Gotcha Day Photos! Welcome to Our Family Esther Marie!

I have two or three more photos to end the day, but it is 2:15 a.m. now and we have adoption day tomorrow, so I am headed for bed. I will edit this and add them later. I hope you enjoy seeing the photos from Gotcha Day. Start at the bottom if you want to follow along as the day progressed. Love to all, Sarah The girls were looking out the window in our room at the view of the Pearl River. The buildings and boats light up at night and it's really pretty. MaryAlyce keeps falling asleep before she sees the lights. She "passed out" at the restaurant tonight. When I mentioned that if she went to sleep she would miss the lights, she said...that's okay...I have two weeks to see them! (smart thing!)

This ball is almost too big for me! Wow...this is fun playing with sissy!

We brought some little toys from home for Esther Marie to play with...stacking cups, her little doll, a beach ball, some little books, etc. She particularly liked these little books and clutched one all the way to dinner and back this evening.

Back in the room, finishing the first bottle that Esther Marie started at the Civil Affairs office. She and I were too distracted by all that was going on to finish it there.

Playing games together during the bus ride back to the hotel.....we were blowing kisses to each other. Esther Marie loves to kiss and she giggles really sweetly when she plays. (I found out later that she laughs when you blow air on her face and also when you gently tickle her belly.)

Daddy gets to hold his new daughter...finally! Mommy snapped a picture but for some reason the ones with the small camera came out blurry. I was probably in a hurry to grab her back so I could hold her! More photos with Dad to come!

These are some of Esther Marie's caretakers from the orphanage. They brought the babies to us today, and then I sat down with them and Rebecca to go over Emmie's eating and sleeping schedules, etc. She is drinking formula and eating Congee. I also found out that she likes to play peek-a-boo, blow kisses and wave bye bye. We did this with her alot after we got back to the hotel and she giggled and laughed.

Lizzie and her mom, Ann....and Esther Marie with her mommy (me!). The babies are doing great! We found out that our two girls shared a room at the Guangdong SWI (orphanage). We are glad they have been friends and hope we can help them stay in touch with each other.

Sisters! MaryAlyce gets to hold her new little sister for the first time. They are two beautiful girls and now we have a total of three beautiful daughters. Hey Joshua...you can stick with Dad and Uncle Patrick for "guy time."

Things are going very well...no one is crying....not even Mommy any more! Esther Marie is very content to just let me hold her. MaryAlyce's smile tells it all...it's official...she likes being a BIG SISTER now!

MaryAlyce and Esther Marie check each other out while mother watches..wondering what their reactions to each other will be.

Esther Marie....finally after 8 long months, you are in my arms! You are exactly like the baby that I dreamed about. You are so precious and beautiful to me. I am overwhelmed with the emotions that I am feeling. Hannah and Joshua, this is your baby sister. What do you think of her? We love you and miss you so much and can't wait for you to meet your sister and hold her and play with her. You are going to think she is wonderful. We sure do!

While waiting for Esther Marie (Hai Mei), Jasper does more paperwork for Rebecca that she needs so we can take our baby girl with us after we get her. MaryAlyce and "black cat" are helping.

We arrived in great spirits and could hardly stand the wait...it was like sitting on pins and needles, as the saying goes! However, we began to wilt as we waited because this lovely adoption place seemed to have NO AIR CONDITIONING. Whew! Oh well...just bring out the babies please!!!!

This is Rebecca, our guide, on the bus trip to Civil Affairs. She is fantastic and helps us with all the paperwork and everything else. We couldn't do this without her.

We are heading to meet with Rebecca and the other families to take care of some paperwork before we leave for the Civil Affairs building to get Esther Marie. Daddy is taking this photo of course. I am sorry to say that Jasper ended up taking most of the photos today and got left out of the pictures. But we will make up for it another day! I love you, honey!

These dolls are waiting for Esther Marie in her little bed in our hotel room. One of the hotel staff brought the "Going Home" Barbie to us this morning. When you stay at the White Swan, they give adoptive parents one of these dolls...the Caucasian mother holding the Chinese baby. It makes a nice collectible for the adopted child.

Our day started at 4:30 this morning when Miss Mei Mei woke up and we had buffet breakfast at The White Swan Hotel at 10:00. It was delicious and MaryAlyce especially enjoyed the watermelon just as she did when we adopted her and stayed at the same hotel.