Thursday, February 26

Well we finally made it. No matter what anyone tells you the last day is the toughest. The plane ride home is brutal. We had to have bags outside the room by 5:30 am. That certainly wasn’t a problem. Mom and I were both up by 3:00 am I think. We then took a bus ride to the airport. For me this was more stressful than it should have been. They issued Julia paper tickets and mom and I e-tickets. I had left my paperwork in the bag and I couldn’t locate it—so much for having another spare bag to sort through. The thought of having issues getting home almost sent me over the edge. We finally got it straightened out and we were on our way. I can’t say a lot about the day other than 4 hour flight to Tokyo, 2.5 hour layover, 12 hour flight to Detroit, 3 hour layover, and flight to Cincinnati for 1 hour -- almost 24 hours in and out of airports.

Mom and I had it all planned out. We were saving the nice outfit for the Detroit airport so Julia would look all pretty when Janet saw her. Just in case we packed an extra outfit. Even though we knew we wouldn’t need it, we threw in an extra one at the very end. It turns out we probably could have even used another one. I don’t think those Chinese diapers are as effective as their American counterparts! The other thing I learned on this trip is that it is not easy to change a baby on an airplane even though they do have a changing station in the bathrooms on planes. By the end of the journey, Julia was fresh and clean for her appearance to mommy, Jonathan, and Grandpa, but I think daddy was coated with formula, urine, and poop. A shower never sounded better!

We did make it home now and we are working on adjusting. She loves her mommy and her big brother. Hopefully the time change will come to us both quickly.