...and one more makes four!

Trip to Mui Ne

2009-03-28T03:11:00.020-04:00

Still in a bit of a jet lag fog. It's slowly lifting though. In the meantime, if anyone is still out there, here's the details of our trip to Mui Ne, which is a beach town on the coast.

The trip from Da Lat to Mui Ne was about 4 hours. For about 2.5 hours we drove down out of the mountains going around hair-raising turns. Doug's not prone to exaggeration, and he keeps saying that they were 90-degree turns, which is how I would describe them. Our driver, Phu (I assume this is the spelling, it sounds like Foo), would just lay on the horn as we went around the turns because you couldn't see if anyone else was coming on the narrow road. It guess it's a way of saying, "Here we come, if you're driving, move over because we can't see you!" Audrey and I are bruised from bracing ourselves in the van. I have never gotten motion sickness, but I came really close with this drive. Very telling was that I didn't speak for most of the trip! Once we got out of the crazy turns, we just had extreme bumps for the rest of the way - potholes like you can't even believe! Calling them potholes is an insult to them!

Despite the turns, we did manage to have some fun. Phu asked if we wanted some music (1st time he asked this although we'd been driving with him for 3 days by now). Doug said, "Sure." Phu said, "France?" Doug, never liking to offend strangers said, "Sure!" Yes, he even said it enthusiastically. Now, we don't speak French. Audrey understand a little. So, we drove though crazy turns listening to music from France. I didn't need to understand the words to know that we were listening to some angst-ridden love songs (transcends all cultures, I believe). Audrey confirmed that in one of the songs, which had my favorite – speaking/singing (if you've ever head William Shatner sing, you know what I mean) the singer was saying, "I don't understand you, my love" (it was a male singing, of course - men not understanding women also transcends cultures). When the CD was finished, Doug asked, "Do you have any English music?" Phu indicated that he did. At this point I said, "OK, bets on what the music will be?" Doug quickly (too quickly, perhaps?) replied, "Barry Manilow." Audrey thought about it (too hesitant, perhaps?) and said, "Michael Bolton." I said, "Celine Dion." Within minutes we were embraced in the vocal stylings of none other than.......Celine Dion! Yes, we actually listened to an entire Celine Dion CD. First time for everything! Seemed fitting for a bunch of Canadians. Then, on the same CD, as soon as Celine was finished, the Eagles came on! Now, that was more our style. So, we finished the drive crooning to some oldies but goodies!

Mui Ne was really hot. I had to lie down to recover from the drive (seriously) and the rest of the gang checked out the ocean and the pool. After lunch we went sledding - yes, you read that right - sledding, tobogganing, choose you word, but we did it. Where, you might ask? On the White Sand Dune. Yup - big (and by big, I mean there were a handful of people) tourist attraction here - get a piece of plastic from local children who lead you up a hill of hot sand and you glide and slide....or....slowly jerk yourself in the sand until you've kind of gotten down but also kind of buried yourself in sand while laughing and getting a mouth full of sand. You pick. Audrey and I were busy contorting our bodies trying to get down gracefully (or really, just at all) and were stopped by an Australian who tried to give us some tips. Audrey was polite but after he left she was very indignant that an Aussie would be so bold as to give Canadians advice on sledding! Well, it's not like we had the flag emblazoned on us or anything, so how was he to know?

Doug and Norah also went down with more success (they actually went first). Audrey and I waited while Luke slept, Audrey drank water, I drank coconut juice, and we watched a monkey and turkey play together. Typical relaxing afternoon.

Those who know me best will be amused by the fact that I may have developed the first case of snow burn. Yes, Chera, I'm sure you're laughing (she calls me the Princess and the Pea due to my various "sensitivities" like being able to hunt down a scented candle in her house like a bloodhound - they make me sneeze). Once off the hill my legs and arms started stinging. Once we got the sand off later (it was caked on us), I noticed that I had a collection of sand cuts and red legs and arms. Lovely. Still have the souvenirs. Nevertheless, still well worth the experience!

We followed our sledding adventure with a swim before dinner. The South China Sea is like bath water! Sadly, it's also in need of a good cleaning. Audrey was attacked by a Ziploc bag while swimming as there were several pieces of garbage floating. I'm sure it was clean by the point it hit us, but still. We just imagined they were stinger-free jellyfish and enjoyed the waves.

