Whose baby is this?

Makena has us wrapped around her finger tips. I put her down at 8 PM last night and I woke up at 7AM to find her awake in her crib studying her giraffe. My husband, Jack, and I all woke up at separate times, in the middle of the night, to check on her and make sure that she was really there and that this wasn't a dream. I put her in a sleep sack because of the air-conditioning and because I didn't know what kind of "sleeper" she was. I didn't want her wrapping herself in a blanket. I was right, she rolled all over the crib, on her stomach, on her back and on her side.

We ventured out this morning in balmy 106 degree heat to check out the sights. We left dad at the hotel so that he could work and we got to see the Yangtze river and attend another Tea ceremony (and sonny-boy got to practice his tea-slurping skills.) Jack is a joy. I could hardly get him to lift a finger before she came into our lives and now he insists on taking an active part in almost everything that concerns her. He has to feed her and hold her and stroll her. I offered to pay him a dollar for every diaper he changed, but the buck "stopped there."

She has a bit of a cold -- as do most of the children -- she has, as far as I can tell, eight pearly white teeth and she puts absolutely everything in her mouth. She is nine months old and doesn't quite crawl. She rocks back and forth, pushing herself up with ease. She also has Mongolian spots on her back. I went to a seminar last fall and the doctor/speaker warned us that this was a very common birth mark in children of Chinese ancestry. They appear as large bruises that extend from the middle of her back to her tailbone. They should completely disappear by the time she is four or five, but had I not been told what to expect, I would have immediately assumed that she had been harmed, which isn't the case.

72 hours is the average time it takes for a child to adjust to her new family and to show them her true personality. I'm hoping that she doesn't stray too far from the course she has set with us because she really is perfect. I'm also giving Jack 72 hours to see if the love fest continues.



These are happy times and the waite it took to get to this point was well worth it. I really believe that all the babies that were matched to the parents in our traveling group are perfect matches and that it was all meant to be.

Isabelle
PS, The baby being held by one of the women in the China Team is Maelin. She is absolutely gorgeous and her parents are thrilled.