Gotcha Day Anniversary 2008
2008
2008
Gotcha Day Anniversary 2007. A great picture showing her little smirk!
2007
Two years ago was the best day in my life. I met Regan for the first time. Regan had her flu shot today and I have to tell you....she was a rock star!!! She went right back with the nurse (very unusual) and got herself weighed (29 lbs) and then we went into the room. When she saw the needle, she told the nurse, "I don't want dat". I told her she had to have her shot and she said ok. The nurse gave her the shot and Regan never even cried. She then didn't want to leave! She got mad that I made her come with me. We went and ate Chinese to kind of make up for the rotten present the nurse gave her! So much has changed in two years! Just in growth I am amazed at how she has grown. You can really see the difference in the photos. I, of course, took the traditional photos of Regan in her gotcha clothes. This may be the last year I can get her into the outift, but if fits her well! She went from a size three shoe at Gotcha to she now wears a size 5.5! Weight was 19 pounds at Gotcha and she now weighs 29. I don't have a height right now, but next month is her 3 year old physical and I'll get a height at that time. I can not believe that Regan is almost three. Where has the time gone?!?!?!
One thing that hasn't changed is Regan's fondness of nudity. Last week at church she was wearing new underwear. She thinks they are Barbie (really Ariel, but she loves all things that are Barbie so we go with it). On the way down the aisle from Children's Sermon, she wanted to show everyone her new underwear so she hiked up her skirt and proceeded to try to show the entire congregation that she had Barbie on her underwear. Of course we sit in the last row and so the entire church got to view her walk down the aisle. So classic of her.
Regan also gave herself her first haircut tonight. Nice big chunks. I'm talking enough hair to make a toupee. It is unreal. I'll deal with trying to fix her hair tomorrow. I'm not sure who is the better haircutter, me or Regan!
Anyway, to reminisce, this is what I wrote in my online journal that day two years ago (it is amazingly long as only I know how to ramble, feel free to skim!):
It is 5:45 PM and I am back from the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. I officially became a mommy to Regan NanZiYun. The families met in the lobby at 3 PM. We then loaded a bus to travel to the Civil Affairs Office. On the way, our ISS guides, Mandy and Mary gave us some information and told us some possiblities of what to expect when we arrived at the building. I was beside myself I was so excited. We drove for about 30 minutes and unloaded in front of the office. We all crowded into the lobby and took turns taking the elevator to the fifth floor. Once we arrived on the 5th floor we all went into a room to verify our personal information and to wait to receive our babies.
They began calling names and you went to the doorway where they were standing in the hallway holding the babies. I think I was the third or fourth person called, I'm not sure it was all such a blur. I remember walking to the doorway and looking at YunYun and not sure if this was my baby or not and so I didn't want to just reach out and snatch her out of their arms! They said NanZiYun and I reached over and picked up my baby for the first time. Then crying began.
Not from Yunnie, but from her mommy. I began crying like a baby. I was so overwhelmed and so happy this moment was finally here and I couldn't really believe it. I tried to stop because I didn't want to scare her! I went over to a couch and all of the activity around me ceased to exist. I apologize to my fellow group mates, because I wasn't sure of people receiving their baby after I had Regan. She was all I could concentrate on. She was wearing a big green puffy outfit, as were several other of the girls. Her name was on a piece of tape that was taped to her right front pocket area. The first thing I noticed is that she is VERY curious and smiles readily. I am amazed, she never blinked an eye and was smiling and curious from the moment they put her in my arms. I can see why they labeled her as restless! She was constantly moving and everything was fascinating to her. She loved looking at my shoes, out the window, at Konnor, everything. There was so much activity in the room and it never seemed to faze her. All of the girls appeared to do very well. I hope that continues. We spent several minutes getting to know the girls and then they called us one by one to take our family photo. You can see Regan squirming during the photo - she is not a girl to sit still!
