Day 2 as a family of 4

Hello all!
First I must tell you how much we are LOVING reading your posts...it has become our daily ritual and makes us feel connected to you from 1/2 a world away- thank you! We'll keep the pictures coming if you'll keep the comments coming- fair enough? :)

I'll begin with a report from last night-there is a God- Audrey slept through the night only stirring once or twice and woke just a little before 6am. Now if we can get her big sister to do the same, perhaps the circles will fade from my eyes. Of course both of the girls refused to give in to bedtime, and it was 10pm before everyone was settled, but hey- it was our first evening together and any semblance of a schedule was thrown out the window leaving Newark on Friday. Madeleine woke up in the middle of the night and realized she wasn't right next to her petunia, so she got up and marched right over to the bed next to Audrey and fell back asleep. Go ahead and say awwhhh...because those are the tender moments we too are hanging on to and see most often. However...she is also showing typical signs of jealousy and small fits just to remind us that she too needs and wants attention. Totally normal, and we know this, but I can't deny wishing we could be addressing some of this at home rather than in the middle of a hotel lobby or elevator.

The breakfast buffet here at the White Swan is nothing short of a breakfast for champions- lots of happy people in our group this morning enjoying western treats! After breakfast, I had to do some paperwork to prep for our appointment back at the Office of Civil Affairs, so Daddy and Memere were on kid patrol and they faired very well. Madeleine fell into a hard sleep, so Memere was gracious enough to stay with her while the three of us got back on the bus to trek over the Civil Affairs. Today's appointments comprised of 2 interviews with officials, a family photo, and time with the Director and caretakers of the SWI (Social Welfare Institute) where Audrey stayed until she was placed in our arms. We found the officials this morning to be quite pleasant, and our interviews were quick and painless. The Director of the MaoMing SWI and his staff were fantastic- we feel very fortunate that we had the opportunity to spend time with them and learn more about Audrey and the staff. It is very clear that they adore these babies and are proud to take such good care of them. I was pleased to have a translator there with us to relay my message to him of our eternal gratitude for loving our daughter while she waited for us to get here. Tomorrow we will conclude the Chinese Gov't portion of the Adoption process with one more run to the Civil Affairs office- woo hoo!

We have been pleasantly surprised to see signs of Christmas in a country that does not celebrate this holiday. The hotels are deocorated with trees,lights and bows, and the staff tell us they are pleased to do this for us- it is very welcoming and leaves me with such a warm feeling everytime I see a decoration. We have much to learn from the Chinese- their pride in their history and love of their culture, and their modesty and hospitality is refreshing. It humbles me to be surrounded by people who live with so little, yet love with so much.

What else can I tell you...I can tell you that watching Christian with his girls makes my heart melt; having my mother by our side to experience this with us here has been truly amazing; and how in awe I am of this entire journey and process- this is what Christian and I have been chosen for, and clearly we are overwhelmed with love.

Audrey's here....

Our beautiful Audrey is here...as I type this, she is sleeping right next to her big sister, and our hearts are simply full.

The day began with a 4:30am wake up call in Beijing so we could leave the hotel by 6:15am to head to the airport. Well, apparently the South China Sea did not realize that it was "Petunia Day" as Madeleine so sweetly called it, and it brought in a typhoon which delayed our flight for 5 hours. This pretty much threw us off for the entire day- we spent about 7 hours in the Beijing airport (which is so large, they process 10,000 people/hour) sitting on the floor. It was awful- I don't know if my words can fully describe it.

When we finally got on board the plane, we were soon told that we would be landing at approx. 4:20pm- which was precisely 1h 20min. past our scheduled time to meet the babies. Oh dear!! I knew the guide would have called ahead and made arrangements, but we were so anxious, tired and plain stinky that collectively the group was a mess. We rushed off the plane, the guys were like machines collecting carts and all the luggage while we ran out to meet our guide Judy. Judy told us that we had no time to check into the hotel- we were heading straight from the airport to the Office of Civil Affairs where our babies were waiting for us! AGHH!! It was a mad scramble to quickly find diapers, cameras and whatever else we needed to go meet our daughters. After an hour bus ride to the office, we were rushed upstairs and literally with in a minute of reaching the office, the next thing I know they were calling our name and in walks a nanny with Audrey- the first baby to come out!! Memere made a mad dash for the video camera and a second later I was holding Audrey for the first time. Madeleine could not contain her excitement "I want to hold my Petunia!!!" she said while jumping up and down- well, that was it- she scooted right over to a couch and demanded that she hold "her baby". So, let it be known, Madeleine got dibs on "her baby" before Daddy even had a chance to hold her. Although, Christian being the guy that he is, and having been through this before, as soon as Audrey was safe in my arms, he immediately jumped to help the rest of the group with their transitions and capture it on film for each of them.

A little about Audrey:
She is so incredibly sweet, and simply a happy baby. She is eager to get going as she has already shown us she can climb, crawl and even walked with her fingers wrapped around her Daddy's for support. She is trying to talk, and is so very observant. She is equally smitten with her big sister, and thankfully she has taken to all of us including her Memere with ease.

I must sign off, as tomorrow is another big day filled with paperwork and I'm just hoping everyone sleeps through the night. I will write more tomorrow, but I knew many of you would be anxious to know about "Petunia Day".

To have a child is a blessing...to now have two children, it's beyond my expectations- it feels so right and so perfect. They are our greatest gifts, how fortunate we are that our red threads have all connected- it is so clear now to me why we waited for Audrey for so long...we needed her to be a part of our family, and today it feels like she always has been. Our girls make my heart melt...