The first days....and the last night

This is it...the last night before we meet our son...we're jet lagged and tired...but mostly we're excitded! When we think about meeting you, we are overcome with emotions. We have been waiting for this moment for such a long time and now that it's here, and we have only six hours between now and when we meet him, it seems a little surreal. My stomach has been doing bellyflops for days now with the excited anticipation of what our future now holds with Nicolas in our lives. It is three o'clock in the morning and I've slept for about 5 hours...and now, I'm awake! I tried reading, I tried going back to sleep, but i am anxious and excited (not a good combination for someone who doesn't usually get more than 5 hours sleep a night anyways). I figure I'll catch up on some writing and maybe that will help me to fall back asleep! Monday September 5th - Wednesday September 7th We wake really early (to be honest I think I slept for only an hour and a half). I packed and repacked our bags and finished getting ready for the trip and then went to bed around 3:30, but our alarm went off at 5. I had my shower and got dressed. Eric's mom picked us up around 5:30. I drove to the airport in the rain. We arrived around 6 o'clock at the airport and we said a quick goodbye to Eric's mom and headed into the airport. We checked in (realized we weren't sitting together on the plane)...went through security (where Eric's pocket knife was confiscated (i had forgotten to check a side pocket in the bag (and I feel a little dumb)...we head to the gate and ask to have our seats changed...we had to wait a bit but eventually they were changed. The plane is small...and full!! The flight was uneventful, we both managed to sleep some on the flight. Once in Vancouver, we bum around the airport a little, eat and then decide that we're going to head downtown via the skytrain. We walked around downtown...but I was more tired than I thought and I wasn't a very good tourist...we ended up going to a bookstore where I fell asleep in one of the comfy chairs intended for coffee patrons. We head back to the airport, eat again and then go up to the observation deck to watch the sun set. We head over to the ticket counter early (we want to make sure we get seats together) Turns out our luggage was mis-tagged in Montreal - it was only going to Manila where as we were headed for Cebu...the very nice ticket counter guy worked really hard to make sure that our bags were re-tagged and that they would arrive in Cebu at the same time as us. We boarded the plane which thankfully wasn't full so we were able to have a little extra room. I took a pill to help me sleep and i ended up sleeping for about 10 hours of the 13 hour flight. Eric wasn't quite so lucky...he slept, but not as much as i did. We arrived in Manila, changed planes and then an hour later arrived in Cebu. At the Cebu airport, we were happy to see a person holding a sign with our names on it telling us where we should go to get our luggage. I was thrilled! Our luggage made it!! We took a taxi from the airpor to our hotel (about 30 minutes away). Driving here is not for the faint of heart...there are tons of cars/jeepneys and scooters all competing to see who can go faster. When we arrived at the hotel, our car was checked by two security guards and a sniffer dog.! Our bags were once again scanned/x-ray-ed and then we were able to check into our room early which was great! We showered and settled in and then we headed over to the Ayala mall...the mall is huge! Unbelievably huge. We shopped for the better part of the day (to price some things that we'd like to buy for Nicolas, and to pass the time!) We didn't buy much, I got a haircut which cost me a little more than $5 (for a wash, cut and set!) We were really tired, so we headed back to the hotel to pass some time before our dinner reservations at 6. We then went for dinner at the hotel (it was good, but expensive) By the time we were done dinner, we were pretty tired, so we came up to our room. Eric fell asleep right away...I didn't. I prepared the gifts that we brought with us (packaged them in gift bags and such) and the more I was thinking about this being the last night before Nicolas, the more I started to stress. Thank goodness for facebook...one of my friends was on facebook and so I chatted with him for a while and then one of my aunts came on and I asked her to call my mom...so I was able to chat with my mom...I had a good cry while doing so (the stress is getting to me) Then I was really tired from all the crying so I was able to fall asleep (around 9:30pm). I woke up at 2:30 in the morning feeling wide awake and excited and anxious about today...today is THE day the one we've been waiting for for so long...the one we've prayed for and thought would never happen...and yet...here it is...at the doorstep...a few more hours is all that separates us from our son! I'm going to head back to bed for a bit to see if i can't fall asleep...the time will pass faster if I'm sleeping I think!