Zombies for Halloween?

Last night made it two nights in a row where Jack was up all night from about 1am on. We are doing pretty well with the routines from about 9am all the way through until 1am, then he wakes up and is up for the rest of the night. We are working really hard to get him acclimated to the 15 hour time difference from Vladivostok, and we are determined to make it work! Jack is still doing very well in the eating and bathing departments, and with most nap times, it's just those tricky overnight hours that we haven't yet mastered. So, between still getting over the trip and travel along with staying up all night, all three of us walk around like zombies sometimes. I guess we fit right in though seeing how it is Halloween weekend and all. When we are awake during the day, we don't want Jack to nap before his designated nap times because like I said, we are determined to get back into healthy routines. So, when it's not nap time and one of the three of us seems tired, we joke that we are like concussion victims who need to be kept awake no matter what! No worries, we'll get this routine thing down pat in time. Last night we listened to a windy rain storm while we rocked Jack and tried to get him back to sleep. It was actually kind of cool to sit there and listen to that. Ideally we don't want to be up at 4am, but we make the best of it!

Despite the altered sleep schedules, Jack is absolutely thriving in his new environment. He is laughing hysterically and playing with stuff and just enjoying his new surroundings. I think I mentioned earlier that he loves his black cat Mike. Mike is really good with him, and it's funny to see the two of them hanging out together. Jacks two dogs are still living with Nana and Papa for another few days, then we'll have that big introduction. We hope Jack loves the dogs as much as he loves cats!

Today Michelle made a "welcome home" cake for Jack. He liked the cake a lot and ate his whole piece (we ate it in mid afternoon so the sugar will hopefully not affect bedtime too much!). While we were gone, some of Michelle's coworkers made food and stocked our freezer with some dinners to help us out during these first few days home. We have a homemade lasagna in the oven right now that smells great! Thank you to everyone who chipped in with the food drive for us. That was really thoughtful and we really appreciate your kindness!

On a totally unrelated note, we read in another couples blog today that Vladivostok got 10 inches of snow yesterday. We are glad we got out of there when we did! We love snow, but we are so glad to be home!

Guess that is all for now. Wish us luck with bedtime tonight!