Mommy's Adoption Journey

One year! And almost 3 years old!

2009-03-23T10:44:00.003-05:00

It's been a year (last week) since we brought Maddie home. We adopted her on 3/3 and came home on 3/15. I can't believe it's been a whole year. And only a year. Feels like she's always been here. Same with Dylan. Speaking of whom, little man will be THREE YEARS OLD in 3 days! We've had to delay his party due to some family being out of town on both sides, but he'll have a party at school that day.

Both kids are doing great. Maddie and mommy just got over strep throat, but other than that, everything is good! She's really starting to talk more now, and I learned last night that she knows her colors! She had a bowl of fruit loops and picked them up one at a time and named the colors. I about fell over. She's so smart. Takes after her big brother!

Here are some new pics, for your viewing pleasure!

Maddie:

Dylan:

Oops

2008-11-14T07:27:00.002-06:00

I forgot about my blog. So sorry! Does anyone even read this? Please leave a comment if you do. Otherwise, I may just stop blogging.

I'm thinking about taking a new direction with the blog. It was started to document the process of our adoptions. Now that those are complete, it has morphed into an 'about the kids' kind of blog. I may expand that to talk just about life in general. Is that ok? I think my only reader is Aunt Pat, and I'm sure she won't mind. ;)

So Maddie had her 15-month well-child visit yesterday. She's 23.5 pounds, 30" tall and NOT well. Much to my surprise, she has an ear infection. Again. I had no clue, as she's had no symptoms. But lo and behold, she was crying in her sleep all night and now she has a fever. So she's staying home and cuddling with mommy today. Dylan was none too happy about that. HE wanted to stay home and cuddle with mommy, too. But mommy has to work, and that's going to be hard enough with one baby here.

Speaking of work, I'm just praying I still have a job through the year-end. It's been a mess for about 2-3 months now and I still don't have answers. See, the position I'm in is a training type of position for new analysts. I was promoted into the position 2 years ago and it was supposed to last about 2 years. Well, at my last review, my boss said it's about time to move onwards and upwards. Only his suggestion was a swap with someone in a position below me. Um, ok...but will they be changing said position to my level?

In the meantime, another analyst position was posted, so I applied. I interviewed for it and the interviews went well. But they wanted to talk to other candidates as well, and I was being pushed to decide on the swap offer. My boss said if I didn't take the swap, they would be posting it and I'd have to apply and compete for it. So my choices were: back out of the posted role and accept the 'guaranteed' position (it was approved to change to an analyst position) or take my chances and risk losing BOTH positions. Well, since we really can't afford to lose my income, I backed out of the posted position and accepted the swap.

Well, last week, I asked if I should start training the guy who is taking my position and vice versa, and I was told they're trying to decide what to do. HUH? I thought this was a done deal. Nope, they may be reorganizing that department and may be eliminating that position. Ummm...so does that mean I stay in this position and the other guy gets laid off, or he gets my position and I get laid off?? Dunno yet. I feel like I'm being pushed out. Pushed to decide to take a job that may not even exist anymore. Great. Just freaking great. Until we get our tax refund and pay down the adoption debt, money is realllllllly tight. So tight, in fact, that I don't know how or what the kids are getting for Christmas.

In brighter news, the business (www.hyenacart.com/VinhThiDesigns) is doing really well. Sales slowed down with the economy, but we're still hanging in there and staying busy. Every weekend is full of embroidery work for Chris and I'm constantly knitting. My customs list is booked out to next May. Granted, I only make about $1/hour knitting, but I can do it in the car on the way to work (Chris drives), sitting in the waiting room at the doc, laying in bed, etc. And I really enjoy it. It's a great hobby for me, since I have constantly have my hands busy and have to constantly be multi-tasking. I just can't do only one thing at a time. Never have. So normally, I'm watching TV, checking the computer (email or one of the many boards I post on), knitting and talking to the kids.

Speaking of the kids, other than the current ailment, they're doing great. They're both happy, healthy and adjusted/adjusting well. Maddie is our little drama queen and Dylan's the independent one. He wants to do everything by himself and wants to help us with everything. They're both such great kids.

Halloween was fun. Dylan was a pirate and Maddie was a flower. We went to 3-4 houses to trick-or-treat, and also went to H'ween in the Park and Boo at the Zoo. I love the holidays and can't wait for Christmas!

My goodness-has it been that long?

2008-08-08T09:32:00.003-05:00

Wow, I haven't updated in 2 months. So sorry! It's been crazy busy here, with our new business taking off (www.hyenacart.com/VinhThiDesigns) and two toddlers. Plus working full-time. Ah well, it's my life and I love it. The kids are wonderful. Well, Maddie is having a pretty bad flare-up of her skin condition right now. They never said for sure, but the ped derm thinks it's severe eczema and not acropustulosis. As of this morning, she has patches of red bumps on her legs, her belly feels like 'chicken skin' (per Christopher) and is covered in tiny bumps. And she has the tell-tale blisters on her feet. Poor thing is itching like crazy. Time to break out the benedryl and peanut oil (what they prescribed for her skin).

Other than that, they're great. She's saying mama, dada (when she sees us, so the words do have meaning to her!), bye bye and hi. Dylan is talking in sentences now (I like trains. I like cars. I like Dora. LOL). I'm just amazed by both kids on a daily basis. They're both beautiful and perfect. And I feel so blessed to call them mine.

And these are from Maddie's first birthday party:

Guess who's walking!

2008-06-11T05:51:00.000-05:00

Everyone is doing really well. Just really busy!

One more week!

2008-04-01T09:31:00.002-05:00

Until I head back to work, and Maddie heads to daycare. I was going to start back 4/15, but I decided to go back a week early (mainly for insurance purposes-if I get half a paycheck, my insurance is covered, but if I wait until the 15th, I won't get a paycheck and will have to pay for my insurance).

Things are still going great with the kids. They are just perfect and wonderful. Still sleeping through the night and rarely crying. In fact, she's laughing at me right now. LOL

We did have a semi-rough week medically. Long story short, I got MRSA (a dangerous staph infection) in my armpit. I believe it's from exposure to Madison's head after I got razor burn in Vietnam (note to self: pack more than one razor for a 3-week trip). So we believe that's what's on Madison's head. We're still battling the oozing sores. They've come and gone twice now, and are back today. Her acropustulosis is back again already, and is on her hips, back, feet, hands, arms, face and neck. Much more widespread than last time, but less severity. We're treating it accordingly.

Anyway, the MRSA caused 4 abscesses (two large ones) under my arm, one of which was lanced (OUCH). I've been on two medications, but I believe the second one seems to be doing the trick. The abscesses have shrunk significantly and the pain is almost gone. I can lift my arm and hold my baby again.

My biggest concern is for the babies left behind at the orphanage. Madison had this when we got her. It's highly contagious. And can be fatal. I've informed my agency and offered funds to purchase medication for the babies. Hopefully something can be done for them.

On a brighter note, my baby turned TWO last week!! He's such a big boy. Where does the time go??

And what post is complete without pictures?

Home one week and doing GREAT

2008-03-22T13:59:00.003-05:00

This trip was SO much smoother than our first. We were all over jetlag in 2-3 days, Madison is sleeping through the night, everything is great. It's been a fabulous first week!

Yesterday, we spent a couple hours at the park. Dylan played on the playground with Daddy and Madison played in her pack 'n play while I knitted her some shorts.

We went to the zoo today for EggstravaganZoo. Dylan did an egg hunt and had a blast. Madison seemed to enjoy strolling around the zoo. We only stayed 2-3 hours, as it was naptime/lunchtime and the kids were falling asleep. They both slept all the way home, plus some.

Dylan is going back to school Monday. Daddy will be home another week, then he goes back. Maddie and mommy have another 2 weeks after that for bonding before she goes to school and I go to work. We may do a couple half days at school during that time to get her used to it.

She's SUCH a happy baby. Always laughing and smiling. Well, not ALWAYS. I mean, she does cry sometimes, but when she's not crying, she laughing. All you have to do is smile at her and she laughs. It's so cute. See? I just tested it out and she laughed!

Anyway, the adjustment seems to be going almost TOO well, but I'm not complaining. She's happy, we're happy, Dylan's happy. It's all good! Here are some new pictures.

Oh, and I don't know why the right side of all my pictures is cut off. If anyone can tell me how to fix that, I'd appreciate it!

It's NOT scabies

2008-03-18T05:52:00.000-05:00

We went to the International Adoption Clinic at Vanderbilt's Children's Hospital today. Madison has acropustulosis. It's not contagious, but it is recurrent and very itchy. She also has a bacterial infection on her scalp and face, making it worse. She's on antibiotics for the infection, steroid cream for the acropustulosis and benedryl for the itching. Her skin should clear up in a week or so. Her face is almost raw and feels like sandpaper. It's horrible. We feel so bad for her!

They also drew 10 vials of blood (that was a nightmare) and did a chest x-ray for TB. She's in the 55th %tile for weight and 66th for height on American charts!

We are almost back to normal sleep times. We've been waking up at 4am, but that's not too far off schedule. Madison only wakes up once a night for a bottle, and sleeps 10 hours. Nana babysat most of the day while we took Maddie to the doctor, then she watched both kids while we picked up our new washer (YAY!!) and finished putting up the laundry from the trip. We're now completely unpacked and almost back to normal! We're looking forward to some down time to bond and play with the kids.

There's no place like HOME!

2008-03-15T21:09:00.000-05:00

It's SOOOO good to be home again. I've missed my house so much. After living in hotel rooms for over 2 weeks, my house looked huge! Dylan immediately ran in to his playroom and started playing with his favorite toys. We're already halfway unpacked and I plan to finish before I go to bed. Maybe. Madison is already asleep, so I probably need to sleep while she sleeps. But Dylan is up. We'll see.

Have i mentioned how great it feels to be HOME?!?

In the US!

2008-03-14T20:53:00.000-05:00

We made it to LA. We're in a hotel now, as we have a long layover here. There's apparently only one flight a day from LA to Nashville and we got in a couple hours too late for it.

We got here a few hours early. Instead of 8 hours in Taipei and 12 in LA, we have 20 in LA. That works better, since we got a hotel room. The only way to get on the earlier flight was to upgrade to business class, but the upgrade was half the price at the gate than it was at the airline office a few days ago! And let me tell you, I LOVE business class. We got to recline all the way, had fillet, smoked salmon, fresh fruit, etc. It was NICE. It made the flight fly by. Dylan was a real trooper and was a perfect little traveler (except he wanted to sleep in the aisle). Madison only cried a couple times, and not for very long. It was 1000x easier than our last trip (coming home with Dylan).

We have about 15 more hours before we have to head back to the airport and fly home! We're so excited to be back in the US, especially after our little scare at customs in Vietnam. They normally spend 30 seconds looking at the passports and visas and usher you on through. This time, the customs guy gave Madison's passport/visa to the guy sitting next to him. He looked at it and they were talking back and forth (in Vietnamese, of course). Then they called what I assume was a manager, who came, took her passport, and left with it. I was trying not to freak out. After about 15 minutes, they asked us to go through and wait (to get out of the way). We were just sitting there in the floor in the middle of security, with no passports, no boarding passes, no visas (they took them all), wondering if we were going to be one of those freak cases where they arrest a foreigner for no reason and it's a nightmare to get out. At least that's what was going through MY mind. After about half an hour, they come back with our passports, no explanation of what was happening, and tell us we're ok. I wasn't going to argue.

Then, as we're in the line for security, we hear our names paged to the boarding gate. Great. I was hoping maybe they were upgrading us or something (they paged me in Nashville on the way out to tell us they had moved us to another row so we had an empty seat for Dylan). Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. They said they needed Dylan's ticket. We told them we already checked in and got his boarding pass, but they wanted a paper ticket. Apparently, our travel agency booked the tickets as paper tickets, but told us they were electronic. This already caused confusion in Nashville 2 weeks ago, but we got through it. It's a little harder when you're in Vietnam, trying to explain your travel agent screwed up the booking and you have no tickets, even though their system says you do. They had a manager come over and say she had to have a ticket for Dylan. We said numerous times that we had NO ticket, there was nothing else we could do, but we had boarding passes. Apparently, that's not enough to get on a plane. About 15 minutes later, they come over and say everything is ok. Again, no explanation of what was going on, but it was fixed.

So after a very frustrating start, the trip went really really well. Shockingly well. I'm not sure how the next couple weeks will go, but so far so good! And we can't wait to get home!!!

We're coming home!

2008-03-13T06:10:00.000-05:00

We got the visa (after Chris visited the embassy personally to see what the hold-up was) around 3pm today (Thursday). Our flight leaves at noon Friday (18 hours). We have to pack and sleep and eat breakfast, then we're out of here!

Uh-oh

2008-03-12T06:45:00.001-05:00

I shouldn't have counted my chickens before they hatched. We were supposed to have Madison's visa today. There was a problem with their 'printer' and we didn't get it. But our travel partner got her baby's visa (which is good since they're leaving tomorrow). Luckily, we have one more day to pray for her visa to come. If we don't get it tomorrow, looks like we'll be staying in Hanoi a little longer. They say the delay has nothing to do with her paperwork and it's just the printer. But why can one visa be printed and not another? Needless to say, we're worried.

We did enjoy our day, though. We took a cab to the lake and walked around the mall. That area of town is definitely for tourists. The mall is 4 stories. The lake area is beautiful. There was a light breeze that felt SO good.

On a happy note, my washing machine that stopped working the day before we left for Vietnam has been replaced! We ordered a new one through my work discount program (saved $450!!!) and dad is going to pick it up, install it, and remove the old one for us. It will be nice coming home to a new washing machine, rather than a broken one!

A wise woman once said...

2008-03-11T23:44:00.000-05:00

"Babies can't always tell the difference between hunger pains and gas pains. Feeding them may make things worse." So before bed, we gave Madison some gas drops. Guess who slept through the night. Yep, Madison (and mommy and daddy and Dylan). We all slept 12 hours!! We really needed that sleep! Thanks Mom, for the advice! I'm so glad I packed those gas drops.

We're excited about coming home. We decided not to upgrade to business class. It's just too expensive. Because of where we're sitting (bulkhead, which is reserved for families with infants for the bassinet), there may be extra seats around us. Chris and I will only be one seat and an aisle apart, so it won't be too bad. And if there are extra seats, Dylan could have his own, which would be nice. 48 more hours until our flight leaves Vietnam!

We want to go see the water puppets tomorrow. We've heard they are a must-see while in Hanoi. We missed them last time, so we want to catch them this time.

(no new pictures-we haven't really done anything since the last post)

Done! (Tuesday, 3/11)

2008-03-11T23:34:00.000-05:00

We had our visa interview today. All that means is we signed some papers and promised everything was correct. We should get Madison's visa and Vietnam passport tomorrow afternoon. There were no flights going home Thursday, so we kept our original flights leaving Friday. We're still on schedule to get home at 6pm Saturday.

The weather in Hanoi is much better. Not so hot and a little overcast.

Madison has been having some trouble at night. She'll wake up crying and inconsolable. It lasts 30-60 minutes, then she'll sleep some more. Usually after rice cereal (but a bottle won't work). We think she has acid reflux. She throws up a little after every meal. But her skin has almost completely cleared up. She laughs and it's the cutest thing ever.

This hotel has a small (tiny) play area for the kids. We have pictures of Dylan in the same ball pit Madison played in. There was a rocking horse that Dylan loved. The traffic here is even worse. In fact, they keep an electronic billboard with the number of traffic accidents and deaths.

Oh, and apparently they celebrate Easter here?! Vietnamese checkers! Lunch in Hanoi (not the cats!). Random pics. Oh, and they dress the babies really warm in this freezing 70-degree weather.

Oh, and here's some pictures of the setting sun over Saigon. This was in Saigon, too. Dylan was playing nice in Maddie's crib. This was on the way to the pool. And jumping into the pool.

This ain't Grassmere (Sunday, 3/9)

2008-03-11T23:33:00.001-05:00

Guess what we did? Yep, we went to the zoo! It was a blast. It definitely wasn't as nice as Grassmere (our local zoo, for my out-of-town friends). Or as safe. You could reach over the rail and touch the elephants' trunks. At the giraffe exhibit, you could climb up on a platform to pet the giraffe.

We saw something very cool, though. We had just missed a birth in the petting zoo, but they were trying to train the baby sheep to nurse. They ended up milking the mama and feeding the baby from a cup. But they did all this right out in the open. We were standing 5 feet away (taking pictures, of course). I wish we had seen the birth. That would've been a great experience for Dylan.

The zoo also had a little kiddie carnival. Dylan had a blast. We went with our travel partners, Linda, her 8-year-old daughter Jasmine, and their new baby daughter/sister Giang. Dylan has become quite fond of Jasmine and asks every day to go play with 'Jaz.' They play in the pool together and hang out together everywhere we go. She acts like a protective older sister and he acts like the tag-a-long little brother. It's so cute to watch them together.

We rode on the 'choo-choo' through the zoo, which amazed Dylan. He loves trains, so he was so excited to ride on the train. He also rode in a bumper car with Jasmine. She was just going around in circles (not bumping into anything), so we let him ride. He had a blast doing that! They also went 'fishing' in a little play pool. There was a little ball pit that he loved playing in as well.

For our enjoyment, the zoo had a banzai garden. It was amazing seeing all the banzai trees.

