We're Home!!!

We are finally home!! The title of this blog probably needs to change now as the process of 'Bringing Home Baby Caleb' is finally complete. We are thankful that God does not leave His good work unfinished, but that He was faithful and answered our many prayers to bring him home safely.

Our second flight turned out to be pretty much the same as the first, except longer! Caleb slept on the plane, would wake up to eat or have his diaper changed, and only fussed a little - but no true lung tests! Thankfully, I did not cause any Lufthansa lavatory damage by flushing diapers down the toilet. I'm a quick learner!

For those of you who are curious- on the long flights Lufthansa has bassinets that attach to the bulkhead. Caleb was able to sleep soundly in the bassinet for the majority of our flight time. The bassinet was a LIFESAVER! And yes, he is still sleeping on his tummy... we are going to work on that :) When Caleb did wake up, he was pretty good about just hanging out with Mommy or Daddy on the plane.

After nearly 24 hours of international traveling, we finally made it to the Houston airport! After claiming all our bags (yea! they all made it!) we went thru Customs and then walked out to greet our welcoming committee! Even Nicola was waiting for us showing her Kyrgyz pride.

Here is a picture of our welcoming committee at the first moment they saw our new family of 3 walking down the long hallway out of Customs:

Everybody was so excited to see Caleb! He had just woken up and was a little subdued at first, but eventually decided to show everybody his adorable smile! Caleb handled all the new people and surroundings very well. We continue to be impressed with how brave and resilient he is.

Caleb, subued and taking it all in at the airport...

After we left the airport, Bryan's parents had a delicious meal for us at their house. It was so nice to eat yummy food and to let everyone get to know Caleb for the first time. He was a real show-off, giving everyone lots of smiles at the dinner table.

After dinner in Houston, my parents drove us back home to Temple (about a 2 hour drive). Caleb rode quietly in the car seat and fell asleep once we hit the highway. We have realized he really likes to be moving and we are thankful he didn't hate the car seat!

When we got to our house, our sweet neighbors Leah & Zach had come over and left us dessert, breakfast and decorated our living room to greet little Caleb! Most importantly, they turned the thermostat down in our house so we wouldn't be sweating when we brought home our bundle of joy.

Since being home, Caleb has adjusted well to his new environment. He has slept well in his crib the past two nights although isn't sleeping for more than 3-4 hours at a time before waking for a bottle or diaper change. Luckily he has been sleeping at night and napping in the day so the jet lag has not been as bad as expected.

Bryan is recovering from a bad cold or flu and I hope he feels better soon! He puked 3 times between Almaty and Frankfurt on the plane and since being home he just feels run down. He is getting better each day and trying to get plenty of rest.

My parents are here in Temple with us and have been so helpful! Yesterday my Mom and I got all the bags unpacked and she helped do all of our many loads of laundry. Sadly everything - even the things we did not wear- had to be washed because it all smelled like smoky Hotel Kazzhol! My Mom has also been making us wonderful food and stocked our fridge for us so we can put all our energy into taking care of Caleb and catching up on our sleep.

Caleb has been enjoying all of the various baby gear and entertainment we have for him! He is so curious and smiles a ton! He's also doing great on his soy formula and we are in the process of switching him over to Enfamil now since we probably can't buy Russian soy formula here in the states ;)

Here are a few pictures of Caleb enjoying himself in his new home!

In his Bumbo chair for the first time

Playing on his activity mat from Aunt Carolyn & Uncle Billy

He loves to 'talk' to the stuffed monkey that hangs from the arches!

Riding in his swing, which thankfully has put

him to sleep more than once so far!