Katie's Adoption Day

Luke having a bottle while we wait in the lobby for our guide to pick us up to return to yesterday's building for the actual adoption.  

She's a very content little girl.  Watches everything.  Shows a slight preference to me, but perfectly willing to go to Baba as needed.  And there has been a lot of passing them back and forth today.  

Mama thumb printing signatures.  

Baba thumb printing signatures.  

Look at Katie in this picture.  From the time we got there today, she refused to look at the director or the woman with her (not Katie's specific nanny, but perhaps another nanny?).  I don't know if she was trying to indicate she was mad at them for ditching her yesterday, or if she was afraid they would take her back, but I found it interesting, and pretty much the opposite of how Hannah reacted on her adoption day.  

This was the nicely air conditioned room where we met several other families who were also finalizing their adoptions today, including two families with kids the same age as Luke.  Their little ones were running all over the place, while Luke sat in the stroller.  

Looks like Baba caught me mid-smooch.  She's a very kissable little thing!  So tiny!  After carrying Luke around for several days, I just about toss her in the air when I go to pick her up.

 Right to left, we have:  another adoptive mama, our guide Amby, orphanage director, and Paul.  Lots of paperwork.

And then Luke started to cry.  And he cried and he cried and he cried.  We became "that family."  The one with the crying kid.  Katie did totally fine; she's a real trooper.  Luke threw the mother of all fits that lasted from this office all the way to the notary in the van, and all through the notary appointment.  

This was the interview where we promise to take good care of her.  

More red thumb prints.  

The sign for the adoptions office.  I missed getting a picture of the sign for Luke's office.  

And since we were almost out of powdered baby milk, diapers, and wipes, after NAPS (hallelujah chorus, my first nap in a week) we hoofed it over to WalMart and restocked our provisions a bit.  Oh, and we had a late lunch at KFC.  I know, I know, we're in China, we should be eating some of the fabulous local cuisine.  But we couldn't find much, and since we were carrying Katie, I didn't want to explore all 5 (6?) floors of the mall looking for the food court.  We went with easy.  I did laugh a little, though.  Paul had pork chop & curried vegetables with rice.  Not quite like our KFC.

Elaborate decor in front of this court building.  The tall building in the background on the left is our hotel.  This was taken on our walk back.

And this is the court building.  Our guide said, "Court, you know, lawyers."  Ah, got it.  

Paul has been a rock.  It's so much easier having him here with me.  I totally underestimated the amount of work adopting 2 at once would be.  I think having Hannah be a best case scenario adoption probably made my expectations unrealistic.  But we're doing it.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of unrealistic expectations, I'm never going to wish to go to a tropical paradise again.  Tropical is hot.  And humid.  I have blisters from shoes I wear all the time at home, because my feet have swollen here from the heat.  I glisten in all of the pictures.  You know you're sweaty when the guide's apprentice keeps offering you tissues, lol.  Today he handed me a pack and said, "You keep."  I didn't have the energy to explain that I have a pack in my backpack, but I don't see the point of blotting the sweat off if you're just going to sweat some more.  

Katie is a good little eater.  She staff told me she can feed herself, but she's quite content to just sit and let me feed her.  This  morning, I had the baby spoon going with Luke's congee (think wallpaper paste), the chopsticks going for my breakfast, and the fork and knife going for Katie's bites off my plate.  Lots of fresh fruit.  She also ate egg, but wouldn't touch congee.  I took her through the pastry section of the buffet, hoping she'd point to something, but she's not really pointing at anything yet.  She did, however, enjoy a piece of banana bread.  Oh, and at KFC, she liked french fries and had a couple pieces of popcorn chicken (which is spicy).  Speaking of spicy, I accidentally had an adventure at breakfast.  I was going through the buffet and put some bamboo salad on my plate.  When I tried it, I realized the orange sauce must be chili oil!  It was like eating a tree on fire.  

When I first started this post, Luke was on the bed with his links, and I had set Katie up with a coloring book and crayons (picture next time).  After she colored a bit, she ended up in my lap again, and has been sitting here whispering.  It's so sweet and cute.  But now Luke is losing it again, so I guess that's it for now.