This is the civil affairs office where our adoption became official. The ipad finally got Grace to stop crying. She was reaching and crying for the woman from the orphanage who brought her.
Poor baby was so scared at first. She was crying and sweating and drenched so we changed her into something a little lighter.
She snuggled in and slept for a bit. Her breathing was very gurgly and she was and is congested.
After a little rest we headed to the notary office. This was mostly a huge conference room that had big windows. We discovered that she really really likes windows.
She also really likes to laugh and when she does, she throws her head backward or forward.
Her laugh is contageous! It's a raspy, gurgly, hearty belly laugh. It was so amazing to see this side of her so soon after we met her. We could tell right away that she had been deeply loved and cared for. She warmed up to us quickly and it was so helpful to have Maddie and Jake there to entertain her. It's true already, no one makes Grace laugh like Maddie and Jake do. That bond was instant.
We spent A LOT of time in either a van or a smokey, smelly office building on Gotcha Day. It was not glamorous. It was not pretty or comfortable or easy but it was beautiful because she settled right into our family. She felt safe enough to sleep, she accepted food from each of us, she reached to me and Maddie for comfort and she smiled and giggled. A lot.
She knows how to have fun amidst challenging circumstances and poor health.
She is extremely playful and clever and it takes all four of us to out-wit her.
It was amazing just to see her in person instead of on a screen. I stared and stared at her all day.
We went back to the hotel finally at about 5:00. It was a really long emotional day and everyone handled it exceptionally well. Having fries and "chicken" helped too.
Our first night together was fairly uneventful. She sleeps really well between us and I listened to her breathe most of the night because it's noisy and it took me a while to realize that it's her normal.
The next morning she woke up and cried and cried. I expected this - it's pretty typical for newly adopted kids to wake up and need a minute to adjust and remember where they are and who they are with now.We fed her puffs and instantly the crying stopped. She loves puffs. A lot.
We decided ti give her a bath. After some medicine mishaps and sweating and some rough diaper situations she needed one...and she didn't like it one bit.
Couldn't you just cry at the sight of her sad face? That sad face comes at bath time, nebulizer time, and diaper changing time. She came to us with the worst diaper rash I have ever seen. She had been hospitalized for 10 days or so prior to leaving to meet us. Evidently, the nurses don't change diapers very often. We hoped a bath and some airing out would help healing.
She almost never accepts a nebulizer treatment. We've started modeling it for her clapping for ourselves, we let her hold it herself (which sometimes works), we hold her down while she screams and screams, and we sneak it in during her sleep. We've tried bubbles, toys, puffs, holding cell phones, ipads, cameras, standing, sitting, bouncing...everything. It's no fun.
She has the sweetest little face,
She is such a snuggler. I think she will miss being in our laps in the van at home. That carseat is going to rock her world I'm pretty sure. Help Jesus.
On Wednesday of Gotcha week we visited the Children's Hospital at the recommendation of our guide to help our cause with the airlines of bringing the oxygen concentrator onboard with us for her to use.
We tried to get her to wear the mask but she would have none of it.
There was a lot of waiting around.
After we were done at the hospital we decided to visit a bazaar that Urumqi is known for. It had been a hope of ours to find some small things to purchase for Grace from her province to give her on special days like birthdays, graduations, gotcha day anniversaries etc. We found some great things for her and for peeps back home as well.
This is every dried berry, fruit or nut imaginable. The colors were so beautiful.
Here is our view from the hotel through a vert dirty window.
After a long day little G crashed. She slept on me for about 2 hours. I love how snuggly she is!
On Thursday of Gotcha week we departed Grace's province. We were happy to leave, but not happy about the conditions of our flight without her oxygen machine and batteries. Then with only 30 minutes until our arrival in Guangzhou we learned that our flight was being rerouted because of weather. he is also very cooperative in high stress situations like airports whose staff is uncooperative and not flexible or caring about things like critical medical equipment. Grace just rolls with it until it's time for a nebulizer treatment. Then she screams and turns blue and without oxygen handy - is a very scary thing to watch. Very very scary.
Once we were safely in Guangzhou we all relaxed a bit. We mostly did nothing on Friday of Gotcha week...but we did play...
There. Now I'm all caught up with photos from Gotcha week. I can't imagine forgetting these moments - but after raising two almost teenagers, I realized I forget more than I want to.
Not this time.
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