As the week progresses

Whew. What a busy week. Chloe & Emmi are just wonderful babies. Very happy and healthy. Chloe is a great sleeper. She slept for 10 hours straight the first night and would have slept that long today if we hadn't had to wake her up to go to our AIT appointment. Emmi on the other hand has had her days & nights mixed up already. I think she was having some stomach pains last night, but she finally had 3 dirty diapers between 10pm and 3am. David was up until about 4am with Emmi last night. I was up the night before with her. We have been absolutely exhausted. Today has been better and we have tried to create a better schedule. It was hard the first 2 days because of appointments, and they didn't get naps until very late afternoon/early evening. However, the orphanage told us that they usually went to bed at midnight or 1:00am -- YIKES! I slept this afternoon while they were sleeping, and then my mom & Ruth took them for another hour so that I could get a bit more rest.

Our AIT appointment we extremely well. One answer to prayer was that we did not have to pay for an additional visa. When you file an I-600, it only covers the cost of 1 visa unless the children are siblings. However, I had to re-file for a new I-600A in October because ours was expiring on nov. 26 and we weren't sure when we would travel. So essentially, I had paid for 2 valid visas. The man said my first one had expired and I would have to pay...but I pointed out that the first one didn't actually expire until Saturday. He said let me re-check and ask my manager...Praise God the manager accepted it and we didn't have to pay the additional $545. We go back on Friday to pick up their official US visas. They will be US Citizens as soon as we touch down in LA. It is so cute, they already have their own Taiwanese passports with pictures and all.

We also had our birthparent meeting on Tuesday afternoon. It was a very good thing. I think it was good for them because it gave them some closure. It was good for us to be able to share this with Chloe & Emmi when they grow up.

We went to the Taiwan Handicraft Market after our AIT appointment today. It was a very neat place. We had to buy a stroller for Chloe. She is so heavy, there is no way we could carry her for long periods of time. My arms and legs are so sore. I am going to get very strong, very quickly.

They really seem to be attaching well in this short amount of time. It is neat to see that Chloe makes a distinction that I am her mom. Obviously, the true strong bond will take time, but at least the ground work is being laid. She is always looking for us and wants us to be in her sight. She also does not like it when Emmi crys. Although Emmi hasn't cried very much, I've seen Chloe stop what she is doing and look for Emmi when she cries.

Emmi is a very happy baby. It is so cute when she smiles and all you see is gums. She doesn't have any teeth yet. She is very curious and likes to watch Chloe at all times.

Tonight we are going to go out and explore a night market.