Friday, April 6, 2007

Today has been a GREAT day!! The best yet as we continue to bond with Ainsley and see her personality come alive. She is slowly but surely coming to trust and love us (especially that unique bond with Daddy) and to let us see her for who she really is. She is being so strong and brave as she adjusts to having her world turned upside down. At the same time, she is being so open to love and be loved by total strangers who have traveled thousands of miles and waited many, many months to be able to pour love and life into her. What an amazing little baby girl! I am so proud!

As we are seeing her personality come to life, I have a very strong intuition that she is not going to be this quiet, pensive little girl all the time! She definitely seems to be very driven by curiosity and an adventurous spirit. She is very smart and it seems she is almost always ready for a new experience to learn and interact with others. And this is combined with such a sweet, loving, cuddly heart that craves the warmth of her Daddy’s arms and the love of anyone who will give it. The orphanage report that we got with the referral was right when it indicated that Ainsley is “scared slightly when there are strangers, but a few minutes later she will love you.” Indeed, she is eager to love and be loved. I have never felt so loved and needed and wanted in my life as I do when Ainsley wants nothing but to be held tight in my arms.

In addition to the many aspects of her personality that she is slowly revealing, Ainsley is also starting to show that she is much more mobile than she first let on. More on that later in another posting another day. For now, all I will write is that I think she is going to be fun to try to keep up with very soon!

It is amazing to see all of these revelations and changes happen right before our very eyes each day! And what a difference there is between yesterday and today. I am constantly in a state of joyful expectation at what will come next (even if it is not all easy or “fun”)!

Last night, Ainsley slept very well, waking up once around 1:30am and just needing a quick 10-15 “holding” session with Daddy before she went back to sleep. She woke up around 5:30am and slept next to Daddy on the bed. Around 6am, she sat straight up in the bed next to Daddy, with her legs crossed under her and just staring at Daddy with the cutest look on her face. Within a few minutes she then crawled onto his chest and laid her head there and went back to sleep for another hour or so. It was so cute. Daddy then got up and gave Ainsley a bath and dressed her and fed her before heading out to our only appointment for the day – the medical examination for the US government immigrant visa application. (If you are wondering if David ever showers, I should note that one of the “traveling grandmas” always holds and watches Ainsley for about 30 minutes each morning so David can get ready. So, don’t worry! Ha!)

At 9:30am we went just about a five minute walk down the street to the clinic for the medical examination. It was total chaos in there with tons of babies getting examined. But in the end everything was fine with Ainsley. She is a healthy little 1-year old girl. She now weighs 19.1 pounds but that was with her clothes on, so I would guess it is more like 18-18.5 pounds (for those at home preparing for our return, she will be fine to sit in front-facing seat since she is over a year old and right at 20 lbs!). She does have a little cold that seems to be getting a little worse (more greenish snot coming out of her nose), so we got some amoxicillin from the clinic for her. We will wait and see how she does on the Motrin we are giving her before we decide to use the amoxicillin. We would prefer not to use that until and unless we confirm it is a bacterial infection as opposed to just a virus.

After the medical exam was completed around 11am, the rest of the day was free. Since yesterday’s plan of staying out as much as possible throughout the day worked so well, we decided to try that again. It was another great success. First, however, we came back to the hotel room to download some pictures, regroup and reorganize, and feed Ainsley. Next it was our turn to eat, so we went to eat lunch. Ainsley rode in the stroller (she is doing great now in the stroller!) She played at lunch and entertained herself (and us) at the table!

From lunch, we did some more shopping, stopping at our favorite store with our favorite ladies who work there. They are so nice and LOVE Ainsley. They always make her smile and laugh. And they love to sing baby songs in Chinese with David. Fun! Stella and Vickie (obviously not their Chinese names) are so great!

We eventually made it back to the room around mid-afternoon and Ainsley was totally ready for a nap (so was David, but no such luck because he had to use the time to type this update!). It only took about 5 minutes of “holding” time from Daddy and she was fast asleep. Tonight we have no plans, so we will just see what happens. We wanted to get this update out before the night comes so everyone back home has an update waiting when you wake up! Good morning! Enjoy! And thanks for sharing in our joy, as well as the challenges, especially as we make our way on the long journey back to the US.

“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 “firsts” with her new family)

• Ainsley had her first medical examination
• Ainsley reached out and picked up Cheerios on her own and fed them to herself at breakfast (she even got to the point of feeding herself Cheerios with both hands at the same time!