Civil Affairs Day

Civil Affairs Day!

Last night we had another great night of sleep.  We all woke up sometime early in the morning, but were able to go back to sleep till about 4;30 or 5:00.  When you go to bed at 7 (or 8:30 for me!), that's still a good amount of sleep to keep you moving during the day!  Baby Girl slept super as well!  She, too, went to bed early since she was exhausted from the events of Gotcha Day and woke up around 5.  I got her out of bed and she laid with me for about another 30 minutes before we decided to get a move on our day!

 

SF sleeping in her crib 

 

I spent a good 30 minutes trying to get the Moby Wrap and Baby Girl to mesh!  I practiced before our trip, but baby dolls have a lot shorter legs than a 18 month old! It took me 3 tries and a lot of crying from Baby Girl before I found a position that looked somewhat like the pictures! We headed down to breakfast and BG ate about half of a banana, a few bites of porridge, and some Cheerios.  The girls found plenty of starchy products to start their day, and I am still most content to eat a granola bar in the room!  One thing I wish we had packed is hot chocolate packets.  With a boiling water pot in every room, this would have been a good treat for the girls and me!  Robbie is fine to eat whatever and has had a little bit of an upset stomach because of it!

 

Back in the room, we took a few minutes to Skype with the boys before our8:30 departure for the  Civil Affairs office.  This was the first time they have seen BG awake!  They got to Skype with us a little last night (Sunday morning their time) and saw her asleep in her crib!

 

The Civil Affairs appointment was kind of a big deal.  We signed official papers stating why we wanted to adopt BG and that we promised to take good care of her and never abandon her.  There were 3 other families signing with us in what looked like a courtroom and everyone's nanny and orphanage director came to sign papers as well! We had a small stress factor at this appointment because the amount of money they asked us to pay today was more than we had brought with us to this appointment.   We just thought we were paying our orphanage fee, but we really were paying that in addition to a notary and some other fee as well.  Our guide was supposed to tell us how much to bring and how many gifts, but didn't for whatever reasons, so we had to borrow money from 2 separate couples to pay!  Robbie was mortified to borrow money and quickly paid it back when we got back to the hotel!  As of this day, we are officially BG's parents!

 

signing papers to make SF ours!

 

 SF getting her foot print stamped on our papers!

 

 one of her nanny's and orphanage director

 

We came back to the room for a rest after this and fed BG some lunch.  I didn't know what she would be eating, so I didn't bring much baby food with me.  I am glad I did bring some though because we have yet to go to the local "Walmart" for more supplies.  Hopefully, that will be on our list of things to dotomorrow!  I only brought a few applesauces and prunes and BG needs some veggies in her diet! 

 

Rest time after a long morning!

 

Our hotel had a scheduled fire drill from 2:00 - 3:30 and all electricity was turned off during that time.  We decided to head out on the streets in search of a super market where we could find some baby food!  We never found the super marker, but did make a safe stop at KFC for some American lunch! So far, the Chinese people have not been bashful at all about coming up and talking to our babies.  The other couple has an older adopted Chinese daughter here as well, so we have seen this everywhere we have been with them.  They almost seem protective over these adopted children and go on and on about them, making a big scene!

 

notice the women whispering!  No need, we can't understand you anyway!

 

We stayed in the rest of the evening because Baby Girl was getting fussy. She had a great morning, laughing and playing with us, especially the girls!  But, she is fighting what seems to be an infection.  Her nose is running green, lots of noise in her chest and started pulling at her ears some today.  We have a humidifier in the room that we turned on and it seems to be helping her breathe better.  I think I am going to have to mix up some garlic remedies tomorrow though to get her better before we fly to Guangzhou on Friday.  Please pray her quick healing and for her fussiness to ease.  She is good if someone is holding her standing up, but my knees and back wore our today from all the carrying and walking we did.  Mama needs her play on the floor a bit or at least let me sit and hold her! 

Getting ready for her big day!