So glad to be home

Well, David told me about an hour ago that we could watch an episode of "Lost" before we went to bed but he's been blathering on about cross country to the coach who helped him out while we were gone. Thank goodness he wore Weddington stuff every day so he could at least show his Warrior pride in his absence.

So, our trip home. That was one long flight. Well, let me start at the beginning. We got up kind of early and took a taxi to the train station. If we hadn't had a stroller plus 2 ten ton, suitcases we could have walked. I love riding the train. It's so relaxing. It was nice to see Hong Kong one more time. We made it to the airport where we were told that one of our suitcases was overweight by 7 kilos! Bwa! So, we really weren't as smooth as we thought we were by jamming all that crap into our original 2 suitcases. Oh well, next time we'll know. The guy told us that we would have to pay $200 in overweight fees. I about freaked but then David told me it was in HK dollars so it was like 20 bucks. We ate breakfast at Burger King and let me tell you, it tasted GOOD. Delicious, even. We wasted a little time looking in some shops and of course, David had to get his chai tea. At the security checkpoint, they looked at my baby Dimetapp and baby Benadryl VERY carefully. I was about to start crying at the prospect of them taking it. They let it by but they did take my baby Motrin. That makes no sense to me but whatever. Then David gave me the rest of our HK dollars and told me to go back and spend it. I love buying junk in the airport when you have to use up your currency! I got us a bunch of magazines and some candy. We got on the flight and we were 1 row from the back of the plane. Like we were sitting where we had to help flap the plane's wings. It actually turned out to not be such a bad thing because I had to go to the bathroom like a thousand times to take care of Miss Maggie. We settled in and I was SO thankful that we had bought a seat for Maggie. She had space to lay down and sleep and when she was awake, we let her stand on the floor and play with her toys on the seat. She started out the trip in her pajamas but at one point when I was trying to be smooth and change her diaper in the plane seat, she peed all over the place and got her pj's wet. That did not make me happy. There are about a million things that I love about Maggie but I HATE changing her diaper. She is the squirmiest worm and she hates it too, I think. Thankfully, we had packed a backup outfit. Maggie got a little dose of the "Flyer's Friend" and zonked out not long after that. Like I have said before, Maggie is much like an oven when she sleeps. She gets so SWEATY. Kind of gross but let me tell you, on that flight, I was thankful for the little oven. It was like a freaking Arctic winter on that plane. The whole trip all I could think of was my winter coat and my pink fleece blanket. I had also forgotten to pack any socks so my feet were FREEZING. I bundled up in 2 airplane blankets. Blech. There was also this woman sitting across the aisle from us who kept coughing like she had tuberculosis. Rather unpleasant. She had on a surgical mask before we took off but then she removed it once we were in the air. I guess she thought they wouldn't kick her off once we were airborne. The flight went on and on and Maggie slept on and off. She was really very good. She got kind of cranky a few times but otherwise, she was not a problem. David and I were even able to watch an episode of Buffy on the laptop.


We landed in Newark and went through immigration. I think the United States is a rather unfriendly place to immigrate to. Not that I've had any experience with any other countries but we were looked up and down and herded into this holding area like we were criminals and then all they did was take our paperwork and dismiss us. We got our bags, rechecked them and met up with my friend Meredith and David's aunt Sue, cousin Heather and her family. It was so nice to see some familiar faces.


