Mazel Tov

We are leaving in eight hours and I guess it will be another night when I don't sleep, whether or not the cherub decides to scream a lot. I know that you are right when you say that part of her stress is traveling; we just have to get through one more big trip, but it's a doozy. At six a.m. we check out and by 9:30 we'll fly from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. Then we have a two hour layover, followed by a 12.5 (notice we save three hours this time!) hour flight to Los Angeles. Then we have a four hour layover before our short flight to San Diego. Considering that this sort of travel is absolute hell on me, I can't imagine what it will be like with a toddler and going in already sleep deprived.

Speaking of which, I have a delicate tingling sensation all over and have for days, as if my cells were recomposing themselves to form an organism that doesn't require sleep for sustenance. I am becoming a new kind of being, a little bit each day.

Today was a very big day, but unfortunately we don't have any pictures of the event due to security reasons. Everything we brought to the consulate had to be in a Ziploc bag, and no cameras allowed. But it wasn't nearly the ordeal I'd imagined (or heard about): the whole experience took about three hours door to door. The consulate building is brand new and very swanky, and located in a part of town that looked prosperous and cosmopolitan. The inside was all gleaming chrome and blasting air conditioning. First we had to show our passports, then go through security, and then wait a while in a big room with 55 families (!) who were all taking the oath today. So also picture here 55 babies plus other children and travel companions with each couple, and you have a tiny glimpse into the seething madness of this room. We were sequestered in one area that I renamed "steerage." Well, I guess that had to do with immigration, too! After a while, we were invited to show ourselves at a window, and somehow David and I were the very first in line. A nice young woman smiled and nodded at our baby and said "thank you" and that was it. We sat down again, and everyone got out their snack food stash for some more waiting. All the babies circulated like tiny birds, seeing who would offer the tastiest morsel. I have grown very attached to little Gracie, Maggie, Lydia, Sedona, Matthew and Cole, and I will miss them when I get home. Joy I know I will see, so that's some consolation.

Suddenly David said he thought Jarrah had pooped, so we hustled her around the corner to a dank gray hallway/empty room and proceeded to pull her pants off. We were startled in the middle by the voice of a nice young man with a beard saying, "You know, we do have a changing table in the bathroom." We apologized and said we were almost done (she was only wet) and he said "I have two kids myself so I know what it's like." Next thing we know we hear someone on a microphone welcoming the crowd behind us and it was like a comedy of errors, David and I stuffing Jarrah into her pants, socks and shoes yelling "Hurry, hurry, we're going to miss the oath!" and in fact we almost did. The funniest bit was that when we bolted back into the big room and took our seats we discovered that the man on the microphone was the same one who found us with the dirty diaper. Kind of appropriate, I guess. Anyway, the oath was not quite what I imagined. We all raised our right hands together and repeated after him that we solemnly swore that the information we had provided for the consulate was true and correct to the best of our knowledge and that was it. We all cheered, of course, and there were some smooches, hugs and congratulations, but a bit anti-climactic in the ceremony department. And where was the champagne, I ask you? ;)

The rest of the day was quiet. We opted out of the trip to the Guangzhou Zoo, having just been to the Chongqing Zoo, and with a baby who can't focus on things that far away yet. We had a final trip to Blenz which was really nice. And after the oath, we ordered Danny's Bagel one last time and enjoyed it in the hallway with Paul and Mary just like the good old days in Chongqing, this time with two hungry little rapscallions keeping us on our toes blowing on noodles and shredding tiny bits of chicken.

The nicest part of today is that Jarrah is warming to me some more. I am usually allowed to walk with her, and to pick her up very briefly, and I even pushed her stroller once with only a single preliminary grunt from her before she settled down. She has been smiling, laughing, crawling and exploring up a storm, and has begun enjoying her bath again (though how do you keep the water out of their eyes? She hates that.) I was so happy when, right after the oath, she turned to me and put out her chubby little arms to be hugged or picked up. We joked that she just needed to make it official with the U.S. Government before she could acknowledge me as mama. (David, of course, is not American, so he got an early dispensation to make up for his green card headaches.)

Tonight when we were packing, Jarrah found my necklace from CCAI, the one that says we are adopting this baby and promise to love her, and she put it on! I guess she's seen us wearing them all this time and she wanted to fit in. Anyway, made me all tingly to see her in it, plus we are convinced she's a genius. ;)

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