Rolling Out the Carpet

Instead of rolling out a red carpet to welcome our family home, our carpet was of the car variety.  I transformed a corner of our yang tai into a play area for the boys.  A yang tai is a typical feature of Chinese homes and is basically an open area with lots of windows intended for hanging clothes to dry.  Our yang tai is at one end of our living room, so it makes a space for them.  I found a basket drawer set at a market in the southern part of our city and had a seamstress replace the girly floral liners with a fun jungle fabric I found at the cloth market near our house.  So now the boys have a fun place to play and look out the window.

They boys, however, aren't the only ones who have been enjoying the car rug.

The three other American families have been such a blessing in welcoming us home.  They have been eager to meet the boys and spend time with us but have respected our space as well.  When we returned home, they had our house clean, our fridge stocked, and a few surprises as well.

Our first week at home has had its high points and low points.  We've had lots of sleepless nights, lots of messes, and lots of tears (sometimes not just from the boys!).  But we've also had lots of laughs, lots of hugs, and lots of thankfulness.  Our main goals for the first few weeks is to try to establish a routine, including teaching good eating & sleeping habits.  It might seem a little ambitious but we've made a lot of progress I think.  Sami has started his first solids of banana and pumpkin puree (homemade stuff I froze before we went to pick them up), and Micah pretty much plows through anything we put in front of him, including vegetables (evidence that he is most certainly fit to be my son!).  He has a serious crush on his fork and refuses to begin a meal without it, even if he doesn't use it at all.  

While Sami is pretty much a dream at going down to sleep, he hasn't been sleeping through the night most of the time, requiring a bottle around 3 AM.  Micah is not a fan of naps or night time, but we're slowly discovering a sleep routine that seems to be working.  Micah has made it through the night once, but he typically wakes up a few times. We think maybe it's because of the residual itchiness from his scabies, so hopefully his sleeping will get better as his skin heals.

So this first week has been full of a lot of learning.  This is probably one of the most difficult things I've ever done in my life.  More difficult than marathons.  More difficult than living internationally.  More difficult than learning Chinese.  But my husband is amazing, my God is sufficient, and our commitment to these boys is steadfast.