Day 1 with our Girl...

We all went to Carrefour (China's version of Wal-Mart). They had practically everything you would ever want (including dead chickens hanging by a string for sale)... Yes!  We did pick up several snacks including Cucumber flavored potato chips. Crazy thing was... they had everything except baby clothing.  I put Zoe in the buggy and she looked so cute sitting there like a little lady. But, most importantly... while at Carrefour we bought a fan!!! Now, I can actually have a good nights sleep!

Today, I got a chance to try some clothes on Zoe and the 9 month size is the winner!

Zoe and I are making progress... its been 24 hours and I kid you not about 2 hours ago I got her to laugh for a split second. She was "studying" her hands and stuck out her pointer finger so I made a big mouth face and pretended to nibble on it and she smiled/sort of laughed (Oh! Guess what? She has a dimple! I saw it when she smiled). She is such a beautiful girl.

Her feeding is still not going well... I did make the nipple opening larger last night and that has helped a lot. Since she was born with a cleft, she doesn't suck on the nipple per say... its more of a biting/suck.

On one of our bus rides, Zoe started sucking her thumb and I could tell she was tired, so I coaxed her to lay her head against my chest and she actually left it there for the rest of the trip. She lets me hold her but her muscles are not relaxed... its like she has tension and I think that's because she is trying to adjust and learn to trust me.
 

OK... here's my "Mommy Lesson of the Day" - OK, so I'm new at this. I will learn. Zoe supposedly takes a nap from 12 noon-2pm according to her orphanage. Well, we were at the "Wal-Mart" at this time. So, we get back to the hotel and its 3pm. So, I say to Willie, "You know, she missed her nap. I wonder if I should feed her and lay her down." Willie says, "No way! Keep that girl up so she'll go night-night on time." OK, so I went along with it. We got some great play time in. Saw another smile for a split second before she went back to her serious face again. When, all of a sudden... out of the blue... she started crying with crocodile tears and when it happened, Willie just happened to be playing with her. He was stunned and said, "Oh no! What did I do?" And, I told him nothing, and that I think she must be tired. So, I picked her up and consoled her, we looked out the window together for about 5 mins. Decided to try and lay her down in the crib. I tucked her in and in 5 mins she was out.  Lesson learned... girlfriend needs her nap regardless of what time it is. She needs her sleep. Hmmmmm... kinda sounds a little like someone I might know personally.

 

Playing with Mommy

Our Precious Sleeping Angel