We returned to HCMC the next day. Relatively uneventful drive, than goodness! Now the pics...

Lukey the cutey!

Military housing on the way to Mui Ne

Lovely toilet decorations - still a big shower stall, but this time we had a curtain

Beautiful towel and flower decorations on the bed

View on the way to the pool

Frolicking in the South China Sea

Fishing fleet in Mui Ne

Driving toward the White Sand Dune. There's a yellow one too, which we visited after the white one.

Doug and Norah going down a hill

Returning from sand sledding. So hot, Norah's hair is curly!

Monkey and turkey

Walking back up the hill after a slide (gives some perspective of how steep the hill was)

Graceful me - yes, there is a sled there if you look closely!

Audrey - marginally more successful than me (according to her, this was how I described her treck down the hill)

The 15-year old boy who rented us the plastic and took pictures of us the whole way - and a few of himself! Also got us to buy him some water when we returned. Very entrepreneurial!

Hanging out waiting for Doug and Norah before my sledding adventure.

Distant shot of the dunes

Norah and Phu walking back to the van (she loved to say his name and really liked him too!)

After the Hand that Rocks the Cradle, I decided to try out my own version of a new fmaily (at least that what Doug and Audrey were snickering about behind me as we were walking!)

Family at the Yellow Sand Dune

Shot of ocean in Mui Ne

Back in HCMC in our roomy digs - bit of role reversal for the kids

An Actual Brief Post from De Lat - with pictures!

2009-03-27T13:24:00.010-04:00

Ok - so I lied. It's not actually a post from De Lat, it's a post about De Lat. We're leaving Vietnam tomorrow (how time flies!) and I'm trying to catch up! But there are pictures!

After a surprisingly quiet night (for being right where the action is in the hotel, it was much quieter than HCMC at night), we woke up early on our only full day in Da Lat and had a great breakfast. While eating, we met a couple from the US who were touring Vietnam with their 11-year-old daughter whom they had adopted as a baby. They had visited her orphanage and said that the nannies were thrilled to see their daughter and had kept all the letters and pictures they had sent through the years. Very cool. We then had a lovely personal tour of De Lat with our guide, Heng (who said he learned English from working in restaurants as a boy and listening to the tourists - made sense as he spoke with an odd French/Australian accent and every second phrase out of his mouth was "Oh my God!" or "Oh yeah!"). We took a cable car to a pagoda, complete with monks and gorgeous grounds. The view was spectacular from the cable car, but hard to capture with our cameras, as it was still a little misty. The mountains are beautiful and there are many farms in the valleys, with soil that is red, similar to Prince Edward Island.

Next we went to a place with a few waterfalls and the highlights there were Audrey, Luke and I riding on an elephant, which might just have been topped by Audrey riding an ostrich! We then went to a place called the Crazy House, which will have its own post. We had a great lunch at the hotel (amazing tofu!) and in the afternoon we visited an embroidery factory and the Valley of Love (our guide kept telling us that the French named it this) where many people go after they are married. The views there were also amazing. Da Lat is very lush and beautiful. Reminded us a little of Vietnam's version of Whistler (Audrey said the Alps). The weather was also much cooler here - we needed sweaters (come to think of it, only Audrey and I wore sweaters). It was nice to get a break from sweating. We also really enjoyed the food here. After dinner we bought some De Lat wine (strawberry and mulberry), which we packed in swim diapers (luckily, we brought too many) and hope to drink (or wear, depending on how the diapers hold up) when we get home!

On the cable car

Another view from cable car

One of the waterfalls we saw

Bear attacking Doug (see the look of terror on his face?) and Luke (good father, he didn't even offer his baby to save himself)

Outside the pagoda

View from the Valley of Love

Elephant riding (we bought really good pictures that were taken of us for the whole ride - we went through water and everything!). This shot was taken by Doug who couldn't get very close or follow us.

And finally, the pièce de résistance...

