Aslynn's First Bath And First Night Sleep With Us

“Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath”

Snug as a bug
Look at her holding her hands! Precious
Love the belly!
I look half dead, time zone so tired, but hey, gotta give a bath in a sink

The first night we got to take Aslynn back to the guest house I got her into the sink and scrubbed her down. the water first turned brown. They have never bathed her before. They have only given her a "wipe down" they told me. She was filthy. I shampooed her hair about 3 times, she splashed in the water, had fun, and I tried to get every inch of her body. When I combed through her hair, there was piles of DIRT, black stuff, and just caked on cradle cap that was old and hard. The next day we stopped at a drug store and got some special shampoo and a soft brush to scrub it off with. When we came back home to the states, at 3am I stuck her in the bath again here. The water again was dirty. I decided to not even go for the baby wash, and just use the dove bar (the doctor agreed the best thing ever) and I soaped her up SO GOOD, got the q tips out (children's ones) got more in depth with cleaning now that I was at home and had my own stuff and was able to spend more time and detail in all the right areas. FINALLY we have a clean baby. She looks totally different from the first time they handed her to me on the video, to the picture on the opening of my blog. Its like not only did she get a good scrub down and 6 months of dirt removed, but also she has put some weight on, smiling, showing us that she is just overjoyed that she is here and WOW she must be in a state of shock.

I think that the only thing that frightens her so far is when the 2 kids come up to her fast. She is not use it it, and they want to talk and talk to her and she does not understand English or them, or her name. So she looks for me for comfort. I have to explain to them to take it slow, they understand and have been doing well. I think that toys also have to be introduced slowly. She cant be given all these things, too overwhelming. Little at a time! When I placed her in the swing she had the biggest eyes and was in shock with the motion and music, so I turned it down and the music off and she settled down.

I see that she wont take a pacifier, which my doctor is trying to get me to get her ON. She has found comfort all these months at the orphanage from not getting a "response" from crying or "need" that she sucks on her wrist as a comfort mechanism or out of panic. Its sad, when she does, I give her extra snuggles, take her hand out of her mouth and give it kisses, replace with the pacifier and tell her it will be ok.

On the plane she was great, when she heard other babies cry, she would wake up, jump, and kind get nervous, go right to her arm, make a rocking motion, I would whisper in her ear " Mommy and Daddy are here, you are going home, you don't have to go back there, you will always be with me" she would listen fall asleep. As she falls asleep she opens her eyes fast and "checks" that I am still here, I tell her " mommy is here" and she closes her eyes, grabs my fingers and falls deep asleep.

She needs love, something she has never had, she needs comfort, she needs a sense of security, something she longs for and anyone and everyone needs in life especially as a baby. I am here, I am here for her, for Jon, for Logan and Makenzie. It is my Job, I take pride in it, and I do it well and will continue to do it until the day I die and after that, I will watch over my children for eternity. They are my life, and I love them all the same and equal.

Logan and Makenzie just love Aslynn. They want to wake her up and play with her, its cute, they want her to be more "interactive." I have to explain that she is a baby and she will grow up and believe me, she will play! Who knows, if a 2nd one is in the near future, the age we get and the personality he or she will have, hopefully it fits like a puzzle piece like Aslynn does. We all mesh well together, its a warm feeling.

NOW, if I can just get my TREE, and my laundry done, and caught up! HA HA OH and on the right time zone would help too!

GOD BLESS YOU ALL, ALL THAT SUPPORTED ME, ALL THAT PRAYED, ALL THAT WATCHED COMMENTED, AND READ, THANKS.