Gotcha Day!

So believe it or not, I don't have that many pictures of Sunshine being passed off to us. I had decided not to worry so much about documenting, and more about feeling it. So that's what I did.

Sunshine arrived at our hotel at 11:40am. Not sure who the guy is actually holding her, but the above shot was our first glimpse of her. The other guy in the picture below is Director Zhou, he was carrying all of Sunshine's things - all of the stuff we sent in the care package that was brand new and clearly never touched :-( Oh well, made me feel better to send it and at least we have a book here to read with her! All of the pictures on both cameras were used up (except 5 on the 2nd one), so it will be really interesting to have them developed when we get home!

Sunshine was very calm and I think a bit overwhelmed and scared. She never cried. What a brave child she is. I think she is the bravest kiddo I have ever met. She was passed off to me first ... wow, how amazing. To finally hold the child you have been dreaming of for so long ... there aren't words. You can't tell in the picture, but I was a total wreck. LOL. Poor thing looked so sad and scared - I didn't see it at the time, but now that I know her facial expressions a little better, I can definitely see it. I think I was just so happy then that she wasn't hysterical, so maybe I would have noticed it ... who knows!

She was holding some crackers in her hands and was wearing a brand new outfit that I think her foster mom bought for her. She looked JUST like her pictures ... of course I had studied her face for so long, it was so easy to recognize her :-)

I held her for a few minutes and then passed her over to DH. Because she was so calm, we were only in the lobby for 10 minutes. It was so fast. I am so thankful for that and am praising God. We had prepared for the worst, especially because Sunshine was with her foster family her whole life. I am still in shock at how simple and easy Gotcha Day was for her. She may have been feeling crazy on the inside, but she sure didn't show it.

I am also very thankful that the other family traveling with us videoed, because we really don't have many pictures! LOL. It was such a short time, there wasn't really much time! Erik (the other Dad) videoed the entire thing for us - even when we were walking out of the elevator and during the time we were siting and waiting for her to arrive. I will probably cry even more when I watch that again! I am so thrilled we were able to return the favor for them when they got their Piper - it's a priceless gift that I know both of our families will treasure forever!

Here are some pictures from when we went back to our hotel room. We took things very slowly and introduced things one at a time. We knew she was already overwhelmed, we didn't want to make it worse!

This next picture is when I got her to start smiling at me. Amazing - we hadn't even had her for an hour yet!

Bathtime!! She did great - we didn't keep her in for too long - just enough to get her washed up and smelling good!

Love this next one ... I have a shot SO similar of Angel just like this when she was about 10 months old.

Some Daddy time too!

Here she is all girlified ... LOL. We haven't kept the headband on for any length of time, but she sure does look cute!!

I am still in awe of God's grace on us this day ... things couldn't have gone anymore peaceful or smoothly. It's such a blessing to already have Sunshine smiling AND laughing at us. We are now in the process of figuring this girl out ... LOL. She's had a couple meltdowns where she just cries and cries and we don't know what to do. It's only in the hotel room, she is really content while we're out. It hurts my heart to see her so upset ... we don't know if she is grieving for her foster family, overwhelmed with all the changes, or is just hungry, tired ... etc. Maybe it's a combination of everything. She hasn't been eating terribly well for us, so I'm sure she's hungry. She's doing great with table food, but the formula and liquids are another story. We are still trying. She seems to favor me a bit but still likes DH and really loves to play with him. He can get her giggling really well! She slept SO well last night ... we put her down at about 9:30pm in her crib AWAKE. I wasn't sure if that would work but it did. She fell asleep on her own and didn't wake up until about 6:30am. Are you kidding with this girl?! She totally rocks!!

She had another meltdown this afternoon (2nd day with her) ... lasted about 35-40 minutes ... but then passed out on the bed next to me. She's been sleeping for almost 2 hours now. She is doing better with food today but still not drinking nearly enough. We're working on it though, hopefully tomorrow will be even better!

Here are a few other things we know about our girl ... She can sit like a CHAMP and is super-flexible (like her body folds in half!) ... We don't think she can roll over and so far it seems she hates being on her belly (I only tried once and she wasn't very happy with me) ... She can stand with a lot of assistance and really enjoys bouncing and moving ... She loves peek-a-boo and having things put on/pulled off of her head ... She is REALLY good at eating - I wasn't sure how eating would work with her but she is SO good at it!! ... She has definite opinions about what she likes and doesn't like AND she can shake her head no! We are already in love with her and can't wait to fall even MORE in love with her. We can tell that bonding has already started because of how comfortable she is with us. Now if only we can figure out those crying spells, we'd be set!

I have more pictures to work on from Gotcha Day at the Civil Affairs office. I'll post next when I can!