Snow Day

David, Amelia, and I are on the way to Tuscaloosa to introduce Amelia to family. I decided this was a good opportunity to post an update from yesterday.

Yesterday, Amelia saw her first snow! We had to get out in it, so we put her orphanage snow suit on and went outside. She wasn't sure about it at all and didn't want to stay outside too long.

We went to lunch at the Mexican restaurant with Daddy and Pawpaw. She ate almost an entire cheese quesadilla plus some rice and beans. Amelia wasn't sure about Pawpaw, but he earned points from feeding her and letting her hold his fingers to walk around the place.

Here are some pictures from our day:

It's a Miracle!

I am so happy to make this announcement - Amelia slept for 12 hours straight last night without waking up!!!  We put her to sleep at 9:00, and she woke up at 9:00 this morning. :)  We are hoping it wasn't just some fluke and that maybe she is getting into a pattern.  We'll see how tonight goes with her, but things look promising.  It proves that she can sleep in her room alone all night.

Today, my friend, Emily, and her daughter, Collins, came for a visit and brought us dinner.  Collins was also born in China, so it was nice to see the two girls playing together (or parallel playing).  Sweet Emily made Amelia chicken congee.  This was one of her favorite things in China, and I had not clue how to make it.  It was a fabulous surprise.  It was nice to be able to visit with Emily and ask her adoptive mom questions.  I value her experience and it was important for me to hear that I was doing okay as an adoptive mom.

After Emily and Collins left, David and I decided to run Amelia to Target.  This was her first trip there, and she had a great time.  She picked out some snacks in the baby snack isle, but I told her we had enough Puffs at home (we already had some at home and I bought more yesterday at Babies R Us because they were on sale).  Amelia had such a great time at the store that she fell asleep on the way home.

She took some extra time in the bath tonight.  We opened some new bath toys (the tea set that friends from school gave her), and she LOVED it!  She had the best time pouring water out of the teapot into the cups.  She REALLY wanted to drink out of the cups, but I wouldn't let her because the water was soapy.

Tomorrow, we have our first home visit with our post-adoption case manager.  We hope that everything goes okay.

Ladies Day Out and Play Date

This morning, Amelia woke up around 9:45.  David went and got her out of bed and put her in bed with him.  She actually relaxed on his chest in the bed!  I was so excited because she is finally beginning to bond a bit with him.  This is the first time that she has actually allowed him to hold her around me and on top of that, she actually seemed happy to be laying down with him.

After playing in the playroom and having breakfast, Poppy, Amelia, and I had a ladies day out.  First, we took Amelia shoe shopping.  She bought 2 pair of Keds - silver and red.  They are so precious.  She is so cute when she tries to walk in them, because they are heavier and higher up than her Robeez.  While in the shoe store, she started to play with a one of the bead on a wire boxes.  She had the best time, so we decided that after we had lunch, we would run to Babies R Us to see if they had one.  Once we bought Amelia's shoes, we went to lunch at O'Carrs.  Amelia loved the chicken salad, fruit, and cheese.  She ate and ate the fruit, but she only wanted to eat it like we ate it - she wanted to bite pieces off instead of being handed cut up pieces.  She wants to be just like us, so we let her take bites.  After we finished lunch, we ran into Babies R Us to see if they had the toy and pick up a few things.  She was a trooper.  We bought a pair of pajamas, a jacket, Puffs and other snacks, more plug protectors, and the bead toy.  Amelia took about an hour nap when we got home before our friends Johnny, Jennifer, and Harper came to play.

Amelia had her first play date with Harper.  Johnny and Jennifer brought dinner to us and brought Harper to play with Amelia.  They were so cute.  It was definitely parallel play, but it was nice to see Amelia with another child and to be able to visit with Johnny and Jennifer.  Jennifer caught me up on all of the happenings around school.  I really miss everyone, but I am enjoying being home with Amelia.  It is amazing how fast the days go by when you are staying home.  While working, there were days that would DRAG by so slowly.  I'm sure those days will come with Amelia, but for now, we are enjoying being home together as a family.

Sunday and Monday

David decided not to go hunting this weekend.  That was great news for me, because I was not ready to stay alone overnight with Amelia not sleeping.  I feel like I need my teammate.  I'm sure he will plan to go this coming weekend, but it at least gives me a few more days to get Amelia on some kind of a sleep schedule. 

