Longing for Lucie: Learning As We Go

Thursday Nov 6 - Saturday Nov 8

We are still alive! We got home on Wed the 5th (a week ago today), and it has been a hard week. We had planned to stay at Grandmommie and Papa's house from Wednesday to Friday and then go to our house, but things did not go that way. I'm the one who usually has a plan, a to do list, structure. My life has changed :) I'm also wondering why there aren't 24 hours in every day anymore - what happened? My brothers and sister are laughing at me right now. They've been telling me for a while that my life was going to change. Of course I knew it would, and now it has!

We had such a hard trip home from Viet Nam - the flight was difficult and all I could think of was that Lucie was totally exhausted. Lucie also had a cold from the day we picked her up from the orphanage so I know she did not feel good because of her cold. Grandmommie started getting sick with an upper respiratory infection the day before we left Hanoi. I started getting sick the day after we got back to the states. So we all felt awful, and we weren't sure what Lucie might have so last Friday we took her to the world's best pediatrician (we love you Dr. L). We found out that Lucie had a terrible ear infection. Well, I felt like the world's worst mother. (I'm sure I have many more of those times coming.) Of course I thought about all the signs I'd overlooked, how I should have known that my little baby girl was so sick and in so much pain. This also helps explain why she had such a hard time on the airplane from Hong Kong to LA. I'm sure she was exhausted but I can't imagine being on that plane with a terrible ear infection. I certainly have a lot to learn, and I'm sure I'll be learning new things every day.

We started Lucie on antibiotics on Friday, as well as ear drops and motrin to help the pain. The antibiotics resulted in other issues that have been uncomfortable. She is also teething and her gums are very uncomfortable. She has jet lag and the days here are her night time and vice versa. Her last good sleep was the night before we left Hanoi to come home - that's a long time without enough sleep. On top of all this, add in a totally new environment - new smells, new sounds, new people, new diet, etc. She lived for 10 months in a small room at the orphanage, and in two weeks she has left that safe environment and lived in a hotel room in Ho Chi Minh Ciy for several days, flown two hours to Hanoi, lived in a hotel room in Hanoi for a week, flown 30 hours to the US, lived at Grandmommie and Papa's for four days, and finally came to our home. That's four new homes in two weeks. The kid's life has been turned completely upside down. I really feel for her. She is such a trooper, and under the circumstances has done amazingly well. My goal now is to give her as much stability and routine as I possibly can - make her feel safe and secure.

New things about Lucie:
She has a hearty laugh and when she feels like it just laughs and laughs from her belly.
She loves her Grandmommie and Papa, aunties, uncles and cousins. She has really taken to them.
She is extremely strong - the kid has a grip like you would not believe.
She likes to imitate things - like wrinkling her nose, blinking her eyes, shaking her head back and forth like a little monkey.
She seems to understand things we tell her like chew, swallow, lie down, jump.
She has definitely called me Mama, at very appropriate times like when she is very angry or when she is patting me on the face.
She seems to be a quick learner.
She can throw a world class tantrum - but for now I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt on that since she has been so sick :)

She is ready to walk with this car, but it moves just a little too fast for her.