Adoption Day!

Today we went back to the Civil Affairs building to sign the official adoption paperwork.  Audrey Lynn is officially part of our family forever! 

 First of all, to backtrack, Audrey did great sleeping last night.  She fell asleep on her own with no problems, and slept 12 hours without making a peep!  We got ready this morning & Amy met us for breakfast in the hotel.  I'm glad she was there, she had to show us what Audrey would like to eat -- steamed buns filled with pork, rice porridge and banana....

We then got picked up by Steve and drove to the Civil Affairs building....

Once inside, the workers filled out all of the official adoption paperwork.  They took our thumbprints and Audrey's footprints, got our signature many times, then had it all notarized and printed out the official adoption certificate...........

 Then they congratulated us on our new daughter!  Yay!!!

Aaron likes to say she is "daddy's girl".....

although she likes her mom just as much....

She fell asleep on the ride back to the hotel...

When we got back we did a little playing....

 She sure loves these little snacks Amy had us buy.  It's like Honey Smacks cereal made into a little rice cake....

 She still is not too sure of us, but if we try to put her down she starts to cry.  So, we haven't even seen her stand or walk yet. She has still been very serious.  It takes her a while to warm up to playing with any toys.  She is very shy and hesitant about everything.  And still no smiles, although today when we put her down for her nap and we left her alone, we could hear her making some little babbling sounds to herself -- so cute!  This was the first noises we've heard her make.  She also likes to hold onto any last bit of food she is eating and not let go.  Maybe for security, maybe because she's not confident and trusting of us to know when we will feed her.  These are all very typical behaviors that we have heard over and over again by adoptive families, and they say each day you see gradual improvments.  I can't even imagine what is going thru her little head!
And I have to add in a couple more pictures from yesterday afternoon -- her first bath with us......

She wasn't crazy about it, but she tolerated it!

Tomorrow will be an early day.  We will leave the hotel at 7:15 am and go to the train station and take the bullet train to her orphanage.  Amy said the bullet train goes 310 km/hr and we are going about 250 miles away.  We are praying all goes well tomorrow.  This will be another tough day for her.  We don't know what kind of emotions it will trigger for her to see her nannies and her old surroundings, but it will be a priceless experience for us to be able to see where she spent the first 2 years of her life and ask any questions about her that we want!