At last....an update!!

We have spent the past 24 or so hours being charmed by the most delightful little girl you'd ever hope to love.

We met Wen Li late yesterday afternoon at the Civil Affairs office in Jiangxi. It was absolute pandemonium, with the Norwegian group staggering out dazed and teary, new daughters in arm, the Canadians in the process of receiving their new daughters, and our ten families struggling to climb the narrow stair and navigate the even smaller hallway, video cameras jouncing everywhere to capture the moment.

We practiced hearing and responding to our daughter's Chinese name on the bus ride over, but still had to be called several times before going "Oh! That's our baby!!" We hand the camera to Will, our designated film taker, and after showing our passports for ID, get handed a large pink snowsuit, with little dark eyes and a tiny nose peeking out the collar. She scrunched up her face and began to cry with all her heart. Tiny tears trickled out her distress. She would soothe for a moment as we rocked her, then look up at unfamilar faces and cry again.

This continued for the trip back to the hotel and up to the room. She began to go longer stretches without tears as Kev calmed her down with a bottle. She cried again as we removed each layer of clothing, right down to her split pants and large socks tied on with string. She is so tiny! Only 15 pounds at 9 months. She has room to spare in a size 2 diaper.

After a little while, I head downstairs to fill out paperwork in triplicate, complete with red thumbprints on signature. On the way back to the room I meet a wonderful 9 year old Chinese girl name Suzise, brought there by her mother to meet Americans and practice her English. She asks to come up and meet our baby, then her mother starts scolding her in Chinese. She turns to me and asks if she is impolite to ask to meet her. I laugh and say no. Then more from her mother and she asks if we are imposing on my husband. Again, no. So Suzise and her mother join us for a while on the first night with Wen Li. Miles and Suzise hit it off right away, and her mother turns out to be a big help in soothing Wen Li. I learn some little phrases for baby talk, and find out she likes to be patted to sleep. Kevin has slipped out to sign his share of the paperwork while we visit.

Miles has been great through the whole trip, with only one "episode" late Saturday night. He climbed past 4 towers on the Great Wall, farther than everyone else in our group. What a trooper! He could have cleared the peak with a little more time (and maybe a few more Ritz crackers). Kev was kind enough to let me jog up the rest of the way, just for the satisfaction of finishing off the climb. There was no one at the top to take my picture (bummer) but a special moment none the less. Miles has been very understanding of Wen Li's needs so far, but has only held her once for a photo op. She was thrilled to be held by her big brother and gave him her best two-toothed smile.

Wen Li has had a great day today. After sleeping through the night, she woke up dry then pee'd in the potty! She was much happier this morning, and has been handing out smiles, giggles, and smacking kisses very generously all day. She is very quick to figure things out, and is using her understanding to wrap Daddy around her little finger. He is completely smitten.

She seems to be in very good health overall. She has a bit of diaper rash, and tends to get splotchy when she's hot. She is very fair and delicate, but has an iron grip. She loves her toys. She spent the first evening trying to hold all of them in her hands at the same time!

We completed the paperwork this morning that says she is ours forever, after answering to two different officials "Yes, we want to keep her!" Glad we did.