Wednesday, August 16, 2006

When I woke up this morning I was so glad that yesterday hadn't just been a nice dream. Ellen was the first one asleep last night and the last one awake this morning-how's that for a good little sleeper? Because she has been in an orphanage it is very important that she learn to attach to me and Jason. For this reason we have taken the advice of many other families and decided to have Ellen sleep with us in our bed for a little while. She is so small she doesn't take up much room at all and I loved watching her sleep. Spencer woke up at 5am and came to the foot of our bed. I asked him if he wanted to come snuggle with Ellen and he jumped at the opportunity. After Jason and I got out of bed for the day Spencer laid in bed at least 45 minutes just looking at his new baby sister. Every now and then he would report, "Ellen coughed," or "Ellen rolled over."

At 9am Jason and I were off to the adoption center with Ellen and the kids stayed behind with Gramma and Babop at the hotel. The kids all offered to keep Ellen for us promising they would take good care of her, but we explained she had to come with us. The hotel is so kid friendly with bowling, ping pong, swimming, billiards, and more so the kids had plenty of fun.

O the bus ride to the adoption center Ellen fell asleep. When we arrived we had to take a family picture and we learned that she is a very deep sleeper. The photographer and our guide were whistling, clapping, playing music up to her ear and she didn't even budge. Finally they started blowing in her face and standing her up and she opened her eyes just long enough for them to snap a picture. We were all laughing, but poor Ellen! As if yesterday wasn't hard enough!

After the pictures each family was called in for an interview with an official who thumb printed us and foot printed Ellen. She asked us a few questions and then smiled and said, "Congratulations-she's yours!" So the adoption's official, Ellen RuYu Elizabeth Wickham is our daughter! Each family received warm congratulations from one another and after a bit more paperwork we were done. There was a peaceful happiness as all 5 families walked out of the building together with our daughters held tightly in our arms-what a special day!

Back at the hotel we had lunch with the whole family. Just to give you
an idea of what our meals are like since Ellen arrived:

CONNOR: "I get to push the stroller to the restaurant!"
TARA: "Then I get to sit by her, OK Mommy?"
SPENCER: "But Tara sat by her last night, I want to sit by her."
TARA: "Spencer, you got to play with her all morning already."
CONNOR: "Ya, but Tara, you got to change her diaper."
SPENCER: "How 'bout can I feed her the bottle?"
CONNOR & TARA: "Ohhh, but I want to feed her!"

You get the idea. And just add 6 hands to every diaper change, outfit change, bath, etc. They are so eager to help that, although it gets chaotic at times, I know they are just excited because they love her as much as we do!

This afternoon Jason took the kids bowling while Ellen and I took a nap-ahhh! It is so hot outside that just walking to our restaurant 2 minutes away tires you out. We ate traditional Hunan food (spicy-really, really spicy) with one of guides who taught us a lot about Chinese culture. Ellen is eating pretty well. She's trying the new baby foods we brought and likes table food as well. She doesn't drink from her bottle as much as I was expecting so it's tricky to keep her hydrated. She is so darn flexible it is fun to watch her roll around on the floor (she can truly do the Chinese splits-easily)! She doesn't crawl, but scoots around a little. Her legs are a little shaky, but I'm sure she be progressing fast from here on out.

Some good news is that she is showing signs of attachment already. Today she whimpered every time I put her down or walked out of the room. This is really good for her, but frustrating for Connor, Tara and Spencer. They are understanding, though and still are having fun with her. I didn't realize how shy she was yesterday until we saw her come out of shell today. She was smiling a lot today and giggling too (Connor was the champ of making Ellen laugh today). Yesterday we barely got one or two smiles from her. So I'm glad she is feeling more comfortable because we can't get enough of her darling smile.