Thursday, December 18, 2008

12.17.08 2 Weeks at Home

Hard to believe that our little ‘LiLi’ has been home for 2 weeks. She’s already brought so much joy to our family and friends and as they boys say, "She’s the best Christmas present ever!"

The boys really adore her, and she’s getting a lot of attention. The first night home, they helped give her bath and Zach decided he needed to fully immerse himself in the experience, so off he went to put on his swimsuit and join Liana in the tub. Liana is loving her brothers, and we’re so proud of the selfless way they have welcomed her into their world.

Our sons help feed her, play with her, and take care of her – they really have been helpful. They all helped Liana decorate the Christmas tree. Zach introduced her to boy toys like fire trucks and Legos, loves to read to her, and always sits next to her in the van to make sure she's o.k.; Ben has series of funny faces that just crack her up, and he has taught his little sister to ‘shake it’; Trevor just simply loves to be around her, carrying her around the house, babysitting when we parents are trying to get something done (!) and rocking her to sleep in our indoor swing in the basement.

It’s been a remarkably smooth adjustment – Liana is amazingly adaptable. She’s met dozens of new faces, welcomed a parade of relatives and visitors, discovered the fear and then joy of dogs, she’s been to multiple doctor’s, the grocery store, the mall, Target (of course!), a birthday party, family holiday parties, Zach's hockey game, and she takes it all in stride.

After a week of being messed up by the time change, which also affected her appetite, she’s back to being a great eater. She much prefers whatever we’re eating to anything that comes in a baby food jar. Her menu is broad and she likes variety - with expectations of buffet service like we had in our hotel: eggs and pancakes, ham and turkey, beans and potatoes, mandarin oranges, apricots and pears, real prunes, pealed grapes, pizza crust, oyster crackers, and even broccoli! Her favorite so far was a chicken pot pie that friends prepared for us. She had more than we did!
With all this eating, and lots of playing, she’s noticeably grown in size and strength since we got home – the girl is changing fast! She’s confidently pulling up and starting to cruise, her crawl has really picked up speed, and she enjoys jumping and swaying the bouncy swing.

Like most of the families in our group, our biggest hurdle had been sleeping at night. A combination of the time adjustment and fear of new surroundings has kept Liana from sleeping through the night. We’re adapting to her needs, comforting her nighttime fears, and giving her room to adjust at her pace to her new life. She's made huge improvements in this area and has even slept through the night for the last two nights! THIS IS HUGE!

We pinch ourselves as it’s still hard to believe that after all this time she’s really here. Everything feels right, like it was just meant to be, like she’s always been a part of our family. God truly has an awesome plan, and has blessed our family immeasurably with an abundance of love.

This is truly an unforgettable, joyful season that we’ll always cherish. Love and happiness to all of you this holiday season.

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