One week home

We have now been home a week. It’s been a good week and it’s been a busy week. Our flight from Newark landed in Greensboro as scheduled and we were greeted by friends and family. It was amazing to see so many people present to welcome us back, but the best part was being back with our boys. For the first time, our family was together. Graham was so excited to see us and Charlie has gotten SO big! We were in Greensboro for less than 12 hours before heading to Durham to catch a flight to Jacksonville. I had been nervous about Tom and I traveling with all three kids, but they did pretty well. Charlie was fussy a lot of the day, which is unusual for him. It felt so good to finally get home.

On Monday Ellie and Charlie had doctor’s appointments. Charlie was supposed to have his 12 month well check, which keeps getting rescheduled for illness, but since he has been fussy they checked him out and, low and behold, he had strep throat. That explains the fussiness. He weighed in at 22lbs 6oz. When it was Ellie’s turn on the scale she weighed in at 16lbs, 2oz.  We call him the big little brother and she’s the little big sister. Ellie’s exam went well. We have already made specialist appointments and our pediatrician was glad that we are seeking an opinion at Shriner’s. He thinks there will be more ABS resources there. Ellie received several vaccines, but did really well. She and Charlie will both go back in another week for more vaccines and hopefully and finally Charlie’s well check. On Tuesday Tom went back to work and I experienced my first day alone with all three kids. It went well! It was nice to just hang out with the kids and not really do anything else. On Wednesday we had our first adventure out of the house and took Graham to the dentist. This was Graham’s first dental appointment since moving to Florida and we really liked the dentist! He was so interested in Ellie and adoption and had several questions about the process. He even discussed Ellie’s lack of any teeth and reassured me that it’s totally normal. Our cleaning people were supposed to come while we were gone, but hadn’t by the time we got home. I prefer to not be there when they’re there (because cleaning with toddlers in the house is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos) so we made a spontaneous trip to the zoo! I was a little nervous that the zoo may be too much for Ellie, but since school has already started here, it was empty.  We spent about 2.5 hours there and had a good time. Ellie enjoyed the animals and riding around in the stroller with Charlie. Turns out the zoo was good practice, because on Thursday I had to cut nap time short to pack up all the kids and take Bennett to the vet because he had nipped and licked one of his paws raw. Tom worked from home Friday and the help was great! We spent Saturday mostly at home and took everyone to the pool in the evening for about five minutes before it closed for lightening in the area. Since Ellie has been doing so well, we decided to go to church this morning. We were in Greensboro the Sunday before we left for China, so we hadn’t worshipped with our new church family in over a month. It was so good to be back. We kept Ellie with us all morning. She enjoyed the music and was a typical restless one year old during the sermon, so Tom stood in the vestibule with her. Thankfully there is a monitor out there, so he was able to listen to most of the sermon.

This week Graham starts preschool and we will begin to settle into a routine. After several months without routine, I’m really looking forward to this. I think it will be good for Ellie to have more predictability, even though she has been pretty easy going.

Ellie is adjusting really well. This week she has been trying to crawl on all fours like Charlie, she pulls up to stand like a champ, she has learned the word “gentle” (she hears it often), and she has learned to hold her own cup. She is still learning what family is. Ninety five percent of the time she plays well with Charlie, but occasionally we see some orphanage behavior peek through where she sees him as competition. Though she is much smaller, she tries to establish dominance. He’s sensitive and his feelings are hurt easily, so it’s tough. Sometimes it’s hard to discern what is typical toddler behavior and what is orphanage behavior. We’re all still learning. Ellie has a long way to go as her heart heals and she learns what it is to be part of a family. Ellie has rejected most of what she ate in China and has been chowing down! We can already tell her face looks a little more full and her skin is brighter! She has been sleeping well at night, which has been very nice with the jet lag.

Please pray for Ellie as she continues to adjust. Pray for Graham as he starts school this week. He has done surprisingly well with everything, which is such an answer to prayer. Pray for Charlie as he tries to figure out his sister. Also, please pray for Tom and I.  The jet lag has been unreal and it has definitely been a big change going from two to three kids. God has taken good care of us and it is so good to have all my babies home!

This sums up the past week!

At the zoo

Toy plates were the toy to have this week.

Learning to hold her cup up!