August 18--Gotcha Day!

This morning our group met up in the lobby at 8:30 a.m. for the ride through rush-hour traffic to the registration office where we will meet our babies. Everyone is so excited!!! After a breakfast buffet (stomach too queasy to eat much this a.m.!) we were off. At the registration office, we met in the conference room to wait for the babies. Sophia was one of the first in the room. I recognized her from her photo of course, but was also delighted that the orphanage nannies had dressed her in the outfit I had sent in her care package--a gift from Aunt Susan Milano. She went to us both right away but started to cry when she looked at our faces. Basically as long as she could just cling on to us without having to look at us, she was fine. I was able to speak with the director briefly about Sophie. She seemed genuinely interested in her welfare and concerned about whether Michael and I would care for her. She was also much younger than I had anticipated. She very thoughtfully left us with a photo album of pictures from the orphange and shots of Sophia from the time she arrived at the orphange until just last week. Anyway, after the melee of the transfer, we were excited to get back on the bus for home. We will be back tomorrow for the official adoption appointment. Once back at the hotel, we were encouraged to spend the day/evening in our room getting to know our babies. Sophie was glad to get a bottle and down for a nap and, after waking, she seemed more curious about Michael and me, and we even got a few smiles before bedtime. The pediatrician who stopped by this afternoon told us she felt that Sophia was calcium deficient, but otherwise healthy. I'm sure we can rectify that when we get home with some Yo-baby and better formula. Michael and I were still knotted up and not feeling like eating much and were so exhausted that we pretty much went to bed just after Sophie. Of course, that meant that we were wide awake sometime in the middle of the night and starving. Tomorrow I am determined that we will find some peanut butter or something since we have yet to find something really satisfying to eat here. How could I have not thought to pack this???