David and I decided to attempt taking Amelia to church yesterday.  We planned to arrive late and get there in time for the sermon.  Unfortunately, Father Houser had already begun the sermon when we slipped into our pew.  It was nice to sit in church and give thanks to God for completing our family and allowing us safe travels.  Father Houser said a nice prayer for God allowing us to return home safely.  Everyone in church was excited to meet Amelia.  She did a great job sitting in the pew with us.  She ate some snacks and waved to the people around us.

After church, we went home and put Amelia down for a nap.  Our friends, Randy and Melissa, brought dinner from Zoe's and came for a visit.  It was nice to get to see with them, because it had been a while since Melissa and I had chatted.  Amelia LOVED the dinner that they brought and actually ate half of a chicken breast and some orzo!  I think she would have eaten the entire chicken breast if I had allowed it. 

Last night, we decided to do some different things with bedtime.  Amelia has started treating whoever was sleeping in her room as her audience.  She has always talked to us, but now she tries to give us her blankets and climb out of her crib to get to us.  We decided to let her sleep in her room by herself.  If she cried, we would check on her, but we would not sleep in her room.  I know that she has not slept in a room by herself before, and it will be a difficult adjustment, but I honestly think that is part of the reason she is waking up at night.  She wants to play with whoever is in the room.  Last night, David and I both went through the bedtime routine with Amelia.  We played in the playroom for a while, gave her a bath, rubbed her with lotion, gave her a bottle, let her brush her teeth, and read her books.  She went into the bed without any problem and went to sleep.  An hour later, she woke up crying.  I went back in there and read another book hoping that my voice would lull her back to sleep.  It didn't.  For almost an hour, I would leave the room for a few minutes and come back for a few minutes.  I know she doesn't understand English yet, but I kept repeating, "Mommy is here, and I will always come back to you when I leave.  Daddy and I are in the house.  You are safe, and we will check on you.  The sun has gone to sleep, and it is now time for you to go to sleep.  I will see you in the morning."  I went through the schedule for today and would leave the room.  I did this repeatedly.  She would cry and scream when I left, but the minute I opened the door, she would immediately lay down and get quiet.  She finally fell asleep 2 hours after she woke up.  She slept in her room by herself until 11:00 this morning!  David looked at me and said, "It's a Christmas miracle!".  Yes, she should have been up before 11:00.  We had done well the past two days with getting up around 9:00, but this morning, I woke up at 10:45.  David was about the same time.  Tonight, we are trying the same thing.  David had a Board of Directors meeting for Camp Winnataska tonight and missed the bedtime routine.  Amelia fell asleep instantly, but she woke up an hour later screaming.  David was home by then and we went up and checked on her and told her that we were here, and we would always come back.  I have been up there three times in the past hour.  We are watching the baby monitor.  Currently, she is still awake and playing with her blanket.  She will cry out for a second and look around and then go back to laying down with the blanket or moving around her crib.  I plan to check on her again before heading to bed, but I hope that she will fall asleep soon and stay asleep.  I wish that she could drop this 2-3 hour time period that she stays awake before really going to sleep.  I plan to talk to our new case manager about this on Thursday and with Dr. Chambers on the 23rd. 

Today, we stayed in because the weather was so icky.  We played a lot in the playroom, and I let Amelia help me with laundry.  She likes to take things out of the dryer.  This allowed me to find the child lock mode on the dryer because I am afraid she will try to be helpful in the future.  I tried to take a few photos of her tonight while she was crawling around the keeping room, but she was not interested in her having her picture taken.  She was in constant motion, so it was difficult to get a good shot of her.  Tomorrow, I am actually going to get out of the house with her.  We are going shoe shopping.  If she is going to walk as much as she is trying, I think she needs to get a pair of hard bottom shoes.  Wish us luck!

I miss sleeping...

Amelia has been going to be much easier, but she still can't seem to manage to stay asleep all night.  No matter what time we put her to bed (8:00 or 10:00), she still wakes up around 12:30-1:00 and wants to play until 4:00.  It was a very busy day for Amelia, so I hope that she is tuckered out and will sleep tonight.  I miss being able to sleep all night in my bed with David and Bailey.  I look forward to the day that I can sleep downstairs like normal.  I pray that Amelia will sleep through the night and that I will only have to go upstairs to check on her and not to sleep in the same room with her because she checks to see if someone is there.

