Better night!!

So last night Ellie and I both passed out at 8 pm, and Ayana went down at 7. I woke up at 1230 am, but felt the "right" kind of tired/groggy/ wanna go back to sleep kind of thing. I thought "this is a great sign!" So I laid there for about 2 hours and then Ayana woke up suddenly crying. She had a major diaper explosion, poor thing, so I changed her and gave her a bottle and held her for a long time while she drifted off again. Again, great sign! I mainly wanted to make sure that this wasn't her "awake" time.. it wasn't, she was tired. Sometimes when I lay her in her crib she just rolls over and continues sleeping, sometimes she complains. Last night she complained, for about 30 seconds, but then went to sleep immediately. It is 823 and she is still sleeping! I fell asleep at about 4 and Ellie did not wake up once and was up at 630. But we are definately over the jetlag for the most part. I am now gearing up for this week with Ellie starting back in school and all of her activities. Regan started work again (they are working in a very cold stable today), so I am on my own to figure things out. It will be totally fine, I just have to figure out the morning getting Ellie to school and Ayana bundled up situation. When Regan has a later start I can let her sleep, otherwise I'll have to wake her. We strapped her into her carseat yesterday and she didn't mind at first, but then started to try to move and got very very mad!! Pretty typical, even for some kids who have always been in them. Yesterday Ellie brought down a laundry basket from upstairs with a bunch of pillows and asked me if she could pull Ayana around in it. I plopped the baby in this little "car" and Ellie asked for my belt which she strung thru the handle and pulled Ayana around the house. She LOVED it!! It was SO CUTE!! She would rock back and forth, and at one point Ellie had a blanket wrapped around her and all you could see was her little head ! It just warms my heart more than you can imagine to see them together. Ellie is so amazing with her. We all just play with her and laugh at her cute little things all day. But usually by about supper Ellie will say, "Mom, is Ayana going to bed soon?" And I can tell she is all babied out and I tell her she can go downstairs and play wii while I put Ayana to bed and then after that we have some great one on one time doing something. Ayana is finally warming up to Regan, he was able to hold her for quite awhile yesterday, and he even made her smile and almost laugh! I am sure it's hard for him, although he says he doesn't take it personally, I know he can't wait for the day when she is reaching out her arms for him too. We miss him already. Good thing it is only for 3 weeks. Hopefully he will get a job on Heartland, the writers strike is still going strong.

Anyway, here is the beginning of our story of our trip, I'll have to write it in bursts but here goes:

Day 1:

7am -- Addis Airport

We all stumbled from the plane utterly exhausted, but I was just so buzzing with excitement that we were actually going to see our little Ayana with our very own eyes! After retrieving our luggage, we stepped outside and saw Africa for the very first time. We all just stopped and stared and smelled the air. It was GEORGOUS! You could see the low mountains in the distance and an Ethiopian flag was in the parking lot. The air smelled so interesting, like wood smoke and incense. It was calm, and warm, not hot. Solomon and Gerwachew greeted us with big hugs. I loved them immediately. We piled into the van and just raved about how beautiful we thought Ethiopia was so far. Solomon looked back at us and said, "Heven is waiting for you." It just gave me goosebumps to hear him talking about our little baby! We stopped at the guesthouse and laid down for about 3 hours, we all agreed that we would see Ayana in the afternoon as we were too tired to even think. Ellie slept like crazy. I just lay on the bed and listened to the sounds of Addis. Dogs were barking, and I could hear the staff cooking and people talking in Amharic. I just was in such a blissful state of joy, especially that my Mom, Ellie and Regan were there in the very same room, and we were all sharing in this experience together. I also prayed that Regan's Dad and sister were doing okay, as his Dad was back in the hospital again and his sister had had surgery.

After eating a breakfast it was time to go. The anticipation was killing us!!!! We were greeted by the other Solomon (the transition home director) and we all crammed into this very small car and Ellie had to sit on his lap. She was a trooper though, never even peeped, although I knew she must have been so uncomfortable sitting on this strangers lap. He and I chatted away about the adoption process, the children, his job, and my Mom and Regan just absorbed the sights around us. It was very much like Haiti but the roads were better. Goat herders by the roadside with goats and bloody skins piled near by, donkeys with gigantic sacks on thier backs, tin roadside stores, driving was crazy, just like Haiti and Mexico.

We pulled into the street that leads into the transition home. I felt like I was in a dream. We all stepped out of the car and nudged Regan to get out the video camera. We walked through the gate and followed Solomon. Ellie and I were walking beside each other. I wasn't sure what we would do first, and he suddenly said, "We will do nothing until you see your Heven." And we came around the corner and ... there she was. She was in the arms of the head nurse Meseret and she was all dressed in white and just staring at us. Her little head was covered in wee little pony tales and she had a hood on with a big tassle. I said," Ooooh there she is!!" And Ellie and I went up to her and I reached out my hands and took her in my arms for the first time. I could feel the weight of her little body, and the fuzzy feeling of her white little sweater and I hugged her and of course started crying. She was sublime! An angel! And she was finally in my arms!! I then bent down to Ellie with her and said, "Here is your sister!!" And Ellie was crying too. We hugged each other all three of us. Then it was Daddy's turn, he pulled her into his arms and said, " Hi Sweety! Welcome to our family!" And hugged her, then it was Grandmas turn. She hugged her and said, "Hello there beautiful!" It was just a wonderful scene. The staff all were standing around beaming, but I barely remember my surroundings. Just like when Ellie was born I kind of had tunnel vision. I remember this moment in my sense of touch and heart, not so much what was going on around us. I carried her for a little while when we started our tour, but then she started to fuss so I gave her back to Meseret. We then walked into the first baby room and I saw some of my friends babies and we took pictures and I whispered to each one of them that I knew their Mommy and Daddy and that they loved them and were coming to get them soon. .....

To be continued....