Since we've been home

Well, we have been home almost a week now and let me tell ya, there is NO place like home!!! The flight from Hong Kong to Detroit was LONG. The big kids did great, Hannah and me....not so much. Nothing made her happy. She was super cranky, very restless and busy. She didn't sleep that much. I would get her to fall asleep in the ergo as I stood at the back of the plane, then I would go sit down. She would stay asleep for a few minutes and then start fussing. So I would get back up and go sway her back to sleep in the back of the plane. This went on for about the last four hours of that flight. We landed in Detroit and made the trek across the huge airport to find our gate. I was pooped and a bit cranky myself. I changed Hannah, freshened up a bit and waited anxiously for our next flight home.
Let me begin this next part by saying that Sarah Grace has asthma that we have had under control for about the last two years, but being in the smog and cigarette smoke in China made her asthma rear it's ugly head again and it got worse as we got closer to home. So, we start to get off the plane in Birmingham when, bless her heart, she starts coughing so hard she throws up in the aisle. By this time Stephen was long gone. So standing there was screaming Hannah, my mom, Jacob, me and Sarah Grace (with vomit all over her) and the rest of the people on the plane staring at us like a deer in head lights. I am soooooo DONE at this point. My mom gets Jacob off and I am trying to clean up SG and strap Hannah in the ergo. All the while the rest of the plane just stands there and stares (including the CLUELESS flight attendant). In a less than tactful tone I tell them to step over the vomit and MOVE ON. (It really wasn't that much) I got it together, threw a wipe over the mess and got the heck outta there. Luckily, I had a change of clothes for SG (thanks for the heads up on that, Janet Turner). So, I get her changed and off we go to the best homecoming ever. We were greeted with smiling faces of family and friends, roses, signs, balloons, panda stuffed animals for the kids. It was great!

We came home to dinner in the oven, a stocked fridge, all kinds of goodies, and the kids rooms were decorated with a sign that their sweet classes had made them. I have the most amazing friends and family!! The kids were dying to go outside and play as soon as we walked in the door, so they went across the street to play on the tire swing. Not ten minutes after getting home Jacob comes in crying with a busted lip and a bloody nose. Oh great! I was sure he had broken his nose.....he didn't, PTL. I doctored him up, we visited with the neighbors for a bit and then sat down for a nice dinner. Dinner time was a very sweet moment, short lived, but sweet. It was so wonderful to be home sharing our first meal. After dinner we were all ready to crash, so we snuggled in for a long restful nights sleep.........NOT! Sarah Grace starts coughing her head off then throws up, yet again, so Stephen is on night duty with her. Jacob wakes up a few hours after putting him down saying he wasn't tired and Hannah wanted to sleep on me, climbing closer and closer to my head like a little spider monkey. So needless to say NONE of us got any sleep.
Bright and early on day two, Jacob starts that barking cough, and being very familiar with the croup around here, I knew we needed to see the doctor. All five of us loaded up in the van and headed to Vestavia Pediatrics. Dr. Hamm checks out Jacob's nose to make sure it wasn't broken, perscribed SG a new inhaler, J some steroids and some heavy duty cough medicine.
From then to now is all a blur, but two nights ago Hannah came down with the croup. Back to Vestavia Peds we went which led to a very hard day and an even harder night. Let's just say I have cleaned up more snot and vomit in a few short days than I would even care to in a year! ( Sorry if I am grossing you out) Stephen, being the wonderful husband he is, sees that I may have a meltdown at any moment and decides to work from home today to give me a hand. Bless him!!!
Okay, but on a positive note, Hannah is doing so, so good! She is adjusting very well and seems to be more and more comfortable with her new family and her new home. Her sleeping has gotten better each day (well except her being sick) and she wakes up smiling when she sees us. I feel like she is attaching very well to me and will be with Stephen in small doses. She is having fun with her brother and sister.
Sarah Grace and Jacob are hanging in there. My sweet friends Caroline and Laura have been so helpful in entertaining SG. For the most part, Jacob says that he wants to be with me. I can tell they are missing some of their mama's attention:( This makes me sad.

Anyway, it has been a week of ups and downs. I know things could be worse and amidst all the sleeplessness and fits and sickness I truly am grateful. I was told that the first week home is rough. Please continue to pray for us during this time of difficult transition.
Until next time.....

Love,
Kim