So...The time has come for me to begin working on Kai's (yes, we are already calling him Kai and he is already used to it. No, he doesn't respond to any random name, just 3 carefully chosen ones) quilt. It is currently a 25 wishes quilt. NOT quite what I was hoping for. Ummm, I don't want to sound all braggy here, but, we know signifigantly more than 25 folks. That means some of you who have had the pleasure of his amazing company have not contributed a square. Shame on you. Shame. If you look at this photo and see your square...then you rock!!! Yay you! If not...lets fix this. Let's make it right. Come on.....when he sits on your lap in a few years and pulls up his quilt, asking which square is yours, you will thank me for all of this harassment because you will avoid a supremely awkward moment. Seriously though, we really want all of the people who are a part of our lives as we grow our family to be a part of this quilt.
We are settling into our family and our life. It really has been an amazing week here. I had the kids home without Chris for the first time since Zack joined us and it was awsome! I had quite a bit of stuff planned to help ease our transition and had to cancel almost all of it because both kids got sick with colds (snot). I know, you are thinking " how was that awsome?". Well. The answer is that it was pretty much the last thing on earth I wanted to happen this week and, so, of course it did, and we all survived! In fact we did amazing. Zack and I are totaly rockin' the whole bonding thing and Luke is continuing to be a great older brother. All this while the kids were pretty much miserable for most of the week. I "wore" Zack alot in our sling and that worked so well for us (not for my back....but what's more important, right?) We had a couple guests stop by and Zack just snuggled down in that sling whenever he felt nervous. It really is the perfect way to help Zack feel safe and to let other folks know that he isn't ready to be passed around just yet. It fells great to have him snuggled in like that...Luke never wanted much to do with the sling. He was always wanting to get down and explore. It is nice to have a snuggler!!! We got back into our Friday night pizza routine tonight and Zack had a blast. It was fun to really be back in our routine, but now with 2 kids. Now that I have a little time here and there to sit back I find myself really overcome with love for our new son. I was really in survival mode there in the begining and Zack wasn't ready to start a relationship with me yet. Now that daddy is back at work and we are getting lots of time together with lots of structure and predictability our relationship is thriving! It feels so good. Zack already knows our bedtime and naptime routines. It is so good for him to know what is coming next so he can feel safe and secure. This has really allowed him to open up. Just tonight Chris and I were sayng how he seems happier every day...He really is a very happy little person. We went from him being terrified of the cat, the carseat, mommy, shopping carts, carpet and his bedroom three weeks ago to him squealing with excitement when we are in the car, chasing the cat while crawling on the carpet, hugging and kissing mommy, giggling in the shopping cart and falling asleep in his own room, with no tears, all by himself (after lots of hugs and kisses of course!) He is still a bit afraid of grass....but hey, give him another week!I'l post photos of the sling so you can see what I mean....I just need Chris to take some.
We got the boys these robes in Taiwan from some Amazing women, Miki and Lauren, who we met at their little shop. We went back 3 or 4 times to visit, both before and after we had picked up Zack. The day we flew out we went to say good-bye and they made us oolong tea right on the display counter. We sat and talked and drank tea. It was one of the more special parts of our journey.....
(Help...they're taking over!)So, it was just all going a bit too well...you know, like too good to be true? We have started to deal in reality around here it seems. We are back from orbit and the honeymoon is over. It had to happen eventually. Right?A few posts ago I had mentioned that Zack seemed to prefer Chris over me just a bit...well, now it is more than just a bit. He has, at this point, made a full fledged decision about me and he has decided that I am just slightly above useless (I make the food, so I seem to have that going for me). Um....OUCH . Even though I knew this may happen, it is still challenging. Of course though I am all patience with Zack...I am a little disheartened inside when he cries for Dad as I hold him. I am dealing with it a little better every day. He reaches out and touch me while Chris is holding him. That is progress. I try to feed him most of his meals and I put him to bed just as much as Chris. I also hold him many times throughout the day....he just keeps Chris in his sights. We are getting there. Luckily, Luke is here and he sort of smoothes the edges of just about anything. That kid is blowing me away with how well he is handling all of this. Such a great little person. He calls Zack "Yak" and asks "Where's Yak?" throughout the day. So funny!!We are also working on sleep/nap stuff. It seems that now that Zack is getting used to being here he is wanting to play around with his nap schedual. By that I mean...not nap. This is not an option around here so we are trying, as gently as possible, to let Zack know he will be napping. We play around with different times and lengths as well as ways of putting him down. It can take 35 minutes to get him down for a 60 minute nap....that isn't going to work when I am home with both kids and Luke is in the living room....We'll continue to adjust and be patient. So, overall, this is harder than I thought it would be. It is good and will be better soon. We are right in the middle of one of the most challenging parts now, so we just have to keep our eyes on the goal. Of course I am open to any helpfull suggestions. Especially on how to handle helping Zack feel comfortable with me and how to help Zack not feel threatened by Luke playing with his dad. Zack is not interested in sharing Chris at all...which I totaly understand , I just need to find a way to help him through that. We are making sure that Chris and Luke go outside and do fun boy stuff alone at least once a day and that really helps Luke, but obviously not Zack!If this post sounds a bit down....it isn't all bad here. This is just a good place for me to work through the hard stuff so it may seem to be leaning a bit more toward the negative than it is day to day. Chris and I are doing well and talking about the days events each night. Bear with me...more cute fun stuff is around the corner I'm sure! And, hey, I included photos!!!
