More Madeline!

Well the good news is there is lots of video and lots of photos...the bad news is, most of the photos are on Nurit's camera which I have not downloaded to my computer! So...we have some limited Madeline pics today, but I promised to keep posting so here they are!
No, I have not given her spicy noodles yet, although she was loving the container! Pearl has grown very fond of the spicy chinese noodles and Nurit actually got a scolding from Richard for letting her eat the noodles so often! We tried to explain that the noodles in China tasted WAAAAY better than the instant noodles in the US....but he still said "so many noodles are not good for kids!" All in good spirit of course!

We completed the adoption on Tuesday at the Civil affairs office and received our adoption decree! Maddie and I are now a family in the eyes of China! She has been doing great, we have had no constipation problems whatsoever, which is pretty fortunate since most families usually have to wait a few days at least, but she has been adapting pretty well. I am learning what temperature she likes her bottle at, when she wants a bottle and when she wants formula mixed with cereal, and how she likes to be held when she has her bottle. We are still working on how she likes best to go to sleep at night. Yesterday we went for the physicals in the morning, then we had a bunch of paperwork to fill out. Unfortunately my room key refused to work, and even the housekeeping staffs master keys would not work, so we ended up starting her bottle in the hallway by the elevators. Finally we went to Nurit's room to try to put her down, but it did not work. After maybe 5-10 minutes trying there, we found they got my room open, so we went back to my room. At this point I was already almost 15 minutes late for the group paperwork session, so I gave in and let Nurit give her her bottle and put her down while I went to fill out paperwork. Nurit told me later she fell asleep within about 5 minutes...! I knew she was pretty tired!! She woke up about 1:30 and we went with Mary & Glenn & family to the zoo and the "goldfish park". Actually, the goldfish park is the coolest part of the Guangzhou zoo, and it's the place we all spent the most time!! Madeline slept in the ergo through part of it, and afterwards we went to "Latin"- an Argentinian barbeque place near the Garden Hotel. The food was good, a nice break from Chinese, and the girls LOVED it. Even Pearl who said she was not hungry ate several things! Madeline on the other hand, would not take a bottle, would not eat any congee, and would not even eat any banana which she had happily discovered earlier in the day! By the time we got home at 7:45 or so, she had not eaten since her bottle at about noon! Fortunately, she woke up when we got home and drank a whole bottle. She had been sleeping so she wasn't sleepy for bedtime, so we played a little bit but she went down after fighting sleep for a little while. We got three phone calls while we were trying to get her down (2 of which I didn't answer...hope you all understand!!!) but finally she relented and fell asleep. By that time Mama was also falling asleep, so I just changed and went to bed early. She was up again at 10:30 I think and we had another full bottle, and up again at 2:30 and had about a quarter of a bottle, so I think we're back on our normal eating schedule again now. I also know that we just had too full of a day yesterday, so we are laying low in the hotel room this morning (She is napping right now) and we are going to a park this afternoon.
She is very clear about letting me know what she wants, and her needs seem really very easy to interpret!! She is a very very happy baby, lots of smiling and laughing, she is easily comforted either by Mama holding her or with her white washcloth. Thank goodness for the Gaozhou SWI Yahoo group!!! Several people told me that their children use washcloths as comfort items, indicating that it's likely they give the babies washcloths as a comfort item at the SWI. This has been completely true for Madeline! If she is getting sleepy, she starts to fuss and I give her the washcloth and she puts it to her mouth and just cuddles in tight to me and calms right down and relaxes enough to close her eyes. She allows me to calm her when she is tired, which is indicative I think of the good care she had in the orphanage. There are some self soothing techniques she employs, but I think even with "good" orphanage care there are not nearly enough nannies for the babies, and this is normal and to be expected. The good thing is I am learning the right ways she wants to be soothed, and she is learning to allow me to help her be soothed. It will all come in time, so for now baby steps are still steps forward.

I gave her her first bath two days ago- and from what I understand, they mostly just to towel "baths" in the orphanage, so it's most like her first "in the water" bath ever! She did pretty good- I don't have any photos of the bath because we video taped it instead, but she did quite well! It was only a few minutes, and once she started to fuss I took her out. We may try for aother bath today, hopefully a few minutes longer!

Pearl had fun playing in the baby bath water after Madeline was finished with her bath!

And finally, my first little baby bath burrito shot with Madeline! She was all giggles right up until the photo!

We are done with all "official" meetings now until Thursday, so we just have down time and sightseeing. It looks like it's turning a bit blustery outside today, so we'll see if we go to the park today or if we opt to stay in for the day and just hang around Shamien Island!

Well, off to go for a little walk and to find some food!