We went back to the main room and the Director and one of the caregivers was there to answer any questions we may have. We presented them with their gifts. Mom, Mama, and I had made photo albums to give as gifts and I put one of Regan's pictures and her business card in one of the picture sleeves. Her business card has her picture, name, and new address. We also included little mice we made with candy cane tales, felt pencil holders, and tea towels. I hope they like them. We also had some donations to the actual orphanage itself. I asked Director Hu what he could tell me about Regan's personality that he knows that I would be able to tell her when she is older. He says she is very active and fun loving and she is well loved by the orphanage staff. He also says they consider her like an angel in the orphanage. Very nice! He and the nanny then signed a photo album I had brought for people to sign. Happy had signed it in Beijing and then the director and the nanny signed a page each. I will have Mandy or Mary translate for me what they wrote. I will then place a picture of them in the sleeve of the page that they signed. I hope it will be a nice keepsake for Regan.
We then headed out to the bus to head back to the hotel room. During this entire time, it is a bit of a blur because of the enormity of what just happened and the chaos of the room. On the drive back, Regan looked outside of the windows at everything and did not want to be turned around and miss the action outside of the window. She did fall asleep when we had almost reached the hotel. The girls are so beautiful. It was a great thing to see so many families united.
UPDATE: 10 PM
Regan slept for about an hour. Mandy came to the room and gave us a gift bag from the orphanage. Inside was some formula, some rice cereal, a bottle, a thank you card, and a photo album with some extra pictures of Regan. How wonderful. Mandy explained how to make Regan's bottle and then she left with instructions to meet in the hotel lobby at 8:30 AM tomorrow morning. Regan woke up and was instantly smiles again! Unbelievable. She has this little smirk that is so cute! She is developmentally delayed and she is not yet crawling. She is able to get up on all fours, but is uncoordinated. She is able to sit well and rotate into and out of sitting. I think she'll be crawling before we leave China! She also has some fine motor delays with difficulty picking up objects and no pincher grasp. Can you see the physical therapist in me?!?!? She looks healthy, but she has a spot that looks like ringworm on her leg and a horrible rash on her face. She has some congestion and a cough. She is also constanlty sticking her finger in her right ear and so she got a dose of antibiotics. I'm not sure what the rash on her face is, so we will keep it monitored and Mandy says if it is not better in a day or two we will take her to the clinic.
She took a bath after her nap and loved it! You could tell she has probably never had a bath before as she kept trying to pull her legs out of the water. She is too big for a sink bath so we moved her to the tub. Once she was in, she loved it! Splashing and laughing and I heard the first vocalization! All in all, my biggest impression is that I can't believe how curious and happy she is....what a happy baby. She drank an entire bottle and we got dressed and ate dinner downstairs in the lobby of the hotel. She sat in the highchair and was patient as could be, never a fuss. We were playing this game of bumping our foreheads together and she picked up on it right away and would lean forward to put her face in mine. She obviously has never had solid food as she doesn't put anything in her mouth and resists anything touching her lips. She also doesn't know to suck or lick her lips when I put a little yogurt on her mouth.
After dinner it was time for bed and she had different ideas. I placed her in the crib and the crying began, this time on her part! I then held her and rocked her in my arms for about twenty minutes and she just smiled and laughed up at me and played with my hair. She finally settled down and fell asleep. As soon as I put her in the crib she started wailing again! I layed with her on my bed and rubbed her back and she fell asleep while laying on top of me. Right now she is sound asleep in her crib and is snoring nicely!
Santa Claus!!!! Regan didn't freak out like I thought she would. She knew she had to tell him she wanted a necklace for Christmas. She has been insistent that she wants a necklace from him. She ran up, shook his hand and ran back to me. She thought she was done. This was take two and she did pretty well.
Regan insisted her tree go on the top of Framma's van just like the big tree.
Santa Claus!!!! Regan didn't freak out like I thought she would. She knew she had to tell him she wanted a necklace for Christmas. She has been insistent that she wants a necklace from him. She ran up, shook his hand and ran back to me. She thought she was done. This was take two and she did pretty well.
Regan insisted her tree go on the top of Framma's van just like the big tree.