Alrighty then! We are sleeping! We kept poor little Zack (and his poor parents) awake as long as he could be kept awake yesterday and we have success. He slept from 9:45pm until 8:00am. Yeah. Zack rocks. So, everybody slept last night at the same time and the boys both napped at the same time this afternoon.
Looks like we are all set for another night of going to bed all at once. Chris and I may even get our 2 hours of peace that we are quite attached to after "baby bed time" (8-10pm). Oh how we cherish those 2 little hours. They are what keep this house going.
Things continue to go well around here. Luke is not completely impressed with Zack yet. As we explain Zack's little quirks to Luke and point out all of the things that Luke gets to do that Zack can't do yet, Luke gets a little more secure in his new position.
Zack is VERY impressed with Luke though. He just watches every little thing Luke does. This big brother worship has definately eased our transition!
Thanks to everybody who offered to watch the boys so we could sleep....You are all so wonderful. Believe me, I was tempted. But I knew it was just a matter of us all pushing through together so we could all be tired at the same time. It was like mock speed reaclimating to the time change thanks to Luke being a stickler for his little schedual. I really think we've managed to conquer jet lag in 2 days, which has got to be a record or somthing.
Here are some photo's of what we've done today... 
We went on a walk through the neighborhood and then played in the front yard for a while
This is a photo of us NOT holding either one of the kids while they are both awake...this is the first time this has happened since Monday!! Very exciting....Little Zack is starting to explore!
Dad's Observations about Zack:- Right now he wants to do nothing but go for walks in the carrier or be held.
- Right now we want to do nothing but hold him.
- He is already a completely different little boy than the one we picked up. He is opening up faster than I thought he would.
- Zack is a thinker just like his big brother.
- He is also just about as heavy as his big brother! He is a wide and stalky little guy.
- He is very ticklish and has a very funny little laugh.
- He was very loved by the people at St Lucy's. They are amazing and have done so much for him/us.
- Zack looks just like his birth mother.
- He 'high fives' with the best of them. He will fit right in ;)
- At St Lucy's the caretakers are a little more physical than we are in the US. Tickling is more of a jabbing motion, but he likes it!
- Zack seems to be afraid of floors.
- He goes to sleep with very little trouble so far and sleeps through the night!!!
Dad's Observations about Taiwan:- You know it is humid when your camcorder refuses to turn on because "condensation is detected"
- Extreme sports have nothing on scooter riders here. You couldn't pay me enough to drive a car or ride a scooter in Taiwan.
- St Lucy's is in a much busier part of town than I imagined. I imagined some rural paradise in the middle of nowhere (I don't know why) but it is on one of the busier little streets we have seen!
- The people here are really nice.
- Paying a little more for the 'Evergreen Deluxe' airline tickets and a two room suite are the best money you could ever spend.
- We are definitely minorities here but I don't feel like an outcast because of race, more because of the unfamiliar surroundings.
- Seeing $100 happy meals at McDonalds and paying $105 for a 5 minute taxi ride is hard to get used to. ($100 is roughly $3 US)
- Taxis are definitely the way to go.
- Soda doesn't taste very different like I thought. I guess they use cane sugar instead of corn syrup.
- There are just as many annoying boy/girl bands here, but they are less annoying when you can't understand them.
- Although Taiwan is small it is bigger than I imagined. On our 30 minute flight to Tainan, we didn't pass over much land that wasn't developed/populated
- The buildings here are very architecturally interesting but nothing seems to be maintained as well as I would think. Nothing unsafe, mostly side effects of the humidity and smog I guess.
- The Mythbusters, Sports Center, and baseball are on TV here!
- Everything in popular culture has to do with cartoon cats, robots, or cartoon robot cats. Hello Kitty is on busses, airport booklets, everywhere.
PS: Italy rules the world cup! We couldn't sleep so we watched the last period of the finals game. The Driver and Jessica (the international adoption coordinator) at St. Lucy's said I looked like one of the Italian Soccer players....They got the italian part right!
