Joyous news this morning from Christopher and Colleen! Finally – they have received their approval to travel to Vietnam and bring their twin girls home. We are thrilled for them (and us!), and we cannot wait to have them home.
10 months old August 24, 2008
Eva enjoying playtime
Yesterday, Eva turned 10 months old! We even sang Happy 10 month Birthday to her – this was Colin’s idea. Colin is still coming off his 4 week long birthday extravaganza. This boy has had 4 cakes, including one this week with Uncle Christopher and Aunt Colleen. They treated him to a night on his own with a remote control jeep, Burger King and playground time. Lucky Colin! And, as if the month long celebration was not enough, Papa and Bibi come to town tomorrow, and the partying will continue.
Colin looking quite pleased with Cake #4
It’s hard to believe that we have had Eva for almost a month now. She continues to thrive, and she seems to like being part of our family. Thankfully, we’ve gotten over our jetlag and adjusted our internal clocks. I am still sleep deprived, but that’s not Eva’s fault – that would the Olympics fever I have. We DVR it, and then stay up watching until at least midnight. I’m still behind, so I am figuring closing ceremonies will really be on about Wednesday, then back to normal.
Colin started back to school last week. He’s still adjusting, and it’s been a pretty tough week. It has really just dawned on him that he will go 5 days in a row, then only 2 off. It’s a far cry from the cushy one day on one day off schedule we used to have. He still always manages a smile for Eva, and he loves to pick her up and play with her. He has the classic case of wanting to revert back to his babyhood. We have been watching old video and talking a lot about when he was a baby. His most recent request has been to sleep in her crib. One night this week, she cried because she didn’t want to be in her crib, and he cried because he wanted to be in it. We ended up piling both kids into the car, wailing, for a evening drive. Thankfully they were alseep within minutes, and thankfully gas prices are down just in time.
I start back to work the day after Labor Day so I only have one full week left to really enjoy my time off with Eva. I will work from home only part time though, so I will get to see her. We have hired a babysitter to come here during my work hours. She is terrific, and we think she and Eva will get along famously. (Hi Lala if you are reading!)
So – here’s what’s new in Eva’s world:
- A new tooth! Yes – a top one has just popped through, to join the bottom two. I can’t see it, but I feel it. This is great news for Eva. This girl loves to eat finger food. She’s already quite sick of the mush. We’re really impressed with her dexterity already and the variety of things she likes. She didn’t complain about the tooth coming in either!
- One step – in my opinion, not really walking, but Colin believes she is. He wants to celebrate (perhaps with cake?) She anxious to get around, so she may be walking before her 1st birthday. For now, she’s lost the hitch in her crawl, and she’s more into the turbo crawl. She is intent on catching our dog Penny, who wants nothing to do with her.
- Loves the bath – Keisha was right! First one at home..hated it! Second..liked it. Third…loved it, and squealed all the way through.
- On Tour – making the rounds to meet friends – she is very social. So far we’ve had lunch at the school with Colin so he could introduce her, and we’ve seen some of our local buddies at a cookout last weekend and a birthday party. She went to work with Uncle Brandy, and she came to bookclub to meet the gals with me this morning. She’s getting around!
- Haircut – we’d had too many – “Is it a boy or girl” – can you believe that? We had to do something.
Bath try #2 - this is not so bad...
Eva after Penny -see her determination?
Eva explores her room
Eva with Anna
First Week Home August 16, 2008
- Colin’s Birthday
Eva Joy and Colin in their party hats
For anyone still checking…
We’ve been home for a week now, and we’re finally catching up. We’ve had a to switch our clocks back to Eastern time. Eva Joy had the hardest time with that, and she was up in the wee hours of the morning playing for quite a few nights. Thankfully, she is starting to adapt, and we’ve all been the better for it.
Yesterday was Colin’s birthday. He turned 5 years old. He went bowling with his buddy Austin, and now he’s at Austin’s birthday party. Colin has been terrific. He really loves having Eva Joy as part of our family, and he’s anxious to help. He’s had a few sad moments as he’s realizing the attention she’s getting. One day he said, ” you never look at me cute like that!” The strangest request we’ve had is to turn his carseat facing backwards. “It’s not fair that Eva gets to ride like that.”
We had checkups for both kids this week. Colin sailed through his, and said the shots didn’t even hurt. He continues to top the charts at 97% height, and he told the doctor he wants to be a fireman, maybe. He starts back to school on Monday.
