On being a mommy to a peanut

Wow, the last 4 days have been filled with so much emotion! I wanted to be sure to relay what Asha Day was like for me, as well as from Kirk's perspective :)

The day before we picked up Asha, I called the director of the children's home, Anju, to let her know we were in Kolkata and planning to come over the next day. She was so friendly, and referred to us as "Moni's family!" It felt nice to make contact with Anju, as she has been giving our caseworker Jynger continued updates, and advocating for us in the court system, for the past 11 months.

Bright and early on Asha Day, we took a walking tour of Kolkata with CalcuttaWalks. We chose a particular walk that included a stroll along the Ganges, the flower market, and a meandering through the area where the statues and sculptures are made for the many holidays and festivals. Our guide Ifte picked us up and we drove to the start of our walk. He told us that he usually doesn't take "non Indians" on this particular walk, because it can be "hard for some people." We thought this was....interesting, and wondered what he meant. We soon found out! The walk was amazing, and poignant, because it showed us parts of Kolkata that according to Ifte, very few people, even Indians, ever come to see. At times the sights and sounds were so powerful, it was hard to take it all in. Some of the folks we encountered were a little angry that we were walking through their area. We did encounter some very friendly wrestlers, who proceeded to put on a little show for us, and that was pretty unique! Ifte chatted with them, and they said they come every morning to the river to exercise and wrestle. Here are some photos from our walk:

We stopped her and drank some chai before beginning our tour. It was excellent chai!

We returned to our hotel after the walk and made a beeline for the wonderful continental breakfast that The Kenilworth offers. As I walked through the restaurant, I heard a voice call, "Emily?" I wondered who could possibly know me here, in Kolkata. It was Melanie and Jason, Bria's Mommy and Daddy! Kirk and I sat with them and enjoyed a nice breakfast, chatting about our preparations, our plans, and our paperwork fiascos. It was really nice to put faces to names, and connect in person after writing and sharing about our girls for so many months! Then we headed to the room to get ready for the big moment! I called Anju again, and she asked that we arrive at 1pm. I will be honest, I tried to finegle for earlier, but Anju wanted Asha Moni to have her nap and a meal before we arrived, and that made sense. We had a couple of hours to kill then, and we could not sit still. We read a little, blogged a little, and generally wrung our hands in excitement until finally the moment came to leave. We were really lucky to be able to work with a driver named Nayeem, who has been to the children's home many times and is a kind a generous person.

We first visited the part of the children's home where the handicapped and disabled children live. I held babies, Kirk took pictures, and we talked with the ayahs about the children and their care. It was touching to see how each child is valued and loved, despite their challenges and difficulties. Our hearts were pounding as we headed out of the building, knowing that the next building we pulled up to, was Asha's!

Kirk and I entered with hands held tightly together, video camera rolling, not knowing if Asha Moni would be awaiting us at the top of the stairs, or in another room. We came to a small reception area, and were ushered into Anju's office, where I hugged her tightly and began to cry. I couldn't believe I was actually there, in Anju's office, hugging her! She engaged us in some small talk about our trip, but I was completely distracted. My heart raced the entire 20 minutes we spent filling out the last of the paperwork and receiving the originals of documents. Then, the moment came. Anju asked if we were ready to meet our daughter, and I said, "are we ever!!" With camera rolling again, we entered the room where our sweet girl has spent most of her life. And there she was, with her back to me, but I knew those curls right away. I know that little head, and those strong tiny legs. The ayahs were combing her hair, and touching her face. Asha Moni turned around and looked at me, curious, wondering, not too scared. I went up to her and touched her face, and then couldn't help myself any longer. I scooped her up and held her. I took in her rose bud lips, her button nose, her long, long eyelashes, and those curls, oh those curls. She was so light, just a wisp of a girl, but strong too. Asha Moni let me hold her, she didn't pull away, or cry. She just stared at me, and then looked at the ayahs as if to ask, "is this lady ok?" I began to cry with such joy, but tried not to cry too hard because I didn't want to scare our girl. I rubbed her back, and talked to her, telling her who I was. She continued to stare at me with fascination, and even let me kiss her a couple of times. I then handed Asha Moni back to the ayahs so that they could say goodbye to her. I could tell this was hard for them, as they were tearing up and leaving the room. Kirk and I took video of some of the other children whose families are waiting to travel. And then I went to each of the ayahs, and through my tears thanked them over and over for taking such good care of our daughter. I said "bahut bahut danyevad." And then it was time for us to leave. I must have hugged Anju ten times, and thanked her even more times. I felt so overwhelmed with emotion. We finally had our daughter! And now she was our responsibility, and we needed to keep her safe. I hugged that sweet, small girl to my chest, and carefully walked her to the car.

Nayeem, being the wonderful driver that he is, took us to a little Kodak store where we whisked in, took 8 visa pictures of Asha Moni, and whisked out. The whole ordeal was over in 2 minutes. Nayeem, then took us back to the Kenilworth, and headed back for the photos so we didn't have to wait for them.

Asha Moni was very still when we got to the room, just looking around, unsure of her surroundings. She did not cry at all. At this point, I had been the only one to hold her, and we decided that we wouldn't have Kirk try to hold her until later. I rocked Asha, and Kirk sang to her, and she drifted off to sleep. We put her on bed, and proceeded to take way too many pictures of her sleeping :)

The next day, Asha woke up at around 6am, and took her 8oz bottle in 2 minutes flat! Hungry girl. We took her down to breakfast with us, and she ate half an omelette and a hash brown. Then she and I snuggled for a bit.

Then Asha and I took a nap together.

We only had one day of downtime before heading to Delhi for our medical and US Embassy appointments. Here we are in the airport, hanging out waiting for the flight.

Asha did so well on the plane! It's not easy to be 18 months and sit on someone's lap for 2 hours straight!

Each day we see more and more of Asha's personality emerge. She has a great sense of humor! She loves to play a game where she pretends she's going to feed me a piece of food, and then at the last moment, pulls it away and laughs mischievously. You can see the difference in her facial expressions, from one day to the next. Below is our ride to and from the medical appointment (day 3 of our time together), which went really well by the way. No shots were given! A GIANT thank you to Heather, Shiva's mommy, for passing on the shot waiver form to Kirk and I.

Asha and Daddy taking a nap

Asha and Daddy, taking a stroll

There is so much more to tell, but I am getting tired, and Asha will be waking up soon from her nap. Tomorrow is our US Embassy appointment, wish us luck!