We're Home!!!

Well, actually, we have been home since the wee hours of Sunday morning, but I have been to busy and exhausted to post. The trip from Addis to our house took 36 hours! Our flight actually left at 1:00am on April 8 in Addis, so we had already been up 17 hours before we took off. That is 53 hours folks!!! Will and I had both taken a quick shower right before we left for the airport, but by the time we had spent all those hours dragging luggage, wandering through four different airports, wiping up baby snot and spit-up, and eating multiple meals in airplane seats, it didn't make much difference. We got home feeling downright GROSS! Fortunately, Grandpa Darrell was there to meet us at the airport in San Diego, and the last hour of our journey was the most pleasant of all.


When we opened our front door, our older kids and my Mom were there the greet us even though it was 1:00am. They had decorated the house with balloons and banners and streamers. They even got me some calla lilies. My favorite!! It was such a nice surprise. They were all SO excited to finally meet Grace. Everyone sat down on the floor in our living room, and we opened up our suitcases so we could share the treasures that we brought home from Ethiopia. It was fun to the the big kids in their traditional Ethiopian clothes, and Grandpa Darrell even tried out his new "pillow". We finally wrapped up the party around 2:00am.











Will went off to take a shower while I kept an eye on Grace and visited some more with my Mom. My tummy had started to churn long about San Francisco, so I was glad to be able to depend on Grandma Carroll when I had to dash off to the potty again and again. Will could hardly keep his eyes open when he came out after the shower, so I kissed him and sent him off to bed. Unfortunately, Grace's eyes were WIDE open. In her time zone, it was morning time. My Mom finally went to bed about 4:30am, and Grace and I hung out in the family room opening the mail from the past two weeks and catching up on a TV show or two that we had recorded while we were gone. She finally went to sleep on the couch with me at 7:30am.

Daniel and Justin got up around 9:00am. They were both so sweet. They were very quiet, and they were just standing next to the couch, watching their new baby sister sleep. It was a great moment. I talked with them for a while, until I realized that I was offending myself. I knew Will was tired, but I NEEDED a shower! He was happy to come out and sit with the kids for a while, so he could have his sweet smelling wife back. I had hoped that the shower would leave me feeling better, but no such luck. My stomach was more upset than ever, and what I thought was a minor sore throat from the dry air in the plane, was turning out to be more serious. Bummer!

I managed to gather myself enough to greet the rest of the kids and Grandma Carroll when they stumbled out of bed a couple hours later. I officially put myself on the B.R.A.T. diet that has been recommended by all of our pediatricians for years, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. We had our first visitors in the afternoon. I'm not sure when they arrived, as I was sawing logs on the couch, but I enjoyed seeing them when I finally woke up. I ended up falling asleep again while Will was out getting Chinese food for dinner. I guess that was just as well, since I couldn't eat anything anyway. Thank goodness my Mom decided to stay here for a couple extra days after we got back!!!

Will did finally lead me to the bed that night, and we were both feeling a little more human Monday morning. Grace still got up for part of the night, but we definitely got more rest than we had the past few nights. We spent the day with all of our kids, and then took Grace for her first appointment at the pediatrician's office in the afternoon. He said that her ears looked clear and her lungs sounded good. It looks like the Zithromax that we took with us to Ethiopia did the trick. Yea!! After a stop at Lowe's for a new wax ring for the toilet (the house needing repairs helped the reality that we were really back home sink in rather quickly), and quick trip through the baby department at Kohl's, we e didn't want to be late for the nice ham dinner that Grandma was fixing back at home!!

Grace did so much better on Monday night. She wakes up about every four hours for a bottle and a diaper, but she went right back down both times. Yippee!!! It's a good thing that she figured out the sleep thing, because Will had to go back to work, and the kids had to go back to school. There would be no more sleeping the day away at our house. My Mom was supposed to fly home to Colorado Tuesday morning, but after realizing that things were betting pretty hectic, she changed her flight to the evening. That was fine with me. It meant I wouldn't have to do the driving!

We got Grandma to the airport in plenty of time, and decided to try going out for our first excursion with our new, bigger family. We went out to dinner at Boll Weevil on Harbor Island. It's a good thing my stomach was feeling a lot better. After a mushroom burger and cheese fries, I would have been in big trouble 24 hours earlier! We got home a little past bed time, so the kids were definitely feeling ready for sleep. Grace had another good night, so at the risk of jinxing something, I will say that I think she is adjusted to the new time zone. That is really good news!!!!