She's Ours!

7:20 AM - March 12th.

Yesterday I signed the official Chinese paperwork that appoints me as Naomi's legal guardian until we can officially re-adopt her. I was asked a few questions by a notary and an adoption official to prove that Stephanie supported the adoption and that we are really married and then I signed and that was that. Today we will go shopping in the morning at a huge shopping area called "Beijing Road". The we are off to more Chinese government offices to apply for her passport.

We learned that on Friday we will get to tour Naomi's orphanage in Guandong. It's one of the biggest and closest so we will also tour the city a bit. I'm a little nervous about taking her back so soon but I really want to see where she has been these past 16 months. Speaking of 16 months the group is beginning to theorize that many of the kids might be artificially aged to get them out of the system faster. 4 of the 6 kids from Naomi's orphanage were listed as "pre-mature" and they seem very small for their stated age. We will never know the truth but it seems possible she is actually a few months younger than stated.

So far Naomi is a dream. She only cries a little when her bottle is done and she wants more. Otherwise she is happy and curious most of the time. I'm sure we will hit rough patches later but we are enjoying her flexible good nature now. She is also sleeping like crazy. She took a 4 hour nap yesterday and is still sleeping this morning. I imagine its a huge luxury to have her own crib with comfy blankets and a quiet room. Also, her caretaker told us she would go to sleep at 10pm and wake up at 6 am every day. She has probably been sleep deprived her entire life so far -- lots of catching up to do!

We had a fun dinner at a Macau inspired restaurant last night. The food was an interesting combo of Chinese and Portuguese. Naomi ate some rice, chicken and eggplant and is slowly getting more interested in real food. At the orphanage she only received formula 3 times a day and rice cereal once. We are already giving her formula 4 times a day and she devours it every time. Well, I'm off to prepare her bottle and bath. Another big day ahead!