Our First Week At Home

Tomorrow will mark Iris's one week anniversary at her new home.  She has adapted well and has slowed down the eating.  The only issue we have is with her sleeping.  She is not yet on our schedule and this has caused a lot of short nights for mom and dad (mostly mom).  She typically goes to bed as needed but then she wakes up around midnight and wants to stay up until about 5 am and then go back to sleep.

In China she slept very well so we think it is just her body clock is not adjusting as quickly as we would like.  She seems tired but really fights going back to sleep.  We have not given her any sleep aides as we hate that idea.

The plan is for her and Ansley to share a room but we can already see this may be an issue.  Once the sleeping is improved we will discuss other ideas.  For now we will work through the challenges.

Iris has met many of the neighbors and loves playing outside with other kids.  She has taken to the Plasma Cars we have (luckily we have two of them) and does very well on them. 

We received a nice surprise this week as our church informed us that they have arranged for some meals to be provided for a few weeks.  Last night was our first and it was awesome (I could get used to this).

This weekend is the 4th of July and we had planned on going to my father's house to celebrate a late Father's Day.  However, I think we may not go because Iris is still not on a good sleeping pattern.  We hate to break the routine we have started while she is still figuring it all out.  If she improves in the next few nights we may change our minds.

I started back to work on Monday and everyone wants to know about Iris.  So many people have asked about her and said they would include us in their prayers.  It has been great telling people about her and the experience.  It also gives me a chance to tell people about the need to adopt children with special needs.

Iris will see her first doctor on July 12 and this will be at Children's Mercy.  We are very optimistic about her eyes but we will know a lot more after this visit.  Grandmother is taking the day off to watch Ansley and Elliot so we can focus on the doctors visit and not be distracted.  We are very anxious for this appointment.

We have received so much love and support from friends and family since we returned home with Iris.  It is amazing how people are drawn to her and want to know about the journey.  Everyone tells us how lucky Iris is but for me our family is the lucky one.  She has brought Melissa and I closer together and I know this process is going to teach Ansley and Elliot a lot more than I can even imagine. 

Until we post again, enjoy the pictures.