Settling in

Things are slowly getting back to normal here. Ed went back to work today. I was home with the 2 kids (John's school was closed due to Patriot's Day). We dropped by my work to visit and then went to a friend's house for a play date and lunch. Both kids slept in the car to and from (1 hour each way). Not quite as good as a nap in bed, but better than nothing. Liana was asleep by 6:30 and John by 7:30. Amazingly it is 9pm and I am still awake! I take the baby to the Dr for her first appointment tomorrow. I am not sure if they will start all her vaccinations this week or if we will go back next week for that. Liana is starting to warm up to Ed. She is definitely comfortable crawling all over the house, and chasing the dog. I can again put her in her crib while she is awake and she can soothe herself to sleep- a good sign that she is feeling safe here.

What were we thinking????

Ok, if I thought I was tired on Wednesday, you should see me now! Ed likes to remind me- with what were you thinking with 2 kids instead of 1!!
Liana still has only bonded to me- the jury is still out on Ed and she cries when I leave her with him. She does however adore her big brother!
John is trying so hard to help with EVERYTHING!! He wants to get out her pjs, there are now clothes all over the floor. She starts to play with a toy, he takes it away to "show her how to do it". He makes the formula for me every morning- we are both covered with powder when we are done! I go to put her down, he wants to help- talking the whole time and of course waking her up several times. He is putting on a very brave face, but at the same time he is very stressed- has to be in the room with me at all times, will not leave me alone with Liana, and breaks out into tears for no reason.
Since the baby is still not acclimated to the house and will not let Ed comfort her, I am up with her approx 4 times a night and have not caught up on my sleep. Liana has also given up on the wonderful nap schedule we had in Hanoi (3 hours in the morning and 2 in the afternoon) and has decided no naps is a better idea- way too many new things to explore here- why sleep?
I'm hoping by the time this long weekend is done, we will all be in a better routine. I need some good sleep soon!

We are home

Hey all, we arrived home on Wednesday, April 11. Liana was an angel. We had 30 hours of travel and I would say that she cried for only 40 minutes of that- mostly in our 3 hour lay over in JFK airport- where I think she decided enough was enough!
I slept approx 4 hours of that trip and was a little delirious by the time we got home. We both seem to have recovered from our colds/viruses/whatever.
John is so excited about his baby sister, but cries every time we call her Liana-"Her name is Isabella mommy!!" Finally on Thursday he decided that she can have 2 first names- Thank God! We had a rough first night as the little one wa a little scared of the new surroundings. But she was crawling all over the place exploring on Thursday. I have attached a picture of us arriving at the airport.

Getting ready for home

We will be hopping on our first plane home in 26 hours and will be in Boston 25 hours after that! Unfortunately, both Liana and I are sick. She has a bad cold and is taking decongestants and ibuprofin. I have a sore throat full of white patches and feel sore all over. I am taking zithro and ibuprofin and will take some psuedophed before the plane ride. We both had our chicken soup for dinner- me Pho and her Congee. Liana just took her bath and we are both getting ready for bed at 7:15.
The funny thing is I am so congested that I can't smell anything. Do you think my neighbors on the plane will tell me when she has a poopy diaper? :)

Happy Easter!

Now that I know we are heading home soon, I am really enjoying my time here- especially getting to know the other families. The only time I was sad was after I spoke on the phone to John. He told me all about everything the Easter Bunny had brought him. He was so excited! I am going to ask Ed to post a picture of him with his Easter basket. He wanted to know what the Easter Bunny had brought Liana and I. I told him that I got Oreo cookies and Liana received a new ball and a toy airplane.
I went out to dinner with the new PLAN families that have just arrived and will be getting their babies tomorrow. They are so excited. They are a great group and already seem very close with each other. We had a birthday cake to celebrate Abram's birthday- he turned 12 today. I look forward to meeting all their babies on Tuesday before I fly out. When I was with the new group, I felt like I had had Liana forever, yet at the same time watching their excitement it reminded me that only 3 weeks ago we were in the same place they are!

Easter pics of Liana

She was not very happy to put on this dress. I got back from the spa- great 90 minute massage- and she has a slight temperature. A dose of baby motrin and she is on the go again. We are getting ready to go out for our Easter dinner soon.

Overly full social calendar this weekend

As I have said, the visa will be available on Monday. I am flying out Tuesday night on Thai air and will hopefully be home to pick up John from preschool on Wednesday.
Things have been crazy here. I ran around on Friday afternoon to get flights, then came back and said goodbye to the friends in my travel group who were heading home that evening. Liana really misses Emma just like I will miss Kathy, Maureen, and Mel.
Saturday morning Liana and I were back at Thai air first thing to confirm our Tuesday flights. After her nap we went to the market to stock up on formula and Diet Coke- obvious who is drinking what here. We then went out to lunch with 9 of the PLAN families- lots of babies and chaos, but good food. The Doubleday-Bush family had arrived and stopped in to meet Liana and I after reading our blog- I love this family and wish they had been here sooner so I could have spent more time with them (No, I am not staying longer to get to know them better!!) Later Holly and baby Krista visited with some of the PLAN staff and then met another mother, Rene out for dinner. This evening I said goodbye to another family from another agency that I have gotten to know well.
Tomorrow is just as crazy- play date with the Los Ninos Agency babies over at the Somerset Hotel in the morning. In the afternoon, Holly and I have arranged for baby sitters while we get facials and massages, then i am off to a dinner with the new PLAN families who are just arriving- I am going to see if they will make Liana an honorary member of the BaVi buddah baby group as so far she is definitely the biggest, chubbiest baby around! (BaVi is the orphange where a lot of the PLAN babies are from and they are all well fed!)
Monday Liana and I will take it slow and recover from our social whirl and Tuesday we will pack up again!
I have posted a picture of Liana playing with Esther and also Rosie and Krista. Tomorrow I will post one of her in her Easter dress.

