March 14, 2005: It's Official!

We had a bit of a rough day today. After less than 24 hours with our babies, we had to go to the Notary Office to finalize the adoption. This involved waiting for quite awhile and then an interview with an official who asked us basic questions such as our level of education, salary, etc. We also had to promise such things as to never abuse or abandon Norah and care for her as our own. This went fine, except that Norah began to shriek right before it was our turn to go in. She needed a bottle and we didn't have time to mix her one before it was our turn. I think the poor official felt badly for us. I could barely hear her questions over Norah's screaming. Regardless, she let us keep her anyway! We then went back to the same hotel where we received the babies. Another official made us make similar promises as the first. This was done as a group ceremony though. Then, the director from each orphanage (there are 2 different ones in our group) came up and gave each family a gift from the orphanage (as though Norah wasn't enough!). We were all quite thrilled and surprised to receive a set of pictures - some of Norah during her time in the orphanage and some of the city where she's from. I've never heard of this happening before so it was very unexpected. Needless to say there wasn't a dry eye in the place. It was an amazing gift.

We went to a department store in the afternoon. I bought a couple of new outfits for Norah, as she has been quite "productive" since she's been with us and we've had to make many clothes changes. Many of the babies are having problems in this regard, so we're quite lucky. She's also a great eater, although she mostly sticks to her formula. The evening was rough. I was only working on a half-hour of sleep from the night before and Doug was quite sleep deprived as well. We also have found it surprisingly difficult to find vegetarian options in China and the lack of food was taking its toll (Thank God for the 34 protein bars that we packed - I'll be very surprised if there will be any left by the end of the trip). It was an emotional day and Norah is quite "pettish" as her description suggested. I can't even imagine how her little mind is processing any of this. We capped off the day with a 1st birthday party for all the babies who had already turned one before being adopted. Apparently many schools get children to bring in a picture from their first birthday, so one of the parents ordered a cake and a picture was taken of each family with the cake. Norah fell asleep at the party, and she won't have her 1st birthday until June, but we got a picture taken anway. We all went to bed early. Norah woke up a number of times, but we all managed to get some much-needed sleep. I should also mention that Norah was fine with Doug holding her today, so my arms got some rest and Doug's lower back got a workout. Norah will not allow us to put her down, which is fine by us, but tiring. We haven't weighed her yet, but she is much chunkier than we were expecting - this is a good thing though.

Not too many pictures from today - forgot to download most of them and I'm too tired to do it now!