Catching up on Fall festivities

We have not posted since just after our arrival home and I wasn't sure that anyone was still following the blog, but I thought I would do a little update just in case. I know most of our other adoption group mates are doing a much better job of keeping up to date, so I've been inspired.

Our little Eila is now adjusted to the East coast, although her immune system decided that it wasn't quite home as she developed a nice case of eczema about 1 month after we arrived back. Besides that, she is great- as good natured as ever, sweet and social, and she is doing new things everyday. She is now 7 months and 3 weeks old and we have had her 3 months to the day as of tomorrow. She is a very busy baby crawling all over the place and now very persistently trying to begin standing and cruising. Its making child-proofing a challenge, but its fun to watch.

Since we have been home, Eila has been to a birthday party, a wedding, a big Indian party and had visits from both sets of grandparents, many friends from here and far away (Bob and Erika, Carmen and Andy, Jane, Kim, Dinkar and Kaelin, Arisa and Greg, Joan, Laura Pritchett, Pranita, Yaw, Lauren and Bart, Meg and Peg, VC and Manjula). We also now have Michael and Bindiya just a mile down the road with cousin Keya now as a routine playmate, which Eila loves! We have also taken several trips to the Great Falls National Park to hike, which is definitely a big hit with Eila- she's a nature freak I can tell. Last week we took our first family vacation to San Francisco for a conference in the city and followed by 4 days with family up near the wine country. At the conference, Eila met a lot of Kushang's colleagues including her buddy Antonia who sends her such great toys from Germany. She met my cousins Chris and Michelle and their kiddos Madeleine and Eddie and had a great time playing in Golden Gate park with them. Eila also got to meet (an more importantly play with) her cousins Elise and Kiran, aunt and uncle and got to see her Ba and Dada (grandma and grandpa) again. We all had a fantastic time and of course, the weather was sunny and 70's. Napa was gorgeous and we all had plenty of wine and good food. Eila started finger foods and now is enjoying wagon wheels and lumpy oatmeal- yum! She was a very cute little sheep for Halloween, thanks to Nicole who sent a great costume that was her little girl Hope's last year. She was a big hit!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

More Homecoming Pictures

Home at last!

We made it! We have been delinquent in our posting once again, but wanted to let everyone know we are home in Maryland, safe and happy. We made the 21 hours of traveling from Hanoi to Los Angeles, visited Eila's great grandmother and namesake for 36 hours and then flew home to be received by Lauren and Bart with flowers and champagne and spent her first evening at home with Eila feeding her and rocking her to sleep. We are loving being home despite a little jet lag, which will sort itself out soon I'm sure. Eila is very happy in her new home and loves the kitties and is thrilled to have her grandparents here playing with her. She has already been visited by her auntie Carmen and Andy who experienced bath time with the baby. She also is very fond of her posh new bed - she thinks it clearly beats a bamboo mat and the quarter inch of foam mattress that we had in the Hanoi hotel room. Thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with us! We'll be in touch soon- or please come visit us! We'd love to see you and introduce you to our new family member. Here are a few more pictures of Eila on the last day and then with her great grandma and family after arriving home.

Not much to report from yesterday afternoon. Kari went with the other Moms to get a foot massage, while Eila and I checked out the Lake scene and met up with the other Dads & kiddos at our hotel’s “Happy Party”. I think the hotel staff get a kick out of watching the guys slug down beer and talk about college football while at the same time change diapers, make formula, and tend to their little ones.

Making friends

We went on a little walkabout this morning after a restful night of sleep. We did our usual circle around Hoan Kiem Lake, which we love, with Charisa and little Dillan but this time we crossed the bridge over to Ngoc Son Temple (Jade Mountain Temple). Kari sniffed out a small sweet olive tree that was blooming, while Eila made two cute new friends who gave her a gift of packaged cream custard cake.

We’re a little sapped (it’s very hot today), so we’re resting in our room for the afternoon but hopefully we’ll bounce back in time for a late afternoon outing.

She's a piggy!

