Happy Halloween From Hanoi

Happy Halloween! We are dressed and ready to party! The hotel is actually having trick or treat tonight, but we did not sign up for it. None of us need the candy :) We may go down to the lobby in a few minutes to see the trick or treaters.

Lucie has made an amazing amount of progress in just four days. She loves to walk around (with help) and loves to get on the floor and play. She talks all the time - "mamamamamamamamamamamamamama" (as much as I'd like to say that she knows I am her mama I think it is just an easy and fun thing to say), "eh", "eh", "eh", "eh??", "eh??", "eh??", "huh, huh, huh, huh". She is eating more than she would to begin with. She is teaching us too - we now know which cry means she is hungry and sometimes we know which cry means her diaper needs to be changed. She can imitate me when I blink my eyes like I Dream of Jenie - she does it back. She tries to clap and is getting better at it. She likes to bounce. When we sing to her she tries to imitate us. She is just a total joy! Mom and I are amazed at what a sweet baby she is, and how much fun.

We are in the midst of a monsoon. We have had rain, thunder, lightening for 24 hours now and it is supposed to continue for 3 days. The streets are flooded. The mopeds and people walking continue, with water up above the wheels on the mopeds and up to the people's knees. We did not leave the hotel today. Thankfully we are in a really nice place and have room to spread out and relax and not get claustrophobic. I'm disappointed that we cannot get out and explore the area but there isn't anything we can do about the rain! It's pretty incredible. We are now surrounded by a lake!

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.

Pictures From Tuesday, October 28

These are pictures from Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday when I was having trouble with the internet and kept getting booted off. Still having trouble uploading images, but I'm going to keep trying....

Lucie showing us how she can stand up in her crib!

First time in a high chair - now an old pro!

Trying to make her look like a girl, but she hated having that bow on her head and guess who won?

Shopping with Grandmommie and our agency rep.

Our First Full Day Together

It's Wednesday morning here - 4am. I've been up since 1:30 am. My body clock is totally out of sync. Mom and Lucie are both asleep. Every little noise each one makes, I jump up to check on them to make sure they are ok. OK, this is where you veterans can give me advice - how long will I be this way? Lucie is a very good baby and Monday night she slept the entire night - from 8:30pm til 5:30 am Tuesday morning. I was amazed. It's me that is losing sleep over every little noise, every time she turns over, etc.

Tuesday was another very busy day. I keep wondering what is going through little Lucie's head. She went from a very limited world in the orphanage, one with lots of babies and a couple of nannies, to the big noisy crowded outside world and she has done it with amazing grace. This kid is a real trooper! We thought from her early pictures that she had a good disposition. The orphanage report confirms that, and now we can say the same.

Lucie woke up after a good long night sleep very refreshed. She was so sweet. She showed us how she stands in her crib while holding the side rail, but she won't do it for long and then she wants to sit down. She bounces a lot on all fours, so I think she is working on strengenthing her leg muscles.

We ate breakfast at the hotel buffet. Lucie was fascinated by the waterfall, the lights, all the people. She sat in a highchair and did great, and I assume this was the first time in a highchair for her. She liked the apple juice we gave her - don't know if she has had that before. We've tried giving her little pieces of things like cheerios, mashed banana in her rice cereal, etc. and it seems to us that she has not had any solids before this. She does not like them and makes the funniest faces when she is trying to spit them out. It is too funny.

