He's Here!

It's amazing what a difference a little boy makes.  :)  Last night we arrived to Shanghai around 11 p.m., exhausted, hungry, tired, and I'll admit a little bit grumpy.  Driving through China in the dark, it's charms were not visible and I was beginning to have some serious doubts about what I had gotten us into.  But now that we have held our little son in our arms and kissed his cheeks, all doubts are gone and we are just absolutely, completely, 100% in love with him.

Our guide, Sophie, an adorable woman who has been very reassuring and helpful, met us this morning at 8:30 after we'd gotten a pretty good night's sleep, a hot shower, and a full breakfast of Chinese and American foods.  We were driven to the Shanghai Children's Welfare Institute, where little Sheng Shi (we are calling him by his Chinese name for now) has been living for the past 20 months.  It is a beautiful and very large facility.  They said there are about 600 children there now.  It claims to be the best orphanage in all of China (I wonder if the other orphanages would claim the same?).  The grounds were well maintained and inviting and the staff that we met were friendly.  We did not have a chance to tour the orphanage.  I guess that privilege is rarely granted.

We were taken to a conference style room where two other families were also sitting.  We each had to complete some paperwork - forms saying that we will love and take care of Sheng Shi, mostly - and then after a few minutes, we turned around and they were bringing babies in!

We recognized Sheng Shi immediately, and his nanny brought him to meet us.  It was love at first sight for me.  He is cuter in person than in his pictures (oh my gosh - his ears!!!) and his little serious, pouty face just melts my heart.  He doesn't feel the same about us yet - but soon he will find out that we belong to him and I know he will come around!  

When he first met us, he clung to the nanny for dear life, completely uninterested in us, but after we gave him a little baseball we had brought and some puff snacks, he started to at least acknowledge our presence.  I was able to hold him after a while of warming up (me warming, him not so much), though he cried for a little bit until Caolon brought him more puff snacks.  He is very fond of the snacks and definitely attaching to Caolon.  

Caolon is such a natural daddy.  He held Sheng Shi in the van on the way back to the hotel and kissed his head (yes - he has broken his own "don't kiss the baby rule" MANY times already!) while we drove back to the hotel.  We took a little time to let him familiarize himself with the hotel room (mostly accepting more snacks from daddy and clutching his little ball).  Grammie brought out a truck book that she brought for him that has moving wheels.  That was a hit, and soon his little hands were full, grasping his two toys and letting Mommy and Daddy take turns giving him snacks and sips of water from the sippy cup.  Soon, however, both Caolon and Sheng Shi were tired and decided it was time for a little nap.  They are upstairs cuddling and snoozing while I type up this post.

It's no wonder that Sheng Shi is so interested in his daddy.  They have a lot in common - a similar fashion style, a fondness for snacking and napping, and also Sheng Shi has a quirky little foot tapping habbit that foreshadows some drum lessons in his future! :)

We are all very smitten with our little boy and we are looking forward to these next few days of getting to know his personality a little better.

Love you all and thank you for the prayers!

Erin