Well, we have now been home a week and what have we learned?

First of all, it is horrible having to go right back to work after adopting! Not only was I completely jet lagged, but looking at Anh's sweet face in the morning and then having to leave was no fun. Of course, he is at his best first thing when he wakes up and I am getting to miss all of that. Thank god for weekends!

Patrick is an awesome dad! He and Anh are bonding really well thanks to his commitment to being an at home dad for a few months. Patrick is seeing the value in having a parent at home for the transition. I think that he is also realizing just how much work parenting is. Before we left for Vietnam, he had these high hopes for getting lots done around the house. Reality is starting to set in that maybe it is not so easy to watch a baby AND finish a remodel.

Parenting Anh is great! He fits so well into our family! Luckily he has no fear of the cats or dog (nor does he seem to be allergic) and the animals are all pretty tolerant of him. In fact, Hobbes is quite friendly toward Anh, allowing the boy to pull his hair! I don't know how we got so lucky - good with animals and will eat anything - but we feel that there couldn't possibly be a better child for us.

Co-sleeping doesn't work for us. We had these grand aspirations that we would co-sleep with Anh for at least a few months to gradually ease him into his new home. In his foster family in Vietnam, Anh had slept in bed with the family. We naturally assumed that he would be more comfortable sleeping in bed with us. Well, in Vietnam it worked fine, because even if we got up in the middle of the night with him, we could always sleep as late as we wanted. However, at home, I was having a hard time getting the rest I needed for work. Every little peep out of him would wake me up - and he seems to have a lot of nightmares - so I wasn't able to get more than a 4 hour stretch. That all ended on Thursday night when we decided to try the crib out. A full night of sleep later and we are hooked! He really slept a good 7 hour stretch, thankfully, and now we can actually function in the daytime. Perhaps it also has something to do with jet lag, but I'm not changing it now.

One very surprising discovery is how many people love babies! So many people that we interact with on a daily basis are turning out to be real children lovers. Most of these people I never would have guessed it about. We have had plenty of offers for babysitting and we have been given more baby items than I think we will ever use. I love the hand-me-downs and there are so many toys that I would never have thought to buy that Anh absolutely loves.

To be continued.....