans.  Their job breaks their hearts time over.

Will post more photos soon!

Best Day of Our Lives!

Gotcha Eve

We visited the Summer Palace today. We are so glad we came early to witness and experience LuXue's culture. Everyone has been SO nice to us. They seem so happy we are here in their country. They greet us with warm smiles and cheerfully say hello to us "Halow!" Those in urban areas live in such tight quarters in their tiny apartments. So they go out a lot and join the community together to parks to sing, play music, exercise together, dance, play games, with anyone! So different from our culture where we sometimes easily isolate ourselves and often barely know our neighbors. Also I am getting the hang of the "one hole" on the floor toilet situation. It's the first time in Asia I've encountered not having a choice of the type of toilet. I have to take all my pants and undies off though because I'm not such a straight shooter!

We have arrived in Nanjing and checked into our hotel. Tomorrow is the big day we have been waiting for.  We arrived at the hotel and I cried when we walked into the room, not because we had been upgraded to a beautiful suite, but because I saw they had the crib set up next to the bed. Turndown service just came in, and she not only turned down our bed, but the crib. Tomorrow night there will be a precious child in it.

Excited Daddy to Be!

Most excellent Great Wall day, but most important, we fly to LuXue's province tomorrow!!! Cannot wait to bring LuXue back here for her Homeland Tour :)

Would be nice to think LuXue will be this giddy to see us.  Fat chance!!

Tea House.

First full day in LuXue's birth country.

Exploring LuXue's culture our first full day in Chin@ was really cool, but we are so anxious to get her!  Not a drop of rain, but lots of umbrellas to shield the sun!

Silk worms.

Corey was really good at this and the audience was cheering him!

People were very curious about us!  Lots of request for us to be in photos.

Forbidden City.

A pearl unique to China for our pearl.

Lunch.

The clothes fit me here, and I bought a beautiful traditional blouse.

Really enjoyed our first full day in Chin@ today learning about LuXue's culture.  But hard to keep our minds off Gotcha Day.  Baba is going to try to help me post photos now, connection is slow! :)