Hello there

I am just too pooped to write much, but more about our trip is coming! Ayana and Ellie were both up early, and it worked out just great! Ayana was in a great mood and was actually crawling all over the place! She managed to find every single piece of lint and thread on my carpet! It was so cute!!! She also figured out she can bounce in her excersaucer, so cute! It is
-33 degrees celcius today, -49 with the windchill, so my wonderful neighbor and friend offered (so did my folks!) to drive Ellie to school this AM. Ellie also took her lunch, and due to the extreme freeze Regan came home from work at around 1130, so he can pick her up AND go get groceries! It will be nice when it warms up and we can walk Ellie to school and take the dog out. I am curious how she will react to the snowsuit business! I still only slept for an hour last night, but had a nap this AM for 2 hours when Ayana did. She only got up once, but was pretty wide awake. In Ethiopia we used to be able to just put her in her playpen and she would go to sleep, unfortunately now after holding her for 28 hours on planes, she cries when I lay her down, even if she is fast asleep. I do let her cry a bit, and it really only lasts about a minute or two and then she is fast asleep. I have always hated doing that, but it's really brief and otherwise I would have to hold her for the entire time she sleeps which is impossible. Anyway, it's all coming together. I had a bit of a rough early evening yesterday, so I reached out to the awesome yahoo group community and my Mom and read the book Post Adoption Blues and was relieved to find that everything I am feeling is perfectly normal, and not necessarily adoption related. A lot of people who have their second, third, however many, child bio or not got thru a transition, some more severe than others. Today is a good day, and I'll take it. I have been told by lots of sources to go easy on myself, and not try to be super woman, or try to just step back into our old routine as that routine no longer exsists! So that is what I am doing. Anyway, as I said, doing much better! And once I get some real sleep under my belt I'll be fine! Ayana is a dream, so sweet, so happy, and I just love her so much! One of her favourite things to do is to stand up on my lap and then she kind of just falls into my face or neck with her mouth wide open for one of those baby kisses! It is SO CUTE!! And sometimes she looks at me and smiles this big 2 tooth grin with her eyes and everything, her face just melts into this smile! I'm telling you, she is so beautiful. Regan was able to spend about 30 minutes playing with her, and she was reaching up to his face. It was great, I know it's been hard for him, but he doesn't admit it. He wants her to want him, and she will. I am so glad that he has some time with her today.

Have a great day everyone!