Our First Full Day With Our Little Princess

Our princess began to stir this morning after 11 hours of sleep. She had fussed a couple times during the night but by the time we got to the crib she was back asleep.

She began stirring and all eyes were on her.  We were waiting to see those big brown eyes open.

It took a little bit to wake up and open those eyes.  A few kisses from daddy helped! Love that bed head!

Eric fed her a bottle and we tried bath time again. This little girl is NOT a fan of having her clothes off or taking a bath so she was not a happy camper.  But soon it was all over and we were ready to head to breakfast! We found out pretty quickly that Ellie is not a fan of any type of food off the spoon.  The minute a spoon comes her direction she purses her little lips and turns her head.

After breakfast we got to Skype with the kids and they got to see their new sister for the first time.  We got our gifts ready for the officials.

It was then time to head out for the morning for paperwork.  Our first stop was the Civil Affairs office.

There was a flurry of paperwork ...

names signed ...

and the red finger prints were taken!

In the business of the paperwork Ellie decided to take a little snooze on her daddy!

We took our official family picture for her documents.

We then sat in front of the official as she asked us questioned and we promised to love Ellie like our own.  When all the papers were signed, pictures taken and oaths taken Gan An Na officially became Ellie An Na McDonald.  We couldn't feel more blessed.

We saw the orphanage director again at the Civil Affairs office.  We asked some more questions and got some answers but some things we may never know.  Ellie's little hand is all black and blue and they proceeded to tell us that she had an IV for 3 days last week in the orphanage because she was so sick.  They again reinforced that she would get sick easily.  We also have quickly realized that Ellie doesn't like her hands and feet touched.  Our guide said she thinks it is because Ellie didn't have much physical contact and laid in the crib a lot.  We are slowly trying to find ways to touch her little hands and feet and not have her pull away or cry.  We made some gains tonight as Ellie let Eric rub her little hand for a little bit.

Another thing we wanted to find out was if Ellie struggled drinking her bottle.  She doesn't have the sucking thing down correctly.  They said the hole is so big in the nipple at the orphanage she just drinks so no need to suck.  So the answer to that was cut the hole in the nipple bigger.  She has been doing great with her bottles today.

It is just hard to know if we should use the formula she is used to or move her to the formula we took which we know is better for her.  We are trying to mix the two right now.  It seems that her little tummy is still a little off but we really don't have a base line of what is normal for her.  Continue to pray that we would have wisdom as we feed her and know when her little body is sick or just adjusting to this new life, new routine and new food!

We stopped by the market on the way to our appointments in the afternoon for some necessities like water, coke zero and chocolate.

Our next stop was the Police Station to apply for Ellie's passport!

Like father like daughter .... love both of their faces on this picture. 

It was a quick stop.  We signed a few papers and once again made an oath to take care of Ellie no matter what! 

On the way to the Notary we stopped by a park in the new part of Nanchang.  The new Chinese president is getting ready to take office and there is a big ceremony in Beijing.  At different parks they are putting flowers out for this big event.  The amount of flowers in this park were unbelievable.  

They were putting finishing touches on some of the arrangements. 

There were a ton of Chrysanthemums. These flowers represent a life of ease. 

These Chinese symbols meant "double happiness."

I am will you Ellie ... it is a little bright out here, daddy was smart for bringing his sunglasses! 

I loved this view of the old Nanchang across the river.  We are staying over on that side of the river! 

On the way to the Notary Ellie got another little cat nap in! 

We took yet one more oath and signed our final papers. Now we wait until Friday when everything will be processed and we will pick up Ellie's passport and head to the next leg of our journey! 

We got a tiny little smirk as we played before dinner. 

We also had some tummy time to work on building some of those little muscles in her arms, tummy and back.  She actually started making quite a few little noises on her tummy! 

Before we knew it there were smiles.

 As I tickled her we got a big belly laugh.  Twenty four hours after having her in our arms we experienced a moment we won't forget.  We have so many firsts coming for this little girl we can't wait to see each of them unfold! 

We finished with night off with some yummy Chinese food at a local restaurant with our new friends Ted, Betsy and little Ryn.  They are staying at our hotel and little Ryn was the little girl that walked in yesterday before Ellie and made our hearts stop. It was fun to chat over dinner tonight about our journeys to our daughter. 

This little girl has stolen our hearts.  Those big brown eyes are wrapped around our hearts in a big way! 

Good night from Nanchang, China!