There's No Place Like Home!

Our flights home were very long, but Milo was a champ! We were traveling 22 hours and while Milo didn't sleep a whole lot, he was at least very quiet and easy going! We flew from Hong Kong to Japan, then from Japan to Seattle, then from Seattle to Salt Lake. On the 4 hour flight from Hong Kong to Japan, we had a whole row (4 seats) in economy comfort to ourselves! That was an awesome flight!! Milo was able to lay on the seat and stretch!

On the long flight from Japan to Seattle we were able to secure two bulkhead seats with the hope we could get a bassinet. We were unfortunately in the two middle seats, which was very difficult because you can't have any bags near you in the bulkhead seats; they all have to be in the overhead compartment. We felt bad constantly climbing over the guys on the end! Finally they came to put up the bassinet and it wasn't going to work. The bassinet goes by the end seat, which we didn't have. The flight attendants were really nice, though, as was the man sitting next to Quin. He offered to move and the flight attendants found him a seat. This worked SO much better! We could at least get Milo's bottles out when we needed them! The bassinet was not as wonderful as I'd hoped, though, simply because anytime the fasten seatbelt light was on, Milo could not be in the bassinet. He'd get settled and start to fall asleep, then the light would ding and we'd have to pull him out. Oh well! At least it gave us a place to let him play and change his diapers!

Once in Seattle, I have to admit that immigration was a nightmare. We had to wait in the line for foreigners (which was forever long). Once we finally got through that, we had to wait at the immigration desk for them to process Milo's paperwork. It really shouldn't have been so difficult! We were there FOREVER! They were honestly kind of awful!! They didn't even start working on it for at least 40 minutes. I was nervous we were going to miss our flight home! Luckily there were only two of us there that had adopted. If there were more, I honestly don't think we'd have made it home on our flight!

The last leg home from Seattle was only 1 1/2 hours, so not too bad. We were all DONE, though! I was shaking I was so excited to see my kids!! Milo finally fell sleep in the Seattle airport waiting to board our flight. We let him sleep until about 20 minutes before we landed so we could get him ready to go meet everybody!! Walking down and seeing everyone waiting for us was like living in a dream! It was wonderful, surreal, and magical! I will never forget it! I could not keep the tears from flowing! We did it! We made it home with our boy!! Our crazy journey was over!! It was so emotional to think that just a week and a half previous, Milo had nobody to care for him. Now he had family and friends galore all praying for him and loving him! It is such a blessing to be a part of this! We hired a photographer to come take pictures at the airport, because I knew I'd rather be in the moment than behind the camera! It was so special to see so many people that had come to support us and meet Milo!

 

We had friends and family coming to visit all Thursday afternoon and evening. We are so blessed!

 

We were also stupid tired! We knew we couldn't take long naps, though, or we wouldn't sleep well at night. I took about an hour nap and Milo slept for a few hours. Then we forced ourselves awake and were miserable until bedtime! We slept great that night, though, and have successfully turned our nights and days back around! We all still get really sleepy in the afternoon, though! Hopefully the jet lag won't last too much longer! I hate feeling tired all the time!

Being home has been amazing. We have all felt such peace and love! Our three older kids cannot get enough of Milo! They are constantly wanting to hold and play with him and I'm telling you, it's changing him! He is becoming more engaged! Yesterday morning, my two oldest kids took Milo into his room and were playing. After a little while, my oldest told me she taught Milo to hold his toy. I came in, and sure enough, he was grabbing his rattle and shaking it!! I am just blown away! All I can say is that it's proven to me more than I ever even knew before that we as human beings belong in families. We cannot reach our potential without each other.

My oldest has the sweetest heart of anyone I know! I am convinced she was born to be the big sister of a child with special needs! To have a baby that needs her unconditional love, protection, and teaching nature is her dream come true! They just belong together!!

Milo really loves any toy that makes noise and has lights! He's mesmerized!

This big brother has wanted a little brother for years now! He's ecstatic that his dreams have come true! He has big plans for the future and what he and Milo are going to do together! What handsome boys I have!!

To see Milo sleeping in the room we so carefully prepared for him is surreal and wonderful! He absolutely loves his bed! He loves how soft the bumper pad his grandma made him is! He rolls all around and just touches everything! It warms my heart that he feels so comfortable here!

The solution for jet lag and missing each other: snuggle naps on the couch!

Our youngest becomes a big sister! She's loving her new role!!

Playtime! They play forever together! It's so tender to me how much they love each other already!

We are lucky that our pediatrician is also our best friend! He came over to check Milo out on Friday, as Milo had a horrible rash all over! Luckily it turned out just to be eczema from a major change in climate! He also consulted with Milo's pediatric cardiologist on what Milo should be eating, and Milo's been switched to PediaSure for the time being. He really loves the stuff, too! Yay! We're going to start him on solids this week as we would an infant. This week is the week of doctor's appointments! Mr. Milo has a sedated echocardiogram scheduled as well as an appointment with the pediatric cardiologist and the pediatrician. He's also getting his first haircut ;) Big week, folks! I can't wait to see how Milo changes and grows!