Ken's birthday

My two littlest angels are still sleeping in my room.  Dylan had a hard day yesterday and was a little emotional so I am glad he is getting some rest.  

Today is Ken's birthday - Happy Birthday Ken!!!  

Being the bad wife - and the fact that we were al puking the week we left for China, I forgot to even pack him a card :(  Oops, hopefully he will understand). We are going shopping today so we will get him something there.  

The adoption is supposed to be finalized today - that would be a great present for him!!! 

Ugh - another day waiting...

So we waited and waited, our guide told us to just come down at 11:00 and we would see about going to the government offices. They never called so we weren't able to finalize the adoption. It is scheduled hopefully for tomorrow.  Instead we went to Behai Park (sp?), the grounds were beautiful and it was a nice crisp day for a walk.  When we got there Lily saw/heard many people speaking mandarin and it set her off. She cried and moaned (a really sad grieving noise) for about 1/2 hour.  

Dylan and Ethan were like superstars, everywhere we go people want their kids to get a picture taken with them - they are not so sure about it.  One couple told our guide that our child didn't look like the mom - so our guide explained that we had adopted her. We have gotten many stares but they think we are nice folk anyways.  At the grocery store one man told me that my daughter could ALMOST pass for Chinese :) 

So where did this kid come from....

Lily is really starting to come out of her shell. She found Ethan's IPOD and has taken quite the liking to it. In fact, she stole it and has been hiding it in her kangaroo pocket.  At the park today, she hid it in her coat and would not take her hand out of her pocket. One hand was holding on to Ken and our guide Camilla wanted to hold her hand as well.  In mandarin she said: "No, my hand isn't free I am hiding it (the ipod) from my gege (brother).  A little while later she tried to hold her hand again and she gave her a dirty look and said "I don't have a hand anymore".  It's neat having our guide because she can translate all the funny things Lily is saying.  We can meet all her necessary needs but now we get the "fun" stuff. 

Waiting...

So we are waiting....... Today is the big day that Lily officially becomes our daughter. We are waiting to here from our guide that the Civil Affairs office is ready, we then head over and wait. I think it's similar to court where you go and wait until they call your name and have an interview with you and sign all the papers.  We were told to bring snacks and lots to do for the       kids because it will take awhile.  After this I believe that this will be the last of the appointments for awhile.   So while we waited I got to practise my first pony tails :)

A funny mom story.

So since getting Lily, I have been a little obsessed about checking her over - weird I know.  When I give her a bath and wash her hair, I check for bumps or marks or lice on her head, when drying her off I make sure her mongol birth mark on her back just that and not bruises, when I paint her toenails I check to make sure she's got all of them and ask "are her toes long enough, webbed?" no she has perfect little toes.  Ken thinks I am nuts and I am not a worry wart it's just something I am doing and can't explain.  Anyways, so we bought her these adorable little chocolate brown ugg boots.  We put them on her yesterday and she loved them.  She then started walking funny, a little bow legged and limping.  So I kept watching her do this and getting more and more worried. Maybe she has something wrong with her leg, or her gait ahh.  It wasn't until we were at the Civil Affairs building signing our papers that I realized I forgot to take out the cardboard and tissue paper. The poor thing had her toes all cramped up in half the boot, not complaining and STILL loving the Uggs!

Our first full day comes to an end...

When Lily awoke from her nap she was very sad - she cried for a goo d 1/2 hour.  I took her into the boys room and she perked up a little.  Tonight we went for a walk on the town - we are all so exhausted, I thought we should get out for awhile.  This is what I envisioned Beijing to look like - big huge flashing buildings, people everywhere - it looks almost like a cross between Vegas and New York.  We had a late lunch and we not very hungry so guess what we got 

a treat a McDonalds. I know that is terrible but it's the only fast-food place we recognize and we have been eating other really healthy meals.  So we have had Lily for 1.5 days n

ow and introduced her to a happy meal - bad parents. For those following that don't really know us we really are not fast food junkies - this is a time of desperation and craving something from home. 

She loves the boys - she walks everywhere holding both of their hands. She is enthralled at all the lights and people everywhere. When Dylan went bouncing away to look at something, she stopped, refused to move and yelled Lai lai to him (come).  It was quite funny.  

She just finished having a bath, painting our toenails and I set her on the bed with a ton of toys. I ran to the washroom and when I came out she had hid all her toys under her pillow and put herself to sleep even though it's wasn't bedtime.  I guess some habits from the orphanage and going to be popping up here and there. I brought her back out and played toys with her. She is now c

hatting away (which I don't understand and

 wish I did) to her baby, she is rocking her and changing her.  She looks really happy.

Happier moments

Happier times at lunch today - Lily LOVES her girlie things. We put on a little dress today and she keeps checking herself out in a mirror. She loves her baby and barbie too.

She then went down for a good nap.  I

 put her in bed and she rolled over and fell asleep for 2 hours. 

Another day, another tear...

This morning at 9:00 a.m. we needed to go the the Civil Affairs office to offically register our adoption with Lily. When we walked into the office the lovely lady from the orphanage was there as well.  As soon as Lily saw her, her eyes went big and she started a low painful moan, she cried through most of the hour meeting.  At one point one of the chinese ladies tried to take her from me to comfort her and she screamed "my mama" and wouldn't go.  Although she is grieiving many things I do think she is making the attachments with us.  My passport photos were not the right size so we then had to go get new photos done at the photo lab and wait an hour. Our lovely guide lived very close so we went to her apartment for an hour. I have not seen one house yet, everyone seems to live in apartments very different from what any of us know.  After the photos were done, we signed papers and will go back again tomorrow to pick up our Adoption Certificate. 

When we finally got back to the hotel, we packed up and changed to our permanent hotel VERY NICE!!!  Our rooms are side by side, there are 5 restaurants, 2 pools, massages, sauna's - just about everything. This is one swanky hotel - no complaints here.  I just woke up from a nap and am still waiting for Lily to wakeup. Here are some shots from today.