Tuesday
It's official!! Alina is officially a Martin!! She is ours!! Woohoo!!
Last night was a long night. Randy and I tag teamed it. He would take an hour or two here and then I would take an hour or two there. She let us sit with her in the chair and fell asleep on both of us that way. Good thing we have those neck pillows that you wear on the airplane. They were a life saver and we were able to get a little bit of sleep that way. Caylee and Alina are both not feeling well so that didn't help things either.
We had to go back to the Civil Affairs office today (this is where we met her). Alina did not like going back into that building. She was very uncomfortable. We were so nervous about the interviews but they actually went really well and kind of quick. We had to promise to never abuse or abandon her and that we will treat her the same as we would our biological daughter.
After the civil affairs office, we went to WalMart. They turned the old airport in Guangzhou into a shopping center with WalMart at the bottom. And it would be so easy to get lost in this WalMart. It's like WalMart on steroids! (ok..I can not take credit for that line..it totally comes from my friend Amy..but it's so funny!). We had to buy Alina some new clothes because the clothes that we bought for her were too big. She is a tiny thing. She reminds me of about the size Caylee was at about 10 months old.
When we got back to the hotel, Alina said her first word, "Dalla" or something like that. It means, "we're here". Of course I didn't hear it because I had already stepped out of the van.
We had the afternoon off and took a walk around the hotel and outside. Randy was able to wear Alina in the Ergo. She really liked that. We went to a play area and put her in a swing. She was not a fan. We gave her a minute and she seemed to warm up to the idea and stayed in there for quite awhile. She seemed very content.
We did laundry tonight in the bathtub. The shower is in a separate room but it has a shade that can go up so you can see into the room. I had never seen anything like that before until I saw pictures from my friend's recent trip to China. We had the shade up so that we could still see into the room while doing laundry. Alina didn't know that we were watching her & Caylee interact. It was precious! She was smiling at her & playing with her on the Kindle. She even handed Caylee her rubber duck & said, "duck." (Caylee is almost positive that is what she said).
Our guide Cathy said that on Monday Alina's hands were closed into a fist. But today the are more open. That means that she is relaxing. Yay! Baby steps!
I'm thrilled for all of you! Reading this brings tears to my eyes - God has and is doing a big thing - and lives were changed this week. Love it! Thanks so much for sharing this journey with us.
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