While we were at the zoo, we heard thunder rumbling, so we headed back to the hotel. It was several miles away, so we took a cab. As soon as we got in the cab, it started pouring. By the time we got to the hotel, the water was several inches deep on the road. And it was rush hour. It was quite the sight! Have I mentioned how crazy the traffic is here?? You should see it in the rain. There were whole families under tarps riding down the flooded roads on motorbikes.

Oh, and here's our view from our room. And Madison crawling. (here's a random pic of Maddie)

Just some random pictures

2008-03-08T20:39:00.000-06:00

March 7, 2008 Having the time of our lives!

2008-03-07T09:03:00.001-06:00

I got in trouble with some people after the last email for not including any pictures. We're just having too much fun to take the time to upload pictures! Plus, I have a few videos and they take about an hour each to upload (they're only 1-2 minutes long). I really wanted to share those. That's why I haven't sent an email in a couple days.This trip is going SO well. It's been an awesome vacation. Last time was so hard. We didn't know what we were doing (with the baby), I was sick half the trip, we were both homesick, and we just wanted to go home. Now we can't believe our trip is over halfway over! We're really having a blast. Dylan is really warming up to her, and has started giving her kisses without our prompting.We had Madison's visa medical exam. Basically, they look at her, ask us if we've noticed anything unusual, listen to her heart/lungs, weigh her and send us on our way. No looking in the ears, down the throat, in her eyes, etc. It's not a medical exam for her, it's just to make sure she's not going to bring some crazy disease into the US. She's 18.5 pounds (75th %tile) and 27.5 inches long (75th %tile). I don't know if I mentioned it before, but she has 4 teeth. The 2 front bottom ones and one of the front top ones and the one beside it. She's cutting her other front top tooth.We're thinking about taking Maddie to the international hospital. (If you have a weak stomach or are eating, don't read the next part.) She has oozing sores on the crown of her head. She scratches them and they bleed (we had to put socks over her hands), but every half hour or so, we blot her head with a napkin and get a lot of yellow pus. I don't know what it is. This is not scabies. She had that on her face and arms and it was treated. It got better pretty quick. It is probably some sort of infection. I don't know if antibiotics are needed (we have some, just in case). We're going to call our pediatrician when they open in a couple hours. If he thinks we need to take her to the hospital, we will. She's been running a low-grade fever off and on since we got her, but never over 100. She's cutting a couple teeth, so that could be causing the fever.I also think she may have ringworm on her back. She has a couple raised red circles about the size of a silver dollar on her back. And it looks like she has eczema on her chin. It doesn't look like the scabies. We have hydrocortisone ointment that we're using, but you can only use it once a day on babies (we had to use it on Dylan's eczema). So we're definitely dealing with some medical issues, but all are minor and can be fixed. We already have an appointment at the Vanderbilt Int'l Adoption Clinic for the Monday after we get home. The next (and LAST) step is the visa interview in Hanoi. This has to be scheduled, so we can't just fly up there and walk in to the embassy. Our appointment is scheduled for Tuesday. We'll fly up to Hanoi Monday at noon (Sunday night at 11pm your time). For now, we're just enjoying Saigon (despite the heat). The pool here is fabulous (pic is from our room window). The kids love it (and so do mommy and daddy!). Everyone is relatively healthy and happy. Everyone is sleeping great (in fact, all 4 of us took a 2-hour nap at lunchtime, which felt wonderful). Madison does wake up once or twice in the night to feed, but then goes right back to sleep. And her crying does not wake Dylan up. He sleeps like a rock.Most of you remember from last time, I'm sure, about the traffic over here. It's pretty insane. 90% of the people drive mopeds (tiny motorcycles). There are no 'lanes' in the road. It's like a game to see how close you can get to the person next to you. On a road the width of 2 lanes in the states, you'll see 5-6 bikes across. We saw a baby about Dylan's age sandwiched between two adults on a bike yesterday. The adults had helmets, but the baby did not! Anyway, I got a couple videos of us crossing the street, just to better show the 'experience.' Unfortunately, I've left this email waiting all day for the videos to upload and they still haven't, so you'll have to wait for the next installment for the video of us crossing the street! (it's really not as boring as it sounds!)So why did we cross the street, you ask? To get diet pepsi! The grocery store is right across the street. And how I wish I could've taken pictures there!! They didn't allow cameras, but it was wild. It was a grocery store, like walmart or kroger. But in the fresh meat section there were whole baby suckling pigs. And chickens with their heads still attached. In the seafood section, there was just a big case of ice with raw fish laying on top. You just walk over and bag up whatever you want. Oh, and they had eel, snakes, all kinds of fish (with heads still attached, of course). There were some things we couldn't figure out and probably didn't want to. We also went to the local mall. We bought several bigger ao dais (traditional VNese dresses) for Maddie and lots of toys for Dylan. We lost a couple of his Thomas trains along the way somewhere, so we got him a few toys to make up for it. And to wrap up for the flight home. We're looking into upgrading to business class, since there are 4 of us in 2 seats, but we'll have to see how much it will cost. It sure would make the trip home easier!! Oh, and this is Quoc, our facilitator and translator. He's been incredible. He takes us through all the steps we need, books our hotels and flights, and even gave us a cell phone to call him if we need.Here are some videos that I finally got uploaded. Dylan LOVED playing in the ocean at the Sandy Beach.Here is the video from my first meeting with Madison.Here is the one where they were getting her dressed for the G&R before handing her over to me.
Below are links to all the pictures of videos in this email.Videos:http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/videos/?action=view&current=080301049.flv http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/videos/?action=view&current=080303037.flv http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/videos/?action=view&current=080303025.flv http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/videos/?action=view&current=080303001.flvPictures:http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306045.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306041.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306039.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306026.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306023.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306019.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306017.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306015.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306003.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306007-1.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306002-1.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306001.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306007.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080306036.jpgI hope this satisfies you picture hounds! I'm uploading 50+ more from today, plus the video of the street, so I'll get another email out when I get those ready. And if the hundreds of pictures I've sent so far aren't enough, just browse around the album. I've got over 500 in there. I'll be sorting them out into sub-folders to keep them a little more organized.
Stephanie

March 5, 2008 Hello from HCMC!

2008-03-05T11:40:00.000-06:00

We're here! The flight was great-neither baby cried. They both sat on MY lap the whole flight (1.5 hours) and did great. I think Dylan's starting to realize Madison is staying with us. He's getting more clingy and starting to regress a little (wanting his own bottle, which he hasn't had in a year!). We were expecting this, though. It's not a big deal. Overall, he's doing really well. Madison is incredibly clingy. We can't put her down for 2 seconds without her screaming. That's ok, too, though. She needs us and we have to show her that we'll always be there, which means answering EVERY cry right now. There's no such thing as spoiling a baby.Our hotel here is AWESOME! We're right across the street from a huge store for our grocery needs (milk for Dylan, formula, diapers, chocolate for me, you know-the essentials). We have a super nice room on the 9th floor and can see the city from our room. One whole wall is windows. A couple of the higher windows open a tad bit, but it's way too hot for open windows! It's probably around 90 with 200% humidity. Luckily, the room has a nice AC!We're off to go swimming in the pool!
Stephanie

March 4, 2008 Heading to HCMC

2008-03-04T23:49:00.000-06:00

We're packing up and heading out to HCMC in a couple hours. We've enjoyed Danang and our tropical paradise, but it's time for the next step of our journey. Maddie has been awesome and is sleeping great. She woke up once last night, drank 2 bottles of formula and half a bottle of breastmilk, then went back to sleep until her big brother woke her up. He's doing really well, too. We all slept in the bed together last night and it felt perfect!We're working on the breastfeeding. It's just not as fast-flow as her bottle, so she gets frustrated quickly. But I think with some work, we'll get it going. And if not, that's ok, too. I have enough frozen at home to last until she's past 12 months.Some fun facts: She's a thumb-sucker. She loves a blanket we brought for her, and will stick the corner of it in her mouth with her thumb.
She loves being held. She'll cry if we put her down, so we're holding her 24/7 right now!She learned how to splash in the tub last night. She thought it was the funniest thing ever.Her face is clearing up nicely. The medicine worked great!She loves just staring at me, like she's memorizing my face. Here are the picture links for those having trouble with the embedded links:http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080304002.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080304012.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080304016.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080304019.jpg http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?action=view&current=080304003.jpgStephanie

March 3, 2008 She's ours!!

2008-03-03T05:30:00.001-06:00

We have our baby girl! The ceremony was quick and painless. Dylan was anxious to get out of the building, but he was a really good boy. Leaving the orphanage was really sad. One of the nannies took her from me and started crying, which made me cry. I could tell she was really loved, just like Dylan was when he was there. We can't wait to bring her home. She's so sweet and is always smiling and laughing. She really laughs at her daddy. She can hold onto the edge of the table and stand. She can also roll really fast. She has some pretty nasty scratches on her face where she scratched herself because of the scabies. The first thing we did was clip her nails. The next thing we'll do is give her a bath, then put the scabies medicine on her. We just went on a walk on the beach and she fell asleep. Then Dylan started getting tired and wanted Mommy. LOL. My arms are sore now!We're both just so happy. She's so incredible and perfect. She seems to be warming up to us, but that may change once she realizes we're not taking her back to her 'home' for the past 8 months!

Stephanie

March 2, 2008

2008-03-02T18:12:00.000-06:00

We had a fun-filled, exhausting day today. There are TONS of pictures, so just take a look around the photo album. I'll try to add titles so you'll know what's what! We saw a couple cool things-a HUGE snail that Dylan was scared of, and a snake skin, which we stopped to inspect and then saw the snake it belonged to. It quickly slithered away, so the pic is just the skin.This morning, after breakfast, we took a stroll down to marble mountain. Those familiar with our last trip know about it, but it's a huge slab of a mountain made from marble right down the road in Danang. They mine the mountain and make BEAUTIFUL marble and jade carvings and ship them all over the world. Think of those huge lion statues you see at the front steps of a mansion, or the marble fountains in the lobbies of nice buildings. They have tons of marble and jade items all along this street we dubbed 'marble alley' (it's more of an alley than a street!).You also can climb partly up the mountain to a beautiful pagoda. It's a steep climb of uneven rock steps (think flashbacks of my last adventure on steep, rocky steps and hyper-extending my knee). But it was worth the climb. The view was beautiful and the pagoda was awesome. There was also an enormous buddha carving. I saw a bunch of locals rub the big buddha then rub their kids' heads, so I gave that a shot. I'm assuming it's for good luck. I think it was the good luck buddha. When we got back down the mountain, we went in one of the marble shops. We got a solid jade, hand carved buddha, dog and pig (Dylan was born in the Year of the Dog and Maddie is the Year of the Pig). On the walk back (about a mile), Dylan fell asleep in his sling, which was perfect for nap time. Unfortunately, as soon as I got him out of the sling and onto the bed, he woke up. So, no nap.After lunch, we went down to the beach. I rolled up my pants legs and walked in with him. He was dying to get down, so I stripped off his pants (he was wearing a shorts onesie underneath) and set him down. I figured he would freak out the first time the water touched him. But he LOVED it. He giggled and stomped his feet in the sand, even when the tide came in and the water was coming up over his shorts. We had to drag him back to the room to get cleaned up. It was only in the 60's at the time and the water was COLD. But he was ecstatic. It makes us so happy to see him so happy.The afternoon adventure was Hoi An, an ancient town about 30 minutes away (by hotel shuttle). They have a bunch of silk factories there. We saw silk worm eggs, baby worms, adult worms, cocoons with larvae (the locals eat the larvae) and moths. We saw how they take the silk from the cocoon and spin 10-20 strands together to make one strand of silk. We then saw them use a machine (moved by hand) to weave the strands into fabric, then saw the finished products of shirts and dresses. We also saw them hand-weaving silk rugs. They were gorgeous. We got a picture of one that took 3 workers, working full work days, a month and a half to make. It was $500. For 6 weeks of labor for 3 people. Amazing. Oh, and on the way there, Dylan fell asleep and stayed asleep for over an hour in his sling. Seven more hours until we get Maddie!

March 1, 2008

2008-03-01T19:00:00.000-06:00

Hi all. I'm having a friend post this for me. I haven't been able to access the blog since we got to Danang. Here are the updates and a few pictures.I sent this upon arriving in Danang:That's where we are RIGHT NOW. We're at the Sandy Beach Resort in Danang. It's breezy, around 65 degrees, and oh, we have our own private bungalow. Yeah! It's amazing. The bungalow is actually a bit smaller than our room last time, but it has a private entrance, private patio, and we're on the BEACH. That would be China Beach. It couldn't get better than this! Oh, but it does. We're meeting our daughter in 16 hours!! We'll get to spend a couple hours with her tomorrow morning, then get her for good on Monday afternoon. So let me back up to the beginning (this is going to be long). The flight to LA wasn't too bad. We only slept 30 minutes each, but it was only a 4-hour flight. Of course, after an hour in the international terminal (which is in HORRIBLE condition-exposed insulation, no ceiling tiles, etc.), Dylan had his first meltdown. It was completely expected, since it was around midnight our time and he hadn't been to sleep. So he laid in the floor, screamed as loud as he could and nothing could calm him. I held him and sang to him and he finally calmed down, though. The LONG leg (14 hours) from LA to Taipei was great. He didn't cry one time. He slept 8 hours (4 hours at a time) and was just a happy little boy the rest of the time. He watched movies, played with his new favorite car (a blue Lightening McQueen from grandma) and looked out the window. He loves looking out the window. The layover in Taipei was short and they had an awesome playground. I won't be too upset if we have to stay longer on the way back, since there's something to keep them entertained. It's also the most beautiful airport I've ever seen. Tons of live plant scenes. I'll share pictures later, but I got a ton at that airport!The last leg (Taipei to Hanoi) was easy. Dylan slept in my arms the entire 3 hours. In Hanoi, we met our travel partner (a single mom and her 8-year-old daughter, adopted from China). Our facilitator met us at the airport and flew with us to Danang. We had first class tickets and I don't know if I can ever go back to economy! Ok, I can't afford first class all the time, but wow-it's incredible. Fully-reclining seats, tons of leg room, wider seats. Too bad the flight was only an hour!Once in Danang, we came straight to the Sandy Beach and settled in. I haven't gotten the pics off my camera yet, so I'll probably be sending another email in an hour or two. I'll upload ALL pics to photobucket, and link in the good ones. But they'll all be there if anyone wants to check them out. I'll send the link once I've set it up.I hope everyone has a wonderful leap day and I can't wait to share pictures of my first meeting with my daughter tomorrow!
This one is from right after meeting Madison.We finally met Maddie! She's so sweet, and laughs a LOT. It's easy to make her smile and laugh. We were a little shocked when we saw her, honestly. With Dylan, he was perfect-clear skin, developmentally ahead, etc. Maddie has a raging case of scabies, so she has scabs all over her scalp, bald spots, flat spots on her head from laying in the crib, no trunk control (sitting up), not crawling yet, etc. But those are all things we can deal with. No big deal. We have medicine for the scabies. We can work with her on her motor skills. She's our daughter and she's perfect for us! I didn't want to leave, but we had to. They fed her and I rocked her and sang her to sleep, then put her in her crib and said goodbye. It was a great meeting.The pictures are in an album on photobucket here: http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/Vietnam%202008/?start=allPassword is danangEnjoy! Stephanie

Paradise

2008-02-29T16:47:00.000-06:00

(this is copied from when I tried to post it several hours ago)

That's where we are RIGHT NOW. We're at the Sandy Beach Resort in Danang. It's breezy, around 65 degrees, and oh, we have our own private bungalow. Yeah! It's amazing. The bungalow is actually a bit smaller than our room last time, but it has a private entrance, private patio, and we're on the BEACH. That would be China Beach. It couldn't get better than this! Oh, but it does. We're meeting our daughter in 16 hours!! We'll get to spend a couple hours with her tomorrow morning, then get her for good on Monday afternoon.

So let me back up to the beginning (this is going to be long). The flight to LA wasn't too bad. We only slept 30 minutes each, but it was only a 4-hour flight. Of course, after an hour in the international terminal (which is in HORRIBLE condition-exposed insulation, no ceiling tiles, etc.), Dylan had his first meltdown. It was completely expected, since it was around midnight our time and he hadn't been to sleep. So he laid in the floor, screamed as loud as he could and nothing could calm him. I held him and sang to him and he finally calmed down, though.

The LONG leg (14 hours) from LA to Taipei was great. He didn't cry one time. He slept 8 hours (4 hours at a time) and was just a happy little boy the rest of the time. He watched movies, played with his new favorite car (a blue Lightening McQueen from grandma) and looked out the window. He loves looking out the window.

The layover in Taipei was short and they had an awesome playground. I won't be too upset if we have to stay longer on the way back, since there's something to keep them entertained. It's also the most beautiful airport I've ever seen. Tons of live plant scenes. I'll share pictures later, but I got a ton at that airport!

The last leg (Taipei to Hanoi) was easy. Dylan slept in my arms the entire 3 hours. In Hanoi, we met our travel partner (a single mom and her 8-year-old daughter, adopted from China). Our facilitator met us at the airport and flew with us to Danang. We had first class tickets and I don't know if I can ever go back to economy! Ok, I can't afford first class all the time, but wow-it's incredible. Fully-reclining seats, tons of leg room, wider seats. Too bad the flight was only an hour!

Once in Danang, we came straight to the Sandy Beach and settled in.

