Today was another relatively smooth day here in China!  P and I were up way early trying to clean things up a bit from Hurricane Emmie/Rosie.

We had a nice breakfast trying to figure out what R likes to eat.  It seems she will try anything, but has trouble with chewing and swallowing.  Even the tiniest bites are a little tough for her.  She doesn't know how to use a spoon or fork, and can't drink through a straw, so we've got a lot of work to do in that department. Still, we were really impressed with her interest in different foods, and trying to eat.

We headed out for several appointments, including the adoption finalization meeting.  The 24 hours after Gotcha Day is technically a "test drive" period, after which the officials ask you if you want to go through with the adoption.  Um, YEAH!  I'm not sure what she'd have to do to make us change our minds!  Maybe burn the hotel down?  Nah.

After that we were free for the day.  We went for some dim sum.  We ate an outrageous amount of  delicious food for $12.  We headed to Shamian and grabbed a Starbucks and went to the playground.  R was a little timid, but loved watching her Baba and E playing.  R seems to be developing a preference for her Baba right now.  We did some shopping at From China With Love and got some wonderful things for the girls to bring home.

Things got a little rocky at night.  Because we had already had Chinese food at lunch, we decided to send P out to grab a pizza.  He went out and I did bath time with the girls.  We had a blast!  Lots of laughing and playing and splashing.  R loves the bath.  Baba came back shortly thereafter, empty handed because the pizza place we remembered was gone.  We had a little meeting about a back-up dinner, and then it was time for Baba to head out again.  That's when the meltdown started...she was absolutely terrified to see P leave the hotel room and screamed for the entire time he was gone.  That's when I realized that the slight preference for Baba that I picked up on throughout the day was in fact real.  R actually seemed somewhat terrified of me when it was just us.  She recoiled, screamed, wacked her hand at me, shook her head "no", and had this awful, scared look on her face.

Even when Baba returned, she was so traumatized that she was still inconsolable and sadly went to sleep crying.  We felt so badly for her.

Thinking back, we made a few mistakes (don't make these!!!)...while Baba had done all of the "fun" things, I was the one who tried to put her on the potty (terrified!!!!), give her a shower instead of a bath (was advised this by orphanage staff but she was scared out of her mind), and gave her the cold medicine the orphanage staff gave us.  This might have contributed to her preference, or else it's just a role-reversal of how E rejected Baba last go round.

Hopefully, we can work on trying to balance things out a little better, and get her happy with both of us again.  It's still so so so early, so we're not going to stress about it too much.

'Lil ladybug girls

Making it official!

Could they look more mischievous?

Tao Tao Ju dim sum.  I've got to hand it to us...we do VERY well
even at local establishments where they speak NO English!  But the
stares we get for the entire meal get a little tiresome.

Some sort of chainsaw was making a loud noise that the girls didn't like.

R with her #1 guy.

Dimples!

Notice anyone missing?  We tried getting R in the pic, too, and she was
TERRIFIED of the statues!  Absolutely screamed when we tried to put her near them!

To answer a couple of questions....
1.  "Ahh-Yee" is R's Chinese nickname.  Her first name is Xiayi.  The Mandarin nickname would be pronounced "Yee", but in Cantonese, you put the "Ahh" in front of it.  So, yes, sort of sounds like Ayi.
2.  She is indeed as small as they told us. We put her on the scale and she weighed in at about 9 kg.  So, under 20 lbs.  She is a peanut!

And Rosie Makes Four!

Where to start?  How about from the end and go forward:

What a day, what a day!

We were up early again, P and I with a major case of the jitters.  We hit the buffet but it was that kind of eating where you're eating because you know you have to.  E was talking and talking and talking and P and I were caught up in our own heads, terrified about the day ahead.

We headed out to find a cheapo stroller that will likely lose it's wheels before we leave China.  Back to the room to blow up balloons and get ready.  E must have said, "Let's go meet Roe-rie!!!" about five thousand times.  We told her that we'd have to call her "Ahh Yee" at first, and she caught on to that right away, changing her refrain to, "Where's AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!!?!?"

At 2pm we met Rebecca in the lobby and hopped in the van.  The driver said to Rebecca in Chinese, "She talks a LOT!" about E, who was chatting non-stop the entire ride over:  "Is dat the building?  Is dat the building?  Is dat where Roe-rie is?  Where we meet Roe-rie?"

When we arrived to the Civil Affairs office, we realized just how different this was going to be from E's Gotcha Day...there was chaos all around us.  Tons of families, crying babies.  Lots and lots of babies.  We were ushered over to our corner, and Rebecca came back and told us that R had not arrived yet.  Since she would come up the same elevator we had, we would get a "preview" peek at her when she arrived before she was ushered to the "holding area", shall we say.  So we nervously stood with our cameras fixed on the elevator doors while E waited impatiently.

Several minutes later, there she was.  E started screaming and jumping up and down when she saw her little sister.  It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen.

Here's our sneak peek as she got off the elevator.

Probably looking over wondering who the little girl jumping up and down
and screaming is...yup, that's your sister!

About a minute later, Rebecca came over, asking for the TA and it felt chaotic and fast and before I could get over to where they were bringing R back out, E was headed over there, trailed by Baba, and then me.  At that moment, all of the delays and frustration and anxiety and fear melted away...there she was, adorable, TINY, in her little pink sweatsuit with some of the bows we had sent to her stuck all over her hair.  She was holding the little toy phone we sent to her, just like her jie jie was when she came to us in the Nanning Marriott, 16 months ago.

