33 Hours Later – We’re Home!

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Time started going by quickly as we the last 2 hours till pick-up came. Izaak was wound up and very difficult to get to sleep. I think he know something was up, but little did in know that in less that 48 hours, he would be a US citizen in his new home with his new life. We finally put him down at 9:30pm, which left less than an hour for us to clean the apartment, take our showers and finish packing those last minute items.

Kirill showed up right on time. We walked down the five flights of steps for the last time, threw the bags in the car and off to the airport. Izaak was very tired and very fussy in the 20-minute car ride. It was such a blur. Once at the airport we had to go through security. The attendant started questioning one of the bags, which completely threw Angela off. After we got to ticket/baggage check, Angela realized that she managed to leave her purse at the security check!!! We freaked out. I ran back and got it without too much issue.

Yet again, we tried to get the elusive “bulkhead seating” at the Lufthansa check-in, but they still gave us the runaround. One counter person said, “sure, no problem. All set.” The next person came over and said, “Sorry, you should have reserved it sooner.” - which is what we’ve tried to do for the last 4 weeks! We did manage to get bulk head seats for the 2nd leg of the trip.

There were 6 adoptive families on the flight from Almaty to Frankfurt. Most of us were sitting in the same area. Things got loud right away when a newborn started really screaming. The mother was on her own (sounded Italian) and was really having a hard time. We felt bad for her, but there wasn’t much anyone could do about it. Izaak did ok for a while, but was clearly cranky from being off schedule. He took turns sleeping all over mom and dad. We played as best we could in the confined space and managed to pass the time. Our flight made a quick stop in Astana to pickup more people (this added 2 hours to the flight – yuck). We didn’t have to get off the plane, which was nice. It wasn’t until we started the decent in to Frankfurt that Izaak really started to flip out. We’re not sure what the problem was, but he was just down right uncomfortable. The couple from Michigan sitting next to us gave us some Cheerios for Izaak to chew on. This seemed to be a helpful distraction, but he had more interest playing with them than eating them. At some point, we hit the ground and dragged our overtired bodies off the plane. The first stop we made was the Frankfurt Airport McDonalds for some breakfast. Angela had quite the food fight with Izaak trying to feed him in the busy airport. She got some food down, but we decided to go with bottles for the rest of the trip.

9:00am rolled around and we headed for the gate. We decided to give Izaak a diaper change, but there were no changing stations in the bathroom. So, we put a blanket down and got him naked right there in the airport - poor little guy. He seemed to be doing much better now and we were able to board our DC flight before anyone else. This was kind of cool - to be able to walk to the front of the line when they call out, “Now boarding families traveling with small children.”

Shortly after takeoff, the flight attendant prepared the bassinette for us. It hangs on the wall (bulkhead) directly in front of our seats. Pretty neat setup. Izaak was already sacked out, so once things were set, we dropped him in and he slept for an hour or two. It was great for Angela and I to be able to eat lunch together. We still took turns napping so one of us could keep an eye on Izaak. The bassinette has a big strap on it, so it would have taken him quite some time to get out if he tried. For whatever reason, it seemed like we couldn’t take our eyes off him. We both kept peaking in on him, adjusting the blanket, etc. People kept asking us about Izaak or just look over at us and smile. Angela got teary-eyed as the reality continued to set in – that we were able to travel and be home in time for Izaak to turn 11 months old, that we can tell people about our son and not just our plans, etc. Izaak is definitely a playboy. He gives all the ladies on the plane googly eyes and big smiesl and gets a bunch of attention in return.

The rest of the flight went well. It was a strange feeling coming in to Washington DC. We knew that as soon as we touched down, Izaak became a US citizen. Even managed to snap a photo, minutes after we landed. Because we got in to Washington DC a few minutes late, we rushed through Customs as quickly as possible – delivering the “sealed” envelope to the immigration officer. At what we thought was the last checkpoint, the Customs officer asked us to take a detour and go through another check point. We walked into a room with several luggage-scanning machines, a few officers, and a handful of very foreign people that looked like they had been waiting there for days. Turned out to be pretty straightforward. We handed the officer our packet of info, he looked at our passports and told us we were all set. Easy enough! We walked out the exit and proceeded to our connecting flight.

What should have been a 2hr layover quickly inflated to 5hrs. as our flight was delayed. The DC airport, especially Terminal A, was a complete mess. Many other flights were experiencing delays, pilots missing, wrong gates, late planes and general confusion. At one point, someone got on the PA and said, “Please ignore the information on the electronic boards, it’s not accurate. We’ll let you know when and where you’re going… Thank you.”

We setup camp on the ground in a corner and let Izaak run around a bit. The wait was agonizing. We traveled halfway around the world with out any delays. We finally get to the US, 1 hour from home and it’s mess. How disappointing. We played, we ate, and we conversed with strangers – anything to pass the time as we got more and more sleep deprived. Although, it was nice to tell the story of how we got Izaak.

Sleep deprivation really started to kick in as we decided to walk the last hour of our wait. We were both feeling dizzy, delusion, simply exhausted. Izaak had fallen asleep at this point so we were happy that at least one of us was getting so shuteye. 6:15pm finally rolled around (3 hours after we were originally supposed to board. We were so relieved when they actually started boarding. Yeah! We’re going home! Izaak slept during the whole flight and we joined him. The flight was loud though. It’s amazing that the smallest flight we are on and the one we are the most tired, ends up having the loudest people on it.

We landed in NC. Again, reality started hitting – we’re home, Izaak is home. We were greeted in baggage claim by Angela’s mom, dad and stepmom. They were all full of tears as we came down the escalator with Izaak in the carrier. They couldn’t take their eyes off of their grandson. A few tears and pictures later we waited for our luggage. This became another long wait, which was no surprise as RDU absolutely stinks when it comes to luggage. The grandparents didn’t seem to mind as they kept oohing and aaahing. Mike’s sister and nieces came to meet our little guy. The girls were so amazed by him. Lauren, our youngest niece, wanted to touch him and look at him. She kept calling his name, it was really cute. After about an hour, we headed home with all our luggage.

Izaak did well in his car seat and completely sacked out, so when we got home, we took advantage and ran to squeeze our dogs. They were so happy to see us. We completely forgot how fuzzy and snuggly they were. We brought our luggage in as Angela’s mom snuck Izaak away to play in his room. They played with the Leap Frog learning table. He absolutely loved it. We headed to Mike’s parents for a late-night dinner. Little did we know they had set up decorations, food, cake and presents for Izaak’s big arrival. We felt so bad because we arrived over 3 hours late, we were extremely tired and they were all so excited. Our nieces, Mike’s mom and sister took over with Izaak. Toys, clothes and 3 little girls occupied him while we ate a much needed dinner. We also had an ice cream cake that said “Welcome Home Izaak.” It really was a sweet moment – thanks Melissa! Unfortunately we completely forgot our cameras, but just imagine 3 little girls dressed in pink circling around Izaak and handing him toys to play with. Lauren was just amazed by him and patted his head several times with a big smile on her face. Izaak ate it up like at true little boy should. We finally called it quits at 10:30pm, headed home and got Izaak settled for bed. After a bottle and rocking we put him in his crib for his first night in his room.

So, after 48 hours since our last night’s sleep and 33 hours in transit with only a few naps on the plane we’re ready to crawl into our bed for a good night’s sleep. Hope all goes well tonight and Izaak sleeps well so we can also get some much deserved rest. Wishful thinking, I’m sure! ~ M & A