Here we go!

2008-02-27T05:59:00.003-06:00

We're leaving today! The last few days have been filled with booking flights, making arrangements for animal care, PACKING, etc. We're extremely excited and can't wait to get this going!

We've talked to Dylan quite a bit about Maddie, but started talking to him last night about getting on an airplane. He got really excited. LOL. He LOVES airplanes. I can't wait to see his face at the airport!

HAAAAALELUJAH

2008-02-21T07:21:00.003-06:00

We're going to Vietnam! FINALLY! I'm still not sure what exact date we're leaving, but our G&R is March 3 (11 days away). They want us to leave on 2/29, but we've requested to leave 2/26 instead, since their proposed timeline only gives us 1 day in Vietnam before the G&R. We wanted a few days to adjust, and get Dylan adjusted.

Now that I've announced that, let me rewind a few days and tell you what a horrible week it's been.

Sunday, I spent several hours setting up accounts in Quicken for our new business (not yet opened-www.hyenacart.com/VinhThiDesigns). Later that night, I went to turn on my computer and got this error: Operating system not found. I tried everything. Couldn't get it to work.

Monday, we get up like any normal day and head to work together (Chris and I carpool). At lunch, we go to Best Buy and drop off the computer. They immediately knew the problem-hard drive failure. The computer is only 7 months old. Luckily, I backed up most of my files 10 days ago, but all of the business stuff was lost, as well as a spreadsheet that was really important to the business that I'm not sure I can recreate.

Monday around 3pm, Chris called and said he felt really sick and needed to go home early. I left and picked him up and we went home. That night, he developed a fever. He NEVER gets sick. Dylan was also up half the night coughing. So Tuesday, I took a vacation day to take care of my boys.

Tuesday morning, I turned on Chris' computer (since mine was getting a new hard drive). It wouldn't come on. At all. I thought, could this get any worse?? I finally decided it must be a power plug issue, since it wasn't even coming on. That's when I had a little meltdown. Chris' fever was up around 105 at this point, Dylan was starting to get sick, both of our laptops had died, and we still didn't have a travel date. That evening, I called the doc on call and he said to be at his office at 8am sharp.

Wednesday morning, we went to the doctor. Chris had the flu. And it wasn't looking promising for Dylan and me. He put all 3 of us on Tamiflu. At noon, I took Chris' computer to Best Buy to see if a new power plug would solve the problem. Nope. Of course it couldn't be that easy. His motherboard was fried. And the computer was 3 years old and NOT under warranty. So I bought a new computer. I went back later that night to pick up both computers (I had them install some stuff on the new one).

Did I mention Wednesday was my birthday? I cried several times. It was turning out to be the worst birthday ever. We were all sick, we had to buy a new computer, we didn't have our travel date. It was just a sucky day.

Until about 9pm. My cell phone rang and I recognized the area code as coming from our agency. I put it on speaker and we got the news that it was time to go! So it turned out alright after all. I have a nice, new computer to take to Vietnam. Chris has my old (7 months old) computer with a brand new hard drive, and I didn't lose TOO much data.

Unfortunately, Dylan had a fever all night around 103, so he's getting sicker. Hopefully we'll get him well by next week!!

Still no travel date

2008-02-13T12:37:00.002-06:00

Due to Tet, our G&R hasn't been able to be scheduled. They don't want us to travel until it's scheduled. Supposedly, Tet is over today, so maybe we'll get a travel date before the weekend. I'm also waiting on updated measurements to make sure I take the correct clothing size. Last time, Dylan's clothes were falling off of him (silly of us to think an 8-month-old would be wearing 6-9 month clothes!).

So, no news yet, but we're still hopeful for a quick travel. By my birthday would be great. But that's only a week away. We'll see.

Oh, and my SIL who was going to go with us, then couldn't go because she broke her knee, then was going again because we were so delayed she healed, is not going again. She has misplaced her passport and there's not enough time to get a new one and order her visa. So it looks like it's just Chris and Dylan and me.

Speaking of Dylan, he's doing great. He's fully recovered, eating chips again and running around. It's great to see him so healthy. I just hope he doesn't get the flu before we go. It's running rampant in our town, and half his class was out due to it the week he was out for surgery!

For your viewing pleasure:
trying to see the choo-choos on his diaper:

sleeping on mommy:

just being cute:

claiming the peanut butter as all his own (because we won't be eating it now!):

"Here Daddy, try some!"

Loving his frog Aunt Tessi brought him in the hospital:

Playing with Pepper:

Mommy playing with her new camera:

Dylan's surgery

2008-01-31T10:30:00.000-06:00

As most of you know, Dylan has had chronic strep. After the 5th time, the ENT decided to take his tonsils out. We scheduled the surgery for 1/28 and in the meantime, he got strep for a 6th time. Luckily, he was over it by Monday, surgery day.

Surgery went well. His tonsils and adenoids were huge for his size, but the surgeon was in and out in half an hour. He had to stay overnight due to his size/age (tonsillectomies under 2 years old are fairly rare). He also refused to eat or drink, so they had to keep him on the IV.

They normally don't let the parents back into recovery, but I had told the anesthesiologist ahead of time that he has separation/abandonment issues, so I wanted to be there when we woke up. He said if he was acting scared, he'd come get me. 10 minutes after the doc came out, the anesth. came out and asked me to come back. He said he was 'agitated.' That's one word for it. The nurse was MAD that he let me back there. She kept saying a mother should never have to see her child like that, straight out of surgery. Two other nurses later said they can't believe they let me back there. Anyway, it was really rough. He just had this look in his eyes. He was screaming, kicking, flailing. I had to restrain him because he felt out of control and needed control (that's what they told me). But I didn't cry (until later when he was asleep). It was very difficult to witness, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. He probably doesn't remember it, but I was there, telling him not to be scared, telling him mommy would never leave him and that I loved him. I think it helped.

Once we got a room, we immediately tried some water, but he wanted none of that. We tried a popsicle, but he was not interested. He wouldn't eat or drink ANYthing. So they kept the IV going. By 3pm, he still hadn't wet a diaper, so the nurse said he had until 3:30, then they would use a catheter. She did a bladder ultrasound and consulted with some other doctors. Around 3:15, he FINALLY wet his diaper. After that, it was like a flood. He was soaking through the diapers very often. But he still wasn't eating/drinking.

Around 9pm, he decided he was ready to eat. My mom had brought tons of pudding and juice. He ate a whole pudding cup!! We were SO excited.

Nighttime was rough. He slept with me in the hospital bed (I don't have a great back so Chris wouldn't let me sleep in the chair). He slept from 9 to 11, then woke up in pain. I asked for pain meds and he went back to sleep pretty quick. He slept until 2 and we got more pain meds and watched Cars (thank GOD for our portable DVD player!! we only had 5 channels in the hospital-that DVD saved us!). He went back to sleep and slept until 7am. But he coughed a lot in his sleep and would cry every time.

He ate a whole scrambled egg for breakfast, but still wouldn't drink a thing. The nurse came in and said our surgeon/ENT had a fever and didn't want to have that around the kids, so he'd call throughout the day to check in, and if all was well, he'd let him go home. Since he still wasn't drinking, they said he had to eat lunch, then he could go home. They said there was enough fluid in the foods. They went ahead and removed his IV after breakfast.

He took a nap 10-12, then woke up grumpy and hurting. More pain meds, and we ordered lunch. We got all his favorites-mac and cheese, green beans, rice and corn. He wouldn't touch it. We were convinced we'd be there another night. Once the pain meds kicked in, though, he chowed down AND finally drank some juice. They sent us home at 1:30.

He did really well and was so brave. He's still in pain and his voice is scratchy, but it's getting better every day. He's running a low-grade fever (still), but that's normal.

Here are a few pictures.
Pre-op:

Post-op, with grandma:

and Daddy:

and Mommy:

Ready to go for a walk:

The IV is out!

Playing:

We're coming, Madison!!

2008-01-31T09:23:00.000-06:00

We got our approval today! We're on day 45 of the 60-day timeframe they gave. We don't have a travel date yet, but we're thinking we'll be going in 2 weeks or so. Time to start packing! We got all the suitcases out a few weeks ago, but never started packing anything other than orphanage donations and caretaker gifts.

We're so excited!!!

No news is NOT good news

2008-01-07T14:54:00.000-06:00

Still nothing. We did get more pictures of her with the care package. I have a picture of her looking at a picture of us. It's sweet, but sad. Mommy and Daddy and big brother are all together and our baby is halfway around the world without us. Going by current estimates, it's going to be the end of February/beginning of March before we go. She'll be 8 months old, same age Dylan was when we got him. We really wanted her to be younger. He was crawling when we got him, and walked a week after coming home. I don't want to miss those firsts with Maddie, too.

Happy half-year birthday baby! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know.

Happy happy joy joy

2007-12-12T19:43:00.001-06:00

We got new pictures last week, plus a weight. She's up to 15 pounds, which is great! She's right on track for her age. And she's catching up to Dylan QUICK! He's only 22 pounds. We also found out today our adoption is moving along, but still no approval. We're hoping for an approval before Christmas, but who knows.

We also got to send her a care package. We sent some scabies medicine, though the newest pictures show some improvement there, a blanket, a couple footed sleepers, some toys, and a few other small things. We had to fit everything in a 12x12 ziploc bag. It was STUFFED, but we got it.

Dylan is not doing too well health-wise. He has strep for the 5th time in 3 months. We saw an ENT last week who put him on 20 days of an antibiotic (he didn't have strep at that point-just trying to knock out any remaining strains). Sunday morning, he woke up with a fever. Monday, still a fever, so we went to the doc. Amazingly, he had strep. He caught it while on antibiotics. He also has a nasty cough. I think his tonsils will be coming out soon. :-( But it will have to wait until we get back from Vietnam. I imagine we'll be there over Christopher's birthday (1/15). Sooner would be better, but that's a realistic expectation, I think.

Madison turned 5 months old Monday. Happy month birthday, little girl! We love you and can't wait to meet you!!

Still nothing and 1st Forever Family Day

2007-12-01T07:31:00.000-06:00

No new pictures, no new measurements, no news at all. We submitted our I600 under the new process a month ago and haven't heard a word. It's not looking hopeful for travel in early December. In fact, it definitely won't happen. Once we get approved, it will be about 2 weeks before we go. Since today is the beginning of December, if we get approved now, it will be mid-December before we go. But we really have NO clue, which is more depressing than knowing the date and it being a month away. As it stands now, it COULD be February before we go. I certainly hope not.

We were so excited about getting Maddie at 5 months. Dylan was 8 months old when we adopted him. He was already crawling, and started walking a week after we got home. We were just hoping to go through some of those earlier phases (sitting up, crawling) with Madison.

On a happy note, a week from today will be our first forever family anniversary! It's hard to believe it's been a whole year. At the same time, it feels like we've always had him (in a good way). We're planning on taking him out to eat (maybe Chuck E Cheese-we've never been there) and giving him a present (a dump truck-shhh...don't tell him!).

Possible delay

2007-10-25T07:50:00.000-05:00

I'm trying not to lose it here. As you all know, the wait between referral and travel is approx. 3 months. We're almost 2 months into the wait, so a month from travel. Probably closer to 5-6 weeks away.

USCIS just announced yesterday that there will be a change to the processing of adoptions in Vietnam. Instead of going there and filing the I600 and having 2 interviews with USCIS in Vietnam, parents will have to file before going. This will incur a 60-day wait. It's effective Nov. 1. So if we don't travel before then (which we won't), we'll have to file our I600 now, and wait at least 60 days.

This is SO not fair. It's going to affect dozens of families with referrals who are waiting on travel. I'm waiting to hear more from my agency on how to proceed. I have the form ready, but even if I file now, we won't be going this year, probably.

My baby is sick. She has a bad case of scabies. She's so young, and so miserable (I'm sure-because of the scabies) and I just want to get to her ASAP. All this red tape crap that changes with no notice is NOT cool. I don't know if I should write my senator, start a petition, wait it out, or what. I'm really distraught over this and trying not to get too upset until I know more.

We have one of the best facilitators working for our agency. Please pray/send good thoughts/whatever that he can make this happen quickly and our adoption won't be delayed.

Getting closer!

2007-10-24T08:45:00.001-05:00

Still no news on travel, but we did get updated pictures of Madison last week. She's so beautiful. I wish I could post pictures on here, but I'm not allowed until she's officially ours (G&R). No updates on weight, though. She does have a bad case of scabies, so she's probably miserable. I wish we could just go on over there and give her the medicine she needs.

Dylan is doing well. He's getting over strep (3rd time in 6 weeks). We hope to keep him well until after we travel!

Our travel partner, my sis-in-law Susan, had an accident and broke her leg badly, so she won't be going with us to Vietnam now. It'll just be Chris and me, with Dylan and Maddie. It's going to be tough, but we'll make it.

We're estimating we'll go around the same time as last year-December. We're so ready to go NOW! Well, except we haven't packed. But we could do that quickly. LOL

Dylan is learning so much at his new day-care. He can sign 'more' and 'hungry.' So even though he's not talking well, he can communicate. But the past week or so, he's been talking up a storm. Mainly just repeating words we say, but he's doing so well. It's like nothing happened for months, then the words just started coming like an avalanche.

We're loving cloth-diapering. It's expensive, but he seems more comfortable and SO cute! We also do wool, which works like a diaper cover over the 'fitted' diapers that aren't waterproof. Here are some new pictures.

IT'S A GIRL!!!

2007-09-13T15:39:00.000-05:00

And she's beautiful. She's 2 months old and she's in the same orphanage Dylan was in. We're so excited and proud. She weighed a healthy 11 pounds at 6 weeks. I can't share photos online until after the G&R, but most of the people that read this saw pictures last week.

I did ask for reasoning on this restriction. For one, she's not legally our daughter. I wouldn't want people posting pictures of Dylan without my permission, so I can see that. Two, there have been shady facilitators in the past that 'bought' referrals from orphanages after seeing them posted online. Or agencies that complained to a province that another agency was getting more referrals and the province would take the referrals away and give it to the 'squeaky wheel.' Therefore, if I post pictures where these type of people could access them, I risk losing Madison. And that's a risk I don't want to take. Obviously, it's ok to email them to family and friends.

Now begins the LONG wait to travel. Hopefully, it will be in December again (or earlier). We're ready to bring her home. The nursery was finished a couple weeks ago. Did I post pictures of that? I can't remember. Here they are again.

And here's some new pics of Dylan:

At his baby dedication Sunday:

Very scary moment

2007-09-01T08:15:00.000-05:00

So, Dylan has had a little cough for a few days. Nothing big, no fever. Friday morning, it was 99, but that's not very high, so I took him to daycare. They called me at 4:30 (right before I was heading out to get him) to tell me his temp was 101 and I needed to come get him. By 6, it was 103 and he was really clingy and tired.

At 7, he had a seizure. His eyes rolled back in his head and his lips turned blue. I just started sobbing and Chris was panicking asking what do we do. I knew it was probably a febrile seizure, but when your baby's lips turn blue and their eyes roll back in their head, you lose it. I didn't even think about 911 (which they told me later I should've called instead of driving). I got in the passenger seat with Dylan in my arms and Chris drove.

The seizure had stopped, and he was breathing, but not very well, and he was not staying conscious. His eyes kept rolling back and I just kept blowing in his face to keep him awake, me sobbing the entire time.

I ran into the ER and they called back that a non-responsive baby had come in. A nurse comes running out and grabs him from me. At that point, he woke up and looked at her. They found a room and got his stats. His blood oxygen was low, so they had to put an oxygen mask on him. His temp was 105.

We were in the ER for 3 hours. Long story short, he has strep throat and pneumonia. He got a shot for the pneumonia and we have to start antibiotics today, along with Motrin every 6 hours and Tylenol every 4 hours.

He still has a fever this morning, but not too high. They said once a baby has a febrile seizure, they're prone to more, so we have to treat every fever instead of riding them out.

August 22-a very important day

2007-08-22T11:11:00.000-05:00

Two things make today a very special day. One, it's been exactly one year since we got Dylan's referral and I first saw my baby's sweet face. Here's the post I made last August 22.

Two, today marks the day when Dylan has been with us longer than he was in the orphanage. He was in the orphanage for 257 days, and has been with his mommy and daddy 258 days. What an amazing coincidence for both of these things to fall on the same day.

I've been thinking a lot today about how lucky we are to have Dylan as our son. How blessed we are to be such a close, loving family of three. And how excited we are to become a family of four.

Painting and Brownies!

2007-08-20T07:54:00.000-05:00

We had lots of fun this weekend. We painted Maddie's nursery during Dylan's nap times and after he went to bed at night. We got that part done. Next weekend we'll do the trim (chair rail). It's starting to look like a little girl's room!

Yesterday, Dylan and I made brownies. It was so much fun. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Today is Dylan's first day at his new daycare. He did really well this morning. I had to stay a little while, but once they brought in breakfast, he jumped right down off my lap, ran to the table, turned to me, waving and said, "Bye-bye!" LOL. Food will distract him any time. The boy is an eating machine!

His teachers seem really nice and I'm waiting on the webcam to start working. I'm excited about that.

More miscellaneous pictures:

We're almost there!

2007-08-15T07:16:00.000-05:00

August 22 will be the one year anniversary of the day we got Dylan's referral. Ironically, it will also be the day that he has been with us longer than he was in the orphanage. That's pretty awesome.

