Meeting Great Grandma & Great Grandpa

Last weekend we visited with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa and Sophia was able to meet them for the first time. They are absolutely the sweetest people in the world and they showered her with love and attention. I absolutely love these photos. They were playing catch with a little stuffed sheep and Sophia, Eli and Grandpa threw it back and forth over and over.

Thank you so much for all of the compliments on her dress. I love it too. It was a gift from Doris at '3 D's'.

I Believe We Have Found Our Sleep Solution...

First I would like to say thank you to everyone who responded. It was a great help to us and gave us a lot of good things to try.
This seems to be the solution that works for us: I had Tim go into the attic and bring down our toddler bed. He had to re-assemble it, so Sophia watched him work on it. I told her that it was her bed and I saw that she was concerned and her eyes watered up a bit. I told her to come with me.
I took her upstairs to my room and I pointed to my bed and I said "Momma's bed". Then I pointed to the floor by my bed and said "Sophia's bed". I said this three times and I knew she understood what I was saying to her.
When we went back downstairs, she pointed to her bed and then pointed upstairs and I said "Yes, Sophia's bed upstairs with Momma's bed", and she smiled.
We took the bed upstairs and put it by our bed. She climbed right in. I did some e-mail work and read some blogs for a while and she was sound asleep in 30 minutes. Tonight is our 3rd night of her successfully going to sleep.
She does not have night terrors, she sleeps very peacefully, it was just finding a way for her to get to sleep that she was comfortable with and I think we have found it.
I'll keep you posted if we have any future hiccups.

Isn't She Beautiful When She's Sleeping??....The Key Word is 'When'. We Are Having Sleep Issues. I would appreciate anyone's advice and experiences.

I would really appreciate anyone willing to share their experiences with me about how they dealt with sleeping issues when their child first came home.

I slept with Sophia the whole time we were in China. Our hotel rooms came with two twin or single beds. My husband is 6'3" and over 200 pounds and we were not fitting into those beds together, so I slept with Sophia and Tim slept with Eli.

The first night we were home we tried to put Sophia on the bottom bunk with Eli on the top. Let's just say that the tantrum she threw shook the house. We don't have a child who cries quietly, we have the temper tantrum queen. So, she started sleeping in our bed but wouldn't go to sleep there without us.

Eli was in a fit because his sister got to sleep with us and he didn't, so we tried to keep things fair for him. We ended up with both kids having to fall asleep in kido sleeping bags in the quieter part of the living room, then transporting them upstairs to bed when we are ready to go to bed.
Well, this has the whole house at a standstill while they fall asleep in the living room and they have been staying up way too late.

So, for the past 2 nights we moved the sleeping bags up to their bedroom together. Well, Sophia throws a fit and will not fall asleep with Eli in their room, only the living room. And let me tell you...fit is an understatement. She is definitely my daughter. We say she is 'Chirish' (Chinese and Irish) because she sure has an Irish woman's temper. I don't get it. She loves to play in her bedroom, she shows no fear of it and goes up there freely to play dress up and with her kitchen. But when bedtime comes around, the room freaks her out. I keep it lit up with two nightlights and Eli is with her just like downstairs, but it doesn't matter.

Now, I've had people tell me to put a toddler bed in our room which I can do, but what do I do with her until I am ready to sleep? She won't fall asleep without me and I can't go to bed at 8pm every night. I have people tell me to let her cry it out....she doesn't cry it out, she becomes wild crazy hysterical, screaming like a banchee and stamping feet. I can't keep letting her fall asleep in the living room. We have two teenage sons who have to freeze for hours every night until she falls asleep and she fights it until 11pm sometimes. They need to be able to enjoy their evenings and when school starts they will need to do their homework and be with us. If I hold her until she falls asleep, she has an internal alarm that sounds off the second I put her down.

Her attachment to us seems to be going really well. We have wonderful days together filled with hugs and kisses and smiles. I am her center point and she comes to me for love and support throughout the day when she needs it, but she is not clingy. She is quite independent. Our extended family is the most loving group of people and love her to pieces. I couldn't ask for a better transition to our family during the daytime. But at night I have a completely different child.

I go back to work August 6th, so I would like to have something workable in place so we all have enough sleep at night to stay awake during the day. Eli is becoming as unregulated as she is because we've been trying to keep them together (they are 9 months apart and notice any discrepancy in treatment and rules). So...I now have two preschoolers who are up off and on all night and Tim and I are becoming zombies.

Please help!

Zach is on a Mission Trip in Alaska...

Please pray for Zachary. He left last Saturday for Alaska on a church mission trip. He texted us yesterday and said that he spent 6 hours splitting wood. I hope that he is able to serve others in a way that will help to build his faith and make him feel good about himself and the fact that he is there.