Our First Meeting

With our adoption representative and another family going back to visit the orphanage where their first son was adopted from, we headed off from our hotel in HCMC, for the the boats. I was glad to be taking the hydrofoil boats to Vung Tau as I knew this would be faster. We brought way too much luggage, and I could tell the people helping us with our bags thought so too. However, we made it to our new hotel. We had a short 20 minutes or so to freshen up and collect a few things to bring to the orphanage. This included a goodie bag for the older kids with stickers, pencils, sharpeners and balls with funny faces, a donation to the orphanage for supplies, a thank you card and money for the nou nou's and a rattle for our baby. With everything in hand, we headed back down to meet our group and we drove the short 5-7 minutes to the orphanage. Our first meeting - we went inside the orphanage, our older son was so excited to be meeting his baby brother. After meeting the Director and talking with her for a few minutes, we were allowed to go and meet baby. Ordinarily, the Director prefers visitors come before 11am or after 2pm to give the babies a nap and the nou nou's their lunch. So we had a very short first meeting. Our older son asked how we know which baby is his brother, there were so many all standing or sitting by the gate looking at us. I spotted a nanny with our baby and gently pointed our older son (M) to him. M went straight for him and picked him up. The poor little guy was scared and started crying, which kind of upset our older son. I forgot to prepare him a little better for that, as it is to be expected. But we said its okay and he tried again. He was a little scared of us as well, and of course our big camera didn't help, so we put it away for a bit. Ray and I held back just letting him see and get used to us. The nou nou's encouraged us to hold him and console his crying, so we did. They were all so friendly, helpful and understanding. If baby got too upset, they would swoop in and cheer him up and tell him it's okay. It's a bit of a blur, but at one point, I believe it was the Director who came up to baby while I was holding him and took his arm and said Momma, over and over to him. Almost as if to say its okay, don't cry, this is your Momma. We were about to leave but Ray hadn't had a chance to hold him yet, so he asked to hold him and I got a few pictures. We also asked the Director if we could take some pictures for another couple in France, waiting for their baby. After promising not to post pictures online, she agreed and showed him to us. So S&S, we will email you pictures as soon as we can get them loaded and emailed. Then it was time to leave. We returned to the hotel and met our group at the hotel for lunch. Our rep ordered a wonderful assortment of food; rice, spring rolls, grapefruit salad, oysters and cheese in their Shell and large shrimp. Being so close to the ocean, all the seafood was very fresh and tasty. We went back to our hotel room for a short 25 minute rest. At this point, our older son had been up for over 12 hours. We could tell he was getting overtired, but we were allowed one more visit to the orphanage, and of course, we wanted to go. So, we didn't nap but cooled off and rested, got a cab by ourselves and headed back to the orphanage. Our representative met us there later. This was a really nice, more relaxed visit. We were there for over two hours and were able to spend lots of time with him and the other babies. We bribed him for his affection with little corn puffs, and made fast friends with all the babies. Ours is certainly a little more reserved, or as Ray put it, more "sensitive", but he is warming up to us. One of the nou nou's suggested we take him for a walk in the hall when he started crying. Ray did this and helped calm him down, then I took a turn and he started to cry again, but I walked and sang to him and he again calmed down. Matthew was growing impatient for his turn so we let him sit with him for a minute. Of course, this got him crying again, but we picked him up and consoled him. Later one of the nannies took him to give him a bottle. At first I was going to leave them, but M followed so I though I had better go too. We sat back and took more pictures. Then he had some water and she put him down on the floor. This particular nanny seems to really make him laugh. I would like to learn her name. I asked if she primarily cared for him, but our rep said no, that they all do. It was kind of funny, but while we were watching and interacting with him, M would try to sit with him. The little monkey (the baby) would keep moving in circles so his back was to M. M didn't seem bothered by this, and kind of took it to be a game. The nannies encouraged baby to play with M and even put him on top of M when he was lying down. M found this quite funny. He stated he thought having a baby brother would be boring but said "actually, this is kind of fun". We got to see him crawl at this point, which we were excited about, and the nou nou was encouraging him to walk, with some help, towards his bottles. Shortly thereafter, it was nap time again. We left the orphanage after taking a picture of the formula he is on, and our rep promised to write out his daily schedule for us. We are starting to get an idea of what it is, but it will be nice to have more details. We watched another nanny rock baby in his crib and sing him to sleep. He was so tired. As I suspected, the rep said that likely our adoption ceremony won't happen until around the 5th or 6th of July, so we will need to extend our stay in Vung Tau. We wonder if the Director, when we see her again on Monday, will let us bring him back to the hotel with us on Monday. This would be nice. The couple we have been in contact with arrive on Monday. It will be nice to finally meet them. We have met her daughter...she makes the cutest little smiles to us. They will have their mandatory few days of visits with her, and then we will have our adoption ceremony together. Back at the hotel, around 5pm, we shared a few leftovers from M's lunch, and went to bed. True to form, I slept 7 hours and woke up around midnight. The air conditioning is really making me cough alot, so I woke Ray up (actually, probably the coughing did that) to get him to turn it to a lower setting. I will try to sleep some more...wish me luck!