Kevin from our agency came to get us and take us to the hospital for Lucie's exam that she has to have before she can get her US visa to come home. This process took a couple of hours. The hospital has many buildings from french days - beautiful old colonial french buildings that have been let go. The hospital was very crowded. Kevin says when someone goes to the hospital, several relatives go along and they wait outside, sitting on the street curbs. There were people everywhere. The doctor was a very friendly older gentleman who spoke good English. He was very gentle with Lucie. I've been worried about Lucie's cold and she keeps rubbing her ears like they might be bothering her, and she sounds congested. The doctor said her lungs are clear, which relieves me somewhat. The orphanage report said that Lucie has a very good memory. She remembers people who are nice to her and those that are not. She obviously remembers trips to the doctor, because she did not like it at all. As gentle as the doctor was, as soon as he started taking her outfit off to examine her she started wailing. It was pitiful and a little funny at the same time. They weighed her and measured her length and head. The exam only took a few minutes. We get the results back Wednesday morning.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped to do some shopping at a small store with items from Sapa. Sapa is a place in northern Vietnam where hill tribes live. They make beautiful woven things. I had read about it and wanted to see what kinds of things they had. Yes, I bought some things. Did you actually think I would go there and leave empty handed? Yes, I bought some jewelry - silver jewelry, very beautiful. I wanted to buy my Dad a hill tribe sword - it was very cool, but I was worried about it making it all the way home in my checked luggage so decided not to get it. Sorry Dad! Lucie was the absolute best baby the entire time. Amazing! Such a good baby. Now she has done her first shopping - the first of much shopping to come in the years ahead :)

Back at the hotel it was time for lunch and a nap. Tuesday afternoon was the first time we have seen a really fussy Lucie. We think she is teething and that is making her uncomfortable. She is grinding her teeth. She has two lower teeth and two upper teeth and two more on top that are starting to push their way out. As long as she was being walked or bounced or we were singing songs, she was ok. As soon as we stopped doing any of those things, she let us know she was unhappy. It was pitiful - her whole body just shaking. At one point she even bit me on the chest - ouch, it really hurt and I still have a mark. Just a little love bite, right? We have to nip that in the bud.

Later in the afternoon I met Chi to go get Lucie's Viet Namese passport. Mom stayed in the room with Lucie. Lucie can now travel in Viet Nam! In Hanoi, when we have the interview with the US embassy, they will give her an IR3 visa, which is what will allow her back in the US. Next Kevin and I went to the airline office to buy tickets for us to fly to Hanoi.

Tuesday night Mom and I were going to go to a restaurant nearby that was recommended to us - Lemongrass, with VN cuisine. We were told we did not need reservations, but the place was full and it turned out we did need reservations. We had braved crossing the busy streets with Lucie on our own for the first time. Crossing the street here is a real feat. You have hundreds of mopeds and cars coming every which way, with no traffic signals. You just start out into the street and keep walking and let them weave their way around you. It's crazy and scary! Mom always wants to wait until there is a gap in the traffic, and there never is. Anyhow, we braved the streets with Lucie for the first time on our own (we had Kevin or Chi helping us earlier) and then had to turn around and come back when we could not eat at that restaurant. We ended up coming back and eating at our hotel restaurant which has really good food at very reasonable prices. It is just so incredibly hot outside, I can't even describe it other than you get soaked with sweat as soon as you go out and it is exhausting heat. Which is why we decided to just eat at our hotel rather than go exploring. We needed to come back to the room and get packed for our Wednesday flight to Hanoi.

So, today we will go back to the orphanage and see where Lucie lived and take lots of pictures. We will also see two babies that belong to families from my agency. I'm excited. Then we leave for the airport at 1pm for our 3:30 flight to Hanoi. I feel like we have been so rushed here in HCMC. No time to just hang out. Mom and I are grateful that we have been here before and seen so many of the "must sees" before, so we don't feel like we have missed out on anything.

I've been trying to upload pictures to today's post and I keep getting booted off the internet. Very frustrating! So, no pics today. I hope when we get to Hanoi we will have stronger internet service and I can post pictures then.

Farewell Saigon. You gave me my baby and I will be eternally grateful. Lucie and I will come back to see you again one day.......

Just Call Me Mommy!

I had reached a point in my life where I thought it wouldn't happen, but now it has. It's official!! I am now a mom to a 10 month old gorgeous little girl!

