Day 7 – It’s Official

Today was a big day, the Big next to meeting Samuel, but I will get to that in a minute.

Samuel slept great last night for being his first night with us.  He snuggled right up with Baba (Chinese for Daddy) for some of the night.  At some point he called out for Mama twice, I woke up rubbed his tummy, kissed his forehead and he scooted close to me.  He then snuggled up to me for the rest of the night.

We woke up at 6, or should I say I woke up at 6 and then woke the boys up.  We had to meet our guide in the lobby at 8:30 to go to the civil affairs office to make everything official and we wanted to make sure we had enough time to feed Samuel {since we haven’t ever fed him breakfast before}, prepare the gifts for the orphanage and the officials and not be rushed.

We expected Samuel to totally freak out when he woke up, realizing that he has still with us or not really be sure where he was.  He didn’t freak at all.  He sat up, we talked to him and he acted like he has done this a hundred times.  We then got dressed and headed down for breakfast.

Upon arriving in the dining room, I realized that I had left his bib in the room and Adam said he would go back to get it.  As soon as Adam was out of sight Samuel started shouting “Baba!” “Baba!”  I would tell him that Baba will come back.  He would wait 30 seconds or so and then shout “Baba!” “Baba!”.  I told him that Baba will come back and then he said “baba come back”.  Amazing! His first English words!! So exciting!

For breakfast he ate watermelon, tried the pineapple and didn’t care for that and didn’t even want to try the passion fruit I had on the plate.  I got him some congee, but it needed to cool down before he could eat it {it’s sort of like oatmeal, but it was millet}.  He also had a strawberry yogurt drink and seemed to really enjoy that.  I went to get an omelet for my breakfast and when I was walking away he shouted “mommy!”  When I got back with my omelet, he pointed to it and then stuck his fork into my plate and started eating.  Good to know he likes eggs.  He did not care for the pastry, banana bread, pancake I picked up for him.  He’s a good eater.  When his congee was cooled off he fed himself the congee and ate most of it.  When he is hungry he will pack away the food, but very quickly he turns from eating to playing and that is how we know he’s done.

After breakfast we headed back to the room to get the camera, gifts, important papers, etc… and then it was back to the lobby to wait for our guide.  I started to put on the Ergo and Samuel walked over and put his arms up asking to go in.  That’s huge because I wasn’t sure if he would be down with going in the Ergo, but yesterday went fine on our trip to Walmart and this morning he remembered.

Adam had to exchange money at the front desk {way more complicated that I thought it would be} and then we were off with our guide Anna to the civil affairs office.

Anna was nice to call us last night and warn us that it was going to be cold and rainy in the morning, and we are glad that she did because it was cool and rainy.

Just like Atlanta when it rains the traffic is worse and we didn’t want to be late to our appt.  Each family gets an appointment time which makes the official paperwork go really smooth. When we got there we headed straight up to the adoption room to wait for our appointment time.  There was another family in there adopting their 1.5 year old son.  They were from Holland and were really sweet.  We exchanged info and hope we can stay in touch. As in most Chinese buildings there was no air conditioning and it was hot! I gave Samuel his bottle and as we watched the cars and busses outside the window {we were on the 5th floor} then he drifted off to sleep.

It was time for our appointment and we sat down to sign the papers and fill out whatever they needed us to fill out.  Adam is the lucky one who gets to write most of the stuff {because he is the husband} and I am perfectly Ok with that.  We were asked some basic questions, who lives in our home, annual income, our age, etc… Then they asked us why we wanted to adopt from China, if we wanted to adopt Samuel and if we promised to never abandon him.  YES, he’s our Son! After that we had to sign about 10 papers and put our thumb print over the top of our signature.  Next they had to place Samuel’s hand print on an official paper, which was very interesting since he was still completely passed out, but they managed to get it done.  After that was complete, the adoption was official and Wang Jianlin officially become Samuel Jianlin Walker!! Wohooo! An orphan no more, he’s now offically our treasured son!

Once we had signed over all the papers {to make it official}, we received his medical history, his finding add, immunization record and a booklet from the orphanage with their contact info so we can stay in touch.

After all of that was completed, the orphanage gave us an amazing gift — A Chinese Scroll that is just beautiful.   This is not a common thing {from what I understand} for the orphanage to give you a gift…but ours did.  It’s really going to be a treasure to our family.  The orphanage staff wanted a picture with us and Samuel and the scroll.  Samuel is still completely passed out during this part too.

After the pictures, we said our goodbyes to the orphanage staff and the officials and we were on our way back to the hotel.  Back at the hotel we played a lot.  He loves his stacking cups, Thomas the Train, his 2 trucks and I pulled out his airplane book {which has become a new favorite}.

Somehow he got his pants wet and when I took them off he wanted to get in the bath… so why not?  So today 24 hours after we met him he was already on his 4th bath.  He LOVES the bath.  After I took his pants off and agreed to his bath, he ran into the room to get his stacking cups to play with in the tub. He is so smart!

After bath time we decided that we needed to head and find some lunch.  We went back to the noodle place we had gone the day before, but this time we wouldn’t have our guide.  She was smart enough to write down things we would order, so all we had to do was show them our paper and point.  It worked out great.  They understood, we got the right food and for $4 we ate lunch.  Samuel again at lunch showed us both up using chopsticks! He’s a pro.  I think some of the locals were surprised at how well he used them.

After lunch we headed back to our room.  Being out of our room seems to really change his personality and he becomes really withdrawn and serious.  I don’t blame him at all {his whole world just got rocked} so we are trying to only leave our room when we absolutely have to.  As soon as we are back in the room, it is happy smiling, laughing Samuel.

We thought today would be a great day to try out the pool.  We got our swimsuits on and headed down to the pool.  Only to find out that even with a swim diaper and plastic cover, you have to be 4 before you can swim in the pool 🙁 so back up to the room for us.

We found some cartoons on and he watched for maybe 5 minutes and then was ready for something else.  I held him and gave him a bottle and for a minute I thought he would pass out, but no luck he was up and ready to party.  We played some more and then it was 4:30 and we could call Grandma {because Grandma is the only one we know who is up at 4:30 AM US time}.  We FaceTimed with Grandma and within about 5 minutes or less he fell asleep in my lap sitting up.  I finished chatting with my mom, it’s always so good to chat with family {it makes the distance not seem so far}.

So it’s 6:26 pm and Samuel has been a sleep for almost 2 hours.  It’s going to be an interesting night to say the least.

Tomorrow we will venture out with our guide to Samuel’s finding spot {the place he was left when he was only 20 days old}. I am sure this will be an emotional stop for Adam and I.  We are so thankful that his mom chose life! We are so thankful that he was left at a very busy place where he would be found quickly.  We are thankful that the Lord has given us this opportunity to be his mommy and Baba!  Such a blessing to call this sweet boy my son.  He amazes me each day we have him. I can’t wait for you to meet him!!

Anyways, after that stop we will likely head back to the hotel, venture out to Walmart {again} and maybe go to the park if it’s not raining.

I hope you enjoy the pictures! He has an amazing smile!!!

{Hugs} from Taiyuan

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