It's been a hard day's night...

We should be sleeping like a log.

We are, however, not sleeping like a log, in fact we are not sleeping very much at all.

Two things seem to be interfering with our ability to get some sleep:

1) jet lag; and

2) our three children.

Three children can you believe that?!?! Though we have been in the process of this adoption for a year and half it is just now sinking in that we have three children. We are out numbered. Be afraid be very afraid!

Those of you who have more than one child know that the whole theory of "sleep when the baby sleeps" goes out the window when you have other children to care for. Also, we are trying desperately to recover from jet lag and get our bodies back into this time zone and we know that sleeping during the day will not help with that process. We are also trying to get Ellie adjusted to this time zone without much success yet. Thursday (her first day home) she slept almost the entire day. We decided to let her sleep considering the stress her little body had been through the day before and the fact that she slept very little on the plane. We did wake her around meal times all day to expose her to some daylight and keep her eating. After being up with her quite a bit on Thursday night we decided on a new plan of attack for Friday. We kept Ellie up as much as we could on Friday. We took her to Target and walked around just to entertain her and keep her happy while awake. We took her to daycare and school to pick up Abby and Gabe. We did allow her to nap twice but woke her from those naps after 2 hours and despite this valiant effort last night was worse. Ellie slept from 9:30 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. and then she was awake until 7:00 a.m. She was great fun during this time laughing and playing and only cried when we would try to put her to sleep. We are trying again today to keep her awake so that she will start to sleep during the night. She is currently taking a nap but we will be sure to keep it short. Hopefully this works. Phil says we are not jet lagged, we are sleep walking.

So far, in our mere 36 hours home we have really only encountered two struggles with Ellie; sleeping and eating. These are the times when she seems to miss her foster mom the most. For the first two days home she didn't want to take bottles from us. We had a bit of a break through on that yesterday and she is now taking her bottles better. She also really seems to fight going to sleep. She arches her back and cries and tries desperately to get away from us. This also seems to be improving a little though I think it will take some time.

In all other ways things are moving along splendidly. Ellie is opening up and smiling and laughing more with each passing day. She is very bubbly and engages people she encounters when we are out and about. She babbles a lot so she fits in nicely in this family! We did not get to see this personality during our time in Korea and it is so fun to see her come out of her shell. Ellie is growing accustom to Abby and Gabe and the commotion they create. She really enjoys the kids and they are always attempting to make Ellie laugh or smile. She also enjoys her bath. She is not a big fan of the car seat but we are working on it. I sit in the back with her and that seems to help.

Abby and Gabe are adjusting very well. We have seen a few bouts of jealousy out of Gabe when I am holding Ellie but Ellie expresses the same displeasure when I am holding Gabe. Gabe will recite a liteny of toys that he does not want Ellie to chew on but then he and Abby fight over who gets to sit by her at dinner.

So that is the update for now. We are VERY tired but surviving. Here are some pictures of our first days together.

Wow these are adorable children!



Abby is such a good big sister. She is always willing to help out and fetch something and wants to hold Ellie whenever she will sit still long enough to be held.

Gabe's job currently consists of explaining the intracacies of toys to Ellie to make sure she is enjoying them properly.

Ellie does not yet crawl, however, she rolls everywhere. She can turn on dime and practically bend herself in half to get where she wants to go. She takes off her socks as soon as I put them on and likes to chew on her toes. She is such a joy!