Saturday, July 15, 2006
10:37 PM
Here's my entry from yesterday:
I am completely in love. Oh my goodness! What a funny, sweet, beautiful little girl! And she SNORES, just like her dad!
We got to the airport right as Tom's plane was landing (6am), so by the time we got up to security, he was walking towards the checkpoint. I got a few photos of him carrying Cupcake towards us, which was great.
After they came within 20 feet, all bets were off. I pretty much dropped my camera in the baby bag and grabbed my daughter. She was cranky, but she looked at me and touched my face and babbled. She even smiled a tiny smile. I honestly wonder if she recognized me- before Tom left for Vietnam, I recorded several little videos of me on his Macbook with the built in webcam, and Tom played them for her several times a day. Regardless, she came right to me and was very observant.
We headed to luggage and my mom and I went and changed Cupcake's diaper and Tom got his bags. And we headed home.
Poor Cupcake is really teething, but even though she's in significant pain, she's such a good baby. She spent the car ride home playing peek-a-boo with me and laughing and babbling. She only lost it at the very end of the two hour car ride, which is pretty good considering she's been traveling for 36 hours. My mom started freaking out when Cupcake started crying, telling us to feed her and do something, even though Tom and I both agreed the baby had just HAD ENOUGH and just wanted to freak out a bit. I got a teething ring in her mouth and she settled down a little bit. However, she desperately wanted out of the car seat and she wanted to be held. There are no car seats in Vietnam, so she just couldn't understand why we wouldn't pick her up and comfort her, and why the hell she was strapped in that seat. I gotta admit, I was tempted to get her out and cuddle her, but visions of Britney Spears set me straight.
After getting her up here in the condo, Cupcake made a MAJOR poopy. Just... wow. My only experience with other poopy is scooping litterboxes here and at the shelter, so diapers are a whole new thing. Yowsers. It sort of look like she manufactured mustard. It was somethin' else. This part I need to get used to.
We bathed her, changed her, and put her down for a nap. She was cranky and overstimulated, so I lay (lie? Laid? whatever...) down on the floor next to the portable crib (in the bedroom) and she settled down. However, instead of napping, she came right to the side of the crib, pushed her head into the mesh side of the crib, and tried to make me laugh. She kept pushing her nose against it so it looked kinda like someone pushing their face into glass and smiling. I'd have my eyes closed and she'd say something, so I'd open my eyes and there she was, all funny faced and smiling. I tried hard not to respond but it really was incredibly funny because she was being very tricky about it, and it was just funny. I'd start laughing and she'd pretend to lay back down, get settled. The minute I closed my eyes, she did it again.
In other really good news, the cats don't seem to be too upset. As soon as we got in, I went right over to Delilah and greeted her first, like I always do. I didn't want her to think we were suddenly not remembering her or neglecting one of our routines that we've had for 9 years. We made sure to pay EXCESS attention to her when we first got home- the minute she realized how cute Cupcake is, she started doing incredibly cute cat things (rolling around like a kitten, bringing toys over, etc.), and so we made sure to love and praise her. I really think that helped a lot, because Delilah showed no resentment and while she won't go near the baby yet, she stays very very close.
I think Chester honestly does not understand what sort of WEIRD cat we brought home to him. When Cupcake first went down for the nap, he went into the room and sat by the crib and looked in at her, and she babbled to him for quite a while.
The one bad thing: there are only a few photos, and only one of me with Cupcake at the airport. I was hoping both my parents would come into the airport and help record the event, but my father decided he'd rather circle around the airport in the car than park (*sigh*) and my mom was too busy trying to keep me off my feet in the airport (*bigger sigh*). I feel bad for being disappointed, but it would be nice if my family were not so set in their ways. I kinda hoped we would park in short term, walk across to the terminal, and meet Tom upstairs. Nope. Oh well. There's tons of photos to be taken, right?
And as I was looking for the camera to download the photos, I couldn't find it. Luckily, some very kind soul found it at the airport, along with my mom's cellphone, and called us to get our address so he could send it. So not only are there not many photos, but I don't even have the camera. Oh well.
Today was another long day, but I'll write about that tomorrow. Right now I am going to leap into bed while both Cupcake and Tom are sleeping. I suddenly understand SO MUCH about human behavior in people who have children- I now understand why my friends have made some of the choices they did. You just do the best you can, but I gotta admit, it doesn't feel like enough.
One thing I will say- I had no idea what I was in for, and I still feel like we're playing house, and Cupcake will need to go back soon. It doesn't feel real at all. But the fact that she's this real live PERSON, and not just a face in a photo, is so tremendous.
G'night!
