She's mine!!!!

I cannot believe that I forgot to post on Wednesday that Maya legally became mine in the eyes of China on Wednesday afternoon, October 25th. It was a very simple day...go get photos (and hear her scream when the man taking the pictures tried to touch her)..and then wait for a bit until that afternoon when we walked a few blocks to a government office where they handed us a certificate that legally makes the adoption complete. It was very simple...no ceremony...none of us even really knew that was happening until we got to the office. (I mean...I would have at least put some makeup on!) Very odd...but very joyous, nonetheless. Here's a photo of Maya and I and then one of our group with the registration officials....

On Thursday morning...we had a much needed break. No meetings, forms to fill out, or places to be. And it's a good thing, because Maya has been running a bit of a fever. Even after 10 hours of sleep, she ended up taking a 2 hour nap in the morning and then sleeping for a bit on the bus-ride to Luoyang, which is where we landed yesterday afternoon. The pace here is much less hectic and we will have alot of down time to just play and explore the city a bit. We got to the hotel around 4:30pm ... had some dinner and then it was bedtime. I finally caught up on some sleep last night and hopefully Maya is feeling much better today. Here is a photo of our "walker" - she's getting there.....

Here is a series of "just missed the full smile photos"

And finally....the tongue and those gorgeous eyes! Everyone comments on her eyes...the hotel workers, particularly!

We are working on her walking....she does not seem able to go from sitting to standing on her own, and still wants to hold onto me with both hands while walking. Last night, though, she started walking "around" the bed while holding on to it. She did this spontaneously, which was a suprise to me....so far, she's been a pretty limp baby...she would just sit wherever I put her, and not really assist me with things like putting on her shirt or pants. Yesterday, she began to help out a bit more and is taking more initiative with moving around. I'll probably be chasing her down the hall in NO time!