journey home

The one thing I dreaded the most about bringing Hannah along on this journey was how to handle two little ones on a long taxi ride with no car seats, 3 plane rides, and that first car seat ride for Hudson home from the airport. It's hard to haul all of the luggage for two parents and a new child, but holding hands or pushing a stroller for two kids... keeping them happy with out the parents going insane... AND handling all of that luggage is quite a challenge. We had hoped to bring another adult along but it didn't work out. It was very important to us for Hannah to come along, so we just decided to pack as lightly as possible and stick it out.
Taxi cab ride to the airport: Hannah: "He's touching my shoe!" "He's touching my side of the seat!" "Mom! Mommm! He's touching your bag!" "Are we going to be there soon?"

In the above photo is Hudson's doggie security blanket. We sent it in one of his care packages. Don't tell anyone, but it was a gift that someone gave Hannah when she came home from Taiwan and she never used it. Kid #2 started getting hand-me-downs from us before we was even hours! Hudson's foster mama told us not to loose his doggie blanket because he needs it. We didn't get a lot of directions with Hudson... but when foster mama says "this is important... don't loose it" she must mean it! We've been freaking out thinking that we lost doggie blanket about four times already on the way to the train station in Tainan, on the streets of Taipei, within our apartment in Taipei, and once again on air plane ride number 2. We even bought a strap that's like a pacifier clip to try to attach the beloved doggie blanket to the stroller or to Hudson. Unfortunately, Hudson doesn't understand the purpose for this clip and keeps removing the blanket from the clip. I fear for the future of doggie blanket, and have no idea where to get a duplicate... or even who gave us the beloved doggie blanket as a gift nearly four years ago.
Hudson did not seem to be scared of the plane ride at all. I have a feeling that he might be experienced in riding a bus. If so, the airplane most likely feels a lot like riding a bus. Kevin sat between the kids and I kept Hudson busy best I could. He's so strong! At times when he'd fight against me because he wanted down to run, I felt like it took everything I had to hold on. He runs as fast or faster than Hannah and eats three times as much. Hannah's iPad full of movies keeps her occupied for hours on end. She did cry a little bit when she was extra tired.
On the way home our flight from Tokyo to Detroit was diverted to another airport because Detroit was closed because of a thunderstorm. The plane didn't have enough gas to circle around, so we had to stop and refuel before going on to Detroit. Never had that happen before! It was really bad because the plane's speaker system was horrible and passengers, mostly Japanese, couldn't hear what the pilot was saying, didn't know where we were, and why we couldn't get off the plane. Our connection out of Detroit on to home was also delayed several hours, so we made our flight and all of our bags miraculously arrived as well. I was not a happy camper on my cell phone with the airline. I know that they can't control the weather, but after being awake for 24 hours traveling with two littles, getting home that night... no matter how... was a necessity. I was not going to be booking into a hotel room and waiting for the next morning!
We wanted the welcome home to be low key, as I wasn't sure how Hudson would react to more strangers. We were greeted by Nana, Papa, and two close family friends. I caught a cold from Hudson on the way home, and felt horrible. Nose plugged, running, sore throat, and feverish.

Once at home we gave Hudson a bottle, had some dinner, and I went to bed while Nana and Papa played with the kids. Nana had decorated the outside of our house and living room in red, white, and blue. Hudson woke up in the middle of the night. While I was making him a bottle he opened up a cabinet and dumped out CDs all over the floor in about five seconds flat. I laid back down with Hudson on the floor next to his crib for a long time. I was exhausted, felt sick and dizzy, and Hudson was not one bit sleepy. Thankfully Kevin woke up. I told him, "Tag, you're it!"

When I woke up in the morning I checked my phone next to the bed and saw this pic below Kevin posted on Facebook this morning. "So, where do you go with your kids at 4am?" Haha!