Gabriel is Home

What a difference 24 hours can make. Gabriel’s flight came in close to on time. We waited in baggage claim for him. I was sitting talking to our friend Jon, who was there with his wife Nicole to videotape and take pictures for us. Steve was by the arrival monitors. I looked down where the passengers would come through, and I saw a baby in blue and white and an Asian lady holding him. But the crowd kept getting in the way, so I kept moving around trying to see if it was Gabriel, and when I saw the flight attendant and Traveler’s Aide, I knew it was him! I called for Steve and we got to see our son for the first time. We were both an emotional mess, though it may not as shown as much on the outside. We were told that his escort spoke English, however we soon found out that she really didn’t. Trying to ask her when he last ate, came across to her as our offer to get her something to eat, so she kept saying no. I figured it was useless to try and ask when he slept. All she said was “good baby.” Finally Steve pointed to Gabriel and said something like eat, and she said “1/2 hour.” Of course, we didn’t know if he ate ½ hour ago, or if he needs to eat in ½ hour. So we hung around, let everyone hold him, changed him, attempted to feed him, and then finally started our journey home. The girls were SO excited. Addison wanted to wear a dress to dress up to see her brother. Lauren had the biggest grin on her face. They both wanted to hold him so much. I can hardly keep away from him. Steve and I were so emotionally drained, we were not sure how the ride home would be. He had yet to cry the whole time we were in the airport. I figured as soon as he was strapped into his car seat (which would have been his first time in a car seat), he would scream. But he didn’t. For the next half hour, he fussed, and then he fell asleep! He would wake every 5 minutes and fuss, then go back to sleep. Eventually that became 20 minute intervals. He slept like that until we were about 4 miles from home. When we got home, we tried to feed him again, but he still wouldn’t eat, even from his own bottles and his own formula. After about 30 minutes, and reading how he was put to sleep in Korea, we laid him in the crib beside our bed, and patted his back. He fussed. I decided to change into my PJ’s, and by the time I changed he was asleep on his own. Steve and I crawled into bed, and after about ½ hour, he woke and fussed. I stroked his back and fingers, as I had done in the van. Again, about every ½ hour he woke like this and fussed. Since he hadn’t ate much, mother guilt took over and I tried to feed him, with very little success. But he did seem to calm down and sleep in my arm, so we laid on the couch. And the rest of the night was him sleeping and waking every half hour. I was expecting worse, so it wasn’t too bad. Finally at 5:30 I needed to get a bit of sleep, so I put him in his crib, and when he fussed Steve took over the every ½ hour shifts. He finally took a bottle for Steve and ate about 5 ounces. I spent all night getting that in him. He is slowly starting to eat a little bit more. His first smile was to big sister Addison in the airport restroom as we were changing him. His first laugh was watching Daddy brush his teeth when we got home. He has laughed many times after for his big sister Addison.
I definitely think he is grieving, but of course it could be a combination of grieving, teething (he has 2 on bottom and one just starting on top), and jet lag. But so far we are doing well. I hope you enjoy our pictures so far. Please let me know if you want to continue to receive updates. We probably should create a blog. We also came home to a big surprise. Not only had our carpets in the bedrooms been cleaned (thank you Kelley!), but we had several gifts in his room with a lovely welcome home sign. We also had Cinnabon rolls on our counter for breakfast (oo, they were so yummy). What blessings! Thanks to you all for your prayers (I think they were definitely a gift from God), and please continue them if you can