Today, we got her up earlier than she has been since we were in China - 9:00.  We went to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family and have breakfast.  It was the first time that my brothers and their families have been able to see Amelia and spend time with her.  She was a bit cranky from lack of sleep, but I think she did pretty well considering how many people were there.  She opened attempted to open her presents and when I couldn't help her anymore, Poppy or Daddy helped her.  She started pitching a minor fit and my sweet nephew, Ford, (2 years old) leaned down and tried to comfort "Baby Melia".  He was so cute and said, "It's okay Baby Melia."  He then started crying because she was sad.  Amelia was so tired by the time we left that she fell asleep in the car on the 3 minute drive home.  David put her down for a nap and she slept for 2 hours before I woke her up.

This evening, David's sister, Laurie, and her two children, Benjamin and Sarah, came to meet Amelia.  Laurie brought pizza and Christmas presents, so it has been a very celebratory day for us.  Benjamin and Sarah had a great time with Amelia and played and played with her in the playroom.  Amelia has started trying to take independent steps between us, and she was thrilled to be able to take steps toward her aunt and cousins.  The children just loved that she would try to walk to them.  It was really cute.  I forgot to take pictures of anything today and am so sad.  I really would love to have documented Amelia's first meeting of her aunts, uncles, and cousins.

An update on the eye:

Yesterday, David and I tried to go back to the American Family Care doctor that we saw Tuesday night.  He was not there and the other doctor told us her eye was looking infected and that we should take her to the emergency room.  It was still swollen, but we didn't think it was emergency room material.  We decided to see if the Children's on Acton Road saw patients, but they only have after hours emergency care.  Dr. Chambers is in that building, but she was not at the office.  We decided to try the pediatrician.  I had looked at joining a certain pediatric practice before we left for China and was not happy that they refused to look at her file because they did not do any "preterm" visits.  I explained that we were adopting a child and would like her file reviewed by her doctor and they declined.  I tried to call this office and there was no answer.  We decided to go across the street to a pediatric office on Acton Road.  It is convenient to David's work, my work, and the preschool, but not convenient to home.  We went in and explained that we had no pediatrician and that the other doctor's office sent us to the emergency room, but we didn't think it was necessary.  A nice doctor decided to see us, and we decided to become her patient full time.  She did a thorough exam of Amelia and told us that she has worked with Dr. Chambers several times and would look forward to her reports.  She thinks that Amelia looks great from what she can tell and that she will have skin issues from what she could tell.  We already expected this, but it was good for her to confirm what we suspected.  She gave us an antibiotic for Amelia's eye and told us that she would NEVER have glued it.  We are to put warm compresses on it to try to break up the glue.  Amelia's eye is looking MUCH better.  There is still a little swelling and a lot of glue, but the redness has gone down and her eyeball is showing through normally.  Unfortunately, the antibiotic began its work on her stomach today, so diaper changing has been fun.  On top of this, Amelia now has two new teeth coming in on the top.  One has come through the gum a good bit and the other is just about to break the surface.

I was going to attempt to try to go to church tomorrow, but I am not sure how the night will go.  I think we need to try some little trips during the week before I take her somewhere and expect her to stay for an extended amount of time.  She HATES the car seat, so I really need to work on her getting use to this.  I have been sitting in the back seat with her, but when I am driving, it will be an entirely different screaming experience.  David is planning to go hunting tomorrow and come back Monday afternoon, so please pray that I will make it with Amelia by myself.  I am not concerned so much for Amelia but for Bailey.  I am afraid that I will be so wrapped up with her that I will forget to feed him and let him out.  I know that David really wants to get together with his guy friends and hunt before the season ends at the end of the month, but I am a bit nervous about having the night time by myself to battle the screaming when Amelia wakes up and wants out of the crib.  David has been great about taking over when he feels that I am getting frustrated (like last night after 2 straight hours of screaming because I wouldn't get her out of the crib).

Please continue to pray for our family as we transition into this new life.  I think we are doing the best we can right now.  I just keep reminding myself that we have only been home for 1 week, we are all still jet lagged, Amelia has never slept in a room by herself, and she is having to learn to live an entirely new life with strange people and a new language.  On a happy note, while I was holding her tonight, she actually reached out for David to hold her.  It only lasted 5 seconds, but she reached for him.  That's a HUGE step! 

A Bird in the House

We had a very nice day at home today.  Amelia woke up by herself around 11:00 and took an hour and half nap this afternoon (also waking herself up).  I hope that she will be able to sleep throughout tonight.  The swelling in her eye has gone down throughout the day, and we even got to see her eyeball peeking out tonight.  I hope that most of the swelling will go down tonight, and we'll be able to see all of her eye tomorrow.  I think we will go back tomorrow for a follow-up just to make sure everything is healing properly.

