News from China, Day 3 - She's officially ours

Today was a day of paperwork (Chinese: paperworks) mixing with adventures in parenting a new baby. The day started early, with the usual jet-lag waking us up, fully rested, around 5:30 am.

The day started off with her first bath with us. Emily got in her swimsuit, hopped in the tub, and held onto Jaime while Melissa bathed her and David wrote yesterday's blog post. She seems to love the water ... totally comfortable with it, splashing around and smiling. We will probably take her swimming in the hotel pool today, since she watched David and Emily swim yesterday with much interest and enthusiasm.

The bath was followed by breakfast in the hotel restaurant, where we enjoyed a Western-style breakfast buffet. Jaime ate lots of different things ... some rice congee (watery porridge), muffin, omelet, and some croissant. She was really happy sitting in the high chair with her favourite crab rattle, which was the very first toy we handed her seconds after we got her (Emily handed it to her, actually), and has now become her constant companion.

Our first appointment was in one of the hotel conference rooms, where we filled out paperwork and scrutinized documents. One mistake on some of these, and Jaime stays in China ! So we poured over them intently with a fine-toothed comb. The official "signing" pen was a brand-new Peanuts "Snoopy" gel-pen, which will remain in the family for years to come (or until the gel runs out, whichever comes first).

Next, we spent some time in a bank across a busy street from the hotel, changing $US into Yuen, which we'd need for the orphanage donation later in the day. Apparently the US dollar is like a second-rate currency around here now ... the rates changed twice the day before, and they'll only change so much money for people per day. We haven't been keeping up on the news, but maybe fears of economic stalling in the US are weakening its value worldwide? And the process of changing money, like most processes here in China, is ridiculously labour-intensive! Filling out paperwork, stamping, phone calls back and forth, more stamping, more paperwork ... perhaps in a country where man-power is the least restricted of your resources, labour-intensive processes aren't much of a problem?

The meeting to finalize the adoption took place at the Registration Centre of the Chongqing Marriage and Adoption department, the huge looming building from yesterday. A family picture (parents + adopted child) was taken in the "red" photo studio (apparently not just for weddings), to put on the documents. The gift to the orphange, which had been wired to their account earlier at the bank, was now receipted. The orphanage Director was there again, to answer any more questions, say a last goodbye to the babies, and to receive the gifts for the orphanage staff. We handed over a big bag of Robeez baby slippers, which the company generously donated to Melissa to pass on to the children in the orphanage. We also gave gifts of ginseng and body lotion for the orphanage staff.

Then, the final step ... fingerprinting. Our fingerprints, as well as Jaime's, had to been taken in red ink to be put over our signatures on the official adoption documents. Jaime's fingerprints were, well ... more of a full-fingered smudge ... but close enough anyway. Emily snapped pictures as she was the only one with ink-free hands at this point!

Then, weary from all the errands, we headed back to the hotel. The realization slowly sank in ... she was ours. She is ours. She belongs with us now, we have solemnly sworn to care for her and to never abandon her, and she has become our daughter. Jaime Fu-dieh A. :)

The response from the Chinese people has been overwhelmingly positive. People stare when we walk by, and the more outgoing ones wade across the cultural barrier and start talking to us about Jaime. Invariably people talk about how beautiful she is, and comment on the symmetry between the two beautiful daughters. At least, that's our guess as to what they're saying :) We've handed out some Canadian souvenirs; a rubber key-chain flag, a snazzy pen, etc.

Jaime's doing really well. She's more relaxed around us, she smiles more often, and she's even making sounds sometimes. She's got a bit of a cold, so she coughs periodically and has a bit of a rattle to her breathing. A couple of the other babies have it too. She's a good size, she'll be moving straight into her 18 month sized clothing when we get back.

Thanks to everyone for the comments ... the emotional reality of sharing this precious moment with friends around the world is huge. Stay tuned, we'll keep posting pictures !