On Sunday, we had a free day, which we mostly spent in our room. This seemed to do a world of good for Tong Tong, who has been feeling a bit insecure. He is very attached to Mike, and likes to be mostly carried around by him. In fact, he even drew a family picture, which showed his two sisters, me pushing Dylan in the stroller and his Baba holding him. It was really sweet.

As I said, we mostly hung around the hotel room, venturing out for a little while to check out the pool and fitness room. Tong had fun in the fitness room, showing us how good he is at situps. He is actually a very strong little guy.

I (Kate) left the room a couple of times to navigate the food stands and shops outside the ground floor entrance to our hotel. I picked up some great dumplings, fried rice, drinks, a “traditional American” club sandwich-hahaha- complete with fried egg and smoked salmon, and some yummy desserts (cooked vanilla flavored dough with chocolate swirls). We went to bed pretty early (around 8:30), because we knew that Monday would be a big day. Overall, as I said, a happy day for Tong and for our whole family. Dylan and Abby absolutely LOVE their new older brother and they follow him everywhere and try to imitate EVERYTHING he does.

On Monday, we woke up pretty early and had breakfast at the hotel's buffet. We hung mostly around the hotel room, but ventured out for a little bit to check out the local shops. We had another dumpling and rice lunch and then went back to our room to gather our things for our big day. At 1:45 we met our guide (Grace) and hopped aboard our van to ride to the Civil Affairs building to meet our son, Hu Jie for the first time. It was about a 25 minute ride and we were all so excited, except for poor Tong, whose heart was beating so fast. We were a bit nervous about how the meeting would go, because Tong has been feeling very insecure, thinking that we will not have our attention or love if there is another child in our family.

Anyway, we were supposed to meet Hu Jie around 2:30. As we all sat on the couches at Civil Affairs, we immediately met the orphanage director (around 2:05), and then about 5 minutes later, we saw two women walk Hu Jie through the doors and then into another room. He was absolutely adorable, in a green striped shirt and some very baggy jeans. :) At 2:30, Hu Jie was brought to us, by one of his ayis (nannies) and his social worker. Mike held Tong the whole time, and kept reassuring him that we love him. I kneeled down and hugged Hu Jie and told him in Mandarin that we are his parents. He looked a little shy and scared, but within a few seconds, he hugged me and stared at me with his beautiful big brown eyes and gave me the sweetest smile. He is so adorable and- TALL. He is not much smaller than his 7 year old brother (and he is only 5). He seems quiet and gentle natured, and did I mention how beautiful and sweet his smile is? :)

We were very proud of Tong for how he handled the meeting. We know he was terrified, but he handled it all very well and actually seems to like his new brother. In fact, he even asked Grace why we only have 5 kids, as we should have 7- LOL. Talk about a 180!

Emily and Hu Jie hit it off right away, and they held hands on the way back to the van and for the whole ride to the hotel. We gave Hu Jie his own camera, and just like Tong, he took immediately to taking pictures.

When we got back to the hotel, we dialed for pizza and had it delivered to our hotel. We enjoyed a pizza dinner, and then it was like one big party. The kids were playing and giggling and having a great old time. Hu Jie had a remote control car with him, that we had sent to him in a care package. The kids all played with that together. As time went on, instead of getting tired, the giggling and energy level seemed to only increase. Little, shy, Hu Jie, became comfortable very quickly, so it didn't take long for him to come out of his shell. He is a very, very sweet boy. He is also very curious, touching and experimenting with everything, and he is FULL of energy. Mike and I just sat back for a moment and said, “Oh boy- 5 kids- this is our future.” Hahaha. In all honesty, we feel so incredibly lucky.

Yesterday (Tuesday), we completed Hu Jie's adoption, signing paperwork and getting our family photo for the adoption decree. On our way back to the hotel, our van brought us to Shamian Island, where we grabbed some Starbucks and dropped off our laundry (we were just about out of clean clothes).

Later in the afternoon, we walked from our hotel back to Shamian Island for dinner. Overall, the kids get along great, but there was quite a bit of acting out from Tong yesterday (jealousy). At breakfast, when Hu Jie left the table to go to the bathroom, Tong put salt in his drink. :( He also screamed and cried and insisted that he be pushed in the baby stroller when we were in Shamian Island. Tong is very funny and outgoing and SMART, but he likes to be the center of attention- all of the time. According to his caregivers, he always has (even prior to the adoption) liked the spotlight (which is fine), but does not like sharing attention at all. Hopefully, as time goes on and he realizes that we love ALL of our kids, no matter how many there are, he will become more secure.