Da Lat Crazy House and Thoughts on Hotels

2009-03-27T08:12:00.011-04:00

Another guest blog courtesy of Audrey, who was compelled to write by the crazy house:

One of our stops on Wednesday was the "Crazy House", that was something; constructed by the (obviously) eccentric daughter of the 2nd President, it reminds me a bit of Sticks & Stones House (Cornerbrook, Nfld.) meets Screaming Heads (Burk’s Falls, ON), not creepy like the Screaming Heads, but certainly insane. The woman is clearly loaded & off her rocker. It's typical Vietnamese, in that the rooms are small & cramped (for us larger North American folk), but what is atypical is the decor, each room is themed, featuring usually a smallish double bed and a statue of the room's named theme. Most of the themes are animals for instance the kangaroo room, the quail room, the bear room, the ant room, to name a few - yes there are tons more, not to mention the non-animal themes such as the gourd room (there is a large sculpture of a gourd in it - seriously). Apparently the woman still lives there, and the place is used as a hotel (costs 25-50 USD/night - I believe). Lisa thought it would be a terrible place to stay, I think kids would like it, but she's stuck on where the bathrooms are & where we would eat - so picky & pragmatic... though she has a point about the bathrooms, I haven't tried our full bathroom shower yet, that's next on the list…

OK so I did manage to take a shower & the toilet paper only got a little bit wet. A few thoughts have come to mind based on the receptionist’s comments about the baby crib the 1st night. For future travelers who may be trying to decide between a 4-5 star hotel and say 1-2 star (which with no actually ranking to be seen, I have to assume the ones we stayed in in Dalat & Mui Ne are).
Things that you do not find in a 1-2 star hotel:
Baby crib
Shower stall or even curtain
Face cloth
Toilet seat that is attached to the bowl
Dry toilet paper (part of that is my fault I guess)

Things that a 1-2 start hotel has to offer:
VERY close proximity to reception and kitchen, I could make a sandwich (if I could stomach the meat) and answer the front desk phone within 2 steps of my room.
WIFI (again… go figure)
10,000 Dong bananas & various other unidentified fruit valued at several thousand Dong in your room
A surprisingly bountiful and tasty breakfast buffet.
Toilet that may or may not flush (perhaps this is a water conservation thing?) Matching sink that may or may not (mostly not) drain; on the upside, since the shower is unenclosed & within easy reach, you can spit you toothpaste on the floor… camping style.
Shower gel, shampoo, toothbrush, “cotton ear buds”, and a comb, but no handsoap.

All in all, despite the less than ideal accommodation the trip was a blast. It was well worth whatever “hardships” we had to deal with to get out of the city and catch at least a glimpse of another side of Viet Nam.

Norah excited by our "Special" van that we took for our trip to Da Lat and Mui Ne

The bathroom - shower on the right, toilet (yes Chera, there was a toilet - my God, we're not animals!) in the left foreground - no curtain. Audrey's modest -I got the toilet paper wet (I think it was just to the right of the toilet), she didn't.

The bed we fashioned for Luke between our two single beds. Looks pretty cozy from this angle - he didn't complain a bit!

The room - note the "mini bar" of tea and fruit, complete with a thermos of hot water on the floor (came in very handy for bottle making). The prices were all in Dong so we were afraid of what it might cost to eat a banana or one of the unknown fruits. The cushions on the chairs later became Luke's bed.

Interesting rules for staying in the hotel... Audrey especially appreciated that pets were put in the same category as weapons and explosives.

Luke sitting for his shower (the flip flops the hotel provided were too big for him)

Crazy house - did I really have to label this one?

More craziness

Walking up the really narrow and steep stairs to one of the really small rooms in the crazy house (never did see a bathroom in that place)

Doug and Luke in the Bear Room

Decorations in the Gourd Room (could you guess?)

Long Post from Da Lat - no pictures

2009-03-23T12:37:00.003-04:00

Originally titled: Brief Post from Da Lat. I know, who was I kidding? Me? Brief? The two don't compute.

The day started out great. Our driver came to pick us up in a silver Mercedes Benz van that would have easily fit another family in it. The side of the van said “Special” and we felt it. The scenery on the way up was gorgeous – once we got out of the city it became plush and green and Doug commented that this is how he had always thought Vietnam would look like. Da Lat is in the Central and Western Highlands region of Vietnam. The road we travelled on was narrow – one lane on each side (not that anyone bothers with lanes here anyway), the road windy (as in snake-like, not hair blowing), and the ride BuMpY. It reminded me a little of driving through the Rockies with big drop-offs right beside the road. Except the mountains aren’t rocky, they’re plush and green. The kids were great – Luke cat napped and Norah had a small nap (so did Audrey – we had to insist as she can get so grumpy without her siesta).