Today has been a very long and eventful day. I couldn't sleep, probably due to a combination of jet lag and excitement. I finally got up at 3:30 this morning, went into the bathroom and sat on the floor to do some things without disturbing my mom. We had breakfast at the hotel buffet at 6am this morning - it's a really beautiful buffet. Got ready to go the orphanage and waited for my adoption agency rep to pick us up and take us to the orphanage. The orphanage is in a suburb of HCMC, and with traffic it took us over 30 minutes to get there. We were driving and driving and I was actually enjoying seeing some of the area outside of busy downtown Saigon, and suddenly we were there.

Let me just say this has probably been the most surreal day I've ever had. I was very nervous this morning before we went. My thoughts, and questions to my mom - Will she like me? What if she doesn't like me? What if she doesn't like the way I smell? What if she starts crying and I can't get her to stop? What if I don't know what to do? The adoption process was such a long process, that went on and on and at times I wondered if it would ever result in an actual adoption. Suddenly, the actual day was here and we were at the orphanage! I was going to see Lucie for the very first time, hold her, touch her - and be responsible for her from now on.

We went into a conference room at the orphanage. There was a big bust of Uncle Ho, slogans on the wall in Viet Namese, several long tables with lots of chairs. We sat down. The orphanage director, and two assistant directors came in. We all shook hands, and then we all sat down and drank a cup of hot tea together. I gave them gifts (small token gifts of thanks - it is a cultural thing in Asia). Mom and I gave them donations for the orphanage - clothes for the babies. And then a lady walked in carrying Lucie and put her in my arms. Just like that!

I think they must have waked her up from a nap because she was a little bewildered, plus who wouldn't be bewildered having their entire world turned upside down just like that. She held on tight, cried just a little and then settled right down as if we had been together forever. I signed the orphanage Golden Book. We all shaked hands all around and the orphanage directors left. Mom and I changed Lucie into an outfit we brought along for the Giving and Receiving ceremony. We were at the orphanage for maybe 20 minutes - in and out! I told Chi I wanted to visit the baby room, take pictures, and also visit two children who are with my same adoption agency. We were on a tight schedule today so there was no time, but Chi promised me that we will go back tomorrow for a longer visit. Then we got back into the car to head to the Justice Department for the formal adoption. The Justice Department is like our court house and is where people go for marriage license, birth certificates, criminal records, etc. It was an interesting and busy place. We had to wait for the orphanage assistant director to come, as the four parties that have to be present at the formal adoption ceremony are the orphanage director, the adoption agency rep, the adopting parent (me) and the Justice Department official. The Giving and Receiving Ceremony was again all of us sitting at a table, I signed a bunch of documents, we took pictures in front of Uncle Ho, we all shook hands and boom - I'm officially Lucie's mom now. Wowee!

Next we got back into the car, drove across town to the passport office and went in to apply for Lucie's Viet Namese passport. Signed more papers, gave copies of my passport, etc. More shaking of hands. No hot tea this time. Hopefully Lucie's passport will be ready late tomorrow. Voila, Lucie will be ready to travel in Viet Nam with me as soon as she has a passport!

You would not believe what a good baby Lucie was through all of this. She is very inquisitive, constantly checking everything out. She does seem to be very good natured, which we thought she would be based on the pictures we had seen earlier. After so many big events, we came back to the hotel to relax and start really getting to know each other. It was time for her to eat so we gave her some rice cereal. We tried to mash up some banana and put in the cereal for her, but she did not like that at all. We also tried giving her cheerios and she doesn't like that. The orphanage said they have been feeding her only formula and rice cereal. We will start trying to give her more than that, and hopefully she will start taking it. She made the funniest faces when we tried to get her to eat that banana/rice cereal - and then she would spit it out. Too funny!

Ok, things I've learned about my daughter today. She likes to be held and walked. She sucks her thumb, usually the left one. Does that mean she is a leftie? She crosses her fingers - crosses the middle finger over the index finger. She seems to have a very good disposition. She seems to be a very good sleeper. She likes to rock on all fours, but I haven't seen her stand up yet. The orphanage says she stands up in her crib. We tried to get her to stand up with us holding her but she won't put her feet on the ground. She is tiny - she weighs 16 pounds and the size 9 months clothes I brought with me are way too big on her. She could probably wear a size 6 months right now. And she is just the most perfect, wonderful, beautiful, precious baby I've ever seen!