Our friends, Katie and Anna Claire, came for a visit today.  They brought dinner for us, and Amelia loved it.  It was nice being able to chat with them for a while.

Tonight, we had a real surprise.  Bailey came in from outside, and a bird flew in behind him!  It flew all around the house and took a little walk in Amelia's playroom while she was in there.  She didn't know what was happening.  I opened the windows in her room, and David opened the back door and tried to whistle for the bird.  It was pretty funny.  The bird flew into Amelia's room, and I quickly closed the door to trap it inside.  Amelia kept trying to get inside her room.  She did not understand why her door was closed.  David found the bird sitting in the bathtub.  He ushered it to the window, and it flew away.  It was a pretty exciting ending to our day.  We had to pick up a few feathers, but I am happy to report that no bird poop has been found. :)

Amelia went to bed with only a little crying tonight.  I hope that she will sleep...

Updates from the Howard Family

We are getting settled in, but sleep is still an issue.  She goes to bed around 10:00 and wakes up between 1:00-2:00 ready to play.  She falls asleep between 4:00-5:00 and wakes up around noon.  The Howards are getting very little rest.  The past two days, she has needed at bit of a nap, so we are trying that into her schedule.

She enjoys walks through the neighborhood and playing in her playroom.  She and Bailey have tried to become friends, but they got into their first fight last night.  Bailey walked out of the room and Amelia went after him.  Let's just say Bailey won.  We had our first trip to the doctor to see if we needed a stitch, but after messing with it for a while, he put a little glue on it.  Last night, she went to bed with two eyes, but this morning she only had one.  The other eye was swollen shut.  She isn't bothered by it at all.  I hope China doesn't try to take her back.  The doctor assured us that these things happen all the time and they it even happened to his own children.  David is shopping for baby gates so that we can separate our two Chinese children onto opposite sides of the house.  He also has to get a gate for the top of the steps at the entrance to the playroom.  Amelia is a bit of a daredevil and has been trying to dive head first down the stairs.  I imagine that I will take many more trips to the doctor's office...

Here is a picture of Amelia in her car on one of our walks.  Please note that she and Bailey were getting along just fine in these pictures.

We're Home!

I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to update everyone on our trip home.  David, Amelia, and I arrived at the airport very tired and excited last night around 9:30.  We had many friends and family members waiting to great us.  It was WONDERFUL to see familiar faces who we missed so much.  Thank you to all who stayed up late on a Saturday night to welcome us back home.  We really appreciate it!  I will post some pictures when people send them to me. :)

Last night was ROUGH!  We arrived home around 11:00 and showed Amelia her new home.  We introduced her to her big brother, Bailey, and neither was very impressed with each other.  Amelia cried because she was scared, and Bailey couldn't figure out what was going on with the new little person his mama was holding.  She loved her playroom and even seemed to like her crib.  We prepared her for bed and gave her a bottle.  Around 12:30, we put her in the pack n play in our bedroom, and the screaming began.  She would not settle down.  She liked her crib earlier in the evening, so we decided to go ahead and try that.  It was similar to what she had been sleeping in, and we hoped it would make her want to go to sleep.  We were mistaken.  I rocked her to sleep and she slept for about an hour and a half before waking up.  I ran upstairs and got her back to sleep.  Thirty minutes later, she was back up.  I decided to sleep in the bed in her room because she has been sleeping in the same room with us for almost 2 weeks.  David started out in our bedroom and ended up coming up there on the floor with us for a while.  She woke up every 10-30 minutes screaming until around 5:00 this morning.  I awoke to the sound of the phone ringing and running feet on hardwood floors.  I let Amelia sleep thinking it was around 10:00 in the morning and was shocked to realize that it was 2:30 in the afternoon!  We let Amelia sleep until around 4:15 before waking her up.

Leigh came over around 3:30 and brought us lunch/dinner.  She took Amelia on a stroll around the neighborhood and played with her in the playroom while David and I unpacked.  I was able to get everything unpacked and laundry started while she was here.  She helped me start a shopping list and offered to go with me to Target tomorrow to get everything.  She was a huge help and offered to come play again tomorrow.  David put Amelia to bed around 10:00.  He said it was not that difficult tonight, but we are not sure how long to expect her to sleep.  As much as I need sleep, I need organization more.  While she has been asleep tonight, I have been able to reorganize the pantry to accommodate her food and snacks, clean the kitchen, pay bills, wash dishes, return emails, and work on some laundry.  Now, I will be able to hopefully sleep without thinking about all of the things I need to do.  I hope that Amelia will let me sleep!  Good night everyone!