Adoption Day

(Andrew wrote this to Mom and Dad and I don't think I could summarize the last 24 hours any better.  So, I'm reposting it here)

They're just down for their nap, Maddy's first -- coming up on 24 hours that we've had her.  First day has been unbelievably smooth.  She's only cried twice, each time before falling asleep.  She's clearly a little shellshocked, but seems to be settling in very readily.  We went out shopping this morning with our guide, and Gwen and Maddy sat next to one another in the stroller like old chums.  I was walking them around, and heard noises from them, and wondered what they'd found to fight about -- when I looked, it turned out that Maddy was sucking her bottle out of her mouth making a big POP, and Gwen was convulsing in laughter.  It was incredibly sweet to watch.  I got a couple of pictures -- people in the store were just staring at them, they were so adorable.

But they do pretty frequently want the same thing, and within half a second it can go to complete chaos of tugging and screaming at the top of their lungs (mostly Maddy, but Gwen is learning).  But they've had lots of supportive and cooperative moments, too.  All told, I'm sure they're going to be a handful, but they seem as though they could be really close.  It's amazing how similar their personalities are.  We were both worried that Gwen would bully Maddy, since she has a strong personality, but Maddy is pretty scrappy too.  And they're both tough -- there have been various banged heads and the like, but no tears from either.

So that's the latest - we're keeping our fingers crossed, but it's been incredibly smooth going so far....

(Donna posting now) Today was Maddy's adoption so she's officially a member of the T family! 

The woman on the far right is the Director of the QinZhou SWI.  The man on the far left is a Guangxi Province government official that oversaw the adoption.  The woman next to him is an assistant from the QinZhou SWI.

We were given a wonderful assortment of photographs of Madeline from the moment she was found (obviously a premature baby) all the way up to the present.  We were also given a copy of the birth note that was left with Maddy.