Eva did well also, although she was under the weather with a virus whe we went. She’s long and lean for an average US baby, at 70% height and 10% weight. She still babbling, crawling and pulling up. She’s gotten used to the carseat, and that’s where she takes her best naps. She’s not a fan of the crib, and she cries whenever she realizes she’s in it. So far, she’s been bunking with us. I got her a soother toy that attaches to her crib rails. It’s music and sounds from the rainforest. I am hoping it helps- at least she could remember the humidity from back home in Vietnam!
This is how you watch TV, Eva Joy
Home August 11, 2008
It feels so good to be home! We arrived late last night, very weary, and we were happy to see Christopher and Brandy who greeted us at the airport. We arrived home to a house decorated to the hilt, fridge stocked, and homemade bread and cookies. Thanks Colleen, Laura and Pam for making it so special! We’ve been trying to catch sleep where we can, and Eva Joy is adjusting well. She’s pretty excited about the space and the toys and all the friends. Pictures say it all best- here’s some from our arrival in Minnesota and since we have arrived home:
Colin and Eva - first hug!
Ryan and Katie hold the Welcome sign they made
Ryan, Katie, Molly O'Neill and Colin all love on Eva
Checking each other out
Decorations
More Decorations
Colin shares his breakfast
Back in the USA August 9, 2008
Sorry we did not get to post on our last day. Internet access was not available for the last day, then we didn’t find time when we were at the airport. Hope you weren’t worried!
We are happy to announce that Baby Eva has touched American soil as of 3:15 today in the back yard of our friends, the O’Neill’s in Minnesota (where Colin was staying the last week we were gone). We are so grateful to them and my parents in Iowa for watching Colin while we were gone. It sounds like he had a really good time. We may not get him back now.
We are travel weary, but definitely happy to be back. We flew from Hanoi to Tokyo on Friday evening Vietnam time. All of our travel was pretty smooth. We had a 10 hour layover in the Tokyo, made all the better by finding a baby stroller to borrow, a playroom for Eva and some sleep/shower pods, which you can rent, which is much cheaper and a better short-term option than a hotel. Eva slept most of the way home, and she’s doing well considering what she’s been through.
We’ll be leaving Mn shortly, and we will be back in NC at 10:00 tonight!
More from Sapa – UPDATED August 6, 2008
Updated: I added some pictures down below!
Elizabeth this time… no pictures… boo! We can’t connect very well from the hotel, but I popped on one of their computers to check in with the rest of the world. It’s raining here, and we have about 6 more hours before we catch the bus to catch the train to catch the plane…then home!! It’ll be about two days and a half days to complete all that, but we are eyeing the home stretch. We are ready to be home. We miss you all, and we are especially homesick for Colin.
As you can see by his post, Kirk’s made many friends. He always does when we travel. I wish you could see the strange looks we get here. I think it’s mostly due to the fact that Kirk carries Eva around in her carrier. I have not ever seen a Vietnamese man carrying a child here. The fact that she is Vietnamese seems less of an issue to them, although a lot of people stop and ask us. I think any staring we’re in for at home will seem mild!
The Hmoung women surrounded us again today. I will try and take a video because a picture just does not do it justice. They all shout, “Buy from me!! Why you not buy from me??” They wait outside our hotel for us!
We’ll check in again tomorrow, and I promise to make up for posting today without pictures. To those of you who have claimed that Eva is a ham. Yep – she is. Thank goodness – Kirk tried hard the first few days to very little smiles and no laughs. She was a tough crowd. She’s either just now showing her true colors or she’s adapting to him. One thing that is funny is that she still looks very serious, but you can coax a smile or a laugh, but it’s only for a second, then she’s right back to serious again. 
Love to you all
Baby trying to sell a bracelet to Eva - his first words..."Buy from me!!"
Water buffalo passing through
Day 2 in Sapa: Rain, Rain, Rain
Among the Hmong in Sapa August 6, 2008
Greetings from Vietnam!
Hi Everyone, we’ve been out of pocket the last couple of days. We gave up our cushy/comfy hotel in Hanoi for a trip to the mountains of Northern Vietnam in a charming little village called Sapa. To get here we boarded an overnight train, which was fine. It’s not the best sleep we ever had, but then again, we are not used to riding the rails. Eva slept like a champ. A young lady named Ngoc (pronounced like noke) was very helpful to us in getting us to the train station and onto the right train. She booked our train and hotel and everything went smoothly.
