On The Mend

Sorry it has been so long since a post but things are finally settling down, I hope.

It all started on the long plane ride home, although I can't complain because we met some new friends that still had to travel to the east side of the United States.

Sophie Wei was the energize bunny on the air plane!! When she finally fell asleep, two hours outside of PDX she only would sleep for ten or fifteen minutes and would wake up fussy with non stop crying. I thought to my self, there is no way we can have another repeat of our trip home with Simone???!!???!!!!........I kept watching that airplane on the map and it never seemed to move closer to home!

Since then we have not gotten much sleep at all.

We did receive a nice surprise from our family and friends who met us at the airport when we arrived home. It was so sweet and brought tears to our eyes. They had signs, smiles and hugs for us. We love you all and know how early it was for you to make it to the airport.

I also got to introduce Sophie Wei to Sophi, who she is named after. As I introduced her I could not stop from crying...I have waited for almost three years to do this and the moment was finally here.

Before seeing everyone we were delayed a bit going through immigration. We went into the non citizen line when we arrived per the recommendation of the US Consulates Advice on thinking it would go faster for us but it did not. Once in the room that processes Sophie Wei's immigration paper work we were around ninth in line.....So we got to sit there, for a while while everyone waited for us. We could not help but here the officer question people as to why they wanted to come to America. The first girls story did not add up and he gave her a PO Box Address instead of a physical address so she had to sit down and wait. The next girl was young and her story kept changing as to why she was coming to America and I think she new it. The officer told her that she had a 70% chance that she was getting back on a plane for China and only a 30% chance that she was staying in America. WOW, that was a learning experience. While sitting there Sophie Wei started to pick at her hair click and I said to her, "Boo-Yaw, Shay Say" (No Thank You) and she started to cry. In the very small room it sounded very loud but ended up helping us because the officer could not continue his conversation. He called me over and told me quietly that he was going to try and get another officer to come in and process our paper work....After five minutes we were called and told we could go. We will receive Sophie Wei's US Citizenship Paper work in about a month. Yah!

Just as we walked down the long hallway to our friends and family that was waiting I got chills knowing this will be the last time, we are bringing our baby home!

After seeing everyone I told them why we were late and that they are most likely going to be sending two back to their home country. After saying that someone told me that this nice gentleman (they pointed to him) was waiting for his wife to come still. (A few of my friends had talked to him or his parents that were waiting with him and that is how they got his story. This young man is in the military and married his wife while he was stationed over seas. I guess they only got to be together for a few months before he came back to America and they have been waiting to be together ever sense.) I felt so bad and hoped that she was not one of the two that the officer was not liking their story. While holding onto his rose for his wife he waited and waited while we all visited. We visited long enough to see his wife come down the long hallway! She made it. Yah-who!

When we arrived home Becca and Rachel helped put the girl's room together. Simone is borrowing Laurens twin bed and Rachel and Becca purchased bedding for it and got a mattress. Simone loves her big girl bed! Becca and Jeni also finished going through Sophie Wei's closet since we now know what size she is. Sue purchased fresh strawberries, apples, peaches and other snacks for us for us.....Ah, FRESH FRUIT!! The Watson's also had a warm, yummy dinner for us with SALAD!

Since we have arrived we have also received many phone calls from family and friends. Yummy dinner and good company from the Kuhlmans and Kimi and Chris, Craig and Lisa also had us over for a wonderful pork chop dinner with FRESH FRUIT and SALAD!! Yes, as you can tell I missed fresh fruit and salad (the kind of fruit that has skin on it, they did have pineapple, pears and bananas in China but I missed strawberries, apples and peaches.) We also received a gift certificate for Meals To Go from Carmen, Andrea L, and Andrea M. What a great idea. We also have more dinners coming from friends and we are so thankful for that! THANK YOU everyone for your help.

Becca also has some great video of Simone playing with Cooper, while the Hettingers stopped by for a visit....... It is so funny. I will post it in the next few days. It will be worth the wait.