Our first rest stop was interesting. It was quite a nice place, but you had to take your shoes off before going in. And there were many pairs of identical white flip flops that you put on to go into the bathroom, which didn’t have an outside door – the overall bathroom, I mean – the stalls had doors. There were two men whose job was to point people to take off their shoes and put on the flip flops (this stop is frequented mostly by foreigners, so it seemed). Then, once you were in, one of the men would turn your shoes around so that when you came out of the bathroom you could slide them right on. What service! This made for a very clean bathroom. Also unusual was that there was one roll of toilet paper that was at the top of a wall when you walked into the bathroom. Not the most intuitive spot to me, but once you know, you don’t forget.

The area is known for tea and coffee plantations. We passed many and stopped in a tea and coffee shop that had beautiful grounds, including a shrub trimmed to look like a giant tea pot. The whole drive took about 7.5 hours as we stopped several times. Our driver pointed out several things to us and stopped a few times so we could take pictures. It felt so good to be out of the noisy, crowded city.

When we reached our hotel, the idyllic picture changed a little. Maybe the storm clouds and torrential rain that led us into Da Lat should have been our warning. We pulled up to a motel and our rooms were on the ground floor. We’re talking right behind the front desk, which is right in the motel restaurant. Like if I spoke loudly right now while typing in my single bed the people could probably hear me. And I wouldn’t have to yell. Well, at least it was convenient for getting our bags in. The rooms seem to be the only two on the main floor, but they’re not beside one another. Each one is on either side of the front desk. We knew we’d have two rooms. We didn’t know the beds would be single beds, two per room. Now here’s the best part. When I asked at the front desk if they had a “baby cot” (what they call cribs here) they said, “No. If you want one of those stay in a 4 or 5 star hotel – they have them there.” Alrighty then. Clearly this place isn’t looking to win any service awards! And there’s another best part – the water isn’t working here. So, no running water. It was supposed to be back on at 10:00 PM (please let this mean that it would be FIXED at 10:00, not that it’s always off until 10:00 – that’s not even possible, is it?) but it’s 11:00 PM now and still no water. Oh, and one last thing about the rooms – the bathroom is one big shower! There’s a spout up on the wall and a tile floor and a drain on the floor, but no curtain, no divider between the shower and the toilet. Once big free-for-all shower. Too bad we may not get to try it out. I’m curious how the toilet paper says dry.

On to sleeping arrangements: After briefly entertaining the idea of bunking with Auntie Aud, Norah decided that wasn’t going to work. So Audrey and I are with Luke in one room, Doug and Norah in the other. It made the most sense since Audrey, Luke, and I all go to bed later than Doug anyway! When actually going to bed, Norah begged me to sleep in her room. Now, after the Hand that Rocks the Cradle post (no comments on this BTW, did it creep people out? Audrey, Doug, and I have a shared strange – we think, good – sense of humor, so we were amused by it), there was no way I was going to report that Audrey, Doug, and Luke stayed in one room with Norah and I in the other! And sleeping with Norah in a singe bed is not an option. It’s not an option in a queen bed, she’s so restless. We fashioned a bed for Luke between the two single beds putting down the cushions that were on the chairs in both rooms and lodging them down by tucking the pillows that were on the beds under the beds. So far, so good. He’s sleeping right beside me, and Audrey beside him in the other bed. MacGyver would be proud of us!

We did manage to find a tasty restaurant for dinner and met a couple originally from Manitoba who has lived in Vietnam for years, which was cool. We bribed Norah to eat supper with the promise of ice cream and then couldn’t find anywhere that sold it. We hypothesized that it’s because it’s much cooler here than in HCMC. It’s about 20 degrees Celsius but people say it’s cold here. All the kids are wearing puffy winter coats and hats. All except mine, that is. My daughter wore a fancy dress to ride in the van all day. Upon arriving, she decided that she wanted to wear her pajamas, which are pants with a matching top. So we marched her all around Da Lat and ate in the first restaurant in weeks that had four walls while she was in PJs. And Luke, Sweatmeister that he is, still managed to be sweaty despite wearing short sleeves and shorts. It much have been the socks we put on him. We got chastised by the front desk people, who told us that he was cold. I said, “Oh, he’s not cold” (and I would know, having had him strapped to me for most of evening) and let them feel his arms. No argument from them – at least not in English anyway.

