Happy Valentine's Day
We started off the day right. Caroline slept 10 hours last night, only waking up once when Darrin tried to cover her up but she went right back to sleep. She was not happy to see us when she woke up. We dressed her in her Valentine's out fit and headed downstairs to finalize the adoption with the notary (here like a judge) and get to ask the nanny some questions. The legalwork went easy--they just asked lots of questions. One funny one..they could not understand what Darrin's employer is. They thought Mental Health Network was computer-related but I think they finally just called him a psychologist or something.
Our guide, Sherry, served as a translator so that we could ask Caroline's nanny questions about her care. Caroline seemed to recognize her but did not want to go to her. She said she is scared of everything, very timid but does not cry alot. She also told us how she likes her bottle (three times a day still) and that she was very attatched to her foster father and 12-year-old foster brother (probably why she can't get enough of Darrin). And, like we already found out, she can stand assisted but is not really walking yet. A couple of the girls in our group aren't.

She's still crying alot--mostly when I hold her, but we did it more today more and she got over it fairly quick. Praise God we got laughs and smiles too. She loves to rock herself. She bumps against Darrin's chest and laughs. I videotaped but forgot to take a picture. She's eating great. Loves the formula/cereal bottle and also had two large bowls of congee (Chinese version of rice ceral) for dinner. We also went to Carrefour (Chinese Walmart) and bought her biter biscuits (she has a mouth full of teeth), diapers, formula and some juices, which she loved. Not much other table food though. She also got her first bath--she didn't like it but enjoyed getting her hair dryed and combed. She loves watching herself in the mirror. She still has the toy aversion, but sat on the bed by herself today and played with a medicine bottle that she used like a rattle.

Tomorrow we take a litle tour of Wuhan. I really like it better than Beijing--it seems cleaner and less hectic with lots of universities. The city is about 8 million compared to Beijing's 15 million and has river and lakes everywhere. There's more water than land in Wuhan and it sits on the world's third largest river--the Yangtze River behind the Amazon and nile. There's also a mountain nearby. We learned today that on Thursday we can to visit and take pictures of Caroline's orphanage. I had really hoped to be able to do this...maybe meet her foster parents but at least take pictures and see where she has spent the early months of her life. We are so blessed with this opportunity because it's only 1.5 hours away from our hotel. Many never get the chance to visit their child's orphanage because of the distance.

Please keep praying that Caroline bonds with me and stops looking at me like I have two heads : ) Darrin is not feeling the greatest and could really use some more breaks. Also, please, please pray for my mom, Bonnie, who is Chattanooga and not feeling well.

Sorry for the lack of pictures--we'll do better tomorrow.