It's Official...

Again, another day of very fast “official” adoption proceedings. We zoomed into the Civil Affairs building, had our family portrait made, zoomed through 2 interviews, paid the fees and were done! The adoption is official and final. Tomorrow we go to have Elli’s passport picture made and apply for her passport. For this adoption to have taken almost 3 times longer than Anna’s…the adoption appointments in China have gone about 3 times fast…I think we deserve it though!

Elli did wonderful last night. She went right to sleep and slept through the night. No crying, no fussing, just perfect. She woke up this morning a little quiet, but it only took about 10 minutes and she was our little QiaoQiao…running and playing all over again. We all got ready for breakfast, our early morning appointment and of course, our first introduction to the family. We called our kiddos at my sister-in-laws so they could see and hear their new sister for the first time. She greeted them all very softly with, “NiHao”. She took a stab at saying some of their names….some came out better than others. Although she liked looking at the screen for a while, it didn’t last – there is just too much to do around here.

We left the room to eat some breakfast before meeting our guide to go to the Civil Affairs building to finalize the adoption. At breakfast, she ate part of an omelet with cheese, mushrooms and green peppers, fruit, fried rice noodles, fried rice, fried dumplings, potatoes, and a croissant. She really is too sweet using the fork the way she does. She will take a bite and then use her fork to rake any stray food into her mouth…very, very cute. I tore off a piece of the croissant for her and put a little strawberry jam for her to try – oh yeah baby!!! QiaoQiao is a big fan of the jams. She wanted it on her potatoes and more and more on her bread. Her little white dress was soon a white and multi-colored polka dot dress. Rodney had some watermelon on his plate. He cut her a small piece and fed it to her. She ate it right up and took her fork to his plate and looked up at him almost questioning him if she could have another. He nodded and she began raking the watermelon from his plate to hers…no more watermelon for Baba. She loved breakfast.



After returning from the Civil Affairs, she ate a snack in the room and we tried to take a nap…ha! I put her in her crib and she started to get upset…so I got her out and laid with her on our bed…she just tossed and turned. I finally tried the crib again and she stayed in there for about 15 minutes and then she was up playing and I knew it wasn’t going to happen. So I got her out. The nanny told us that she took a nap between 12 and 2, but she didn’t today! Oh well, maybe she will be ready for bed tonight…I hope!



She is trying her limits more and more. She will pull away, smile and do what we tell her “no” to and is being a typical 3 year old – that’s a good thing. I have had to get stern with her a couple of times because she has found an outlet under the computer desk. I tell her no and she will just grin and slowly move her hand towards the outlet. At one point she swatted at me and acted like she was going to put a toy in it – oh gracious, here we go.

Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna,

You better get ready!! One of the best ways to describe Elli is to take Anna and Sam and mix them together – you got QiaoQiao. She can do anything she wants….open bottles, fold her clothes, put her shoes away, fix her hair and dress herself. She is talking up a storm and starting to sing little songs…I wish so bad I knew what all she was saying. We love you all very much and can’t wait to get home to have all you close!

Sending love & hugs to Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna,
Rodney, Marcy & Elli