Details of the day

Good morning everyone! Thank you so much for your comments on Cory's post. It was my turn to cry happy tears when I read all the love in your words.

Now that we've all had a good night's sleep, I want to take time to document everything that happened yesterday. It was an amazing day! We will never, ever forget the emotions of the day, but the little details could easily get lost in all the chaos.

We were up yesterday around 3:00am to get ready to leave the hotel at 5:00. Our flight left Beijing at 7:45. The Beijing airport was a mass of confusion! Someone once compared getting your tickets for the in-China flight to the New York Stock Exchange... very accurate description. In any case, we got on the flight with no difficulties and got to Nanchang at9:45. When we met our guide and got our luggage loaded on the bus, it was 10:15 and our guide said we had an appointment at 11:00 to get the babies. No time to stress or panic!

After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, we walked to the Jiangxi Adoption Center, which was just across the street from our hotel. We crossed a 6 lane highway to get there... picture the game Frogger. Scary!! When we arrived at the office, the babies were there waiting for us. Our first sight of Cohen took our breath away. He was wearing pink (as you saw in the photo) but we knew instantly he was our boy. He was holding the little toy truck and disposable camera that we sent him in the care package.

The nannies carried him over to us right away and told him "Mama" and "Baba". Poor little darlin was so confused and scared. He cried when they handed him to me, but only for about 5 minutes. Heck, we all cried! No time to waste, though, as things move very quickly and efficiently in this part of the process. We were whisked off to take a family photo to be placed in the adoption decree. Then it was a quick photo with the orphanage director and the nannies. And back we went to the hotel for lunch and some time to get to know Cohen.

When we got back to the room, he sat quietly with us for about 10 minutes and then started to show his personality. He played with the disposable camera pretending to take our picture. His first smile was for Daddy, while Mommy was in the bathroom! The first laugh wasn't too far behind. He was a little late for his lunch so he happily devoured the Cheerios we gave him. Then the real playing began. He is one funny little guy. We had so much fun in just one day, we can't even imagine that we get to spend forever with this wonderful boy.

After lunch, we headed back to the Adoption Center for more paperwork. We got to ask the Director and nannies some questions about him. I had forgotten my list of questions back at the hotel so I didn't get to ask all that I wanted to but we learned a little bit about him. We were right when we guessed at his nickname - the nannies called him Zhou Zhou (pronounced like Joe-Joe). Isn't that so cute!

Then back to the hotel room for some more play time. We ordered room service for supper and Cohen ate anything we offered, with one exception. Lettuce. Just like Daddy, our boy does not like salad. Since he missed his afternoon nap, he was getting pretty sleepy right after supper and went to bed around 6:30. Mommy and Daddy weren't far behind! It's now 6:20 and Cohen is still snoozing. It was a long day!

We are here in Nanchang with 2 other couples adopting, both first time parents just like us. They both adopted little girls, J who is 15 months old and M who is 2 and a half. We think Cohen has a crush on M, and we don't blame him. She is a stunning beauty. J is so teeny tiny and just a baby doll. She seems smitten with Cohen and reaches out for him every time she sees him. Our boy is going to be a heartbreaker :)

A few more details about Cohen that we've learned so far. He is even more scrumptious in person than in photos. He is smaller than we thought he would be. His eyelashes are fantastically long and he knows how to use them. A few times yesterday, he tucked his chin into his chest and looked up at us through the lashes... melt your heart! We are so, so thankful that he is so happy and content with us so far. We know there will be bumps in the road ahead, but will take those in stride and enjoy our joyful little boy.

We are going to try to upload more pictures today but the internet is very slow. Thanks again for all your comments!