Love at First Sight

We left the hotel at 9:45 this morning. Arrived at the registration office at 10. About 5 minutes later, Baby Lala came in. She was ther furthest away at an orphanage about 5 hours away. We stood around and waited watching every car that came by. Meredith was the second baby to arrive. Luckily Leslie was standing at he door with the camera and got pictures of Meredith getting out of the car with the director. They walked inside and I barely got my camera handed off before they handed her over to me. Love at first sight...she is beautiful and tiny. She was in just one outfit, no socks or shoes. Her palate has not been fixed, which is a blessing. Rebecca wanted to old her Mei Mei right away. She is so sweet with her. So far not a jealous moment (knock on wood). We waited for the boys in our group to arrive. they got there about 10:30. We just held and got to know Meredith. They presented us with not only pictures of her in her orphanage but a beautiful photo album that we will cherish ALWAYS! You can see Rebecca holding it in one of the pictures. There is writing int he front and our guide has it now to translate it. The gentlman that brought her to us took pictures of us with her and of Rebecca holding her. So very different than it was with Rebecca. So personal. None of the babies cried. It was amazing. Just a beautiful peaceful and amazing hour! Rebecca wore her Chinese big sister shirt (Jie Jie) and after the first diaper change (a poop non the less... a big thing... usually the babies get constipated because of the stress) we put her in her Chinese little sister shirt (Mei Mei)
Meredith is active!!! Climbing all over us. She can scoot with the best of them! She loves to move! She is smitten with her big sister. Several of the pictures look just like Rebecca those first few days. Everyone commented on how she looks like Rebecca. They both have big round eyes. Meredith is light in skin color compared to Rebecca, of course Rebecca is also tan right now. Rebecca lets us know all her firsts... Mom! She put food in her mouth for the first time!, Mom! She is crawling for the first time, Mom! She is smiling for the first time! It is awesome!
We got back to the hotel and made her a bottle. She screamed when I took it away to cut a bigger hole (with her palate she wasn't getting any milk out of the bottle.) then gulped it down instantly when I gave it back. I tried to take it away every now and then so she didn't choke but she had a firm grasp on it and it wouldn't budge! She played for a few more minutes then while Jim and Rebecca went to swim I laid her down. She cried for literally 10 seconds and was out! .
Life is good so far! She is so sweet and precious. I can't believe we have only had her for 3 hours!