Settling In and Doctor's Visit

I've been told that people are waiting to hear more...I know exactly how you feel.  I have been following adoption blogs for two years.  I always got excited about the daily updates in China only to be left hanging when they got home.  What are they doing?  They should be updating their blog!

Well, we have been sleeping, unpacking, doing laundry, cooking/cleaning, trying to give attention to the yard, the dog, the cat, going to the doctor and vet, and trying to give our five (!) children the attention they want.

Saying Goodbye to China

We had a pretty uneventful first flight from Guangzhou to Seoul.  We had bulkhead seating, but they didn't request a bassinet to hang on the wall.  So, Matt held Anna most of the flight.  Then, we played at Seoul for a while and boarded our flight to Atlanta at 6:30.  It was FULL.  We thought maybe we could find an extra seat to spread out, but there were none.  We had three seats on one side and one across the aisle from those.  At first, Matt and Anna sat with Joshua and Caleb, and I sat next to a man across the aisle who was wearing very strong cologne.   We had dinner, and Matt ended up standing holding a sleeping Anna because she would sprawl out if he sat down.  One time, she even flipped off his lap.  Finally, about 4:30, I took her to change her diaper, she fussed and then calmed down enough for us to watch the crew fix breakfast in the galley.  Korean Air attendants were so great about coming to our attention if she was fussing to offer milk or juice.  I saw an attendant rocking someone elses baby at one point.  A little after 5, they served breakfast and we started getting ready to land.  I was thrilled to see the Atlanta skyline, and we arrived at 7:30 p.m. 

I don't think the emotional toll of the trip hit me until we landed.  I tried to hold myself together as we went through immigration.  Anna came to the US on an immigrant visa, so we had to head off to a separate room and wait for them to process the brown envelope holding her paperwork. 



First steps as a US citizen

Finally, we exit and find our bags on the conveyor belt.  I thought we were done and heading out only to find out that since we were coming in internationally that we got our bags and deposited them on a separate xray conveyor belt, and we got to go through another xray security station.  Then, we had to hop on the train and go to baggage claim and wait for our bags to come up again.  By then, it was after 9:00 pm, and we had been traveling for 24 hours.  We were glad to be so close to home yet so very tired.  Matt's Dad met us and drove us home.  We came home to see a pink bow on the mailbox. A sight I never thought that I would see!   

Matt, Anna, and I crashed and actually slept most of the night.  Joshua and Caleb had a harder time going to sleep as they did sleep quite a bit on the plane.  We got up and met Mom and the boys at church the next morning.  Thomas let out a squeal and tried to come running.  It was a wonderful feeling to have them back in our arms.  It also felt really good to me to have my arms around a little one again since Anna had been so resistant to me.

The boys are taking to Anna really well.  Luke loves to give her kisses, and Thomas is enjoying showing her all the fun stuff to get into.

 

We took Anna to the doctor this week for her intial check up.  There is a long list of tests recommended for internationally adopted children, so they took blood and started immunizations and did a TB test and gave me bottles for stool samples (ick!).  It was a rough visit, but she did very well considering.

Yummy Ramen Noodles

 

Anna is doing better with me.  If Matt is around, she still shows a definite preference to him even wanting him to feed her.  But if Matt is gone, she doesn't cry and will hold her arms out for me to pick her up.   She gives me a few smiles, but when Matt is playing with her she smiles and giggles freely.  It is actually working out since Thomas is a definite Mama's boy.  Matt says that 4 to 1 (Mama's boys to Daddy's girl) isn't really fair, and it's his turn.  I guess he's right there, as long as I can provide care for her when he is not here as that was one of my biggest fears.

We are so thankful to be home to sleep in our own beds and drink the water...and have our little girl here with us.