Thursday,
December 18, 2008
Ni Hao! Today was another crazy day. Lauren was feeling ill
last night, with chest congestion and a nasty cough. I emailed
her pediatrician at home and got some advice & reassurance that
I was treating it correctly but even so I didn’t sleep a wink.
Seriously…not even 10 minutes. I am the walking dead today and
can’t wait until this little one has finally drifted off. As I
type, Mike is doing the stroll back & forth in the room to try
to get her calmed down for sleepy time. As soon as she’s in that
crib, we are going to crash!
We had another busy morning of being bused around to do more
paperwork. We had to be up and out early to complete more
paperwork, then headed to meet with the Guangxi Civil Affairs
Office and Lauren’s Orphanage Director to confirm that “yes
indeed, we do promise to love and take care of this child and
no, we will not abuse or abandon her”. After a short personal
interview, many signatures and red ink thumb prints from
us/right foot print from Lauren; they held a short ceremony
where we were presented with a gift from her caretakers and then
we presented her caretakers with gifts from the U.S.A. We were
ecstatic that the orphanage made sure to include an item that is
so valuable to us. Long story short her birth mother had left a
special item with Lauren the day she was abandoned. There is
significance to this item, which proves how strongly her birth
mother loved her. Lauren was the only child adopted in our group
who was abandoned with a “gift”. Being left with a link (for
lack of a better word) to your birth mother is a rare in Chinese
abandonment & we are just so thankful to have this to share with
Lauren one day when she is older and can fully recognize the
significance of it all.
We were also able to take a moment to speak with Lauren’s
caretakers. The translations were rough but we got an idea of
how they prepared her food and bottle schedules. It saddened me
to see her first smile since coming into our family break out at
the first sight of them as she arched her body away from me
towards her favorite nanny. I didn’t know if it was “right or
wrong”, making matters better or worse, but I did allow her
nanny one last cuddle with Lauren. Oh the tears! It was so clear
how much she was truly cared for while under this women’s
supervision. Unfortunately it was very hard for Lauren to see
the all again, and she mourned for hours afterwards.
But with this sadness came some gladness as the day went on…
Lauren finally took a bottle from me and swallowed it so quickly
that Mike was scrambling to make up a second bottle in record
time. She had not eaten or had any liquids (other than Motrin)
since we had her. So I was over the moon happy that she was
getting some nutrition. She ate two bowls of pork congee (a rice
& water concoction that is very popular in China) and some
steamed eggs, as well as some spaghetti today. Lauren has
allowed both Mike and I to feed her by spoon today. As for the
bottle feedings, they are all mommy Daddy gets the evil eye and
some major screaming if he tries to help with that.
Also, Lauren allowed us to put in her a highchair at dinner
tonight. Up until now, 99% of her waking hours has been in
Mommy’s arms OR ELSE it can get ugly. She also smiled at Daddy &
Ellie. I was carrying her so I missed the live event, thank God
Ellie captured it on film or I would never believe that it
happened.
All I can do is pray that each day it gets better & that Lauren
completely warms up to us and starts to exhibit some of the
behaviors that her nannies claim are her true personality (i.e.
– super playful and friendly).
As a note to fellow adopters who are the process: you must bring
stacking cups! Lauren can’t get enough of hers. Early today she
took her orange cup EVERYWHERE. Didn’t drop it once and we had
been on an off at least 5 times. Then this afternoon, it was all
about the blue cup. Took it to dinner and never put it down.
Seriously she’s asleep now and it’s still in her hand! Well I’m
going to follow in Lauren’s path and get to bed. Tomorrow’s
agenda includes a visit to Wal-Mart (oh yay baby), so you know
you need to stop by to hear all about that excitement, LOL! |
Making it official with the Civil Affairs Office
Zonked out with my orange cup in a death grip!
The first bottle!
Lauren's 1st time in a high chair -
please note the grip on the blue cup
Daddy is allowed to feed Lauren
If there wasn't a picture
I wouldn't believe Lauren smiled! |
