Back home

It has been a week since we touched back down in the U.S. and it has taken me this long to get around to typing on our blog! Yes, things have been crazy and challenging and exciting and fun. Anh and Tam are starting to work out their differences, which has been helped along by having two parents who are not as stressed and tired as we were in the beginning. Getting back into our normal routine has also helped as well as having the most amazing preschool teachers/friends who always manage to be the calm within life's craziness. Deb and Chris have really helped me regain my sanity this week, when I thought that the sky was falling (and they probably don't even know it).
But, I am getting ahead of myself.....

Our trip back to the U.S. was a bit better than we expected. The kids slept most of the way with just a couple of minor melt-downs in the middle of the ride. The staff on China Airlines was fantastic - so helpful and friendly - I was really impressed with the service on this flight. One thing I noticed was that the only person on the flight who were put off by having children on board was the boorish American in front of us. It was just our luck that Tam lets out a scream that could wake the dead anytime she wakes, even for a second. Not much we could do about it and it was always very short lived (like less than 30 seconds at most and usually just for a split second). Anyhow, this guy kept turning around and staring at us like somehow that was going to make it stop. Let me tell you, I definitely felt his pain, since it was my ear she was yelling in each time!
It took us more than an hour to get through the new immigrant line in San Francisco, so by the time we picked up our luggage, rented a car, and drove over to Oakland, it was about 11 pm. That night sleep came easily for all of us! Our flight back to Eugene was sort of a comedy of errors.
We left Oakland at 1:30pm, 30 minutes later than we had intended, for a 4:20pm flight. Of course, traffic leading up to the toll was horrendous and it took us an hour to get to the rental return. The rental return is a bit off of the airport, although there is a tram that takes you to the airport in about 15 minutes. So, we end up at the ticket counter at close to 2:45pm. We were holding paper tickets, requiring us to see a ticket agent. Just our luck, there is only a single ticket agent and the electronic ticket booths aren't working properly, so many people are waiting to see the agent. By the time we actually see the agent it is now 3:30. No sweat, the security line is short, but we are picked for *extra* screening. This of course takes time, because they have to hand search our luggage and make us go into the "air puff" chamber. Luckily, the TSA at SFO is good at getting people through quickly and we were off again. We managed to get to our gate 5 minutes before boarding, phew. Anh had been sleeping this whole time in his carseat on wheels, so he was none too pleased about being woken up to board the plane on foot. He refused to let me change his diaper, so we board without. The carseat didn't fit in our assigned seats, so the flight attendant moved us to the back just before the plane was due to push back from the gate. It was at this point that Anh tells me he has to use the potty and in the split second when I am deciding that we will have to go before the plane takes off, he has an accident in the isle. Poor Anh! So I run forward to get a new diaper and some wipes and as I return the flight attendant asks me if there is any way I can do this in my seat! Uh, no. So here we were, holding up the flight and I was working as quick as I could to strip Anh, clean him with the only thing I could find - a dry face cloth - and rediaper him. I must say that I did it in record time and everyone on the plane around me was very supportive (thankfully). Anh fell back asleep as I put him back in his car seat - phew, we made it by the skin of our teeth!

I will say that coming home early was really good for our family. We are finally getting our clocks reset and feeling like normal people again. That is not to say that we are getting enough sleep yet! Tam wakes up a lot during the night and to keep her from waking up Anh, she is sleeping in our bed instead of the room that they share. This means that Patrick and I are waking up a lot (remember, she screams when she wakes up). But, at least we are in our own home, sleeping in our own beds, with our friends around us and some semblance of a normal life to live every day.