Gotcha Day

Sorry it’s been so long, we’ve been busy. Yesterday was Gotcha Day. Which started off with a 10 am meeting with the adoption guides going over the days proceedings. All 8 families gathered into a meeting room. I was so nervous I wasn’t sure what I’d do. It was like getting butterflies before

heading out for the start box on cross country. You know that nervous anticipation that you get. Once the starter counts down for me “You have 10 seconds…..followed by 5, 4, 3 2 1, go…..” I get super nervous. But as soon as I head out of the box I’m fine. Yesterday was like that. I thought I was going to fall over from the weight of the anticipation all morning long. But at 3:30 pm when I held Leia in my arms I was alright. All the gittery nerves dropped away.

She was amazing, never a peep, just stared up at me with big wondering eyes, clutching on for dear life. When I tried to sit her on my knee she’d fuss until I held her close again. When I handed her off to Jesse she would cry, but quieted the moment I held her and stood up to walk around. She was silent by the second step I’d taken, the 3^rd pat on the back. I sang to her the song my Grand Nina sang to me. Although I only know 1 verse. So Mom or Aunt Anna you need to email me the rest of the song! CooCoo Bird sits in the Old Gum Tree, (Or is it CooCoo Burra sits…). Of all the babies crying and fussing in the room that day she was the quietest. She must have been just overwhelmed.

We came back to the hotel room and hurried our little prize off to our room. Hunkered down for the night. That’s when the fussing began. I handed her off to Jesse, he was dying to hold her. Leia cried for a little wile then realized that he was just as good as me in the holding department. I went through about 5 different bottles trying to figure out how to get the formula/rice cereal mixture to her liking. (We never did get to eat that night, but did manage to get some water in her. She fell asleep on his chest. Jesse put her down in he crib and got her to go back to sleep. Amazing she slept from 8:30 to 6am. She even slept through a serous coughing fit at 3 am. She’s had a cold in the orphanage

Leia loves to be held. We think she is a little scared because when we put her down she will cry again. It may have something to do with her past. She is doing well otherwise. We play with her on the bed a lot. It is amusing that her favorite toy is an empty roll of toilet paper and not a Fisher Price approved toy. I checked the safety rating on the roll but it must have been forgotten.

Leia likes to eat mush and formula/mush. I did get to feed her some yogurt on my lap. I will try to crush some fruit for her next.

She is now sitting on my lap as I type. By the way she is officially ours according to China. Next we need to work with the the US side of things.