All about Anton

Well hello everyone!!! I have so many things to share but hardly any time to do it so I am going to write a super long post and hopefully fill y'all in on all the details.

Anton is doing sooooo good. I wish I could record one full day of his life and share it with y'all because you would all be shocked at how well he has adjusted to being a part of our family.

When we brought Anton home he could only say three words (that we knew of) and with in two months we couldn't even count all the words he could say. Anton has been in speech therapy since he got out of the hospital and it has helped a TON. Now he is starting to put three words together most of the time and he has even made some five word sentences. We were sitting at the table eating lunch today and Judah said something to Anton and then Anton looked right at Judah and said "Don't say that Judah." Jason and I died laughing and at the same time were amazed by how well he is talking. He also speaks so clear. It doesn't matter if you have been around him for 5 minutes or his whole life you will be able to understand what he says because of how clear he talks.

One of my favorite things he does is when I open his closet to pick out a shirt for him he says "green one, soccer ball." He always wants to wear his green shirt with a soccer ball on it. If you ask him what do they say in soccer he yells "GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL!" Yes we are brain washing him early to LOVE soccer.

He picks up on words so fast too. We were at a baby shower and someone was telling us that her phone sounded like a grasshopper then about thirty minutes later Anton started saying "grasshopper, grasshopper." We have never said that to him that I know of, so he just picked it up from listening to her. He also has an amazing memory. I will introduce him to someone and tell him their name then I say "Anton what is her name?" Then he gets really quiet thinks for a minute then says the persons name. There has never been a name he wasn't able to say. So far he has gotten everyone's names right.

Anton can count to 5, he knows seven of his shapes, he knows all of his body parts, he knows seven of his colors, and if we write his name down he says "Anton Delgado." One of my favorite things he does right now is we ask him "who made you?" Then he says "God made me!" I LOVE it!!!

This boy is BRILLIANT!!! He is caught up with where he needs to be for speech which is amazing since he has only been here for five months. He will have a speech evaluation done next month and will most likely not need speech therapy after that review. It is such and exciting thing but also sad because we LOVE Mrs. Britt.

Anton has also been in physical therapy since we brought him home. He was crawling a little bit before we brought him home from Russia and could pull himself up to stand when he was sitting but he hasn't done any of those things since we brought him home. His physical therapist has been working with him twice a week and our goals right now are to keep his body parts moving and teach him to walk. He wont really bend his right leg so we try to work on that and we are working on walking!!! He has the cutest little walker he uses and I love seeing him with it. He gets tried really fast but hopefully he will get more endurance as the time goes on. He has HATED walking every since we brought him home and really didn't even want to try but on the way home from the EB conference we were sitting at the airport with him and he said "Kenya walking?" I said yes Kenya's walking." Then he said "Daddy walking." I said "yes Daddy's walking." He went through everyone in our family then he pointed to himself and said ANTON'S walking." Every since then it seemed like something clicked and he has the desire to walk. He can't do it on his own yet but he doesn't cry anymore when he tries which is amazing!

He is also doing occupationally therapy. She works with him on opening and closing his fingers. Bending his arms and reaching way up high. We LOVE his occupationally therapist and we were so surprised that we ended up getting a good friend of our as his OT. He LOVE it when she comes over.

All of his therapists have been amazing with him and with Kenya and Judah. I kinda get stressed out when they come because Kenya and Judah are always trying to "help" but the therapists are great and include them in everything.

Anton sees one million doctors... okay not really but sometimes it seems like it :)

He sees a hematologist because he has anemia (low iron). He had an iron infusion in July and it has seemed to help a lot. An iron infusion is where they give him iron through an IV. The process took about 6 hours but the hospital we went to was amazing and took great care of us. His iron was around 6 when we had it done and it is up to 8.6 now. He will get his blood checked every few months to see where his levels are and as long as they stay in a normal range his doctor will just check on him and if they get low again we will do another infusion. If it gets really bad and the iron infusions aren't working then we will do a blood transfusion but we are trying to avoid that. I really like his hematologist and everything he has told me is exactly what I learned at the EB conference so I know he knows what he is talking about.

