Home!

A Starbucks in the middle of Old Town, just down the row from a Dairy Queen, which serves Blizzards

I arrived home late Friday night, after about 14 hours on a flight from Shanghai to Chicago, a delayed take-off due to weather in Dallas and a two-and-a-half-hour flight to Dallas. Jim & Betty stayed at the house while Steve picked me up so he wouldn't have to wake our sleeping Katie and Cooper (who was ill).

Sydney and I in front of the Orient Pearl TV Tower

I am so thankful to Jackie & Sydney for the opportunity to experience a different corner of the world. I'm also thrilled to be home, with my family, relatively clean air, organic fat-free milk, a washer and dryer that work independently and handle a household of four, drivers that generally watch out for pedestrians.

We spent Saturday preparing for Katie's party and Sunday celebrating and recovering. (I hope to get those photos up soon!) Now I'm catching up on work, trying to get ahead on work before our family vacation and trying without success to catch up on sleep. If I don't take an Ambien, I don't sleep well at all -- maybe three or four hours. I don't want to get too reliant on a sleeping pill, so I don't take one every night and then regret it the next morning.

Katie's 2-year appointment was this morning. She's 36 inches tall, placing her in the 97th percentile. Her head circumference is also in the 97th percentile. (I fear, like me, she'll have trouble finding cute hats as an adult. I have a giant noggin.) She's almost 26 pounds (50th percentile). Dr. N (our beloved pediatrician and doctor to all our sweet neighbor babies, too) says she's on track to be tall and beautiful. Steve asserts that she's already tall and beautiful.

If you're not already reading Jackie's blog, I highly recommend it. She has some great photos and details of her adventures.

My photos are here. I hope to write cutlines this week, but no one is paying me to do so. And there are some paying clients out there who want some words written and/or edited soon!