We survived our first week

Sometimes having two kids is easier than having one. When they play together so I can make dinner, for instance. Most of the time, it's not. Especially not when we're at the outlet mall and both kids are screaming. We are learning how to do this though, and having plenty of fun along the way. We bought a sit-n-stand stroller today (2 kids can ride in it), and I think that will help a lot. B gets tired and jealous when Z gets to ride and he has to walk, so it should at least prevent some future meltdowns in public places.

It helps that Z has slept through the night for the past THREE NIGHTS IN A ROW!!! We decided to try having her sleep in her own room (instead of in our room), and it's been so so SO much better. The first two nights, one of us slept with her on an aerobed, but last night, she spent the entire night by herself, and we never heard a peep. She doesn't even cry when she wakes up alone in the morning; she just starts talking until we come get her. What a good baby girl! And it's making our lives so much easier.

Z had her appointment at the pediatrician on Tuesday. She got four vaccines, which didn't make for a happy baby for the next couple of days. She ran a little fever and was pretty fussy, but a little Tylenol helped a lot, and she's all better now. The pediatrician thinks that she is right on target developmentally, in terms of everything really -- language, motor skills, emotional and cognitive development. This is really wonderful news, and certainly not what you expect to hear when you adopt a child who is almost 17 months old. We feel very lucky, and know that Z was lucky to have received good care before she came home. She is a bit on the slender side in comparison to her height, but she doesn't look skinny at all. She's got an extra little chin and some chubby baby thighs. I suspect she could use a little bit of fattening up, but I think she's just got a long, lean body.

Yesterday I took the kids to get their pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids. It didn't go exactly the way I planned it. We got about two pictures taken before Z started fussing, and she really never stopped. Then B somehow fell over right on his nose, and cried for awhile. Poor little dude. He recovered enough for us to get these two gems:

They definitely capture B's personality, happy and silly. What a handsome Bee!

Here are two of them together, the only two out of about 20 when neither was crying and nobody had their eyes closed, or was tipped over, or had a hand in front of a face:

Family, keep an eye on the mailbox for your copies!

B continues to be a stellar big brother. He's gentle and affectionate, and tries to play with her and help her. She sometimes doesn't want him to hold her or be too close, but I think she'll get over that with a little time. She's still a bit of a mama & baba's girl right now. He's still so proud to be a big brother. He tells everyone he sees the things he's taught her to do: have her nails clipped, brush her teeth, and pick her nose.

I'm afraid I only took three pictures on the digital camera this week before the card was full, and none of them are worth sharing. I started downloading pictures tonight though, so now I don't have that excuse for not taking pictures. I'll also start downloading video tomorrow, and should soon have some video from China, including the moment Little Z was handed to us, and the hilarious belly laughs we got an hour later. Stay tuned...