Welcome Home to the Happy Haus Natalie!

We arrived home Sunday evening after a grueling flight during which Natalie was dealing with a cold and Gary & I got food poisoning.  We are all doing much better now and are slowly getting over the jet lag.

It is wonderful to be home!  Natalie is getting used to the routine here and is surprising me by how much she likes the food. So far her new foods include green peas, scrambled free range eggs, carrots, provolone cheese (the first time she had it she giggled after every bite), long grain rice, broccoli, my homemade cinnamon raisin bread, various organic toddler veggie/fruit combos and lots of new flavors of whole milk organic yogurt.  I was afraid she would miss her noodle diet from China, but she is eating almost as much as I do.  I think our quest to fatten up our unnourished little girl is going to be successful.  I'm looking forward to feeling a little bit of meat on her tiny prominent bones.  She is 21 months old and just weighed in at the doctor a few days ago at 8.5kg which is under 19 lbs and is 30 1/2 inches tall.

She is still having bad nightmares at night, but during the day she is doing great.  We think that as she feels more secure the nightmares will subside.

Between unpacking and lots of sleeping, there hasn't been much time for picture taking.  I did manage to snap a picture of the first time Natalie sat down near Katie.  She was a little bit afraid of the Newfs the first few days, but quickly figured out that they mean her no harm.  I think now we are going to have to teach Natalie to give Katie and Louie some space instead of the other way around.  She has been wanting to pet them all night.             

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  We had our most simplistic meal ever of Amy's Organic Pasta Shells with a side of Broccoli, but were filled with gratitude to be sharing this Thanksgiving with our sweet daughter.