Our Perfect Little Baby Mia...

We're proud to announce that Mia is finally a part of our family! We picked her up at 3:30 pm on Monday afternoon. (Sunday American time!) We traveled to the Chinese Foreign Ministry with our group, as well as about 30 other families! It was surreal as we were all crowded in a room as the caretakers brought in babys one by one. The emotions in the room as each child was handed off, kicking and screaming, were overwhelming. As our name was called, we were shocked to turn and find a perfect little baby who was smiling ear to ear as Stacy took her in her arms. No big surprise that she laughed at Dad! She was literally the only baby in that room who was content. It was as if she'd been with us since the day of her birth. We tried to help the other couples around us who we've become friends with, as Mia was on Stacy' hip like she'd been there forever. By the time we boarded the bus to return to the hotel, we almost felt guilty that our baby was so happy and comfortable, as many of the other children wailed.

Mia weighs barely over 13 pounds, and has the appearnce of a new born she's so tiny. However, not only is she sitting up, pushing buttons on toys and repeatedly letting out full belly giggles, but she almost managed to do the worm across our bed during her first diaper changing. She has two teeth on the bottom and loves her pacifier. We were warned not to bathe or change her until day two as it would take time for her to adjust. However, our perfect baby was bathed, changed and took an 8 ounce bottle within about 30 minutes of arriving back to the room. The kicker is that she smiled the entire time!! We finally put her down at about 9:00 pm and ordered a pizza from Papa John's. Who'd have thought we could do that in China?! She slept soundly until about 5:30 am when we could hear her starting to awake. When Stacy went to her crib, she greeted Mom with a big grin! We were also told not to switch her from Chinese to American formula until we arrived back in the states. However, on day two we made up a bottle of American lactose free formula when she didn't seem to be taking her Chinese rice formula well, and she sucked the whole thing down while panting for more. Again, taking after Dad!! She's now down for her afternoon nap and we're grabbing some room service and a nap of our own mometarily. It's almost scary, but we still have no idea what her cry sounds like... Can we really be this lucky?! Also, this morning at breakfast I carried her around in a Baby Bjorn and she smiled and waved her arms at the gawkers. Needless to say we were the subject of many a foreign tourists photos!!

So as to provide a fair and balanced accounting of her health, let me also share the one difficulty we're dealing with. A strain of strep bacteria was passing around Mia's orphanage over the past few weeks and she has several head boils on the back of her head. They are little sores / bumps that look far worse than you would think by her actions. She has allowed Mom & Dad to scrub them and apply ointment without any emotional reaction. However, she's not really enjoying the oral antibiotics that we're giving her. We're guessing we may finally learn how her cry sounds when we force her to take it this evening... The pediatrician in our group assures us that this is no big concern and is quite amazed that she tried to stand up this morning and actually got into a 3 point stance...

We knew we would love this child, and we knew that this would be an amazing experience. However, nothing can prepare you for how truly incredible this has all been. We are so madly in love with our new little girl, and can't believe how lucky we are to have ended up experiencing this entire process.

We've made great new friends who will definitely be a part of our lives forever. The only bummer is that most everyone happens to be from New Jersey, so we'll have even more reasons to travel now!!

In closing, we were very concerned that it would take several months of bonding and adjusting before we could introduce you all to Mia. As it appears, this won't be necessary. She is thrilled and excited to meet you all soon. She's made that clear with her smiles and gigles. She's very social like her Mommy. We can't wait for you all to meet and love her as much as we do.

Unfortunately, the Chinese government continues to block all access to American blog sites. As a result, Caren is still graciously assisting us with these postings. But the end result is that we can't provide as frequent updates as we'd like. Hope you all understand. We'll post more soon, via Caren.

Love,
Mike, Stacy, & MIA!!