Home 3 Weeks

As of yesterday at 4:00 p.m., Phoebe has been in Kansas for three weeks. I often wonder what's going through her little head, going from 80 degrees and high humidity to oh-my-God-it's-cold-outside. Speaking of the cold, we bought her the cutest fur hat and mittens today from Gymboree! The hat has bear ears - the mittens look like bear paws - ha!

Ahem. Anyway, as I was saying... We've been home for three weeks. It feels like she's always been here. In fact, that's our hugest adjustment challenge - remembering that Miss Phoebe has had a big change in her life and that, even though we've been waiting for her for months and months, she was perfectly happy and well-loved in Vietnam. We have been incredibly lucky as far as attachment goes. We were prepared for the worst. Well, maybe not the worst... but we were prepared for things to be much more difficult than they have been so far. Actually, Beckett helped us prepare more than anything. Mr. Bex has been home since the end of June and his mama has been blunt about the challenges they faced over the first few weeks and I cannot tell you how helpful it was (thanks Jess!). Not only is Bex going to take Phoebe to her high school prom, but he's also helped smooth her path in the U.S. by making sure her parents knew that even a little guy (or gal) needs a lot of love and understanding through this major transition.

Yeah yeah yeah, we read all the books. Okay... *I* read all the books. But nothing brings it home like the experience of someone who has just been there.

So we were as prepared as we could be. And Phoebe has reacted like a true Kansas-family member. She'd done exactly the opposite of what we've expected. She's settled right in. She's bossing her sisters around. She's ignoring us when we say silly things like 'no'. She's eating like a piglet and gaining weight. We were prepared for some developmental delays... nope. Go ahead - tell us how incredibly lucky we've been. We already know.

Yes, there are some rough times at night. There is grieving. Phoebe needs to see that when she hollers, we come running. We're getting faster, but we still do that thing where each parent pretends they're asleep until it's clear the other parent isn't getting out of bed. Sorry... we're human. And I REALLY like my sleep.

We're keeping her world as small as possible, while still accomodating those two older sisters of hers. Today we went to see Santa, and Phoebe took it all in stride. In fact, she seemed to find Santa's red suit quite intriguing! But, other than a few trips to Target and a couple of runs to the office, we try to keep her at home, where she can chase the dog, pull the cats' tails, and sneak off to Anna's room at every possible opportunity where the toys are much more exciting. Man, can that kid crawl!

So, that's how it's all going here in Kansas. The picture, by the way, is one of my favorites from the Christmas Card Debacle of 2007. I think it accurately conveys the 'Mom wants me to stay by the tree and I have more important things to do' attitude of Miss Phoebe Anh. What a stinker :)