A Family of Four- Together at last

We're getting used to having another child so far! We got custody of Melkamu for good yesterday after a very, very touching goodbye ceremony at the care center. His nanny cried and we cried. They put his handprint on the wall of children who have been adopted. It was all videotaped and we'll have a copy of it--I can't fault CHSFS for anything video-wise, since they have been amazing at documenting Melkamu's history for us. Tomorrow we'll get a copy of his Life Story video (which is the one that has the interview with his birthmother) and a separate video about Ethiopia and his time after coming to the care center. We'll share the second one with people, but the first one is for him.
Melkamu was pretty shy and reserved for most of yesterday, until we were done at the Embassy (very, very simple and his visa application was approved!). Since then, though, he's really become the boy we read about in all the reports. He is smiley and laughs a lot, and he loves to cuddle up with us. Bedtime went pretty well last night. He has figured out the sippy cup and bottle, so we're doing some bottle-feeding for bonding purposes. He has been doing great at making eye contact with us in the last day or so, which is a big improvement over the first few days. Last night, we were giving him a bottle and were going to give him a bath afterwards, but he fell asleep. So I put him in the crib and he slept there for about half the night. When he woke up crying, Jason brought him into bed with us and he settled right back down. He woke up crying quite hard one more time, but as soon as I said "It's Mama," he opened his eyes, saw it was me, stopped crying, and put his head on my chest. I could be wrong, but I would swear he said "Mama" as he sighed and fell asleep again. Jason thinks it was Patrick and Melkamu does babble "na na na" a lot, so it could have been that--but you can guess what I'd prefer to think!

He's a very good eater, though he doesn't like eggs or oatmeal. He's eaten everything else we've given him.

I've got to go, as Jason's upstairs and Melkamu's trying to type (since I kept him from making a break for the door), but I have to say this: right now, I've got a cuddly, drooly baby on my lap. There is another baby whimpering in the arms of her mother behind me, and a laughing, giggling toddler running around with his daddy outside. This is the most amazing thing that I've ever done. I can't wait to get back and introduce Melkamu to all of you, and share some of the hundreds of pictures and videos that we've taken.