First day with Sydney

Sydney woke up to her first day with her new family and was a bit confused. She looked at me like "Are you still here?" She wasn't near as fussy and only hid her eyes a few times as we got ready to go back to the Civil Affairs building for 2 interviews (gulp!) She does not like to be undressed and seems to knid of freakout when we touch her under her clothes. When I put lotion on her it seems like it is almost over stimulating her. We dressed her in her blue and white short-sleeved outfit and then put a sweater on her even though it is 75-80 degrees here. The Chinese people frown on baby skin being exposed. (grrrrr)

At breakfast, I tried to feed her some eggs. She had no idea what to do with them. She mostly played with them in her mouth and hands. I am not sure she swallowed any at all. But it was really cute to see.

She likes to set on my lap really close. She sets right up against me and holds on. Like I am gonna let her go! She is making more eye contact this morning and is letting us kiss her cheeks without crying or hiding her eyes. It is amazing the progress she is making in just a short time.

We loaded the bus and went back to the same room where we got her. Her orphanage director was required to be there, and I hoped we did not see him. I was afraid we would have to start all over with Syd! The first thing we did was get a family photo taken. Just Wayne, Syd, and I were allowed to be in it, though, because we were the only one on the adoption paperwork. It didn't bother the girls though. Next we had to go to the first interview. Right before we went in, it was like a switch turned on in Sydney. She started smiling and playing with her ball! I guess she figured out that we were not going to leave so she would make the best of it! During the first interview they asked us basic questions, like age and names and marriage date (I reminded Wayne before we went in). Then he asked, "Do you want to adopt this child?" Sydney immediatey threw the ball at him and hit him in the chest with it!!!!!!!!!! I almost passed out. He smiled (a little) and handed it back to us. So sorry!

The next interview was about the same, except we hid the ball. After that, the adoption is a done deal on the Chinese side. We just wait for all the papers and certificates to be printed! WE left without seeing her director (whew).

We had the rest on the day free. It was raining, so we really couldn't go look around outside the hotel. This hotel is huge however, and we nosed around it for quite some time. We spent alot of time is the Swan Room. It is a big play room full of toys from Mattel. We went in there and Sydney loved it! She crawled all over. Then she just stood up and took off walking. It is the cutest thing! She holds her hands up by her head to keep her balance and just toddles along. But she hasn't walked in the room yet. I don't know if it is because the play room is a bigger room more like the orphanage or what.

We made the big mistake today of not napping. She went to sleep easily about 11:00am. But when I laid her down she woke back up. I figured it was too early for a nap so we just went with it. Big mistake. Huge. About 6:00pm she fell asleep. We figured there was no way she could sleep through the night, so we woke her up about 7:00pm. That little sweetie whipped all of us!! Wayne finally took her outside the hotel to look at the lights and she settled down. But when he brought her back, it started all over again. She even started hiding her eyes again! It broke my heart. I finally got her to sleep at 9:00pm and she slept all night again. I learned that a nap will happen no matter what with this girl!

I will try to get some video clips of her posted but I am not sure that I know how. We'll see!