First Mother's Day

What a way to spend a first Mother's Day - In China with my new baby!

We had a busy day planned today. Emma had her first play date! We met with another family that is in Guangzhou who adopted from Yangdong SWI (Orphanage). It was so cute to see Sarah and Emma Lee together. They look so much alike! Sarah is about 5 months older than Emma. They don't act like they know each other, so it will be interesting to find out at the orphanage visit tomorrow if they were ever together. Sarah's mom, Joy, will be coming with us to the orphanage. We had a nice time visiting, and plan to keep in touch and get the girls together in the future.

When we left the play date, we were surrounded by a group of little kids who were parcticing their English. They were adorable! They would come up and ask you what your name is, where you are from, or how you liked China. Then they would ask you to sign a notebook that they carried around. Here is Rodney with the first group we saw.

Today, I went to fill out the final paperwork for the Consulate appointment, so Rodney kept Emma for a few hours by himself! I am happy to report they both made it through safe and sound! As for the paperwork, I can't tell you how many times I had to write the same things over and over on different forms!

After the paperwork, Rodney and Emma gave me a Mother's Day card and a necklace with 'mom' on it.

Later, all of the families got together for the traditional 'red couch pictures.' It was so adorable seeing all the girls in their traditional Chinese outfits! And all of them sat so nicely - it was amazing! Even Emma Lee wasn't crying!!! I have seen a few of these photos over the years, and one where none are crying is pretty rare! Of course we didn't get a picture with just Emma, so we will have to go back later and get one.

We also took a few pictures by the waterfall. This is in the lobby of the White Swan Hotel, which is huge! We opted to stay at the Victory because we could get a suite cheaper than a regular room at the White Swan. I hope to post some pics of that later.

This is our guide XiXi.

Here we are with our guides Bob and XiXi.

Emma is starting to take a bottle better. When she does take it, she just chugs it, but if she is not interested, there is no coaxing her! She woke up again through the night, but not for too long. So far, she seems to be a morning person. She is a pretty happy baby until evening time - around 6 or 7 when you have to keep her up until bedtime.

Having Emma Lee is just amazing. I can't really describe how perfect she is! I look at the other babies in our group, or just as we walk around, and they are all beautiful and sweet, but I can't picture us with one of them. I don't mean to be mean or anything, its just that Emma is the absolutly perfect baby for our family. She just continues to amaze me every minute.

We are visiting the orphanage tomorrow, and I have a lot of concerns about it. It is a 3 and a half hour trip, and we are taking Emma with us. Both of us really want to see where she has lived for the first 13 months of her life and meet the people who took care of her. When Emma is upset, she has such a sad little cry, we fell like she is really greiving and missing her caretakers and we hope that this will give her some kind of closure to see them and us together. I am looking forward to it, but with apprehension. It will definately be a LONG day!