Meeting Baby Luke in Lots and Lots of Words (and some pictures)!

As I write this, I’m sitting in the hotel room while Doug, Audrey, and Norah are downstairs getting breakfast. Luke is sleeping in his crib beside me. It’s 9:30 AM here and we’ve been up for 3.5 hours. I know I’m a day behind in posting. Here are some reflections on yesterday:

Norah was great when we left – no theatrics at all. Loan met us just after 7:00 AM and we drove for a long time to Ba Ria-Vung Tau. The road was very bumpy and the shocks weren’t great. Despite only having had 3.5 hours of sleep the night before, I couldn’t sleep at all. The sights were interesting. Small shops on both sides of the road the entire way there. It seems as though everyone has a small business here. The stores were of the usual variety – you know, a café, a store selling car/motorcycle stuff, a furniture store, and then, of course…a store selling prom dresses! I’m not kidding, we saw so many of these formal dress shops along this road – I don’t know what occasions merit the need for all these stores, but I guess there’s a lot of formals!

The plan was to go to the orphanage, quickly meet the Director, change the baby into nice clothes, and go to the city to do the paperwork. Then a quick lunch and back to the orphanage to talk to the nannies and spend some time with the kids. We followed the plan. We got to the orphanage around 9:30 and as soon as they opened the baby’s room I saw Luke. He was sitting up in a metal crib and smiling. The nannies changed him and we left for the Giving and Receiving Ceremony.

In Vung Tau, calling it a “ceremony” is a bit of a misnomer. Make no mistake – it’s treated as an important event, but there’s no pomp and circumstance. It was mostly waiting, signing some papers, waiting, signing some more papers, and a little more waiting. This was all done in a fairly small office with a number of desks. When we were done, they pulled a red velvet curtain shut and we stood in front of it and the official took our picture. That was it.

We had a quick lunch in a restaurant with 2 trees built in it (pretty cool looking) and then drove back to the village of Ba Ria where the orphanage is. The time at the orphanage was very special and will be something we will share with Luke when he’s older. Suffice it to say, the children are well-loved and the nannies do their best. There are older children there too, some of whom are the nannies’ children and they also love the babies and play with them a lot. The nannies showed us how they feed Luke a mixture of rice cereal and blended potatoes, carrots, and meat (say goodbye to that, Lukie!). He shared a bowl with his friends – he ate half, the rest of them shared the other half. We’ve got a boy with a healthy appetite! We left with some formula, a bottle for the trip back that the nannies made up, a soother (to which the nannies claim Luke is addicted!), and a little bottle for water – he likes water after his food.

Luke slept the entire way back and Doug slept most of it. When we arrived back at the hotel, the first people we saw in the lobby were Norah and Audrey – they were just coming down to go to the playground. Norah was very sweet with Luke and he loved her. He giggles when he looks at her, which makes her feel very special.

Norah and Audrey went to play so Doug and I could treat Luke’s scabies. All the children in the orphanage have them. I’d rather not think about what they are, let alone write about them, but in case anyone isn’t familiar – they’re parasites and they make you itchy and scabby from the scratching. We had to bathe Luke and put cream all over him. Then we did the same with us since we’d been exposed to them – didn’t want to wait to find out if we’d also gotten them. Scabies are contagious, although you supposedly need close, prolonged contact to get them. Luke had been sleeping in our arms for at least a couple of hours each, so we didn’t want to take any chances of passing them on to Norah and Audrey or treating Luke and then giving them back to him.

Luke loved his bath. His first real bath. He splashed and cooed and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. He also was immensely pleasant when we slathered scabies cream all over him. Hopefully we don’t offend anyone by the comparison, but Doug and I both said at the same time that he reminded us of our cat Mojo. Now to explain: when we first got Mojo he had fleas and when we bathed him he purred the whole time. We thought – wow, this cat has a great personality if he purrs while being washed. Same with Luke. Poor little guy was lying on the bathroom floor while I slathered him with yucky cream in every nook and cranny. His disposition so far has been amazing! He’s smiley, mostly content, loves his food, and naps with loud noises and lights on. And…he actually sleeps! Now, all those parents out there who are saying, “Don’t be so quick to think you’re lucky.” I know, I know, I’m not naïve. This could change on a dime. But we’re riding the wave as long as it lasts and I'm hoping that’s until he moves away from home to go to St. F.X for university (notice the plan already? Hope Doug doesn’t read this!). The nannies said he wakes up 1-2 times per night, has a bottle and promptly goes back to sleep. So far, he’s not made them out to be liars!

Nanny showing us how she feeds Luke.

Signing the official papers at the Giving and Receiving Ceremony

View of Vung Tau from the van

Eating lunch in Vung Tau City

Meeting Norah (and Audrey taking the picture) in the lobby

Happy Luke loving his big sister

Loving his first bath!

Tickles from Daddy

Norah assisting with the soother

Brother and sister having some play time