Ho Chi Minh City

Well, we arrived safe and sound in Ho Chi Minh city. Both flights were great and it really was a breeze getting here. Sure, we prepared alot in advance, but I was thinking yesterday, I could do this again, no problem. The flight home with baby might be a little more exhausting though. And we HAVE to have a bulkhead seat or an extra seat for baby. There is just no room between the seats and it would be way too cramped for 12 hours. The only glitch in our travels was that a representative from our hotel wasn't there to meet us. Fortunately, a cab driver lent us his cell phone to call the hotel. Apparently, they thought we were coming in at 10pm. After checking our hotel confirmation, sure enough, it said arrival time 2200. Darn, can't believe we didn't catch that. So, we paid him $2 U.S. for the use of his phone. Probably too much, right?! Well, it was a lifesaver for us so it was worth it. The outcome was we had to hire a taxi to take us to the hotel. Fortunately, we asked the hotel what this should cost and then said no more than $10. Well, no one wanted to take us for that amount. They all showed us a card that said downtown was $25-30 U.S. finally, we found someone to agree to take us for $15 U.S. but then the wierdest thing happened. We started heading towards the cab and then he passed us off to another driver. We then confirmed the amount with him, carried on a bit further and then got passed off again! This driver was a smoker and I told him I am allergic (Carla you can testify to that, right?!). Right away he threw his cigarette on the ground and we were off. Thankfully, this driver did take us to our hotel. Our 5 year old son commented on all the safety infractions along the way though, lol. In the cab we didn't have seat belts, the people on motorcycles were carry young children and even sleeping babies, no helmets on the kids, two men we saw had tooth picks in their mouths and one was talking on a cell phone. Honestly, I was paying more attention to the road signs and wishing I had mapped out the route to the hotel so I could see if we were on track. I realized part way to the hotel that we didn't ask for the cab drivers ID and we were in an unmarked car (ie no taxi signs on the car and no meter). However, as I said, we made it safe and sound. After checking in, we had a look around at the pool, indoor and outdoor play area, restaurant by the pool and mini grocery store. We met up with a representative from our adoption agency for a few minutes, found out when we leave in the morning (it's early!) bought some groceries. Yikes, I think we paid too much, and then headed out in the heat to sit by the pool and enjoy the sunshine. As soon as we got into the pool - torrential downpour and wind! So, we stayed in the pool until we heard the thunder and then figured it was time to head back inside. I didn't realize how tired my son was. He was being good and seemed full of energy but we sat down on the couch for a drink and some snacks and within 5 minutes, I realized he had fallen asleep on me. So, as much as I wanted to push through until after dinner, I thought ok, let's have a nap and we can have room service when we wake up. Right! 7 hours later!!! It's midnight now, I have been awake for the past hour. Thankfully, everyone else is asleep. For how long though? I'm not sure. Well, time for another decongestant. I forgot to mention my cold to they adoption rep. I sooooo want to meet our baby tomorrow, but not sure if we will be able to with my cold. And I certainly don't want to pass it on to him. We will have to see what the rep says in the morning. Well, another 8 hours and we will be on the move again. Oh, and something really cool, the son of a former neighbour of ours is traveling in Vietnam right now, and we hope to meet up with him and his girlfriend in another week or so. It will be nice to see a familiar face in a foreign country! So far, true to what we have read and heard, the Vietnamese people are lovely. Looking forward to our travels today and to seeing more of the country.

Leg 1 of 2 to Vietnam

When we left it was 2am on June 28th. Only 11 1/2 hours later we have landed in Tapei, Taiwan and it is currently 6:40am on June 29th. So, we lost part of a day, but who is counting? We hope to see our baby boy tomorrow, we are so excited. We all slept for over 5 hours on the plane, which was great. Our final leg to Vietnam will only be 2 1/2 hours. That should feel like a breeze. Although we all seem to have developed colds. I am the most congested and the landing was a bit rough on my ears. we will be met at the airport in Vietnam and then head to our hotel, and maybe straight to the pool. At 5am in Taipei, it was already 28 degrees celsius or 82 degrees Fahrenheit! But we will take that over the rain and cooler weather we have been getting lately. We are all looking forward to getting to our hotel, unpacking and having a look around. For now, Matthew has found a little friend who is from Vietnam, and they are playing Star Wars Lego together. His English is very good, makes me wish I knew more languages!

Giving Thanks and Last Minute Preparations

Last night, my husband and I went on a date night, while our son had a sleepover with a friend.  We reflected on how lucky we are to have our son, who was conceived via IVF, and now to be blessed with another son through adoption.  We are so anxious to be travelling soon to meet our new little guy very soon.  I think of his birth Mother often and wonder what she must be feeling right now, or how she has been feeling over the past year.  I wonder how many members of his birth family know about him and I wonder who will think about him over the years, as he grows older.  We hope we will be able to learn as much as possible about how he came to the orphanage, to help answer questions he will have later in life.  Most of all, we hope he will be happy with us, and confident in himself. 

