Gotcha Day!

We had a great day today! We left our hotel at 9:30 and headed to the civil affairs office to meet our daughter, Joy Xin Ping, for the first time! We were told that she would arrive there at 10:00, which was the same time we arrived. When we arrived and walked into the building, there were two babies being carried into the building, but neither of them were our baby girl. The office we were supposed to go into was locked shut with a chain, so our guide left us standing there and she went to find the appropriate staff. As soon as she had left us, in walked two ladies and one was holding Xin Ping. I couldn't believe my eyes! Neither Greg nor I expected everything to happen so quickly! We had planned for our guide to video our union, but that didn't happen. So we don't have video or many pictures. Greg and I both wanted to be with her, not taking pictures and our guide had not returned. So, we immediatly walked up to the ladies and Joy and they of course knew that we were her parents, because we were saying, "Ping Ping! Ni hou, Ping Ping!" They didn't speak English, so I gestured with my hands asking if we could take her and hold her. She nodded yes and I held my daughter for the first time! It was everything I hoped for, prayed for and thought it would be!

She never cried until we got in the car to go back to the hotel. She does NOT like the car. Once we arrived back at the hotel, it was time for her nap, so we played a little and then tried to settle down for a nap. She is doing SO GOOD! She looks both Greg and I in the eye. When she has played a little, she "checks in" by looking at Greg and then me. We have found we can get her to smile and laugh by raising her up in the air and then lowering her down quickly. She also likes to play with her bottle and when she takes the bottle out for a break, she smiles when we tease her about putting the bottle back in her mouth or maybe not yet, back and forth. When we first got to the room, we sat her down on the floor and I got down on the floor across the room and held out my arms beckoning her to come to me. She smiled and crawled to me!!!

As Greg and I took turns trying to get her to sleep, she got to where she didn't want to be put down at all. There is a little battle going on inside her (probably bigger than I know). She wants to explore her surroundings, but the desire to stay close to one of us is stronger. This is a good sign!!!  

 

 

 

She did not want to go to sleep! She fought sleep for an hour and a half and she finally gave in at 2:20 (two hours later than normal). That's really not too bad for her first day with strangers and with all the major changes that have taken place for her today.

 Look at our sleeping beauty!