Sue and Heather and their crew were heading to the beach so we only visited with them for a little while. Emily had picked out a firefly toy for Maggie. Maggie really liked it. Meredith brought a little stuffed lamb rattle which Maggie shunned at first because stuffed animals=scary. At the gate, she realized that it made noise and decided that she liked it. Meredith also brought Maggie some new pj's--very cute. We found this coffee shop and hung out there for a while and talked. Then we realized we had to head on so we got in the mile long line for the security checkpoint. This time they took my Benadryl. They also looked at my travel Charmin very carefully. Heh. We got down to the gate and crammed onto the teeny plane. David told me that Maggie "smelled" so I took her to the smallest airplane bathroom in the world where I discovered she had had a blowout, for lack of a better word. It was sick. Then there were like 20 planes in front of us and we had to wait in line and it was very stuffy in the plane. The second we took off, Maggie and I both fell asleep. We slept through almost the entire flight which made it go very quickly. When we landed, I had to take Maggie in the bathroom to change her into her coming home outfit, a red and white gingham bubble with smocked American flags. Very cute. When we finally got out to where everybody was waiting, I felt like it was a dream. I couldn't believe that we had made it all the way home. There were so many people there with balloons, a big sign and noisemakers. It was awesome. David and I had decided ahead of time that we felt like Maggie had bonded sufficiently with us and she definitely knows who we are, so we agreed that it would be okay for people to hold her. My dad got first crack at her!

With Grammie Barb
With Auntie Erin
With Grandma ReRe
With Grandma Karen
We talked for a long time and then decided it was time to brave the car and carseat. I strapped Maggie in for her maiden voyage and BOY, did she scream. She screamed louder than I've ever heard her cry. I climbed in the backseat and sat next to her but after about 10 minutes, she stuck her finger in her mouth and just looked out the window. Rege and Barb bought us a mirror to put on the backseat so we can see her in the rearview mirror. We got home and I think it was all just a little bit too overwhelming for Miss Maggie. She is rather scared of the cats so we're introducing them slowly. I picked Louie up after we got home and I think he weighs for than Maggie. I gave Maggie a bath which she screamed her way through and she also tried to stand up and bonked her head on the side of the tub. Bad mommy. My mom and dad had set up the pack n play in our bedroom so we thought we'd try her out in there first. She went to sleep pretty fast (around midnight) but woke up crying at 1:30. I got up and changed her diaper in the dark which was rather difficult as her pajamas had about a million snaps and I snapped them all wrong. I stayed up with her for a while before I started to feel sick I was so tired. We traded off and David got up with her and laid on the couch. I think they slept but at 5:30 he came in and woke me up and told me it was my turn.

I got up and fed her and we went in her bedroom to check out the toys. Then I realized that I could be watching TV while we looked at the toys so moved ourselves out to the den. Maggie was in a good mood but very clingy this morning. At about 8:30, I decided that I HAD to go back to sleep so I rocked Maggie in the glider, where she fell asleep. I put her in her crib and I got in the guest room bed and we all slept until almost noon. I went in and woke her up because I knew we'd be paying for it tonight if I didn't. This afternoon was spent trying to keep her awake. We went to Target--yay, first time! and Walmart. In the 5 minute trip to Target, Maggie fell asleep in the car. She is also so small that the seatbelt in the grocery cart is too small, even pulled as tightly as it would go. She kept trying to turn around in the seat. I finally gave up and carried her in Walmart. We let her take a little nap from about 5:15 to 6 and then I woke her up again. She's been eating really well so that's good. David's mom and grandma came out tonight so Grandma Grace could meet Maggie. ReRe also brought Maggie's birthday present--a jumperoo! It's so cool and she LOVED it.



We tried to put Maggie in the jogging stroller tonight but she was yelling so loud going down our street that we thought we'd better turn around before we riled up every dog in the neighborhood. I took her in the nursery and rocked her and she fell asleep in about 1 second. During this time, David hooked up the baby monitor and came in and out probably 5 times and moved her bookcase and she did not budge. I put her in the crib and she rolled over and went right to sleep. She just woke up screaming so David is in there with her now. He said she fell back asleep as soon as he picked her up. She is SO tired. She looks almost pitiful because she looks so exhausted. I hope we can sleep tonight. We took these No-Jet-Lag pills all the way home yesterday so hopefully they are working. I feel okay right now but I'm ready to go to bed.

Well, this will be my last post on here now that we're home. You know where to find me and if you don't, my email's on this blog somewhere. Thanks SO much for all the comments while we were in China. It was so wonderful to hear from so many people while we were so far away.