Thursday, April 5, 2007

Today was a very full day. In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel around 8:30am. Ainsley sat in a high chair for the first time. She cried at first, but settled down and ate a good breakfast. After breakfast and prior to taking care of our official business today, we spent the morning shopping, walking around, and taking Ainsley for some playtime in the White Swan Hotel where they have a kids’ playroom. We wanted to spend as little time in the hotel room as possible today, keeping Ainsley and ourselves busy interacting with people and places! (And we succeeded, which is why I am so tired now and so late posting this update!)

At 2:30pm we went to the Guangdong Public Security Bureau to apply for Ainsley’s passport. They would not allow photographs in the building so we don’t have any to post. It was a very easy process. Now we just wait for her Chinese passport to be issued. With the completion of this application today, everything on the China side is now complete and Ainsley is officially/legally ours! That is big news!! We received our official certificate of adoption that is ours to keep forever. It came in a very nice and official-looking (well, I guess it really is official, not just “official-looking”) hard binder of sorts and includes a document with information about David, Shannon, and Ainsley, as well as the picture they took of David and Ainsley on Wednesday. It will be fun for everyone to see this. It is a very important document that we will keep in our safety deposit box for safekeeping.

We went from the passport application process to have Ainsley’s picture taken for her US immigrant visa application, which we will soon submit to the US Consulate here in Guangzhou. The US side of the process is now all that is left to complete before we can leave China. That process continues tomorrow morning with a trip to a US State Department approved clinic where Ainsley will undergo a medical examination as part of the immigration process to the US. We cannot complete the entire process with the US government until we receive Ainsley’s passport, which takes 4-5 days (and is why we have to stay in China so long after receiving Ainsley – lots of processes to complete that take time).

Of course, today was also an eventful and important day because it was Ainsley’s birthday! She turned 1 year old today! So, after our entire group (about 30+ people including adoptive parents and other family members) finished with our visa photos, we went to the children’s’ playroom in the White Swan Hotel to celebrate Ainsley’s birthday. We bought two cakes from a nearby bakery and took some paper plates and forks. It was just an informal, impromptu celebration that was a lot of fun. The kids got to interact more together and play, and the parents got to chat more. Coincidentally, there is another adopted baby in our group named Ainsley whose birthday was just one day different from Ainsley’s. This other little Ainsley turns 1 year old tomorrow, April 6, 2007, so we celebrated her birthday as well. It was a lot of fun. And Ainsley seemed to enjoy the festivities!

Following the “party,” we went to get something to eat and get back to our hotel. It had been a long day and we wanted to get Ainsley ready for bed and get to sleep ourselves (which is why these updates are coming later and later! I just don’t have the energy to get them out in early evening here after these long days, so I post in the middle of the night here when I can’t sleep. Sorry! Bear with me. I kind of have my hands full…to say the least!)

Just before bed tonight, Ainsley snapped out of her very pensive disposition (she has been a good baby so far, but just not very expressive or energetic yet) and smiled and laughed out loud for the first time with David. What a joy to see and hear! We are now starting to see that she definitely is a feisty little girl. That is coming out more and more (and we are told will continue to happen), which is good because she will definitely need to be to survive around all of her cousins, especially Katelyn and Rachel!! (You know who you are, even if everyone reading this update doesn’t! Ha!) We can’t wait to see Ainsley in her full personality lighting up the room and going at it (in a good way of course) with her little brother Griffin and her cousins!

“FIRSTS FOR THE DAY”
(some of these may or may not really be the first time Ainsley has done something, but right now they are definitely first with her new family)

• Ainsley ate more solid food – bread, crackers, and a few other random foods
• Ainsley drank apple juice and loved it
• Ainsley was rolled around in a stroller (it took just a couple of minutes to warm up to this)
• Ainsley ate some birthday cake
• Ainsley smiled and laughed
• Ainsley pooped (JUST KIDDING! We are actually hoping that happens soon though! It is pretty common for these babies not to poop for a few days, but if it doesn’t come soon, we may have to resort to the dreaded suppository! Oh no! Stay tuned…)

Looking forward to sharing more experiences and “firsts” with you in the days ahead as we continue to progress through the process here in China and start the countdown to April 14, 2007 when we will be back home!!