Doctor's Visit and TB Test!

Our arrival to our official pre-adoption doctor's visit for Guangdong Province adoptions...

The front desk of the Guangdong International Travel Healthcare Center.

There are amazing lines in this hallway and the hallway to the left of the photo...

The Chinese are very organized... everyone has a job. 

This is what we walk past to go past the sign on the right of the photo: Adoptive Families Only...

A "doctor" weighed and measured her in a different room. She weighed 25.8 pounds (as much as Gabriella weighed at 3 yrs. 6 mo.)

One "doctor" squeezed two very loud noisy (dog?) toys next to Amaris' ears and looked in her ears with the same otoscope she probably had used with every other child that day, week or month. It was definitely not cleaned. This was considered her hearing check.

She also kinda looked in her mouth... it was a fast 5 second check...

Another "doctor" measured her head, her scar on her forehead from her fall at the orphanage in January 2012, and the scar from her open-heart surgery. She lifted up her dress, felt her tummy, and listened to her heart. Although the room was quiet, she did not hear her raspy lungs... WHAT? Ugh!

The final thing was her TB test... they were so fast, that they had the needle, syringe and TB ready on a plate before I had ever got into the room. That both frustrated me and made me a bit leary. I asked my guide if she saw them prepare it. She said she did. UGH!

She never cried... she just looked at her owee.

Then, she looked at me. I prayed over her protection one more time, apologized to her that I couldn't just get a chest x-ray, and then just loved on her. I am thankful she is a Mama's girl through and through.

And, that was the extent of our doctor's visit.

 We walked outside to flag down our driver. I love our driver, I totally feel safe with him.

The Moment I Have Waited For Has Come

She just said "Mama"!

Amaris has been with us about 25 hours... she said a couple words to Gabriella in Cantonese as they played earlier today, and then later said, "Uh Oh" as her very first English word.

Her next word was "Cheese!" Which is what we have said for our some 700 photos in the last couple days.

But, at 5:00pm today, she just said Mama... of course, I was trying to get her to say it.

She and Gabriella were coloring her first coloring page... a picture of Princess Aurora... The Sleeping Beauty Princess. As she sat coloring the heck out of the page, she did the complete splits... later she laid on her tummy. She and Gabriella are having a blast. I didn't capture her photo doing the splits... but, it was pretty amazing.

She said: "Cheese!"

Gabriella is coloring, probably one of her top 3 coloring jobs of her life... so close to "in the lines"... and, with two different colors so far.

I love these girls so much... they have brought so much joy to our life and I can't for a second imagine life without them. God has blessed us unimaginably more than I could have ever thought would happen through the gift of adoption.

Gabriella loves being a big sister and is such a big helper. She had a few moments where she wanted to be the baby those first few hours Amaris was with us, but it seems to be short lived if she has had her nap.


Amaris' First Words:
First English word: Uh-oh
Second English word: Cheese! (for pictures)
Third English word: Mama
Fourth English word: Ucky (for her sneeze she just had)

Gabriella's First Words:
First English word: Shoes
Second English Word: can't remember
Third English Word: Starbucks

Gabriella already knew Mama and Baba...

Hand in Hand

 

Too precious not to post... wish it wasn't blurry...

 

 

I Love Daddy!

 

I bought these jammies about 6 months ago with the great faith that the girls would put them on, 

on Father's Day, the day Amaris would be in our arms forever.

God granted me the desire of my heart... and, I will be forever grateful!

Gabriella is wearing a size 7 (age 5 yrs. 5 months) and 

Amaris is wearing 24 months (age 2 yrs. 4 mo.)

Amaris' Nannies and the Special Things They Brought

Amaris Nannies... I think I asked almost every possible question... except what their names were.

The formula and cereal she drank. Below is the last orphanage bottle she had. I asked for the bottle and they gave it to me. I also asked for the diapers too. Might as well, babies don't come with much.

 

 And while I was learning about Amaris, Tyanna was entertaining her little Mei Meis. 

On Our Way to the Guangdong Province Civil Affairs

This is the front of the Fortune Commercial Building... we will add more photos, but this is what we saw as we walked in.

I had heard stories that perhaps we would see our baby as we walked in, or as she walked in.

So, our eyes were looking every which way.

We got up to the correct floor and tried to even sneak peeks into the baby room. No such luck.

Apparently she is still not here.

She had a 6 hour train ride from MaoNan.

The New Jie Jie's

Tyanna was our photographer and video girl... she was so incredibly helpful to catch the first precious memories with Amaris.

This is the first photo of Amaris with her biggest Jie Jie, Tyanna. She captured Tyanna's heart early on... even without a display of any emotion.

Gabriella is now a Jie Jie... she even wore her new Jie Jie shirt.

There is SO MUCH to say, but we will update each blog post as time allows... right now, I am just trying to post as many photos as possible.

Thank you for your prayers for our journey to Amaris... she is absolutely perfect for our family!

Happy Father's Day Baba!

This is by far, the best Father's Day... now called Baba's Day in our home, that Jason has ever had.

It was my hope and dream to get her on Father's Day, and we did. This was her first picture with Baba. Gabriella was so excited.

The switch was made... from this point on, Baba had the girls so that I could make sure I got all the information possible on our littlest princess.

In that last week preparing to leave for China, Gabriella and I shopped furiously for all the last minute things, one of which are the coolest princess phones... and Target had both Gabriella's princess, Princess Cinderella and Amaris' princess, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). These kept them entertained the entire time.

Gabriella picked up her phone and made her first phone call to Uncle Mick... she told him all about how she had Amaris and was going to get to hold her and give her a bottle. 

First photo of Baba with his newest princess baby... you can tell he too has had little sleep.

I guess, the photos we get our the memories we will remember the easiest.

There is so much to share about our littlest princess... it was love at first sight!