Waiting to fly home

We will get the elusive visa on Monday- the woman at the embassy told me Liana looks much cuter in person than she does on her visa-not sure what that means :)
They said the visas have to be approved in the US which is why they can't issue same day. I have flights out Tuesday night on Thai Air- they don't fly Monday. The mommies for Los Ninos agency who are starting week 5 here are also getting their visas on Monday- we were all happy to see each other at the embassy on Friday and have a play date set up for Sunday. I have lots of plans with all kinds of people to kep busy. The other families leaving picked up formula, water, and diapers for me at the market to save me the trip with Liana. Everyone is taking good care of me!

The political bickering is finally done

As of 5:00pm on Thursday, the USCIS, the US embassy, and the Vietnam Ministry finally reached agreement on the documentation needed for a child abandoned before March 1, 2007 to prove that they were abandoned and legally available for adoption. Luckily we have been providing them with 3 docs each day and they have all the documents they need to process Liana's case. My new friend Greg at the Embassy, personally called me to tell me I will get my appointment on Friday or Monday but will not get the visa issued until the next business day (meaning Monday or Tuesday). I think he was just tired of talking to me so many times, though he did sound like he felt bad about the situation.

I am checking into flights next week, but plan to ask very nicely if there is any way they can issue the visa same day so I can make my flights home. Since this is highly unlikely I have tenatively planned a day trip to Halong Bay. I also have an invite for a day at the Spa with another mommy in waiting as well as an invite to a baby play date with a group of mommys from Los Ninos Agency that are stuck here for possibly week 5. Yes, even in Vietnam I can be a social butterfly- now that I am not depressed thinking my baby would be stuck in the political red tape forever.

Just got some upbeat news!

It looks like the new letters may be working, Dr Hong says that they seem to be happy with them. Still awaiting the call.

Only bad news!

We have a problem with our paperwork that seems to be more of a US Embassy pissing contest than a real problem. We are stuck here while it all gets negotiated. As of March 1, 2007 all abandoned babies need a sworn statement from the person who found them. Prior to that it was not needed. The person who found Liana did sign a police statement, but that is not good enough. We got a letter from the Vietnamese Ministry stating that the law did not go into effect until March 2007 and since she was abandoned in May 2006 she is exempt. The Embassy says this only applies to babies in hospitals not found on the street and have implied that she could have been trafficked. They want us to track down Mr Nguyen who was at the bus station and get his sworn statement. Of course 90% of the Vietnamese are named Nguyen! We have responded with a letter from the Ministry saying that the law applies to all abandoned babies as well as a letter from the police saying that a thorough investigation was done to the full extent of the law that was in place at that time. These have gone off to the embassy and we wait again.

I need lots of positive e-mails as I have called Ed twice in the middle of the night in tears and he could use his sleep. I can tell you I am not leaving this baby in this country!!

Still waiting and new pics for Nana and pop-pop

We are still waiting for the embassy to call. 2 families were called yesterday (1 family was 3 days behind us, but seems to have caught up). There are still 3 of us waiting. If we do not get a call today there is a good chance we will not be able to make our scheduled flights out on Friday. That is a major issue as flights in and out of this country are booked solid. There are some families from Paris that have been done, but can't get out for 2 weeks. I also met some families from Los Ninos that got their babies when we did but just had their first interview. They are still hoping to get out on their flights this Friday??? Their visas run out on Saturday. We need to send Deb (our Sys Admin from PKI) there for 1 week- she could straighten out the whole system for the embassy in 1 week.
We are very optimistic that we will get a call today- everybody had better be praying or thinking positive thoughts!!! Send me e-mails as I need to be cheered up. I have posted 2 pictures for the grandparents- Liana and Liana with her playdate friend. Hopefully these will be the last pictures I will need to post for Vietnam!

The Angel and the Devil

My beautiful little girl is such an angel. She hasn't been feeling 100%, but she is such a good natured baby. She was singing to me tonight. Her head banging and scratching have totally stopped and she definitely knows I am her mommy.
I am considering the US Embassy to be the Devil at this moment. It is Monday night and they still have not called for appointment number 2. I am so ready to go home and really miss John. Everyone please pray that the embassy can get their act together so Liana and I can get home by Easter as planned.

Weekend outings

This weekend was all about keeping busy and getting out of the city- anything to keep busy while we wait for our visa call- hopefully today- Monday! Saturday, we went out to the silk village again with the other PLAN families and then out for a seafood dinner- I had giant prawns. Sunday, a few of us rented a van and went to BaVi National Park. It was great to get out and see some mountains (more like hills) but we didn't hike much once we got there as it was 90 degrees and too hot for the babies to go too far. We didn't hike far enough to see the wild monkeys but did see baby goats. I met 2 women here adopting from Ma, so hopefully we will get together when we all get home.
Liana has some constipation and it has made her a little grumpy. But her grumpy is pretty good natured compared to John as a baby. Ed took John to the Easter Egg Hunt today. John only got 2 eggs because he was more into opening them to see what was inside than collecting others. We told him the Easter Bunny will bring him more next week.