July 29 Welcome Home

“I bet the folks back home are thinkin’ ‘Now why don’t [she] write.’” This is one of my favorite lines in Dancin’ with Wolves. We are home and have wanted to do a daily update, but jet lag has set in and we are recovering from that as well as getting adjusted to our time zone and being home and trying to develop a routine.

Our trip home was mainly uneventful with a few minor airline snags until our layover in Minneapolis and then a huge airline problem. Needless to say, we won’t ever travel with them again as long as it is in our control. Lacie was just totally awesome. We gave her bottles on every ascent and descent. She never complained about her ears. She really never complained much about anything, even on our 10.5 hour flight from Tokyo. She did better than we did. She was friendly and smiley and slept an appropriate amount of time for John and I to at least rest, if not sleep. We were in front of the plane and our friends in the back had a very hard time with their little one. So, we do feel grateful and thankful that she was so wonderful. She was also very good on our layovers and was patient with being woken up multiple times. We got through customs smoothly and this was technically where Lacie became a U.S. Citizen. Again, it was bittersweet for us – we are so excited for her to have the opportunities the U.S. can offer but also sad because we have totally left China behind – physically anyway, not in our hearts – China will always be in our hearts.

In Minneapolis we discovered that our plane was going to be running about 45 minutes late to leave for home. Then it was overbooked and they were asking for people to volunteer to give up a seat. Then they indicated that there were little technical difficulties and then they cancelled our flight completely. We were stunned. We had been up for over 24 hours and either in airports or airplanes for close to that. We had asked a 9 month old to be a trooper long enough (as well as her parents.) There were five families to be on that flight to our home city, who had adopted from China. We were all tired and ready to be home with our daughters and to see family and friends already anxiously waiting at the airport at home for our big arrival.

An hour or so later and with a lot of prodding and nagging (and a few tears from the mothers, not baby’s), they finally got us (two families) on a flight to Cincinatti. Two of our wonderful friends and my mother came to meet us there and to bring us home. Lacie was a trooper again and also in a car seat for the first time in her life. She slept all the way home and we got home around 2:00 a.m. on Sunday. When we arrived at home we saw our front yard decorated with little lambs and a big Welcome Home Lacie sign. What an awesome feeling to know that friends had thought of us and to spend this time and energy to welcome us in such a sweet way.

We went to bed at 4:00 a.m. and we slept till 6:30 and then we were UP for the day. She was wired. She played and rolled and talked and played some more. Good news – she was up during the day – and hopefully to sleep at night – keeping in mind that her days and nights are backwards from ours. Some baby’s do not get adjusted for over a week or more and have sleepless nights and are down for the day. Our friends had recommended to get her outside in the morning sunshine which we did by 7:30 on Sunday. It worked! We have been home now five nights and she has slept through each night. We can only thank God for that. I think John and I are getting more sleep than we ever did. I try to nap with her in the afternoons and John goes to bed a little earlier than I do at night. Last night he fell asleep with her and it was so cute seeing them snooze together – nothing was going to wake that duo. John and I are up at 4:30 a.m. and can’t sleep. We hope she will sleep a little longer. We are taking advantage of our time now to catch up on email.

Our daughter is totally incredible. She loves being home where she can be on the floor and to have an excersaucer to play in. I have seen her do things I did not know she could do, like roll over ten times to get to another place in the room. In China she had only rolled from back to side – never across a bed or a room. She loves her toys. I was worried in China because she never let me put her down (AT ALL) unless she was sleeping. She loves to be on the floor or in her excersaucer and I can even leave the room for a few seconds and she does not cry. (Don’t worry Grandparents – we do not leave her unattended for more than a split second.) Our dogs are wonderful and sleep between her and the door or between her crib and the door – to protect her. She has already tried to pull on their noses and they just wag their tails. (Don’t worry grandparents – we won’t leave her alone with the dogs either.)

Wednesday was a big day for Lacie. It was her first day out of the house besides a walk or a swing in the back yard. We drove over an hour to her first medical check up since coming home. The doctor was very impressed with her developmentally and stated she had good muscle tone and she would not need First Steps at this time. First Steps is a physical/occupational therapy program for young children. She listened to her lungs and gave an all clear. She did find an inner ear infection and now we have to begin a round of antibiotics. Lacie got a TB test and mommy and Lacie both cried for the small under the skin injection. THEN they took blood – and more blood. Talk about cry. She cried and kept looking at me like I was supposed to rescue her from any type of harm. Yes – I cried too. Daddy could only stand and watch, feeling helpless and wishing he was not guilty by association. After the doctors appt, we had to run by Target to get some supplies for organization and for feeding. I think she will be a Target shopper like mommy. AND yes, that was too busy a day for our angel – but we are done with outings like that for awhile until a follow up docs appointment on Saturday and maybe church on Sunday.

Lacie has had grandparent and aunt and uncle visitors already and two first cousins – and all in small doses and increments. So many people wanted to meet us at the airport and of course could not due to our cancelled flight. She does love visitors and mommy and daddy do too. Her grandparents are still trying to get in to see her and we are anxious for all of our family and friends to meet our daughter. She loved it when her two cousins came in to play with her. Nathan is five and Isabella is three. I think it was a breath of fresh air for Lacie to see another child and not just adults. John and I are impressed that when grandparents and aunts have held her briefly she does look for us and always reaches out for us. This is good! This means that she is identifying us as her parents. We have to keep reminding ourselves that just two weeks ago she was handed to us and she did not know us, so therefore she still does not understand that we won’t hand her over and walk away like with her previous experience. So, if we are a little over bearing for awhile it is so she remains secure with us and knows we are not going to leave her. It will take time for her to learn and trust completely that we are hers forever! We are now a forever family – her forever family! We thank everyone for your patience as we are trying to see you as well as try and keep things low key for Lacie in her first few weeks at home.

So many people have commented how blessed she is to have us, to have opportunities she may not have had in China and to have a family, etc. We recognize more every day that we are the blessed ones, to have her in our lives and to have the opportunity we would not ever have if it were not for her in our lives.

We thank God for each of you – our friends and family – all who have taken an interest in our journey and all who have supported us in a special and meaningful way. We will continue to do updates but obviously not as often as we try and settle into our home life and get organized (or not.)

Hugs and love, Vonda and John and Lacie