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.