He also sees his pediatrician as needed. His pediatrician has been amazing. I call their office ALL THE time and they are always soooo helpful and get us in right away if we need to be seen. I can't say enough good things about them. Anton's health has been up and down. He will do really great for a few months then get an infection and we just have to stay on top of it and work super hard to get it cleared up. We found out on the 27th of July that he had an MRSA infection which can be a big deal so I ended up taking him to the hospital and they admitted him for two days so they could give him IV antibiotics. His infection took about a week to clear up after that but as of now it is under control. We gave the whole house a good cleaning and are just being overly careful to avoid further infections. We now bathe him in hibiclens and also make all of his therapists wash their hands with it before they do therapy with Anton. We make everyone take off their shoes once they come in our house and they have to wash their hands as soon as they walk in. We also got Caviwipes and that is what we sanitize with. We are doing everything we can to keep Anton healthy and infection free.

This is Anton when he was in the hospital with MRSA he is with his favorite nurse Jason. Every time he would come in the room Anton would yell "HI JASON!" It was so cute! 

Anton and Tona.

He has seen his dermatologist once and I was not impressed. Other people have raved about him but I decided to change doctors so he has his first appointment in October with his new dermatologist. I am really excited about this appointment because right on their website it says "treating rare conditions such as epidermolysis bullosa." YES PLEASE!!! What doctors office has that on their website?!?! I will tell you NONE!

He also sees a Gastroenterology doctor. A VERY good family friend is his GI which is really neat! She is the one who ordered the swallow study after we brought him home and that is when we learned that he was aspirating. She has also ordered a repeat swallow study to be done next month and we will see if he is still aspirating. If he is aspirating then we will just continue with the g-tube feedings and if he is not then we can start feeding therapy with him (along with the g-tube feeds)!!! Please pray this has improved, we would LOVE for him to get to eat and drink by mouth. He will always have his g-tube as he can't get enough calories without it but if he can also eat by mouth that would be great!

We will be taking him to see the pain management doctor at the local children's hospital soon to make sure we have his pain under control during baths. He doesn't really need anything other than baths and when he does the whole not opening his eyes thing. But we do want to make sure he is on the right dosage for what he needs.

He sees an infectious disease doctor as needed. They saw him in the hospital when he had MRSA.

He will be going to an orthopedic doctor soon so he can get fitted for an AFO (splint to help straiten out his right foot).

He sees his surgeon that placed his G-tube only as needed.

I think that is all the doctors he sees :)

I was talking to Patrice the other day and I told her I felt like I was made to do this.On a totally random side note if you haven't been to Patrice's blog in a while GO check it out. God is doing amazing things for their family and I could not be more excited for them! Back to Anton... I have always loved all things medical. I love watching the real ER shows and I wanted to be a nurse when I was little. Don't get me wrong I would love nothing more than for Anton to be healed of his EB but while he has it I will take the very best care of him that I can. In the same breath as I was telling her I feel like I was made to do this I said and other times I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing. And that's the truth, sometimes I am at a loss. When his whole body is cleared up (except for his right leg which hasn't healed at all since we brought him home) then he is missing skin in random places and I am just thinking "what happened, we didn't do anything different???" Or sometimes Anton wont open his eyes for a few days at a time. We have ran every test we could and NOTHING is wrong with him during those times and our best guess is he is just in a lot of pain and shuts down. I have started giving him pain meds when he does that and after about an hour he snaps out of it and opens his eyes. But times like that can be really hard. We just keep on loving our boy and trying to figure out the best way to help him heal.

