US Visas in hand today! Victory is ours!!

We had our appointment at AIT today (serves as the US consulate in Taiwan) at 8 am for the purpose of getting their Visa's and allows us to bring them into the US. We sat in the waiting room for almost 3 hours, during morning nap time. Ouch. Madelyn went to sleep in her stroller, but Isaac wasn't going for it. He fought sleep successfully and was about as unhappy as I've seen him. Even holding him, I had to bribe him with peanut butter crackers (thanks Aunt Joanna!!) one at a time, endlessly. Many times, people have to go back a day later to pick up the visas, but we got lucky with same-day service and Joel went back this afternoon, with Madelyn and our facilitator, and got them, so we may legally bring them to the US! Also, once they touch US soil, they automatically become US citizens. This is a great day for us.

Eating and Drinking: so Madelyn's foster mother said that she likes everything, but just doesn't eat a lot. We actually were calling the bullsh-t flag on this the first day because it appeared that she, in fact, only liked snack candies, cookies, and fruit (and the foster mother only gave us the former 2 items to ease the transition). We were too quick to judge. I think she had an off day, she does appear to eat almost all foods, just not large quantities. It's funny, we gave her some watered down orange juice at breakfast and you'd have thought we were feeding her Crack because she shotgunned it down so fast. I think her foster family stuck to water for fluids, which we are glad, and hope to perpetuate this most of the time.

Pooping: Isaac's new nickname is is Sir Isaac Poopy Pants. It's not good. It brings to mind that song from Friends, "Smelly Cat" remember?..... Smelly cat smelly cat, what are they feeding you? He poops 3 or 4 times a day sometimes 2 hours apart, and some of them have been so awful that the odor actually penetrated into and stayed in his outer clothing (even though nothing got on the clothes). Now seriously, how the heck does that happen??!!!!

Clothes: Madelyn had exactly 4 pairs of underpants in her luggage that the foster parents brought. So this means we are doing laundry tonight which is easier than going shopping. We went to the supermarket, all 4 of us, yesterday and I think Joel was traumatized. Not cause the kids were acting up, mostly because we had to go up a bunch of escalators and people mover's and wind through multiple dimly lit underground mazes full of Chinese crapolo to find the checkout, kind of a nightmare for someone who hates shopping which doesn't involve cars or electronics. The hilarious thing is when we got into the store, Madelyn visibly brightened up and got excited, she liked all the colors and lights and loved holding the papertowels the entire time. It was pretty funny and sweet.  Joel noted her reaction appropriately,  mentioning "this is going to cost me!" I also just found out diapers cost like $10 bucks for 30. Yipes.

More on Diapering: Honestly, I have to throw Joel under the bus about something. The second day, Joel was changing Isaac's diaper for the first time, and this came out of his mouth (Joel's, not Isaac's) "Does the tape part go in the back or the front?" He was actually serious. He had some issues during the diapering game at our baby shower, but I honestly thought he was kind of hamming it up for effect. To his credit, he's got it down, even down to having the wipes out and prepositioned for the bad poop.

Talking: I heard Madelyn say and speak to Isaac for the first time. She was addressing him while trying to give him a cookie and said his name "Isaac". We were flabbergasted and excited. She does appear to know her name, but I am not totally convinced. I.e. of course she turns around to us when we keep yelling "Madelyn. Madelyn", though she might just be looking our way to see what all the ruckus is. I mean we could be saying "Poopie head" and she would eventually turn her head around, right?

Oops babies are awaking. More Later with pictures!