We're Home

We made it safely home and adjustments are coming along slow but steady.

After spending the morning on our last day in Guangzhou at the Chen family temple, we finished up packing and headed out for the airport with two other families who were also leaving that day, one of which was traveling on our flight, and the other family moving onto Beijing for CNY.

Our flight to LAX was smooth sailing. Holly woke once or twice, but, no real problems. She was at the beginning of a nasty cold, that I think combined with the changing pressure from the flight, and ended up with an ear ache. Flying Premium Economy was definitely worth the cost of the upgrade, so Tim's trip with Vicki through the subway paid off. Once we were in LAX we navigated the immigration lines fairly smoothly, and then sailed through customs. We picked up our luggage and made our way to the hotel for our long layover.

I have decided that the US version of a suite has nothing on a Chinese version, and a bit of a letdown. All it had really was more space, but, the suites in China are quite nice, even elegant. Still, it's a Sheraton, so the beds were dreamy. Tim and I had the first full on salad we had allowed ourselves for the past two weeks. We're both pretty adventurous, and if we hadn't had a new little one to care for and get through such a traumatic change, we could have risked any stomach issues that might have arisen from eating raw, washed foods, but, we felt it best to err on the side of caution, and still, we experienced some great new things.

We slept as long as we could, a few hours at best, but, it was much needed, and then went to LAX again, for what can only be described as the most ridiculous and frustrating experience the entire trip. Delta airlines. Need I say more? For anyone with any degree of experience with them, no, but, for those not in the habit of flying with them, let me warn you not to expect a large degree of competence or even customer service. I plan to write a long scathing letter to their corporate office, but, don't really expect any response.

Anyway, we flew home in time to see Katie before she left for the drumline competition she was going to, which was wonderful, and James was home, too, a nice bonus. Mindy and Myleigh were still gone at a ballroom practice.

Holly Jun had slept the entire drive home, so, she was cranky when we got to the house. We pulled up in front and showed her the house, and showed her the picture of our house she had in her photo album. She was less than excited. We took her in, and she was fussy, didn't want Tim to put her down for a second. When he did, she lost it, and just screamed and cried for about an hour. Things weren't much better the rest of the day. She ended up taking a long nap, as did Tim and I, and while that didn't help a ton, at least it was quiet for a while. She got to know the girls better last night, and thinks Mindy is hilarious. She was interested in Myleigh, but, kept her distance which made Myleigh so sad, poor thing. I explained that Holly needed more time, and to try to be patient, but, she's waited for a little sister for so long, it's just hard.

We all took some kind of meds to help sleep, Holly had some benadryl to help with the cold as well as sleep, and the night was pretty smooth, except for Tim who had to sleep on the floor next to her bed. This morning she was still feeling the ear ache, so, I used the analgesic ear drops, and some more meds for the cough and runny nose, and in an hour she was laughing and playing with the girls again. I took the two older girls to do some shopping for food and while we were gone, Tim had taken the little girls outside to play. It was wonderful to come home and find them on the swings together laughing and being sisters. Finally, things are starting to be more what they will be as Holly really settles into her new life. Right now they're playing, Holly following Myleigh all over and copying what she does. So cute.