A New Day

We arrived home exactly 24 hours later, to a wonderful homecoming. As I sat on the plane, looking out the window I began to feel that shakey, adrenalin, I could just ball feeling. The moment was finally here. We were home with our little girl, we were going to see our kids and get to introduce her to our family. They had signs and balloons and matching tshirts. It was awesome. Mahaela just smiled and hugged so many of them. Hugging seems to be her natural response. I don't know psychology of it all, but it's what she does. She just looked so happy and took it all in. It was after 4 am our time, so we were a little wiped out and Mahaela had just a few short naps on the entire way home.

Getting out of Paris was crazy, complete with waiting in a pile of people to be reticketed for this new flight only to have the whole area where the ticketing desks were to be cleared out by police and airport security (with their huge automatic guns around their necks) because of an unattended bag. I had to pick up Mahaela to get out of there and she threw a big tantrum. Bill held her and just let her scream it out. She turns into a hair and head flopping, sweaty, smacking little spitfire! He just sat on a luggage cart with her. We were the last ones to clear the area and then I heard someone say they saw a "thumbs-up." I told Bill and her hurried again to the ticket counter and no one stopped him. He was waiting at the desk by the time a ticketing agent came. Boarding passes in hand, we headed through security. It felt Ground Hog's Day at this point. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12 noon. Once through the gate, you have to take a bus to the plane--boarding takes over an hour for sure. Really amazing. Then about another 40 minutes just taxi-ing through runways. With about 8 hours flying time, we would arrive in Detroit about 2:45 Eastern Time. Even in Detroit, we were standing room only. It was a headache, for sure. It felt so good to get on that plane to Bloomington!
Mahaela did so good flying. She really ate great, took 2 short naps about an hour a piece. I had some things to entertain her, but I didn't even get to all that I had. We had a 5 hour layover in Detroit. After customs and rechecking our baggage, we sat down to eat at a restaurant. It was getting pretty late our time by then and Mahaela rode in the backpack and fell asleep on Bill's back.

Since being home, she has done so well. We think she is getting better each day with the hitting and defiance. We kept the kids home from school yesterday and just had a very lazy day being together. Nothing seems too "foreign" to her. The kids love her. We had to just remind them several times to back off a little. They get in her face and say things and ask for hugs and kisses. She wanted to smack them a couple times. I think it must be a little wearisome for her to hear all this foreign language and faces and sounds and people in her face. We put her down for her nap in her crib. She cried just as much as she does when we sleep with her, so we thought that was good. She took a good nap, which I woke her from so she would be tired at bedtime. About 8:30pm I couldn't stay awake another minute, so Bill put her to bed about 8:30 in her crib. She cried very little and slept wonderfully. About 4am, she was crying and fussing, but I didn't think she sounded too upset. We waited hoping she would go back to sleep and she did. I heard her sweet talking around 7:30 this morning. I think that is complete success!! She was standing in her crib, happy. She has been happy all morning, just walking around, playing with the dog, hugging and kissing her! She usually says "Zsdra-vey-tey" the first thing in the morning--very strung out like that. It is so cute. She ate good and has given lots of hugs and kisses. I just corrected her about holding a large framed picture and she gave me the stink eye and tried to push me away, but it was mild. I do think that she will get better with that. It's really funny, because when Bill is around, she will look to him to see what he thinks of how she is treating mommy. He usually will give her a look back or "come after her" if necessary. She will usually stop what she is doing and then try to pat me or kiss me. We are in the training phase, for sure.

Today is Bill's 40th Birthday and everyone is back to work and school. I have the same feeling I have had after having all my kids. Slightly post-partum, wondering what my new life will look like, hoping to settle into my new normal very quickly. Christmas just adds another layer of stress to it all. I so want to just enjoy it and be able to let go of what I can't do in order to just enjoy what I can do. Praying that God Grants me the serenity I need to accept the things I can and cannot do. I know He will!

I know so many of you prayed us home. As frustrated as we were, I know prayers were holding us together. Through it all, we were still nice to each other (and that is not always the case--traveling can bring out the worst in me!)

Well, I'm off to unpack and do laundry--a little reality!