Things are going well. We're loving the cloth diapering. Daycare is doing it, too, without a problem.

We're still #8 on the list, but we're hoping for a referral within a month or so.

Our vacation in Gatlinburg was a dream. It went so smooth! He fell asleep easily and slept all night, right between us like at home. We went to the aquarium, Ober, and walked around alot. He really enjoyed it.

Here's some new pictures!

Our new venture

2007-08-02T08:45:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I have some exciting news. We're going to start cloth-diapering (CD'ing)! I've ordered several diapers and plan to start as soon as I get them all in and washed.

So now you're thinking, why in the world would you cloth diaper?? Let me tell you. The biggest reason is comfort. Dylan has never gotten diaper rash, but the plastic really bothers him. He's always scratching at the elastic around his legs, and his lower back. I want to make him more comfortable.

Second is cost. Start-up costs of CD'ing is pretty expensive ($200-$500, depending on the 'system' you go with), but long term it's cheaper. Add in another baby in diapers, and we'll be saving big bucks on disposibles.

Third, they're SO cute! And they're not that much more trouble than 'sposies. People imagine a rectangle of cloth and pins. Well, that's certainly an option, but most CD'ers use pocket diapers (with velcro or snaps and an absorbent insert with a waterproof outer layer), all-in-ones (insert is built-in), fitteds with a cover, or pre-folds and a cover. We're trying a few of each, but I imagine we'll like the pockets and AIOs best.

Lastly, it helps the environment. Those who know me, know I'm not big into the whole environment thing, but it does help, so there's a reason to CD.

Everyone wonders about the poop factor. Here's the deal-for solid poops, you just roll it into the toilet and flush. For more messy poops, we have a toilet sprayer (like the sprayers on kitchen sinks, but next to the toilet) to spray off any sticky stuff. Then it just goes in the washing machine. Easy as pie (so I've heard-I hadn't had to do it yet!).

I'm not sure if I can convince daycare to use them yet. He starts his new daycare on Aug. 21, so I'm not even going to bother with trying it with his current provider.

On another note, we're going to Gatlinburg this weekend for one night. We need to test the hotel issue again and get him used to it before we travel. He had quite the difficult time with sleeping at home over the past few weeks, but we've gotten that under control now, so we're ready to give the hotel a shot. I'll have lots of pics from this weekend, I'm sure. We're planning on visiting the aquarium, and riding the sky tram to Ober.

Here are some pics, including the cloth diapers. Never in my life would I have thought I'd be a co-sleeping, breast-feeding, cloth-diapering, baby-wearing mama. I'm really loving the mom thing even more than I ever imagined.

Dylan playing with my brother's puppy that is actually a friendly stray:

Bedtime (the dog moves when I come to bed):

What Dylan thinks about his new diaper:

Checking out our new lizard (bearded dragon):

15-month appointment

2007-07-02T14:40:00.000-05:00

19 pounds, 15 ounces (1st-3rd %tile), 29.5 inches long (10th %tile). He's not growing much, but he's healthy as a horse. Everything was just fine and he did really well with his shots. He's so tiny, he's wearing 3-6 month clothes. We had to go buy some new summer clothes because all the ones we had were too big! Everything is going fine, and I have tons of new pictures and videos to share. I'll have to get them uploaded later. He's getting cuter by the day (if that's even possible!).

Oh, and we got our 171 (adoption approval) this weekend. It's a big deal for most, but since our old one wasn't expired yet, it doesn't change anything for us. We already had our dossier done, so we just have to hold onto this one in case we travel after the old one expires, or if we get twins. We're still hoping for a referral around September/October.

Six months!

2007-06-11T15:52:00.001-05:00

Friday marked 6 months since Dylan became part of our family. So much has changed in 6 months, as it always does with new babies. He's so amazing. I love rocking him to sleep every night. He is so calm when I'm singing to him. It always settles him down, no matter how hyper he is. I usually sing "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks. It's the second song on our video montage I posted.

We did have a small setback last weekend. We went to a hotel in Knoxville and apparently, it brought back memories of his last hotel stay (in Vietnam, with strangers-us). He really freaked out and screamed for 1.5 hours the first night. He screamed for an hour the second night, so we went home. It was just too much for him and we were all exhausted. Poor guy was just SO scared. You could hear how terrified he was in his voice.

We talked to an adoption therapist and will be going to see her next week. She'll be able to give us some pointers and advice on how to deal with adoption issues. Even though he won't cognitively remember the first year of his life, he will have implicit memories, stored in his body. Certain things will set it off and we will have to work through those. We know we have to handle some things differently due to his history, like discipline (e.g., we can't isolate him in time-out because of his abandonment issues).

We had our 6-month post-placement homestudy done and that went well. We also had to write our own report and submit pictures to send to Vietnam. I plan on sending it all to our agency this week.

We're still #9 on the girl list, though we're ok if it goes slower than planned, since we have the hotel issue to work on. We couldn't handle that every night for 3 weeks in Vietnam, plus a new baby! We'll have to visit a couple local hotels for practice and to reassure him that we'll be there with him all night and when he wakes up.

As always, here's a couple pictures.
At the jungle gym at the zoo:

In the hotel pool:

In his new stroller:

Sleeping with his sick mommy:

Playing at the Splash Pad:

At the water park:

Funny videos

2007-05-23T09:36:00.000-05:00

DTV!!

2007-05-23T09:10:00.001-05:00

We're officially DTV (dossier to Vietnam). Our dossier was authenticated and sent to Hanoi yesterday. Once it's translated and logged in, we'll be officially able to receive a referral.

I had a weird feeling the other day. I'm not one to have premonitions or things like that, but I got a strong feeling last week (around May 15) that we're getting twins. Crazy, huh? Yes, we're approved for twins, and we'd love to have them (as scary as it sounds), but it's quite rare in Vietnam. In fact, our agency has been placing children for 1.5 years and has never placed a set of twins. We are open to a girl, or boy/girl twins, or girl/girl twins. As long we get at least one girl. Most likely we'll get our one girl, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.

No change in the referral estimation. It will probably be around September (unless we get twins-that could happen earlier because we'd skip ahead of people on the list that are not approved for 2 babies).

It's just a phase

2007-05-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

That's what I keep telling myself. Dylan has become a complete Daddy's boy. If I'm the only one around, he loves me to death. But if Daddy is there, he wants nothing to do with me. He will actually CRY if Chris hands him to me! I know he loves me and it's completely normal for babies to alternately prefer one parent over another. But dangit, I'm jealous!

He's also having bad separation anxiety. Anytime we leave him at daycare, or in the church nursery, he freaks out. Screaming, crying, sounding like he's scared to death. It's so sad. I've made it a point to hang out at daycare every day for about half an hour or so until he warms up a little to the toys and teachers.

He won't even let anyone else hold him. I'm talking family! He won't go to Nana, Papa, Grandma, anyone. If we try to hand him to someone, he starts whimpering, then full-out crying. He's also forming an attachment to his sippy cup. If it's empty and he acts like he wants more, we take it to refill it. He acts like we just hurt him or something. He seriously does NOT want that cup out of his hand for a second. He'll take it outside to play and everything.

He's such an awesome little man. He's got a great personality and he's so funny. He knows what he's not supposed to do, and he'll test us by pretending like he's going to do something and looking at us with this sly grin. As cute as it is, we know not to encourage him, so we just frown and shake our heads. He stops. He loves playing outside in his new playhouse/swingset, which we worked on this weekend. We added wood timbers to form a large area around it and filled it in with wood fiber like you see on playgrounds. It was a LOT of work, but it looks great.

Dossier is complete

2007-05-03T14:19:00.000-05:00

We got our dossier done and sent to our agency. After a little hiccup with our homestudy (after it was certified and with our agency), we had to go back today and certify a new copy. So it should be on its way to the embassy for authentication next week.

Also, we got fingerprinted today. Ours are good for a few more months, but we know they (and our 171) will expire before traveling, since we've had them since last summer, so we went ahead and applied for a new 171. Which meant new fingerprints (you know, because fingerprints can change SO much in 12 months-lol). That's all the news for today!

Oh, have I mentioned the issue we've been dealing with over Dylan getting bit at daycare? He was bit 7 times in one month (6 by the same kid) and they were not doing anything about it. So we switched daycares. There's a lot more to it, but I don't feel like going into it. Anyway, he started the new daycare last Wednesday. Thursday, he got bit 3 times. Monday, once. Today, once. What in the world?!? I've talked to lots of other moms and no one gets bit this much. It's just not normal. It's normal to get one or two bites while in this age range, but 2-3/week?? Really?? My poor baby. Even the no-chew bitter apple puppy spray isn't working to keep the vampires off of him.

Homestudy is complete, clothes and sprinkler fun!

2007-04-23T07:14:00.000-05:00

We got the final, notarized copies of our homestudy Saturday. We should get the notarized copies of the rest of our dossier back today or tomorrow from our notary. Chris is taking a half day this week to take everything to the Sec. of State for certification. Then it's on its way to VORF, then to the embassy for authentication, then to Vietnam!!

They're still projecting a referral around September.

We cleaned out Madison's room and put up her crib this weekend. We also went through Dylan's clothes. He had so many, we couldn't get to them all. We found some cute new outfits for the summer. He's not gaining much weight (19 pounds at 13 months old), so he's still in 6-9mo clothes! We boxed up all the 18+ month clothing since it's just taking up room. Even the 12mo stuff is too big, but he'll be into that soon, we hope. Anyway, we used big diaper cases for the clothes. He has 1 case of 24mo clothes and 2 cases of 18mo clothes. Then a whole 4-drawer dresser full of 12mo clothes (I counted 18 pair of JEANS!) and 2 huge drawers of 6-9mo clothes. Needless to say, we no longer need more clothes for the boy. Oh, and all overalls, outfits and button-up shirts are hanging. The drawers are just for pants, t-shirts, onesies and rompers. Yikes. Most of you know, we go yard sale-ing almost every weekend in the spring and summer. That's where we get all of his clothes. I've never bought a brand-new outfit for him. He has a few new ones from baby showers, Christmas and birthday. But the majority of his clothes are really nice, second-hand clothes. I never pay more than $1 for any one piece, and he has some really nice stuff.

We've been doing the same for Madison. She has about the same amount of clothes. A dresser, 2 huge drawers, a closet FULL of dresses and right now, her crib is piled high with clothes just from this weekend. I think I'm addicted to baby clothes. Is there a support group for baby clothes addicts??

Dylan is cutting his top incisors and having a rough time of it. He cries in his sleep. He has trouble going to sleep. He wakes up early. He's not eating much because it hurts, then cries because he's hungry. I feel so bad for my little man. I wish I could take away his pain. He gets Tylenol before bed, but I don't want him to be on it all day, too.

Saturday, it was in the '80s here, so we broke out the swim diapers and sprinkler. He wasn't too impressed. I do have to admit, the water was really cold. Afterwards, we let him run around naked in the backyard. He enjoyed that. LOL.

One year ago today...

2007-04-12T07:55:00.000-05:00

...our initial application for adoption was approved by the agency. We had just begun the journey. Now we're home, raising our wonderful son, and working hard on the second adoption. Amazing how much our lives have changed, for the better, in just a year. We love Dylan SO much, and just gaze at him, knowing how incredibly lucky we are to have him. And sad about the huge sacrifice his birthmom had to make. And the fact that she will never see what a wonderful little boy he's become. I really just can't get over how awesome he is.

He said his first word (other than mama, dada, baba, etc.) the day after his birthday, at his doctor's appointment. It was SNACK. I don't remember if I already mentioned that. Oh, and his updated stats at 1 year-18 pounds, 14oz (only up 7oz in 2 months-3rd %tile), 29.5" tall (50th %tile). The doc isn't worried, though. All the extra activity now that he's walking has kept him from gaining much. He eats like a champ, too. We went out to dinner one night and he had ribs, corn on the cob, fries, chicken, and a corn muffin! He gets this little pot belly after he eats that's so cute. We call it his Buddha belly.

He's doing really well in school. Although one of his classmates is a biter. He's been bitten 4 times now-twice on the arm, once on the back of neck (broke the skin and bled), and once on his back. All 4 left teeth marks. I think they daycare is threatening the parents to kick out their kid. I just hope Dylan doesn't pick up on that behaviour.

We had our final homestudy Tuesday. It was delayed because we had to switch HS agencies. Our original one decided (after the first visit, and signing the papers) that they would no longer do homestudies/updates for clients not using them for the adoption. So we had to start over with a new agency. Hopefully, we'll have it back next week and can proceed with getting our dossier sent to Vietnam. We're still hoping for a September referral and Dec/Jan travel. We're anxious to go back to that beautiful country and add a daughter to our wonderful family.

You know that saying that you're supposed to make a wish when you look at the clock and it's all the same digits? I got up the other night at 11:11 and thought, "Oh, I need to make a wish." Then I just stood there, not able to think of anything to wish for. My life is perfect right now. Sure, I could use a few million bucks, or instant weight loss, but as I stood there looking at the clock, I thought about how great my life was. Perfect marriage, perfect son, great life. I really couldn't ask for anything better. And so different from the misery I was feeling a year ago today.

First Easter with Dylan

2007-04-09T12:09:00.000-05:00

Things are going wonderfully. Dylan is such an awesome little boy. I gave him his first haircut last week. He had a great Easter, although busy. He had an egg hunt at Nana and Papa's and loved that. He doesn't even care what's IN the eggs-he just likes putting them in the basket. He also got a new swingset/slide playhouse for the backyard for his birthday. Here are some pics.
Swinging:

Before haircut:

During:

After:

Easter:

1 year pictures

2007-03-19T08:25:00.000-05:00

Almost 1 year old!!

2007-03-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Dylan will be a year old in 10 days. It's crazy how fast it goes. He's such a big boy now. He has the best personality and I love him more and more every day. He's off the bottle now, and on a sippy cup. We're going to start working on a regular cup soon. He's walking and sometimes running a little. He loves swinging at the park. He's in the toddler room at daycare. His one-year checkup is the day after his birthday, and I'm anxious to see how he's doing with his weight and head circumference.

We have our first homestudy interview for the second adoption this afternoon. The in-home visit is next week. It's a combination of a post-placement report for Dylan and an update for our dossier for Madison. We hope to get a referral around Sept. and travel in Jan. 2008. We're really excited about going back. We're taking Chris' sister with us to help with Dylan. I can't wait to see Vietnam again. It's such a beautiful country. I'm NOT looking forward to the flight there or back, or the first couple weeks home (jetlag, grieving baby, no sleep). We're excited to add a baby girl to our family, though.

Things are great!

2007-01-22T09:14:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow will be a month since we've been home. Time flies! Today is the beginning of my 3rd week back at work. Most days, he goes to daycare after a few hours. I keep him home with me for breakfast (he has oatmeal), his bottle, and sometimes his nap.

I think he likes daycare. He gets to play with other babies his age. He's wearing shoes for the first time in his life today. We went out last night and bought some, so he'll get used to walking in shoes. He's taking up to 5-6 steps at a time now. It's so cute. He gets really excited and throws his head back, loses his balance and falls. It's funny. He has such a great personality. He's happy most of the time, laughs a lot, and makes the cutest noises. We're just SO happy to have him and we love him so much. The initial week or two was rough, but now that we're settled in to a good routine, it's been nice.

Here are a couple new pictures of my little man.

Settling in

2007-01-06T19:43:00.000-06:00

We've been home 2 weeks now. Things are much calmer. Dylan started sleeping on a regular schedule a couple nights ago, and just in time-we're going back to work Monday. I'm going to try working from home and keeping him here for a while, but I have daycare on standby if it doesn't work out.

He took his first steps on Monday! It was great. He's done it several times since, but never more than 2 steps. He'll be walking in no time. He's an amazing little boy and I'm so thankful he came into our lives.

Home, Sweet Home

2006-12-24T19:53:00.000-06:00

We made it! We got in around 11:30pm Saturday, after 28 hours of flying, layovers, and running through the airport (we almost missed our LAST leg from Dallas to Nashville, but ran on the plane with about 3 minutes to spare). We had a large group (about 15) cheering us on as we left security. It was awesome.

The flight was not fun. He did fine on the first leg (2 hours). Then we got on the big plane (12.5 hours). We had the bulkhead seats with a bassinet, which was just a little basket not tall enough to contain him unless he was sleeping. He cried the first 3 hours. I don't think anyone could understand how long 3 hours can last until you're stuck on an airplane with a screaming baby. He would drift off to sleep, then we'd try to put him in the bassinet and he'd start screaming again. The seats were uncomfortable, but at least we had some leg room. We got about 2-3 hours of sleep on that leg (not near enough). The next leg was 3 hours and he slept for most of it. The rest of that leg he was fine. The last leg was hard. It was only 1.5 hours, but he was wide awake and very active. He wanted to jump and play, which is difficult in an airplane seat. Luckily, the flight wasn't full and the person next to us moved so we could have the row. All in all, it wasn't the worst experience of my life, but I'm definitely not ready to do it again anytime soon.

We're trying to get settled in. I'm completely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we have to unpack, and coupled with no sleep, we're having a rough time adjusting. There are suitcases everywhere, dirty bottles, clothes, toys, and I really really want a nap! Last night we had Chris' mom stay the night to help us with him so we could sleep. That didn't work. He didn't want to be held by anyone other than Mommy or Daddy. Which is a great sign for attachment purposes, but it makes it very difficult. I ended up sleeping on the couch with him on my chest for 3-4 hours. We both got some sleep, and so did Daddy and Grandma, so it worked. Now we just need a few more hours...and then we can think about unpacking...and then there's Christmas tomorrow...I need some sleep!

