Sunday, March 29, 2009

3 Down - 0 To Go! Man It's Good To Be Home!

It's Sunday night - 9:32pm eastern time. I am happy to report that T, Rhonda and I all survived the flight(s) home. It's been a long couple days, and the room is starting to spin (darn jet lag), so I'll keep this short. Well, as short as possible.

The transit hotel in Seoul worked out really nice. We hit some additional duty free stores again this morning. Could that really have been this morning? Well I guess technically it WAS Sunday.

The first leg of today's flights was the big kahuna. 12.35 hours. UGH. I don't care who you are - sitting for 12.35 hours STINKS. Trying to corral a 2 year old who doesn't want to nap. STINKS x TWO. While it wasn't quite "the flight we shall not speak of"... there were moments when I wanted to jump out the nearest window. T slept a grand total of about 1.5 hours on this flight. She fought it and fought it ALL day. She was a trooper MOST of the time, but like any two year old, who has never flown before and is completely off schedule - she had some meltdowns. The nothing will soothe me meltdowns. Not fun. The bassinet in bulk head was just a tad too small - and didn't allow for proper head movement in "the rock" so that didn't fly much either, other to sit in while being fed.

The big action on the flight was the medical emergency we had. A girl passed out near our seats - no one but Rhonda really reacted. There was something else going on - and about 1 hr later there was an announcement asking if anyone on board had medical experience. SCARY. We didn't end up making an emergency stop - so Rhonda and I decided she must have been ok. That or something much worse - but we liked the first option.

T soared through customs like a champ and is now an OFFICIAL US CITIZEN! Wooo hooo! We didn't have a chance to replace the travel jammies with the cute red/white/blue outfit - but she still looked cute doing it! The Chicago to Detroit flight was a non-event really. Quick - less than an hour and painless.

We were greeted by my mom (Gramma!), Jennifer (cousin) & her daughter Riley (T's new BFF), Carrie (cousin's wife/oldest friend and that doesn't mean age) & her daughter Mary, and Yvonne & her son Conner. It was great to see everyone and we were super glad for the reception. T didn't fuss ONCE at the airport - even with a flock of people around her. The car ride home had it's UPS and DOWNS, but we've already covered the car challenge... no need to beat a dead horse. All in all, for a kid who missed 3 naps and essentially an entire nights sleep, she was in amazingly good spirits.

We arrived home to signs in the yard welcoming us from my awesome family. Jennifer and her kids and Gary/Rena and their kids made some great welcome signs. If you're near Croswell, check 'em out! I couldn't bear take them down!! My family ROCKS.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't send a special message to Miss Rhonda. And no, I promise I am not starting to tear... ok maybe a little but that's the jet lag right?? Where oh where would I be without you? THANK YOU for saving me in Vlad this week. Your friendship means the world to me and I appreciate the adult conversation. I love that 9/10 times if I am thinking something - you probably are too. Who else would travel the world to go to Vladivostok, TWICE? (And then who else gets their luggage lost between Chicago and Detroit...)

It's good to be home!!!

19 comments:

Nichole said...

YAY!!!! So glad to hear you are all home safe and sound. Get some sleep! I am praying T lets you, anyway. :) Welcome to motherhood!

Mike and Heidi Lee said...

YAAAYYYY!!!! Welcome Home!! Now you can REALLY start to enjoy motherhood. We are so happy everything went well, and it is good to have another NEW US Citizen cutiepie. Call us if you ever need anything...even if it is just to talk. We definitely need to let our Vlad babies meet at sometime. Congrats again

Lindsay said...

Glad you are home safe and sound. Hope you can both catch up on your sleep.

Laura said...

Добро пожаловать домой, Анна и Татьяна!!
Welcome Home, Amy and Tatiana!!

When you are rested, fill us in on the activities and tricks that kept your little T occupied on the long flight. Would love to know!

Your new journey has now begun...congrats!

~Laura

Barb said...

Awesome! So glad to hear you all made it home, safe and sound.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you made it home! I hope you guys are able to catch up on some sleep!

Jeanette said...

Yea!!!!! So glad you are home safe and sound. I look forward to hearing all about T in her new world! Get some sleep...if you can :)

Kara said...

Congrats...it's got to be so good to be home! Thanks for sharing your journey with all of us!
Kara

findingourdaughter said...

Yeah!!! You are HOME!!! Safe and sound.....so thrilled to read this news this morning. When things settle down, we'll have to catch up! Can't wait to hear how the kitties and little T are doing getting to know each other.
Hugs and love,
Angie

Gloria said...

Glad to hear you guys made it home safely! Now is when the real fun begins! Enjoy every minute of it! Also as someone who is just leaving on their first trip to Vlad at the end of the week - thank you so much for your blog. It has been very, very helpful! So glad you and Little T are finally together forever!

Gloria Duda

Anonymous said...

Welcome home, so glad to hear you made it safe & sound??
Welcome to the world of motherhood, whatever you do enjoy every minute, no matter how good or bad, the years will fly by.
Will be anxiously awaiting to hear how little T adjust to this part of the world.
Congratulations.......
Mary

Roger and Joanne said...

YEA!!! It's good to be back on american soil and in your own bed, huh?
So what did T do for 12.5 hours if she wasn't sleeping? Could you think of anything that might have made a difference? I can never sleep on planes, either. It's horrible.
I hope you all had a good nights rest last night. Can't wait to hear how she's doing and what she thinks about her new home/bdrm.

Chrissy said...

Congrats and Welcome home! What an awesome journey!

Dennis & Nicole said...

welcome home!!! i have been following your blog thinking ahead to what our trip will be like. definitely not as much time on the plane - but, any tips you have for entertaining a 2 year old will be greatly appreciated :) i'm so happy for you

Anonymous said...

welcome home!!! :)

Anonymous said...

Just realized I never signed my name this morning! Too much Monday.......
-Suz

Chandra said...

Welcome home!!! Sorry I didn't comment while you were in Russia, toddlers keep you busy as I'm sure you are now aware! But I wanted to say how happy I am for you and little T. Welcome home!

Laura and Paul Knight said...

Yay!! Congratulations and welcome home! Sounds like T was really quite the trooper! Wow that's a long flight. I hope you are all getting some much needed rest! Enjoy these days - they go by so fast...
Laura

Nancy said...

Welcome home! One of the first things I noticed when we walked into the VMI was Tatiana's picture card displayed on the front desk! :) I told Brian...Hey, I know her!