Day 1 with Cate

9:00 p.m. Everyone is asleep. Alex is curled up at the end of the bed at Steve’s feet. Cate is in her crib. She never cried again today until the doctor came and I left the room to look for some medication. She has bronchitis and will be on antibiotics for the rest of this trip.

I think she spent the day in a state of shock. She was very quiet, although she did point once to my picture and say “mama.” She has not let that photo album out of her hand. She even carried it tightly while we walked around Nanjing looking for a spot for lunch and attempting to burn some of Alex’s pent up energy. She ate a banana and an orange, drank a lot of water, and made very little sound. Late in the afternoon, after signing some more paperwork, she and Alex and I sat on the bed together. He is trying hard to be a big brother and gave her the two toys he has with him here to play with for the day. She immediately clasped those, adding to the collection of things she wouldn’t let go. We ordered soup and noodles for dinner. She ate and ate and it was a relief to see Alex eating too. He has survived on bites of dumplings, cooked celery and granola bars since we arrived. And it has been difficult to get a meal into him, even breakfast. We sat on the bed, waiting for dinner, and she seemed to relax a little, even smiling and starting to engage us in a little play. I gave her a bottle and put her in her crib and she went immediately to sleep. She sleeps quietly and peacefully now, and I wonder how she will react when she awakes and finds herself again in this strange place with these strange people.

She is beautiful. Huge rosy cheeks. Her hair growing in.. A rosebud of a mouth and calf muscles bigger than my own – just the right size for hiking up and down the hill in our backyard. When we came back from the civil affairs office, Steve took off for the grocery store with our facilitator and Alex and I stayed back in the room with Cate. She just stood by the edge of the bed, very nervous and unsure. As the room heated up (it is actually quite warm here in Nanjing – probably in the 60’s), I began to peel of her layers. First, a heavy winter coat. Then a sweater. Under that, a wool sweater and under that a thick, fleece lined under shirt. On the bottom, the same fleece lined pants, thick socks and a pair of fleece lined corduroys, That girl was bundled and I will bundle her again when we go back to the civil affairs bureau tomorrow so that I don’t get in trouble with her caregiver.

Her caregiver looked like a lovely woman. Her eyes looked so kind and she had obviously tried to prepare Cate for this day. I did not get a chance to talk to her or thank her in all the emotional chaos of today, but we may see her again tomorrow to finalize the adoption in the eyes of the Chinese government.

Our other Homeland families have five other beautiful babies – two other girls and three boys.