The Groh's Are Home!

We have been home just over a week now and thought that while we had a few minutes we would give everyone a quick update of how things are going. We woke up on last Friday at 1:30am Kaz time to get ready for our departure and journey home. Our flight was supposed to leave Almaty at 6:15am but was delayed because of the very dense fog. When the plane took off Sean was not a happy camper. He cried the first 25 minutes of the flight and then settled down. We had met a family at the airport that had just adopted and was on the same plane as we were and we have to admit that we were a bit jealous. Every time that we walked past their seats all three of them were passed out. Although Sean was extremely good, he just plain refused to sleep. He rolled around on the seat, laughed, smiled, and played, but didn't sleep.

Our flight consisted of a stop in Russia that took longer than expected which made us a little nervous about catching our connecting flight. It was going to be really close on whether or not we would make our connecting flight from London to Chicago. Then the captain made an announcement that we were not cleared for landing and it would be another 20 minutes until we land. This was not good. We were almost out of formula and if we would have had to stay we would have ran out of formula for Sean. When we were walking off the plane we told the staff at British Airways that our connecting flight was leaving in 15 minutes. They quick put us on a bus and directed us to our gate. Before we got to our gate we had to go through another security checkpoint and Jay had to drink the bottles of formula to show that they were not explosives. Yuck. So it was off to the races. Deb & Sean ran all the way across the airport to our gate and told the staff that we were here and asked if we could please still get on the plane. Jay who was carrying all of the luggage was not far behind with the tickets and by God we made it.

We were able to get Sean to sleep on this flight for about 5 hours, so we also managed to get a little rest. He also did really well on this flight. We arrived at O'Hare at 3:00pm Chicago time with a message that our luggage did not make the flight. We were not at all upset with the news as we were so ecstatic that we made it home. It also worked out to our advantage because that was less for us to lug around. It even got us through customs sooner because we did not have to wait for our luggage. Uncle Pat met us at the airport and Grandma & Grandpa Goerner picked us up and brought us home. Sean met many of his new relatives his first night home. He met Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Bucko, Uncle Paul, Aunt Nicole, cousins Paul & Jaimee, and Uncle Pat. Even though he was exhausted he managed to smile for everyone. We kept him up until about 8:00 so that he would sleep through the night. So we thought. He cried until 6:00am. We tried everything. We gave him a bottle, rocked him in our arms, letting him cry himself to sleep and nothing seemed to work. The first few days were a little rough as Sean got adjusted. He cried a lot. He cried when we changed his diaper, put him in the high chair, etc. All he wantedwas to be held. Since then it has been much better. He is finally back to his normal good boy self.

Everyone is enjoying him and we can't wait for all of our friends and family to meet him. Please do not hesitate to call or stop by. We are welcoming everyone. Just give a call before you come to make sure that we are home.

I almost forgot to mention how the dogs are doing. They absolutely love him. They follow him everywhere, give him kisses, and check up on him when he is sleeping. We think that they are going to be best friends.