He's Officially Ours!!!!!!!

We got back an hour ago from the Registration Office where we got our adoption certificate. I of course cried when they presented it to us. :) Those pics are on the camera so there's no way to upload them on the iPad (thank you Nora for taking them!!!) 

We tried out the carrier today since Brayden is a snuggle bug. (yay!!!!!) He loved it! (so thank you BJ, Brian! Tracy, and Tim!!) I now realize why we go the Great Wall BEFORE Gotcha Day.....we had to climb the stairs to the sixth floor at the Notary Office and with him firmly snuggled in: whoa!!! You think you're kind of in shape....

Cleft Palate bottles are a bit expensive and we didn't even know if he would be drinking from one still, but he refused the sippy cup and another family had extra for their cleft baby and let us try....he scarfed down one and a half bottles last night! :) The nipple collapses so every few minutes we would wrestle the bottle away from him to puff it back up. And when I say wrestle, I mean wrestle!! This kid is a fighter!! He has a death grip on anything that is his. It makes me sad for what he has experienced, but he won't be a wimp!! :) After a few times of him fussing when we'd take the bottle he started to realize that if he wanted milk, we had to have it for a bit. Then this smarty pants figured out that the SECOND he couldn't get milk, if he handed it to me (he let me hold him while he was feeding....melted my heart) and said "Mi" (like the beginning sound of milk) I would have it ready again in a second. And Brayden is so smart that he remembered this from last night so his pre nap bottle feeding was smooth. He just finished one bottle and Benson is at Walmart stocking up, so I put him in his crib to make another one. I handed him his bottle and he laid down to drink it. He is sooo sleepy so he's only handed it over to me once, but as he drifts off, the bottle slips out of his mouth and without even opening his eyes, back in his mouth it goes. 

Speaking of sleep...Brayden tried to fight sleep last night, but with him missing his nap yesterday, he was out by 7:30. He woke up at 11:30, we changed his diaper, I held him for a bit, put him in his crib and he was out. Little man slept through our alarm and both of us getting ready and then popped up all smiles about 7:20 :) 

I just love him so much and I can't wait to get home and really start our new life together as a family of three!! I'll try to be patient here as we finalize everything and pray that his birthmother will somehow know that he's ok now and soooo loved by soooo many!!

I look weird there, but he is just sooo adorably happy!!

Not too sure about this hood, but this is the sweatshirt from one of my students. It was perfect for today with only a high of 62 expected. At least the sun is out today and it's not too windy that the sand from the Yellow River is being blown all over!

Waiting patiently for us to put down our cameras and fix his bottle...and cuddle him!! :)