DAY TWO: Announcing her name

And her name will be....(drumroll, please)....

Sophie LiLei
Whew! Glad that decision is over with. We had the same problem with EJ. We had a boy's name picked out, and when the doctor said, "It's a girl! What's her name?" I answered, "Can we get back to you on that?!!?" We like a lot of the names that were popular 100 years ago that are having renewed popularity, so there you have it.

And, we received updated measurements for Sophie today. They took new measurements on her this week, and she is actually 16 pounds now, which puts her in the 30th percentile.

DAY ONE: Still in disbelief

Today was a whirlwind. For me, it started promptly at 4:30 AM after going to bed at midnight. I woke up and my mind started racing with names of people I forgot to email last night, things that have to get done in the next few days, and oh yeah, that pesky question of what to name our daughter!

I'll start by reporting that I had my co-worker and friend BZ help me out by translating a few things on Li Lei's report that weren't translated for us. She told me that Li Lei means beautiful flower bud! And that Long means dragon (which I think implies majesty). She thought it was a terrific name! The one other thing on the form that hadn't been translated reported that Li Lei drinks 200 ml (about 7 ounces) of formula and sometimes eats cereal. I told BZ that she needs to teach me some Chinese phrases before I travel!

I did notice that one other family from our agency who got a referral from the same SWI (social welfare institute or orphanage) had a child with the same last name. This is the common practice, that all the children in the same SWI usually have the same last name. Sometimes it is the director's last name. Sometimes they just use a different name for each year. I'm going to try to get more details on the origin of the name from our agency.

We did get an email from the agency with some things we need to do quickly - apply for our visas tomorrow, send the care package to Li Lei in the next day or two, and get the travel documents in order in the next few days. Of course, these require us to declare the baby's name, so I will be forced to stay awake tonight until that is resolved. Honest...we're down to two, and we really are happy with either. But it doesn't seem like the kind of decision that should be made with a coin toss, so the debate goes on.

The email also said we would get updated measurements this week. We just discovered from the pediatrician (and first suspected by Uncle T) that, despite those chubby cheeks, Li Lei is a lightweight! She looks so chubby, but my only comparison is with EJ, who didn't hit 15 pounds until she was 12 months old, so 12 pounds at 7 months seems okay to me! And, the children in China are generally bundled up quite a bit (even in the middle of summer), so maybe she just appears chubbier than she really is. They also say we should get a growth report in a few days.

Some other neat things...Li Lei shares the same birthday with my cutie pie niece H in PA! That's kind of cool. And, after our paperwork went to China in the Fall of 2005, Santa left a special gift under the tree that Christmas. It was all wrapped up and labeled for EJ, but Santa had attached a note saying she should give the contents to her baby sister when she arrived. EJ unwrapped the package to discover a cute stuffed Panda with the name of Li Mei! That Santa...he was so close with the name!

Thank you all so much for your warm wishes and support. We look forward to sharing our travels with you. We hope to leave in late May or early June.

Oh, I almost forgot...in the craziness of the last week or so, I have surprised myself by not blogging a single word about the start of baseball season. I did let out a big sigh of relief yesterday as we drove past Fenway on the way to the adoption agency...relief that I will have something enjoyable to watch on TV for a change. At least, we hope it will be an enjoyable season. I still need to get that Papelbon jersey...and I'm anxious to see Dice-K pitch tomorrow.

Here she is....

Wow. What a day. We are completely overwhelmed. But before I give you the glorious details, here are the long-awaited photos of Li Lei! She will be 7 months old tomorrow!!!

At about 10:30 this morning, a fellow waiting mother from our agency sent an email that she had just talked to our agency and reported that they don't usually get deliveries from DHL until 11:30 or so. At noon, she posted another message saying they had received the packages and she had just received her call. Since we had the same application date as her, I suspected that meant we would get a call too, but I just couldn't believe it. I had been getting ready to go to the cafeteria to eat lunch, but suddenly lost my appetite and was shaking like a leaf! I called K at home, but he assured me that he hadn't had any calls worthy of calling me about, so I tried to compose myself, but didn't have much luck. I stayed in my office with the door closed and hoped that no one came looking for me...

FINALLY, at about 12:40, K called with the good news!!! Her name is Long Li Lei -- Long is her last name, Li is her first name, and Lei is her middle name. It is likely that we will use LiLei as her middle name. Stay tuned for her English name; we're in final negotiations on that one. Some of the names on my short list at one point were Lily and Lila. But this is why we waited to decide...can you imagine Lily LiLei? What a mouthful!

I left work around 2 and met up with K and EJ (who K picked up early from school) and we headed into Brookline, MA to our agency, China Adoption With Love. When they handed us the pictures, our first comments were "Those cheeks!!!" Those of you who have known EJ since the early days know that she never had an ounce of baby fat on her...ever!

Here's a picture of EJ with Lillian (on the left, the owner/director of our agency) and Sherry (on the right) holding up the picture of LiLei. They had a very busy day today, as 20 families received matches. It appears as though the matches were from two different provinces, Jiangxi and Hunan, so the travel group will split for a few days to pick up the babies.

We went through the paperwork, stopped for an early dinner (Chinese food of course!), and then topped it all off with a visit to the ice cream shop, where we bumped into EJ's first grade teacher. EJ proudly served in her first official duty as jie jie (big sister) and showed off the pictures.

As for her report, she is about 24 inches tall and weighs about 12 pounds. We should get updated measurements in a few days. She has no teeth yet. She eats about every 3.5 hours. She awakes at 5:15 in the morning, takes a one hour morning nap and a one hour afternoon nap and goes to bed around 6 P.M. She is a "moderate" sleeper - not sure what that means! She can hold up her head while lying on her stomach and she can roll over. She can locate the direction of sounds or a voice and visually follows moving toys. As for personality, they say she is active, restless, and quick in reaction...sometimes impatient and sometimes obstinate (guess that explains the look in the pictures!). She likes going outside and colorful stuffed toys.

Still can't believe it. We are so thrilled to finally see her face and hear her name and know a little more about her. We can't wait until we are able to hold her in our arms. Travel cannot come soon enough.

ONE UPDATE: I failed to mention in this post that we owe a huge thank you to our agency for all of their amazing work! I know this has been a much longer than expected wait, and I know it wasn't easy for them to deal with a bunch of anxious expectant parents. I have so much respect for the way they handled the constantly-changing dates and expectations--never speculating on wait times and only disclosing known facts, because I firmly believe that they didn't have guaranteed answers for us. Thank you to them for not making promises they couldn't keep or sharing info that wasn't going to make a difference anyway. Thank you, CAWLI, for bringing this cutie into our lives...

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

We are thrilled to announce the referral of our daughter!

Long Li Lei
Born September 10, 2006
Waiting for us in the Jiangxi province

We should be leaving for China in 5-8 weeks to pick her up!

We have an appointment at the adoption agency this afternoon at 4, so details and photos will be later tonight!!!

Easter morning

Here are a few shots from this morning...This one was after she found her basket. The Easter bunny hid it behind a plant in the front hallway.


Here is EJ in her Easter dress...

And a close up...

And this one shows what she discovered on the dining room table. The Easter bunny left a whole tabletop full of desk accessories for her new desk!

Hot Buns!

You wanna see my hot buns?








You know you do!





...

This is my annual project for Easter breakfast.
-K

NOTE from wife, L: Just wanted you all to know that I didn't post this!!!

Hoppy Easter!