Lil' Miss Sassafras Cries herself to Sleep

Mommy stepped out for less than an hour to go find a pair of pants that fit her (thankfully current ones are too big).  Lil Sassy got out of the tub and found no mommy so she cried herself to sleep.  How sad and sweet at the same time. Her cry is the saddest ever.  It is grueling to listen to and I tear up when I hear it.  THANKFULLY SHE IS NOT A FREQUENT CRIER!  Quite frankly I have never heard a cry like this one before.  I am sure it has a lot of meaning in it.  Some meaning that we probably don't want to know about.  I think she is in a little pain too. She points to her feet and wants her shoes off more often than not and she wants me to kiss her knees, elbows and wrists quite a bit (where the rickets is predominant).  What a sweet soul she is. 

Maran's First Doctor's Appointment in the U.S.!

We went to the Dr. yesterday and Avay Maran did quite well. She didn't shed one tear in China at the Doctor because our interpreter was there to speak to her in her native tongue. All in all she did very well with Dr. Anne. Dr. Anne has such a way with children. It amazes me the tenderness and love she shows to her patients. It is like they are her own. When she turned to walk out the door yesterday she said to me "I am going to cry". Now, THAT IS LOVE FOR YOUR CAREER and for OTHERS! We are SO INCREDIBLY Blessed to have such a great pediatrician. She always asks how we are doing and give us such great pointers on many things. It can be something like great kids meal deals or asking us to come over to watch some baseball games. We can only hope that there is a Dr. Anne in your life.  If there isn't move to Charlotte so you can have one! 

Sweet Alice's GOTCHA DAY!

We anxiously await to hear about Maran's BFF, Alice's GOTCHA DAY!  We are so excited!  (After the news of Alice we will share Maran's Welcome Home Party information).  So  many updates to give and so little time!  We appreciate your continued love and support.... it does take a village!

OUR NEW LIFE -- This is Day 3's Adventures

6:00 pm (TUESDAY EVENING) Maran is OUT LIKE A LIGHT.

9:00 pm Maran is awake and crying like crazy.  Grabbing at her ears and NOT HAPPY. Asks  for "SWAY" ~Water & a snack goes down & she falls asleep in my arms still  whimpering while I am working on the computer.   Haven't "TESTED" Benadryl on her yet so not sure if it makes her HYPER or zonks her.  Slight fever & slight runny nose (I think mostly due to the crying).

1:05 am Maran awake again & this time for good.  She puts the feed bag on & is jabbering away. David asks if I want to go to bed I say no so he then deals with Luke who is awake & crying.

2:50 am Maran  & Mommy leave for Mommy's office to get some work done.

7:00 am Maran & Mommy return from the office after going to the grocery store and eating at I HOP (the only place open and I have a starving child on my hands).  Greeted at the door by Daddy who is dressed & ready for work and a WIDE AWAKE Luke the Bear.  Get them to both eat some blueberries, cherry tomatoes and jelly bellies (Yes that's right) REMEMBER Maran is on like dinner by now.

7:30 am Training session with Abbey the Dog (THE BEST DOG IN THE WORLD & we will take any challenges for that -- A Sweet Golden Retriever who Maran is UNBELIEVABLY TERRIFIED OF.  I got her to walk around Abbey & to touch her for a brief second. (THIS IS LEAPS AND BOUNDS of where we started).

8:50 am leave to drop Luke off for school.

9:00 am off to Target to pick up more stuff.  (Another bed rail, double stroller, mattress pad for Maran's bed that was out of stock before we left) Other needed Maran items that we don't have etc. On phone with office & checking e-mails while sitting in parking lot.

10:00 am enter Target.  Maran is great at telling you what she likes.  She liked none of the clothes I held up and only a few toys.  She GASPED at a baby doll.  This child has liked NO DOLLS pretty much so far except Barbie. Needless to say I broke my rule of "NEVER OPENING ANYTHING IN A STORE". I had that doll unpacked in no time flight.  The adult proof box did NOT slow me down at all.  We broke into MASSIVE tears at the store & I don't know why.  If I spoke Chinese I would have known.  TOO BAD there was no Chinese restaurant around that could help me out with a little Cantonese and Mandarin mix. (Maran speaks some of both languages but more Cantonese we are told.  She does count in Mandarin). 

12:00  -- on way to pick up her prescription for an ear infection.

12:45 -- Pick up big Brother LUKE (Mr. Snickerdoodle) at school

1:00 -- Home eating a snack and playing like crazy

Activities include:  Brother Sister photos with the stork who is still living in the front yard, meeting another neighbor, Lots of hand washing, Chuggington and Lesson number 2 with Abbey the Dog.  (This one was better, I at least got her to walk closer to Abbey and touch her). 

4:00 -- Shower time and prepping for Daddy's arrival (Daddy was going to take care of them while Mommy ran some errands and popped into Girls Night Out for a few minutes).

5:45 -- Maran can NOT be peeled out of mommy's arms.  She is holding on like a monkey and crying profusely as I try to leave the house.

5:55 -- Entire family loaded up to go to Girls Night Out.

6:20 -- Arrive at Girls Night Out,  Order Pizza and Pasta and proceed to try to keep Maran awake until at least 7:00.  ERRANDS ARE PUT OFF FOR THE EVENING.

6:50 -- The effort of keeping her awake is fruitless so she is held by Tia Patti while Mommy eats and hangs out.  She wakes when we try to get her in the car and cries pretty hard as she doesn't know where she is and DOES NOT WAKE UP WELL -- regardless of how little or much sleep she has had.

8:00 -- in Bed at home.

