We are home everyone!!
The flight was long but Emily was a trouper once again. The flight attendents gave us a baby cot as we asked for a bulkhead seat. Emily slept for only 3 hours of the 10 hour flight, but she seemed to cope very well. The lady who sat next to me commented on how good Emily was, and I agreed!! I think all three of us were glad when the flight was over. We took a taxi from Vancouver airport to the ferry terminal. Emily fell asleep for 45 minutes. Then she slept for 1 1/2 hours on the ferry. She was exhausted and so were we.
In Nanaimo, we were met by our good friends, Diana and Brent, who were armed with balloons and a bunny for Emily. We were so pleased to see them and I was quite emotional!!! We had big hugs. Brent had driven our van to the ferry terminal (as it had the baby seat installed). Emily woke up as we met Diana and Brent and when we got into the van Emily had smiles for Diana, so cute!!!
Now it was time to meet the dogs and Sally, our lovely house sitter for 3 weeks. How was Emily going to react???? As usual she was all smiles for Sally. As far as we know, Emily had not seen dogs before and we were wondering if she would cry.
She danced and kicked her legs in excitement and babbled away. I can tell you all, this was a relief for Peter and I!! Sally, Diana and Brent were all surprised too, to see this little girl react with such enthusiasm and delight! I keep saying how LUCKY we are but we truly are!!!! Love you to bits Emily. I love your personality, your smiles, the way you warm my heart. You are so precious to mummy and daddy. Love you forever and ever!! xoxoxoxoxox
Our first night home, Emily went to sleep at 8 pm and woke up at midnight for play and a bottle. She went back down at 1:30 am and, wait for it, did not wake up until 12:30 in the afternoon!!!! I went into her room to see if she was ok as I could not believe how long she was sleeping. To get her to sleep, I lay her next to me on our bed. Singing to her seems to really calm her and she tries to sing while I am singing, it is so cute. She slowly goes off into a deep sleep then I carry her to her crib. This is our normal sleep routine now.
The next day her sleep time was different: went to sleep at 8 pm, woke up at 11 pm, then back to sleep 2:30 am and then slept until 9 am. So definitely jet lagged but at least Peter and I are getting some sleep. I could not sleep after putting Emily to bed at 2:30 am, so I read until 4:30 am then slept until 9 am. I am sure Emily will get into some sort of a sleep routine soon.
As far as eating solids - it's something we are working on. She really likes her baby cereal in the morning. She tried mummy's steamed carrots for lunch and finished them. Absolutely hated my butternut squash and spat every spoonfull out. But mummy is not giving up Emily, we will try them again later. For now I will give her the veggies she likes. She also tried blueberry-applesauce puree as well as yogurt and she liked them both very much. So at least she is eating some solids, but I am not pushing the solids as she has had a lot of changes in her little life so far.
Emily is having so much fun exploring some of her new toys as you will see in the pictures. It is so much fun watching her on the floor playing. Laying her on her tummy is working; she actually slid her self 2 feet towards me today and really worked those muscles. She really giggled when she made it to me and seemed so proud of herself. Peter had so much fun watching her dance and sing to toddler songs - she is quite the entertainer when music is on, and just loves to dance!!
To round this journey off, we thank everyone for their cherished comments on the blog and what a beautiful book this is going to be for Emily. We now start a FAMILY LIFE together, and we will be meeting family and friends very soon. So this is farewell for this blog and hope you have enjoyed our amazing journey to China to pick up our precious daughter Emily. As always, LOVE to EVERYONE!!!
Hugs and kisses, Julie, Peter and sweet Emily. xoxoxoxoxooxo
