After the Airport: Seven Weeks In

It's been seven weeks now since Jeff and Teresita came home.  It may be too soon to call it, but this may just be our smoothest transition yet.  Jeff felt great after the trip.  Teresita is sweet and easy going...for now.  We'll see how much her big brother and sister rub off on her.  She just fits our family so perfectly.  One of her first mornings home, I was sitting in bed with her while she slept (there's another thing...she likes to sleep!  We've never had a child who likes to sleep before!).  Jeff was up with the two older kids.  Since I was wide awake and just waiting for her to wake up, I started praying the rosary.  It must have been Saturday morning, because I was praying the joyful mysteries.  Suddenly I heard little footsteps in the hall, and the door to our room burst open.  Juan Pablo and Ana Luisa jumped onto the bed, laid down on each side of Teresita, just watching her sleep.  Occasionally the would lean in and kiss her or stroke her back.  It was such a sweet moment, and since I had just been praying the joyful mysteries, all I could think of was "Mary treasured these things, pondering them in her heart."  It was one of those moments this mama's heart will treasure forever.  When Teresita finally opened her eyes, Juan Pablo's face was just inches away from hers.  For a second, I was worried that she would be scared or disoriented, and not remember where she was or who he was.  Instead her whole face lit up with a huge beautiful smile.  It was like she just knew where she was- HOME.  And it has been that was ever since.

And her big brother and sister love her  so, so much.  Look at the smile on Juan Pablo's face...this picture is from one of Teresita's first days home, and he was on cloud nine:

He has always loved babies, and having one around all the time has not changed that.  He gives her hugs and kisses all the time.  He even comes in from playing outside every once in a while just to kiss her.  He plays little games with her and tries to teach her to talk.  She smiles so big when she sees him.  It's so good to see our boy's sweet side come out like that.

And Ana Luisa has really surprised us.  We thought she would have a really hard time being displaced as the youngest, especially by another girl.  She has her moments, of course, but overall has embraced being the big sister so much more than we had anticipated.  She likes to pick out outfits and hair accessories for Teresita.  She plays on the floor with her while I'm making dinner.  She like to take Teresita's hands in her hands and say, "Mira mama, un circulo de niñas!" ("Look mama, a circle of girls!") in a really sweet voice.  Which totally cracks me up- where did she get that from?  But apparently a circle of girls is a pretty big deal.  Occasionally I'm included in the circle too.

These pictures were taken about a month apart.  Teresita seems to be more on board with the idea of being held by a small and very enthusiastic person in the later picture.  She looks like she's trying to break free in that first picture!  Ana Luisa has not given her much choice but to get used to the idea...I'm glad Teresita is such a good sport. Maybe it has something to do with being accepted into the Circle of Girls?

I don't have as many pictures of just Teresita from these first few weeks as I would like.  Mostly because when I grab the camera and think the other two are distracted and I'll be able to try to get a good picture of Teresita, they somehow sense what is happening:

Them: "Mama, take a picture of us too!"

 Me: "Alright guys, that's very sweet, but I wanted to take a picture of Teresita and you're covering her up."

Me: "Teresita, look at mama! No, over here!  Teresita!  Guys, stop distracting her, come over here and help me get her to look at the camera!"

Them: "What? Why?"
Me: "Never mind, it's ok, you can play with her, I guess I'll try again later."

I did finally manage to get a couple decent pictures...here she is at seventeen months old, one month home.

She really is just so sweet.  She loves to be held and loves to cuddle.  She gives us slobbery baby kisses whenever we're holding her.  When we pick her up she gets so excited she sort of squeals and waves her arms and legs.  She scoots around on her butt, and when Jeff is saying goodbye to the kids before leaving for work in the morning, she somehow manages to scoot in there too and pull herself up using his pant leg until she gets her hug and kiss goodbye.  And when he comes home from work, she really goes crazy happy and can't contain her excitement.  She is growing and gaining weight.  She has been sick a couple times, and despite that, at our last trip to the after-hours clinic she weighed in at 15.5 pounds...up more than two pounds since her first doctor's appointment.  Some of her 9 month size clothes actually fit now.  She has started pulling herself up to standing using anything and everything she can reach. If it's something she can lean against, like the couch, she'll lean against it and let go with her hands and then be very excited and proud of herself that she's standing all by herself without holding on to anything.

We've mostly spent the last seven weeks adjusting to being a family of five.  Figuring out what to make for dinner that everybody will eat.  Trying to clean at least parts of the house here and there.  Surviving the extreme heat we've had this summer...including a two day power outage.  The big kids got bunk beds...they've been talking about someday having bunk beds since we went on vacation last October, because the place where we stayed had bunk beds.  Jeff and I weren't planning to get them quite yet...after all, the kids had been sleeping on mattresses on the floor for about a year now, and still managed to fall off of them during the night.  The biggest concern was that they were still coming in our room to sleep with us almost every night...we worried that Juan Pablo would forget where he was and take a major spill off his bunk.  We had been telling them since October that when they could sleep in their own beds all night every night we could get bunk beds...and they were, for the most part, doing that.  So when we were at Ikea and they insisted that they were ready because they're big now, we just decided to try it.  And it's working out pretty well.  Both kids have slept through the night more nights than not.  Juan Pablo has a monitor up there with him so he can call us during the night if he needs us, which makes everyone feel a bit more secure.  My babies are growing up (and they would be extremely offended if they knew I was referring to them as "babies".). 

The big kids also took swimming lessons for a couple weeks.  They loved it.  Juan Pablo is fearless in the water and spent the whole class just diving in and out, pretending to be various sea creatures, oblivious to what the rest of the class was doing.  By the end of every class his eyes would be red from opening his eyes underwater (he liked the idea of goggles, but in the end didn't want to wear them), and totally out of breath from sticking his head in an out of the water for about a half hour straight.  Ana Luisa, on the other hand, was #1 teacher's pet and stayed within 12 inches of her teacher at all times, always doing as instructed.  Because they could both put their face in the water and do assisted front and back floats, both kids passed to Level 2, which Ana Luisa is extremely proud of,   Juan Pablo doesn't care what level he is in as long a he can pretend to be a whale or dolphin or sea turtle or whatever strikes his fancy at that particular moment.  They'll be starting Level 2 next week.  Teresita enjoyed sitting by the side of the pool and watching, and using her surprisingly strong little spaghetti arm to try to throw her toys in the water.

 And that about sums up our first seven weeks as a family of five. We all love Teresita.  She certainly seems to love us back.  If the next seven weeks go as well as the first, I'd say we're in good shape.  And if I can keep this blog a bit more up to date...even better!