Ms. Eila is gaining weight! We went to the clinic yesterday and learned that Eila weighs 5.98 kg, which means that she gained 300 g since we had her weighed 6 days ago (that's 50 g per day of weight gain -- she's a good little pig!). Wow! We are gaining weight percentiles here. We also are celebrating that she is a year of the pig baby- the golden pig year, which is a very celebrated and special year. We are all doing well now, everyone is healthy and we are just awaiting word from our people to go for our interview for her exit papers. We also are trying to do a little napping to try on catch up on a few missed hours of sleep over the last few nights. I think she may be ready to start solids soon - she is waking up ravenously hungry. We've tried to resist the night feed at 4am, but she is not kidding around with us when she says she wants food, and we cannot resist a growing child's request. We'll try to find some exciting news for the next post. We hope you enjoy the bath time shot- it's definitely Eila's favorite time of the day when she has clothes off and can scream her songs of joy to the city of Hanoi. She's a crazy girl. Auntie Lauren- hope you like the cute Portuguese jumper on her- she loves it!

Exploring Hanoi

We have done a little touring around the city now, with the last couple of days being cool and nice for walking around. We went to the Temple of Literature, the oldest university in Vietnam and to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, although only Kushang went through since no babies are allowed. We also went with all the other families here to the silk village just a few kilometers out of Hanoi to see how silk is made. I had about 24 hours of a viral illness a couple of days ago that knocked me out (which is why we are so bad about posting), so Kushang played full time daddy for a day while I slept off the illness. He did a very good job of taking care of us both, and now after daddy's boot camp the baby is sleeping through the night again. We have had two nights of uninterrupted sleep! Last night was 11 hours and quiet, restful sleep.

More Eila time...

We realized that we were so busy trying to keep the baby happy and get through the viral illness that we haven't been out to see the city much. So today we are heading out to see Uncle Ho's (Ho Chi Minh) Mausoleum and do a little sight seeing with Eila. We'll post later. For now, here are a few more shots of this cute kid in the hotel room.

The learning curve...

Sorry for the delay in posting. Our cute little baby, perfect as she is, has been teaching us a little about what it really means to be parents. After trying very hard not to be worry warts, we (really, I) couldn't help thinking of all of the bad things that can happen to unvaccinated babies. Eila had a fever last night and didn't sleep more than a wink (and we didn't either), so I broke down and took her to the international clinic this morning. Of course, they felt she just has a cold (so do I), but I guess the reassurance helps and mostly I just wanted know how much she weighs now so I can plot her and dose medications if I need to. She is a little tike, but growing just fine and she is on the US CDC growth chart (the small side, but a respectable percentile)- so it makes the pediatrician side of me very happy. We are having fun and despite her little illness, she is still amazingly sweet and playful! We are off for our first interview today to start the application for her visa home. Hope everyone is well out there! We'll write before long I promise. I know everyone really just wants pictures anyway- right.

The gifts are on their way!

Laura and Kirsten- your gifts have been given to the staff and should be on their way to your cute little ones! I did see Laura's package at the orphanage yesterday- so hopefully pictures in her cute new clothes will arrive in your inbox soon. I wanted you both to know its better than you can imagine ...and will be just around the corner for you both!

We got Eila!

Yesterday was the big day- we got Eila! She is beautiful and what seems to be absolutely the ideal baby. She is good natured (didn't cry once on the 4 hour drive home), she laughs, plays, poops and eats just like a baby should. We took her out for a walk around the Hoan Kiem Lake with us then to a restaurant for dinner where she slept while we ate. We love her. I have to admit that there was a moment when we did experience the reality of having a baby for at least a half hour from 4-4:30pm yesterday with uncontrolled screaming for no apparent reason. So, we are learning. We got up at 4am today probably more because we were ready to play with her than that she was getting us up- she coughed once and squirmed- so we picked her up- and she smiled at us. We have had a good first day and night with 7 straight hours of sleep with her in a crib. Wow! I hope this continues. We cannot wait to get home and introduce her to everyone!

Setting the scene

We arrived in Hanoi yesterday morning! 24 hours traveling but the transition has been pretty easy so far. We met the three families that arrived 10 days ahead of us that are awaiting travel home with their sons- all the boys are good natured, strong, healthy and absolutely beautiful. We are unpacked and settled in at the Hong Ngoc 1 Hotel in the Old Quarter of the City. It rained this morning while we ate breakfast and then we took a stroll around the Hoan Kim Lake as the sun came up and watched a little Tai Chi, a few badmitton games, bought a kilo of passion fruits for a dollar and took some photos. We are on our way to the museum of Ethnology to learn more about the Nung people and maybe buy a special outfit for her Giving and Receiving Ceremony. Eila is of Nung origin - a minority tribal group that lives in the mountains of Northeastern Vietnam.