Anton is so happy and is so easy. He is so laid back and just goes with the flow. He is a JOY to be around and anyone that is around him just falls in love with him. When we were at the EB conference I had him in the meeting with me for several hours one day and he was so good and so quiet. Anton was coloring and got a little on his bandages so Patrice and I started coloring on his bandages. That was great fun. If he got loud I just whispered "Anton you have to whisper" and he would get so quiet. He did soooo good!!!

Anton is also FINALLY gaining weight. He weighed 19 pounds when we brought him home and his weight has gone from 19 to 20 pounds to 21 pounds to 20 pounds to 19 pounds it was crazy there for awhile but he finally hit 22 pounds and I could not be more excited. He is 34 inches long and weights 22 pounds.

I'm trying to think if there is anything else about him... I can't think of anything else but if y'all have questions please feel free to ask.

I hope to blog a little bit more to keep you all updated and so I can look back and see what neat things our kids were doing.

I hope you all are having a great day and please if you haven't read the tab at the top of our blog that says The Gospel please do so. There is nothing more important than where you will spend ALL of eternity.

LOVE you all!!!

Last chance to win an iPad

Two blogs in one day w00t :)

I just wanted to let you all know the iPad giveaway ends TONIGHT!!!!!

So PLEASE go enter to win this prize! I can't stand the thought of Baby N in an orphanage not getting the proper care he needs. He NEEDS to come home to his family, he NEEDS his Mama to love on him and snuggle him close, he NEEDS the medical care that he will receive once he gets home. YOU can be a huge part in making this happen even by making the smallest donation to his adoption fund.

HERE is the link to the giveaway, now go try to win yourself an iPad :)

Favorite picture of Anton

I am in a blogging slump and I can't really think of anything to say but I did want to share my very favorite picture of Anton. This was taken at the EB conference by Laurie Sterner President and CEO of The Butterfly Fund

Not only did she take this amazing picture but she sent us the most amazing print of it. I can't wait to hang it up in the living room. THANK YOU Mrs. Laurie we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture!!!

Vanessa

Baby N and Tona :)

It is so hard to put into words what has gone on the past two weeks of our lives but I will try to do it justice and try to shine a little light on an amazing person who is now one of my dear dear friends. 

A few months ago I got an email from the family who would be pursuing Baby N's adoption. If you don't know who Baby N is I can't really give many details other then he is one year old, has EB, and is an orphan in Eastern Europe. I told her to call me right away because I had so many things I needed to tell her and I couldn't wait to hear the details of their adoption from her! Once she called we talked for a really long time and I knew without a doubt that she was serious and that her family would do whatever it took to adopt Baby N. Before we got off the phone I told her we would LOVE for her to come stay with us and I would teach her everything I knew about EB. She was very excited and agreed to come stay with us. I kinda laugh about it now because Anton has only been home for 4 months so I really didn't have much to offer her but I was sure I would teach her everything I knew. 

Fast forward to the 22nd of July when Tona arrived in Texas I think she was as nervous as I was but it didn't take us long to hit it off and we became instant friends :) Tona wanted to learn as much as she could so when they bring their baby home she will be prepared to care for his needs. We spent the next ten days getting to know each other but more importantly I tried to pour into her everything I knew about EB. Tona was a very fast learner and by the middle of her trip she was bandaging Anton's arms and legs by herself. I know without a doubt Tona will make an amazing EB Mama and the fact that her husband is on board and is excited about adopting him makes me so happy. 

Tona advocated for EB for a few years before her family decided to adopt Baby N so she knows what she is getting herself into and I can not be more excited for her family. Baby N will be so loved and so well cared for and I can't wait to see him in their arms! 

Most of you followed our journey as we adopted Anton and you guys know how hard the process is and how much money it takes to adopt a child from EE. The Crooker family can not do this alone they need our help and here is what we can do to help them. Tona is giving away a brand new Apple iPad away to help raise money for their adoption so please please please donate to their fundraiser and PLEASE share their fundraiser on your blog and your FB pages HERE is the link to the fundraiser! They can not do this alone but together we can help get Baby N into his family's arms where he belongs! 

