On seeing our daughter for the first time:
There we were in the hotel room, waiting for the babies to arrive.  We were told they were traveling by car from their town which was about 2 hours away.  We were jittery and excited not sure where to sit or what to talk about.  Shortly we heard the bell of the elevator and then we saw them carrying the babies right into our room.  Our baby was first and they announced her by saying her Chinese name but they didn't need to.  We knew her immediately. She sat tall in his arms with an interested but very serious face.  She wore several layers of clothing even though it was very hot in the room.  Her eyes were huge and quite solemn.  The man walked over to us and introduced us to our daughter.  He told her we were her new mamma and new papa.  Her lower lip went out and she held in her cry. Such a brave girl.  Eventually we signed some papers and he put her down to explore.  She was happy and smiling and even grabbed a pen and paper and started to draw.  We were enchanted with every move that she made and marveled at her talents.  Who knew that our baby was an artist?  So much to learn about our darling daughter. Then one of the facilitators told me to pick her up.  I was hesitant and didn't want to upset her.  She cried and kicked and tried to get out of my arms.  Luckily, on the trip over, I had watched a Chinese mother comfort her son and so I did the same.  I clicked my tongue and sssshhhed and rocked and generally made a lot of noise.  It seemed to work because I saw the facilitators nod at me as if in approval and soon Nina's eyelids grew heavy and she was asleep on my shoulder with her sweaty little cheek pressed to mine.  I knew then that our long wait was over and my heart almost hurt from what we were feeling.

On coming home from the airport:
We had asked our families to limit the amount of people that wanted to meet us at the airport because we were worried about overwhelming the baby and we knew she'd be tired.  As we got off the plane and walked through the terminal we could see that they hadn't listened to a thing we said because both families were there in full force.  A line of 30 or so people stood there watching and waiting to meet our newest family member.  Of course there were shouts and tears and too many hugs to count.  The funny thing is how Nina reacted.  She seemed to know that they were all there for her.  She was smiling and dancing and playing peek a boo much to the delight of both Grandmas.  She didn't let anyone pick her up except my husband and myself but otherwise was laughing and having a grand time.  She loved the crowd and still does enjoy being the center of the party.