Heat Index: 104

vacation!

Our last weekend in Vietnam, we went south to Hoi An, a beach town near Da Nang where I spent some time over the summer.

Here's us in Hoi An pretending to be Brangelina.

src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/179/458569445_2674c081b7.jpg?v=0"

family R+R

src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/206/458563246_09835df9d9.jpg?v=0" width=500 height=375>

William and EMLW invented a new game: One Armed Baby Pool

src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/220/458582473_ac48e72157.jpg?v=0" width=500 height=375>

src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/212/458564664_b318c501c7.jpg?v=0" width=500 height=375>

visiting friends in Da Nang

src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/178/466029154_35268499a2.jpg?v=0" width=500 height=375>

src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/231/466038934_2134b54c1e.jpg?v=0" width=500 height=375>

then back to our regular life living in the hotel lobby

src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/199/466046407_c0af3ccb81.jpg?v=0" width=500 height=375>

out and about

We took the stroller for a spin around Hoan Kiem Lake and environs.

Ms. EMLW is very popular.

At the pagoda in the middle of the lake.

On the way to our first visa interview at the US embassy. It was not as stressful as we anticipated, just a looooong wait in a very boring waiting room. Like taking a baby to the DMV for 3 hours.

who's that?

I think every baby has these pictures taken of them, but it's hard to resist when taking stuff out of bags and looking in mirrors is so cute! Today was the first day she noticed that other baby in the mirror.

and yesterday's bath

Tuesday

It's all going by in a minute by minute blur. We've had our first minor accident (bloody lip), first puking disaster and first bath in a hotel. It's been a big week!

First photo shoot for visa photo.

Oh, yeah, first stroller, too!

And learned how to play Pass the Ball to Your Dad, which is hilarious, btw.

Dislike: Hungry

not sure if this is legible, but it's the notes we got about her schedule. At the end it says "Like: Hold, go around. Dislike: Hungry." There's been a lot of hold go around going on up and down the halls of the hotel.

First outing!

It's becoming apparent that this parenting this is too tiring to leave me much energy for actually writing anything at the end of the day, but I can post pics of the highlights, anyway. Maybe in a few days I'll have upped my stamina.

The luggage arrived yesterday, so we were very excited to put on clean clothes for our first venture out of the hotel with EMLW. We walked back to the Temple of Literature, since it's close by and I thought it would be nice for her to have baby pictures from there when she grew up. We both loved the baby carrier. I was thrilled to be outside AND have two hands free. (EMLW has temporarily decided that I'm the only one who can hold her, which is good for the whole bonding/attachment process but a bit sad for William and a bit inconvenient for me.)

All the people and action were exhausting for EMLW--I don't think she'd ever been in a city before--so she fell asleep in the carrier on the way to lunch at this restaurant that we love. She snoozed through most of her first meal out.

But when she woke up she had her first noodle. (I think.  They told us she'd only eaten rice cereal so far). She thought it was yummy.

I'm clearly down with mommy multitasking already.

With our luggage came lots of toys!

A few more pics

Still too tired to tell the story, but here are some more photos... In no particular order:

The first time I held her, minutes after we met at the orphanage.

Breakfast this morning

She loves that bunny

she was exhausted after the ceremony, waiting for some mysterious paperwork

Before we left the orphanage for the last time (we stopped by on the way back from the ceremony) her old caretakers kept taking her away from me to hold her one last time. I understood why, but it made me sad and uncomfortable. She had just fallen asleep, and I wanted to keep her still and quiet, but I felt like I had to let them take her. It was a sort of in-between state for me between motherhood and not-motherhood

In the car on the way back to the hotel. It was 3 long hours each way.

The ceremony itself took place in a conference room at the Ministry of Justice.
With Uncle Ho himself presiding.

Official signatures in the provinvial archives

This is the very end of the ceremony, after all the papers were signed, when they hand her to us. There was a lot of staging and arranging of people to get the official picture just right.

Hello!

She's here, and so fabulous! We're all exhausted, so I'm not going to write anything but thought her fans would want some photos ASAP. We're having a bit of trouble uploading, so this is all we have for now. Quick facts: 1. She's perfect 2. She's crawling! 3. She likes R.E.M and her pink bunny donated by another adopting family since all our stuff is still missing...

First day

I really shouldn't be posting this in a blog called "heatindex" because today was COLD! We were shivering all day wandering around the city. Still no luggage, but we got a call that they located it and it should be here by noon tomorrow. Unfortunately, we are leaving to go to the Giving + Receiving ceremony (where they GIVE US A BABY TO TAKE CARE OF FOREVER ZOMG!!!) at 9:45. So poor EMLW will get to meet her new parents all decked out in 3 day old outfits, and without the presents we have packed in our bags for the orphanage staff. So, expect more cute baby pics tomorrow (or maybe the next day... we might be overwhelmed).

Today we walked to the Temple of Literature (a Confucian temple where scholars used to study that's now a tourist attraction and a place where people come to pray to their ancestors and Confucius). I lit some incense and asked Confucius (sp) to see what he could do about making EMLW happy and wise.

We wandered around and had coffee by the lake, and saw some random Hanoi street scenes. Like this guy.

And we're off....

Hi everyone… I’m revisiting the blog so that anyone who’s interested can follow along on our crazy adventure to meet our daughter-to-be-in-3-days, EMLW. Not sure how much we’ll be able to post once we’ve met her—we hear babies keep you pretty busy—and also not sure who besides maybe our parents will be interested in the minutiae of our trip, but we’ll try and keep the pictures coming anyway. Everyone likes cute baby pictures!

Eight hours in, we’ve got 17ish to go. We’re sitting on a JAL flight to Tokyo. Unfortunately, we’re pretty sure our luggage isn’t on the plane. We were supposed to fly Boston—JFK—Tokyo—Hanoi, but the first officer on the Boston flight didn’t show up for work, so the flight couldn’t go. (Wouldn’t you think they’d have a back up system??).  They rerouted everyone through LaGuardia (sp?) and organized a car to take us to JFK. Thank god it was Sunday morning and we had a 3 hour layover so we made it in plenty of time. But the nice guy at the gate checked and told us our luggage didn’t make it across town with us. So I am stuck with a toothbrush, a half dozen magazines, a raincoat, one outfit, 2 novels and a laptop for the next few days. Oh, and William just found some trail mix, so I guess we won’t starve.

I’ve read a lot of accounts of adoptive parents getting comments about their children or the adoption process that make them uncomfortable, or offend them, or leave them at a loss for words. We had our first one today at the JAL ticket desk. William was (unsuccessfully) trying to sweet talk his way into a business class upgrade for us, and, trying to be helpful, I pulled out the photos of EMLW I had in my bag to see if a cute baby story could tip the balance. The woman looked at her and said “Is there something wrong with her eyes?”  (In one of the pics she looks very slightly cross-eyed). When I said no, she said, “Are you sure? Did you check? That’s an awfully long way to go if there’s something wrong with her!” I was startled, to say the least, but we mumbled something about being sure she’s fine and thinking she’s perfect, etc etc.  People really are outrageous sometimes. Who says stuff like that??

And we didn’t get the stupid upgrade, so now we are squished into economy seats that are definitely designed for small Japanese people. If I was 5 pounds heavier, I swear I don’t think I’d fit in the seat.

This all sounds very complainy, but really we’re thrilled and excited and very very happy to finally be on our way. It’s just a looooooong trip in a tiny seat. I’m glad I have 6 hours of Battlestar Galactica and 3 hours of ANTM to watch on my laptop, that’s for sure.

Cross your fingers for our luggage!