Bath time fun!

When we first got the boys, Ethan immediately loved his bath. Splashing water, playing with toys, and making a mess is right up his alley. William on the other hand was terrified of the water. It's been a rough couple of bath times, but William has finally accepted that a bath is not the water torture he first thought and he's even starting to show some signs of enjoying himself (if he thinks you aren't watching).

A new normal

We're getting back to normal finally. Both boys have their appetite back and are exploring their new house, and things are settling into our new normal. The little guys are very jealous of each other - what one has the other wants, but on occasion they actually are playing nicely together, so I snapped a picture to prove it.

The biggest change has been William. When we first got William, he wouldn't crawl or use his fingers to pick up anything. I just don't think he was ever allowed to do anything but just sit. He's now crawling all over the place, and I'm pretty sure I saw him standing on his own for just a few seconds. And the big accomplishment this week - we are feeding ourself. Yep, my fear that William would starve if left on his own to eat has been abated. That little guy is really coming around now that he feels better.

Ella and I went clothes shopping the other day - my girl loves dresses. She reluctantly let me buy her jeans and shirts, but she picked out two new dresses that she really wanted. Good thing we did that, as Daddy invited her and Andrew to go with him to an Arts & Music program at Lafayette Schools, where Dr. Eiler (Chris' former superintendent and his mentor) is being recognized. They clean up pretty well, and Chris was quite proud of his kiddos. Can't wait to hear how they enjoyed themselves. In the meantime, I'm putting the boys down for a nap and enjoying the peace and quiet.

Ella and Ethan watching TV.
Ella has a real connection with Ethan since they were in the same orphanage. 

Ethan is going to be our trouble-maker - he gets into everything and thinks he can do anything. 
But he's so darn cute it's going to be hard to ever be mad at him.

Proof that they do play nice together sometmes.

No more being fed like a baby bird - he will not starve afterall!

What a fine group - they clean up nicely.

The Birthday Girl

We're trying to get settled into some sort of routine here.  Chris went back to work today and Andrew went back to school.  Things were pretty quiet as the boys were exhausted and slept most of the day.  Let's just hope that doesn't mean they will be up all night.  We really need them to get their internal clocks on the right time zone.  It doesn't help that both boys are still under the weather.  They both have been running low fevers, and now have a terrible cough and running noses.

Yesterday, we had visitors to meet the kids.  Grandma Jean came by to visit, and Uncle Richie and TJ brought the guinea pigs back home, after their vacation in Lima, OH. Ella seemed much happier about the guinea pigs than about Mahli coming home.  MawMaw came late yesterday to stay for a week or so and help out, and brought our barking mess home.  Mahli was very glad to be home, and seems to be pretty patient with the kids so far.  Ethan has started to come around - actually he seems indifferent about the dog, and Ella is trying - she still squeals a little, and she finds creative ways to walk thru the kitchen if Mahli is in there, but she doesn't seem to be totally petrified of her.  William on the other hand has pure panic on his face whenever he sees Mahli.  We still need to work on that - maybe when everyone is healthy, the dog won't look so fearful to him.

The big event for today is that it's Ella's birthday.  Yep, our little girl turned 14 today. We purposefully kept it very low key for her.  We all wished her a happy birthday this morning, then after dinner, we had cake and ice cream, and she opened a few presents.  Grandma Jean and Uncle Richie had brought her birthday presents yesterday.  Although she didn't really realize it was her birthday, she loved her gifts.  Lots of "girly" things - a new purse, jewelry, lotions, lip gloss and a whole bunch of other things.  We got her a new necklace and a "World Traveler" Barbie - China edition. She loves them all. 

I know that Ella is anxious to start school, and she is really wanting to learn English.  She and Daddy read a few Dr. Suess books tonight and she was trying so hard to remember each word she was read.  Hopefully we'll have her in school shortly.  I think she will do well with a routine and making friends. 

Here are a few pictures from our last day in China at the park, and a couple from Ella's birthday tonight. 

