Second Day in Nanchang

• We just finished our second day in Nanchang and all went really well. Jennifer Rose was just amazing and beautiful and we just kissed her and hugged her all day long. She seems to be pretty easygoing -- no matter how much incompetence we exhibit, she just looks at us with her big beautiful eyes. A few things we have learned today (yes, the hard way):
  
• Don't wait until the baby is ravenously hungry to figure out how to mix the formula into the bottle. (the more experienced among us put the formula in the bottle in advance and then just added hot water when the bottle was needed).


• Bring a thermos so that we can prepare a bottle when we are out of the room (again, the more experienced among us had hot water with them).


• Bring a spoon (we tried to mix the formula with the swizzle stick from the mini-bar)


• Bring the correct size diapers (we brought a size too big and had to make an emergency Wall-Mart run today).


• Bring something to wash the bottles out with (we had to use soap from the baby bath until our Wall-Mart run).


• When you are putting the baby in the baby carrier (aka Snugli), try not to bonk her in the head with your head (yep, J did that).

You get the idea. But we really are starting to get the hang of things. We are sure there will be new lessons to learn tomorrow and we just hope that Jennifer foregives us for our ignorance.

Today we ran around and did paperwork at several different offices. We also got to see some of her caregivers again at the Nanchang Adoption Center and ask questions about Jennifer and her time at the orphanage. The caregivers told us she is a very clever baby and we shouldn't be fooled by her angelic looks. They emphasized that she is "very, very strongwilled". So now J will have two strongwilled ladies to contend with.

Today's activities were really special -- particularly the time with the caregivers. There was also a great deal of formality to it -- we had to be interviewed by a Chinese official (with a translater) who asked us why we are adopting from China, how we plan to raise her, whether we plan to give her an education, etc. We also had to sign the official adoption documents and then also provide our fingerprints nex to every signature. There were other activities at the City police station and at the City notary (where we were again briefly interviewed before we signed more documents). You can see from being part of this how important it is to the Chinese officials that the babies are going to good, loving families that care a lot about education. It makes us feel good to be part of such a process even if it is difficult.

Tomorrow we get to chill out and experience day #3 with Jennifer. It's going to be a balmy 98 degrees tomorrow, so we are all looking forward to hanging out in the hotel with the air conditioning. Here are some photos from today's activities.

J & R