Loving Miss Tabitha

I can’t say it was love at first sight because we loved her before we saw her but holding her really cemented the reality. I’ve had lots of practice with that reality because she doesn’t want me to put her down. She is the Velcro baby that I have read about on so many other adoptive parent blogs. It doesn’t hurt my feelings a bit. I’m learning how to shower and do all the necessary things of the day with her clinging to me. Ba Ba (Father), otherwise known as G-Daddy, is useful for fetching all the things we need but she’s not too keen on him holding her just yet. She has stopped hyperventilating when he comes near, though. I did notice today that when another father in our group came near, she looked at her own Ba Ba. She definitely knows who she belongs to and it is amazing how quickly she figured that out.

She was first placed in our arms yesterday and she cried only briefly. I, however, cried the whole time and still get tears in my eyes just thinking about it. Our group of eleven families all went by bus to a big room at the Register’s office and one by one they called the couples to receive their babies. The room was filled with the sound of crying babies. G-Daddy and I were last ones to receive our baby. She was placed in my arms and the rest of the world disappeared, time stopped, and there were just the three of us looking at each other. I can’t describe the rest of the proceedings because all I can remember are her frightened big brown eyes looking at mine. She is so beautiful and so tiny.

Today, we all piled back on the bus and returned to the Register’s office. All of the babies were a little anxious at getting back on the bus and each clung to the family member that they decided was the most trustworthy. That would still be me for Tabitha. Ba Ba is taking it well and loves her from afar. I wore her in my baby sling and she looked as if she thought that was where she belonged. We completed the last of the paperwork and she is officially ours!!! Like we needed paperwork to know that! We gave all the gifts, signed all the papers, paid all the money and took official pictures. Tabitha did not want the orphanage director to get near her so she is crying in that picture. I think she thought that we were going to give her back. No, sweetheart, we are in this for the long haul and we are yours.