We were ushered over to our corner of the chaos and went through the little backpack we had stuffed with things for R.  E was absolutely amazing at this time...she was acting well beyond her 3 years, trying to offer things to her sister and get her to engage with us.  Every now and again, E would say, "Why she not smiling?" and we'd explain to her that this was all very new and scary to her.  

R was pretty stoic, not very interested in what we had to show her.  I was pulled away to go over my very long list of questions with the CWI staff.  By the time I came back, Baba and E had worked their magic, and R was playing and eating and interacting.  P said it was one of his proudest moments with his first daughter...they worked as a team, figuring out what R seemed interested in, what she might like to try to eat, and so on.  E would pop an M&M in her mouth and show R how yummy it was, and then R decided it was OK to join in the fun.  P said that E has never been so obedient...following his lead, pulling back when he said to, getting closer if it seemed OK.  I came back to a happy little play group, sticky with lollipops and playing with stickers.

We got our picture, and it was done.  A quick stop for formula and a bottle (they said she uses a bottle, though we haven't had success with that yet) and we were back to the hotel room to do some paperwork.  All of this, and not a single tear from R.  I was worried when Rebecca left that R would start crying, but she didn't, she just kept playing.  She ate snacks and tried out just about everything we had here to play with.  And, to say that she's into EVERYTHING is very true.  At first she was afraid of the bubbles, but after she saw E playing with them, she tried it for herself and got the hang of it.  We saw smiles and heard little sounds.  She indicated that she wanted to try out the stroller, so we strolled her around the room and she was laughing and smiling.

We headed out for dinner at Guangzhou restaurant, where R showed us that--at least for now--she likes to eat.  After dinner, we got her a new pair of shoes and headed back for playtime and bathtime.  

Overall, it was an amazing day.  P and I are sort of waiting for "the other shoe to drop" and we'll see how it goes today when R wakes up and realizes she's here, and not at the CWI that she's known for most of her life.

What a difference love makes

Staying in the Shifu, in the area that we are so familiar with from the hours and hours of walking we did in an attempt to console E last January was a great decision.  I think it has been extremely therapeutic for P and I to relive the moments we missed, and to see our beloved daughter E smiling here.  If you followed our journey to E, you know that she wouldn't play, smile, eat, talk, laugh, interact with us, interact with other children, get out of her stroller, or do much of anything besides hurt while we were in GZ.

Today we were up at the crack of dawn, I guess literally because we heard roosters crowing outside of our window.  E was up early, too, playing catch with Baba with the very same light-up balls we brought here when we met her, that she wouldn't even look at, never mind pick up.

We hit the yummy breakfast buffet and watched E slurp more noodles again.  Last time, we brought her plates and plates and plates of food that she'd just look at.  For you thal people out there, we brought her Exjade with us, and for whatever reason, it seems to go down better in the drinkable yogurt here than at home.

We headed out in the humidity (I can't tell you how frizzy my hair is!  Well, I don't have to, you can see it in the pics!) and walked to Shamian.  I've read that lots of families find the island boring now, but we love it.  We love the walk to get there through the bustle of the pet and spice markets, and we love the quiet and beauty once we get to the island.  We didn't see one other Caucasian family there today, but it was teeming with Asian families.  We went back to our favorite shops and scoped out the shoes we'll buy for the girls and some artwork we'll bring back.  We chatted up some of the shop owners whom we met and who were so kind to us last time.

Again, I can't really put into words the feelings we had walking Shamian and the city with E, chatting, laughing, pointing, and generally having a blast.  We walked by a spot where we remembered chatting with the Lillie family, where little Emma was trying to play with our E, and E just wouldn't budge.  We went to the little playground where we tried unsuccessfully to let E play last year.  She had no interest then.  This time, we had to bribe her to get back in the stroller.  We went to the famous children's statues where we never got a picture last year because E was grieving so badly.  We got that picture and a zillion others today.

We all took a little snooze this afternoon, then we headed to a shopping mall where we found some awesome Chinese style bakeries, candy stores, and a supermarket.  We love wandering the places where non-tourists shop and go about their daily lives.  We got some provisions and headed back.  After a few snacks in the Lounge, (cheese and olives for E again!), we went to Tao Tao Ju for noodles and bbq pork buns.  Watching E eat the same noodles she did last year, but this time with a smile, was great.

I know that adoption is never, ever supposed to be about the parents.  Only the child.  And obviously, in many ways, this day was about P and me.  E doesn't really remember being here (we've asked) so she doesn't know how amazing it is to see this transformation.  But, for us, this has been so healing.  It's given us strength, knowing that it's hard--harder than anything either of us has experienced--but that it gets better.  It really does.  It's given us confidence in our ability to parent and love a child through something more traumatic than many of us will ever experience.  Sure, E did this, but she did it with our help, our love, our guidance, and our promise to her that we will love her for ever and ever, no matter what.  I can't believe what a difference love makes.

So now, it's time to turn that strength, that love, that empowerment towards R.  I said to P today, let's shake off the jet lag, let's stand strong, and dig deep.  He asked me to stay focused, to promise to act as a team, and to try to keep my emotions in check when things get hard.

Tomorrow we leave to meet our second daughter at 2pm.  We've got documents to copy, goodies to pack, gift bags to put together, and--of course--those balloons to blow up before then.  You know it wouldn't be a T and P Gotcha Day without those balloons lolling around on the floor...

Shamian Island.

Near some of our favorite island shops.

Not sure who that guy is.

E loving the playground!

We couldn't get this photo last year...

...We got about 10 this year!

Pedestrian mall.

Some snacks we picked up at the supermarket.
(Joking, mom!)

Awesome authentic Chinese bakery.

Our last dinner as a trio.  Tomorrow, quartet.