Sapa is gorgeous. The mountains are breath-taking. They have these terraced rice paddies and the mountains are enormous. It’s the eastern-most part of the Himalayas and we can see Vietnam’s highest mountain peak Fan si pan (which we like to call Fancy Pants) from our hotel room. There are a lot of tourists in Sapa and the locals like to try and sell them their wares, especially the Hmong (sounds like mung) women, which you’ll see in photos below. Nerd alert: Please go to the following link if you’d care to know more about Sapa…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa_Pa
Eva seems to have charmed another crowd here in Sapa. Many are curious about her and very sweet towards her. She is really blossoming before our eyes and is a very fun, happy child, and a busy bee. The ladies at our hotel today looked after her while we ate breakfast after we got here early. They clearly love and value family very much here, and that is awesome.
So far we’ve chilled out and just enjoyed the scenery, had breakfast with a nice couple, Dan and Sharon from Cape Cod, and while Elizabeth napped today, I met some really nice people from Germany who were staying in our hotel. They were traveling from north to the south over 4 weeks and were just getting started. Sounds like fun under different circumstances. Other than we took a break from Asian food to eat a delicious Tropical pizza today. Elizabeth said it reminded her of pizza she’s had in Australia. We also went through some of the shops here, many of which have beatiful clothing items made by the local Hmong and other tribes here (the Hmong being the most conspicuous). Well, that’s all for today. We’re here for another day tomorrow and back on the train tomorrow night for Hanoi and home!!! We can’t wait to see you all again and introduce you to our baby girl. Thanks for all your comments, support and prayers.
In our train cabin
Beautiful Mountains in Sapa
Eva and Daddy enjoy the beautiful view from our terrace
The terraced rice paddies...amazing how they use the land
Our hotel in Sapa...we enjoyed it
Elizabeth surrounded by Black Hmong ladies trying to sell their wares
The Black Hmong women of Sapa are known to be persistent. They engage you and if you show any interest or sometimes even if you say, no thank you politely and look at them, they will use it as an opening to pitch their wares. They are really nice, very interesting looking, with beautiful dress and many speak English decently enough.
Local residents taking it easy
The Hmong and the Restless (OK, I said it)
Goodnight from Eva!
US Visa in hand! August 4, 2008
Up Close and Personal
Our work here is done. Eva has her visa now (not her American Express, Brandy). The appointment itself was no big deal. The Embassy was highly secure, and we had to pass through security like at the airport. Once in, we just had to pay and show our passports. It was ready a few hours later. We went home for a nap afterwards. Eva slept 3 hours! We just chilled out today in our hotel. We went out for dinner in an area called the Opera District. It’s very pretty, especially at night because it’s all lit up. We went to a kids area we saw the other night where they have a small carnival. It was fun to watch the kids. Many of them would come up to see the baby or to practice saying “hello,” and they would giggle and get shy. We’re in for the night, and we’re checking out tomorrow. We have made reservations to go to Sa Pa for the next few days, which is near the border with China in a mountainous region. To get to Sa Pa from Hanoi, you take an overnight sleeper train (yes, we’re nuts), spend the first day, overnight in a hotel, spend another day, then back to Hanoi by overnight sleeper again. Hopefully we will be able to post from there too. I can assure you there will be lots of pictures taken. It looks beautiful.
Thanks for all of your comments. It’s really fun for us to read them. We are homesick, so it make us feel better when we read them!
Here are some more pictures from our day:
Eva checks out the traffic from our window
At the American Embassy
Eva and her buddy Minh (Kirk providing entertainment in background)
Eva watches the downpour outside
Ha Long Bay August 4, 2008
We visited Ha Long Bay yesterday. It’s one of the most famous scenes from Vietnam. We drove to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi in a mini bus with another adoptive famiy staying here. It’s about 3 hours each way. The babies did well considering the heat and lack of space. Eva had what Kirk refers to as RBS “Restless Baby Syndrome.” Oh Eva – just wait until the plane ride!! We then toured the bay on a junk boat, and we had a fresh seafood lunch with shrimp, crab and carp. We even stopped and went inside one of the formations. Here’s a few pictures from our day.
Cruisin'
Napping on the way there
Seeing the countryside
Getting on our Junk boat
The Bay
Us at the bay
Exploring the caves - Eva was the main attraction for this group of girls
Here’s Kirk’s groaner for the day…”Ha Long ’til we get there?”
Anyway – we fell into bed when we got back, and we’re just chilling out this morning before our embassy appointment today. That’s our last official step. We’ve had no luck changing our tickets, so we’re considering heading to the hills for a change of pace.
