Another Great Day

"Gong Gong" as we are calling him right now (this is what his name was in the orphanage) has been doing so well. He slept through the night! We went back to the building where we received Aiden yesterday to finish the paperwork... he is officially ours! The paperwork went really smooth and we were in and out in about an hour. Aiden is just so full of life. He LOVES to walk and he also loves to be pushed in the stroller. I think the stroller seems like a park ride to him, he laughs when Taylor pushes him. Then again Taylor has a way of making the simplest things fun for him.

Traffic around here is so funny. It reminds me of New York City but worse. If you are walking you better watch out - even on the curb. They drive up over the curb here all the time. When we were driving this morning to the Adoption Registry building Aiden's eyes were just wide. When we went back into the building I think he didn't know what was going on at first, like were we taking him back. Then he just took Taylor or Chad by the hand and walked in circles with them. He is such a cutie. We were going to go the the children's park today but it is now thunderstorming so we will do that tomorrow. I heard that it would be really nice for Taylor. Taylor is doing really well 98% of the time. But have been times were she starts crying and then gets embarrassed about that... she thinks we pay more attention to Aiden then her. And we definitely have tried to make her feel as important. But she is really great with him.

We went to the Rose Garden restaurant by the White Swan. We thought we would order Taylor a grilled cheese and I had a salad, and Chad ordered squid and then a dish of spaghetti with chilli sauce... Well turns out that Taylors sandwich was like a club sandwich with spam,cheese and a fried egg on it. Unfortunately, she is a plain girl that does not like sandwiches for some reason. Chad's spaghetti with chilli was actually LO MEIN with beef - he ended up trading with her and I have to say at least I found a Chinese dish I REALLY like here. The food has not been bad at all, but I was looking for something that had flavor and that was not too far out there. For instance, their was whole octopus with vanilla as an appetizer. Chad wanted me to try the squid, he said it was delicious, I just wasn't up to it yet. Right now our little guy is sleeping. We laid him in his crib he sat up looked around for about 5 minutes and then laid down. I have not heard him cry one time, I just can't believe it. I was prepared for him to be scared of us or miss his nannies.

Connie - I showed Aiden your blog with Kalebs pictures and he just stared in awe at him. He showed emotion like he would have known him. I have a picture I will have to share. He simled at the one of Kaleb sitting on the watermelons!

One hour after we got back from getting him

Connie, you were so right when you said Aiden just needed a mommie and daddy. He seems like a different little boy then so many of the pictures I saw of him. He just needed some love. I think he thinks Taylor is so funny. She wants to do everything for him and is constantly making goofy faces at him. I am so very glad she was able to come with us. It is something we can never go back on.

I just love this first video of Aiden going to Chad. Priceless...

Video from Gotcha Day/Room

I can't see what my video looks like when I post it from here but I heard you all can see it back in the states. I just HAD to share him with you all. I can't believe how well he has been doing. He took a bottle last night, and I put him in his crib next to our bed. He just was looking all around and I had to bring him up in our bed. Next thing you know he fell asleep and then we put him back. He has slept through the night! (Well it is 4AM here right now) At least I slept 3 hours longer than the other night.

I can't even put into words how happy we are. It is the most amazing experience. I know the other adoptive moms who view this blog know what I mean. I know I have friends who have had trouble conceiving or lost a baby - I can tell you this for me, there is no difference in the love of your own biological or adoptive child. It is amazing to see Chad just love him right up. You can just see it is his eyes. The love I have for him is just so powerful. When I saw all the other adoptive families and their extended families all crying before they were handed their kids, you just knew how much love these kids were bringing to their lives. There were people from other countries in the room with us and they were all hugging and celebrating, just so amazing.

We gave Aiden a bath last night with Taylor, he looked like, "What is going on?", but he did really well. When I put his pajamas on, he just looked at them like, "wow, what are these".. they must be different then what he is use to. It is just an amazing experience. Today we do the official paperwork, so "knock on wood" I hope everything goes well. Then for the next few days he will have a physical, and then we are waiting on his passport till next week.

Thank you all for the emails and posts.. we LOVE reading them and are thankful we can share this journey. It has been so amazing so far.

Video Posts

Hopefully this will work. We took little clips so it would be easier to upload. Once I get home I will edit these better.

Aidens First Meal with Us

This was at Lucy's... he has been so extroverted and laughs all the time. He loved th congee here.

