Traveling + First day Home

We left our hotel at 7 am on Friday, September 13, 2019.

(Awkward mirror selfie: but gooooodbye hotel life)

Heidi ate a good breakfast but when we got to the airport in Guangzhou she was fussy. 

Fussy as in screaming and shrieking. 

Trent really did the lion’s share of walking her around (away from people) to help calm her down. 

He even grabbed me a coffee. 

Once I woke up a little I helped, too. 

Me, doing what I do best: falling asleep whenever we start moving. My parents tell me I was a fussy baby until they put me into a swing bed. Even at 34 I still fall asleep easily in the car and apparently on planes. This was a short 40 minute flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. 

We had a long, long layover in Hong Kong. A little over 6 hours to kill with a 1-year-old. Not my favorite way to pass the time. 

Heidi did remarkably well. We gave her a bottle of milk. She ate some food. 

She stood around looking sweet. 

I walked her around and around and around the terminal until she fell asleep. 

Her daddy fell asleep also. 

She took a step all alone. She’ll be walking before we know it!

She did lots of happy crawling also. She made lots of people smile. 

Finally it was time to board our plane. We fed her right before we got on the plane. When the stewardess came around to ask if we wanted drinks we got some milk for Heidi. She drank a big cup of milk (slowly from the bottle) then she slowly drifted off to sleep in my arms. She slept in my arms for about 2 hours (after being awake for 3). I gave her to Trent and she slept another 5 hours in his arms. 

She woke up slowly but once she was awake she was very happy. The sad thing was we still had another 5 hours to go....

Something was funny. 

It was poop. Poop is funny. She actually stood on Trents lap like this, staring him in the eyes while she pooped. It was humorous. 

We passed her back and forth trying to keep her entertained the rest of the flight. She did remarkably well. We know so many of you were praying and we certainly felt that God was answering you all with grace and kindness to us and the fellow travelers. 

We arrived in Newark, New Jersey a little after 10 pm on Friday, September 13, 2019! Going through immigration was fine except we got put into the slowest line there was. We finally decided to switch lines and got through much more quickly. Then we had to go through the immigration department to give our passports and Heidi’s documents. She became a US citizen upon stepping onto American ground. 

We worked hard for her citizenship. 

We really don’t take for granted the freedoms we have in America and are so thankful to extend them to our daughter. 

My sister, Stacy and my mom picked us up from the airport. It was a little over 2 hours to get home so it was nearly 2 am when we finally got home. Heidi did well for her first time in a car seat. She cried at first but once we started driving she was fine. 

I was so happy to eat a piece of pizza. I came home to a very clean house thanks to my mom. Pretty sure I should just hire her to do my cleaning that I never do. 

Heidi was very interested in Petey. 

Poor Petey was just trying to get away from her but was quite patient for a 13-year-old dog. We weren’t sure how Heidi would do, but she went to sleep well. We ended up waking her up around 7:30 am so as to try to help her work through the jet lag and get on a regular schedule. 

Anne was so pleased Heidi seemed to warm up to her pretty quickly. 

Getting a photo with all the girls looking in the same direction with their eyes open and smiling is even more difficult than it used to be....

Ruth was pretty unhappy with the idea of a group photo. Abbey was thrilled because she got to hold Heidi. 

Ruthie was much happier to get a photo with just her little sister. They are pretty sweet together. Ruth said she loved being a big sister. 

We had some chain reaction tears at breakfast. Carrie took a sip of her tea while it was still too hot. She sloshed a little and it hurt so she cried and came to my lap. Then Ruth started crying because she missed us. Then Heidi started her scream/cry because everyone else was crying. It made the bigger girls get control of themselves more quickly because they wanted Heidi to stop crying. The older three were I think amazed and the sheer volume their younger sisters can produce. 

Zoey did a little grocery shopping for us and then she left to go back home. We are so thankful for all the work she put into caring for the girls while we were gone. 

We turned on a movie and Heidi got to know her sisters. 

Crawling in for a closer look. 

She approved of Maggie and gave her a little head bump to show her love. 

She’s already got the best cheering section. 

She did get quite overwhelmed and overstimulated at one point. We laid her down in her crib for 15 minutes and then she was ready to go again. She definitely isn’t used to constant attention like she has now and it can be a little stressful. We found removing her for a short time from the room is very helpful for her. Obviously we don’t isolate her but for brief periods it has seemed to work well to give her a short break. She was fine the rest of the day.  

We gave her a nap just after 1 pm and had to wake her up at 4:30. 

Sleepy baby. 

Trent and I are tired as well. I laid down for a short time in the afternoon but didn’t want to sleep too long. 

We were so grateful to Pat and Lori Ward from our church who brought us a meal tonight. It was such a blessing not to need to think about a meal. 

After dinner I was washing clothes and putting away laundry from our trip. The third trip up the stairs I was feeling so exhausted. I plopped down on the bed and immediately fell asleep. The girls woke me when it was time for baths and showers. 

Heidi seemed to like her bath. She’s asleep now, hopefully for a long night’s sleep. 

I’m falling asleep typing this so I hope it is coherent. 

We are so thankful to be home. Just living each moment full of gratitude.