Back in the USA

Just a short post. We are back in the states. The flight from Tokyo to Chicago was very long, but luckily it was not a full flight and they moved us to a row with an extra seat for Ethan as well. So we really were able to spread out and the boys could lay down and sleep some. Made it easier on them. I really caught something while in China, and was miserable on the flight. I slept little, as I was so afraid little Ethan would flip himself off the seat, as he's quite the restless sleeper. Ella did very well, and slept off and on. And sweet little William was a dream on the trip. Very pleasant, easily pleased and slept some. Andrew used the time to work on some of his math homework. There was a lady from Vietnam sitting a couple seats down from Andrew who was smitten with him. She offered to go over his math with him and check it for him, and he readily agreed (not like him at all).

We were all very anxious as Chicago came closer and closer, and when we finally touched down, our row had a small round of applause for the newest US citizens. All we had to do was turn in the paperwork. Again, glad that Aunt Nay was with us, as she again earned her keep helping us wrestle luggage. We went thru the first stage of immigration, and then was directed to "the man behind the desk" to turn in the kids' paperwork. Just as we approached the desk, he very clearly told his co-worker how much he hated his job. And the sentiment was certainly not lost on his attitude while working us. I counted two rolled eyes, a handful of "sighs of exasperation", and at least 5 rudely given instructions that assumed we knew what every step of this process was. The only time he softened was after he asked Ella to sign her name. When she didn't respond he looked at me with a confused look. I said "she doesn't understand English", let me get the translator. His response "but when i said hi to her, she replied very clearly "hi", so I thought she understood English". Well, she's got Hi, Good Morning, Ok, and Let's go down, but we haven't worked on "can you sign your name" yet. Yes, we got a chuckle from him on that, but overall I can say that if he hates his job that much, get a new one please - he made the experience quite unpleasant.

Next stop was the shuttle to Highland where my dear friend Betsy picked us up and took us to my mom's. Everything went great - kids held up well, and before you knew it we were at Mom's and taking over her house. Everyone seemed to be quite at ease very quickly, and warmed up to MawMaw - even little William. The only small issue - well, maybe not so small - all the kids are terrified of the dogs. Ella wants to like them, but they were all so excited to see us, that they were jumping and barking, and acting stupid, and she just squealed and made sure she was far away. We'll need to work on that, as one of those barking messes goes home with us :)

We had planned to only spend the night at Mom's and then head home, but with me being sick, (and it appears I've now passed it on to Ethan), and everyone suffering from jet lag, we decided to stay two nights, and head home Saturday. Good decision - as Andrew managed to keep mama up both nights because he couldn't sleep. His clock is really messed up. Poor kiddo was nearly hysterical one night he was so tired. But we are now safe and sound in Fort Wayne, and at least for now all kiddos are asleep. Not sure how long that will last, but as for me, I'm going to try to catch up a little on my sleep before someone realizes that it's only 11:30 am in China and they should be eating lunch.

Since I'm feeling much better, I hope to upload more pictures in the next day or so now that we are home. Sorry this post has none - I promise to update soon.

Sitting in the airport in Tokyo...

Whew - we made it thru our first 4 hour flight. The Hong Kong airport was a great frustration. First, they couldn't find Ethan's lap seat ticket in the system. We must have had 4 different people coming over trying to work it out. They finally did something and after about 45 minutes at the checkin, we finally were checking our luggage. Then they told us that the kids needed a transit visa for Japan. We tried to get them to understand we were just doing a connecting flight to Chicago, but they seemed to think we were going to have problems getting them thru the gate. They finally told us to work with ground security upon arrival, so we dashed to McDonalds for an "on the run" breakfast, and was nearly late for the flight. The kiddos did pretty well on the flight, except Ella got sick after we landed (it was a bit rough). Hope the next flight is better.

Sitting at the airport waiting to board so thought I would send off a few photos from our day at the pearl market. We are almost home...oh, and we didn't need the transit visas - thanks Cathay Pacific for stressing me out, and taking up more of our time at checkin - all for nothing.