A Week in New Hampshire/Viikko NH:ssä

I titled my last blog post "Homecoming", because that is what coming back from China after an adoption trip is called, but we didn't exactly get to go home yet...

We spent a week in New Hampshire at a very rustic cottage getting over the worst of our jet lag. In a way spending Mei Mei's very first United States week in New Hampshire was very fitting. New Hampshire will always be special to our family.

The Captain and I as newlyweds made our home there, our quadruplets were born there, we brought Little Miss home to New Hampshire from China, and now Mei Mei, too.

 

We were within a stone's throw of a lake and a beach, and Mei Mei really loved playing in the sand and in the water. We all loved it!

The Captain had some work projects, our teens were involved with camp activities, and us China travelers got to rest. Sort of.

In China Mei Mei had been mostly sleeping with mama and Little Miss, and sometimes falling asleep on mama. Not ideal for mama, but you do what you need to do for survival fostering attachment. In New Hampshire we had a tiny bed (full size?), and the Captain and mama were not getting a whole lot of sleep with Mei Mei in the bed, too.

Our third night there we ended up having to train Mei Mei to sleep in her portacrib. That was the roughest night for the whole avenue... I don't recommend sleep training while suffering from jet lag yourself, but we survived. And it was such a good thing. Mei Mei started doing better each night, and slept in her bed for the rest of our time.

By Thursday we were starting to come out of our fog.



It was so sweet to see the rest of our family fall in love with Mei Mei, too!



Mei Mei taking baths in the kitchen sink:)

We enjoyed the rustic little cottage very much. Had to be creative there with a large family.. One bathroom, no laundry, no wifi, and the kitchen definitely wasn't ideal. But we made it work! Fortunately there was a snack shack within a walking distance, so our teens pretty much took care of lunch, and sometimes dinner by grabbing burgers there. Our second night there we picked up pizza, friends invited us over for dinner, and I used the RV crockpot a few times, too.



Looking back at our crazy summer, this was our vacation week!


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Kiinasta paluun jälkeen 'kotiuduimme' pieneen vuokramökkiin New Hampshireen. Saimme levätä reissusta ja palautua jet lagistä, ja kun katson taaksepäin hurjaa kesäämme, tämä viikko oli se lomaviikko. Kapteenilla oli työnsä, mutta teinit osallistuivat leirikeskuksen ohjelmaan ja minullekin arki oli yksinkertaista siellä. Mökissä ei ollut pyykkikoneita, ruoanlaitto oli hankalaa, joten vältin sitä:), vain yksi vessa piti pitää puhtaana, eikä ollut internettiä. Kännykällä pystyi lähettämään tekstareita, muttei soittamaan puheluita, joten ihanasti tuli levättyä.

Tosin Mei Mein piti tottua nukkumaan omassa sängyssä. Kaksi yötä yritimme nukkua pikkuriikkisessä sängyssä kolmistaan, mutta sitten piti pitää unikoulua. En suosittele sitä jet lag'isenä, mutta me selvittiin, ja pieni alkoi nukkumaan paremmin joka yö, eli mamakin sai vihdoin tarvittavaa unta.

Mökki oli lähellä järveä ja rantaa, ja Mei Mei ja Pikkuneiti nauttivat rannalla olosta. Kaiken kaikkiaan meillä oli oikein ihana viikko rakkaassa New Hampshiressä - asuimme vuosia siellä, sinne Kapteeni ja minä asetuimme häittemme jälkeen, neloset syntyivät New Hampshiressä, ja Pikkuneiti ja nyt Mei Mei molemmat tulivat Kiinasta New Hampshireen...