Interview is done!

2006-12-21T02:35:00.000-06:00

And we were worried about THAT?? We went in the interview room, which looked like one of those rooms you use to talk to someone in jail, with the bulletproof glass and a microphone. We had to raise our right hand and swear that everything in the file was correct to the best of our knowledge. Then he asked if the child was healthy, we said yes, he said ok, that will be $380. Our facilitator will go back tomorrow at 4 to pick up Dylan's visa and we'll be flying home on Saturday!

Wednesday-new pictures

2006-12-20T18:49:00.000-06:00

I've finally caught up on the pictures. Everything is uploaded to http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/

Today was uneventful. We stayed in the hotel all day because of my knee. It's pretty painful, but not swollen or bruised. I've been keeping ice on it, which helps.

We did talk to our facilitator. He said we'll be home for Christmas!! Yay!! Our appointment is Thursday at 3pm (Thursday 2am at home, so it will be over by the time everyone gets up on Thursday). Dylan's passport is done and we got to see it. It's a Vietnamese passport. We should get Dylan's visa by 4pm Friday and leave for home at 11am Saturday. We'll be home at 11pm Saturday night, which is 25 hours of traveling. We're quite nervous about the longest leg of the flight (13 hours) and the 4.5 hour layover in LA. But by then the worst will be over. Until we get home and try to get over jetlag, that is.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Perfume Pagoda

2006-12-19T05:54:00.000-06:00

We had quite the adventure today! We signed up for a private tour of Perfume Pagoda. All we knew is we would ride in a car for a couple hours, in a boat for an hour, then visit a pagoda. We left out at 8:30am today (Tuesday) and just got back to the hotel at 5pm! It was our longest outing with Dylan and we were definitely not prepared. We almost ran out of formula and forgot to bring any toys! But we made it and we're all happy now.

The car ride there was interesting. We rode out of the city and into the countryside. We saw lots of cattle and everyone had a dog (as a pet). There were cemetaries in the middle of crop fields. They were growing rice, corn, squash, and peanuts. You would see rows of squash, then a grave (above ground, like New Orleans), then more squash. And a cow walking around in it all. It was very odd. They also had some cemetaries with lots of graves, but they were all facing different directions and almost piled on top of each other. Our guide said they bury the dead in wooden coffins for 3 years, then dig it up, collect the bones, place them in a small concrete coffin and worship it. We saw lots of these concrete coffins in shops along the way and they looked like baby coffins.

We ran over and killed a dog on the way, which was very upsetting. The traffic isn't as bad in the country, but they drive the same way. One of the roads was under construction, so it was all torn up and gravel-covered. It was a very bumpy ride. Dylan slept most of the way. He loves movement.

We got to our stop and were pointed to the restrooms. This was not a great experience. Their public restrooms are just holes in the floor that you squat over. Enough said.

We went a few yards and saw our boat. At this point, I was ready to go back to the hotel! It was a small metal boat with a little wooden bench in the middle. Big enough for half a butt cheek. Now, imagine riding this way, with a baby strapped to you, screaming the whole way, your legs falling asleep, for an hour. Yeah, it was not a great time. But Chris was wearing Dylan on the way there (I wore him on the way back). The scenery was beautiful. We were on a small river among some beautiful limestone mountains. I'll try to get pictures posted today or tomorrow (I did get caught up on posting pictures this morning, so there are lots of new ones).

We came to the island where the pagoda was and I was so glad to get out of that boat! I won't go into little details, but we walked and walked and walked and finally got to a temple. This wasn't THE pagoda, but just a small one along the way. It was beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice. Then we walked up a LOT of stairs, some very steep sandy, rocky slopes, and more stairs. And when I say stairs, I'm not talking about like the ones in your house. I'm talking about big slabs of rock that really work your thighs. We will not be able to walk tomorrow. Then we got to the foot of the trail. It was gruesome and we were just now at the foot of the trail?!? It was incredibly steep and I don't see how ANYone climbs it. It honestly would've been a hard workout for the most physically fit person, which I am not! So we hopped on the cable car and rode to the top. We had planned to do this all along, so all the walking and climbing prior to this was a shock.

The cable car ride was incredible. We were hundreds of feet in the air, over mountains and valleys. It was scary, but beautiful. Again, the pictures do not do it justice. We got to the top and found out this pagoda is actually a huge cave! I love caves, so I was excited. It was 120 steps (slabs of rock) down to the entrance. Had I known this adventure would have been so strenuous, I probably wouldn't have gone for it! But we're glad we did it, now that it's over. Anyway, there were worship areas around stalagmites and stalactites in the cave. There was a pure green marble Buddha statue from the 14th century. This pagoda was from that time, and the statue was the original. Our guide was Buddhist (as are 80% of Vietnamese people), so he stopped to pray to the statue. Then we had to climb back up the 120 stairs. I had to stop every 20 steps (yes, I counted them ALL) to breathe. My legs were quivering with exhaustion.

We made it back out and it was all downhill from there. The cable car ride back was full. We had another family in the car with us and I'm sure we were pushing the weight limit on that thing. Dylan was wet by this point and his diaper leaked, so Chris' lap got wet. We got to the bottom and had no where to change him, so I had to use my portable changing pad on the GROUND to change my son's diaper. Hopefully that's the last time I'll have to do that. Poor baby had wet clothes and a wet carrier, and Chris looked like he wet his pants. Then we had to begin the many steps, slopes, and sandy trek back down. It was so slippery and we kept slipping. This is when the 'accident' happened. Luckily, Chris was wearing Dylan, so he was fine. My foot slipped out from under me on one of the steep slopes and I went down hard. My right foot stayed in place, so I came down on my knee, which hyperextended, then fell over on my hip. I thought I had broken my leg. My first thought was, "Oh no! We can't get hurt or we'll have to stay here longer!" Luckily, I was back up and limping down the mountain within 5 minutes. I'm still limping and it's hurting, but I can walk and I'll be fine. I think I gave Chris a heart attack, though!

The boat ride back went much like the ride there. Dylan crying, our legs cramped up (except now my knee was hurting), and the wind whipping harder than we expected. We didn't have enough clothes on our son-just a romper. He's ok, though.

The ride back in the car was uneventful and Dylan slept most of the way. Now we're back safely in our hotel room, hoping for a full night of sleep because we're exhausted!

Sunday's update and random details

2006-12-16T22:25:00.000-06:00

We're in Hanoi! This hotel is 100x nicer and the room is 3x bigger. Literally. We have a mini-suite, which is good since we'll be here at least a week. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but it looks like there's a small chance we'll be back on schedule to come home on the 23rd. We may not know until the 22nd, but keep sending up prayers and thoughts for a speedy process!

I'm still feeling much better. The antibiotics must have done the trick. I still have some stomach issues, but with my history (Crohn's), that doesn't surprise me. I can deal with that-it was the constant nausea that was killing me.

Dylan is doing SO well. He was a real trooper on the 2-hour flight up here. He's such a happy, adjusted baby. He'll say mama and dada and reach up for us. He likes to sleep laying on my chest. He doesn't like for us to feed him, though. He has to be laying flat on the bed or in his crib to drink his bottle. He'll let us hold the bottle, and he'll play with our fingernails. He's teething and likes to chew on his thumb. He doesn't suck it, just chews. I think his 9th tooth is coming in. Other than being fussy when he's sleepy or hungry, he's always happy. He has the funniest laugh and I can't wait for you all to hear it.

I'm going to work on uploading our Cu Chi Tunnel pictures today.

We got his abandonment report a couple days ago. He was found outside the gate of the orphanage on 3/26. They estimated him to be about 3 days old, but we're keeping 3/26 as his birthdate, as that's what his birth certificate says. He weighed 6.5 pounds when they found him. They posted a notice in the paper for any family to claim him and no one did. So we'll never be able to get any information on his birth family. We knew that was a good possibility going into this, so we're ok with it.

We're in the homestretch now and can't wait to come home and see everyone! We decided to extend our work leave until the 3rd or 4th week of January, so we'll have time to get him on a schedule, visit with everyone, and get him used to being in his crib. He seems to adjust really well to new surroundings, so we're hopeful about that. We're really worried about the 13-hour leg of our flight and we wish we were in business class. But we've made it through all this, we'll make it through that!

Have I mentioned the traffic here? It's unbelievable. 90% of people drive scooters, or small motorcycles. The rest drive bicycles or cars. There are lines on the road and for the most part, people drive on the right side, but they completely ignore the lines. It's total chaos. I've never seen anything like it. Crossing the road is a nightmare. They just part around you-there's never a break in the flow. You can't get scared and stop, or you'll get hit. They anticipate where you'll be by your pace and base their driving on that. We did see one accident, after the fact. It was horrible. Big truck with a bicycle under the front tire. I saw a flip flop. The driver was already gone. I have a feeling he/she didn't make it.

They don't have carseats here. One of the pictures I have is from the ride home from Cu Chi. Dylan was sleeping on the seat between Chris and me. No seatbelts, no carseats. I bet he won't care much for the carseat when we get home.

I wish there was some way to show the traffic flow. It's truly incredible. Very scary. And there are no stop signs. A few major streets have stop lights, which count down until they turn green (wouldn't that be nice?), but most streets are just open and you have to cross when you can.

The weather in Hanoi is much milder than HCMC. It was in the 60's last night. It felt GREAT.

There are lots of people on the street trying to sell stuff. They carry these sticks across their back with a basket on each side, full of fruit or souveniers or coconut milk. Some disabled people sit on the sidewalk and hold out their hats for money. Everywhere you walk, you hear, "Sir! Ma'am! Come in, come in and look." They all want you to come in their stores. Sometimes they get rather pushy, but overall it's ok.

The waitresses in the restaurants like to hold your baby while you eat. It's actually really nice. I never thought I'd be comfortable with it, but they always keep them in your sight, and it makes it possible to eat. Anyone who has gone out to eat with an infant knows how difficult it is. That's how EVERY meal is here! Ha!

You'd be amazed at the things people carry on their scooters. We've seen up to 4 people (2 adults, 2 kids) on ONE scooter. We saw someone carrying a desk and office chair strapped to their scooter. We saw two scooters driving side-by-side carrying a plate glass window!! If you could see the traffic here, you'd know how amazing this was! Oh, yesterday I saw someone with a ladder strapped to their scooter. The babies on scooters usually have mosquito net-type things over them and the adults all wear cloths over their nose and mouth. But we rarely see helmets. We asked our facilitator if there are ever any accidents and he said all the time. The morning news tells how many deaths and injuries there were the previous day from traffic accidents. It's really crazy.

Friday

2006-12-15T03:53:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't updated in a couple days. We don't have an internet signal in our room here in HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City-same as Saigon), so I have to sit in the lobby to email. I haven't felt like doing that, or anything else for that matter. I've been incredibly sick. So sick that I started my emergency antibiotics yesterday. I don't think I've been that sick in years. I couldn't eat anything until lunch today. I'm finally feeling better, though. It sure was making the trip miserable. Chris is being an awesome daddy, taking Dylan out so I could rest. I guess the antibiotics worked because I'm feeling 110% better.

We're leaving tomorrow to head to Hanoi. I'm ready for a new hotel (and hopefully a bigger room). But that room wasn't quite so small once I was feeling better.

Today, we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels. That was an amazing experience and I'm SO glad we did it. I almost didn't go because I was still sick this morning, but it passed by the time we got there. Cu Chi tunnels were used during the Vietnam War for the guerillas and the Cu Chi people to hide from American soldiers. It was so weird walking the ground where US bombs were dropped and soldiers were killed. Very spooky. We went in one of the tunnels and I can say that I do NOT want to do that again. You had to crawl through this dirt tunnel and your back and both hips were rubbing against walls. That's how narrow it was. Poor Chris was carrying Dylan, so he had a really hard time. Luckily, it was a pretty short tunnel. They had longer ones we could go through if we wanted, but we really didn't feel the need. Ha! We got lots of pictures, but I don't have time right now to get them on the site. Hopefully, we'll have internet in our room at the next hotel and we can update more often.

We sure are ready to come home, but things aren't so bad now that I'm not sick. We ate at a pizzeria today and it was really good. Well, we have to go to the market for more diapers, so that's all for now. Love to all and thanks again for all the emails!

Wednesday

2006-12-15T03:51:00.000-06:00

(This is from Wednesday)

We're in HCMC! And we already had our immigration appointment and got Dylan's picture taken for his visa. Tomorrow morning he has his medical exam (required for the visa) and we're leaving on Saturday for Hanoi. We'll wait there the rest of the time for our final immigration interview and then we'll get Dylan's visa so we can come home!! Still no word on when that might be, but it shouldn't be too long after Christmas.

Dylan had his first airplane ride today. It went really well. He drank a lot of his bottle during take-off and landing, so he had no ear problems. He slept most of the flight (it was only an hour). We kept him awake from then until our CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) appointment at 3:30, so he would nap through that. It worked! Now he's wide awake, playing with Daddy, and having a ball.

We had a really hard time when we first got here at the Rex Hotel. Our room was the size of our bedroom (not very big) and had two twin beds and no crib. I called our facilitator and he talked to the front desk to get them to change it. Now we're in an even smaller room, but we have a king size bed at least. And a crib. The cribs here would NEVER pass US inspections. It's crazy. We'll be lucky if he doesn't hurt himself in these things before we get home. Anyway, we got to the second room, I was feeling extremely sick (as I have for 3 days now...uh oh), and our internet wasn't working well, so I couldn't even talk to anyone online. I just about lost it. I think it would all be better if I weren't so sick. It comes and goes. If I don't eat, I'm fine. I went with a 'safe' lunch of mac and cheese, and felt like I was going to die afterwards. We didn't realize how good we had it in Danang. I was sick there, but the room was a suite, and it was easier to be sick in.

We are SO ready to come home. We're trying hard to enjoy the country, but we really miss everyone so much. We miss our pets. We miss McDonald's! No, they don't have one in this country. We just miss home. I can't wait to be able to drink water without boiling it, letting it cool, bottling it, refrigerating it, etc. And brush my teeth with tap water! What a novel idea.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas card. Dylan and I were wearing our traditional Vietnamese outfits that I had made and Chris was wearing a hand-embroidered shirt. You can't see the details in the picture, but it's beautiful.

We are looking forward to going to Hanoi. We may be there a week or two, so I hope we like it. It will be cooler, so maybe that will help with the nausea. And if we have a small room, I will be upgrading! We tried here, but they're booked solid. We've run into lots of adoptive families here. It's pretty cool.

Thanks everyone for all the emails. It really does help hearing from people back home, even with the mundane day-to-day details. It's those little things you miss.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-15T03:46:00.000-06:00

(this is from Tuesday)

Since it looks like we won't be home for the holidays, we wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christman from Vietnam. Please enjoy the photo, and send it along to anyone else who might like to see our first family Christmas picture.

Update on Travel

2006-12-15T03:43:00.000-06:00

(This is from Monday, 12/11/06)

We will be leaving Danang tomorrow morning at 6am (Wednesday), flying back to HCMC. We have to be interviewed by immigration either at CIS or the Embassy (one is in Hanoi and one is in HCMC), so we're opting for HCMC since Hanoi is so backed up. We are hoping for an appointment on Thursday, then will get approval on Friday or Monday. Then we still have to fly to Hanoi to get Dylan's Visa and Passport to get him out of the country. There's still no way we'll be home by Christmas, but New Year's isn't out of the question.

We're starting to get a little homesick and miss our families and friends. Dylan is great, but when he's fussy and we're both sick, and everyone we know is on the other side of the world, it makes it a little difficult. He's still such a miracle and I wouldn't trade a second of time with him (well, except maybe the many seconds that he cries before naps! Who wouldn't? Ha!). Anyway, he seems to be attaching really well. He reaches up for us from his crib and he LOVES us to walk him around in our carrier (mei tai). He's pulling up and walking the perimeter of his crib a lot. He'll be walking on his own in no time. We expected him to be delayed, but he actually seems a little ahead of schedule, or right on schedule for his age.

If anyone wants to email us, we'd love to hear from you. It's so nice to hear from people back home, especially when we're cooped up in a hotel room most of the day.

Saturday's adventures

2006-12-15T03:40:00.000-06:00

(This is from last Saturday-I forgot to post it)

First off, HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!! Hallelujah, we have an angel! We put him down at 10pm and WE woke up at 3am. We wanted to hold him, so we did. He barely woke up while we changed his diaper, then went right back to sleep. We woke him up at 6am because we wanted to go have breakfast. He's eating a lot now, and we can switch from breastmilk to formula with no problems. Today, we had quite the adventure.

