Home at Last!

It has been so great to be home!!! The day of our flights started off pretty rough as Daniel, our guide in GZ, asked at least three times on our drive to the airport, "What time is your flight?" We'd tell him. "Okay, okay." The traffic was horrible with all of the people stranded in GZ. We had to go by the bus stations and the train depots, where there were an estimated 600,000 people stranded by the snowstorms. As we were checking in, there was a problem with AnLi's e-Ticket. Daniel went back and forth to a couple of counters, and about 45 minutes later he had us rushing to our plane, which was delayed leaving...which gave us very little time to navigate the Beijing airport.
Once we got to Beijing we had to reclaim our luggage and go through customs, up to the United counter and recheck, then make it to our plane. Somehow the stroller wasn't showing up anywhere in the baggage claim area and we were on a serious time crunch now. Brian said, forget it, we have to go. So as he starts pushing the cart with our luggage, I've got one girl who has no idea what the word "walk" means pulling one arm, two backpacks on, and another girl who moves at a snail's pace lagging behind on my other arm, and I finally had my little mini meltdown. (you have to have at least one of those on a trip to China) Brian parked the cart and started looking for the stroller again. Next thing you know, some young man comes up, Brian following behind with the stroller, and off we go. Brian paid this guy 400 yuan to get us to our flight. He took us through some back elevator, no customs, and straight to the United counter and got us all checked in just in time to catch the flight. We were so relieved we made it! Then we get to Chicago and, what, a six-hour delay? And, yes, it was a miserable six hours. We were so relieved to be off the plane and see our family waiting for us!

Carli has transitioned into our family amazingly well. We can't believe how great she's done! She came to us unable to suck, chew or talk. We stopped the bottle last Thursday. She figured out the sippy cup on Saturday. She eats basically what we eat, we just mash it or put it in the food processor. Although, she can get a powered doughnut down in a heartbeat, just like her big sister. :) She mimics everything we do. She is starting to try to say more words, but still prefers to hum it instead. When you give her something, you get hmm-hm, which we're pretty sure is her saying "thank you." It's just so cute! This is the second night in her own bed. It helps that she is sharing a room with AnLi. As I was shutting the door to their room today for nap, I heard AnLi whispering "don't get up, don't get up". We are amazed at Carli every single day and just how she has transformed in such a short while. We just love her!

AnLi has been a great big sister. She pretty much protects Carli from all of the "horrible" things in life like Carli getting her hair washed because "she's scared, mom" to not giving Carli her medicine because "she might choke, mom". Of course, she has introduced her to Cinderella, but the Cinderella dress and shoes are completely off limits. The first day home I asked AnLi if she could go get Carli some toys to play with. She came back with dog toys. :) There has been some jealousy, of course, but it's actually going much better than I anticipated. When they're wide awake at 3a.m., they have the best time laughing and giggling together. The other night Carli would pretend like she was going to grab some coveted toy of AnLi's, and then Carli would fall back laughing, then AnLi would fall back laughing. Of course, I was trying to keep things low key so we could all get back to sleep, but that didn't last. AnLi got to go to swimming tonight, so she was pretty happy about that. We're hoping she sleeps through the night so she can go to Montessori in the morning. I know things will be much better once everyone gets on a regular schedule, but we've been so proud of how she's adjusting to her new sister so far.

Brian has had the flu since we've been home, so he's been staying in "The Quiet Room" in the basement since Saturday. (Again, thank you!) We're happy to say he's been up today and feeling much better. We have missed him!

We haven't taken any pictures of the girls since we've been home. I promise we'll get on that!
I'm going to add a few from China we never got posted.