Now I'll get to what I know you've been waiting for. I have a new camera and am still learning to use it. Unfortunately I'm still getting a lot of blurry ones, but hope to get better with lots of

practice.

These are from the conference room in the orphanage where we met the orphanage directors and met Lucie for the first time!

At the Justice Department - waiting for the adoption ceremony.

At the Justice Department - the Giving and Receiving Ceremony (official adoption).

At the passport office with Grandmommie.

Hanging out back in our hotel room:

The Long Journey to Viet Nam

From door to door it took us 36 hours to get here. It was a long long long trip. Even so, it was a pretty good trip. The first leg of our trip was from Atlanta to LA and it was delayed 3 hours due to bad weather along the east coast. The next leg of the trip was from LA to Hong Kong, and we would have missed our flight to Hong Kong due to the delay in Atlanta if it was not for our speedy pilot and some strong tail winds we picked up somewhere in Arizona. We had a packed flight and it seemed that just about everyone was in the same boat and had either missed connecting flights or were cutting it very close. The pilot was able to make up about 45 minutes of time, which was just enough for us to race from the gate where we landed to the LAX International terminal, get our boarding passes, race through security and to our departing gate. Whew! We flew Cathay Pacific, a 767 I think, which is one of those double decker planes with business class upstairs, and seats in business and first class that completely recline. We sat in economy but were lucky to get bulk head seats so we had a little more room. It was a very nice plane with extremely nice and attentive flight attendants. I watched 4 movies - The Love Guru (very funny, a little raunchy - my brother D would like it), Chronicles of Narnia, something about Las Vegas with Ashton Kuchter (sp?) and Cameron Diaz (mindless entertainment) and a 4th movie that was so memorable that I've already forgotten what it was. In Hong Kong we had a very short window to catch our flight to Ho Chi Minh City and thought we were in good shape when we saw that we would arrive at gate 61 and depart at gate 63. But no, we had to go to a central transit area, go through security again, and then go to gate 63. Once again, we got through all of this and got to our gate right before it was time to board. Our flight to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) was also on Cathay Pacific and this was either a new plane or a newly refurbished plane and was just beautiful - and again had an excellent crew. The flight from Hong Kong to HCMC was 2 1/2 hours and went across the South China Sea and down the coast of Viet Nam - very beautiful countryside. BTW, when we landed at Hong Kong it was a little like coming home. I was surprised after so many years that I would be so nostalgic, but it almost felt like I should be getting off the plane and heading to my little apartment at 100 Blue Pool Road in Happy Valley. To any of my friends in Hong Kong who might be reading this - I really would have liked to stop and see you but the logistics of this trip have just been too difficult and I needed to get to HCMC quickly so I could get my baby!

So, after arriving in HCMC we went through the process to get our entry visas, got our bags, went through customs clearance, had to pass our bags through security again (I felt very safe on the entire journey after all these security checks!) and officially entered Viet Nam. Mandala's staff Peter and Kevin (Mandala's VN staff) met us, got us loaded up in the van and we headed off for the hotel. We are staying at the Royal Kimdo Hotel in downtown HCMC (or Saigon as the locals still call it) - it is very nice, our room is spacious and clean and the staff are very friendly.

