Our New "Normal?"

When we were on our flight home from China just under a month ago, I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to settle into whatever our new "normal" would be with LIlly in our family. I think we are starting to settle into that now, and I have to say that the new normal, though sometimes exhausting and stressful, is, on the whole, really good. Lilly is starting to blend into the family pretty well. Here are a few elements of our new normal:

• Lilly is not consistent in her nighttime sleeping and waking. She'll have a great night's sleep, followed by a night in which she awakens 3 or 4 times. Somtimes she'll have a string of good nights, then a string of bad nights. Consistency in this regard has yet to materialize. THankfully, when she does awaken at night, it is not hard for her to settle back to sleep. Usually, she needs to potty or a drink of water or a blanket smoothed over her. And then she will be instantly back to sleep. I don't think she is fully awake. I am hopeful that the trend will be toward better and better nights consistently. Those mornings aftger I've been awakened several times, it is so hard for me to get up early and exercise and have quiet time as I like to do. Without those mainstays in my day, it is much harder for me to go about daily routines with joy....so I am exercising discipline to get up early even when I've been awakened several times a night, which is good.
• LIlly takes stock several times a day of where each family member is. We go through each person and review where they have gone and when they'll be home. She'll ask me in Chinese "Jie Jie?" (big sister?), and I'll answer "she went to school." Then we move on to "gege" (big brother) and baba (daddy). Sometimes when she asks I'll turn the question around and see if she can answer her own question. Usually she can and will say "big brother went to school" or "daddy went to work." I think she most loves evenings and weekends when everyone is home (so do I!)
• Homework time is interesting these days because Lilly is so very distracting and fun to play with. It is taking lots of diligence on this mom's part to keep Lilly entertained and keep the big kids on track.
• New words (in both languages) and sounds emerge each day. Here is a partial list (as I think of them) of English words that Lilly will say--in context--sometimes unprompted: No!, sit (she inserts a bit of an "sh" sound here, not good!), eat, hi!, Bye Bye!, night night!, hot, wet, Lilly, down, "mmmMMMMmmm" (does that count as a word when she likes her food?). SHe is learning the kids' names (though she still always refers to them as jie jie and ge ge, which Jared prefers) and Tad's name. It is very cute to hear her say her own name, which right now sounds sort of like "Lelly." But she says it proudly with a smile. Her receptive language in English is definitley coming along. She'll repond appropriately when people ask her to do things in English. I look forward to her expressive language coming along as well.
• I am learning to "recalibrate" my day moment by moment, especially in the early morning when it becomes apparent whether I have some time before LIlly is up. Just trying to make sure I get in a run or a spin class takes a lot of strategic thought!
• The house gets cleaned in little fits and spurts. I am happy at least I get some cleaning done and dinner made!
• We go through a lot of eggs.
• I am expending much emotional energy on my oldest daughter, who is needing a bit of extra TLC these days and is struggling to find appropriate ways to express her emotions.
• Car rides can be excruciating--the carseat is not Lilly's favorite place to sit. Thank God for the video system in our new car, and the Chinese children's DVD I bought in Guangzhou. I reserve it for those times when she just starts repeating more and more loudly "get down! get down!" (meaning let me out of this car seat!!) For several of the songs (feature little girls singing and dancing) she points and says "Lulu!" which is the name of her little Anyang friend, adopted by my friend Kris the same day we got LIlly.
• DInner time is one of our most pleasant times as a family, as we eat, talk, joke, and laugh together. Lilly thinks it's really funny when she burps and she'll point to her tummy and say "uh-oh, it's full!"
• Walking Anna to and from school is now a challange, with a stroller (and a child wanting to get out of it and wander around on her own) and a big strong dog. I think I need to find other times to walk the dog so I only have the stroller.

So that's a brief glimpse into our new normal. More pictures to come...I haven't taken any off of the camera in a few days.

What lies ahead for the coming week? We'll start her immunizations this week, and I'll be calling today to make an appointment for her at Children's Hospital in Pensacola for her initial orthopedic evaluations. We look forward to having Nana and Pap Pap here for a week starting next Saturday!