The Arrival - 5/23

So I spent my birthday, cleaning, and doing last minute things to get ready for E.R.'s homecoming. Then M.C., J.T. and I met up with Chris' dad, and headed for the airport. We had a quick dinner and waited at the gate. And then they came around the corner!


The travelers!

It was surreal to meet my daughter for the first time. We had watched her grow so much in pictures. She was quiet and calm, but watched us all with controlled interest. We didn't find out until Tuesday that she had double ear infections that must have been so incredibly painful on the 4 flights home.


M.C. was so excited to see his dad!!


Look at how J.T. is looking at Chris! This is E.R.'s first meeting with little brother. She could say his name after about 5 days!
It was a great feeling to all be together, finally! E.R. watched me with big eyes during the walk to our car. I really think she recognized me from the pictures we had sent, and Chris took with him. When we buckled her into her car seat she panicked. I told her "I'm your mommy, don't be afraid, it's okay" in Amharic. That seemed to surprise her and she looked at me with huge eyes. She was quiet for a minute, but then began to cry again.

E.R. screamed in her carseat for the first 15 minutes of the ride. It was probably her first ride in one. When we got home, we tried to keep things calm, but pretty quickly she was crawling on the floor with the boys, smiling and laughing. She seemed delighted to find out there were TWO big brothers in this family. She warmed up to M.C. instantly and enjoyed throwing a marble and then a ball with him. It soon turned into a game of chase, with E.R. doing her best to keep up.

She was much slower to warm up to me, but it didn't take as long as we thought it would. After the boys went to bed, she sat in the glider with me and we read about 8 board books. By about the 6th one, she was turning pages and looking at me as we read. I love to read to my kids and it was pretty special to have this time with her.

Her night was hard. She was in a new place, her time clock was messed up from the trip and time changes, and she also had ear infections we didn't know about yet, poor girl. So, Chris and I had to make some quick decisions about where the kids should sleep. We had planned to have her with us for awhile. But she was so sick with a scary, raspy, cough, that we decided to keep J.T. separate (since at 7 weeks he is pretty vulnerable) until we could get her checked out. So I slept on the floor in her room, and nursed J.T. when he got up. She didn't sleep much, and I think spent a long time in the early hours sitting in her crib watching me as I slept. I changed her diaper twice overnight. At about 4:00, she and I got up and rocked while I combed and oiled her hair. She seemed to really like that and fell asleep in my arms. That night seemed to jump start our attachment process, since she seemed to understand that I was her mom, as I took over her caregiving.

As I write this a week later, it already seems so long ago. She has blossomed so much since then.

What a day. A birthday I will remember forever.