"Gotcha Day"

First, one thing I forgot to mention about the hotel. There was a lovely crib set up in the room with soft blankets and a cute stuffed panda bear. In the crib there was the following thoughtful and funny note from the hotel staff (transcribed word for word)...

"Warm Reminder. Dear client, Thanks for your attention! Its is hard work accompanying with happiness to look after kids. If you need any help, please call our assistant manager. We are very pleasure to offer our help. Congratulations to a lovely angle joining your family!"

Naomi is indeed a lovely "angle"... :)

Gotcha day truly is a special day. We woke up early on Monday after getting a pretty good night's sleep. I tried to work out but it turns out the fitness center doesn't open until 8 o'clock. I arrived at a completely dark entrance at 6:30 am with an older gentleman sleeping outside on a couch. I snuck quietly back to the room.

We decided to organize Naomi's clothes and diaper bag. Thanks to Steph we are well equipped. Then we grabbed breakfast at the hotel's "Western Buffet". These are my favorite buffet items: cream puffs, "beans with ketchup" - baked beans, chocolate mousse, cookies, canned pineapple, hard boiled eggs called "soft boiled eggs" and fried rice. Yes, western style.

Oh, another side note. Our first dinner was in the Chinese restaurant in the hotel. We had the luck to witness a wedding banquet that had taken over half the restaurant. The food looked delicious and at our last count the bride and groom had done 17 separate toasts with various tables of relatives.

Back to "Gotcha Day"... After breakfast we went shopping at a neighboring upscale mall called the Friendship Store. Most of the stores are fashionable brands like Prada, Burberry and Hermes. There is also a very nice grocery store with everything we need for Naomi and departments with toys, electronics, etc. We got some snacks for our room, including peanut butter of course, and some great Fisher Price toys.

Then back to the hotel so Mimi could nap. I decided to explore a bit and found an English bookstore with a few great kids books. I bought one lift the flap book in both English and Mandarin an a picture book about "The Littlest Emperor". The picture book is a cute story about how a benevolent but bored Emperor searches his kingdom for "fun" and finally finds it playing in the mud with kids from the smallest village in the kingdom.

Now it was finally time to gather up our stuff and head to the Guangzhou Civil Affairs office. This office is responsible for adoptions, marriage of foreigners to Chinese citizens and a few other things. It runs a national lottery to help fund the orphanage system.

Everyone was nervous on the bus, especially the first time parents. Frankly, a few of the couples looked like they might bolt if given the chance. The weight of this lovely but permanent choice hit everyone hard. Then we walked into the government office and were immediately hit with a cacophony of parents talking in hushed voices, kids laughing, kids screaming and guides explaining what to do next. There was another group there that had just received their children and you could see the mixture of elation tinged with a little bit of fear on their faces. Now what?

We milled around and waited for Norman to get us organized. Every took some quick pictures next to the office sign. Then, suddenly, it was our turn and they began bringing out the children to their parents one-by-one. I don't remember who was first but we all cheered wildly when she was brought out and handed to her family, in the process upsetting many of the kids from the previous group.

Naomi came out third and everything seemed to slow down. We asked a member of the China team to film us and knelt down to greet her. She wobbled out with assistance with the same, tough little look from her pictures. She didn't make a peep as I scooped her up, posed for a few pictures and then took her to a nearby bench. "This is my daughter" I thought. How remarkable and wonderful! She sat with me as if we had been friends forever, clinging tightly to the scoop of a bulldozer that had been given to her by her caretaker.

Then, before 10 minutes together, I tickled here a little and she laughed. I knew right then that not only was the wait for her more than worth it, I knew that she would be an amazing part of our family for the rest of our lives. She is beautiful. I know everyone thinks this about their children but we are constantly being stopped by everyone that meets her and being told - "she's so gorgeous, you hit the jackpot". Kind of a funny thing to say but I can't help feeling its true.

Her skin is a rich brown and flawless. She doesn't have one scratch, bit or bruise on her. Her hair is growing in and its a deep, raven colored black. Her eyes are dark too and seem to contain knowledge beyond her 16.5 months. Although generally healthy and alert, she seems under nourished and has deep chest congestion that rattles her every breath. I imagine the pollution doesn't help and I will feel much better when we get her home and a US doctor gives her a complete physical.

We were able to talk to her caretaker for about 15 minutes and got some great info about her schedule, favorite toys, etc. All of the caretakers from her orphanage seemed very nice and they all hugged Naomi several times before leaving. They were genuinely very grateful for the red envelopes we gave them with 100 yuan each (about $14).

By the time we got back on bus you could see that several of the new parents had calmed down considerably and, although there was still some fear in their eyes, they were already overwhelmed by the love they felt for this baby that had been a stranger just a few hours earlier.

Naomi did not cry once the entire first day. She seems amazingly even keeled, her only protests being each time she finished her bottle and seemed to want more. We are going to up the number of her feedings because she devours an 8 ounce bottle in about 4 minutes.

Once back in the hotel the rest of the evening was a mix of playing with her new toys on the floor, practicing walking and eating dinner at one of the nicer hotel restaurants in a private room. She enjoyed trying some egg flower soup at dinner and I discovered zerbots on her neck earn a big smile. Needless to say she got lots of zerbots...

I don't want to jinx us b/c I'm sure we will have some rough times but she went to sleep without a peep at 10 pm after her last bottle. As of this posting she has slept for 8 hours. She woke up briefly, played a little quietly and went back to sleep. Remarkable.

More soon about day 2 - I think she's waking up.....