It's Official

I'm in love!! And she is already spoiled - in less than four days! Is that a record? Actually I've been in love for months now, but it just gets better every day. I could look at this baby and play with her for hours and not get tired.

It's Friday morning here in Hanoi. We've had a huge booming thunderstorm all night and it is still pouring rain. This is the rainy season here. Everything is damp and musty. I hope the rain clears out some of the smog.

I think I have found that I can post pictures to the blog easier in the wee hours of the morning - maybe less internet traffic? It is taking so long to upload pictures, I keep thinking there must be an easier way. If anyone has any suggestions or tips, please let me know!

Well, to catch up on the past couple of days - whew!! Lots has happened and we are experiencing new things every day. On Wednesday Oct 29th we went back out to the orphanage. This time our driver took the back roads and that was an experience. We got to see a lot of street life and HCMC suburbs on the way. When we got to the orphanage we had tea with one of the staff while they were preparing for our visit in the infant room. After about 15 minutes they said they were ready. No one spoke English this time, but we were able to communicate pretty well. The orphanage is secured by locked gates, which is monitored by a guard. The orphanage is a lot bigger than it looks from the street, and from what you see when you just come to the conference room, sign the golden book and get your baby. We walked back into the orphanage grounds. The vegetation is beautiful, very exotic and lush and green. The buildings look like they have been there for a while - this orphanage was founded by Marisa Picasso (a niece ? of Pablo Piccasso). The buildings may be older, but they are clean and the grounds are well kept. The infant room appeared to be a separate little building, or at least small wing. The caretakers were all waiting on the porch to greet us and it was all quite exciting. There must have been 10 caretakers there. The infant room is full of cribs and babies, so it was good to see so many caretakers. There was a nurse sitting on the front porch cleaning one baby's ears. We got to see the crib where Lucie lived for 10 months and we got to see her playmates. The caretakers love love love those babies. Of course I started crying. It was just so emotional. I wish I could take every one of those babies home with me. We were taking pictures, and the caretakers were taking pictures of us, and asking us when we would come back again. Such a special visit - I'm so glad we went back out to have a longer visit. And then I cried as we left, that Lucie was leaving the place where she lived the first part of her life. I wondered how Lucie would do, if it would be traumatic going back to the orphanage but she did great. She loved seeing her caretakers and readily came back to me when it was time to leave.

Wednesday afternoon we went to the HCMC airport for our flight to Hanoi. There had been a fire in the domestic terminal the day before so we had to check in at the international terminal and be bused over to our plane that was parked on the domestic side. We were shocked to see the domestic terminal - windows blown out all over the place. Scary! We flew business class and were glad we paid the extra money (economy was $115 and business was $215 or something like that) - definitely worth it. This was Lucie's first flight and she did well. She cried a little as we took off, but that could be due to pressure in her ears or just being tired from all she has experienced in such a short time. The flight was almost two hours. The hotel is an hour's drive from the airport and by the time we got to our hotel in Hanoi it was 6:30. Our hotel is just beautiful. It is actually serviced apartments, used by people like us and by expats who live here. By the timee we got somewhat settled we were all exhausted and went to bed at 8:30. BTW, Lucie is a great sleeper and from that first night has slept all the way through the night.

On Thursday we needed a quiet day after so much activity for several days. Lucie has been such a trooper but we can tell she has been worn out by everything. We met with my agency rep to discuss filing our paperwork with the embassy and getting our interview appointment. We will have our final interview on Monday - much earlier than we thought which is great.

There are a lot of other adoptive families here the hotel and it is fun to see all the families with their babies. So many cute babies and happy families. After breakfast we went and explored the little shopping mall that is on the ground floor - a post office, hair shop, grocery store and a couple of small stores. By the time we got back to our room it was time for lunch and then a very long afternoon nap. Lucie is well rested now and is having so much fun! Last night she learned to crawl and is now all over the apartment. She is walking with our help. Her little legs are not strong and we need to strengthen them. We fed her some baby food for the first time - beef with squash and sweet potato (which was not her favorite) and apple sauce with mango mixed in with her rice cereal which she absolutely loved. I got the ipod going last night and she even danced for us a little - very cute! She is now eating her cheerios. She will pick them up and look at them, but still has not figured out how to put them in her mouth. If we put them in our hand, she will lean her whole body over to get them with her mouth. Another first - Lucie had her first bath yesterday. She wasn't sure what was going on to begin with, but then just sucked her thumb and did great. She smells so good now!

Lucie is very happy now. We think it is because she is so well rested. She is just so much fun! Here are some pics from the last couple of days.


Last rest in HCMC hotel crib.















At the orphanage - waiting to go to infant room.















Lucie's caretaker.



































Lucie's orphanage crib.















Lucie's first flight - to Hanoi in business class!















In our Hanoi hotel.