Today, we continue to work through our lists and finalize our suitcases.  We really want to pack lightly, but it's been really hard to do that!  I like to be over prepared, and I think I have bought out half the drug store and half the health food store with all the supplements, remedies, lotions and oils, etc.!  Every time I go out, I find something else that I think is essential to bring along.  My latest purchase is a snorkelling set for my older son....he is thrilled about that, and has been walking around the house with it on!  I don't do very well in the heat so I have bought cold packs, gel packs and a bathing suit and I plan to stay as close to the water as I can to stay cool!

A friend made a wonderful suggestion for my older son on the airplane trip to Vietnam.  She recently went to South Africa to visit family with her 5 year old, and she suggested we individually wrap all the items we have bought to keep our son busy.  She said to allow him to open one every hour.  I thought this was a fantastic idea!  I hope customs will be okay with it though.  But it will be neat to let him enjoy the gifts, one at a time, rather than all at once.  And hopefully, I have bought enough to keep him occupied!  But even more than that, I hope he sleeps for a good chunk of the flight!

Tomorrow night, our dog gets to have a sleepover at another friends house, who he will be staying with while we are gone.  Hopefully they all survive :)  He's a good pup...crazy at times, but a real snuggler.  I wonder what he will think of the new babe...probably will fill him with kisses and think....cool, another puppy to play with, LOL.  Yes, we will keep a close eye on both of them :)

Well, the birds are starting to chirp outside, and I think it is time to get started on the day!

Asia Bound!

In less than two weeks we are Asia Bound!  There is so much to do to prepare for our trip....our wonderful friends and family have offered to help, but most of what we need to do, we need to do ourselves.  But slowly, my husband and I are checking things off of our "To Do" list.  It will be a relief to get on the plane.

We expect that our Giving and Receiving Ceremony will be the 1st week of July.  We are looking forward to getting to Vietnam a few days earlier.  We plan to visit the orphanage a few times before taking our son back to the hotel.  This will give him a few days to get used to us before he transitions into our family, and away from all he currently knows. But we are sure with time, patience and alot of love and understanding, he will transition nicely.

Thank goodness for everyone who has travelled before us...it has been so helpful compiling suggestions and recommendations from other families.  We feel pretty organized and definitely ready for our big trip. 

Travel Approval

Words just can't describe how we are feeling right now...elated, excited, overjoyed, over the moon etc.!!!  We received news yesterday that our dossiers have been signed off on by the Department of Adoptions in Vietnam, and our paperwork has been sent to the orphanage.  This means that we can start to make our travel arrangements.  It's so hard to believe this day is finally here...it doesn't seem real yet!  I don't think it's really going to sink in until we get on the airplane.

We have been in touch with another couple travelling at the same time, to adopt a baby from the same orphanage where we are adopting from.  It's been wonderful to share this news together, to be able to help eachother and bounce ideas off of eachother too.  We are looking forward to meeting them in Vietnam, and hope to stay in touch for many years.  It will be nice for our children to have that special link together, having been at the same orphanage, at the same time.

Our older son is excited, but also a bit nervous.  He loves babies, but he says it's a little scary because "I've never had a baby brother before".  He has so many ideas of things he wants to do with him, teach him and share with him.  Hopefully, they will become fast friends.

We had hoped to have our flights booked by today, however, there is a time change between us and the travel agency.  The dates she picked for us were the original ones we sent her, not the ones we updated her with this morning.  So, that will have to be corrected, and hopefully we can finalize our plans tomorrow.  They are also taking care of preparing our visa's.

Now, with the animals/house taken care of, bags mostly packed, we are very close to being ready to travel.  Our list still has lots of items on it, but with the help of Dropbox, my husband and I can see/add to the list and also mark off things as they are accomplished.  We have the feeling that June and July are going to fly by, but we will try to slow down, breath, relax and enjoy as much as we can.

Update from Ontario - June 8, 2012

Well, we are really trying to be patient and let the process happen, but I caved and emailed the Ontario adoption agency this morning for an update.  Apparently, we are now waiting for Vietnam to sign off on our dossier (package of paperwork that we have prepared over the past couple of years).  This should happen soon, and the Director of the Ontario adoption agency is optimistic that we will travel by the end of June.  So this is good news.  We hope to have a travel date soon...it makes it so much easier to plan around an actual date!  Everyone has worked so hard to help us to make this happen and we are soooo very appreciative, and feel lucky to be working with a great team of individuals.  I also want to say a BIG thank you to all of you out there who have emailed us recently to lend your support, congratulations, and suggestions for when we travel.  It has helped us immensely to prepare for our upcoming trip. And, of course, to family and friends who continue to support us through this process, the ups, the downs and all the things in between.  I am so thankful for all of you :)

Article 17 Letter - June 4, 2012

Received the Article 17 letter today...woohoo!