We're home

We made it home safe & sound Saturday night.

The 14 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago was fairly uneventful.

Suprisingly, Melaina did awesome. She took a few cat naps & slept for 4 1/2 hours straight! The time she was awake, she played & laughed.

We then flew from Chicago to St Louis & she slept the entire flight.

There was severe weather in St Louis so our plane had to stay on the runway for about 45 minutes. Luckily we were able to get off the plane but it took 2 hours to get our bags. It could have been worse, waiting on the runway for that long.

We were happily welcomed by our family. Harper made a mad dash & went straight to Melaina & gave her a giant hug first.

She then hugged me so tightly telling me she loved me & missed me! My heart was melting.

Melaina quickly, or should I say immediately, warmed up to Daddy & Bria.

She's been Daddy's sidekick since then!

We've been in our home since Sunday afternoon & are still adjusting. Jet lag is kicking our butts!

Sleeping has been our biggest issue. Melaina is still on China time & loves the hours of midnight to 4am.  We're working on establishing a routine with naps & bedtime. I know it will get better but it's so hard trying to function on a few hours of sleep. I'm the person that truely gets at least 8 hours of sleep a night, so this has been exhausting for me.

Melaina was very timid & uncomfortable the first day at our house.  Each day she feels more comfortable & is acting more like the Melaina that I saw in China.

Harper & Melaina really seem to like each other. Harper is being such a great big sister & showing Melaina how to eat different foods, how to use a spoon & how to play. It's pretty cute to watch.

Their age difference is enough for Harper to be the "helper" & Melaina to be the "baby". Harper loves to help make the bottle & change diapers.

I've even seen Melaina making the first move on Harper for a kiss... pretty sweet.

Melaina is picking up & understanding English well.

The words she can say so far are: Mama, Baba (daddy in Chinese), bye bye, puppy, apple, shoe & tickle.

She's a sharp kid, much like Harper & will mimic things quickly.

Her strength is improving & even took a few steps on her own tonight.

With more nutrition & confidence, I believe she'll be walking by herself soon.

I haven't taken hardly any pictures since we've been home but we caught this one in the car tonight from our phone:

Car seat - Car seat

This is the beginning of a budding friendship.