Eva slept until about 4:30 this morning. She just sat on the bed with us and looked around. At about 5:00, I fed her a bottle. She only took about 5 ounces. She then went back to sleep for about an hour. We headed down to breakfast when she woke. She loves watermelon and the rice congee, of course.
We had to leave the hotel at 8:00 for the civil affairs office so that Eva can officially be ours. They won't allow us to adopt her until we spend one night together and are satisfied. This is called the "honeymoon". Apparently, at some time a family decided that the child they were referred wasn't suitable for them. So, now they make you wait one day before they do the adoption paperwork. We went to another "office" for some other official business and then we went to a department store and bought Eva 2 outfits for cooler weather. We quickly grabbed a couple of pizzas from Pizza Hut and came back to our hotel. Eva has since been napping and I took the boys to the pool for a bit.
Eva is tolerating us today. We can barely get a smile from her. She loves being out of the hotel room. When we go down the hallway, she makes a funny sound from her lungs like she is excited. She does smile at Chinese people. Soon, she'll smile for us, too. She loves to observe her surroundings. While in the mall, she kept turning from side to side to take it all in.
She's very tiny. Out of our group, Eva is the oldest, but I think she is the smallest. Her hands look like a newborn's hand. When I bathed her, I was concerned I would hurt her because she is so tiny. Nine-month clothes fit her just fine. Her bottom is so tiny that she'll easily fall out of the sling if I'm not careful. I also wanted to mention that she does not have a birthmark on her head like we thought. Apparently, that mark on her head in the referral pictures is a scab! There is nothing noticable now, but I can't help wondering what happened. Some of the babies in our group have skin issues. So far, Eva has beautiful skin. I did notice today as I changed her diaper that she has little round scars on her bottom like she had terrible sores recently. I cannot even imagine her life before us. Not that it was horrible, but one that I would not want for any child.
We met the orphanage director. She seems very nice and it appears she really enjoys the children. We are not allowed to visit the orphanage, but can visit the city of Shangrao. I don't think I want to drive for 3 hours one way and not see the orphange that Eva spent her first year in.
We're planning a dinner out tonight with the group. I think Eva will do fine. She enjoys eating and observing her surroundings at the same time. We are enjoying the Chinese culture very much. It has been cloudy since arriving in Nanchang and it has drizzled rain the last two days. We're hoping for sunny skies soon.
We sent our laundry out and I thought for sure it would be cheap. We had clothes for 5 days for 5 people. Yikes! Sixty-two dollars!
Hopefully, tomorrow we'll get a smile from our Eva Xu Hong. Good night.
Adoption Day
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