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.......