Our First Day With Johanna

We've had Johanna for just over 24 hours now, and things are going really well. I'll have more pics to post soon, but in the whirlwind of the last day, this is the best I can do for now.

 

Johanna cried for the first 2-3 hours after we received her. She'd had a tough day. She'd been taken from her foster mother, driven three hours in a bus to a strange city, and then handed over to two strangers who couldn't even speak her language. It was a rough day for her.

 

Once she started crying, she refused to go to Clint. In fact, if she even SAW him in the room, she'd start crying harder. I held her on my lap, did my best to comfort her, and had our first breakthrough when I offered her the new toy giraffe we'd brought with us. She'd refused her rattle, her soft blanket, and her teething ring, but she grabbed onto the giraffe and began chewing on his ears. A few minutes later, I was able to give her a bottle and she fell asleep in my arms.

 

The sleep helped. When she awoke, she was better able to handle the changes in her life. She still didn't think highly of Clint, but she tolerated him and stopped crying. She woke up three times last night, hungry, and on the last time Clint fed her a bottle and she decided he was okay after all.

 

Today, she was a little doll. She's the most outgoing, talkative baby in our travel group (nine babies total). She bounces, smiles, and does her level best to steal Cheerios and toys from any other baby within reach. And the girl can EAT. It's honestly unbelievable how much food she put away today. I'm hoping all that solid food will help her sleep through the night tonight. I'd really like to sleep through the night myself! I decided her penchant for snagging what she wants and eating us out of house and home will prepare her well for life with her three big brothers. Clint decided she talks constantly because she takes after me.

 

I may have had a thing or two to say about that.

 

We spent the morning going to several government offices and in the end, we were handed a beautiful certificate in a decorative red case and told our adoption was now officially permanent. She's ours forever. :) We still have to stay another five days here in Nanchang waiting for her passport and visa to come in, and then we fly to Guanzghou for a week while we meet at the American consulate and immigration and swear her in as a U.S. citizen.

 

She smiles at us often now, and loves playing with us. And she turns to us for comfort. While she interacts with others, she clearly prefers us and recognizes us as her primary caregivers. It's amazing that she's come so far in just one day.

 

Tomorrow, I'll take some pictures of her and send them to Mandy to post on the blog. She really is adorable (Yes, I'm biased, but trust me, she is.) and we're absolutely head-over-heels in love with her. I looked at her today as she bounced happily on my lap and knew that every single second of our five year wait was worth it just to hold her now.