Maelyn's Mei Mei

Once we were off the phone with our agency, we opened our email to see our daugther's face for the first time. When I first saw Maelyn's pictures, I found myself to be almost stunned -- like I couldn't believe that this was really her. I found that I had the same experience when looking at our little monkey's picture. It is strange in some ways to see your child as the already-existing person that they are -- and it always takes me a day or two to soak it in.

I was really disappointed at how small and unclear the photos of our little monkey were -- especially since I was used to getting such clear and up close pictures of Maelyn. I am dying to see her features in detail. What does she really look like? I can't wait to get to know her better.

We then made phone calls to our family members to tell them about our fantastic news. They were, of course, very excited for us and coudn't wait to hear more about her. At this point, we weren't positive about our name choice for her, so we decided to sleep on it.

The next morning I couldn't say anything to Maelyn about her sister. Paul leaves for work very early and of course, he wanted to be there to share the news with Maelyn. Paul and I chatted off and on throughout the day about how we would tell Maelyn and about her sister's name.

Once he was home, we set up the video tape and sat Maelyn down on the couch. We asked her again if she wanted a brother of a sister and of course, she wanted a girl. We were so happy to tell her that she was going to be a big sister and then we gave her a picture of our little Ailee (Eye-lee).

Maelyn ran around the family room yelling and screaming, she was so happy! If I had to choose one moment of the referral as 'the best part,' it would be when we told Maelyn about Ailee. It brought tears to my eyes to think about the relationship Maelyn and Ailee are going to develop as sisters and made it feel very real that we will soon become a family of four!

Maelyn completely embraced the big sister role and took Ailee's picture upstairs to 'show' her her room. She was saying, "Here my room, Aiwee. Dis my room." She spent the rest of the evening doing everything with Ailee. Maelyn had a snack with Ailee who, of course, had to have her own bowl and snack.

Maelyn slept with Ailee's picture that night and she was the first thing Maelyn asked about when she woke up.

At Kindergarten that morning, she ran around showing every parent and child the pictures of her sister. She is so proud to be a big sister and cannot wait to get on an airplane, get to China, and get her little sister, Ailee.

I couldn't agree more.