June 2010
"Be grateful for
the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is
all you need."
~Sarah Ban Breathnach
I really meant to have posted our
first update after returning home before now. But let me tell
you, jet lag is brutal!!! We are starting to feel a little
better, but it’s been a hard few days. First of all, I have to
say that the trip home was probably the hardest part of the
trip. Although that flight to Xining was horrible, so it’s a
toss up. I think why it was so hard is because we knew how long
it would be. The flight over didn’t seem as bad because we were
still naïve as far as how much it would take out of us. But
going into the flight home, we KNEW! I will say that the first
leg to San Francisco wasn’t as bad as waiting in the airport for
hours, and then another 5 hour flight to follow. I definitely
had some more tears on that last leg. And then when we landed, I
had even more tears… I was never so thankful to be home! We
didn’t get to our real home until about 12:30 or 1 am on Friday
night / Saturday morning. We came home to large Welcome Home
signs that our neighbors had made for us! And Aron had noticed
that we had fresh mulch! We went into the house and were greeted
with balloons, cards with gift cards for dinners, a list of
people bringing us meals in the next couple of weeks, groceries
in the fridge… it was so incredible, and we were beyond touched
and moved! We have some of the best friends and neighbors in the
whole world!!! But that’s not all. When we got up in the morning
and I sat down to feed Leah her cereal, I looked out and noticed
that something was different. I just sat there stunned after I
realized that the fence in our backyard had been painted!!!
Before leaving for China, we had started a project with a
retaining wall, re-grading the backyard, and reworking the
fence. One of things that we still needed to do was paint the
fence (we had done the deck and swing set last summer), but we
definitely didn’t have time before China. We figured we would
get to it sometime later in the summer. Needless to say, we are
so grateful, humbled, and unbelievably touched that our friends
and neighbors would take the time to do that for us… there are
no words to express how much that means to us!
As far as Leah, I’ll try to give a little window into where she
is at. First of all, she HATES the car seat! In China, there are
no car seat laws, or car seats really for that matter, and very
few people even use seatbelts. When we strapped her into a
5-point harness, you can imagine how much it scared her… liked
being a caged animal. We felt badly for her, but again, we can’t
give in and hold her on the ride home. I just kept reaching back
and rubbing her leg. (I’ve been craving my raspberry mocha from
Starbucks, but don’t have the heart to put her back in the car
just yet!) When we got home, she kept going from room to room
almost gasping with excitement as she saw the toys and her room,
etc. It was so sweet. Then came bedtime, and she wasn’t as
excited about her room… with her own bed… alone. We had always
layed with her to fall asleep in China, and aren’t planning to
stop that anytime soon, but she was still scared. We had decided
that if she had a total and complete meltdown over the bed
thing, she would be welcome to sleep with us for now during the
transition, but so far it’s only been little whimpers, and she
falls asleep pretty well. Staying asleep is another matter, but
that’s jet lag, and it is getting better. She loves for her
sisters to push strollers with her, and gets mad when they don’t
want to. She is quite clingy, which is understandable and fully
accepted now, although it’s hard to get much done. She had been
mostly potty trained before coming to us, but we knew that she
would regress, and so for now she is in diapers, but still goes
on the potty a fair amount. She has a ton of personality, and
everyone she has met so far just adores her!
We are adjusting, and it’s obviously going to take some time to
be completely settled. Leah needs to get used to us and our home
and our rules, and we need to get used to her and what she needs
and her personality. I’m feeling very similar to how I felt when
we brought Ryann home from the hospital. It’s a mix of
overwhelmed and unsettled. And I had felt sad and guilty for
Kyra that her time with me was going to be different and shared.
We of course loved Ryann beyond words, and were so happy to have
her in our family, but I think all mother’s go through a bit of
guilt and feeling overwhelmed when adding a new child into the
mix. So that’s where I’m at… but it has absolutely nothing to do
with how much we love and cherish Leah!
*A note from today: Each day gets better, and today was a good
step in the direction of normal. We got outside and went for a
walk, played in the backyard, and played with the neighbor kids
after nap while I got some much needed Mommy time with my
girlfriends! I think I forced myself to make today as much of a
normal day as we have had before, and it really helped! |
The signs that greeted us
(although this is in the light of day)
Excited about going swimming at the neighbor’s
A yummy breakfast together
Too cute
Ready for the day
Love these panda jammies! |
