GOTCHA!

Total insanity. We met our baby the moment we entered the hotel door, right in the middle of the lobby! Our flight was smooth and on time, and we traveled with one other family. Our guide Sandra met us, and we rode in a van through Hohhot to the Holiday Inn. Sandra told us we would be meeting our baby at 1:00 pm (it was already just past 12:00) so we thought we might have 20 minutes or so to get our stuff in the hotel and get cameras ready, etc. The other family was to meet their baby at 2:00. Well, we were nearly there when the orphanage representative with our baby called Sandra and told her she would bring Naomi to the lobby in 10 minutes! When we pulled up to the door, we could see her through the window! I fumblingly handed the video camera to Mom and asked the wife of the other family to take photos with our camera.

For a few moments Naomi seemed in a daze. Then with everyone in the lobby staring and with all of us smiling at her, she started to cry. So she was pretty unhappy with us, but we went up to our room with the guide and the orphanage rep, who had some paperwork for us. It was obvious Naomi was really tired and needing her nap, so I fed her some of her bottle while Roger signed papers. All the time she was watching what everyone in the room was doing. Then Roger took her and coaxed her to sleep on his shoulder (what a dad!) while I signed papers. Naomi wasn't the only one in a daze -- we struggled to pay attention to the detailed instructions we were being given about money, paperwork, baby's schedule, etc. Sandra told us they would come back in half an hour to take a picture of us and the baby. So we had to wake her up from a meager half-hour nap for a picture in the hallway of the three of us, then we had to stand her up for a picture alone. Several people were trying to get her to look happy, but of course she would have none of it. Finally after 7 or 8 tries, they let me put the poor girl back down to sleep. She slept for a solid 3 hours and woke up bewildered and crying, but it wasn't hard to get her in a better mood with toys and Gerber puffs (wonderful baby snack).

You can see a few of the pictures show her getting used to us and exploring our hotel room. She clearly seems to want all kinds of solid food, judging by her interest in the room service meals we got. She ate some noodles, but liked playing with them even more. I forgot what it was like to have a baby needing constant vigilance to keep them from getting into everything or hurting themselves. I think Danny has mixed feelings now that we really have her. He said several times "Things are not the same now." We told him we will all have to get used to each other. I don't feel bonded to her yet either, but I know that will come in time. Eventually I will stop feeling like her babysitter and start feeling like her mom. She is awful cute, don't you think? Please pray for good sleep for us all...

By the way, I included a picture of the other child, a little boy, getting his picture done in the hallway. He was in a much better mood, since he had napped before arriving. Funny thing, he had been on the same plane with us from Beijing, since he had had his cleft lip repaired there. The family receiving him had seen him on the plane and thought "what a cute kid" without knowing he was their baby! What a wacky day!