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April 18, 2010

We have been home for one week with Grace and she is doing fantastic. She is happy, silly, playful and enjoying all the love and attention from her aunts, uncles, cousins and new friends. She is a great eater , loves pasta and soups and of course ice cream and cookies. Sleeping... she is doing ok, takes great naps but is waking up in the middle of the night for about an 1 or sometimes 2 hours for a bottle and needs to me rocked to back to sleep. Once she wakes up she is finding it hard to fall back to sleep even though she is exhausted.

Our trip home was very long – 15 hour flight in 3 seats with 4 people is not easy. We brought snacks and toys to keep Grace happy but within 10 minutes snacks were gone and her toys did not interest her – and we had 14 hours to go!! Paul and I took turns walking up and down the plane and she was happy looking at all the people and soaked up all the attention everyone was giving her. Samantha did fantastic, watched movies and was able to sleep a bit.

We arrived at Newark airport and was greeted by my sister Kim, my mom, JoJo and my dear friend Laura. It was so wonderful to see everyone and their were lots of tears of joy from everyone. We arrived home and our wonderful neighbors and friends were lined up on our street with balloons and signs to welcome all of us home. It was beautiful and meant a lot to us. Even better when we got inside our home my sister had made a delicious Italian dinner with meatballs, sausage , pork , pasta and of course Italian bread!! Exhaustion took a back seat and we sat down and enjoyed our first home cooked meal. Our wonderful friends, Kim, Lori and Carol made trays of food for the week and banana breads and bagels for our morning breakfast. We are so blessed.

Jet Lag hit Paul and I hard. We both have had stomach problems on and off with aches and pains. I started back to work a bit on Wednesday which was way too soon. Anyone who is reading this and returning from China or who is going shortly , PLEASE BE KIND TO YOURSELF , take extra time to relax at home and don't jump right back into your regular schedule – its just not possible. I am hoping this week coming up we will all feel better and start getting out a bit. Need to buy a new camera after losing it in Hong Kong and will post some new pictures hopefully this coming week. Stay tuned....

April 30, 2010

I am back!! We are all feeling much better!!! Grace is sleeping thru the night and getting a full nights sleep makes a world of difference. Grace had her first doctors appt. last week and it went well. She is 17.4 lbs –and 27 inches tall. She needs to put on a little weight and in our home this should not be too difficult! She has adjusted beautifully and has had no attachment issues at all. She loves her mommy, daddy and Samantha and we Love , Love her!

Grace loves her new swing outside and has become best friends with our dogs Cody and Sunshine. When we first arrived home she was terrified of them but that has changed – Cody our Bishon is the perfect height of her walker and loves all the cheerios and snacks Grace throws his way. She still is not walking at 14 months but she is coming along making efforts to pull herself up and will hold on to your fingers and walk all over the house. Samantha was a late walker too – 16months so its fine with Paul and I . Its made it easier for us not to have to deal with the steps and getting gates up yet.

Grace also has met most of her cousins and they are crazy for her. She loves to sing and raises her arms in the air and moves back and forth to the music – sooo cute. She also does this funny thing with her tongue when she is happy , she moves it back and forth to the beat of the music and it is just so adorable. Auntie comes to visit us every morning before work and she has been a wonderful help.

We are planning to have Grace baptized over the summer and will post an update and pictures of the ceremony and the big party we plan to have in our home. Life is good and we are truly blessed!

May 20,2010

Back again – I have been trying to get this to Jen to post for the past month. Losing my camera in Hong Kong has slowed down my picture taking but I am now up and running with a new camera!

Things are great – Grace was sleeping thru the night and now she likes to get up around 2am and have Paul or I lay with her. I really don't mind ,I waited a long time for this little girl and seeing her so happy and peaceful is well worth the 2am wakeup call (Paul may argue this point with me but he still is an amazing daddy who can't let her cry at night either).

Samantha loves to take her on the trampoline – she holds her hands and jumps lightly – Grace loves it.
Grace loves her red wagon and the swing we put up outside. She continues to be a great eater, loves everything and is starting to show us she understands what we are saying....Kisses , points to her toes , nose and ears, points to the light – rubs her tummy when we say UMM, waves bye bye and throws her arms way up into the air when we ask “how big is Grace”? She loves to walk thru our garden and smells all the flowers and like her daddy loves to watch the sprinkler go back and forth watering all the flowers.

Thanks to all our family and friends for all their good wishes and gifts for Grace and Samantha. We are looking forward to a great summer with our beautiful daughters!

"Everything Comes to Him Who Waits" ~Proverb

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