homeward bound, part two

We boarded a big 'ole jet airliner headed back across the Pacific (we actually flew over Japan, the Pacific, and then Alaska, Canada and down to Chicago). Nick and I were both kinda dreading the long flight with a baby, but all in all it wasn't too bad.

We were seated in the bulkhead row, which mean we could have a baby bassinet for Bates. Sitting beside us was a Korean lady, who lives in the US and her baby who was 9 mths old. I was thankful to be sitting by someone who would understand if Bates cried and not some grumpy old business man.

I was ready to be homeward bound, but I think my heart skipped a beat the moment the wheels left the runway. Who knows when we will be back? My heart broke a little for Bates. I know he is gaining so so much, but he is also loosing so so much. No tears this time, mainly because I was working on getting Bates to eat a bottle to help with his ears.

Our flight left about 6, and as soon as we were to a safe cruising altitude, they served dinner. Bates got a kids meal, but totally wasn't interested in any of it except the bread sticks! We fed him a bottle and he went to sleep. We didn't use the bassinet because he is a fussy sleeper and wakes up a lot and we figured it'd be easier to just hold him.

So a basic rundown of our flight:
1. bottle
2. rocking
3. walking the aisles
4. bouncing in the carrier
5. wallering mom
6. crying
7. stewardess rocking him and singing in Korean
8. bottle
9. wallering dad
10. crying
11. sleeping
12. walking the aisle
13. diaper change in the teeny tiny bathroom
14. wallering dad
15. crying
16. more singing from the stewardess
17. walking the aisle in the carrier
18. wallering dad
19. wallering mom
20. sleeping
21. fussing
22. wallering some more

All in all, the flight went great. He was pretty fantastic. We couldn't complain. We survived!

On the decent, I force feed him a bottle to help his ears pop. Well, big mistake! He threw the ENTIRE bottle up on Nick. It went EVERYWHERE! It looked like Nick wet his pants. It was so funny, although Nick didn't think so. Luckily Nick had a tshirt on under his polo, so he just wore a white tshirt. Poor guys!

We let everyone de-board before us cause we had a bunch of stuff and a baby, and throw up.... Not a good time.

We got off the plane and headed through customs. I was saying HURRY NICK so we could beat all the passangers coming from Jamaica and get ahead of them. Bates did ok in his carrier, but the poor guy was just READY to be free. He wanted down and some room to play so he was a little fussy.

On our turn, we handed over our passports and Bates' one way Visa into the US as well as his packet of "do not open" immigration paperwork. They put our customs forms and passports and Bates' visa in a bright pink folder and told us to go to the immigration desk. The nice lady said, Congratulations and Welcome to the United States to Bates and we were on our way to Immigrations and Customs desk. The nice gentleman stamped his visa and took his paperwork and gave us a sheet of information to get his Social Security number (or something)... but I can't find that sheet of paper anymore. I mean, I hope they are not giving me some critical piece of paper after a 14 hour flight, a puking (and now screaming) baby.

The customs officer said we were good to go and sent us to the X ray with our bags. The lady was very nice and asked us if we had any food or anything like that. She was funny and said "you aren't bringing back any raw fish you bought on the side of the street". Um, no mam... no fish. I told her that we had the baby food we bought in the US. She told me we were good to go and didn't have to go through the X ray. Which was nice since we would have had to unload our bags from the cart... no fun!

Finally.... fresh air! Bates and I gave the thumbs up! We were in America!!So Nick decided not to change his pants... by this point they were almost dry and we were close to the hotel. We went outside and waited for the shuttle to take us to our hotel. Of course, we befriended an eldery couple. Bates tends to attract people - in case you haven't noticed- he's kinda cute. Turns out the couple was headed to our hotel and they had adopted their two children over 20 years ago!

Bates wasn't a fan of just standing and waiting so I started walking. We marched up and down and up and down.

I came back towards Nick and get this..... a bird had pooped on his shoulder! HHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Yep, baby puke on his pants and bird poop on his shoulder. Poor guy! But man, it was funny!! Luckily we have our bags and he could change shirts. Ha.

We loaded the shuttle bus (and it was packed!) and headed to our hotel about 10 minutes from the airport. All three of us were so glad to finally have our feet on solid ground. It was a little after 6 in Chicago and we needed to keep Bates up for awhile since he had slept on the plane in hopes of him sleeping some at night.

We gave him his first bath. Oh my, the boy LOVES a bath. I'm telling you... he was splashing like nobody's business. I was soaked! He got the entire bathroom wet, but had a blast!After his bath, we put on his pjs and Nick and I both showered. And Bates brushed his teeth, see Uncle Anna!

Then we decided it was time to eat. Right next door to our hotel was a Chili's. I debated if we should just get it to go or actually go and eat there. I decided we needed to keep him up and going to eat would entertain him. So off to Chili's we went!

Bates did awesome at dinner. He sat in our laps, not a high chair, and was awesome. He just clapped and smiled and ate Gerber snacks. At dinner I decided I would run to the Target right behind the Chili's and get a straighter!

It was after 9, and Target closes at 10, so Bates and I walked across the parking lot while Nick finished eating and paid our ticket. Our walk across the parking lot was fun. It was the first time Bates really started babbling and chatting with me. It was so cute.

About half way to Target Nick calls and says "I'm not sure the kind of neighborhood we are in, so stay close to the building". Ha!

I tried to put Bates in a buggy before we got inside and MELTDOWN!

So I just carried him and my arms were KILLING ME! A twenty pound willing monkey is hard to shop with. Nick met us in Target and by then I convinced Bates that riding in a cart was fun (I bribed him with snacks!)

They came over the PA and said that Target was closing in 10 minutes. We headed to the checkout. The checkout lady thought Bates was a cutie and then it dawned on me.... I was that mom! The mom that has her baby out in their pjs at 10 at night when they should be in bed! I felt like I needed to tell her we just got off a plane from Korea, so he wasn't tired. Um, really, I don't need to justify myself!

We headed back to the room and put Bates to bed. He slept in the crib in our room while we packed up and got ready. But he was soon in our bed! He did ok especially for having his days and nights flip flopped. He got up for about a two hour stretch and he played with Nick. They play in the suitcase and then watched Korean baby songs and videos on YouTube... all while momma slept!

Night two as parents, SUCCESS! He only got up about 5 times for a bottle (and a two hour stretch to play) and I actually had to wake him up to get ready to head to the airport for our flight to Nashville.