Home at last

We have been home almost two weeks and things are started to get back to normal. Still catching up on sleep and fighting colds and such but otherwise everyone is doing well.

Leila's transition came quite easily. I'm still waiting for her to relapse but so far it has been wonderful. She came to us very easily in China. The first two days she was quiet but on day three she burst out of her shell and has been herself as we know her ever since. She is very happy - full of smiles all the time. She continues to eat, eat, eat. It is a joy to feed her - she eats anything.

We had a late Thanksgiving dinner at my sisters house and our own Thanksgiving dinner as a family of four later that weekend. We were so tired Thanksgiving day that we couldn't fully enjoy it. So our turkey dinner a few days later was just what we needed.

It took Leila about a week to start sleeping through the night and she has an occasional awakening that she can't fix herself. Olivia has adjusted to sharing her room and no longer wakes up with Leila's crying. Our little Leilabell has quite a set of lungs - it amazes me that Livi not bothered by it.

We had our first dinner out at 224 Boston, our favorite spot here in Dot. Our friends there were most gracious and took the girls while Tommy and I enjoyed some time alone for a drink. Our 224 family is always so kind to us. Of course Olivia got her gigantic bowl of ice cream with her self chosen assortment of sprinkles - a tradition that I'm sure Leila will benefit from when she is old enough.

Leila had her first visit to the pediatrician last week. She was very brave and handled it very well. These first visits are difficult - lots of vaccinations to catch up on. She called out "mama" when Dr Wong began taking blood which would have been music to my ears had she not been so distressed at the time. She is in the 10% in height and weight - far surpassing Olivia whose size was not even big enough to register on the chart.

Family and friends have been dropping in to visit. We had a wonderful meal delivered to us last night by our good friend Maria who came to visit with her daughter An yi, one of Leila's spicy Hunan sisters who came home in October from China. And we ventured out to two birthday parties last week - Hannah B on Cape Cod and some of Olivia China sisters, Arian, Alena, Josie and Tess - who had a combo party giving us the chance to show Leila off to our China family.

We are gearing up for the holidays now. Trying to do a little at a time. Most days I'm lucky to get everyone dressed and fed a few meals. But we are slowly easing into life in the triple decka'. Its crowded, messy and disorganized but warm, cozy and full of laughs. At anytime during the day you can hear the sound of raspberries coming from Leila's little lips while we all join her in symphony. And there is no sweeter sound to my ears than my two girls laughing at each other's silliness. I am enjoying every moment of the chaos.