Apr 11, 2008

We're Home!


Waiting for eggs benedict.


One of several cool old paintings.


The packing, eesh! Thank goodness Joanne's an expert packer. It really helped.


Look at all that stuff!


Can you believe Rock got it on the cart?!


The chandelier that captivated Ainsley while we waited in the lobby for the shuttle.

Another milestone. Ainsley was finally able to make the smiley mirror nose squeak!

Proctor and Gamble. I was surprised at the interesting architecture. It's looks old but is from the 1980's.

Downtown Cincinnati.

So much rain it felt like home. And the Dixie Highway.

The latch on our overhead luggage bin was broken(I secretly think our abundance of carry-on luggage and the portable oxygen did it). They had to call maintenance to fix it before the plane could leave.


Ainsley during takeoff. Curious but well behaved and happier than me.

Kentucky and some sort of factory.

She slept so long and heavy it was great. Except that we were crammed on an airplane and I had to pee.

Ainsley developed more sophisticated taste on this trip. She's moved on from beer to wine!


Patty-cake and this little piggie.

Almost home. Flying Over Our House. Downtown Seattle is next to the water.

Reunited!

Home at last! And the weather is beautiful even at dusk!

Today we finally got to eat at the hotel restaurant. Joanne finally got to have the eggs benedict she'd been looking forward to all week, after quite a long wait since they'd just thrown out the Hollandaise sauce and had to remake it for us. The restaurant was nice. The hotel was built in 1924 and has operated as a hotel that entire time. They had some great paintings. My father, Todd, who's an artist would have loved it. We have done nothing outside of the hospital and hotel the entire trip. All of our sight-seeing was done in the shuttle van to the airport. We saw Proctor & Gamble the Cincinnati Reds ballfield, signs to the Dixie Highway. Did I really go that far away?

Even today, our free day I thought perhaps we'd get to do something fun but not. It took the entire rest of the day to pack. I couldn't believe the bellhop, Rock, was able to get all our luggage onto the cart. He helped me by calling maid service and bringing some things we had left over to my friend Suzanne's room. What a guy!

As we waited for an hour in the lobby Ainsley was finally able to squeak the nose on her smiley face mirror and was fascinated by the chandelier overhead.

The flight was fine. Ainsley again was very well behaved. No decannulations this time. She slept so long and so heavily that I was actually worried but it was nothing (other than that after a couple hours I really needed to pee). She played finger games with grandma and played with toys and gave lots of smiles. It was fun to reunite with the kids and Steve at the airport. We got some late night Thai food and a family movie (which solved my sleeping problem very quickly). We're glad to be home.

2 comments:

  1. Ainsley . . . we are so glad to have been able to meet you and your mommy and all the wonderful goodies you left in our room are amazing. Ian and I loved your bright smile! Hugs, Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
  2. Susan - just wanted to tell you I love the blog and I love how you share Ainsley's journey with pictures. I'm sorry you didn't get the answers you were hoping for in Cinci. But you can at least rest assured that you've taken her to the best and you can't ask any more of yourself than that. I'm excited to hear the progress Ainsley is making and it's been my experience that as kids progress in their development, they also make progress towards getting rid of the medical intervention.

    I would wish you a weekend of rest, but I know that's not possible with three kids, one of whom requires a little extra attention :-)

    Take care,
    Ann

    ReplyDelete