Adjusting to Life at Home...

The past week has been filled with ups and downs...not unexpected I guess. We were all suffering the effects of jet lag for several days, and for Lia, who had never had a life on west coast time - it was especially difficult to swap out daytime for nighttime. We had a few VERY rough nights the middle of last week...but I'm happy (and hopeful?) to report that we *may* have finally crossed the jet lag hurdle in the past couple of days. The last two nights she has slept more than eight hours - hooray!

Daddy and Lia resting on the sofa

The first few nights home, we tried having her sleep in the portable crib next to our bed in our master bedroom...but she refused to stay in it (she'd rather be in bed with us - sleeping sideways and kicking us all night!)  So with Steve needing to go back to work this week, we decided to move her to her own bedroom, and we have been taking turns sleeping on an air mattress in her room next to her bed (where her twin mattress is on the floor anyway). As long as she can see and/or touch one of us as she falls asleep she has been fine.

During the day, we have explored local parks, her Ni Hao Kai-Lan "bubble machine", and the variety of toys and books we had waiting for her. Like most kids, she still prefers tupperware and used margarine and cool whip containers to most of her toys...

She is fascinated by the kitchen and is constantly pulling one of us in there to hang out. Sometimes she wants to play in the tupperware cupboard, but most of the time I think she is just interested in us opening the cabinets and the refrigerator and showing her all the amazing products stored within:

Her biggest milestones this week have been with our dogs. When we first came home, we had shrieking tantrums whenever the dogs were seen or heard. Then we moved on to it being okay if the were seen, as long as they didn't come near her. We are now at the point, that she will feed the dogs snacks, and laugh and toss the toy ring to Killer (our yorkie), IF she is sitting on mom or dad's lap. She is still scared of being on the floor with the dogs without mom or dad's protection.

Holding court with the pups...

and finally - the girl eats EVERYTHING!  This week she's tried Mexican, Indian, and a variety of American dishes that I'm sure she never had before - all with great success!  The only things we have found that she actually spit out have been watermelon and pineapple. She's not a huge fan of apple juice, but she has discovered a LOVE of peanut butter - and Oreos:

Her Oreo "goatee"...