There's a city near Danang called Hoi An. It's the oldest city in Vietnam and there's an 'ancient Hoi An' part of town. We told our facilitator we wanted to tour it and he arranged for a driver to pick us up at 1:30. First we went to the silk factory. This place was amazing. They were breeding silk worms and getting the silk from the cocoon, then making beautiful lanterns, scarves, shirts, outfits, suits, etc. from the silk. It was truly amazing. We got to see each section. Oh, and they had these beautiful silk screen pieces of art. It looked like it was painted. Each one was handmade. The workers had to train for 2 years to make them, and one piece took days to make. We bought 2 pieces at $12 each!! The prices of the items that are made here are really cheap. But a CAN of coke is $2! So not everything is cheap. I had an aoi dai custom made, to be delivered tomorrow morning. It's a traditional Vietnamese outfit. All the women wear them. It's pants with a top that has a long piece of fabric in the front and back that drops past the knees. It's so elegant and classy looking. I can't wait to get mine tomorrow! Babies wear them, too, so I got Dylan one. Boys' are a bit different, but it's still a traditional VNese outfit.

After the silk factory, we went to ancient Hoi An and went on a guided walking tour. It was 2 hours of walking, non stop. And I had a 17-pound baby strapped to my chest. Needless to say, I was exhausted at the end. And this was after a couple hours at the silk factory. My feet are tired, but I'm still the happiest momma in the world. My little man fussed most of the time because we were both sweating, but he fell asleep on the way back to the hotel, and then we played for a while and took a bath. He's really an angel. He doesn't mind a bath. It's probably the first one he's ever had in a bathtub. He loved splashing the water. Anyway, ancient Hoi An was incredible. The Vietnamese culture is just so cool and we got to experience it first-hand. This is the experience of a lifetime and I'm so glad that we're lucky enough to enjoy it.

We're not really too upset about the delay in travel plans. We'll still have our family Christmas at home after we get back, and he'll get to wear his First Christmas onesie then. We're just so blessed to have this angel in our lives. We love him more than anything in the world.

Well, it's 8pm on Saturday, and we're extremely exhausted, so we're heading to bed. Dylan just went down a few minutes ago. Love to all!!

Bad news

2006-12-08T08:31:00.000-06:00

The meeting was bad news. We won't be home for Christmas. :-( There is a backup at the embassy where they would be processing Dylan's visa and passport. But at least we'll have him through the delay, and we'll be spending Christmas with our son. I'm still bummed about it, though. I was given a special onsie with First Christmas Dylan embroidered on it and I didn't bring it. I suppose we'll just be celebrating Christmas a little late this year.

He's ours!

2006-12-08T02:46:00.000-06:00

Let me start with yesterday where I left off. We walked down to the beach, but stopped at the sand. Then we went and swam for a bit in the resort's pool. It was really nice. Then we walked to marble alley. Danang has marble mountains, where they mine marble and make sculptures. It's really amazing. This alley is a short walk from the resort and it leads up to the mountain. Down the alley, people are hand- and machine-carving the huge chunks of marble. The finished products are beautiful. After that, we had dinner then went to bed early. We figured it would be the last night for a while that we sleep through the night!

We woke up at 4am because we were so excited. We got the gifts ready for the orphanage caretakers, sorted out the diaper bag, ate breakfast, etc. At 9am, our driver came and took us to the orphanage. They were waiting outside with Dylan. Megan's baby was asleep inside. I got Dylan and he started crying! I suppose I would cry, too, if some stranger came and grabbed me away from the people I knew. I felt so bad for him. But apparently it was time to eat. This was interesting.

They brought out the bottle with a spoon attached to the end. They would squeeze out glue-looking stuff and shove it in his mouth, even through his cries. They sang to him and rocked him a lot. He eventually stopped crying, finished the whole bottle, and they handed him back to me. He was zonked out within seconds. They asked if I would change his clothes, which I was wanting to do, so I pulled out his outfit I got for the G&R. It was a 6-9 month outfit. It fell off of him. They just kept laughing about it, then got rubberbands and tied them through 2 beltloops on each side to help keep his pants up. After several minutes, they told us it was time to go. We weren't sure where we were going, as we thought the G&R was at the orphanage. They all said bye to the babies and it was so sad. The caretakers really love the babies and it shows. They didn't want him to go.

We went to the taxi and drove to their version of city hall. It was a conference room with one table and about 10 chairs. There was a man and woman that came in after us that were really dressed up. We thought they were the officials. Turns out they were a wedding couple. We sat there and watched them sign the marriage certificate. It was odd. Then we waited for about 45 minutes, sweating, nervous, no idea what was happening and no one to translate. People kept coming in and out, lots of paperwork was piling up, and it all looked very official. They asked for a document but we had no idea what they wanted. We finally figured it out and I accidentally gave them a copy. They said it wouldn't work, at which point my heart stopped. Then they said, "copy, copy", so I looked and sure enough, I still had the original. We went on to sign about 10 things each. I have NO idea what they said, but I wasn't about to question it!

Finally, at 11, THE official walked in. She was the one that would grant or deny the adoption. By this time, our facilitator was there, and he could translate. They called Chris and I up to the front of the room first and shook Chris' hand, and handed us a piece of paper. She was saying something, then Binh translated for us. He said the committee for the city of Danang had granted our request for adoption of Trung Vinh. They asked that we send regular updates to the city and visit if possible. We promised to send said updates, and they said congratulations, you're parents. At that point, I cried again. Of course. Then they did the same to the other lady that was with us. We then had to make a statement to the orphanage officials (thank you, you took great care of Vinh, he was loved very much, we promise to take care of him, etc.), then we left. We went to the grocery store for formula and diapers.

Dylan has not had any formula since the bottle during the ceremony. He's had two small bottles of breastmilk, which he seems to love. We haven't tried to nurse yet. He needs to spend more time with us first. Oh, and during the ceremony, he wet his diaper, so afterwards, while they were going through papers, I had to change him right there, for the first time ever, on a chair in front of some very important people. Talk about nervous! The whole experience was terrifying, honestly. I was emotionally exhausted afterwards and couldn't even get excited. I was just fried.

The first half hour in the hotel was rough. He was crying and wouldn't stop. He was dry and fed, so we just walked him around. We figure he'll have an adjustment period for a while. He fell asleep at the orphanage and woke up, never to see the only people he knew again (at least not for several months until we come back). Finally, though, he fell asleep. We laid him in his crib and he slept for about 45 minutes, then woke up. I got him up and laid him on my chest on the bed, and he fell right back asleep, so he went back to his crib. He slept a total of about 2.5 hours! Then we walked down to the beach together (with Daddy wearing the carrier!), then came back to the room. We've just been sitting on the floor together playing. Now he's asleep again. It's kind of early (6:45), but he'll be up soon. We have to meet Binh (facilitator's partner) in an hour. We have no idea why, and we're really nervous. Why would he come to the hotel at 8pm after telling us this afternoon he'd see us on Sunday? We're both very nervous, but I guess we'll find out in an hour!

I'll try to get more pictures loaded. I have lots of great ones now. You can view them at http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/DylanAVWright/

It may be tomorrow before I get around to it. I'm exhausted!!

We met our son!

2006-12-07T00:37:00.000-06:00

We got to HCMC (Saigon) on Wednesday around 11am. We had someone pick us up at the airport and take us to the hotel. They tried to put us in a room with 2 twin beds, but our guide that GT (our facilitator) hired told them we were on our honeymoon, so we got a free upgrade to the honeymoon suite. Too bad we didn't get more time to enjoy it. We were hungry, so we ventured out in search of food. We found the open-air market and did a little shopping. You have to bargain a lot with them (Dad, you'd love it!). We got to the food part and turned around. I really didn't want to see any skinned dogs hanging. Plus, it smelled bad. We walked around the city (within about 3 blocks of the hotel) and bought a few little handmade trinkets for souveniers. We're getting lots of souveniers for everyone, but don't expect too much. We only have so much room to bring stuff home.

We got back to the hotel around 3pm and tried out the restaurant in the hotel. I wasn't feeling brave, so I got a burger. It came with a fried egg on top, which is new to me, but it was good. Chris got some Vietnamese dish with beef (we hope). We walked down to an indoor mall, but all the shops sold the same items. It was strange. We went back to the hotel and crashed. We were asleep by 6pm, since we had to be up at 3am.

We got up this morning at 3 and left the hotel at 4. Our flight was at 6. We got First Class, which was really nice. It was only an hour flight. I wish we could afford First Class for the ride home!! Breakfast on the plane was interesting. It was a pastry with some meat in it. Like a sausage or something. It reminded me of beef wellington.

When we got to Danang, our driver loaded us up (Chris and I, Megan and her dad) and took off. He called Quoc, who assists GT. Quoc wanted to talk to us and told us that we were headed straight to the orphanage. Talk about butterflies in your stomach!

We got to the orphanage and the driver pointed us towards the door. We all walked in and there were 2-3 caretakers playing with babies. There were more babies in cribs. There were about 6 babies in this room. We didn't really know what to do, and since it had been 6 weeks since I got a picture, I wasn't really sure which one was Dylan. So I said, "Trung Vinh?" (his VNese name) and they all started smiling and pointing at the most beautiful creature I've ever seen. He was on the floor, so I sat down and put him in my lap. I couldn't stop crying. Or stop kissing him. His tiny hands, his cute nose, his chubby cheeks. He's perfect.

We stayed there about an hour and a half, just holding our babies. It was really amazing. Dylan has 7 teeth already. Four on the bottom and 3 up top. I think he's gotten another haircut since the pictures we got 6 weeks ago. Two haircuts before 8 months old! He's got a bald spot on the back of his head, but I'm sure it's just from sleeping on his back.

We then went to the hotel. This hotel is absolutely beautiful. We're in a deluxe room with a sitting area, separate shower/tub, 1 and a half baths, etc. It's really nice. Oh, and did I mention it's a resort right on the ocean?? We went downstairs to eat lunch and we both got VNese food. It was excellent. I love the food. Danang is gorgeous, at least the part we're in right now. The way to the orphanage was really run down, but it's not a rich city. The culture is so cool and the people are extremely nice. I just can't wait to hold my son again!!

We're off to walk down to the ocean! More updates tomorrow!

Here's a picture of Daddy and Dylan:

One more week!!

2006-11-27T14:38:00.000-06:00

Seven days to go and counting. Thanksgiving was nice with the in-laws (my family didn't do a dinner together this year). Next Thanksgiving, we'll probably have two little ones in tow. It's hard to imagine. I can't wait to hold my little boy!!

Date changed

2006-11-19T17:13:00.000-06:00

We got a call yesterday from our VN facilitator, GT, that he had moved the G&R date up 3 days!! We're now getting Dylan on 12/8. We're leaving on 12/4 and arriving on 12/6. Hopefully, we'll get to fly to Danang that day and visit the orphanage. I can't believe we only have 15 days left before we leave! We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Travel date!!

2006-11-17T06:44:00.000-06:00

We got it! We're going to become Dylan's officials parents on Dec. 11, 2006. We're leaving the US on Dec. 6 and arriving in HCMC (Saigon), Vietnam on Dec. 8. We're scheduled to be back in Nashville on Dec. 23 (my mom's birthday!). Hopefully things will progress as quick as they planned so we'll indeed be home for Christmas. What a wonderful Christmas this will be!

We should get getting our visas next week sometime. We're pretty much packed, except for clothes we're still wearing and toiletries we're still using. We found out I won't be able to use my breastpump on the plane, so I think we're going to just take the manual part of it. That way, I won't lose the expensive part and it will take up MUCH less room. I just hope I can still keep my supply up while we're there, so I can feed Dylan breastmilk. I'm up to 12oz/day, which is great. Babies his age supposedly drink 24-32oz/day, so I'll only have to supplement half. We're very happy about that. And I have over 300oz frozen.

I feel like there's so much I need to be doing, but there's really not. We've been preparing for this day for so long, there's just not much left to do. We're SOOOO ready to become Mommy and Daddy and we're so blessed to have Dylan in our lives within a month!

Discouraged

2006-11-14T13:02:00.000-06:00

We still don't have a travel date. We were supposed to get it within 7 days after wiring the rest of the money. It's been 15 days. Every day, I email the agency and every day, they say they're still waiting. Last week they said it would probably be between Dec. 4 & 8. Today, I found out our dossiers are held up in Hanoi and they have to be in DaNang before a G&R is scheduled. They're not sure what the holdup is, but now it looks like we're out to Dec. 8-11. Which means not being home for Christmas. We're really upset about this. I thought for sure we'd get our date today, only to find out it's going to be probably several more days before getting it. I know it seems like it's only a few days, but that means the difference in being home for Christmas. It means a difference in airfare because December is more expensive (according to our agent). And worst of all, it means a few days in the life of my son without him knowing us or us holding him. I'm just really upset right now.

Lots of news

2006-10-24T16:21:00.000-05:00

It's been a hectic few days since I posted last. Friday I got a surprise baby shower at work. We got our second toybox (we wanted one for the living room and one for the nursery), and a TON of stuff off our registry. It was great and we also got some Walgreens gift cards to buy OTC medicine for the orphanage.

Friday night, I heard from the agency. We're going to Vietnam the last week in November/first week in December!!!! We thought we'd definitely be there over Christmas, but now it's looking like we'll be home!! We're SO excited. We started packing Dylan's stuff this weekend and it's pretty overwhelming. We have a list and it's longer for him than for us! Good thing, because the two suitcases we were planning on checking are almost full.

I got new photos and measurements. He's now 16.5 pounds. He'll be 7 months old in 2 days. Wow. He's getting old, and he's looking older in his pictures. I also got the pictures from my friend that went last month. He looks SOOOO cute and cuddly. I ache to hold him. I don't see how I'll ever be able to let him go and let anyone else hold him. But I know by the time I get home, I'll probably be ready for a little break. Maybe. I've waited SO long for this. I'm so ready.

Here's my friend that held him for me (I hope you don't mind me posting this!!):

Here he is with his signature smile that I keep falling in love with:

Here's the "crib" that he stays in:

Close up of his beautiful face:

These are from just 2 days ago:

We also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on Sunday. It's been 7 wonderful years and we're both so excited to start the next phase of our lives together.

Missing my little man

2006-10-19T07:09:00.000-05:00

I'm really missing Dylan today. Some days are better than others, but today is hard. I don't know why. I'm just SO ready to go get him. I got out the suitcases last night. Nothing is in them, yet, but they're out. There's no reason for us not to go ahead and get Dylan's stuff packed. We certainly won't need it before then. We're still missing a lot of stuff that we need for our trip, but we'll wait until after our last shower before buying anything.

We got the cutest little toy for him from eBay. You Moms of little ones have probably heard of Peek-a-Blocks. This is the hippo that picks up the blocks and stores then under the seat. He can sit on the seat and push around with his feet, or flip the seat up and use it as a walker. It's SO cute. We also ordered the giraffe and the elephant peek-a-block toys. That reminds me-I need to take that off my registry! I had registered for the giraffe and elephant. I've never seen the hippo before, though. I just like the fact that it will get him moving his legs.

I have a friend online that just got back from Vietnam and got some great pictures of Dylan. She hasn't been able to get them off her computer and to me yet, but hopefully this week. They're from the same time frame as the last ones I got from the agency (6 months). She said he was so happy and smiling, but cried when she put him down. She said he didn't look like he had teeth (but she wasn't inspecting him). She said he's a snuggle bug, which makes me very happy. I can't wait to snuggle with him. She said he looked healthy and proportionate. He's perfect! I want to hold him so bad it hurts.

There are only 10 weeks left in the year. We still haven't gotten a tentative travel date (which I thought we were supposed to get this week), but they're still saying December, so that means at the latest, we'll be gone in 9 weeks. I sure hope we're back by Christmas, which would mean we're going in 6 weeks. Only 6 weeks. I really need to start packing. Maybe that will occupy my time.

Baby showers and other stuff

2006-10-16T12:21:00.000-05:00

First, we got new measurements on Dylan. He's now 15.5 pounds (only gained a pound this month) and 28" long. He's tall and skinny! We'll fatten him up, though. The milk production is going well. I'm getting around an ounce per session (up from 1/30th of an ounce). And I'm only on week 3.

I had my first baby shower Saturday, Oct. 14. It was a couples' shower at our house, hosted by Teresa and Deana. We had about 7 couples and we played games like making the men drink out of baby bottles and making the men eat baby food to guess the flavor. It was a lot of fun and I got some really great items.

The second shower was Sunday, Oct. 15. It was at church and was hosted by five ladies from church. That one was a bit calmer (no games), but again, I got a ton of great stuff! Dylan is definitely being showered with gifts. The next one that I know about is Sunday, Oct. 29. That one's for Chris' side of the family.

The amount of stuff we have now is almost overwhelming. We're running out of room! We had already purchased several items before the showers (like, enough for 3 kids), but much of it is for older ages, so we can store it. And then there's the strollers and carseats, which take up a lot of room, but won't be stored in the house for much longer. We'll be organizing it a bit more in the coming weeks.

We still haven't started working on the trip yet. I know we should work on a packing list, but the thought of spending 3 weeks halfway around the world caring for a baby for the first time in our lives has been a little overwhelming. I have a couple sample lists, and we've started compiling some items in a drawer that we know we'll need for Dylan. Other than that, nothing. It's so unlike me. I'm so freakishly organized that I like having a list for everything. I have a list of things to work on before travel and one thing on the list is to make a packing list. LOL. I make a list to remind me to make a list. Scary, huh? Anyway, I really need to work on that, but it's hard to get started. The first step is the hardest, right? Honestly, considering the cooler weather we're getting now, I could go ahead and pack my clothes, since it will be in the 80's there! I don't think I'll need summer clothes anymore this year in TN.

