Our First Day Together

Well, here's how we spent our first day together. Apparently our camera is still on US East Coast time, so the dates are wrong in the corners. And please forgive me, the formatting (extra spaces, not enough spaces, etc.) are glitches we've yet to fix. But with free internet access to all of you for this occasion, I choose to not care about spacing and formatting!

Baby's first bottle with Mommy. That's AFTER the cookie and the baby milk jug just an hour earlier in the Civil Affairs office. My girl can eat! After Jo left, the bottle was followed by Cheerios and Gerber puffs galore. It was adorable, she kept sharing them with both of us and smiling with her little scrunchy-nose smile (see side bar pics). Smitten. Just smitten!




Starting the paperwork. With a curious spectator :)

Kids, she loves, loves, loves that toy that Stacey G picked for her!



Baby is a ROCK STAR!
Stacey G found these on our shopping spree over Labor Day weekend. She loves them and keeps trying to put them on. When she does, she claps and claps for herself!

She may not be officially a Gang member till tomorrow's appointment at Civil Affairs, but we initiated her in the hotel pool anyway. She was a bit of timid and even scared at first, but that actually was a good thing because it gave me a chance to comfort and soothe her once again. That reinforcement is key to healthy attachment!. Curiosity won out and she was soon soaking wet and splashing the three of us with glee. Yes, BBE, just like Teagan :) This pic is mid-giggle. Quite possibly the sweetest sound I've ever heard! And a treasure to hear it so early in the "getting to know you" stage.

Apparently the pool time was just what she needed. With her regular schedule all out of whack, she fell asleep mid-bottle in The Boss's arms and slept like this for almost 2 hours. LadyBug, she loves the pink blankie! Note the adorable t-shirt. And yes, he already is. And plans to remain that way for the next 40 or so years.

We splurged a bit tonite and ate dinner in hotel's Western-style restaurant. We get a free breakfast buffet there every day and might go back another time for dinner. It was scrumptious! Remember I said this girl can eat? Tonite's dinner was about 2/3 c. of fried rice with veggies, several broccoli crowns, french fries, a bunch of cut up peaches and pears, and strawberry ice cream. I think if we'd have let her, she'd have kept at it. We didn't want her to get sick the first night, so we went a little easy. I can't wait till tomorrow's breakfast buffet!

When we strolled through the lobby after dinner, we were approached by several gals traveling with a group from Chile. They were admiring her and making faces at her. She was smiling and babbling back at them and they couldn't believe that today was her first day with us. We just smiled and told them it was a God thing. It totally is.

We finished our night with a warm bottle and fresh jammies. She didn't really need or want a lot of rocking or soothing - but I made sure to sing over her and rock her quietly in the darkened room. She may not have needed it, but I sure did. I can't believe she's really here. And I am amazed at the joy and pleasure of today. We are blessed. She is a gift straight from the Father's heart.

Today was a good, good day. We serve a good, good God.