Slowly Discovering Our Daughter

Anna still has a look of stress on her face, and she hasn't smiled yet, but she did pass the first (very painful) poop milestone (i think they fed her quikcrete at the orphanage). She's also getting more comfortable with us. She's a dad's girl so far. When I carry her she likes to grab out and hold Steve's fingers, and when he is carrying her she is spending more time studying me, which is progress given that yesterday she looked at us with puzzeled looks instead. When we go out walking down the street she responds to others as strangers - not us. She still doesn't like it when we put her down. That is apparently pretty common for the first few days or week with these girls.

For a girl who has never been outside before she LOVES being outdoors. She needs a ton of stimulation and her eyes are looking everywhere aborbing what is going on. She makes a lot of vocalizations, but in a sweet voice. And when Steve was playing and "tossing" her in the air this evening - she didn't smile, but she did startle or cry either, so that seems like a good sign. She also has a REALLY long tongue. Sort of like a giraffe or a snake. When she is happy she does all this silly stuff with her tongue. We also have the beingings of what seems like a whole lot of facial and eye expressiveness - very Kellond eh? Still a big too early to tell, becuase as you will see from the pictures, there is still a lot of tension in her.

She sleeps like a charm. She hasn't eaten much - 2.5 bottles and little steamed egg since we got her (I know that is impossibly little food, but maybe this is why she is so tiny). She doesn't act hungry and she is downright refusing food even before tasting it, although when she does eat she's is focused. I am sure once she settles in she'll eat more so we are not concerned. With that said there is no way we belive the feeding schedule we got from the orphanage. She really really is more like a 5 month old than a 9 month old. Should be interesting to see when she starts to get teeth.....

Here are some shots we took today. We already see a difference from Monday. I suspect she'll be near unrecognizable once we get home.