The long journey home and lots of hugs!!!

Saturday morning (in China), Friday night in Illinois we headed to the Hong Kong airport for our long journey home. I always thought I would dread this trip. 15 hours on a plane with a toddler...but I could not have been more excited for that 24 hour trip home. At that point, I didnt care what I had to do to get there.
Our first flight was a quick flight to Tokyo. When we booked our tickets we got a bassinet. I really didnt know if M would sleep in it but thought it was worth a shot. Really the best part about having the bassinet ended up being the leg room you end up with. You have to seat behind the bulkhead so I could stretch my feet completely straight out and even put my feet up! :) That made a huge difference. Our plane to Tokyo was so nice. It was just 3 hours and it was pretty easy. We figured out our first airplane diaper change. Imagine 2 adults squeezed into an airplane bathroom! It was actually pretty comical. We need 2 diapers, wipes, wet paper towels to wipe her stoma, diaper rash cream, and vaseline every time we change her.
When we got off we were waiting in a long line to get through security to transfer flights in Tokyo and we kept thinking how bad M smelled. The poor people around us. It was awful. Well, poor girl had a huge blow out. Luckily it was AFTER we got off the flight. So on to another set of clothes for her. The only other pair we brought for the trip. We were a little nervous that we were only a few hours into the trip and already onto the spare outfit. So I decided to was her little leggings out in the sink and dry them in the bathroom just in case we needed those again later. SO GLAD I DID! Sure enough, get on the 11 hour flight and I hand her to Jeff and he says, ugh, what is on your shirt?? So we rush to the bathroom. The wonderfully small airplane bathroom. Luckily the other black leggings were pretty much dry so I am so glad I decided to wash those out and dry them. UNTIL things were a little chaotic in the bathroom and Jeff drops the clean leggings into the bathroom sink and they got all wet. You would think I would be crying at this point but Jeff and I seriously laughed sooo hard. It was hilarious!! So M wore an airplane blanket while we laid her leggings out to dry. She didnt care one bit! :)
All and all the flight wasnt bad at all. Mayleigh did great. I guess I say that cause she really wanted Jeff most of the time so I guess I kinda lucked out on the flight! Jeff held her probably 90% of the time. She slept a lot so that was nice. And its not like she is a very active toddler yet. Since she is still not comfortable, she doesnt want to get out of our lap so she wasnt squirmy or wiggly! Once she would fall asleep, we could read or watch movies with her on our chest. We did try the bassinet once and she didnt love it but she did kinda fall asleep for about 20 min. The bad part about it was the bathroom was right on the other side of the bulkhead so when people would flush, it was kinda loud. I think that kept waking her up. Then she didnt want to go in it again. Thats ok..it was so worth the leg room we got!!!
I was so anxious to finally be home and of course it was snowing in Chicago. Our flight ended up landing an hour late. We started to land and then went back up and the pilot said it was too icy to land and we had to go to a different runway. That took awhile. At that point, I was chomping at the bit to get off the plane and start our 3 hours car ride home to my boys!!!
Now that we were so close to being done and it had been 24 hours since we left the hotel in Hong Kong, I was done. Was dreading the 3 hour car ride which became 4 hours because of the roads. That was a LONG 4 hour drive!!! Mayleigh did ok in her car seat. She didnt love it but fell asleep pretty quickly. She was pretty exhausted. After we stopped to change her diaper she was not happy about being in it. Dont worry, we had just stopped and got some food. Jeff started feeding her fries...then the carseat wasnt so bad. I promise you we do not feed our kids french fries that much. The problem for M is that she is not eating barely anything and she is so tiny. We feel bad and feel like she just needs to eat something. We are hoping as she gets more comfortable in the next few days, that she will try new things. Thanks to my wonderful neighbor who had a huge breakfast spread for us when we got home, M already tried something new. The Gerber crunchy things. They are similar to fries. M likes those!! :) And those veggie ones are much better than fries! So yah to that!!
I was pretty emotional coming home from Chicago. Was in tears because I was so happy to be so close to squeezing my boys. I was in tears because I was just overly exhausted..physically and emotionally! I was in tears because it felt so strange to be bringing home my daughter who in some ways felt like a stranger. I was in tears because I just had no idea how the next 24 hours was going to go. Basically, I was  mess!! ;)
The boys were staying up late to see us. Gramma let them camp out in their sleeping bags on the family room floor and watch a movie to wait for us to get home! Finally at 9:30 I had 3 boys bouncing off the walls when we got home! I didnt know if they would ever go to bed last night!! But I cant even put into words how I felt hugging them!!!! It was the BEST feeling!!!
They were so cute. They had made a sign and got balloons and a cookie cake. The house was so clean and picked up. It just felt so good to be home!!! Mayleigh wasnt sure at first about all the commotion but as we headed upstairs to get ready for bed, about 30 min after we got home, she started smiling. It was so amazing. After that long journey...all the heartache, the stress, the frustration, the fevers, the hospital visits in China, and the lack of sleep...those smiles wiped it all away!!!!

These pics are pretty bad quality. We just snapped a few on the phone when we got home. Jeff, M and I looking like a hot mess from traveling, and my boys in their PJ's made for not so great pics but love the hugs!!

I will post tomorrow about our first day home! Too tired tonight....heading to bed!