The plan is to tour Da Lat tomorrow and play it by ear with the hotel. If the water doesn’t come on, we’ll try to find alternate arrangements for tomorrow night. Did I mention that we already paid for the whole trip? In retrospect, booking with a company that caters to backpackers probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do! Clearly the money we spent went mostly to the van. At least we ride in style! And hey, free Internet. No water, but online access. Interesting trade-off.

Our Itinerary

2009-03-22T12:24:00.007-04:00

We have now been in Vietnam for 2 weeks. We have one week left. Tomorrow we are going on a trip within a trip to De Lat and Mui Ne. We arranged for a private driver as we thought the long hours on the bus would be too much for the other paying customers...oh, and for the kids too!

So, stay tuned. Don't know if we'll have Internet where we're going. We'll be gone for 4 days and 3 nights and then we'll only have one more day in HCMC. Seems unbelievable that we will be leaving soon. And we still have so much to see and do! There’s so many things I want to blog about that I haven’t yet. Hopefully I’ll have time to do this later. We’ve had very little down time - it's been go, go, go! Poor Norah is trying to cope with this. The heat and the crowds really get to her – and there’s plenty of both to go around in HCMC! The people seem to love her and are constantly touching her - which she hates at the best of times. Today, a man picked her up in a store and tried to sit her on his lap. This freaked Audrey and me out a bit. He was harmless, but he didn't seem tor realize how traumatic that was for Norah. She's not enjoying the attention and will be glad to get home where the only people who touch her are friends and family! She is fabulous with Luke though - very sweet. Every night we say what we're thankful for and she says for "getting baby Luke yesterday." Ok, her time is a bit off, but her sentiment is spot on!

Norah enjoying a break at the playground

Doug and Lance went to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The rest of us indulged in a fine dinner of Kraft Dinner and tropical fruits. We went to a local market and pointed and then sampled them at home. We especially loved the "eyeballs" or Rambutans if you want to get all technical on us.

Audrey and Norah had some nail art done on their toes.

Audrey and I are getting tailor-made outfits. We are getting the exact same outfit because we both fell in love with it. We promise never to wear them at the same time! I also got a traditional Vietnamese ao dai made at another shop. In case anyone else is trying to find a place to get this done, one place is called Hoang Silk on 201 Dong Khoi St. (not too far from the Post Office) and the place Audrey and I went to is Vietnam Silk on 03 Bui Vien St., just out of our favorite alley (175) in Pham Ngu Lao. We pick up our things on Friday when we're back in HCMC. We're excited to see how they turn out!

Group shot at La Cantina (in the aforementioned alley). Last time we'll see Lance on this trip.

Looking for the gecko that scurried up the wall at the restaurant (very common at most of the places we eat)

What I Like About Luke...

2009-03-22T11:57:00.005-04:00

He keeps me up at night
Never wanna let him go
You know he makes me feel alright
Keeps on babbling in my ear
Makes all the cooing sounds that I like to hear
Cuz it's true - that's what I like about Luke!

So, the song inspired me to write a little post about some of our favorite Lukeisms so far:

