Bringing our boys Home

I'm embarrassed to say that I hardly took any pictures of our second trip.  The only thing I can tell you is that when you have twins, and there are two parents, you each ALWAYS have a baby in your arms.  Especially with our boys.  They did not want to be put down on a strange hard floor, with strange smells, and strange new toys and strange everything.  So I held a baby most of the time and rarely held my camera.  

I also wish I could tell you more about our second trip.  With the first trip, I broke it down, day by day.  but you see…. on that trip, I came back to the hotel room with just David each night and typed it up as we went.  

This time, there was NO down time to type and reflect.  Just time to hold babies, rock, panic, and rock babies some more.  

Its a blur really.  

A total blur. 

I feel like we were completely unprepared for how this trip would be.  Which is ridiculous because we had been preparing for this trip FOR EVER.

We got to Ethiopia in the morning, but our schedule didn't have us going to the orphanage until the next day.  We were jet lagged, but anxious to see the boys so we called Wass and he came to get us.  We got to spend the morning with the boys, and after that we went back to the hotel without them to sleep.  We were exhausted, and needed a good night's rest.  We slept all afternoon, woke up for dinner, and went back to sleep until morning.

The next day was our "gotcha day".  We drove to Hannah's Hope knowing we'd get to take our boys with us this time!  One of the other families (all of which were on their first trip to meet their children - and all of which were WONDERFUL) took video and pictures of this beautiful moment.  And its a good thing because I can't really remember how it went.  If I can figure out how to post those, I'll do it.  

And this is where it gets blurry.  

Seriously.

The rest of the trip all blends together, and went in SLOW MOTION.  I remember just wanting to be HOME with these little guys.  It was so tough being in a foreign country without our "own" baby stuff like bumbos and boppys and exersaucers and things like that.  

They didn't sleep. 

At all.

And David got sick.  

Nice.  

I'm thinking it was the jet lag, and the lack of sleep.  

Oh.  And we sort of forgot to eat on occasion.  

So we were in rough shape, trying to care for these perfect little beings, who deserved WAY better than two inexperienced brand new parents.

Our boys really hated our hotel room.  I sort of did too, so I can't blame them.  We were apart from the rest of the hotel building.  And it was quiet there.  Under most circumstances, that would be lovely.  But these little guys were used to the hustle and bustle of a very busy orphanage, where there were tons of other children, babies, special mothers, toys, and things to watch.  It was much more entertaining there than it was with us.

So we spent much of our time in a "banquet hall" in the hotel.  It was at the bottom of a stairwell that got a good amount of traffic, so it provided some much needed background noise and people watching for our boys.  But it was also pretty low key, so we could have time with our boys without feeling like we were put on display.

Oh.  And we could nap.

We were honestly just trying to survive the next couple days with very little sleep, two brand new babies, and each other.

We SO VERY MUCH wanted to be home with them, and feel like ourselves again.  (Little did we know - we would NEVER feel like "ourselves" again!  )

The boys did a pretty good job adjusting to life with 2 first time parents, and life in a hotel.  They ate a TON, which was probably very soothing for them.  They also refused to sleep.  Ever.

We were a little worried about that, but the director at the orphanage said not to worry, and they would sleep eventually.

So not true.

They slept in very small bursts throughout the night, and didn't nap during the day.  Which meant we didn't sleep either.

 Let me tell you… I was a vision.

We finally reached Thursday.  Departure day.  Its funny, because that day dragged on the most.  We didn't leave the hotel until the evening, but were ready to leave by 8:00am.  I'm pretty sure I looked at the clock every 5 minutes and willed it to be time to leave.

The silver lining of this trip is obvious.

These two little sweet hearts made all the sleepless nights and sickness worth it.  They were SO loved by all the hotel staff, and everyone that saw them.  Oh, and by us too :)  You cannot look at these boys and not think they are adorable.  And the best part was knowing that they were OURS.  To have forever.

We get to raise these boys.  And love them and cuddle them and teach them about the world.

So worth it.

SO SO worth it :)

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And right now its 2:40am.  We've been up for an hour and these two little guys are WIDE awake.  I just might blog about our plane trip home tonight too!