Ame goes to America

Dear Amelie,

Do you know how many people love you? Oh my Lord. From the moment we stepped off that plane in Indiana you had people lining up to see your beautiful face. We had a million family members even at the airport waiting to meet you for the first time. You were 12 weeks before most of my family saw you. We all wished it could have been sooner.

You were pretty crabby for the first couple days. Makes sense seeing as jet lag hit you. Indiana is 6 hours behind Switzerland. YIKES. Once we got off the plane it was 2 am your time so you were not happy. You cried the entire car ride home. HA.

The first few mornings you got up about 3 am wanting to start your day. I fed you and made you sleep on me till 7 to get you on schedule. I was surprised that it really didn't take you that long to get on the time :)

From 3-4 months is one of the biggest transition for babies. You had some great days, and some not so great days. Your brain was developing constantly and sometimes babies cannot handle it. I tried nap training you but it really wasn't fair for you because we were out and about so much. I didn't think it was right to nap train you one day and then hold you the next. So I put nap training on hold and wore you in the Ergo baby for every nap!

We stayed at Marm and Steve's house first. Such a great feeling to wake up in such a secure place surrounded by people we love. Steve and Marm couldn't get enough of you. Always wanting to hold you and kiss you.

We stayed at Daddy's parents house too. Oh boy are they obsessed! They never wanted to put you down. Constant smiles and laughter the entire time :) I enjoyed the early morning coffees with your Grandma Missy. I always love our chats. The doggies loved you and kept kissing you every chance they got :) You slept great at their house. I only got up a couple times a night with you.

For the last 3 weeks we stayed at Aunt Mandy's and Uncle Dan's house. Would never be able to write down all the incredible experiences we all had together. There is so much love and joy in that house it is insane. Jesus sure does live there. Waking up to Sebastian and Cealy watching cartoons in the family room. Just waiting for you to come downstairs so they could hug you. Your cousins are obsessed with you. Sebastian would not leave you alone. It was hilarious. We had to be careful with him because he is only 2 and doesn't quite know what he can and cannot do yet. Cealy is so in love with you and kept saying how cute you were. I often caught her reading her books to you. Simply precious. You never liked the car so you would cry a lot during car rides. Cealy, Cruz and Seb never got frustrated with you. They knew you were just learning. Cruz comes over everyday and secretly comes over to you. He is not one to jump on you because that is not his personality. He will just kiss you and hug you without me even seeing. He has the biggest heart out of anyone I know. Your Auntie Nicole grabbed you every chance she got. When she was around I never held you bc she wanted you so much :) She always requests pictures of you too. She is one busy lady running your Grandpa Rex's and hers company.

We went to many dinners while back home. You will soon realize this is normal :) We love eating out. I am blessed you fall asleep in the carrier because if you get tired I can just put you in that. We went to the malls many of times too. We had cookouts so everyone could come see you. We had smaller dinners with the Gigaxes. I took you to Daddy's work and Opa's work. I dressed you so cute so everyone would see how cute you are! We tried to be outside as much as possible, just like in Switzerland :) We went to many parks with your cousins. They sure do love to run around and play together. You had so much fun and changed into a different baby by the end of the trip. Everyone said how big you were and how much happier you were. We will be back in the States in just a few short weeks!