We arrived home safe and sound on Thursday evening. The trip
home was grueling to say the least and we now understand why
people pay more to fly business class. We were seated all the
way in the back of the plane by the bathrooms. It was very
noisy and hard for the children to sleep. I slept about 45
minutes and Matt slept about an hour.
We received a wonderful welcome home by our families and
friends. It was so good to see everyone even though we were
kind of dazed by lack of sleep. We came home and had a great
pot roast dinner (thanks Mom!) which tasted like heaven after
16 days of Chinese.
We are settling in well and in many ways it feels like Nora
has always been here. The first night home Luke and Nora were
in the bath tub. Luke turns to Matt and I and says "thank
you." (We have been working on manners and saying please and
thank you.) We asked "thank you for what?" He answered "My
sister." It was the sweetest moment and one we will remind
them of in the coming years when they are fighting:).
We took Nora to the pediatrician on Friday and we are happy to
report she's on the US growth curve!!! (Many newly adopted
children are not.) She is in the 10% for weight and 15% for
height. We are thrilled. Next week we see the opthamologist
and dermatologist at Children's Hospital. Developmentally she
is only very slightly delayed and we are thrilled. She also
got her hair cut on Friday so she looks even cuter now.
We are still working to adjust our clocks to the time change
and it is especially hard for the children. We've been working
hard to keep Nora and Luke up during the day which is
difficult. Nora remains a happy girl although she is becoming
more demanding (in a good way). She wants to be held as much
as possible which is great because it shows she is bonding to
us. She hates her carseat and her high chair, but other than
that she's happy. We've mostly been resting and playing and
trying to let Nora get used to her environment. She loves all
her new toys and seems to like her bedroom. She likes the dogs
and cat and they think she's quite neat too.
We will update again in a few weeks. Thank you so much for
following our journey. Thank you too for your continued
prayers as we bond as a family.
