32 HOURS SINCE MEETING ELYSA!!

Yesterday was absolute chaos and such an emotional roller coaster. We have some great video of our first time seeing Elysa. The girls were across the room with their orphanage director prior to being handed over to each family and we were all able to pick out our babies. We each were handed our babies one after another. Elysa initially was calm and just staring at me, I started to cry and then she started wailing. A very loud, mournful, sad wail and was constantly looking around to try and find her caregiver. She would calm down for awhile then do a whining, mournful whimper and at times just wail loudly for a period of time off and on. It was so sad and hard to listen to as there was nothing you could do but comfort her. It just broke my heart and made me cry. We had to run around to 3 different places yesterday for paper signing with all the babies/families. We were all just dripping wet with sweat because it was so hot both inside and outside the buildings. We did receive her little lovie and 2 cameras back with pictures on them but we plan to develop when we get home. We had to stop showing her lovie to her for now as it seemed to upset her more but she is liking the lovie I brought for her so that's good.

Last night she had a very hard time settling down and going to sleep. She was fighting it and just did more of her sad, mournful crying. At some point, I think she fell asleep from just being tired of crying. She slept from 2130 to 0430. Then today she did take two one hour naps with some occasional mournful crying. She is eating well and we finally had a successful POO today without the need for anything, but boy did she work hard at having it. Last night I did start her on the amoxcillin as she was pulling and digging at her ears alot and had a congested, stuffy nose. We have also been using the tylenol for her ears and she's also teething. The medicine seems to help her feel better overall and her personality is starting to emerge. Today the husband's went to Fengcheng while the babies and mom's stayed home.

Our beautiful Elysa is so much more than we have ever dreamed of. She is so sweet and precious. She is constantly on alert and looking at others around us. She is such a gem. We have been going over her little homemade faces book and she just laughs and gets all excited when she sees Aidan's pictures, it so cute. She is very attune to Fred and I and doesn't want us far from her sight. She is adjusting very well and has her moments of grieving but that's ok because we know she was attached well.
LEAVING TO MEET ELYSA


LEAVING TO GO BACK TO HOTEL AFTER MEETING ELYSA


IN ROOM ONE HOUR AFTER MEETING HER


ABSOLUTE CHAOS AND EXTREMELY HOT


SIGNING CHINESE ADOPTION PAPERS


OUR SWEETHEART THE MORNING AFTER MEETING HER.....yep she has great bed hair too.