Oh, where to begin...

This past week (and a few days) has been a doozie.

On Friday the 20th, I piled The Geej and all of her stuff into the wagon and took off for Longview at 5:20 in the morning. I was trying to take advantage of the fact that leaving at that hour would mean she'd sleep through most of the 270 mi. trip. I was a bit freaked b/c it was going to be our first official road trip together, and well, when you're doing it all alone, there are lots of things to consider. For instance: going to the bathroom. Should the need arise, what does one do? You can't leave her in the car. You can't take her to the bathroom and put her on the dirty floor. (No, I don't have one of those carrier doohickeys.) You can't pee with her on your lap (you can, actually, but the stuff you have to do AFTER peeing you can't do with her in one arm). So I stopped drinking water at 7pm the night before our trip, just to be sure...

She made the trip like a champ, with only 2 meltdowns--one minor, one major. And thankfully, the major one happened when we were only 20 miles from our destination.

Saturday the 21st, we attended a party in Geej's honor. A lot of my family, my mom's friends, a few of my friends from high school. It was lovely, and The Geej looked precious in her little white lacy dress with a blue grosgrain ribbon at the waist. She was tired, but tolerated being passed around to about a billion old big-haired east Texas ladies who wanted to eat her with a spoon. She got SO much stuff at that party that it took two cars to bring it home. Lordy.

Monday night, I got sick. I won't go into the gruesome details, but it lasted for a couple of days, culminating with 102.5 fever on Wednesday night. All I can say is thank God I was home so my mom could help with Geej. I was in lousy shape, and still don't feel quite right to be honest. I'm going to try to get in to see El Doctor tomorrow...

Thursday, Mom the Geej and I piled all of our crap back into the wagon, and headed to Houston. The baby had a 1pm appt. at the International Adoption Center at Texas Children's Hospital for her post-adoptive diagnostic exam. It's basically a very thorough appointment where they catch her up on any immunizations she needs, give her the once over, re-test her for all sorts of stuff (TB, HIV, etc.) and establish her medical records in the U.S. She'd had a pre-adoptive evaluation done there, so I wanted to close the loop. She did great. She's gained 2 lbs. since I've had her (she's up to a whopping 15.9 lbs.!), and the doctors thought--barring any weirdness showing up on her labs--that she's in tip top shape. I knew this, of course, but it's very reassuring to hear it from the professionals.

We spent the night in a hotel near the medical center (the same hotel where Mom spent so much time when Roy was in the hospital there last summer), then packed up and headed about 45 miles away to Seabrook. Checked into yet another hotel, and unloaded once again. It's amazing how much stuff you have to travel with when a baby's in tow. I kept calling her The Diva, because it was like we were her roadies, constantly unloading all the stuff that she needed. My cousin was graduating from high school with loads of honors, so Mom and I wanted to make an appearance. Since the ceremony didn't start until 8pm and was in a hot stadium, Geej and I went back to the hotel, but Mom attended and I know my cousin and uncle were happy she was there.

Next day, we loaded up again, and hit the road for Austin (Mom was catching a ride back to L-view with my Aunt). But wait! We stopped on our way out of Houston to have lunch and visit with a couple who I'd met through the adoption agency. The woman's name is Joanne and her husband is Alan. They adopted a little girl from the same orphanage that the Geej came from last October. The little girl is about 6 mos. older than Geej and looks so much like her, it's eerie. Aside from the olive complexion, and the fact that she's obviously bigger, Kyra IS The Geej. It was so weird...like looking into the future. Same hair, eyes, nose, mouth, petite frame. You name it, they're the same. These people live in an ENORMOUS McMansion--very nice. Kyra's room looks like something out of the Land of Nod catalogue.

Finally, we got on the road for home for real. Got home about 4:30 on Saturday afternoon. Whew. It was such a wild week--full of changes and firsts for Geej--and she handled everything like a pro. Just went with the flow. I'm very proud. Today is her 10 mo. birthday. She's sitting on the floor next to me playing as I type. She's such a monkey.

You'll be pleased to know that we've rounded the corner with Earl. I guess he's begrudingly decided to accept this strange creature who now shares his house and his mom with him. Sunday morning, I was giving the Geej her bottle, and he jumped up on the arm of the couch and just licked her right on the head. Then he got down on the couch and bunked her feet, purring madly. She, of course, was in heaven. He still runs from her when she "chases" him (which is freakin' hilarious, by the way), but I can't say I blame him. He still outweighs her by about a pound, but he's a big wuss.

Okay, back to trying to write the billion thank you cards I am now legally required to write after that dang party. And the hostesses even put "no gifts necessary" on the invitation... Sigh.