We're officially a family!

Here's a link to some more photos: http://www.dropshots.com/john_haug

September first marked our official adoption of Maya. We headed back to the same building where we received Maya and became a forever family. The interview process was very brief......they asked us "are you happy with this child?" A resounding "yes" there! and why we want to adopt a child from China. About 5 minutes for the whole process which included a thumbprint from John and I and Maya's foot print to seal the deal. We just can't believe little Xiao Jiao (we mostly call her "Jiao Jiao" so far as that is the name we've been told she was called most of her life by her caregivers) is ours!

Maya continues to amaze us. We can't stop looking at her and feel so happy that she was chosen for us. She loves her toothbrush and likes to carry it with her. Yeah! Good oral hygiene. We're practicing brushing those six teeth of hers and luckily she is pretty cooperative. She also loves stacking cups. She is brilliant of course (what parent doesn't think that right?) and anything you give her she studies very carefully by turning it over several times.

We have experienced some obvious grieving from Maya. She will be giggling one minute then she will just start crying for no apparent reason, throw her head back, arch her back and scratch us (sound familiar Dawn?) and just say "ahh ma" over and over again. Morgan our group leader says that she is calling for her nanny at the orphanage and that this is pretty common. It really breaks our heart and has brought me to tears a few times. I know this must be all to much for her to understand and my heart hurts for her. We just hold her close and whisper " I love you" in Chinese hoping that she will feel some sort of comfort. Overall we have been pretty lucky as many of the families in our group have dealt with nonstop crying from their children. We feel blessed to have gotten lots of giggles from her. And she has been babbling a lot today.

We had the doctor in our group check her out today. Her diaper rash is healing well with the Arbonne ointment I brought. It was disgusting when we got her. Poor thing just clumps of skin peeling off and raw skin underneath. She is still congested but it doesn't appear to be in her lungs which is good. She has scabies which is common in orphanage settings especially in warm humid environments. We brought a presription with us and have been treating her accordingly. Overall she is pretty healthy even though she is small. Her weight as of today is 13.2 lbs. She dropped a bit from the beginning of August probably due to her sick bout.

Maya slept through the first night completely from 9-7am. Last night she woke up at 2am and then went back to sleep after I gave her a bottle. She slept between John and I last night after having a rough afternoon we didn't want to move her after she finally fell asleep. She rolls and rolls and rolls. John said he got kicked in the head several times. Good thing he brought a mouth guard! She rotates around just like Paige (my niece) did when she was little. The other strange thing is she sleeps head face down on the bed. We have tried to turn her head to one side or the other but she always goes back to face down. I don't know how she breaths but it seems comforting to her so we don't mess with her too much. She also does this little thing where she rocks her hips in a circle when she is falling asleep. I'm sure it is the way she soothed her self to sleep in the orphanage.

Little milestones are what we live for. If I say baba (chinese for dad) she will look for John. Mama is a bit more confusing because of the orphanage nanny thing but she did actually reach for me today. John and I both agree that every smile just melts our hearts. She has several dimples which are so cute and her belly laugh is so funny.

We wish that we were out enjoying China a little more. It has just been horribly hothere. Today it was 102 and the humidity is 100% plus lots of pollution. Going a little stir crazy in the hotel but thank goodness for our friends in the group. There is a playroom in the hotel so we did a little playdate today. It has been so fun hanging out with Brad and Kristi and their cute little twins. We get to share all the new things that the girls do each day. Tonight we will be going out with all the other 14 families for a group dinner. Sixteen babies in a restaurant should be interesting.

Tomorrow we will head to the orphanage where Maya has been since June. It is 3.5 hours away so we will be spending the night. Unable to post again until Monday. We are a little concerned about how Maya will react back in her orphanage environment so keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We won't be able to see where Maya was abandoned or visit her first orphanage of seven months because it is too far away. Someday we hope we can return with her and make that journey.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Love to you all. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

Lori, John and Maya (Maya Papaya.....John's new nickname for her).