Monday, September 19

Gwen at home

Gwen's third day as a US Citizen! We made it home on Saturday, and here she is sitting in her bedroom for the first time, with three generations of family, plus two cats. She's dealt with the jetlag really well, all things considered, and is moving towards a more normal schedule, but she still hasn't slept through a night. She tends to wake up at some point and take a little while to settle back down, as if she's still thinking of the night as two long naps.

Here she is modeling her disgusted look while throwing a book off her table. She's a fan of books, although she doesn't really understand that a picture can be a representation of a real object. She's learning to turn pages, and she likes the way they change color and appearance when she does it right. But the coasters really intrigue her! And the remote control is the best thing she's ever seen!

And here she is with grand-dad, whom she did really well with. Partly because his glasses cried out to be grabbed off his noise and thrown briskly overboard. Come Xmas time, we'll be able to spend more time with the family, and Gwen will have more of a chance to get to know some of her grand-parents, and vice versa.

She had her physical today and our Pediatrician declared that she's a remarkable little (nearly) 15 month old baby girl. She's chubby and strong and alert and doens't behave at all like you might expect a deprived orphan to behave. We were very relieved to hear this! The blood draw wasn't as successful, though. She cried her little heart out and we worked so hard to restrain her so they could draw blood from her tiny, perfect, vein but it was no use. We finally gave up and decided to wait a few months and try again. She was absolutely distraught! Even more than she was on "Gotcha" day! But within an hour, she was flashing her beautiful toothy grin at us and melting our already melted heart!

Finally, here's a little work she's tentatively titling "Footie pajamas: a study in soft and hard surfaces." We're a tired mommy and daddy but we're feeling very blessed!

4 Comments:

Blogger M3 said...

Hey welcome back! There's no place like home, right?

Take care and best wishes for a long night's sleep real soon.

September 20, 2005 9:54 AM  
Blogger Chris Ayers & Kelly Kline said...

Donna, Andrew & Gwen! Yahoooooo (no pun intended!) you're back in San Jose. We can't wait to meet Gwen -- maybe tomorrow at the ACCEPT picnic? If not, we'll have to make a play date soon. I know that the girls are going to hit it off great.

Kelly, Chris & Helen

September 24, 2005 1:57 PM  
Blogger Everyone Has a Story... said...

A little advice for the blood drawing...MUCH easier if you go to your local hospital and ask (nicely of course) for a nurse from the NICU (where all of the premies are) They are EXPERTS at getting to that vein the very first time. Trust me, I had to go through a tough ordeal with my 2nd son and he had to have LOTS of blood work, poor thing. And by the way, the lurker that I am, CONGRATULATIONS! Yeah! She is home! Kim from Monterey CA

September 25, 2005 9:07 PM  
Blogger Shana said...

Congratulations a million times (again!) Gwen is gorgeous, and she looks so happy! Sophie freaked out at the Dr.'s office too, and the Dr. gave me a pamphlet on temper tantrums on the way out! :( These girls are SMART! I'm so glad you are all safe and sound at home! :)

Hugs, Shana (waiting for sophie)

September 25, 2005 9:47 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

-->