Adjusting

The little kids are napping, Caroline is reading, Scott just headed to the office to catch up on work, and I am marveling at the fact that I'm sitting here (awake) with a few moments alone. Lately, as soon as I am alone, I crash into a deep sleep. Thank you for being patient with me in posting an update.

Let's see... where to start. Here is a picture Caroline took out her window on the airplane. With the long flight being her 2nd plane ride ever, she was very intrigued with the view and took tons of pictures.

Here are two pictures from our homecoming at the airport that I didn't have for the last post:

Incredible friends who came so late to welcome us home: Michelle, Joy, Emily, Susan, and Amy

And Caroline with some of her new cousins (Mary Katherine, Alex, and Tate) who brought her flowers and candy! They have been so sweet and excited about Caroline's arrival in the US, and we have a feeling they will be pretty tight buds. We'll head to the lake this coming weekend so they can hang out and have some bonding time over swimming, skiing, UNO, and other fun games that don't necessarily require language skills!

Grace and Caroline have been doing so well together!! I am so thankful. I admit I was worried for a little while but figured Grace would come around. She is just fiercely attached to me (which is great adoption-wise) and possessive of my attention. I presume she's been feeling like her mommy was being taken away.
I was also worried when Caroline informed us at the airport on the way home that she doesn't like dogs or any animals (despite telling us she liked dogs earlier in the week). Jackson is a Maltese, so he's small and doesn't slobber or shed. But he DOES rejoice in sitting on the lap of anyone who will sit still. To our surprise, Caroline will pet Jackson and let him sit close to her. But after getting up, she's been immediately heading to the sink to wash up. And not just her hands...she washes up to her elbows! :) Through the translator, she kept insisting that dogs carry bacteria and germs and mites. I tried to tell her that Jackson is an indoor dog, takes monthly treatments to prevent fleas, and had just had a bath the day before. But my arguments were to no avail. I am actually just encouraged that she tolerates our sweet dog!
On our drive home from the airport Thursday night, Carter cracked us up with his comment, "Daddy and I are so excited to be going to work again!" And later in a poignant moment, he said, "Daddy, I just want to be like you."
So sure enough, on Friday morning, Carter dressed up in his "suit" and tie like Daddy. He grabbed his blue briefcase and a banana (what Scott grabs on his way out the door). As Scott headed out to his car and waved, Carter went out the back door waving and went to "work" in the playhouse in our yard. It was precious! And just to be honest, I am getting this whole story heresay from my mom, as I was still sleeping. :) My parents came over to help with the kids and even cooked us dinner Friday night!
Some fun welcome home surprises were these balloons that my cousin Ashley and her family put on our mailbox.
And this priceless banner and post of pictures that our house/dog-sitters, Lindsey and Martha, made before we arrived home. They had even printed a picture from Gotcha Day and put it in one of Caroline's empty frames in her room. They are amazing!!!! Martha had even gone grocery shopping for us to stock our pantry and fridge. Thank you sweet friends!

Some highlights from the last couple of days:

• When we got home after midnight Thursday night, Caroline loved looking around the house and then spent several hours organizing her room, framing pictures she had brought with her, setting up her bookshelf, etc. She and I didn't go to bed until after 3 am. But she was so excited, I wanted to let her make her room her own. I have to admit that I cringed when she moved the bookcase, rearranged some items, and put some stickers on the lamp and dresser. Until now, I have had total decorating control over the whole house. But I realize I have to relax and allow her to create a bedroom that is truly "tween" and her own.
• Friday, I let Caroline sleep until 12 pm and then woke her up. We spent the day playing and resting and visiting with my parents. Courtney (my sister) joined us for dinner. And then Scott's sister Julie and his parents came over for dessert. Julie gave Caroline a game set that includes badmitton (Caroline's fave sport), and we all had so much fun playing in the yard. We found that she is VERY coordinated! I am checking into tennis lessons for her since the US doesn't really sport a strong badmitton program.
• Another activity Caroline has LOVED is playing our piano. She has spent a ton of time on the bench picking out tunes from "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to "Fur Elise." She says she has never played a piano before now. So she's either tricking us, or she's got a knack for music. By Saturday, I had her a piano lesson scheduled for this week. :) It might sound crazy to be throwing her into activities, but she has made it clear that she gets restless and wants to have some things to do. I think she'll love having some piano exercises to practice.
• Yesterday was a challenging day. We are trying to establish rules but don't want to overwhelm our new addition. We've told her that she can't lock her door, she has to eat in the kitchen, she has to ask before she eats snacks (particularly sweets or junkfood), lights have to be out by 10 pm, etc. Caroline began to cop an attitude with us (I'm sure her ideal family she envisioned didn't include rules), and we had to establish the mindset that we are her parents. We value her opinions and input, but we ultimately make the decisions and expect her to obey us. She seemed to understand this and was very cooperative the rest of the evening.
• One funny thing that she did before our "talk" was her effort to sleep. She had already napped for several hours and Scott had to wake her so she would sleep last night. He explained with the translator why it was important for her to get up then and that she could go back to bed early. About 10 minutes later, we couldn't find Caroline. After a brief search, Scott discovered her in her closet sleeping on some pillows she'd piled on the floor. He woke her again. Five minutes later, she was missing...again. Scott found her under her bed!! We were aggravated at the time because she wasn't following Scott's orders, but it's funny to think about now. The poor child just desperately wanted some peace, quiet, and sleep and couldn't fathom why her new parents were so bothersome. :)
• Yesterday, I took Caroline to get some new clothes (since most of the clothes I had brought to China were too small) and shoes. Another funny note, the reason the clothes were all too small was because the measurements emailed to us a few weeks prior to our departure were incorrect. Her weight had been rounded down by 8 lbs! I laughed when I realized what had happened because isn't that a typical female thing to do?? I mean, honestly, who of you has your ACTUAL weight on your driver's license? I am pretty sure mine is from high school.
• And one more update from our first 2 days home....Caroline woke up at 5 am yesterday. She waited until 6:20 to wake us up. But in the time before that, she had made her bed, made Grace's bed (Grace ended up in our bed during the night), cleaned the den, and had breakfast.

I have more to update, but this post is long enough. I guess I need to keep the posts more frequent to avoid hour-long reads. And I know if I don't get these updates on "paper," there's no way I'll remember the details even a month from now.

Thanks for all the reminders that tweens are moody and emotional even when they aren't adopted. That definitely helped me realize that she wasn't reacting to us personally and we aren't necessarily doing anything wrong. But I still covet your prayers as we transition. I will write more tomorrow about yesterday and today's emotions, challenges, and progress.

Hope you're having a restful Sunday!

Much love,

Kelley