• When we sit him down but he’d rather be held, he starts crying and looks really dejected and puts his head down in a very dramatic manner, as if to say, “Oh the horror!”
• He moves around A LOT in his sleep. He can go from vertical to horizontal to the opposite vertical in a few seconds. Sleeps with his legs outside the crib bars, his hands hanging out, etc.
• Hates to sit on anyone’s lap for more than a few seconds. Loves to be held while you’re standing. Should make for an interesting plane ride home!
• Falls asleep on most cab rides.
• Has a little “freak-out” right before falling asleep. He squirms, screams, and arches his back for a couple of minutes and then he’s sound asleep. There’s no transition – screaming to sleeping without pause.
• He bonks his head MANY times daily. He gets excited while sitting sometimes and it seems the weight of his head is too much (No jokes please! His large head is supposed to indicate that he is intelligent and stubborn according to Vietnamese culture – so Loan tells us.) and he falls over backward! Bonking his head seems to be part of our bed-time routine. He invariably falls over backward, has a good cry, and then is asleep within about half an hour.
• LOVES Norah. Literally looks at her and giggles. And he has a sweet little giggle.
• Is obsessed with the kitchen in the hotel room and trying to open drawers. So far he hasn’t closed the door on his fingers as big sister is there keeping them shut to protect him.
• Is very grabby – quick like lightening he can grab your hair, your bowl, the flesh on your arm, shoulder, or face – or pretty much anything he can get his hands on.
• Loves the garbage can in the kitchen. Likes to move it across the room daily.
• Sweats like a fiend. Instantly soaked when he cries or when we go outside. Hold him for a minute and you’re soaked too!
• Only drinks out of the small bottles. We may not be able to break this habit. He’s used to drinking only 5 oz max at a time, 5 times a day and 2 times in the middle of the night. A large bottle, fewer times a day seems so much more efficient to me (but then I’ve never had a problem sleeping though the night!).
• Pulls himself to stand constantly, which is often what precedes the head bonking. Can stand for a very long time and usually does the splits when landing.
• Nuzzles his head into the first available object or person when he’s tired. I think this is how he gets scratches on his head – he really nuzzles hard and if the object of his affection isn’t soft…
• Does a little unexpected lurch when you hold him sometimes that completely takes you off-guard. Usually accompanied by a squeal of delight. Audrey calls it his dolphin kick.

Not many pictures - busy day without a lot of picture-taking.

Getting down to the Latin music at one of our favorite restaurants, La Cantina. Nothing like Mexican food Vietnamese style!

Action shot of Luke playing at the hotel playground

Pretty pleased with himself for standing up

Quiet baby, we hardly knew ya!

2009-03-21T13:45:00.005-04:00

I’ve been meaning to write this post for days now. Having been through two adoptions now, I find it simply amazing how quickly these little ones change; from being a complete stranger (other than having their pictures, but they don’t have ours!) to someone you feel you’ve known forever. It’s funny how we talk about, “He usually does this” or “He really likes that” and then you stop and remember that you’ve only known this person for a few days. How can you possibly know what he usually does or likes? In one way patterns develop very quickly. In other ways, you realize that it’s like peeling off the layers of an onion. What you see is not always what you get. All this is complicated, of course, by the fact that the development of any human being is quite fast at this age. So, you’ve got a confluence of several factors all coming together to create the person you know, at this point in time. And these same factors, along with yet unknown ones, will create the person you’ll know later on.

When we met Luke we were told by his nannies that he was a very easy-going boy. This was very true and, in many respects, it continues to be so. When we changed Luke’s diaper, he laid down quietly – he was not unexpressive – but fairly compliant. When we bathed him for the first time, he splashed and delighted in the water. When we slathered him with yucky scabies cream, he quite willingly allowed us to do so with a smile on his face. When we put on his long, feet pajamas, something he’d never experienced before, he didn’t protest. When we fed him using the bottles we had brought with us from Canada, he drank easily. He had no leg strength. If you’d set him down on his feet holding his hands, he’d sit right down. He would smile readily, sleep easily, move a round a bit, look at toys and experiment – and he was quiet. He hardly cried and when he did, it was a very quiet little cry – almost newborn-like. He also didn’t babble much and only laughed at Norah. Flash forward almost 2 weeks later and things are so different in many respects…

