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Weird phenomenon when you travel to Asia – somehow our airplane landed before it took off which means that we got to live Wednesday twice. Kinda neat in theory, exhausting in reality.
So our Tuesday night that saw no nap for Ty? It went fantastically well! The airport is ridiculous – huge, immaculate, modern, bits of traditional… it’s absolutely beautiful. We were a little concerned about all of the protests that are going on in Thailand right now and what that would do to us getting home. Our hotel seemed to think there would be delays, but everything was fine. We used the kiddo carrier to get around the airport and it was fantastic. It saved our son from walking, us from chasing him down, and he genuinely likes it each time he gets to go for a ride. The only slight bummer was at security, he had to come down, but bonus – you didn’t have to take your shoes off. I’ve never been in an airport where the people are so friendly.
We made it to our gate with plenty of time to spare, so we grabbed snacks, and then spent some time trying to tire Ty out. He was so happy and it was really a treat to spend that time with him. With about 10 minutes to spare, I changed him into his pj’s so he would maybe get the idea that it was bedtime. One bottle going up and coming down did the trick each time with his ears not hurting. For all of our time in the air, he sat there quietly, slept, or we played games. By Wednesday morning, we were in Tokyo, again off to a great start with Ty, but the toddler in him took over and we had a few meltdowns. Strangest thing ever – this lady (I assume Thai, but not 100%) jumped in like she was going to save the day. He was crying for his bottle (I know that cry – I’ve heard it for over a week now, thank you), so I was getting it ready, grabbing some napkins, etc. She first tried taking Ty from me (um no – and he didn’t like it either) and then his bottle and then she wouldn’t go away. What in the world?! Ty threw a little fit so I took him for a walk and when I came back to sit down with him, she came over and was touching him and blowing him kisses. So weird – so uncomfortable – so uncalled for. Not sure what I should have done in the situation… I just kind of sat their in a stupor wondering what she thought she was doing.
Flight #2 from Tokyo to Chicago was great as well. Ty slept a good portion of the time, snacked, played games, and just sat there quietly. Can I add without an Ipad? 🙂 I’m kind of proud of that. We did bring it with us, but the only time that we got it out was to show Ty the Skip the Bunny movie once at one of the hotels and when we could facetime with friends. Elated that we made it through sans electronics for the little guy. If we can make it through 30+ hours of travel, I think we can keep it going.
We finally made it in to Chicago and everything was pretty seamless with immigration / customs. Aaron went to go get the car and bring our winter coats to us and we bundled Ty up, fastened him in his car seat, and were ready for the trip home as a family of 3. He looked so stinking cute in his coat and hat and he was all excited to show us. We also had lots of gorgeous snow here, so I love that he got to come home to that, and we listened to Christmas music most of the way home. We also had our first family meal at McDonalds – where else?
About 2 minutes before home, Ty fell dead asleep in the car (this guy is a sound sleeper and not much will wake him other than his love for his “nom”). We woke him up to walk into the house with him for the first time and he was so excited. We took him around to all of the rooms, and he met Skip for the first time. Not sure Skip is as big of a fan of Ty as the other way around. Everything was wonderful and going so well (my parents even stopped by to meet him), but our evening took a turn for the worse quickly and I’m not sure what happened. He threw a little fit, so I had him sit with me and at that point, he just cried and cried. I held him for the longest time and he fell asleep, but then woke up crying again. I had my own little meltdown at dinner, and then everything was kicks and giggles again as Aaron and I started unpacking. Time for bath and bed – back to hysterics. I think bedtime made him realize how permanent this really is today. He let Aaron read him his stories, and fell asleep on his lap. Hopefully we will wake up with a fresh start tomorrow and we will all be a little bit better rested. It’s a day that we got to live twice, but I’d rather not do it one more time.
And that brings us to the end of our story. For those of you who followed along, that’s some amazing endurance. 🙂 For those of you who want more because you see adoption in your future, feel free to send me a personal message @ info@planpackcapture.com with a bit of your story and I would be happy to share our personal blog with you that captures every bit of the adoption process from start to finish and how settling in at home went.
