Journey To MaryAlice

Join me as I journey to China to find my daughter, Mary Alice.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Home Sweet Home!










We made it home safely about 10pm on Thursday after traveling over 24 hours. MaryAlice slept about 6 hours on the long flight from Tokyo to Detroit after a mini-meltdown and was sprawled across both seats. I slept 30 minutes with one butt cheek on the seat while leaning over with my head on my knee. The woman in the aisle seat would not turn off her reading light and it was shining right in MaryAlice's face, so when the lady got up to go to the lavatory, MamaBear turn the light off for her. She never turned it back on! LOL! Anything to make sure MaryAlice slept as much as possible!! By the time we reached Detroit, she was beyond exhausted and the catnaps were not cutting it. She screamed for much of the flight from Detroit to Orlando until it came time to land and I tried one more time to get her to finish the bottle. She did and then konked out when the wheels hit the tarmack.

Thanks to everyone who made the trip to the airport to welcome us home (especially Lori & Andy from Lakeland and Susan, Riz & Sophia from Deland!). Also, a special shout-out to Ray for installing the carseat without the use of duct tape and for providing transporation services for my parents to the airport and for getting us all safely home. And to Jim, Wendy, Kellie and Jake for the professional Disney Welcome Home sign...is there no end to what the mouse will do to suck another baby into the Disney cult! LOL!

Thanks for the brownies, Susan. They hit the spot at 3:30am when MaryAlice decided her system said it was playtime! She's spotted the cat and has made the mad dash crawl to formally introduce herself, but Smelley Cat is playing coy and nottoo interested right now.

I included some photos taken somewhere over Alaska, I think. My sister happened to open the window and see this view. It was spectalular. The other photos are of MaryAlice playing peek-a-boo over the airplane seats. There was an elderly Chinese man sitting behind us on the long flight that kept playing with MaryAlice. Her reaction when an Chinese person is playing or talking with her is interesting. She kept staring at the Chinese man on the plane, but another time at a restaurant, the waitress kept talking to her and she would not make eye contact with her. I think her attachment to me is going well and progressing nicely. It is an ongoing process and not something I expect to happen in 2 weeks.

My house looks like a bomb went off...someone should really do something about that. I added a photo of my hotel room the day before we left...bomb went off in that room too.

There's a photo of a woman I had met online and we exchanged emails. On one of the last nights in China, we were walking to dinner and she walks up to me and says, "Sharon, is that you?". It's nice to finally meet people once you've met online. It's also nice to commiserate with someone going through the same experience.

Thanks for the many comments and tips through the trip. I was successful in changing two poopy diapers in the plane bathroom. MaryAlice was so scared when I laid her down on the changing table, she didn't move a muscle. The look on her face was priceless. I put my mat down in the tub at home and she did well with not standing up during bathtime. We've finished the last dose of antibiotics for her ears and will see the pediatrician next week for her first visit. We'll be making a trip to the local pediatric hospital, Arnold Palmer for her blood work. There's a whole list of routine lab tests done on international adoptees (lead levels, vaccination titers, stool specimens, CBC, etc). I'm really looking forward to that visit...not!

So, all is well in Orlando and I will post updated photos of MaryAlice. Thank you again for all your well wishes.

6 Comments:

Blogger The Gang's Momma! said...

Welcome Home! I'm typing this from my room in Beijing. My turn is finally here :)

Thanks for all the great updates and travel tips. Now settle in and enjoy your sweet girly. And peek in on my blog once in a while . . .re-live your trip, hee heee!

8:38 AM  
Blogger Karen said...

Hi Sharon and MaryAlice! So glad you are home safe and sound!

2:18 PM  
Blogger Brownie Troop 157 said...

There's nothing like Home Sweet Home. So glad you made it safely and I wish you lots of sleep in the coming days.

Kind regards,

Carol and Taylor

3:25 PM  
Blogger Susan said...

Welcome Home!! Motherhood suits you!!

6:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

call us when we can come and play!!!!

8:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad your home, now you can get into some semblance of a routine.
Leaving on Tuesday, hope to see you when I get back and little Mary Alice. When do you go back to work?

12:02 PM  

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