Jet Lag is REAL!

Can I can I carry a bucket of Doras & ride at the same time?

It doesn't seem possible that we have been home 2 weeks.  All my life I have read about jet lag and let me tell you it is the real deal.  We were so tired when we got home Friday, April 1, I thought nothing would interfere with sleep....well...I was wrong.  I slept relatively well that first night and felt fairly good all day Saturday.  Randy had started with a cold several days before we left China and it really hit him hard on Sat. & Sun.  I was the only one who made it to church on Sunday morning, but by Sun. afternoon, it had begun to drag me down, too.  Hard to describe how you feel, fine one minute and can't make another step the next minute.  You fight to stay awake past 8 PM and then you are wide awake at midnight or 3 AM.  Lilly and the Hulings were battling it too.  You can't explain to a 2 year old why you are wide awake from 12 to 5 AM and then want to sleep until 10 AM.  By mid-week we were all beginning to sleep better, but still waking at odd hours.  Unfortunately by Thursday the cold bug had decided it needed to visit me, too and I have been battling it and a terrible cough.  Hopefully we will all get back to normal in a few more days.

The number one question I hear everywhere I go is, "How is Lilly adjusting?"  I think she is doing really well all things considered.  She is bonding with all of us and it comfortable around all of us.  She loves to eat and we have still not found anything she does not like, except the baby formula they recommended we give her.  She loves, boiled peanuts, hot dogs, hamburgers, onion, bell pepper, edamame, peas & rice, chicken nuggets, broccoli, all kinds of fruit, carrot salad, cherry tomatoes, you name it she will eat it.  Strangely she will eat small amounts of dessert, cake, cookies & ice cream.  Not sure she has had lots of sweets before.  She really likes yogurt type drinks.  What a blessing to have a little one who loves all kinds of food.

Cooking at Mammy's house.

She is still struggling with sleeping through the night.  Heather says she will cry out several times during the night, never really awake, but struggling in her sleep.  You can not really comfort her and once Heather picked her up out of her bed and attempted to comfort her and she wanted her to put her back into her bed.  After several minutes she went back to sleep.  Lilly likes to sit in her stroller or booster seat.  Last Saturday she sat in her stroller for Walker's 2 baseball games.  Not many 2 year olds will do that.  She played for a short time in Randy's lap and then wanted to get back into the stroller.  Heather says she often wants to sit in her booster seat and snap and unsnap her safety belt.  It is obvious to us that she has not had many toys to play with as she seems unsure how to play.  We also believe she has not been taken outside very much either and if she has it has been on concrete.  I have a sand box that all the kids have loved to play in, but she will only squat down by it and scratch around in the edge.  Can't get her interested in picking flowers either, although she does like to ride on the golf cart.  Heather is taking her outside every day for short times.  She is very much her mother's daughter, as she is very hot natured, just like Heather.  It is going to be a long summer.  She also loves shoes...my kind of girl.  Miranda has sent probably 10 or so pairs of shoes from Alaina & Ella and she can put on her socks and shoes herself and she loves to try all of them on.  Not necessarily matching the same shoes.

Her laughter continues to light up a room.  She is also very ticklish and will just squeal with delight if you tickle her.  She usually laughs out loud when she sees Randy.  Yesterday I was showing Heather the web blog of Jennifer Turquette, who traveled with us the two weeks in China.  Lilly was in her lap and when the blog opened up it had a picture of Steve, Jennifer, and Sophia, and she was so excited to see Sophia.  She just called out and pointed to her picture.  It was the same on all the pictures.  It was like I know that little girl.  She also likes to look at pictures of herself.  Wonder if she had ever seen a picture of herself?

Poppa loves to tickle me.

 I continue to feel so blessed to have been given this opportunity to travel to China and share it with all of you.  God has blessed us with such a sweet precious baby girl.  She continues to bring joy into our lives and I look forward to each day with her as we share God's love and His goodness with her.  I'm excited that next weekend JB, Miranda & family and Will are going to be home with us.  It will be a lively noisy house, but in a very good way.