HOME, sweet home.

We survived! the trip was just as bad as we possibly could have anticipated! worse, perhaps! don't let the sleeping baby pictures fool you- she was probably awake for 16 of the 20 hours we travelled. And she was NOT happy at being on the plane - fussing and crying, and letting out the occasional tortured shriek. In penance for almost making us miss the plane from Taipei to San Fran (last minute shopping at the airport museum shop), I was on diaper duty the whole time, and changing five or six poopy diapers by myself in an airplane bathroom was profoundly unfun. Especially on those domestic flights that don't even have changing tables- you try balancing baby on a changing pad half-covering a small toilet seat.
The flight did give us the chance to learn more about Helena, however. We found that she loves to be propped up against cushions and have toys, or pretzal packages, or plastic cups- whatever is on hand, placed in front of her. This is my favorite picture from the trip home:

























The flight from SF to Chicago was late, and the flight from Chicago to Milwaukee was cancelled, so my sweet saintly sister Mary drove down to O'Hare to pick us up. Baggage arrived today. And my parents came down from Green Bay to meet their grand-daughter Helena! Her other set of grand-parents arrive tomorrow. She did fairly well, but she really is nervous around strangers, and bursts into tears at a moment's notice. Following the adoption experts' advice, we are trying to avoid anyone but us holding her for the next month or two - unless she's asleep, as she is in this pic.
She did have a rough first night here, waking up crying every 30-45 minutes, and I had the sense she was just frightened to be in such an unfamiliar place. As for us, I think she's starting to accept us as her care-givers, and we're able to get her to stop crying when we pick her up and hold her. But she's obviously frightened and unsettled, as would any alert baby be, having been taking away from everything familiar. We were reflecting that the pick-up process couldn't really be more traumatic for a child- handed suddenly to strangers, taken to a hotel room environment totally different from the kinds of spaces they know (air conditioning, smells, etc), and then taken on an airplane where all schedules are totally disrupted. Throw into that mix a set of inexperienced parents who can't even make a warm enough bottle, and you've got a bad time. But she's handling it really well, and we're managing to get little smiles from her - and aren't those the currency by which parents are paid?
We've started her on a good schedule, and are going to hibernate for a month or so- keep all external stimulation to a minimum and avoid crowds and strangers as much as possible. She needs to relax and feel comfortable here at home, and with us, before we try anything new.