our first night

Monday was a roller coaster of a day.  Butteflies in my stomach in the wee hours, disappointment that her train was late, the elation of seeing her in the hallway as a living, breathing person, the heartbreak for her as she was terrified of us and fought me with every bit of "spicy girl" strength she had, the confusion of gathering all our stuff ~ and kids ~ and bailing on the civil affairs office, the promise that she actually leaned her head against me to close her eyes for a few minutes, the laughter that followed from the balloon game...

It became obvious that all five kids were exhausted and even though it was late, after lunch we put them down for a nap.  She crawled right onto a bed beside Kylie and promptly fell asleep.  The question was, two hours later with her little body refreshed, how would she awaken?  Would she begin to fight us again?

We needn't have worried.  The only fighting us she would do was to be doing just what her siblings were doing.

That included taking off the shirt she had been wearing and putting on the pink shirt to coordinate with her sisters.  She wasn't ready to give up her skin tight jeggings yet, but we couldn't get that pink shirt on her quickly enough.

this may be the first picture of the m7, though before the adoption was official

 We decided to get out of the hotel for a little while and walked to a nearby supermarket to let Natalie pick out a lovie as she was showing interest in Caleb's beloved "bebe" panda.  (Still so disappointed that her care package with the photo album and Hello Kitty doll never made it to her).

The only fights we had were who was going to hold Natalie's hand...so we had to give the other four timed limits.

Once at the market, we also stopped to see if we could find any shoes.  Not that I don't think her little multi-colored sandals aren't cute, but the heel is a little impractical for a three year old.

We also browsed the snack aisle to see if she recognized any favorites.  With Hannah's help we added a few more items to our Chinese snack stash and then went to enjoy probably the most delicious meal yet.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was nearly 9pm, so we opted to skip bathtime and just get the kiddos into pajamas.  Remembering that the first bedtime was when Daniel fell apart two years ago, we weren't sure what to expect. 

Looks like she's going to fit in just fine...