Home Sweet Home!

Yea! We're home! We arrived home late Sunday afternoon to a "Welcome Home" banner hung by a really sweet neighbor, on our front porch, a "Welcome Home BJ" sign on the back door, and a Noah's Ark balloon bouquet for BJ stating "S.S. New Arrival!" It was darling! I loved it, but BJ was slightly frightened by it until daddy showed him that he could hit it back and forth. Then BJ thought it was pretty neat and copied daddy! My favorite part about being home has to be my nice, soft, big, cuddly bed and carpeting! Oh yes! I'm also glad to be home with BJ's daddy!

The flights were fairly uneventful except for the fact that we had 5 minutes to catch our connecting flight and I was food poisoned! But hey, BJ did fantastic! Praise God and thank you everyone for praying! If you didn't catch my "vibe," I was pretty nervous! However, BJ took me 100% by surprise! He did great! Our first flight, 1 1/2 hours, he just sat back in his chair and enjoyed! He played with his toys, ate Cheerios, looked out the window, ate Cheerios, sang with mommy and grandma, ate Cheerios, and just all around at a good time!

Our second flight, once we scrambled on and got settled in, went just as well! In this plane, BJ found the tray table. He thought it was the best thing ever invented. He played with it (tapping it up and down with his feet and hands, pushing it in and out, slapping it with his hands) for probably the equivalent of an hour. Oh, don't worry! My mom was sitting in the seat in front of him! LOL! She didn't mind having her chair rocked for that hour! God Bless her! The plane was very nice with touch screen TV's on every seat! I was very impressed! BJ hardly played with his toys we so meticulously picked out. There was so much to do and look at on the plane! Once again he sang, ate Cheerios, played with the tray table, ate Cheerios, watched TV, and ate Cheerios. Did I mention he liked to eat his Cheerios?! Okay, we fed him other food, but he was constantly eating his Cheerios. The WHOLE time! This was all good as it helped for take off and landing, which he loved! He simply cracked me up! The part I feared the most for him, he simply couldn't get enough of! While the plane picked up speed to take off, he just started laughing and kicking out his arms and legs. While we gained altitude and experienced the "stomach dropping" feeling, he would smile and start giggling! The same with landing! My mom says I have a "Bungee jumping, carnival ride loving" kid! I tend to agree with that! He loves being upside down and spun around in circles. I can safely say that he does not get motion sickness easily!

On the second half of the ride, he fell asleep! You might be thinking "Oh, what a blessing! She could relax and enjoy the rest of the flight." Well, that is somewhat true. The poor little guy moves around so much in his sleep that I had to watch him like a hawk! I probably scooped him up (before falling of the edge of the chair) and repositioned him about a dozen times before it was all said and done. Needless to say, he slept but not well. He would be half way in/out of consciousness and would just start sobbing. Poor little guy! He was so tired and just wanted his bed!

So, our flight landed on time at O'Hare and we were very glad to see that there was no line at customs. It went very smoothly! We then met up with James and my brother Cary. It felt so good to be back in the US. I missed English more than I realized! We drove to Cary's house and stayed there (in Chicago) for the night as we didn't want to tackle a 3 hour drive until morning. Unfortunately for me this turned out to be a nightmare of a night. I woke up at about 2:30 feeling terrible with very bad indigestion. Long story short it didn't go away and turned into severe stomach pain and you guessed it! The whole nine yards! I couldn't keep anything down for the next day! I had a fever and simply felt awful! We had to get home so I just didn't eat or drink so we could make it home without incident! Thankfully I woke up this morning feeling better and have been getting stronger throughout day! It turns out my parents were both sick as well, just not as severe! I then realized that we had both eaten the same "sausage" on the plane. I am so glad BJ didn't eat the pieces I was offering him! That would've been a disaster! God was watching over that little guy! Once again, thank goodness for those Cheerios!

BJ is adjusting as well as can be expected for being uprooted for the fourth time, sleep deprived for 24 hours and being introduced to a beast of a dog! He has handled it all well, but I feel James and I might loose our minds before it is all said a done. Maui our dog, is slightly (okay a lot!) hyper when it comes to new people. She is extremely cautious about whether or not she can trust them. With children she is more eager to play than anything. Well, BJ didn't think her sticking her big nose in his face was playing so he just started screaming. So now every time Maui comes around, BJ screams. Then on top of that, Maui gets riled by BJ's screaming and nips! YIKES! Things have settled down throughout the day, but you have to wonder if you'll still have your sanity by the time the end of the day gets here!

I can't complain though! BJ is the light of our lives and we would feel so empty without him! God moved his awesome hands and placed us together at just the right time and in just the right way! What better way to remind us of His graciousness than to look into the face of our beautiful son! We truly feel blessed!

Thank you again for following along with us on our journey! Somehow I think that the journey has really just begun! We are so grateful for all of you! I have a lot of pictures I am hoping to post from the flight and first day home, so please stay tuned!

P.S. How many times can I write Cheerios in one post? Hehe!