This is not for wimps!

So, I'm here to report that the "immersion program" parenting where you get handed a 6 month old with very limited operating instructions away from friends and family is challenging, especially with a little one who doesn't seem to know off the bat that you're her Mommy and Daddy! (JEC -- Neither of us was in any state yesterday to get a blog entry together...)

But we seem to be keeping body and soul together here, despite Elli and Mommy having some tummy issues and Daddy pulling heroic efforts to take care of both of us. Today we actually can recognize that Elli's just having tummy issues, rather than yesterday when we weren't sure what was going on, but we knew she was tired and unhappy in general.

Last night, Elli slept 9 hours, which meant that she was a pretty happy baby today. We keep getting a lot of smiles from her (in between very serious looks as we try to get the air bubbles out of her tummy). (JEC -- Mommy has conveniently edited out the crying and wailing that come in between those serious looks. However, the smiles make you forget about those fairly readily.)

Tomorrow is a very, very long day. We leave at 11:10 pm out of Taipei, then arrive at 7:20 pm in San Francisco (so we get to re-live a good portion of 10/16....). We'll finally be home around 7:30 or 8:00 at night on Friday, and then Mommy and Daddy get some reinforcements from Jeremy's family!

Here are some pictures from the past couple of days.

An example of her long fingers... holding onto Daddy's hand (pretty common if she's fallen asleep in Daddy's arms!)



A picture of her long toes:



Wearing her onesie from Grandma (and taking a cat nap in the crib):



In my stylish outfit from Debbie -- look, I love hats (and Mommy says "Thank goodness!):



We met up yesterday with another adopting family and their son. Unfortunately, in our picture, Elli is looking at the camera, but Trevor is practicing his back bends. Since you can't see him here, let me assure you that he is awfully handsome and very sweet!