Two Months Ago....

was our Gotcha Day, the day we first met FLORIE.  We left for China on April 21 and went first to the Starfish Foster Home to love on the babies there. We flew to Nanning on April 24, and even going to bed that night, I was not nervous yet. On April 25, though, it hit me.  WE WERE GETTING FLORIE that day!  Adding to the family.....again.  I had those excited, restless, nervous, anxious feelings like I did before the birth of my other kids.  Would she be happy, sad, terrified, shut down, crying, screaming, quiet? Would she be healthy, or have diarrhea, or the dreaded lice or scabies?  Would she be starving, or exhausted from her trip?  WHAT would she be like?  On the way to the hotel where families have Gotcha day (still not sure I want to use this term...), I could hardly swallow.  On the elevator up, I felt light headed, and William said he thought he was going to throw up.  I was so hoping that Florie would NOT be in the room yet, and especially prayed that she would NOT be on the elevator with us!  Neither of those happened. We got in the room and had time to breathe.  Thankfully.  It took about 10 minutes for her to get there, and once I saw her, a wave of relief came.

I still was really nervous, as you can see from the pics, but better.  It is SO hard to "learn" her in a period of 15 minutes...our guide asked the questions I had, and I tried to listen and stare at her taking us all in at the same time.  It is funny now, the questions I had seem so irrelevant now...how much milk does she take? What does she like to eat?  Does she sleep well?  I would LOVE to go back again now and talk more with her actual nannies...the ones with her at day and night, and REALLY get answers to some hard questions.

In the hotel lobby waiting on the van to go meet Florie

Riding the elevator up...

The room where "Gotcha" Day happens

In she comes

Taking it all in

First picture with her big brothers

I am trying to absorb it all

Getting it all straight..I think

Daddy's turn

Pictures with the orphanage workers...neither was her main nanny

Over the last two months we have seen Florie change everyday.  BTDT families tell me that they do not feel like they saw their adopted child's true personality until 6 months to 1 year after being home.  If that is the case, we are in trouble :)  Florie is vibrant.  She is busy, vivacious, funny, and LOUD.  She loves to be tickled and chased...loves it to the point of DEEP belly laugh joy!  She is a parrot of everything.....down to imitating what leg I have crossed or hand behind my head.  She is tender...when one of the family members is hurt, she stops playing, hugs and kisses them until she gets a "I am okay."  Florie is tough....she started a new medicine for her hemangioma this week that tastes like $^#* but she is taking it like a champ....she is stubborn, REALLY stubborn, and very strong willed.  She can hold her own with the boys.  She is HAPPY.   She has come so far with her attachment to William, and gives him kisses and hugs on her own now.  She knows Daddy is the one to PLAY with in order to get tossed around and she loves it.  Her sleep is better...she is in her big girl bed (a full with the rail up) and still needs me (or vice versa, hmmm) to lay with her until she goes to sleep, then sleeps by herself until the morning.  She is adaptable...look at what all she has been through in the past two months and look at how she has responded.  I even changed her bottle from the one in China this week because I was worried about the plastic...bought a new Avent bottle and gave it to her. She smiled, said new bottle, and drank it.  That was that.  She trusts us, and I can see this in her eyes.  We look at pictures of her orphanage ,and her nanny, and the other nannies there, and she smiles. I want her to remember them.  But now she points out US by name....HER FAMILY. HER Moma, HER Daddy, her brothers.  We are HERS and she is OURS. PERIOD.

So today we celebrated our 2 monthaversary by doing the usual things....enjoying each other.  Tomorrow is Florie's (and mine :)) birthday. She will be TWO years old.  We are going to LOVE on her all day,  eat cake, open presents, and go to church to give extra praises for this blessing called Florie!

Wrestle and tickle time

She likes to be in the middle of things!

Still a camera hog

Giggling at Ben and Jack

She loves her horse!

Go Florie Go!  They cheered her for 20 minutes!

She loves it!

Playing "Where's Florie?" with me

I asked the boys if it felt like it had been 2 months since we met/held/ had Florie. Jack said no, it felt like years.  I knew exactly what he meant.  It seems like she has always been with us.  I know she hasn't,  and I see glimpses of the hard life she has lived, and the reasons why she is all the things described above.  I just know that now, WE ARE FAMILY.   FAMILY!

Love,

Eve