Home, Sweet Home (An Update!)

First things first, above is Katie now. If you go back to earlier post, you'll see that she barely resembles the little girl that I carefully undressed in Nanchang, redressed lovingly and tried not to upset too much not even 4 weeks ago. My first few days home, I missed China terribly...though I was very happy to be home with my boys! Now this trip of a lifetime seems a bit like a dream. Our days were so different over there that it is almost hard to believe it really happened. But it did, and our lives will never be the same. Thank goodness!

Katie is doing just fabulous. She is sitting unaided and is able to reach for things from a sitting position without toppling over. Even last week, she needed a pillow to keep her balance. She is starting to eat and can now feed herself Gerber baby 'puffs.' Two days ago they made her gag. Yesterday she could eat them cut in 1/2 only if you stayed close to keep returning them to her mouth. Today, she gets them in herself (with a little effort...) and they don't come out much. She is really rewarding to work with because she learns things very quickly! She can also stand up at a toy for awhile without help. She may crawl pretty soon, but I am starting to think that she might just walk without crawling. She enjoys tummy time, but it usually turns into a barrel roll across the floor (once she starts rolling, she loves to keep going!).

She is sleeping great! She fell asleep at 6:30 pm the first night home (the flight landed at 4pm) and she slept though most of her welcome home party! She didn't get up until about 5am, then she ate and returned to sleep. That is her pattern now. She is in bed usually by 6pm, then wakes between 5:30 and 6:30 for a bottle, then sleeps another hour or so. She takes 2 naps during the day, between 1-2 hours each. She goes down for bed or naps really easy. Katie really only fusses much if she is tired or hungry. She's a very happy, content baby during the day and a real joy to be with. She has 2 new teeth through on top, so she is a bit happier about that, but she didn't even fuss a lot about her teething. She is almost a carbon copy of Alex, behavior-wise, as a baby. I hope this continues (everyone told me I'd never get that lucky again...).

Katie visited the doctor the third day home and was pronounced healthy as a horse! Well, she still has to have about 30 vials of blood drawn to check for everything under the sun, but otherwise she looks good. She is 15-1/4 lbs. She is around the 50% for height on the US charts (there are separate growth charts for China). Dr. Schmandt thought she was on target for everything except motor development, but I think she has just about caught up for that, too! She is babbling like crazy, so I am curious to see how her English language develops. I have heard that the transition from hearing Chinese to English slow spoken language by 3-4 months, but at her age it might not be as evident. The sounds of the two languages are very different, so I could be wrong. We'll see. It's a fun journey that just keeps getting better by the day!

Thanks again to everyone who has let us know that they were following along on our trip. I just can't tell you enough how much that means to all of us. Someday, Katie will learn about how she became a Tillock, and it will probably be somewhat hard for her to understand what happened to her in China. I know for certain it will be even harder when she becomes a mother herself and understands exactly what it would take for a mother to have to abandon a child. I hope that things like knowing how many people cared about her before she even reached US soil will help cushion the blow a bit.

For anyone who's been waiting for an update, I'm sorry it has taken so long! While Katie had virtually no jet lag, her mommy had enough for the entire flight! I am still not doing great, though every day is an improvement. I am up way past my bedtime to do this, but I know some of you out there are anxious to know how Katie is doing. In a word, great! Her big brother, Alex, is also doing well. I was really nervous about how he'd react to both of us, but he has been a really good big brother to Katie. He is anxious for her to get up in the morning, likes to help feed her, and makes her laugh harder than anyone else can. Katie gets a lot of attention, both at home and in public, and he endures it all quite well.

More later. I'll do an orphanage update soon, but we did hear from her orphanage in Suichuan last week. They just wanted to know how she is doing and they missed her already!

Katie and mom with the stork in the yard (in the rain!) announcing Katie's arrival home! We've waited a long time to see that stork...

This picture captures Alex's love for his baby sister, but Katie is usually much happier to be with him. After a few days, Alex decided that he wanted me to go back to China for 2 more baby sisters! He continues to ask for them still.

Katie playing with a stand-up toy. She is standing without help and can do so for a few minutes at a time.