Introducing ~ Aiden Nathaniel Zigang Zeigler~

I don't even know where to begin. We decided on naming his middle name Nathaniel which means "A gift from God", which is so true. I will write more in depth tomorrow but when we went to get him he was the first child they brought out. I looked up and there he was. I couldn't believe it, I thought we would have waited longer once we got to the meeting place. He didn't cry one time. He came to all of us. He didn't show alot of emotion at first but it only took about 1/2 hour for his personality to start shining through.

He laughs heartily and eats very good. We went to eat at Lucy's tonight. He at Congee which is watery rice with maybe chicken in it and spaghetti. Taylor is just overly in love with him. I said to her before we went to get him, this is our last hour of being a family of 3... she said you mean a family of 4 soon to be 5. She is just amazing at her thoughtfulness.

When we got back to our room Aiden (GONG GONG) just loved his stacking cups. One of our friends we met reached for him and he came to me. Then Chad reached for him and he went right to him. It was like he just knew. That is what our guide said also. We did meet Ms. Tang and the assitant director Ms. Cheng. They were extremly nice and gave us alot of information about his personality. They said he will take things from other kids and that he is very strong even though he is small. He has had fruit, congee and bannanas.

Right now he is on the bed throwing ball back and forth with Chad and Taylor. If I could have asked for a more perfect day I don't know what more I could have asked for. God really has blessed us. I am so happy it is beyond words. I wish our family could be here. Taylor said "Wouldn't it be nice if grandma was here"... soon everyone will be able to meet our little guy.

I have little video clips but I can't tell if they work on my blog or not. I will write more later. He is just so great and you can tell he is so happy which makes us happy.

Reflecting....

Well, I have been up since 1AM China time. I am having a rough time with the time change. It is 12 hours difference here and by 5PM Taylor and I have been really tired. So now I am sitting here this morning just thinking about what today holds for us. In the adoption world, today is called, "Gotcha Day", meaning the day we get our child. The feelings I have about today are so vast.

We started this process 2 and a half years ago and as most of you know alot of things have happened in that time frame, so it makes today even more emotional. Emotional because of thinking about the first time we saw Aiden's picture - which was September 23rd and then on September 24th (my birthday) Chad said lets get him. Then came the 6 month process of getting our homestudy done, this included mountains of clearances and paperwork. I could go on and on, but I just feel so grateful that today is here.

I can't wait to see him for the first time. It seems like we know him from the pictures we have been blessed to get, but yet we really don't yet. I can't wait to see Taylor and how she will react to him. She wanted me to buy her a traditional Chinese dress, so we did. I told her it was for a special occasion probably a picture day with Aiden. She goes to me, "Well, I want to wear it Monday when we get him. Don't you think that will be a special occasion? I will no longer be an only child and Aiden won't be in an orphanage".... she has a way of putting things.

I just want Aiden to feel loved and special, knowing that we chose him and he was so wanted. I think of my little angel up above and wondering if he is looking down and seeing what is about to transpire. Without Chase we would not be getting Aiden... I do believe all things happen for a reason even being as hard as that may be to understand.

I just can't even put into words how we are feeling. It is just so emotional that is all I know. I hope I can hold it together in a few hours but who knows! Miss you guys and wish you were here!

Taylor just woke up (it is 5AM) and she yells out in the darkness, "MOM, today is the day. Aiden will be so happy today"

Interesting Markets

We ventured out across the street to the market and then made our way to the more modern stores. It was very very busy to say the least. Very interesting. Taylor loved seeing all the animals. The one picture is of 3 mushrooms.
The main street of shopping reminded me of Time Square but with China Town in Times Square. Chad tried on a pair of Timberland sandals that were really nice, but they didn't have a size that big. It is very humid here, I can see why people say bring enough clothing to change 2 times a day.

Tomorrow is the big day. I am so ready. It is great to experience a new culture and site see but the greatest moment will be when we see Aiden for the first time. I wonder what he is going to think of us. Today at breakfast there were several adoptive parents there with their children. It almost make you want to cry for joy for these kids. You can just see the love that these parents have for the kids. Many of these kids we have seen have cleft lip/cleft palate, something that is very treatable in the United States. It just really almost made me cry to see how these parents really were bonding with their children. It shows that love sees no imperfections.