Colby unveiled!

Sally offered to video tape for us and we took her up on it. With that worry out of the way, I was able to concentrate on paying attention to what was going on.

Colby's foster mom was carrying him when they came in. She is a happy, bubbly woman with a lot of energy! She's very friendly and came right over to me with him. He is ENORMOUS!!!!! We were in for another surprise. We had the impression that Colby's foster mom was single, but in came his foster father and his foster grandmother! I knew right then that our child had been blessed, but I had NO IDEA just how much.

I was investigating him a little and Sally (or someone) told her to give him to me. He fussed a bit, but not like Kailin did! They told me he needed a diaper change and had me lay him on the conference table to do it. I felt a little like it was a test (it wasn't), but I think I passed. He didn't pee on me and the diaper stayed on. Ha ha ha. Then he started to cry a bit and she made him a bottle. Man alive, he sucked it down!! They told me that if you ask him in Chinese to give you the bottle when he's done, he will. I got a round of applause for correct pronunciation. Unfortunately, I haven't remember the second half of the phrase since, but I know Sally recorded it for us. All I can say is "ni ping" which is bottle. It's handy, though - in finding out if that's what's making him fuss!

Here we are for our first family photo op.... we were all very content and happy in that moment. The people around us were all chattering in Chinese and I felt really at peace. Colby didn't feel like "mine" yet, but he felt comfortable in my arms and it was wonderful to finally get to truly see his face. He's got amazingly long eyelashes and his teeth are very crooked (I found out later that it's his pacifier doing that - the pacifiers here are not orthodontic and his is ever present in his mouth. We'll have to work on a switch to American style once he's home and settled.). He has gorgeous eyes and soft hair/fuzz on the top of his head. His ears are tiny little things and he has huge hands and feet (he'll fit right in in our house!)

I gave him back to his foster dad after his bottle as he seemed to want to hold him and I have the rest of my life!! Colby was happy to go to him and his foster father was so tender with him - smiled and cooed to him. It made my heart sing. Here he is with his foster mom and dad. I wish I'd been able to get him looking at the camera, but I didn't yet know his nickname (that's a surefire way to get him to look and we'll be using it a lot!!). It's Xiao he (said sh-ow (like ouch) hay). It means "little black". When his foster family got him when he was 18 days old he hadn't been named yet and they used this term of affection since he had dark skin and dark peach fuzz on his head. His skin isn't dark anymore! He's almost as white as Kailin was! They would say "Xiao he!" or "Ah he!" and he would look immediately. I get the impression that he was rarely, if ever, called Tian fu.

I'd had him back in my arms for awhile when I realized Steve hadn't held him yet at all. He went willingly to Steve and it was fun for me to see Steve explore his new son. Steve started feeding him crackers and THAT is the way to this boy's heart (just like his dad!). Then they were playing with a monkey toy we'd brought and we got to see his smile. He even thought he might giggle a little, but held back a bit. We learned in that instant as well, that our son loves to make noise and destruct. I think this kid is ALL BOY! He delighted in flinging the monkey toy off the table at great velocity or in banging it on the table with all his might. Boys will be boys, I suppose.