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1 a: one's place of residence : domicile b: house
2: the social unit formed by a family living together
3 a: a familiar or usual setting : congenial environment; also : the focus of one's domestic attention b: habitat
Courtesy of Merriam-Webster

At approximately 8:00pm on Saturday, May 31, 2008, Ilya began to discover the value of each of these definitions in his own life...ESPECIALLY #2!!

Welcome Home Ilya! Welcome home!

Ilya did great on our 10hr 40min. flight yesterday. He had a few "moments" but you know what? There were times on that flight when Norm & I were close to having "moments" of our own (and not b/c of anything Ilya did, but b/c of a few of our fellow passengers), so we certainly can understand and empathize with our little guy. All in all he did wonderful throughout his entire journey home.

He had a good first full day here and we hope he continues to feel comfy & safe. We're working on making friends with both Bailey & Bandit but at least Ilya didn't try to claw his way to the top of Norm's head when he first met them. There were tears but that's mainly due to our overly friendly Lab, Bailey, who literally shreaks when she meets new people. It's quite painful on the ears sometimes so I can only imagine what was going through Ilya's mind when he heard it the first time. Today, we had Ilya in the dining room and the dogs in the living room, with a gate separating them. Norm & I took turns on both sides of the gate, either holding Ilya or playing with the dogs to show Ilya that they weren't trying to eat us, so they wouldn't try to eat him. This technique seemed to work because Ilya started to relax his grip and make "ooo ooo" sounds through the gate. By the end of the day, Ilya was able to sit on our laps in the same room as the dogs and not be terrified. He'll let the dogs get pretty close but isn't so keen yet on the whole licking thing, especially on his feet. I think with time they'll all be the best of buddies. The dogs already love Ilya (how can you not??) and I think he'll soon be warming up to them as well. Thankfully he has no issues with our cats. The cats on the other hand, well, they're not as thrilled as the dogs with Ilya's arrival.

There's more to share and photos as well, but honestly the combination of jet lag and life with a 14 month old are taking turns tag teaming me. I'm heading off to sleep some of this exhaustion off. I'll post those pictures asap though.