First week home

I apologize for neglecting my blogging duties.  I have had good intentions but never quite made it to my laptop. 

Our trip home was long as expected but Juliana did great.  On the nearly 12 hour flight from Moscow to Houston, she played in her seat with all the "toys" the plane had to offer.  Plastic coffee cup, plastic spoons, flight safety card, tray tables, cup holders-she was a busy girl.  She became friends with the kind man sitting behind us who was making funny faces at her, and watched all the activity of people passing by in the aisle.  She also managed to sleep some.   A couple of cat naps and when she could no longer fight her exhaustion she took a 3 hour nap.  Upon arriving in Houston, immigration and security took much longer than expected and we missed our connection.  Thankfully, we were able to book another flight 4 hours later.  Through all of this our girl was a champ.  While waiting for our flight to Tampa she fell asleep and slept through the entire flight.  We were thrilled to see my family at the airport.  All of the emotions of the month came flooding forward.  It was a wonderful feeling to hug all of them.  Juliana was happy too.  She was pleasant and friendly even after just waking up.

Fun fun on the plane!

Arriving in Tampa and receiving her first doll from Grandma Kent.

Her big welcome home!

Juliana is adjusting beautifully.  Her biggest issue has been sleep.  The combination of another new environment and the time difference was causing her to get up every couple of hours at night.  Clearly her days and nights were mixed up when for a couple of days she took 4 1/2 hour naps.  We have been able to turn that around and the last 2 nights she has slept through the night for 11 or 12 hours.  She is still napping once a day for about 2 hours.  She loves her high chair.  After 2 weeks of holding her on our laps to feed her, and wearing much of what she was eating, I am loving it too!  She still is eating very well.  Now that she is settling in we will work on trying some new foods.  Juliana now loves her dogs (doga as she would say).  She was immediately enamored with our little yorkie, Macie.  She enjoys Macie's kisses, laughs as she rolls around on the floor, and looks for her when she hears the tip tap of her feet on the floor.  She has grown to love Ben, our big standard poodle.  The first time she saw him she did not know what to think,  Her eyes were huge looking at this "giant" animal.  But now she loves him too.  Just yesterday he was standing next to her high chair while she was eating and she was patting his head.
We have enjoyed walks in the neighborhood.  The weather has been beautiful.  After 29 days of no sunshine in Russia, I can truly appreciate our brilliant blue skies.  Juliana stares in awe while we walk.  So much to see, hear and smell!  Her inquisitive mind has also led her to explore the house.  And led us to do a bit more child proofing!  We believe she has opened nearly every door and cabinet in the house!  But it is a pleasure to see her grow comfortable in her new home.  She is beautiful child, full of love and joy.  At times, Bill & I still can't believe she is ours and we are finally home.  Yet at the same time it feels like she has been ours forever.  We can not imagine our life without her.

Our happy girl in her high chair.

Enjoying the outdoors-no snowsuit required!!