Here are lots of pictures of Tona's visit :) 

Thank you in advance for helping this sweet sweet family! 

Well hello friends

Life has been so busy these past few months and I cant wait to fill you all in on all the detail but that will have to wait because I want to update you one what's going on right now.

WE ARE AT THE PATIENT CARE CONFERENCE (PCC) FOR EB!!!!!

Well Anton, Tona, and I are here but Jason and the kids are doing a staycation with his parents at the Great Wolf Lodge in Texas.

Tona and her husband William are adopting a very special baby from Eastern Europe who has EB. She came to our house on the 22nd and I have been training her on all things EB. We have had a BLAST and she is going to be a GREAT EB Mom.

I was so excited about coming to the PCC and meeting so many families effected by EB. We had dinner with Matt, Patrice and Jonah tonight and let me tell you Jonah has grown up so much. Every time he would see Anton he would say "there's Anton" or "hi Anton" SO SO SO CUTE!!! I has LOVED hanging out with so many different people and IT'S JUST THE FIRST DAY!!!

So here are some pictures of the first day of the PCC.

Getting to meet Geri was a highlight for sure. She is the EB nurse through dEBra and I have called her a TON with questions. We LOVE Geri!

 

I have missed Patrice sooooo much!!!

And this is Bill at National Rehab. We order all of our bandages through him and he has been amazing! Once we brought Anton home and he was admitted to the hospital he overnighted everything we needed. I couldn't figure out how to get a wound to heal on Anton and he suggested I use Poly-Mem and that product has helped soooo much! We LOVE Bill!

And here is Anton with his little girlfriend. Yes I realize he is way too young for a girlfriend but these two hit it off :) He was being such a ham and LOVED playing with her. Ms. Ava is such a fire cracker I don't think she stopped moving and dancing the entire time we were there.

We got to meet so many amazing people and so many who followed Anton's story. It was overwhelming (in a good way) and beautiful all at the same time.

Some of the babies got a little loud so here we are at our spur of the moment baby play group.

 

 I will add a few more pictures of that play date tonight.

Here is Anton being cute!

Patrice and Jonah. Jonah has gotten so big and I think I told him I loved him one million times last night.

Matt, Patrice and Jonah! 

Dinner with Matt, Jonah, Patrice, Tona and Anton (he was asleep :)

I fell asleep before I finished this post but last night was awesome and I can't wait to learn more and meet new people today! Tona has been such a HUGE help and she is already wrapping Anton's arms and legs by herself. She is going to be an amazing EB Mama and I can't wait to write a post all about her! 

Happy Birthday America!!

I wanted to post some pictures from today because I think it is so special that this is Anton's very first time to celebrate The Fourth of July and as an American citizen at that!!!

Enjoy the pictures :)

The worlds worst blogger

I'm pretty sure I am the world's worst blogger. I start all these really fun things like Movie Monday do them for a few weeks and then not again for several weeks. I blog everyday for a week and then not again for a month. I am the world's worst blogger but that's not going to change and here is why...

In 2008 when we found out we were having conjoined twins I found a lot of support online from groups of families that had conjoined twins and after we lost the babies this whole world of Mommies who had lost babies opened up to me. These women love Jesus and walked the same hard road that we had just walked and I wanted nothing more than to find comfort in their stories. I started spending more time blogging, reading blogs, and checking out friends status' on FB than I ever imagined I would.

I remember a few months after the twins died I was asking a group of ladies from our church to pray for me because I was spending too much time online and I had tried to have self control but was so lacking.  That was THREE AND A HALF YEARS AGO and I'm still struggling with it. Now let me stop here and say that blogging or FB in and of themselves are not sin but for me it became sin because it became an idol in my life. I desired to be online more than anything else. Before I went to the doctor I would have to get on FB just really quick even if I was running late, my house could be a mess and instead of caring for my home I would just have to post a blog really quick (which turned into an hour long ordeal), and the worst part of all is the time I have missed out on my kid's lives. 

