Home & Settling In

We arrived home on Saturday around 4:30 pm. The kids did great on the plane. They fell asleep on take off out of Hong Kong on Saturday morning around 10:30 am. They sleep for a couple of hours and then went back to sleep around 7:00 pm and slept until we landed in Detriot about 1:00 pm. Would have been 1:00 am on our timeclock. Fred and I did not sleep at all. The second leg from Detroit to Charlotte was a little more difficult for them. THey were both tired but we were trying to hold them out to try to get to sleep through the night that night once we were home. Here are Lily and Liam on the long plane ride from Hong Kong to Detroit.

We arrived in Charlotte to our wonderful welcome committee! It was so good to see my family and Morgan and Mason who we had missed so much.

I think Lily really missed her cousin, Grace!

And Liam took in all in...

We had a rough night Saturday night. I set up a bed in Liam's room for him in hopes that he would do okay without a crib. He did alright, but I could tell he was a little unsure of it. He went to bed fine at 8:00, but woke up at 11:30 pm. I couldn't believe it. I was sleeping in the room beside his in case he woke up during the night and got out of bed. I didn't want him falling down the stairs. I could hear him calling my name, but he wasn't crying. I went into his room several times in hopes that I could pat him and he would go back to sleep. That did not happen! Lily woke at 1:00 and I layed her down with me, but by 2:00 when Liam started to cry she was still not sleeping. So, Fred came and put Lily in the bed with him and Liam and I went downstairs and played until 6:00 am when I layed him down for a short nap. He only took and 1.5 nap and was back up.
Fred and I set up the crib on Sunday and put it in his room. He was so excited to see that crib! I was excited too, that meant I could sleep in my own bed. I held him out until 1:30 and put him and Lily down for a nap. I took a nap too! With only 2 hours sleep in 42 hours I needed it. I had to wake them up at 4:30.
That night was better. Liam slept through the night. He woke at 5:45, but at least he slept through. Lily woke up at 1:00 am and ended up in our bed. So she was up when he woke too. Oh well, it was back to a normal school day routine anyway and I would have been up at 6:00 am anyway. We got the kids off to school and came home and hung out all day. My mom and sister came over to visit for a while.
Liam slept well again last night..wahoo! Now if I could just get Lily to sleep through the night without waking up. Uggg...she is killing me!
Liam is adjusting well. He has really done so good and it had definately been an easier transition than it was with bringing Lily home. He has had an immediate bond with Morgan and Mason. It was just beautiful to watch. He will actually go to Morgan over me sometimes! WOW. Here is a picture of Lily and Liam jumping all over Mason on Sunday morning.

And he actually let Daddy hold him..

Although Liam's file said that he liked dogs and cats, this was NOT the case! He was absolutely TERRIFIED of them. So we have taken it slow. He is doing much better with the dog, but still dosen't like the cat. She doesn't come out much, so that is probably a good thing right now.
We celebrated the Chinese New Year last night with family and friends at a local Chinese restaurant. The ladies that own the restaurant were so excited to meet Liam. We had 28 of us total to help bring in the New Year. He had some traditional dishes from the soup with fish balls and fried hard boiled egg..

To the candy and watermelon seeds...

Here are some pictures from our evening..

It is great having such a good group of families that have adopted from China that we can do life with! Liam is going to have a large selection of adorable Chinese girls to choose from...lol!