Mia's 1st Birthday 

Settling In

I think we may be through our adjustment period. We all seem to be on a normal sleep schedule. Everyone loves their new sister and enjoy playing with her. We went to Westlake and had a small 1st birthday party for Mia.
Our church family and friends threw us a welcome home party. It was such a special evening for us. Everyone got to meet Mia and many of the gentlemen got to hold her. (still favors men over women) We were so happy to show her off. I put the pictures Shannon Richards took for us in an Ofoto folder.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=673869656203&page=1&sort_order=0

Walling Crew in Red, White and Blue 

Future MSU Cowboy 

pictures by Blair Blanks www.blairblanks.com 

Mia - one year old 

July 1, 2005 

Pool, Pictures, and unPacking

Everything is getting a little easier around the house. David is back from Philadelphia and I really miss him when he's gone. Not that I miss his wise cracks and constant jabs but I miss his HELP. I don't know how single mothers function. Mia is doing much better with her sleep. She only woke up once last night around 3:30. I am over my jet lag and have almost finished unpacking. I had to unpack all of us plus all the kids' suitcases as well. Plus do our laundry for 2 weeks. Finishing that today was a huge relief.
We took Mia to the pool tonight. Since she came to us she has been deathly afraid of water. In China we could not even take her into the bathroom without her crying. At first we thought it was because she didn't feel well and the fever. But, after time we realized she Hated the water. Bath time was becoming very dangerous. She would not sit in the tub or sink, she would arch her back out straight and scream as loud as possible. I was so afraid she would hit her head on the marble or faucet. Plus being all soaped up it was hard to keep both hands on her.
One of the other mothers on the trip told me yesterday that her daughter was afraid as well. But they took her to the pool and she had a great time playing and now bath time is much better.
So, I waited until the favored parent came home and we took her this evening. She fussed a little at first but very quickly warmed up. In fact she was not just tolerating the water she was loving it. We took the baby boat/innertube and she just beamed when she started floating in it. (I ran out to get the camera but had forgotten my purse at home, I'll try to get one later) She splashed and played for about 2 hours without any more whimpering. Only being upset when we took her out for the night.
This was another huge relief today. Because 80% of our summer entertainment revolves around the pool and boat. I had been worried about how I was going to work this out.
We also had our 1 year old photo shoot this morning with Blair. She didn't like the sitting alone very much but I think the pictures came out wonderfully.
Blair's other work is on her web-site www.blairblanks.com. I am so fortunate to have a great friend and neighbor with such amazing talent.

adjusting at home

David and I really never considered the fact Mia would have Jet Lag. We knew we would but had planned to help each other out and sleep when we could. However, we've had more trouble getting Mia's schedule back on track than our own. Last night she did pretty well. Finally going down for the last time at 11:00. Even though she went to sleep at 7:00 and woke up about 4 time in between. We think this is being aggrivated though by a tooth coming in on the top.
Other than our sleep issues she has adjusted very well. She will let the kids hold her and feed her with no problems. She is content playing on the floor or in our lap.
She will let Zane carry her to and from places.
There are a few other pictures I didn't get to post. So, I loaded them on to OFOTO. If you would like to view them they are here.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=345201826203
There are some intresting ones from a Cantonese restaurant we went to. You literally pick out what you want for dinner from the tanks in front.
There is a saying that they will eat anything with 4 legs except the table. I believe it. We stayed on the cautious side but some in our group got more adventurous with fish head stew, snake, etc.

Mia loves to swing 

Sisters 

Zane & Mia 

Kaylee reading to MIa 

early morning playtime 

discovering the all american snack Goldfish 

Granny's China Doll 

meeting my Nana 

Home again, home again, jiggety jig......

We are so happy to finally be home. After 28 hours of traveling... WE made it!!!!
Mia did super on all the flights. Especially the long flight from Beijing to Los Angeles (12hrs) She slept most of the time. We landed in LA with 2 hours to get our bags, make it through customs, immigration, change terminals, recheck bags at the Southwest counter and then find the gate. But we did it!!!! Immigration did not take nearly as long as I had anticipated. All our bags made it as well.
Our good friend Tom Blanks(Blair's husband) picked us up at the airport at 1:00a.m. We got Mia down around 2:00 and now I am wide awake.
We are super excited to see the kids tomorrow and can't wait for all the excitement.
Thanks for sharing this experience with us and keep checking back periodically, we'll have more pictures and posts.

She's defintley a Walling. Likes the ice cream!!! 

Mia Grace Clark and Mia Abigail Walling. Having girl talk at Starbucks.