We're home!

Well, Jaden missed an awesome homecoming.  :)

The trip went great!  Jaden did really, really well other than just not sleeping. 

We got up at 6:30 am in Hong Kong and got the room packed up the rest of the way.  We ate breakfast at the hotel and Tim and I laughed a little that this was the last time he would see fish, noodles and baked beans at a breakfast buffet.  We left for the airport by about 9am and got settled in to our gate and waited for 3 hours to leave.  Jaden had really objected to the seat belt on the Nanjing to Guangzhou flight a week ago and I was not looking forward to that battle on a 14 hour flight instead of just 2 hours from last time.  There was a Chinese gentleman sitting to Tim's left that spoke Mandarin that we asked to explain to Jaden that there would be times that Jaden would have to wear his belt but that sometimes we could let him take it off.  Jaden sat right down and let us put the belt on without any fuss when the time came.  The steward brought him a juice box and an activity kit to try to make things easier but we never even busted into the the play set on the whole flight.  Jaden did give us back the snack and the juice box about 5 minutes into the flight.  Luckily, we had packed a change in outfit.  :)  If I had it to do over, that would have been the perfect excuse to give him the phenergan we had packed and maybe he actually would have had some real sleep on the plane!  In the entire 22 hours of travel time, he slept for 3 hours-- 1.5 hour nap on the long flight and about that for the second. 

Unfortunately, he was asleep when we landed in Tulsa and never really left that foggy, cranky thing he does when he first wakes up.  He was cheerful and perky the entire trip, until we got home.  Oh, well.  Tim and I really appreciated our welcoming committee!  We had about 15 people, balloons, a welcome sign and a cranky new American citizen. 

As expected, Jaden did not like being in a car seat.  We knew that would be a bummer for him and we got to see that temper for about 20 minutes of the 45 minute ride home.  I certainly did not enjoy the car ride home but am absolutely thankful that he showed that frustration and temper in the car and not in the airplane.  I don't think he was ever really fully awake.  When we got home, Laura carried him in to our bed and the 3 of us crashed.  Maybe at about 7 pm?  At 3:30 am Jaden started stirring and we all got up at 4am.  Not a bad start to getting our sleep cycle back in gear.  He was noisy enough that he ended up waking JieJie before she was probably intending to get up but she was an awesome big sister and came down with a smile.  He warmed up to her immediately.  :)  She broke out her white board and dry erase markers and they had fun together.  The timing is a bit of a bummer, she has 3 tests this week and I'm sure will be busier studying than he would like, but this weekend he should get plenty of time with both Gege and JieJie. 

He LOVES the kitties!  He keeps running around looking for the xiao maomi (little kitty).  Let's hope he likes the da gou (big dog) as much when Dug comes home this weekend.  He has been running around all morning exploring the house.  He found a toy that Grandma Nell left here for him and so had to have a bath to try it out.  I am so glad that he enjoys bathing, one less battle.  Now to figure out what on earth to feed this child.  I've got my rice cooker and should have thought to buy the rice before our trip, oops.

Now that we have our little guy home, it is time to try to settle into a new normal.  Wow, I wonder how long that will take?  When I get some pictures uploaded, I'll add them.  Thanks everyone for all the support we have had during this long, amazing journey. 

Blessings, y'all.