The past three and a half years have flown by and I can honestly say I don't remember most of it because I was too consumed in other peoples lives (reading their blogs or status on FB).

I have really, really tried to be better about this over the years but it has been a constant struggle and I know that there is nothing more important than my relationship with God and with my family. I have prayed a lot and begged God to help me stay off the computer (I know it sounds crazy, JUST GET OFF THE COMPUTER... right???) and I think I have finally given God the control over this area of my life. It is still hard sometimes and I still spend too much time of FB every once in a while but for the most part I have done A LOT better than I have for the past few years. 

I want to play with my children and know their personalities. I don't want my kids to remember their Mom always being on the computer or always having her phone in her hand. When they grow up I want them to remember that I played with them, spent time with them, and had a blast getting to know them.

I'm not really sure how this will play out but I'm pretty sure I will be deleting my FB soon (after I make Jason an admin on the HelpAnton page). And I'm thinking I will only update the blog once a month??? I'm not trying to go overboard and make up a bunch of rules for myself but I am trying to have self-control. 

For people who want to know when I post but don't want to check the blog everyday there are few things you can do. Subscribe to the blog on Google Reader or at the top right part of the blog you can subscribe to the blog or you can enter your email address where it says follow by email so that you can get emailed the updates. 

You have all been such a HUGE support system over the last four years so please know that I am very thankful for all of the prayers and all of the encouragement. I will update when I can but I can't wait to step away from my blog and FB and really enjoy my children and really enjoy my husband. My kids are only going to be this little for such a short amount of time and I REFUSE to miss out on anymore of their lives because I was too busy being involved in everyone else's lives online. 

If you have time please read the part at the top of our blog that says The Gospel there is nothing more important than having a right relationship with God.

Movie Monday (on Tuesday)

I am so excited to tell you all that Patrice entered us to win a grant to be able to go to the Patient Care Conference (for Epidermolysis Bullosa) that Debra hosts and we WON!!! Anton and I will be headed to Florida at the end of July to stay at an amazing hotel while learning a TON about EB. I can't wait to go meet all the families that I have talked to online for the past year!!!

Patrice, Matt and Jonah will also be there which I am SUPER excited about. I decided I needed to teach Anton who they were because I knew we would be spending a lot of time together so everyday I would show him their picture and say "Patrice, Matt and Jonah" he finally started saying their names and it is so cute! 

ENJOY!!!

Oh and as a random side note we just got done with dressing change so that's why I look so rough :) and the bandage on Anton's face is to keep him from rubbing the skin off his nose while he sleeps (so far it has worked).

We are still here....

Sorry it's been so long since I posted a blog. We are all doing great but we have been really busy. Wita, Papa T, Uncle Toe Toe, and "Practical Aunt" Tiff Tiff were all in town 2 weekends ago. 

It was the first time Toe Toe and Tiff Tiff met Anton so that was really neat! 

The kids LOVE having their Grandparents in town!!!

Love Kenya's face in this one :)

 Anton's loves chewing on his hands and he does it all the time.

There is not a whole lot going on we are just hanging out and trying to stay out of the heat. 

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend!

Happy 2 months home sweet boy and a post about our travels home :)

I have no idea how two months have already gone by since we brought Anton home. It is blowing me away that he has been home that long and that he is doing so well.

I never talked about the plane ride home and since it was 2 months ago I think it's about time I did :)

Our host family woke up super early to be able to help us get out the door, Rob helped bring all of our luggage down in the wee hours of the morning in his jammies. It was freezing outside but I thought it was so sweet he helped us with everything. I was soooo nervous about flying with Anton. I was worried that we would have trouble taking all of our heavy bags into the airport, I was worried that they would try to search Anton since he was bandaged, I was worried that he would scream the whole time we were on the plane and I didn't know how I was going to feed him without being completely stressed out because he cried the whole time I fed him, every time I fed him.

