Andrew's First Week Home

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Andrew's first week home has been very busy. We are getting him aclimated to his home life here in the Millilo household and figuring out a routine for him and a routine for us. Since we have been home, Andrew has been extremely clingy, especially to Mommy. I go to fix his dinner and he is at my feet hugging my legs and whining for me to pick him up. Not sure if he is just hungry or just wanting some cuddle time. I think he just wants some cuddle time and attention because even after I feed him he will whine and sit or stand and hug my legs as I am cleaning up the dishes. So I've been picking him up and carrying him a lot and leaving the dishes for later when he is napping. It surprises me how clingy he is now, since he wasn't that way in the orphanage the whole 40 plus days we were visiting him. When he sees Robert leave the house (to run out to get groceries or whatever) he screams like there's no tomorrow.



Outside of his clinginess, Andrew has adjusted well to his new home and is sleeping in his own crib. We were unsure as to how he would handle not sleeping between us, like he did in the Kiev apartment, but the first night he played in his crib for about five minutes and then passed out. I guess he liked being in a familiar type of bed, since he was in a crib in the orphanage. The first night when we got home, we showed Andrew around the house and showed him his room with his new crib to get him familiar with his new home and bedroom. I think that helped when putting him to bed that night. He wasn't scared or crying or anything like he was in Kiev the first night in that apartment. We were glad to see he welcomed his new crib and give Mama and Papa some alone time in our own bed. And what a good feeling it is to be in our own bed.



We had some visitors, family and friends the past week which was wonderful to see everyone and for them to meet Andrew. We want to thank everyone who helped get our home prepared for a toddler while we were away, which made Andrew's homecoming much more enjoyable and comfortable. Andrew's Great Grandma bought a high chair for Andrew and our brother in-law, Rich assembled it and put it together for Andrew's homecoming. Thank you Grandma and Rich for for thinking of us and making our homecoming much more comfortable. Also a big thank you goes out to Aunt Karen and Pop Pop for purchasing and installing the car seat for Andrew's big homecoming. It is wonderful, and we are ever so happy that Andrew has taken so well to it (since they don't use car seats in Ukraine, we weren't sure as how Andrew would react to them). Another big thank you goes out to Aunt Maria and Nana (my mom) for supplying us with some diapers, baby food, wipes, and some clothes for Andrew. It was a tremendous blessing and we appreciate it, especially being that we are still figuring out all of the details of parenting a toddler immediately after arriving home from Ukraine. What a big help it was to have all of these preparations set up for us. We thank you all for such a warm and loving welcome home for Andrew and us. It's good to be home.