We're planning on getting souveniers for family, but if there's something specific you want (for the whole three family members that actually read this), let me know. Things are pretty inexpensive there, but we have limited packing space, of course. We're taking at least one suitcase full of donations for the orphanage, so we'll use those on the way back for souveniers.

First scary mommy moment!!

2006-10-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Friday started like any normal day. I worked, I went home, I pumped every 3 hours. Friday night, I got online and checked my Yahoo groups I'm on. I see a post about a storm heading towards Vietnam. Then I read this storm was a category 4 typhoon (same as a hurricane, just in a different hemisphere, I believe) heading straight for DaNang. It had already ripped through the Phillipinnes and killed dozens of people (the count is now up to over 100). The eye was forecasted to hit Sat. night/Sun. morning in DaNang. My heart stopped. I started bawling and was scared to death. I've never felt so helpless in my life. Here I was, sitting in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood, with beautiful weather, and my precious son was halfway around the world, in an orphanage, with the worst storm in 3 decades heading right for him, and there was NOTHING I could do. It's the worst feeling in the world.

Saturday morning I got up and checked the weather. The typhoon was still a category 4 and still heading for DaNang. I called Carl, our agency director. He didn't seem to be aware there was a typhoon heading for the city (he didn't have access to a computer that day and communication was down with the folks in VN). He said he would try his best to get in contact with GT, our in-country facilitator. He was there with 2 families adopting their babies from the same orphanage. I had heard they had already left and were in Hanoi (northern VN). I knew hundreds of thousands had been evacuated, but I didn't know if the orphanage even could.

All morning and evening, I looked for articles, scouring internet sites, just trying to find any info I could. It wasn't looking promising, though. Sunday morning I got up and saw the storm had hit as a category 2. Several people were dead, dozens injured. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, buildings were missing roofs, people were missing. I called Carl again and he told me he finally got in touch with GT. The babies were all safely evacuated to the hospital in DaNang about 5 miles inland (the orphanage is only 1 mile inland). He promised me they were all safe, but didn't know about the orphanage. Hearing that news filled me with such relief. I don't think I realized how worried and stressed I was until I heard he was ok.

Today I found out the orphanage was badly damaged. The roof is gone, the windows are gone, stuff inside and out is broken. I shudder to think what would have happened if Dylan had not been taken to the hospital before the storm. I thank God that my baby is ok, and hope the orphanage can get put back together soon. I also hope this doesn't delay any adoptions. This weekend made me really realize (if I didn't already) that I'm a mommy and I love and care about that little boy more than anyone in the world.

3 great things!

2006-09-27T10:21:00.000-05:00

1. Our yard sale went GREAT! We made $1250 over 3 days. That's almost enough for a round-trip plane ticket! Thank you SO much to everyone who helped, either by donating items, donating time, or sending up prayers on our behalf. And a big special thanks to my dad and my mother-in-law. They were there before the crack of dawn on Friday to help us set up and stayed all day to help manage the crowds. Even with the thunderstorms and tornado warnings, we had huge crowds. That really meant so much to us to have their help.

Any items left over were donated to another couple at our church who are having a yard sale this weekend to raise money for their adoption.

2. I started the next phase of the protocal for induced lactation. I went to my consultant and she hooked up the pump to show me how to work it, but we didn't expect any milk for weeks. Lo and behold, I had drops within minutes!! It's truly amazing what the human body can do. Here I am, never been pregnant in my life, and I'm producing breastmilk to nourish my baby! It's amazing enough when birth moms can do it, but me...wow. I just thank God for giving me the ability to provide this special gift to our son and allow me to bond with him in this way. Now we just have to pray I get more than a few drops! I'm saving every drop to freeze, but it's very very little at this point. I have to pump every 3 hours (except at night for now) and each session yields about 1cc of milk. That's 1/30th of an ounce. It will happen, though!

3. We got new pics of Dylan on his 6-month birthday yesterday. My baby boy is 6 months old already!! He's SO beautiful and I love him more every day. His daddy and I are so proud to have him as our son and we just can't wait to get him home. Still no news on travel, but again, that won't happen until a couple weeks before it's time to go. We hope to hear something before Thanksgiving.

Update on Dylan!! (and more exciting news)

2006-09-07T11:53:00.000-05:00

We got an update today. He's now 14 pounds, 9 ounces and 27.5 inches long. I think he's going to be tall! I'm going to try to post his pictures. The first is from 7 weeks, then 3 months, then 5 months. I wish they hadn't cut his hair, though!!

The other exciting news is that we've decided to start the second adoption now. We are #14 on the list for a girl, and are expecting a referral in March/April. We'll travel in June/July. We're trying to get my mom to go with us so she can help with Dylan. I just don't want to leave him for 3 weeks after being home only 6 months. We're SO excited about getting Dylan, then getting Madison shortly after.

Nothing new

2006-09-05T12:02:00.000-05:00

No new pictures, no new measurements, no word on travel. Our dossier should be in VN and being translated as we speak. Oh, and we decided we aren't going to name the second baby Zoey. She's going to be Madison Ann, the name we've had picked out for 8 years. I don't care that it's now one of the most popular names in the country-we had it first! LOL. Maybe the second girl will be Zoey. ;-)

It's good!

2006-08-31T09:07:00.000-05:00

The dossier is in my agency's hands, fully authenticated, and complete. Instead of mailing it to Hanoi, they are sending it with their facilitator, who's going to VN in 2 days. That way, it gets hand-delivered even quicker. They expect 10-14 for translating and logging it in with IAD (international adoption department). Everything is moving so fast, it's wonderful!! Every day saved is an extra day with my baby! I would love to be with him for his 8-month birthday on November 26. That's pushing it, but it's possible!

Oh, and the 'rule' about adoptions needing to be a year apart was just my old agency, not a VN law, so we could start Zoey's adoption now if we wanted. If we had the money. We'll have to look through the budget and see how quick we can get it going.

I'm impressed!

2006-08-31T07:03:00.000-05:00

I checked FedEx this morning and my dossier left last night and arrived in Ohio this morning. The agency should get it by 10am! That was quick! I was expecting a week. This just means I'm that much closer to my Dylan. Speaking of, another VORF client is in DaNang right now (as of about 1am today, 1pm VN time) picking up her daughter, and promised to try her best to get pictures of Dylan for me and hold him. She won't be able to send the pics until she gets home, but she should be able to let me know soon if she was able to get any pics. I'm so excited! I hope she got lots of pics of him. I don't think I'll ever have enough pictures of my baby until I can see him in person. If I could afford to live in VN for the next 3 months, I'd do it (if Chris could come, too-otherwise, I'd probably end up in the wrong country with my common sense if I went by myself!).

I'm just so excited my paperwork was authenticated easily. At least I hope it was. Hopefully, they didn't send it back so quick because there was a problem. Now I'm worried about that. I suppose I'll hear from my agency today, though. If all is well, it will be sent to VN for translation, then to the adoption center in VN. This is going way too smooth. Please pray it continues to go this smooth. The quicker the paper moves through, the sooner I can hold my precious baby boy!

On another note, I have a good friend that's leaving in 8 days to pick up her son in Russia. She already went there once to get his referral (it works a little different than VN) and she hasn't seen him in FIVE MONTHS! Can you imagine? Holding your son, then having to leave him in another country! It's been very hard for her to wait, but it will all be worth it in less than 2 weeks! Good luck A!

Dossier is being authenticated!

2006-08-29T09:26:00.000-05:00

My dossier left VORF yesterday and will be delivered this afternoon to the VN Embassy in San Francisco for authentication. They expect this to take no more than a week. Then it goes back to my agency and immediately to Vietnam for translation! We're getting there!

In the meantime, we're trying to fill our time with projects. We made a mai tei, which is an Asian baby carrier. It's a rectangle of fabric with four straps, one coming from each corner. The baby gets snuggled up against you (front or back), the two bottom straps go around your waist, and the two top straps go over the shoulders and wrap around to tie under the baby's bottom. They look cool and I've heard they're the most comfortable carriers because they distribute the baby's weight evenly and don't hurt your back or shoulders. I haven't taken any pics of it, but if I can remember, I'll do that. Next up is the adoption scrapbook. We've never scrapbooked before, but we want to do one of the adoption process, along with our 'wishes' from a quilt square swap we did. Mom W. is making the quilt for us. We want to do another book of the trip itself, then of course, a baby book. I have an adoption journal to fill out for Dylan with info about us, our families, how we got him, etc. We're planning on making a shopping cart seat cover as well. We have the pattern and fabric already. I also have to start working on a packing list for the trip. I think all that will keep us busy at least a couple weeks. Maybe. Any ideas for the other 3 months???

Letter to my son

2006-08-24T13:43:00.000-05:00

August 24, 2006
My dear sweet son Dylan,

I saw your picture for the first time 2 days ago and I immediately loved you so much it hurts. I can’t wait to meet you. I’m so proud of you and have been showing your pictures to everyone I know. I can’t imagine the pain your birthmom must have felt having to place you for adoption, but I know she loved you very much and only wanted the best for you. I can’t wait to bring you home. Your room is all ready. Your Daddy, Nana, Papa, Grandma, Aunt Tessa, Uncle Cuna, Aunt Jo, Aunt Susan, Uncle Randy, MaSam, Aunt Pat, Granny and Papa House can’t wait to meet you, too. Along with hundreds of other friends and family. None of us have met you, but you’re already loved so much. You’re my son and you’re the light of my life. I just saw your picture a couple days ago, but I’ve felt you in my heart long before now. You’re the answer to so many prayers and so many dreams, especially Mommy’s and Daddy’s. We love you so much Dylan.

Love,

Mommy

Still on cloud nine!

2006-08-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

I just can't stop smiling. I have a sinus infection and feel like crap and even that isn't keeping me down. Dylan is just SO beautiful and I love him so much it hurts. I never thought seeing a picture could make me so happy. We faxed in our Acceptance of Referral yesterday, so it's official.

I went home sick yesterday and went to the doc. Then Chris took the afternoon off and we went up to the county clerks, then to the sec. of state. We got it all mailed today. Two dossiers (one certified), notarized referral acceptance, extra passport pictures, agency contract, and a check. CHI will be refunding most of our fees we've paid to them. They're only keeping the application fees. I don't even care. I'm so happy right now, it's worth every penny. It's worth every heartache I've been through. It's all worth it for him. My precious son. I love you Dylan!

IT'S A BOY!!!

2006-08-22T14:00:00.000-05:00

Dylan Alexander (born Trung Vinh) was born on March 26, 2006 in Danang, Vietnam. At 6 weeks old, he weighed 10 pounds, 2 ounces. I'm so excited, happy, and absolutely in love with him. He's the most beautiful, healthy baby I've ever seen and I can't wait to hold him! We're hoping to travel around Thanksgiving.

Now, you're probably wondering how in the world this happened. Well, let me tell you. I was reading on a Yahoo group where someone posted they had switched from CHI to VORF (Vietnam Orphans Relief Fund). I contacted her (Susan) and asked why she switched. She told me the wait was just getting too long. I agreed and said I was thinking of switching. She said she thought her agency had 3 little boys available and no approved families that wanted a boy. I contacted them immediately and it was all a blur from there. Somehow, in 3 days, I've cancelled my contract with CHI, signed up with VORF (though not officially since they just overnighted me the contract yesterday and I'm faxing it in to them tomorrow), and got a referral. It's been crazy. We started our dossier yesterday, which consists of a VN application, a commitment letter (we are required to send yearly updated to VN until Dylan is 18), police record checks, verfication of employment letters, medical clearances (no contagious diseases), our coveted 171 CIS approval, and the homestudy. We finished today and are taking it tomorrow or Thursday to the county for certification. Then we take it to the state, then our agency sends it to the VN embassy for authentication. Then it goes with our referral to VN and they start working on translating and getting everything together for Dylan's dossier. It's going to be a wild ride!! We hope to have him home by Christmas.

Yard sale

2006-08-15T08:27:00.000-05:00

We decided not to use that parking lot for our sale. Although the traffic would be great, putting it together would be a logistical nightmare. We can't take the stuff ahead of time, so we would be making several trips the morning of the sale. We couldn't just drop it off and go back for more-one of us would have to stay with it. And the driving from where we're keeping everything to this place would take hours for all the trips we'd need to make. So, we're having it at our own house, on a Friday and Saturday. Sept. 22-23. Anyone who is local (family) and would like to help, please do! We're going to need lots of help. Amazingly, we have MORE for this sale than the last one. The stuff keeps pouring in (which we're so grateful for) and it's going to be a lot of work. Between now and then, we're going to bring the stuff over to our house a little at a time, make sure everything is priced, and just store as much as possible in the garage. But it almost fills a 2-car garage right now. This is going to a great sale. We were going to make this the last, but since there's SO much (and over half of it wasn't in previous sales), we'll probably save it for another sale in October or next spring, before we get Dylan.

So hard

2006-08-15T07:32:00.000-05:00

I never thought anything in life would be as hard as infertility (other than loved ones' deaths, but those we've experienced are quicker to recover from at least-this just keeps going). But adoption takes the cake. This is horrible. I have avoided saying anything because I don't want to paint a negative picture of adoption. I hear it truly is a wonderful experience. After it's all over, of course. Because that's when you have your baby. Which I don't. I'm miserable. It's only getting worse. I am not handling this wait very well at ALL. It's killing me a little bit at a time. I cry at least once a day. I try to hold back until I get home, so poor Chris has to deal with an emotional mess every night. He's my rock, though. I don't know how I'd get through this alone. We have an incredibly strong marriage, and this process is making it even stronger. It's not exactly how I wanted to strengthen my marriage, though. I really feel like I'm losing my mind sometimes. I was watching an old Friends rerun and one of them found out they were pregnant. I busted out crying. Stupid commercials for birthing suites at a local hospital make me cry. Walking into Dylan's room makes me cry. Seeing a pregnant person upsets me. I can't do baby showers. I tried to go to one last weekend and had to disappear after a few minutes. I just can't handle it. I can't attend my good friend's shower this weekend. She's pregnant after infertility, so she totally understands. I don't think most people understand. And that's ok. I never would have, either, had I not gone through this. I actually had a breakdown at work last week. Talk about embarassing. And once the tears start, there's no stopping them. Chris wants me to mention it at my doctor's appointment this week (I'm going because my stupid insurance company no longer covers the heartburn meds they made me switch to a couple years ago). I really don't want to go on anti-depressants again. Not that there's anything wrong with them, I just don't want to feel like I have to be medicated to feel normal. But at the same time, I can't go on feeling like this. I know I'm no fun to be around. It really scares me that I'll get PAD (post-adoption depression). It's very real and mimics post-partum depression. I try not to think about it, though, because I don't want to talk myself into getting it, you know? It's just something I have to watch out for-a history of depression makes me more prone to it. Another bad thing is being upset has the opposite effect on me with my diet. Most people stop eating. I'm an emotional eater. I'm struggling not to gain a lot of weight. I've already gained 10 pounds that I worked so hard to lose. It only took a couple months to gain that much. By the time we get Dylan home, I'll be a blimp if I'm not careful. Especially with all the delays.

Being the OCD person that I am, I've made a spreadsheet that keeps up with every referral coming through, my current spot on the list (#19 for a boy), and the time elapsed. It automatically calculates the average number of referrals per month (2.3 boys) and estimates when I'll get my referral based on that average and my number. It also calculates my current spot on the list when I add new referrals. Anyway, at the current rate, I should get a referral on 4/29/07 (travel is 4-5 months after that). I did hear rumor there was a referral last week, but it hasn't been announced yet (we get regular updates from the VN coordinator with our agency). If it was a boy, that moves our date back to 3/16/07. So you see, either way, we're screwed. We are still being told 4-5 months from when we get on the list. That would mean we should get a referral in Oct. or Nov. They have had 17 boy referrals since VN reopened to the US in January through my agency. That was EIGHT months ago. And they expect another 19 in the next 2-3 months?!? I don't see it happening. And I just can't make it through another Christmas without my baby.

Off topic update

2006-08-09T05:57:00.000-05:00

I had my wisdom teeth out on Monday. Apparently, I am recovering quicker than anyone can believe. I only took 2 pain pills the day of surgery, and went back to work the next morning at 6am. I'm a little sore, but I'm eating normal foods.

We spent all weekend building our veiled chameleon a new 5' cage. We're really proud of it. It looks awesome. It's a wood frame with mesh on the top half and plexiglass on the bottom half. We designed it ourselves. Tell me what you think!

Here's what we built the cage for (he'll grow into it!):
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/chrisnsteph1022/Friends010.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/chrisnsteph1022/CJcage019.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/chrisnsteph1022/CJcage021.jpg

Yard sale and an update on wait times

2006-07-14T13:50:00.000-05:00

The yard sale went really well. We raised over $700!! And we have enough stuff left over for another one! We're planning one for September or October. A local business was generous enough to let us use their parking lot in the middle of town, so we'll get tons of traffic!! I'm still working on my thank-you cards, but thanks to anyone and everyone reading this that have supported us in any way. I can't send cards to everyone that has supported us emotionally, because so many have. And we're so grateful and blessed for that.