We talked to Colin yesterday. He’s now in Minnesota with the O’Neill’s. He had a great time in Iowa with Grandma and Grandpa. He’s already been to the zoo, and I think they are off to the beach today. We’ve been showing Eva lots of pictures and videos of Colin. He’s going to love her. The funniest thing she does is growls like a little tiger.
More later – thanks for checking on us!
More from Hanoi August 2, 2008
Here’s more pictures of Eva. Let’s face it – that’s what you’re here for!
Grins!
Going towards the outlet...danger baby!
We’ve been in Hanoi now for two days. Sorry we haven’t been posting as often – the web service has been too slow to upload pictures. It’s really a nice city. We’ve been doing a little sightseeing. Yesterday we were a little tired – another very early morning. I never thought I would be waiting for breakfast to open at 6:00 AM. We discovered an excellent breakfast in the hotel. The best part about it was the highchair. We’ve been doing so much eating with Eva on our laps, or feeding picnic style on the floor, that this was a very welcome sight. We (I) have found breakfast is a little odd. There are always seafood, Vietnamese pho (soup), dimsum, rice and noodles available on the buffet along with the omelet and some items we typically eat. But you all know Kirk – he has embraced it all, and he regularly scarfs down an American breakfast, some soup, usually something with wasabi and fruit. He even fit in a bowl of fruit loops too yesterday. We alway get our money’s worth!
We are about 6 blocks from a lake in the heart of the city called Ho Hoan Kiam (Lake of the Restored Sword). There is legend of a divine tortoise in the lake and a king who received a sword from him. It’s a nice spot to walk or sit and have breakfast. We enjoyed watching the morning exercise routines here.
Divine Tortoise
Hoan Kiem Lake, view to Divine Turtle Pagoda
The Bridge to the Pagoda, Hoan Kiem Lake
The Turtle Pagoda is a very spiritual place
Enjoying breakfast by the lake
Friendly women who loved on Eva
Our experience with the Vietnamese people is that they are very friendly and engaging, and love family, especially babies. So many would give Eva a smile or touch her cheek or say “Hello Baby” when we passed them. It is really very sweet.
We attempted our first night out in a nice Vietnamese restaurant last night. We didn’t get exactly what we bargained for. We were looking for something traditional, but not too exotic. I researched it for a little while and found the perfect place. We got dressed up and took a cab there, only to find sort of a run down area where no one spoke English, and we never found the restaurant. Well, the cab was gone, so we just decided to make the best of it and walk and find something else. We ended up in a Western style microbrewery. It was a strange experience to say the least. The funniest part was when we asked if they had a baby highchair, and they came back with 4 cushions so that we could prop her up on a regular chair. This from a waitress who chastised me for letting her chew on a chopstick!
This is the place; looks inviting, right?
This morning, we went out early to the lake area, and then we went to the Old Quarter for some shopping. We saw fresh food stalls that are situated in block long alleys. They have fresh fruits and vegetables, spices, all sorts of fish and meats – some staring back at you. They have streets there named for their wares – like handbag street, etc. We even took a fun ride on a cyclo (bicycle carriage). They had ones that would fit two Asian bottoms, but not two American ones. What a fun way to see the Old Quarter. The cyclo driver followed us for nearly an hour, meeting us outside alleys and on corners before we agreed to ride. His persistence ended paying off.
Kirk and Eva on a Cyclo
View from a Cyclo, Old City Hanoi
Some Old City Hanoi Wares
- Old City Hanoi Fresh Market
Fish swimming
Pretty Store Fronts
In the afternoon on Saturday, we chilled out, and Eva took a nap. It’s not easy getting her settled, but we tried swaddling her today, and she loved it. We are also happy to report that she’s an excellent eater. So far she’s like all the vegetables and fruits I packed, and she likes some of our table food as well. She’s adjusting really well to all these changes in her life. She has taken to us, and I’m not so worried about attachment issues or developmental delays.
Swaddling Rules!
When she woke up from her nap, we played and took pictures (of course). We went out tonight to dinner – a quick one (the nice one I referred to above STILL eludes us). Tomorrow we are off on a long day trip to the famous Ha Long Bay. It will probably look familiar to you. We have found out that our embassy appointment is on Monday afternoon. We will finish our process a full five days earlier than expected. Unfortunately, I have had no luck getting us on an earlier flight yet. I will try again tomorrow.
More to come later!
