That title just about says it all! We had a “yikes” kind of day.

Yesterday I had said that I was hoping we could sleep in this morning past 7:00am. Well Abbie obliged by sleeping until 7:30am. Unfortunately, that was after waking at 11pm, 12am, 2:45am (this one was the long one, up for about 1½ hours). Needless to say, we were tired in the morning and grumpy with one another during the night. Can anyone relate? It all ended up okay, though, as we made it through the day. Abbie still seems terrified that we’ll end up not being around and so any time she stirs she ends up checking to see if we’re around. I don’t blame her, so much is upside-down for her.

As Erin was tired in the morning (surprise, surprise after the night we had) a Father-Daughter breakfast and outing was in order after her bath. Abbie seems really comfortable with me now which helps to take the burden off of Erin. Now she has time to breathe. So she took the opportunity to be a little more leisurely in getting ready for the day and to shop in the early evening tonight. Her shopping was productive and fun for her as she picked up gifts for family and name chops for both Jackson and Abigail.

At 3pm we both took Abbie to her medical appointment. Yikes! I felt for the poor kids in that clinic and the poor doctors who have to deal with all the screaming every, day all day long. While the doctors had to deal with that situation throughout the workday, we were finished in about 10 minutes. There were three stations, one for a physical exam, another for weight and length measurement, and the final one for an ENT exam. Abbie checked out well in all three. She is 79 centimeters long (31.1 inches) and weighs 11.3 kilograms (24.9 pounds). We looked up her size, relative to other babies from Chinese orphanages, and she is doing great. In fact, she’s above 75th percentile for weight and height in AMERICAN populations (and above the 90th percentile for Chinese adoptees at least in one study). No need to worry about her health!

Tonight has been a lot fun with Abbie, though we’re just about ready to put her into bed for the evening so that could change. We’ll see if “yikes” is in order overnight. I hope not, a good night of sleep would do all three of us good. Let’s hope the bottle I prepare works wonders!

Oh, before I go, four or five more tidbits. We didn’t go on the dinner cruise tonight. We were just too tired and we weren’t all that excited to be on a boat with a potentially crabby baby. Second, we turned over the last of our paperwork for the adoption. Our coordinator will take it (and the associated fees) to the American Consulate Thursday morning. It feels great to have the last of these details off our hands. Now we just wait for her visa from the Feds and to take her citizenship oath on Friday. Third, tonight was the first night Abbie cried from our saying “no” to her. It was interesting to see her react to our direction and to comfort her afterward. Fourth, my Blue Mountain coffee was great and was prepared in a way that I’d only read about, in a vacuum carafe (description here / pictures here). It didn’t disappoint (unfortunately, now I want to have all my coffee prepared like this!) Finally, we’ve still not come across a food that Abbie refuses. She’s eaten everything we’ve eaten (Chinese, “American,” gross, bland, whatever), plus all her baby foods. She’s even cried when we wouldn’t give her a another dropper full of medicine (you know, the yucky kind, Ibuprofen for teething pain). She’s a funny girl and we love her lots.

Okay, I really need to get that bottle ready now. Until later…

“Hi Daddy!”

Going into the appointment I knew that we would break the posted rules!

Our Abbie weighed in at 24.9 pounds, the heaviest of the girls from Chuzhou (even though she’s the youngest).

Abbie’s just lovin’ her examination. She passed with flying colors.

After the examination and ready for mom’s arms.

We’re on the 11th floor and so was he – outside changing lightbulbs.

Another Dragon picture just for Jackson.

At the end of the day, Abbie had recovered well…back to her old self and eating like a horse.