We're Home!!!

Grace's last sink bath in China.
At 1:00AM, after 36 hours of traveling and no sleep, we arrived at IAH. As soon as we stepped on US soil, Grace Lian Ciajie Reading became a US citizen. She did awesome on the trip!!! We were in First Class and had overheard a few comments about "the Baby"...so of course we were nervous. She only cried during take-offs and landings and slept the entire trip!
I have not been to bed yet. Grace had slept for 14 hours already(her normal China night schedule). She just fell asleep at 6:00AM.(8:00pm China) We'll have to wake her up after only a few hours to get her schedule switched from days to nights. I've heard other parents say it takes about 2 weeks until they sleep though the night here.
I'm so glad to be home! I missed Bryce and Ben so much. Going to China and bringing home Grace was a wonderful experience. We are talking about taking a trip with Grace one day when she is old enough to appreciate it. I even got used to the "Squatty Potties" and even preferred them over the western toilets by the time we left.

Thursday we went to the consulate office with all the other parents and received Grace's visa and the "brown packet"(for US citizenship for Grace). Chris and I were feeling under the weather that day.

On Friday, all but two families left early that AM to return home. We missed them. We met some wonderful families in our group and hope to keep in touch. Breakfast was very quiet that next morning, but we were actually glad for the extra day to recover from the nasty respiratory bug. We went back to Shamian Island for the afternoon to do some last minute shopping. Shoe shopping was so much fun. The shops have the cutest little shoes for 25-35 RMB(that's the equivalent of $3-$5) Grace now has 15 pairs of shoes in different colors and sizes! First the shoes...then the outfit to match!