After checking into our room we got organized and then headed off to the Ben Thanh market, which is one of the larger local markets that has absolutely everything you could possibly think of. Believe it or not, I really was ready to stay in the room and take a nap as I was exhausted by this time, but my mom is a real trooper and she was ready to go SHOPPING! So off to the market we walked - a good 15-20 minute walk from the hotel. I could have spent a lot of money in this market - it was awesome! But I tried to restrain myself and think of how heavy all of our bags already are without adding a lot of stuff. I did buy for Lucie some traditional VN clothes - an ao dai, a cheong sam and a chinese outfit, and some very cute laquered shoes with sequins (the kind my dad brought my sister, me and my cousins when he was over here years ago). We are seeing the cutest baby clothes ever and I could spend a fortune here! Also, gorgeous embroidered linens, but I keep asking myself how many tablecloths does a girl need??? I think I have enough at home already!

We had dinner at The Rex Hotel (a famous hotel here in HCMC), and then came back to our hotel to get ready for "the big day." We had to pack a bag for Lucie - diapers, food, an outfit to change into for the Giving and Receiving ceremony, donations for the orphanage, gifts for everyone, my camera, the movie camera, etc. It was actually quite a lot to get together - and then off we went to bed with visions of Lucie dancing through our heads!

BTW, on the 36 hour trip we both wore compression socks. My friend S reminded me to get those for the trip. I've never worn them before and now I am a huge fan. My ankles always swell on long flights like this and these socks totally prevented any swelling. They were awesome - thank you S!

Here are a few scenes from Ben Thanh market.































This is Lucie's Ao Dai. I got a bigger size so she can wear it when she is older.




















And this is Lucie's Cheong Sam:

Viet Nam Here We Come!

I woke up this morning and my first thought was - I'm having a baby! Well I guess I'm not have a baby exactly. But the emotional and physical stress through this process has been pretty amazing.

Today we are beginning our journey to Viet Nam and soon we will see sweet little Lucie. It is a 30 hour trip from the US to Ho Chi Minh City, and that's from take off to landing - that does not include the additional hours getting to the airport on the front end and all the stuff you do once there (customs, etc.) It's a long long long trip. We have some good reading material for the trip - how to handle any baby emergency, baby communication and what it means, lonely planet guide for Viet Nam, and easy Viet Nam phrases. I wonder how much Viet Namese we can learn in 30 hours :)

OK, we leave in a few hours so I guess I should start packing now. Ha! We're already packed - did that last weekend. I do have some last minute things I need to do, so will close here for now. Soon we will be saying Good Morning Viet Nam!

What's in a Name?

How do you decide what to name a blog? All I've been able to think about for months now is this baby - I ache for this baby. I've never touched her, never seen her but she is very much a part of me already. I can't wait to get my hands on her. So, there you have it. I'm just a girl from Atlanta who's Longing for Lucie.

This is Lucie's room -

where she will sleep..... and where Mommy will sleep,

or perhaps where both of us will sleep....

Me, Author of a Blog ??

I never thought I would be the author of a blog. I'm technologically challenged, so doing this is a real stretch for me (even as easy as blogspot makes it). I've never even followed any blogs until I came into the adoption world. During the past year I've seen what a great way it is to share the adoption journey with family and friends. So, here goes.

A week ago tonight I received approval from Hanoi Adoptions to travel to Viet Nam to adopt my sweet little Lucie. For quite some time I had been waking up at 3am every morning to check for "the e-mail." On my drive home from work last Wednesday night, I decided that I was too exhausted to stay up late or get up in the wee hours and I would force myself to stay in bed **all night long** and wait until morning to check my email messages. At 10pm that night as I was putting together my Stokke high chair (it's really cool - check it out if you've never seen one) I checked my messages and was shocked and elated to find that "the email" had arrived at 9:30pm. What a surprise! I think I must have waked up the entire neighborhood with my whooping. I called my parents to tell them, and my Mom's first question was to confirm that I was not teasing her - anyone who has gone through this process knows that this is nothing you tease about :) Then, calling my immediate family members I could not remember their telephone numbers and even after looking them up I dialed them incorrectly. That night and for two days after, I felt like my head was disconnected from my body.

So, now I am frantically trying to get ready at home and at work to head off to Viet Nam to be united with my baby girl. Now I have a blog to share the journey with my family and friends. Thank you for sharing this journey with me!