Since we've been home.....

First night home wasn't too bad.  We were all exhausted so Ellie Kay only woke once and was easy to settle back to sleep.

We woke to a pantry, fridge, and freezer stocked with meals and groceries. Waverly, Mom, Matt's mom, and Jeanie had seen to the groceries and several meals ready to go in our fridge.    I learned today that Waverly had also asked a few friends to also make freezer meals.  It has been so sweet of everyone to help out so much.  (Thanks Wave, Brooke, Dara, Amanda, and Chas:).

The next morning Ellie Kay was sweet and smiley for our parents (they had all slept here the night before).   She got tired for her nap pretty quickly though and had to be laid down pretty soon.  Amy, Maddy, and Landon dropped by to say bye before they headed back.  Then, all of our parents left shortly thereafter.

This was a day for new things and exploration for Ellie Kay.  She had first meals at our table, her first time to see our dog, Lego, and it was the first time she and Tru played together.  They were pretty cute.  She has shown her persistence in getting to what she wants.  She was interested in everything that Tru was playing with.  Tru is going to have to readjust to having a younger sibling.  He wasn't super crazy about having his toys played with, so this will make for some good character development for him.  :)

It was kind of like the first day home from the hospital. I wore the clothes I slept in all day.  We were exhausted all day and very unorganized because all of our stuff was packed up. did start getting a little unpacked by the end of the day.

That night was worse. She woke up at least twice and one of the times stayed up at least an hour wanting to play.  She's still been on China time which is exactly opposite of US time.


Saturday, Oct 19th

Much the same as the day before.  Everyone was still very tired.  We actually felt drugged.  We did make a small trip to Walmart for practice of short trips in the car seat.   (Plus we couldn't fall asleep if we were walking around Walmart). She did much better with the seat!!  The boys fed her puffs and that made it all better. :).

Saturday night was horrible! She was up all night and was very sensitive to sound. She woke to the sound of Matt easing into bed or of one of us turning over. It ended up that we only got a couple or three hours of sleep combined.


Sunday, October 20th
We woke too late to go to church so we let the big boys sleep in since they haven't had a problem being too awake at night.  Matt actually ended up waking up Aidan at 12:45pm.  That boy can sleep!

It was a beautiful day so we tried to have as much outside time as possible so we could try to reset our bodies' clocks.  Jacob and I took Ellie Kay and Tru for a walk in a double stroller and they both seemed to enjoy it.  Then, I put Ellie Kay in the grass and let her explore the grass, leaves, and flowers.  God speaks to us through his creation and one sad thing I noticed in China was the lack of grass, open space, butterflies, or birds.  What they called "playgrounds" were literally just sections of concrete where kids could ride bikes.  I highly doubt Ellie Kay has ever been sat down in grass just to see what it feels like.  I love the opportunity of witnessing these first moments.  She was pretty fascinated!

In the afternoon, we took another short trip just here in Millington to try to get another positive experience with the car seat and to keep ourselves awake.

Last night was a little bit better.  She was wide awake from 10:30-12:30.  She was kissing Matt's face, clapping her hands, babbling....  Anything but sleeping. She finally got sleepy and woke several more times during the night but was pretty easy to settle down those times.  Up at 7:00am this Monday morning and raring to go.  ;).

Will try to post pics today.