Baby Jet Lag

We have now been home almost 10 days...some of the most wonderful yet challenging days of my life. I am one-handed blogging right now as Lily takes a nap in my arms. Lily has had a hard-core case of baby jet lag. The first few days were super rough as Jeff and I were dealing with our own time adjustments too. Before we left China, Lily was napping at will and sleeping 6-8 hours every night with one wake-up for diaper change and a small bottle. It was awesome. When we got home she wasn't napping well and woke up almost every hour at night. or that first week, I was more tired than I can ever remember being....including when I was working night shift and going to nursing school during the day.

We have made some progress now and Lily is sleeping 6 hours or so at night with about 2-3 wake-ups. I really don't expect her to sleep through the night...just to sleep enugh to give us a rest and fuel her body. She naps twice during the day with a pretty consistent morning nap and a more erratic one in the afternoon. Our poor angel fights sleep with all of her being and the afternoons these days have been filled with rocking, bouncing, walking all over the house. Some times she won't fall asleep until 5pm and, on these days, I know that our nights will be rough.

We went to the International Adoption Clinic last week for Lily's first appointment and evaluation and we shared our sleep concerns with the doctor who has 2 children adopted from China herself. She said this is so very normal and almost every parent on their first visit shares the same experience with sleeping and jet lag...even down to the statement that things were great in China. That made us feel better. On that same trip, the doctor said Lily looks great. She said she is one of the very youngest children from China that she has ever seen and reminded us of just how very fortunate we are. She has a boo-boo on her arm still and she told us that this is from the tuberculosis vaccine that they don't do here in the US. She said it would heal on it's own but could take a LONG time. Lily also gained another few tenths of a pound and is officially in the 3rd percentile on the US growth chart.

I plan to blog more about our first week home but Lily has woken up so I will hopefully get to that later. I have to go back to work in just 2 days so I want to soak up all the love from my sweetie that I can get. Through all the sleep-deprived days, I know just how very blessed I am to be the mother to this most amazing child. I will say again - she is better than my best dream come true. Jeff and I both love her more than we ever thought possible. Here are some pics for now... more later

Lily eating out for the first time with Grandma and Grandpa at Newk's

Look at that face

I love my daddy...he makes the funniest noises

Grandma and Grandpa spoil me rotten

Cheeeeeeeese!!