March 17th, 2008

I'm not even Irish, but I might just be the luckiest Mama around. Gotcha Day isn't even over, but I have to fill you in so far.

We left for the Chengdu Children's Welfare Institute at 8:45am. As we arrived, it was almost surreal. There were nannies on the grounds taking children outside to the playground...all just so little and so sweet. I wished I could take them all with me---I KNEW that would happen! I began to get very teary as we made our way to the 'adoption room.' Each family sat in a love seat while the nannies and other worker did all they could to make us comfortable. I was completely surprised when the nannies brought me a photo album that they had made of our daughter, with so many pictures of her growing up. I completely lost it---it was the most beautiful gift I could have been given, and I had no idea we would get that. They also gave me back one of the disposable cameras and the photo album that I sent. As I was looking through the album, all of a sudden they were bringing in the girls! Leila and Riley came walking in holding hands.

After that...oh boy. To put it mildly, Leila was NOT happy to be seeing her new parents. It was absolutely heartbreaking as she cried and cried in my arms, reaching out to her caregivers. I wasn't surprised by her reaction---I knew this would be a very hard transition for her. I did feel at one point that this might be more cruel than just leaving her at the orphanage, but I hoped it would eventually pass. The orphanage director came in a few times and spoke somewhat sternly to Leila, at which time she would calm for a moment. Her nanny came in one time and calmed her down, but when she handed her back to me it was back to sad, sad baby. Jason and I signed our initial papers and received all kinds of documents from the orphanage (most of which will be completed tomorrow). We tried to comfort Leila with a baby doll, toy, and blanket, but it seemed that each of those items just made her more sad. The ladies at the orphanage did give her a lollipop which helped somewhat, but the grieving our daughter was doing was evident and so hard to watch. Our guide Rosa told me to take her outside, that this will usually help. When we walked down the front steps, a group of children Leila's age walked up to her and waved goodbye. As you can imagine, this was not exactly helpful but so sweet to witness. We then boarded the bus and just like that (maybe 30 minutes after arriving), we were on our way with our sweet girl in our arms.

The bus ride was intriguing to Leila. She watched intently out the window, crying at first but soon calming and becoming very sleepy. She never took the sucker out her mouth, but began clinging to me and me only. Jason would try and hold her or at least talk to her, but she wasn't even close to ready. However, as she snuggled into me, there was a glimmer of hope that she wouldn't cry for the rest of her life! I did tell my sister though that so far, this adoption thing was WAY harder than actually giving birth.

When we returned to the hotel, Leila had fallen asleep but immediately perked up when we walked into the hotel. Jeannie was holding Riley, so we think that seeing a 'friend' helped. It was really amazing...all of a sudden...something clicked and Leila looked at me, looked at Jason, and seemed to be OK. By the time we got to the elevator, she was holding on to me tightly and reaching for the "up button"! When we got up to the room, you would not believe the little personality that popped out. Leila was absolutely hilarious! She was laughing, doing little tricks with her tongue, and talking up a storm. First it was all Chinese, but soon she was a parrot, imitating everything we said (even in English). She responds well to her nickname from the orphanage (Ting Ting), so we've been calling her that and Leila to get her used to her name. My parents and Jason's parents will tell you---we were able to Skype with each of them for a short time---she was waving, laughing, telling them 'Ni hao' and 'bye bye.' She went potty on the potty 3 times this afternoon, she picked up on several sign language signs (more, drink, eat)---it was just amazing. The best part of the day is when she finally went to Jason. There was a dog outside, which she loves, and he held her up to the window to see it. You can only imagine his joy to finally hold his girl!

Although I left her clothes on for awhile, I just had to change her into one of the outfits we brought. Karen made her the cutest Gotcha Day shirt, which we put on with jeans. She was so good, she could almost get her clothes on by herself. She looked so darn cute---pictures SOON I promise! We then made her some lunch (Ramen Noodles) which she LOVED (she even fed herself). This kid LOVES to eat---she just went crazy with the noodles, raisins, teddy grahams, and fruit snacks. She also loves to hold things--food mostly, but also these cute little panda finger puppets that we brought. She is definitely attached to them, it is hilarious. We did try a nap this afternoon, but it just wasn't happening (she just laid there and talked to us in Chinese, it was very funny). Once we turned the lights back on, she smiled at us with the biggest smile---she had us. We played all afternoon and did a little shopping as well.
We are so thrilled to finally have our daughter in our arms---JUST WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE HER! It's a little hard now not to want to just hurry home, but we know we still have lots to do, including lots more bonding! Thank you for praying for us today---we could feel those prayers and we are so thankful for you. I am emailing photos to my brother, hopefully they will be up soon. For some reason, yahoo is blocked here, so I'm not getting emails. I'll keep trying, but in the meantime, know we love you and are so thankful for you.

Much love,
Alissa, Jason, and Leila Grace