Tuesday, June 7, 2011
GOTCHA DAY!

Today was a very special day for us! We became a family of six! Piper is beautiful and we are so in love with her!!! She is extremely tiny and thin! We are a little concerned about her! We can't wait to get her home to see our doctors! She is very weak in her legs and is unsteady on her feet. Her fine motor skills seem to be okay. She is adorable! She is friendly and loves dolls!

Our day began by talking with Sophia, Graham, and Parker on skype! It is the best way to begin our day! We miss them all very much! After breakfast we took a ten minute walk to the RT Mart to do some shopping. We bought some water, soda, and food for us and some juice and food for Piper! We weren't there for long because we had to get back to the hotel by 11:30 for the Chryst Family's Gotcha Day! We took pictures and video for them and they did the same for us! It is so great to have them with us! There daughter Brooklyn is adorable and such a happy little baby!! We were so glad we could share this special time with them! Erik and I both took a nap until it was time to go meet Piper!

We walked five minutes to the Civil Affairs Office and waited about a half hour before Piper arrived! She rode on a high speed train from Pingxing City. It took about two hours by train, but it would have taken four hours by car! We were told that she got sick on the train! She was brought by the Orphanage Director, an orphanage worker, and her foster mother. We were surprised to see her foster mother with Piper. They took Piper from her foster mother and handed her to me. She cried and cried and cried! I walked her around the very hot room and gave her some juice. She did calm down after awhile! My heart was completely broken for Piper as well as her foster mother!

We had to get our family picture taken for Piper's adoption register and she was still crying in our family picture. They needed a picture for her Chinese passport, but she was still crying. They asked her foster mother to hold her to get the picture and then handed Piper back to me! She cried and cried again! It was so hard to see Piper so upset! Her little heart was beating so fast!!

We finished up the paperwork and headed to the police station. As we were driving in the van, Piper got sick all over her clothes and me! She also got sick on her baby doll too! Poor baby! She just was having an awful day! I took off her first layer of clothing and cleaned her up the best I could being that we were in a van! She finally fell asleep in my arms before we arrived at the police station. Unfortunately, I had to wake her up to have her picture taken at the police station. We left the police station and headed for the notary to finish up the paperwork. She got sick again in the van, but this time Erik and I were ready!

We left the notary and went right to our hotel. I gave her a bath to clean her up. She loved the bubble bath and we saw our first smile. She has this adorable overbite that just melts our hearts! She played on the floor with the stickers and crayons we brought for her! We tried to get her to play with the beach ball, but she wasn't interested yet! We ordered pizza for dinner with the help from our guide. We ordered Piper congee (watery rice mixture). She didn't eat much for dinner and that makes us a little worried. She ate a couple crackers and some gold fish. She took a few bites of pizza. She did drink some juice. We gave her some type of drink before bed that her foster mother sent with her. Our guide mentioned when she dropped off our pizza that Piper needed a bottle before bed. That is why we fed her the drink from her foster mother. I held her and she fell asleep in my arms. I put her in the crib and she has been sleeping for about an hour. We will let you know how our first night went with Piper tomorrow!

Tomorrow we are scheduled to go to see a pavilion. We will decide in the morning if we will go or not. I really don't want Piper getting sick in the van again. I asked our guide if there was some kind of motion sickness medicine to give Piper. It is going to be a long 12 hour flight to Chicago and a two hour flight to Philadelphia if Piper is sick the whole time!!

Notes from Dad:
I think Tricia covered all of the bases in her review of the day. It was sad to see Piper so upset; her throwing up in the van made us feel ever worse for her. I think things will get better though - Sophia was pretty distraught when we met her as well, but things eased up a little the second day. I'm sure the same thing will happen for Piper as well. I wish she ate more today - but maybe it was all of the anxiety. We'll work on that more tomorrow.


Dear Sophia, Graham, and Parker,
We love and miss you very much! We loved taking with your this morning on the computer. We hope you had fun at Eric and Ethan's concert tonight! We can't wait to hear all about it! Sophia~Piper loves the Sleeping Beauty doll you sent for her! Graham~We still haven't seen any big trucks in China yet!! Parker~I sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to Piper tonight. She will love to hear you sing to her! We know Piper will love her big sister and two big brothers!!!!

Lots of love,
Mommy and Daddy!