8:50 -- Everyone in Bed and just about asleep.

5:45 am (Friday November 5)  The Maran alarm goes off and it's time for Potty and some eating.

6:15 am Still at the table eating.  (Banana, blueberries (a ton of them), cherry tomatoes, eggs).  CAN NOT GET MILK INTO THIS CHILD!  Will see what Dr. Anne says Monday at her appointment!

Off to start a new day.  Should be fun as we get to drop Abbey off at the dry cleaners today (Grooming place) because she SHEEWWW stinkies.  It will be a fun ride with Maran in the same location as the dog.

A NEW DAY BEGINS!

Alice Parent's are ON THEIR WAY

I can't sleep thinking about Alice's parents -- Jennifer, Charlie and Charles on their way to China.  We pray for their trip to be as SMOOTH AS POSSIBLE.  We hope that our travel nightmares were enough for both families.  Of course we can laugh now but OOHH what a LONG 19 days it was.  Trying to find my desk right now but have some incredible pictures to post later... I PROMISE!  Please keep the Morrison's in your prayers as they go to get Maran's BFF, Alice in the orphanage.  (thankfully they got their TA while we were in China otherwise I am not sure I could have left Alice there although she is well taken care of). They will try to blog from China so follow them if you wish:  http://oursweetleap.blogspot.coom

 ********ok, thanks DIANA FREE STYLE MAMA *** let's get the blog name right! I would love to have a great excuse for making such a stupid error but I guess the lack of spell check in China has made me totally lazy!  SORRY GUYS!!!! Maybe because Maran woke at 1 am this morning and has been up ever since?  NOPE need a better excuse than that!  HA!

http://oursweetleap.blogspot.com/

Home at Last and To A HERO's Welcome Nonetheless!

I expect nothing less from my family and friends!  We got off the plane slightly exhausted.  Avay Maran had a great trip and was a trooper. We had a few tears but we think it was from her ears.  She slept for about 8 of the 11 hour trip from Hong Kong to San Francisco and the entire way from San Francisco to Charlotte except for about 30 minutes.  We couldn't have been blessed with a better trip.  We were about 4 hours into our trip from Hong Kong and they announced that we had a medical emergency and if any medical professionals were on the plane to please advise.  Of course we immediately thought we were going to be turned around or land in Tokyo but apparently the issue was not that huge as we continued on for the rest of our journey.  Lots of turbulence but it was fine. 

In Charlotte we arrived at baggage claim to the most beautiful sights ever.  Our family and friends!  Luke was asleep but quickly woke up and wanted only Daddy and had the most adorable "BIG BROTHER" shirt on that Nammy ran all over town to get.  Avay Maran warmed up and the pictures began.  We got loaded up and went to our house.  THE STORK ARRIVED -- a wonderful stork was in our front yard and he left his foot prints up the driveway!  There was also  a CUSTOM FLAG for Lil' Miss Sassy that is gorgeous and has her home arrival date on it (Luke has one too).  There was even an extra sign in the yard that said "Luke is a Big Brother".  HOW PERFECT!  (will post picture later).  It was exciting to see what our friends did to the house when we came back with Luke and was even more exciting this time.  SUCH THOUGHTFULNESS! My family and friends have known that the biggest part of my not 'birthing a child' was so trivial. I always said that I would miss coming  home to a Stork in the yard.  YES QUITE TRIVIAL but I have always loved seeing the storks in yards.  (How crazy is that?)

Maran LOVED HER ROOM!  She gasped when she saw the tricycle.  She played with lots of toys and finally about 1:30 am we got two little youngsters in OUR bed.  (They had bed hopped between Luke's room and Maran's for about 30 minutes).  We were torn about the sleeping arrangements for the first night.  Setting the precedent FROM THE START would have been great, however, exhaustion took over and our plans to put them in their beds when they fell asleep went to the wayside as neither of us had the energy to get up once they were both zonked.  WE ARE NOT ADVOCATES OF CHILDREN SLEEPING WITH PARENTS BUT THE CUDDLING IS JUST SO PRECIOUS...yes you can cuddle elsewhere but hey... after 19 days of being gone our bed was the best! Lil' Miss Sassy woke up a little before 5 am and had to have a snack.  She got back in bed for about 20 minutes and then she and I got up and started the laundry.  After breakfast at Bruegger's with Daddy we started running around.  Luke is so far being a great big brother and being very cautious with her.  He likes his new role for now.  We all know it will not be all lollipops every day.  When I pick up one the other wants to be picked up.  They are so precious. We stopped by the office to say Hi and we have been here for a few hours.  They have completely wrecked the place so we are off to our next place to destroy.

I MUST GET THIS CHILD SOME WINTER CLOTHES!  We have only clothes for China where it was quite warm.  So off to shopping we go.  Mr. Snickerdoodle skipped school today and was happy to do so. 

Will post more WELCOME HOME pictures later.  Can not say enough  "There's NO PLACE LIKE HOME" and GOD BLESS THE USA!  It was so nice to wake up to the wonderful smell of our home and not 'skank'.  Anyone for some Fish Stomach Soup?  Well, go to China and you can get it!  (YAK).....

 Our favorite picture of the two (so far)  Taken by Tia Patti

This could be a perfect Holiday picture! 

Thank you to our AIRPORT GREETING COMMITTE: 

Nammy * Pop Pop * Shane * Tefie * Big Brother Luke* Tia Peggy * Tia Patti * Dylan * Tia Mary Ann * Tia Duckie 

The Balloons, Gifts and LOVE were the best!!

CUSTOMS CLEARANCE IN SAN FRANCISCO

--- that story comes later and oh how much fun it was ---