Now, the bad news. The current wait time for a boy in Vietnam with our agency is 4-5 months from getting on the list until a referral. Then it's another 4-5 months to travel. So we're looking at 8-10 months, minimum. The wait could get longer, but won't get shorter. There's NO way we're traveling this year. We'll be lucky to have our referral by Christmas now. We're both so upset and down about this. Every day gets harder. I'm trying to look at the bright side that at least we'll have more time to save up. And tell myself that I know this just means Dylan isn't ready for us yet. But that doesn't make the wait easier. The hard part is going to be spending Christmas without my baby. I'm defnitely not looking forward to that. And I'm frustrated because I really just want the exact number I am on the list for a boy and I can't seem to get it! They keep telling me I'm #58 (there's been ONE referral in the 4 weeks we've been on the list). But a lot of those are wanting girls. The wait for girls is 18-24 months, as opposed to my 4-5. I guess that's one thing I have to be grateful for. Of course, it makes me wonder if I should go ahead and start our second adoption NOW since the wait is so long. (Don't worry, even if we COULD afford that, they won't let us start another one until we've been home with Dylan for 6 months.)

Breastfeeding

2006-06-29T07:30:00.000-05:00

I just want to preface this post by saying I know this is not common and most people don't even realize it's possible. However, that doesn't mean it's wrong or not healthy. Everyone knows the research shows breast milk is the best source of nutrition for babies. It's also a great way to bond with a child. And what child needs bonding and nutrition more than a baby from an orphanage? So, I'm very excited to say that we are preparing to breastfeed Dylan! It's going to a lot of hard work, but I'm willing to try if there's a chance of it working. Here's how it works.

I've begun Yaz, which is a contraceptive pill with higher doses of estrogen. It tries to mimic the pregnancy hormone levels and make your body think it's pregnant. Simultaneously, I will be taking domperidone, which is a nausea drug that has a side effect of producing prolactin, the hormone that makes milk. The fact that we have several months (I'm estimating around 6), makes our chance of success very high. I'm also taking a prenatal vitamin and eating oatmeal 3x/week (it seems to increase milk supply). Once we get a referral, we'll be about 3-4 months from getting Dylan. At that time, I'll discontinue the birth control, start taking a couple herbs (blessed thistle and fenugreek seed), and start pumping with a hospital-grade pump. I will have to pump 3-4x/day and work up to 8x/day. After 2-4 weeks of pumping, I should start producing milk. As soon as we get him, I should try to nurse him, but if he doesn't take right to it (which I don't expect him to), I can still pump and feed him breastmilk through a supplemental nursing system or a bottle (though I'm not supposed to use a bottle).

I'm not sure how long we'll nurse him, but I don't really agree with nursing past the age where the kid can ask for it and open your shirt. I'm not in any place to tell other people how to raise their kids, but that just seems weird to me, so we won't be doing that. I always said no longer than 12 months, but he may as old as 10 months when we get him, so maybe up to 18 months old. I'm not sure. We'll have to play that by ear. For now, I'm just hoping this will work. I'm seeing a lactation consultant that specializes in adoptive breastfeeding (and she says it's becoming very popular), and she has had a lot of success with this. I'm scared and nervous about it working, but I'm sure most new moms are.

Only 9 more days until the big yard sale!!

It's going to take FOREVER!!

2006-06-21T06:46:00.000-05:00

We're #59 on the list. Most of those want girls, but there are 'at least 20' ahead of us asking for boys. And that's just with OUR agency (CHI). There are some 20+ agencies licensed for adoptions in Vietnam. And that's just in the US! Crap! I'm never going to get my son.

I've started a protocol to prepare my body for induced lactation. It's amazing that I may be able to breastfeed our son without ever being pregnant! We're really excited about it. And scared. It's a lot of work (birth control pills, other drugs, herbs, lots of pumping), but it will be worth it if it works. This extended protocol takes about 6 months, which I'm sure we have, but it has the highest success rate. Of course, we may still have to supplement with formula, but some breastmilk is better for him than none! And it will help with the bonding and attachment issue, which is critical with adopted children. We have to do things a little different with Dylan than most would with a bio child. We can't let him 'cry it out' because he will have experienced abandonment. We can't use a stroller much (we'll use slings and carriers) because he needs to attach to us and learn we're his parents. There's such a fine line between attachment parenting and spoiling the kid. I think that will be hard for us.

WE GOT IT!!!!

2006-06-18T05:36:00.000-05:00

Sixty-five days after applying to CIS, we FINALLY got our approval yesterday! We're approved for 2 children (if twins are available, but that's rare). Now we'll officially be on the list to be matched with a child. Hopefully they'll tell me how far down the list we are.

We went to our classes yesterday at the agency. We were there from 8:30am to 6pm, learning all about how to put together our dossier (the paperwork we'll get to start on soon now that we're approved!!!), how to claim the tax credit, what types of investments we should make for our kids, how to re-adopt once we get back to the states (not required, but gives us a certificate of foreign birth that makes it much easier to register for school, etc.), and lots of other fun stuff. All day, I kept thinking we may just have that approval when we got home. They had told us it takes 45 days after getting fingerprinted. Guess how long it was? 46 days.

So now we wait (some more). We'll have to put together our dossier as soon as they tell us to go (probably in about a month). The documents have to be less than 6 months old when we get Dylan, and there is a 4-month wait between referral and travel, so I can only assume that if they tell me to start working on it, we'll have a referral within 2 months. We already ordered birth and marriage certs because our social worker at CHI told us it would be ok, but now we may have to reorder them. That's a little frustrating, since that's about $50 down the drain. On the bright side, I sold my SCUBA gear and the wonderful lady that bought it paid $50 more than we agreed on, just because she's that nice. Granted, it was still less than half of what I paid for it and only used it once, but that's my own fault. They call that a stupid tax.

Anyway, between the classes, getting approved with CIS, and making a little money, it's been a great Father's Day weekend! I got Christopher three DVDs. Good Morning, Vietnam, Platoon, and a documentary about the VN War called We Were Heroes.

A little progress...

2006-06-15T09:58:00.000-05:00

We heard back from the senator's office (after 3 emails) confirming our address with CIS is correct now. She also said if we don't have our approval by Monday, let her know and she'll follow up on the status. It's been 9 weeks since we applied and over 6 since we got fingerprinted. Any day now...

We had a yard sale last weekend (not the big one with the bake sale-just trying to clear out some of the stuff we have so far). We didn't do too bad! I was pleasantly surprised. Granted, $300 is not going to hardly put a dent in our $25,000 bill for this adoption, but it's more the mentality that 'it's the thought that counts.' Most of the stuff we sold was our own, but the fact that my mother-in-law, aunt, brother, a coworker and someone at church gave us stuff to sell shows their support and means a lot to us. It shows us that Dylan will be accepted into the family with open arms. My sister and parents are getting stuff together for the next one (they have busy lives and didn't have much notice for the first sale!). I think a couple coworkers and hopefully my sister-in-law will be baking items for the bake sale. I even had a friend out of state offer to donate new items for a raffle. The support of everyone means so much more than anything!

Still waiting

2006-06-03T11:54:00.000-05:00

We got Chris' passport last Friday. We're still waiting on CIS approval. And now we're hearing the wait time between approval and referral has gone from a few weeks to 'up to 6 months' though it should take less time than that. I don't think there's any hope of getting Dylan this year. I'm pretty upset about that. In the long run, a month or two is no biggie, but when it comes to the adoption tax credit, it could mean a whole year that we have to pay interest on the money we're borrowing for the adoption.

The yard sale is tentatively set for July 8. We had to keep pushing it out because my parents never have a free weekend, and it's at THEIR house!

Pictures

2006-05-21T09:36:00.000-05:00

I've made a photo album for everyone to see all things related to Dylan! So far, I only have pics of the nursery, stroller and car seat. I have the link in my profile if you want to check back in the future.
http://photos.yahoo.com/chrisnsteph1022

Nothing new here

2006-05-21T09:11:00.000-05:00

We're still waiting on Chris' renewed passport. Still waiting on our 171H. Just waiting, waiting, waiting....

We're having a yard sale/bake sale in a couple weeks to raise money for the adoption. We've requested donated items from family, friends and church. Hopefully that will help some!

Fingerprints done!

2006-05-03T06:50:00.000-05:00

We got our fingerprints done yesterday. We have a completed, notarized copy of the homestudy. Now we just wait for our I171H (approval from CIS). The letter they sent us says that should take 45 days once they get the fingerprints, which take 10 days to process. So, we have 54 days left! HA! I'll believe it when I see it. I've heard it takes much longer.

Regarding the address problem, we called CIS and they told us we have to drive to the local CIS office to correct the problem in person. First off, the 'local' office is 3-4 hours away!! That means taking a vacation day off work to drive halfway across the state. Second, it's THEIR mistake. Our application is very clear (I kept a copy). They had a typo. I asked when I went to get fingerprinted yesterday if they could help, and they said no, I had to call CIS. I explained the situation and what CIS told me and they said that's ridiculous...but they still couldn't help me. So we called CIS again and spoke with a much nicer person (after being on hold for 47 minutes) who told us she couldn't even look our info up in the system without an application number. And the I600A forms don't get assigned application numbers! So she said we had to go in person. Whatever. I've written a letter and enclosed a copy of our app, as well as contacted the senator's office. They're going to try to straighten it out for us. What a mess! All this over ONE digit that was mistyped. We just don't want to take a chance of not getting our approval because our mailman doesn't catch it next time. We're lucky we got the fingerprint referral, considering it was addressed wrong.

On a brighter note, we've already received two gifts for Dylan (I think the name is sticking!). Dad bought us a used car seat. He cleaned it up and it looks like new! It has the LATCH system, which means the base clicks into these metal loops built into newer cars (my SUV has them, but Chris' car doesn't). The carrier can be detached from the base, so no messing with seatbelts and tying things in. Much faster. Hopefully, he'll be small enough to still use an infant carrier (under 20 pounds). I would imagine he would be, but I've heard of a couple 6-month-old's from VN that were already around that weight! The other gift we got was a big gift basket full of baby boy stuff. They were auctioning several different baskets to raise money for my nephew's baseball league and I told my sister I'd pay up to $50 for that basket if she'd bid for me (I wasn't going to stay at the park all day). She ended up going to $60, then said she wanted to buy it for me as a present for the baby. It's SO cute! It's a wooden box that's painted blue and has an airplane on it. Inside, there was a $20 gift card to Walmart, several blankets, an oufit (0-3 months-may be too small), a digital thermometer, a teething ring, ear suction thing, medicine dropper, bibs, and some other stuff. Definitely worth $60! We're so excited about it all!

We also hit a couple garage sales and got a doorway jumper, a bouncy seat, 27 articles of clothes (sizes 6-12 months), a sling carrier, umbrella stroller, and a pack 'n play. All that for $24!! And it's all in good condition. Some of the clothes still had tags on it. And for those thinking "Quit buying stuff-people want to buy things for your shower!"-I've already heard this a couple times-don't worry. We started with NOTHING for a baby, so there is still a LOT that we need. We're not sure if he'll still be on bottles, but most likely he will be, so we'll need all the stuff associated with that, diapers, diaper bag, etc. In fact, we've started a baby registry at Babiesrus.com. You can search by my name if you want to see! We'll be adding more once we know age and size.

Small update

2006-04-26T18:21:00.000-05:00

We got our 'invitation' for fingerprinting today. We should be able to go next Tuesday to get fingerprinted. There's a small glitch in that our address was wrong on the invitation-hopefully we can get that fixed without slowing us down. It was close enough that our postman got it to us.

The impatience is kicking in

2006-04-26T06:41:00.000-05:00

I'm tired of waiting. Yes, I know my social worker just got back from vacation yesterday, but I want my homestudy write-up NOW! She's supposed to send me a rough draft so I can check all the details (names, address, ssn, etc.), then send it to corporate for a final check, then get it notarized and send a copy to CIS. I'm still waiting on an invitation to get fingerprinted from CIS, too. Once they have my fingerprints processed (not sure how long THAT takes) and have my homestudy in hand, it supposedly only takes 4 weeks. That's what THEIR sheet said. They sent me a sheet and a receipt for the money I gave them last week. But no appointment yet.

I was reading some posts about VN adoptions and saw mention of vaccinations. I checked with CHI's director and she said yes, go ahead and get started on those. I'm hoping if I hadn't mentioned it, they would tell me soon to do those! One of them (Hep B) takes 6 months to complete the series. I have to have Hep A & B, polio, tetanus/diptheria, typhoid, MMR (done long ago), and malaria (only if we are assigned one of the two outlying orphanages). So, I called my doc and asked if he could do these for me. Nope-call the health department. I called the county health department. They rudely told me they don't handle international vaccinations and I needed to go to the Venderbilt Travel Clinic. I called them and they don't take insurance, but what choice do I have? I just hope my insurance will reimburse me. They couldn't even tell me prices. If it weren't Vanderbilt, I'd think it was shady, but...it's Vanderbilt! I called a couple other places, but they were just doctors offices and I'd feel more comfortable with Vandy. When I asked them how much the shots were, they said they couldn't tell me specific prices, but they range from $2 to $500/shot. Nice. I hope I don't need that $500 one!! Our appointment is May 12. Fun times!

Oh, and I think we've decided on a name. But I'm not sure yet, so don't hold me to it. Dylan Alexander. I've only told mom so far and she knows a little boy with the name and he's a terror, so she's not too fond of it, but maybe I can change her opinion of the name with my sweet little boy!

Poem

2006-04-20T18:53:00.000-05:00

I found this on another CHI Vietnam family's blog.

KISSES IN THE WIND
I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.
I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.
Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.
Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.
-- Unknown

Two down, two to go

2006-04-18T17:41:00.000-05:00

We've gotten two of our four approvals. The adoption agency officially approved us, and our social worker approved our homestudy. Once it's sent to CIS (which will be end of next week because our social worker is now out of town until next Tuesday), they will hopefully hurry up and approve us. Then our mad paper chase starts with all the notarizations, certifications, authentications. Sounds like a lot of stamps. Then once Vietnam approves us, we get our baby!!! We're SO ready for this. I would leave tomorrow if I could.

I went ahead and ordered our birth and marraige certificates. Our SW said this would be ok, so I hope we don't have to do this again. It's not free! We're going to go ahead and get all the other papers together and not date them. That way when we get word from CIS, we can just get them stamped up. Hurry up and wait. This is going to be a LONG 6-12 months.

Running in circles

2006-04-14T20:45:00.000-05:00

I feel like everything is happening SO fast! We were locally approved Wednesday and had our first meeting with the director of the agency Thursday. They still have to send our file up to corporate headquarters for final approval, but they didn't see any reason why it wouldn't be approved. We went ahead and mailed our I-600-A, which is the government's form for adoption. It can take 3 months for them to do their part. Here's how it all should work:

The government (CIS) gets my request for adoption. In the meantime, I get my homestudy done (a couple interviews, an in-home visit, lots of worksheets and papers to gather), they send it in to CIS to go with my request. CIS sends us an 'invitation' to get fingerprinted downtown. Then they send me a 171 approval form. Once I have that, I compile a stack of paperwork called a dossier. I can't start working on the dossier yet because nothing can be dated older than 6 months, and CIS may take 3 months from now before they get their part done.

So, once I have my dossier compiled, everything has to be notarized. Then I have to send it all to the Secretary of State and have it certified. Then I have to send it to D.C. to have it authenticated. Once everything is notarized, certified, and authenticated, I send it to CHI and they send it to Vietnam for translation. Shortly thereafter (weeks), we get a referral. This will consist of a picture of the child they have chosen for us, as well as medical information. If we accept, we will travel 3-4 months after that to pick up our baby!

To speed things up, I requested they start our home study ASAP. No problem! We have our seperate interviews on Monday and our in-home Tuesday morning. For the home study, we have to have employment letters, police records, medical statement, financial statement, copies of tax return, life insurance, medical insurance, auto insurance, and many other things. So, it's been hectic.

I spent yesterday visiting our doctor for a statement of health, the police department for a criminal background check (and since Chris wasn't with me, I couldn't get his!), then pawing through my files looking for all the necessary paperwork. We stayed up until 10pm filling out worksheets. We got up at 5 and started working on our autobiographies. Mine took about 4 hours and consisted of 10 pages (single spaced). Chris hasn't finished his yet. Then we took the dogs to the groomer for baths and haircuts. Then we spent the rest of the day cleaning the house. It's sparkling now. All we have to do is keep it that way for 3 days. Tomorrow, we work on the yard (just mowing). Tomorrow should be much more calm. We're pretty much done with the paperwork, except a couple things that have to wait until Monday.

Nursery pics

2006-04-11T18:56:00.000-05:00

Many of you have seen these pictures, but we've been working on our nursery off and on since last November. Here are some pics.

Spirituality

2006-04-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what it is about adoption, but I noticed something today. I was never one to say things like, "God showed me that adoption was what I was meant to do," or "God led me to Vietnam." Yet, I've heard myself saying (and meaning) these very things lately. Even just the past few days, I've felt myself grow closer to God and my faith grow stronger.

When I was TTC (which JUST ended yesterday, so it's not like it's been that long), I was angry and thought God was punishing us for something. But now I feel like this whole journey was part of His plan. When we finally have our child, I will appreciate him/her more than anyone ever could who accidentally got pregnant, or didn't have to really 'try.' (Before anyone flames me, I'm not saying I will love my child more than others who didn't have to work for it, I'm just talking about appreciation.) I will realize every second is a gift from God and I can't say I would've felt that way had I gotten pregnant 16 months ago. And I also think there's a very special child that may or may not already be in existence that was made just for me. I never thought I would be traveling halfway around the world to meet that child, but I guess we never know God's plan, do we?

There's my deep thought for the day!