Falling in Love...

Yesterday was very emotionally and physically tiring. We are still getting our sea legs and waking up in the middle of the night due to jet lag. Joelle is also very active - as I expected. She is such a little peanut but my arms are so sore from holding her as she likes to throw herself backwards in our arms. She is quite the runner -we are chasing her in banks, civil affairs bureaus and the hotel. We have learned the word Puxing which I believe means "I don't like that." That is what they told us to use for no. She kind of takes it with a grain of salt, though and happily continues to do whatever she is doing. She is really such a happy child - constantly smiling and laughing.

I woke up this morning thinking that I know what she likes to eat now. I can't believe she has only been with us a little over 24 hours. She really likes bacon ( who wouldn't), steamed buns, congee with noodles in it, watermelon ( but definitely not apricots or peaches - sorry Georgia), milk and carrot juice but not apple juice, and definitely not ice cream so far. She probably has never had it before. When she cries it is not loud or shrill but low and rythmic. We are falling more in love with her as we get to know her more:) Last night we put her to bed and she talked to herself or maybe it was to her dolly for more than an hour. She had our pictures and she kept saying, ba ba ( daddy in chinese), ma ma and jie jie ( big sister). According to Vicky she speaks a dialect and not Mandarin so they don't really understand her very much.

In the morning we went to breakfast, then met the others at 9am to go back to the Civil Affairs Bureau to do our Adoption Registration. They took pictures of us as a family and asked us some questions. We also signed more papers in front of a Notary. We had a quick trip to Wal Mart with our guide and then Mike, Joelle and I had to go to the bank to settle an issue with our travelers checks. By the time we got back we were wiped out. Joelle fell asleep in the taxi. We ordered room service because we just did not have it in us to go to a restaurant. So, that was our Tuesday. Love you all!