We made it!

Theo's despedida - Luis, Rosa, Abuela, Me, Mariasela, Nicholas, Fatima, Tato and Theo.

Yani (nanny), Theo, Me and Maria (Yani's mother)

The long journey home began with Theo's despedida (going away party) at the Arambulo's apartment. The whole family came over to give us kisses (kissing on the cheek is customary in Peru) and hugs and take us out for one last Peruvian treat. We went to a near-by Peruvian bakery for some delicious treats - tres leches cake, picarones, and alfajores. Delicious!

Rosa, Carmen, Fatime and I eating picarones (sweet potato puree fried with honey sauce...mmm)

We had the taxista, Omar, pick us up Friday night at 9pm EST to go to the airport for a 1:20am flight. We had to make a quick detour so I could say hi to my old Spanish teacher, Pierina, but we didn't have much time because we had to catch our flight. It was a good thing we left early because we sat in Lima traffic, i.e. a parking lot, for over an hour. We made it in time and luckily they have a law that states that elderly, disabled, pregnant women and people with children get priority and get to skip the lines. It was great!

Pierina and I as we were on our way to the airport.

Theo had his own seat and he slept the whole six-hour flight to Atlanta (and so did I). He was a champ going through customs and there were nice workers who helped me with my bags (turns out it's pretty tough to push a stroller and carry a diaper bag, backpack and two suitcases). We both ate breakfast in the airport - Theo had some formula and I had a McDonald's breakfast sandwich (I can't remember the last time I ate at McD's but it was yummy). I changed his diaper and gave him a new outfit and he was in his typical happy mood. We boarded the next plane to Seattle and that's when Theo started to cry. I tried everything but he was not a happy camper and he would not stop crying. It was awful because it started as the last passengers were getting on and we were getting ready to taxi, i.e. I couldn't get up for the next 30 minutes at least. I tried to take him out of he carseat and rock him but then he'd get squirmy and cry more. I fed him another bottle to shut him up but that was only temporary. I tried the pacified but he'd spit it out at me. I smelled his diaper and peaked down the back but it was clean. I was powerless.
Finally, the pilot announced that we could get up and more around. Phew, thank goodness! We walked to the back of the plane and the nice flight attendants played with him and made him laugh. I changed his diaper and we went back to our seats and he was out for the next two hours (and so was I). I think he was just over tired.
We landed in Seattle around 3:30pm EST on Saturday (almost 19 hours later) and I had only eaten a breakfast sandwich since eating picarones the night before. We were walking to our baggage claim when I saw this tall, handsome man with a bouquet of yellow roses coming down the escalator. We ran to meet him and I shed a tear or two when we hugged. It was great to be back! Theo was overwhelmed by the lights and people but I think he recognized his papa and he gave him a big cheek-to-cheek smile when he picked him up. Seth couldn't believe how much more hair he had, how strong he was, how big his smile was, and how well he could sit up. I'll upload videos next week. Thanks for reading!