Gotcha Day!!! (and other stuff)....it's gonna be a long post!

Wow, ok where to begin?? I guess I haven't really posted since we've been here, though Jaime has and he's also done an AMAZING job keeping our website updated with pictures all along the way! What a great hubby he is!! I guess, I'll start with our first few days here in Nanchang and then to Gotcha Day as well as the day after...
Well, first we have still yet to fully adjust to the time difference. It's funny, because we actually did better in Hong Kong which is where we spent our first two nights, and now the past three nights here in Nanchang have not been so good. If it were just me and Jaime I think we'd be fine but the big girls just can't get it right. The first night we arrived all three of us girls could NOT keep our eyes open and finally gave in and fell asleep super early....5:45 p.m. I was hoping all of us would be able to sleep all night but that was not the case. Both girls were up at 1:45 a.m. Yes, you read that correctly, 1:45 A.M.....ahhhh!!! I mean that is only 8 hours-almost, and at home they sleep more than that on any given night, so not sure why only 8 hours was enough here. We tried everything from making them go back to sleep, to letting them stay up for awhile and having a snack, to laying back down but nothing ever worked and we were up for good by 5 something...ugh! That was Friday night/Saturday morning.  On Saturday we didn't have any plans so we just did some shopping along the street next to our hotel and hopefully you've seen the pictures of that...it was an experience! We all were exhausted so we took a nap from 1:15 to 4:15 and it felt good! We went to bed between 8 and 9, and then that night the girls got up between 3 and 4, so again only 7 to 8 hours of sleep which is nothing like how they sleep at home. We tried all the 'tricks' like the night before but nothing worked! Of course this was the night before our Gotcha Day so we were all very excited so I'm guessing that is why we were all up early...or so you'd think. But then on Sunday, after Gotcha Day and only Avery napping (for 1 1/2 hours) we went to bed again around 8ish and they were up AGAIN at 3:45! So I am PRAYING hard that tonight we will all get back on track. We had NO naps today and we will stay up later, maybe until 9-10 and surely that will do the trick. If you'd like to pray for that as well, I'd sure appreciate it!

Ok, onto Gotcha Day and to how Anna Wei Wei has been doing...yesterday was Mother's Day and our Gotcha Day! The time we got her was 3:30 p.m. and with waking up around 3:30 a.m. that sure made for a LONG time to wait! We knew our guide, Jenny was going to call us around 3 and then that is when we would make our way down to the playroom in our hotel where a lot of the adoptions take place here. We were anxiously waiting by the phone by 2:30 (ok, Jaime and I were really ready  by 2) and Jenny didn't call until about 3:15. We made our way down to the playroom and can I just tell you how fast our pulses were racing?? Well, you can imagine...very fast! We heard the elevator ding about three times and kept thinking it was her, but it was a false alarm all three times, but then the 4th time was her! We saw her caretakers first, and then the one that travelled here with her was holding her hand walking with her and she looked absolutely adorable! Her pictures really do not do her justice! I started crying the moment I saw her (Abby did too...precious big sister) and then Wei Wei started crying...wait no, not just crying but bawling!!!! She was not a happy camper at all! We tried to hold her but that was just not going to happen. We were talking to her, telling her it's ok, we love her, etc. but she just kept crying. I went ahead and took her and walked around the room with her trying to calm her down but other than getting swatted at, that was not successful! Jaime took her next and she eventually calmed down and let me tell you so far she is a complete DADDY'S GIRL!!!! She LOVES her daddy, and I mean LOVES! She wants him to hold her, feed her, change her diaper, etc. She will let me do these things without crying, but often she cries. So, yesterday after we filled out some paperwork, we came back to our room, fed her some juice and then skyped with all of our parents (It was 5 am their time so what troopers they were!) and as we were skyping Anna fell asleep in my lap so Jaime laid her down and she was out for the count and slept til 5:30 a.m. so almost 12 hours...now if only her big sisters would do the same!

Ok, as I'm looking over this post I realize it's a REALLY long one so I'll post tomorrow on what we've been up to since Gotcha Day as well as how she's doing, but the short summary is; we signed papers today to make her ours officially, as well as she's coming around and playing with her big sisters more and still is a daddy's girl!

Thanks for your continued prayers as we covet them all!
In Him,
Melissa (mommy to Abby, Avery and Anna)

Here's a link to our on-line photo albums...
http://albums.phanfare.com/slideshow.aspx?i=1&db=1&pw=ckQtaSnL&a_id=5109547 (Gotcha day)

http://albums.phanfare.com/slideshow.aspx?i=1&db=1&pw=vOLrHiju&a_id=5108242 (Nanchang, Jiangxi)

http://albums.phanfare.com/slideshow.aspx?i=1&db=1&pw=tplZEvD0&a_id=5105941 (Hong Kong)