A New Day

First Smile
Originally uploaded by gbchiles2850.

After a rough night last night, we woke Leland up around 7:30 a.m. We gave him his first bath, which he did not enjoy very much, but when we brought him to breakfast and fed him, he started to warm up to us. There's nothing like food to break down barriers to the heart!

After his tummy was full and he had played with Lily at breakfast, we got his first smile! He is such a cutie! It's amazing what a difference a day makes.

We left at 9:00 a.m. to complete our adoption paperwork at the Civil Affairs office. Miraculously, our guide is the head of international adoptions in our province, so he knew exactly how to quickly get us through the paperwork.

After we swore to love, protect, and never abuse or abandon our son, we were off to Walmart for some shopping. Yup, there are three Walmarts and a Sam's Club in Fuzhou!

We then went to a fancy restaurant for lunch. The food was very good, and Leland ate like a champ. We finally had to quit feeding him for fear he would never stop! That is very common for babies when they are first adopted because they are not used to having enough food in their little tummies.

After lunch was nap time, and we all slept for about two wonderful hours. Then our guide (Jack) called us and said he would take us to West Lake Park which is next to our hotel and show us around. It was beautiful, and had a little playground for children and lots of flowers and trees. We're going to be spending a lot of time there in the next week! Then he drove us to KFC and we picked up chicken for dinner. Spicy chicken wings never tasted to good!

He is opening up to us more and more. He started singing while I was holding him at the park, and reaching out to play with Lily. Leland is such a good baby - very content and happy. His Chinese name, Zhi Ping, means confident, assured, calm, peaceful and safe. His personality truly matches his name. We are so blessed!