We got to the airport and we were greeted by Alyona and a friend of hers. Alyona is one of the volunteers who helped get Anton to the better hospital, helped raise money to keep him there, helped raise money for his bandages and she checked on him all the time to make sure he had everything he needed. It meant a lot to me that she was there to see us off. They helped Sandy and I get all of our bags in and helped us move stuff around in our luggage because some of it was too heavy. They took us all the way back until they could go no further. There is a point in the airport where they check your tickets and your passport and there were TONS of people in line waiting to have their passport verified. I was getting very nervous because we were already running late and I knew there was no way we could make it to our gate in time if we had to wait in those crazy lines. Well Alyona spoke to the lady who checks the airline tickets (before you get in the crazy long line to have your passport checked) and I'm not sure what she told her but the lady walked us right up to the front of the line to have our passports checked :) It was amazing and I was so thankful all the staff at the airport had been so helpful up to this point.

I am so bummed out because I can't find the pictures of Alyona, Anton, and I at the airport but once I find them I will add them to this post.

We got through that part with no problems. Sandy was a rock star carrying all of our carry on bags and not missing a beat. Then it was time to put them through the x-ray and go through the x-ray thing ourselves and this is where it got hard. There were tons of people and I was holding Anton while Sandy was throwing everything on the belt to go through the x-ray machine while telling people, "Please wait, we have more bag." We had a ton of bags honestly I don't know how we got through with all the bags we had plus we had a stroller. This part stressed me out the most but it was fine and Sandy got all of our bags through without any problems. Then I walked up to the scanner thing, not the x-ray one but the one that takes a 3D image and they lady was telling me to do something with Anton but I could not figure out what she wanted me to do. I kept saying I don't know what you are telling me and she kept saying it in Russian. Then I figured out she wanted me to stand him up but I kept saying he doesn't stand then she kept telling me to stand him up in Russian so I just stood behind him and held him up. She then smiled and let us go through. That part was kinda funny.

We got to our gate and it was time for Anton to eat but we should have been boarding any minute. I thought it would be better to feed him while waiting instead of on the plane but we were in front of everyone and I knew they would be staring at me while I fed my baby with him laying down in his stroller screaming at the top of his lungs cause it hurt to eat and he chokes the whole time I fed him. I knew I had to get over it cause he needed to eat so I fed him while random people watched and made crazy faces. Thankfully the plane was boarding a little late so he got to eat his whole meal. Once he was done Sandy and I noticed a lot of people pre-boarding on the other side of us with small children so we walked up to the front and the lady at the desk completely ignored us while she talked on her phone. Thankful someone else who worked there saw us and said something to that woman and she took us back to pre-board. This was a huge answer to prayer because I didn't want people bumping into Anton and we had a TON of bags to get on the plane. We were able to get all seated and set up a comfy place for Anton  before anyone else got on the plane.

Anton was amazing, he fell asleep before we took off and slept through the whole take off. I was shocked because up until this point he only slept in his stroller and it had to be completely quiet or he would wake up. Trust me on this one I was in the room with him sleeping at the hospital once and I moved which made a tiny noise and he woke up screaming. So for him to fall asleep sitting up on an airplane and sleep through the crazy loud noises of the plane taking off was a miracle.

I wish I could have recorded Anton the whole time we were on the plane to show you guys how well he did because looking back, I can hardly it. When he was awake he just played and was happy and when he was tired he just fell asleep. He took three naps on the plane and slept great all three of those times.

For about the last five hours Anton just wanted me to hold him which was amazing. He fell asleep on me for the first time which was the best feeling EVER. Once he woke up he did not want me to put him down so I just held him and we watched movies together and played together. This was such a neat time to bond with him! At one point I was so tired but he didn't want me put him down so I propped up my knees sat him on my lap and slept while he just sat there quietly.

The only times Anton cried on the plane was when I had to feed him or if I had to change his diaper. He cried at the top of his lungs every single time I did those things and it took about 15 minutes to feed him so this was very stressful for me but other than that he didn't really cry on the plane.