After a few nights of no sleep and thinking maybe Sophie has an ear infection or some thing else just like Simone did when we got home we finally took her to the doctor yesterday because she has been such a great sleeper until the trip home and felt some thing was wrong. Sure enough she has an inflamed left ear and her right ear could not be seen because she has so much wax in it and it would take a few days for it to loosen and then be soft enough to pull out. They sent us home with antibiotics to help with that. She also has a viral infection in her mouth with a lot of blisters in it. (That is why she has not liked having her teeth brushed and why her mouth would bleed so bad during the teeth brushing.)

So Sophie Wei has more than a little cold.

Tonight Sophie Wei has been sleeping for two hours straight and that is why I am able to do this quick post. Simone made it an hour and a half. I went up to talk to her and now she is sleeping again. We are praying for a good night!!! We all need some solid sleep but we can't complain because we are the happiest parents in the world having our two little girls sleeping up stairs.

I am also going to try and catch up on our last few days in China. I will post them up front but then move them back in order since I am using this blog as a scrap book. For those of you that do not know, sorry about the blogging in China. We were unable to blog any more or check our email, not sure why but we can only guess??!!?? When we arrived home every thing was fine???

We are also very proud of Simone today!! She did great at Gymnastics today with Teacher Nasko. It is a big girl class with no parents. She had Rick come out during warm ups but he was able to stand off to the side. Then about ten minutes later Emma arrived and that helped a lot. Also seeing Sara in the warm ups helped too. Rick then moved to the parents viewing area with me. Too bad Emma has to move to another gymnastics day because she is moving up a level, already! Way to go Emma. I am sure though that Sara and Simone will both get into the hang of things soon. Nasco was so good with Simone. He knows just how to take care of her and push her at the same time. She had a blast! My friend Tami also made the day special for Simone by putting Big Girl Glitter in her hair after she was done. You should of seen her smile, it was so big and she thought she was pretty cool. Thanks Tami! Tami told us that she has a big gift for Simone, she ordered her a PANDA Gymnastics Leotard!!! Hannah will have one too so that is going to be fun for Simone to see her wearing one too especially since she is an amazing gymnist.

Then this afternoon Sophie Wei and I took a very long nap. I needed that. Sophie Wei was still fussy through but I think she got some rest? Then Rachel, Lauren and Jake came over for a nice visit. I also talked to Rachel about when I put Sophie Wei to bed tonight. I told her that I have read about bonding and attachment and some where I learned that you should not let them cry it out for a while.......She also reminded me to just go with what I feel is right. Tonight after I put her to bed she fussed for a while, I walked out of the room and waited a few minutes. I then went back in and held her for a while. She snuggled in and sucked on her two fingers. I then put her down. She was fine. Then started to cry. I layed down next to the crib on Simone's twin bed and she cried some more. I put my hand through the crib and she pushed it away. I asked Simone to pretend she was a sleep and she was a good sport and only talked softly. She cried some more again. Then she stopped. She put her hand through the crib and squeezed my nose a couple of times. (I tried not to laugh). Then she faked cried and put her hands up for me to pick her up. A few times during all of this I told her I loved her in English and Chinese and said go to sleep, lay down. Then she picked up her water bottle and was feeding her baby and kissing it. The whole time I was pretending to be asleep and peeking though my eyes. She fusses some more and then lays down and goes to sleep. What Rachel reminded me is that I just have to do what is right. It felt right tonight to do this and I am so glad I did. Some times I over worry and try to do what books recommend. I guess all that I have learned as being a Mom and all of the things that I am still learning is to continue to go with my gut, what I feel and along the way remember what I have read or learned but just go with it.

I better get ready for the kids to wake up. I will try to start posting the last few posts from China if I can tonight but I also need to get some sleep.

We are also taking Sophie Wei back into the doctors tomorrow to get things moving for her medically in regards to her feet, basic check up, recheck and a tider test (spelling).

I am also going to try and post some photos that my friend Meghan emailed me from our arrival at the air port. She also has video for us to see! If you want to see some photos check out Kimi's blog or scroll down because Becca posted some photos on this blog for us.