She laughs, she walks, she's ours!!

WOW!!! What an exciting day! It's Day 2 in Guangzhou with Hannah and we are really getting to see her open up and surprise us. We are overjoyed. First of all, Rob was sad that I managed to make her smile and giggle last night and he didn't, so, of course, he spent the whole day being the greatest Dad ever and, boy, did it pay off! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Hannah slept like a champ from 9:30 PM to 7:30 AM. Problem was we had to be on a bus by 8:20AM! Thus, a mad dash to the breakfast buffet which was very swank(gal playing piano, insanely attentive waitstaff) and in my haste to get things done, I opened Hannah's bottle cap and it exploded all over me. Very embarassing. We are way out of practice and, in our defense, Riley was never bottlefed so this whole making formula thing is freaking me out. Anyway, we made it to the bus on time and it was back to CCAA(China Center for Adoption Affairs) where we got Hannah yesterday to finalize the adoption today! Once there, and I am not making this up, Rob commented to one of the other dads that he suspected that Hannah was keeping secret about her walking skills. Literally seconds later, she gets off the couch and walks across the room!!! Unbelievable! I grabbed the camera, Rob got all misty on me and every other parent in the room stood their baby up and began requesting some walking. Too much. We did some interviews with the adoption workers, who complimented my pronunciation of Chinese(see, those CDs from the library paid off after all!) and then rubberstamped everything, so we are very close to finalization. Tomorrow we go to a judicial office and then I believe we just have to wait for her visa to process and the American consulate to go through all of their stuff. The whole shebang was wrapped up by 10:30 AM, so we had a nice long day to fill. We walked around the neighborhood near the White Swan Hotel and did some grocery shopping and some browsing. Hannah took her nap in the Baby Bjorn on Rob's chest so we also stopped by Starbucks and enjoyed some frappucinos. We got back and went to the giant playroom in our hotel for a while then back to the room for snacks. Rob had Hannah full on laughing by hiding her Cheerios under the nesting cups. Classic comedy. Then, shocker again - our little girl who yesterday was so withdrawn, solemn and private began feeding ME some Cheerios!! Very big deal from a bonding perspective - I was thrilled! We are so amazed at the rate that she's doing this stuff. Everything we've read says that it takes a good deal of time before you see a smile or hear a laugh or get real interaction so she is truly a wonder to behold! The nannies at her orphanage must have really been great. We're excited because our guides have told us that they are trying to arrange for a trip to Hannah's orphanage for the 4 couples in our group that have babies from there. I really hope that happens so we have some pictures and video of the place where she spent the first 19 months of her life. She may be curious about that one day. Well, we capped off the exciting day with one more big milestone - her first bath ever! (They sponge bath the babies in the orphanage) She took it in stride and promptly hit the sack for a nap as soon as the pajamas were on. I have to say that these last 2 days have been totally incredible. The Gotcha Day was so surreal and amazing. She was literally wearing a shirt that Riley wore at her age that I think is right now in her drawer at home. It's as if Hannah had gone to Cold Spring to get dressed for the important occasion in clothes that Mom and Dad would recognize! She was so calm and curious while Rob and I couldn't have been more emotional and excited. It cracked us up. All the babies around us were crying and there was Hannah, examining my "safe and sound" silver necklace. (Note to all the grandparents: she LOVES anything silver and shiny- commence spoiling) She will absolutely fit in in our family because she is a major control freak and is very intent on figuring things out. So much for my theory, Lisa & Becky, that she might be chill and help the three of us to just relax!! She reminds us of her big sis all the time - her stubbornness, her focus, her personality are so much like Riley it's uncanny! I really already feel like she's been part of the family all along - she's just been away for a while. It's great to have her back.