We have Alexia!

Actually posted Monday, September 3rd at 10:40PM

Sorry that I have not posted sooner but we have been otherwise busy with the arrival of Alexia Yun! So without further ado, here she is:

OK, this is Alexia but she wasn't exactly this thrilled when we received her. Now, let me go back to the beginning of the day. We woke up early as our bus was leaving at 8:30AM to take us to the domestic airport for an 11:30AM flight to Nanchang. This is a shot of our group prior to departure and before the children.

Upon arrival we were whisked away to our hotel, the Galactic Peace International where we will spend the next week. Very nice hotel, by the way. We had just enough time to rush off to the corner store for some last minute provisions (no baby stuff at this store :( but loaded up on water, beer and wine, the essentials). The Civil Affairs Office is right across the street so at 4:15PM we proceeded to cross the street (a feat in itself) as we had a 4:30PM appointment. A group from either Spain or South America were just wrapping up as we arrived and seconds later, the babies entered the room. Which one is Alexia? You could hear the panic in everyone's voices as it was very difficult to pick out your baby with all the confusion. There she is! It took a while to recognize her I must admit.

Once she was handed to me, she wasn't too sure what was going on and kept looking around herself. Cara-Li finally got to meet her meimei as she softly touched her cheek. The smile on Cara-Li's face will forever be embedded in my mind.

Once this so called ceremony was over (it probably lasted a grand totally of 30 minutes!), we were paraded back across the street to the hotel but this time, we all had this extra little being with us that we are to care for for the rest of our lives. It is crazy. Back at our room, we spend some time getting to know one another and Cara-Li is taking her big sister duties very seriously. She had to give Alexia her first bottle.

And now introducing, meimei and jiejie for the very first time! Aren't they the cutest!

We had approximately one hour to ourselves before we had to regroup for a meeting where all the final documents were to be signed and we were fingerprinted. During this time, Alexia fell asleep in her daddy's arms and was out until 3:00AM when she decided that she was hungry. We are not used to these wake up calls anymore nor do we remember how to mix formula. It was quite funny!

Today, Sept. 3rd, we went back to the Civil Affairs Office, followed by the notary and then the police station to finalize everything.

By noon, we were free to do as we pleased. So we had lunch followed by some more play and our first mommy and daughter nap (boy was that great!)

Here are my beautiful Southern Belles, together at last!