Piper's Chitter Chatter

In China, I would never have imagined that the quite sweet girl in the halls would be a wild woman and a chatterbox. She literally calls "Mommy" or "Momma" 2000 times a day. Yesterday it actually was driving me nuts, so I got her to start saying Daddy. She called her Daddy on the phone 3 times yesterday so she could chitter chatter to him a bit. Her English vocabulary is also exploding. So far, these are the words that I have heard her say:

Mommy
Momma
Daddy
Harrison
Mona (our dog)
Mims or Mimmie (our dog)
Bassie (our dog)
All Done
Ok
Uhhh Ohhh
Please
Thank you

She also loves to repeat almost everything we say, but I do not think she knows the meaning yet of what she is repeating. She is so funny and so wild. She definately will keep me on my toes. I love getting her up in the morning, because she is always smiley and just beaming like she cannot believe that she has her own princess room. She loves looking around and smiling at her room, which is vastly different to when she has to go to bed and is crying.

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As for eating, she has already displayed some dislikes although I am keeping at it. She does not seem to like hot dogs, cottage cheese or string cheese. I also do not think she if fond of ketchup, but she did continue to eat it yesterday when I gave it to her. She seems to love scrambled eggs, mandarin oranges, big oranges, hamburger, chicken noodle soup, cooked carrots and milk. Boy that girl can drink some milk!

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Sorry there are still no pictures. Mike is off today so hopefully I can have him look for the other camera that he has. He adopted my old one when we got the Nikon, but I have no idea what he did with it. Poor guy came back to a murder in a neighboring subdivision so he has been getting home really late. It is a very sad situation and I cannot even imagine what that family is experiencing. There has not been an arrest yet, but I am personally hoping that it is a related incident. That way there is not a random murdering lurkering around our little town, but I know how hard that would also be for the family. It is just so sad.

Feeling Good

I know it is only 11 a.m., but I seem to be doing better today. I unpacked the last 2 suitcases, steam cleaned the carpet, did laundry and washed the laundrey room floor. However, to be honest, I just unpacked the "guts" of the suitcases onto the dining room table. It still made me feel better.

I also just called Wolf Camera and told them about the accident. They were not thrilled, but I am bringing in my camera for a new one or a repair. Whoo hoo! In the meantime, I have asked Mike to hunt down my old camera that he is now using so I can post some pictures for everyone.

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Harrison told me he loves having a sister. Piper is the perfect age difference and I am so happy she is not a baby. A part of me wished I would have known her then, but she may not be the person that she is today so how could I not be overjoyed with the daughter that I have. I am so proud of Harrison and he has been giving me SO MUCH love. It has been great to spend so much time with him.

Update: It is 3:30 and we are fading fast. It was a bit weird driving a car after almost a month. We ran errands and it went well except for Harrison almost slamming his sister's head in the door 2x. I am sure that my new neighbors that I have not met think I am evil for screaming so loud. Oh well! Harrison also received a wonderful compliment at McD's. A woman came up to tell me how adorable he is. As I was thanking her, she said the reason I think he is so adorable is the way he talks to his sister. That melted my heart. He had been showing her how to eat a Happy Meal and it was a bunch of really sweet "watch Brother...listen to Brother....good job...open your mouth so I can see if you have swallowed your food...Brother is proud of you." I was so touched that a stranger would notice his tender heart, which certainly was not appreciated at Wolf Photo where he and Piper were rolling all over the floor, banging into displays, and yelling.

Jet Lag Blues

We cannot function. "We" meaning everyone but Mike, who apparently is immune from jet lag since he has to rotate his work to night shift every two months. Harrison, Piper and I start thinking of napping at 9 a.m. Today we made it to 1 p.m. and then went for a short nap. I told myself that we would sleep 2 hours and then wake up. Mike woke us up at 7 when he got home.

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I cannot get anything unpacked. I did two suitcases the first night and now my dining room is covered with junk. We just cannot function. There are also so many people that I need to thank for the wonderful gifts and wishes, but I just cannot do that either. In fact, I have not even ventured out of the house since our first outing to IHOP. Poor Mike, I just sent him back out to the grocery store for more milk because I cannot stand the thought of getting dressed.

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The one upside is that my Minnie Mr. has been super duper snuggly with me....oh, and it looks like I did buy the camera insurance ----Yippee! Let's hope it covers the fatal fall on the Wall.

Home Sweet Home

After about 11 hours of turbulence on a 13 hour flight with all of our tvs broken (except Mike's) we made it home safely. We are so incredibly fortunate to have a great group of wonderful friends waiting for us at the airport. They waited so long and we were so happy to see them. When we first came up the elevator, the first person I saw was my mom's best friend, Sherrie. It was such a wonderful surprise that Heather helped organize. Thank you so much to our greeters: Sherrie & Eric; Heather; Maggie, Michael & Vincent,; Kim & Nicole; Kim, Dave, Cole & Ava; Tiffany, Will & Gracie; Christy & sweet Sophie; and Chan, Lana, and Chan's lovely mother-in-law who I only got to meet for a moment. It means the world to us that you were all there with smiles, hugs, signs, balloons & goodies. We felt so spoiled and even more spoiled when we got home.

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We arrived home to a fully decorated home with signs, balloons, cake, flowers, goodies and family. We were thrilled to see Pa (Jack), Mike's mom, his twin brother Jeff, wife Monica and kids Hayden and Tanner, & Uncie. Our fridge was stocked and balloons were everywhere. You all are the best. Heather, I had no idea you were coming to the house, but Jack said you made a special trip over to get things ready. We each love our Valentines and balloons you left. We even had a lovely card and flowers from Lydia our wonderful pet sitter who we had just met before we left. Thank you so much!!!!

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Mike's other family was at the house earlier, but since we were so delayed they had to start home. Piper and Harrison are fully spoiled with the items they left for them. Thanks so much!

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Piper's face was sheer delight when she saw her room. How much I wish I had that on video! She slept with us, but did nap in her bed today.

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We all slept great last night. Somehow Mike fell asleep on the living room floor. It really looked like he was walking to the kitchen and just fell right there. He is not sure what happened so it may be just that. We woke up this morning, went to breakfast, let the kids play and slept since then. Mike stayed up all day, but is now asleep in the chair in the living room. Harrison is asleep on the couch, and Piper is obsessed with pushing the keys as I type.

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I have so much more thanks to give, but I must hit the bed again. I am sure that Harrison will be awake the moment I go to sleep.