Anton fell asleep right before we landed and slept through the landing. I woke him up to change his diaper and clothes and he was not happy about that but once I was done he stopped crying. People waiting to get off the plane started talking to us and were so sweet and had a lot of questions about Anton's skin and the adoption. I was happy to answer their questions. The girls that sat behind us on the way home kept telling me how cute he was and how well he did on the plane. They were so sweet at one point Anton was asleep in his seat and it was time to eat so the flight attendant told me I had to raise Anton's seat since they were going to serve food. I started to panic and then I just turned around and told the girls something like, "Hey, he is asleep and if I move the seat he will wake up screaming, do you care if I leave the seat back?" They said they didn't mind at all and the flight attendant didn't say anything else about it. It was little moment like this the whole trip where I knew people were praying for us and I knew God had worked out every detail of our trip. The whole trip was just amazing and I know without a doubt God was working through the whole thing!

We waited until everyone got off the plane before we tried to get off so we wouldn't be rushed. Getting off the plane I held Anton and Sandy got all of our bags. I wish I could write a novel to tell you all how much Sandy helped me. She was amazing on the whole trip. She played with Anton and kept him entertained, watched him while I went to the bathroom, got our bags on and off the plane, and helped me with anything and everything I needed. Sandy is a rock star and I love her so much. I could not have done it without her.

We were walking toward immigration and there is a side for US citizens and then a different place for everyone else. A lady that worked at Houston airport saw us with our millions of bags and sweet Anton and rushed over to help us. She took us to the front of the line and even got the immigration guy to process Sandy on the American side. It was great. Then she took me to a room where Anton and I had to wait so they could process his paperwork and she told them to rush it for us too! It was awesome. It took a little while to get through all of this and she came back at one point to see what was taking them so long and told them to hurry again, ha! I was talking to Anton and explaining to him why we were there and that we would get to see Daddy soon then one of the officers said, "Does he know English?" I said "No." I couldn't figure out why he asked that then I realized I was talking to him just like I would Kenya or Judah and I thought to myself, "How else will he learn unless I talk to him?" Anyway that part was kinda funny.

The lady that took us to the front of the line and helped speed up our paperwork also went with us to help get all of our bags!!! She was so helpful and I can't say enough nice things about her.

It was at this point a police dog walked through and was sniffing the bags and I realized that was the first real dog Anton has ever seen. Think about that... He is 2 and he had never seen a real dog before...

We had to go through one more check point then the moment came that I had waited 14 hours for (well really 13 months). The doors opened and I saw Jason waiting in front of everyone for us. I couldn't help but be overcome by emotion. I had brought our SON home and there was HIS Daddy. Jason rushed over and Anton got so excited he kept pointing at Jason and saying "tom" which means "there" in Russian and he kept saying "Papa, Papa, Papa." He totally remember Jason and he was so excited to see him.

After we landed we had a 4 hour drive home and I was kinda nervous about this because almost every time we were in the car in Russia Anton would cry and cry and he even threw up several times because he was crying so hard. But again God blessed us and Anton was completely happy (except when I had to feed him once) the whole way home. We stopped right after we left the airport and got some Texas burgers (Sandy's request) and I had steak fingers and onion rings YUM. We just drove through because I was so ready to be home but the food was great. I was wiped out since I hadn't slept much on the plane so after I ate I crashed out and so did Anton in fact I think Sandy did too. Anton slept pretty much the whole way home!!!

I was sooooo excited to pull up in our drive way and I couldn't wait for Kenya and Judah to get to meet their brother but that will have to wait for another post cause this one is already way too long.

I hope you all enjoyed the details of our plane ride and drive home. God was so so faithful to us and I still can't believe how well Anton did on the way home!

(sorry some of the pictures aren't turned the right way I can't figure out how to fix it but I know my sweet hubby will fix it for me tomorrow) :)