Thursday from Nanchang

Pictures first....

Me playing with my little girl at breakfast

My sweet baby sucking on her blankie

The stroller just swallows her up. She only tolerated it for a few minutes before we had to pick her up.

Grandpa loving Lily. We are so fortunate that he was willing to share this time with us and get to know his granddaughter. She will be seeing a ton of him and I'm glad she is getting to know and love him.

I love the headbands but she HATES them. I can only put them on her for a picture before she convinces Daddy to take them off.

We have now been in Nanchang for 4 whole days and we've been in China for a week today. We are really ready to come home and start the adventure that the rest of our lives hold. For now, we have 3 more days in Nanchang followed by 5 in Guangzhou and one night in Beijing before we start the long journey back home. Today we went to the supermarket which is within walking distance of the hotel. We bought some more formula (the Chinese Enfamil) and a boogie sucker. I promise I am going to post a picture of this thing...it is actually designed for the parent to physically suck through a tube to force the boogies out of the baby's nose. Ha ha. I would do anything to clear out Lily's congestion though. She doesn't have a fever today and we think she's doing better but she still has a snotty nose, occasional sneezing and coughing. She is really teething hardcore. She has the two little teeth on the bottom front and is cutting a tooth on the top front as well. She is chewing on everything...including my arms, my clothes, my fingers, her fingers.

Yesterday Lily inaugurated Jeff in to fatherhood by poo-ing all over him. I had to go do some paperwork and when I walked back in the room, it reeked of poo and Jeff had it all down his pant leg. Don't ask me how this happened...I can't even begin to imagine. Later last night, she spit up all over his Auburn shirt. He is now officially a DAD. :)

Our little girl is so very very little. I feel like she is already getting bigger and gaining more muscle control in her neck and core but we had to go back to the store to buy newborn size diapers for her because all her poo was just pouring out the sides of the smalls that were so baggy on her. The only clothes that really seem to fit her halfway decently are her 3 month size onesies. The 3 month pants are very loose and the 6 months ones look like she's going gangsta. It's strange because she is small in every way...not just skinny. She is very proportionate - just looks so much like a 2-3 month old baby. I feel like she must have been premature. We have an appointment at the adoption clinic shortly after we get home and hopefully they can give us a good assessment and plan for the next few months.

Every day gets better and better though. Lily slept 6 hours straight last night on the bed between us, woke up for a diaper change and then slept for another hour or so. So far today, she has had two naps, two 6 oz bottles and a 5 oz one. She is awesome, amazing, fantastic, perfect and we just love her so, so, so much. The Chinese people on the street do too. They come up to us and touch her constantly. We are superstars, getting stares and attention everywhere. Fortunately, it's all friendly attention and we are so proud to show off the love of our lives.

Right now we are in our room waiting for Louise, our guide, to bring us some documents to verify and tomorrow she will pick up Lily's passport so that we can go to Guangzhou on Sunday. Once we get there, we will start the US part of the adoption...getting her immigration status set up, medical exam for US entry, consulate appointment, getting her visa for travel to the US. It will be a busy few days but we are so looking forward to getting to a city that is calmer and more "user-friendly" than Nanchang.

I know this post is all over the place...that is just how I am right now. I am jumbled, crazy, tired and oh-so-very-over-the-top happy. I still can't believe that my dream is a reality.