Baby Mia Finally Meets Her Daddy!

Back Among the Living...

Yes - it's me - back among the living! So delayed in posting updates to the blog and I know that many are emailing seeking news...

Here's some pictures of the first day home meeting Daddy, Big Brother, Aunt & Uncle, etc. I'm going to get caught up posting additional pictures from Vietnam and since we've been home this week - promise!

It's been 2 weeks since we've been home and believe it or not, I'm back at work this week! With Doug recovering from surgery, I had to get back to work at least for part of the days. I'm working a modified schedule now that allows me time to spend with Mia and with our son Bradley.

Mia is great - finally sleeping thru the night - a big hooray on this! And, just in time for me to get back to work...

She's a big eater and loves all the baby food we can put in front of her. She now sits up very well and is making all sorts of new baby noises. It's so funny to see that her baby sounds were so different as they were Vietnamese sounds and now she's learning English baby sounds - she's got an interesting blends of sounds right now!

On the Bac Ninh front, there are a few families about to be matched with babies from our orphanage and we just can't wait to hear of their good news! There's also been a Yahoo site created for our province and it's been great to email others both in the US and in Ireland who have babies from the Bac Ninh orphanage.

More later on the blog...

Back Among the Living - Updates & Pictures

We're getting on a schedule of sorts. Mia slept last night from 7pm until 4:30am, took a bottle and went back to sleep until 7am - hooray! Today she's been a mess of sorts due to her first doctor's visit and the first round of shots last evening! She's a fuss bucket and feverish due to the shots. She's only calm when we play her Vietnamese lullabies - thanks heavens for this music!

Backtracking a bit with pictures and thought you would all like to see pictures of the US Embassy Visa day. Here's pictures from that day - a very special day in Vietnam as she was declared ours and we received our Visa approval to come home!

We're Home!

That's right folks - back in the USA!  We arrived at 3am on Saturday morning (only a 30 hours trip back this time) so that was great.  Mia did pretty well - she only lost it during the beginning of flights and screamed for a few minutes (with the exception of the beginning of the Hong Kong trip - that lasted for about 60 minutes!)  We would give her first travel on airplanes a grade of B - pretty good for a little one!

Spent most of Saturday sharing our little one with our son Bradley and husband Doug!  It was so exciting to see their reactions and Mia's as well.  She is adjusting really well to the two of them. Bradley loves to hold his sister, play with her and even wanted to help give her a bath and change a diaper!  He woke up at 4:30 am on Saturday as he heard us home and wouldn't go back to sleep - he played with his sister most of the day!  

The ultimate question - Yes - we are welcoming visitors!  So many have called and followed the blog.  This is an open invitation to stop by.  We welcomed Aunt Pam and Uncle Jeff on Saturday along with Jeff's parents who were in town from Iowa.  We also had a few neighborhood visitors.  Mia is a lively little gal and loves visitors!

 

Our only issues remain adjusting to the 12 hour time difference, the increase of her night terrors again (anyone have ideas for help on this one? - please share), and her eczema - poor little thing is covered with it.  We're scheduled for the first Dr. visit on Wednesday and hope to get some relief for this then!

We're a little behind in posting pictures and tales from the balance of our Vietnam journey but hope to catch up on this on Monday.  

Thanks to all who have assisted us in celebrating the addition of our family!  We've been so excited to share this blog with everyone...

Greetings from Hong Kong!

We made it through our first leg of the journey home! Mia was great on the flight - only screamed for 5-8 minutes before take off (she was too hot - everyone was!). After that she was great.

Let's hope we have as much luck on the next flight to Los Angeles - 15 hours - taking bets for this...

Next time we post we'll be in the USA!

More families arrive in Vietnam for their babies!

Forgot to mention that two families traveled today to Lang Son to receive their babies. Mia and I stopped down this morning to the hotel lobby to wish them well and send them on their way...

And, a group of 3 families arrive this weekend or so for a G & R Ceremony later next week in Bac Ninh. Things are moving in Vietnam and with space opening up at orphanages, I'm sure we'll learn of new CFC's very soon! Thinking of everyone in the waiting phases and wishing everyone well!

See you online in the USA...

Update - US Visa Approved and We're Coming Home!

It's been a couple of busy days here in Vietnam and there's been little time to post. I know many of you follow the blog and we're a bit behind in the news...

Completed all of our shopping and site seeing by the skin of our teeth! There's so much to see and do here and with a 13 day trip, it's impossible to fit it all in. Yes, it's 13 days and we're coming home!

We had our US Embassy appointment yesterday and it was a snap! It took about 5 minutes and we had our Visa about 3 hours later! We all had a group farewell dinner last night as some in our group left tonight. The rest are heading out tomorrow (Friday) including us! We're traveling from Hanoi to Hong Kong, then to Los Angeles and finally arriving in Chicago - Home Sweet Home.

We can't wait for Daddy and Bradley to meet Mia!!! They've met via Skype and web cams and that's been a great communication tool. I recommend this to everyone for keeping in touch with loved ones at home.

We'll try to post more pictures very soon and share the experiences of our journey home!

As we close another day in Vietnam, sweet dreams to everyone...

Ending the day with our cutie....

As we close another day in Vietnam, here's a couple more pictures of our little sunshine...

Cultural Tour Today - US Visa Appt Tomorrow

It's Tuesday evening in Hanoi and a cold spell hit our neck of the woods - a cold 65 degrees! A couple of women were concerned that we didn't have a hat on our daughter. We will bring a hat with us tomorrow so we don't insult the locals. She was dressed head to toe in long sleeves, a sweater and stuffed into a quilted snugglie! But, for the locals, they dress their babies so warmly!

Today we went with our guide exploring the cultural aspects of Hanoi - visited temples, the red bridge, the Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Minh burial site and museum. Very interesting and we'll post a bunch of pictures from our day next.

We definately recommend a local guide arranged via the hotel for convenience and the ability to see so many things in 1/2 day. We never would have seen so much on our own and it was so easy to travel with the baby via car everywhere.

Our US Embassy appointment is set for tomorrow afternoon. Assuming all goes well (keep your fingers crossed for us and the other families) we'll start our journey home on Friday. Let's hope it takes a little less than the 56 hours it took to get here!

Enjoy the pictures we're posting...