The Day They First Met.

Aunt Mandy brought Caleb, Briton and Zoe home from Ga where they had been staying with Lee's parents for almost three weeks. HUGE SHOUT OUT to Ed and Ellen Kirkland and Mandy Cook for taking excellent care of these three while we were in China. Ed was our full-time care giver day in and day out....he's probably still sleeping and trying to recover. Ellen would work long hours at school and then come home and be the amazing Mamo she is to them all evening and all weekend long. I swear she never gets tired! And then Mandy drove all the way down from Newnan on several occasions to be an extra set of hands. You all are amazing and we thank you so much!

We put Ava-Yin down for an early nap and just let her sleep it out-hoping that would help to reset her clock- maybe then she'd sleep later than 3:15am the next morning. She had gone to sleep around 10am, and it was now 2, so we decided to get her up to get ready to meet her brothers and sister. Trouble is, you don't  actually wake Ava-Yin up. She sleeps so hard, that when forced awake, she's literally in a fog for quite some time.

And this was her state when the siblings arrived. Comatose standing up and eyes open. The boys spoke very gently to her and handed her small toys and did really well entering into her life. I just don't think she was awake to see it. Zoe didn't have too much to do with her. She gave me a huge hug, then ran outside to play. Ava-Yin stood by Lee or me and just watched. For a good hour. 

Then, like a light switch, she woke up out of her daze and began interacting with her new family. It was really fun to watch unfold. Even little Zoe, opened up and began talking to her big sister. The four played with toys, ran up and down the stairs, and played on the playground all afternoon and evening. Lots of joyful sounds.

Then the girls really became fast friends at bedtime! Took me an hour and being stationed outside their room on the stairs to finally get them settled down! I guess that's good for their bonding...even if it is teaming up against me!