Sharing our Gotcha' Day with Jailyn

February 5,2007 - What a great day. We were filled with excitement and fear. We had no idea of what to expect. We were going to meet our daughter for the first time - Wow! We didn't know much about her at all, but were in love with her already! We made sure we made the hotel buffet breakfast thinking that this may be the only meal we get today if Jailyn is cranky and not happy with us. As we ate breakfast, we also watched the Superbowl - yeah, kinda funny! Monday morning in China!
Our guide,Nancy, took us to the Civil Affairs office and after being there for 15- 20 minutes a van with 6 little kiddos pulled up. And there was the first time we saw Jailyn's sweet face. Tears came to my eyes, but I was determined not to cry - I didn't want to scare Jailyn.
As the children were brought into the room, Nancy began yelling, "Yunyan! Yunyan!" She didn't know which one was Yunyan (Jailyn's chinese name). Coco brought her over to us immediately. As soon as we held her we knew that she was our princess!

She took us in and didn't whimper a bit. We tried to give her a bottle but she wanted it much warmer then it was. But, she was fine - just taking everything in.


Jailyn was 16 months old and only 15 lbs. She was not walking yet. She didn't show us for a few days that she knew how to crawl. As she began to trust us did she begin to show her true personality and what she could do.
After we returned to our hotel room we stripped Jailyn down to see how small she really was. We gave her a bath. She did okay, but she was nervous and clung to me. This was a good thing that she had to trust me to take care of her.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out in our room and the hotel hallway with our fellow travel mates, meeting their children.

The personality that we met that first day - I still see in Jailyn 15 months later! She takes everything in! She is so observant and very social. She is also still our princess! Not so much an "angel" but our "princess"! :)