When we change Luke’s diaper, he wriggles around (he also scratches incessantly at his belly, which is so itchy, poor thing). When we bathe him, he squeals with delight, splashes and moves around a lot. When we put his feet jammies on, he screams and pulls at them, annoyed by the confinement. We no longer feed him using the bottles we brought. After a few days, he was not drinking as much as he had been and upon careful inspection, I realized that the nipple of the bottle we got from the orphanage (which has seen better days and we wanted to stop relying on) is very tiny, thus creating a very slow flow. The nipples we brought are fast flow – more typical for a baby of his age, but not what he’s been used to. We bought new bottles that more closely mimic the one we got from the orphanage. He’s happier and drinks a full bottle again. He pulls himself up ALL THE TIME and stands holding onto everything. It’s his favorite mode of being. The leg strength he’s gained in such a short time is amazing. He still smiles readily, sleeps fairly easily, plays a lot with toys now, and…he’s not quiet! Turns out, Lukey is a total chatterbox. He coos and babbles and makes funny little inhaling noises. Just today he started saying “Mama, mama, mama” (Note: it's NOT ma ma ma ma ma) constantly. And even better, he says it in my direction! Now, I’m sure it’s coincidence, but it still makes me feel good! He also cries a fair bit now – cries when he’s sitting down and stops as soon as you stand up with him. Cries when he wants attention, cries when he wakes up. Cries when he’s frustrated. And it’s not a quiet little cry anymore. He’s gained lung strength to match the leg strength! He also moves around all the time – he’s gone from commando-style crawling to crawling on his knees and gets into everything. We’re going to have to get out all those cupboard door closer-thingies we never had to use with Norah (see, I don’t even know what they’re called they were so unused!).

How each child deals with the loss and abrupt change that is inherent in adoption, particularly international adoption, is something that no one can ever really know. My hypothesis is that Luke was in shock the first few days. However, being the generally easy-going guy we think he is, he was quite pleasant and didn’t show overt signs of grieving. Now, he’s coming to be more comfortable around us and his personality is starting to shine more. Everything is bigger, brighter, and louder – the good and the bad (and really, we’ve been lucky that’s there’s not been much bad so far). It’s such a privilege to be able to discover a new layer of this little guy every day.

Luke trying to figure out a new toy the day after we met him

Content to sit still early on in our relationship

Eating the way the nannies used to feed him - practically laying down - he sits now

Visiting the post office and posing with Daddy

Sitting in a high chair the first (and only so far) time

Getting the hang of playing with toys

So agile I can do a one-handed push-up while drinking a bottle of water

Doing something a little different with the comb-over

The angst of a baby when Mama takes the toothpaste tube away

I'll get that tube back, and do it with a soother hanging out of the side of my mouth, dammit!

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle

2009-03-20T11:46:00.008-04:00

Today I woke up feeling Ok, and we did our usual routine of getting the kids bathed and dressed. Doug and Audrey went down to breakfast (they are quite fond of the vegetarian noodles) with the kids and I stayed in the room to get ready. While getting ready, I started to feel dizzy and a little nauseous. Audrey came back to the room while Doug took the kids to the playground in the hotel. She was sent by Doug to get me so we could get going for the day. I was feeling really dizzy so we decided that it would be a good idea for me to lay down. I laid down and quickly fell asleep…

Audrey went downstairs to tell Doug that I wasn’t going to be coming with them. She said she had an odd feeling that this was like the plot of an old movie – “Sorry, your wife isn’t feeling well, but I’m happy to help you with the kids and then systematically replace her in your life.” Meanwhile, the wife is upstairs gagged, locked in a closet, and screaming to get out. Indeed, there was such a movie, thus the title of this post, in case anyone is confused (Mom).

So, off they went. While I was suffering (did I mention the terrible vertigo?), they enjoyed a cyclo tour around the city. A cyclo is a bicycle with a reclining seat on the front. The driver peddles behind you and you can see a lot of the city (so I’m told). Word has it that this is a great tour (I wouldn’t know, having spent the morning convalescing), but two important things: (1) establish the price up front (e.g., for one hour’s worth of a tour) and (2) keep track of the time. When the tour was up, the driver tried to convince them that they had been out for two hours rather than one. Also, the driver keep encouraging them to take their time and look around at each stop – trying to get them to stay out longer and thus pay more. Audrey recommends that people do a cyclo tour early on in their stay in HCMC as it really orients you to the city and the drivers are good to point places out to you. She says stay firm in the price that was set because they’ll keep trying to change things on you.

I felt better in the afternoon (and Audrey finally let me out of the closet). Loan and I went to get Luke’s Vietnamese passport and then did a little shoe shopping (I got a really cute pair, in case anyone is interested). Lance, a former grad student of Doug’s (you may remember him as the cat blogger from when we went to China) came to visit as well. He now lives in Singapore and is here visiting for a few days. We went out to dinner and then for ice cream. An interesting day all around!

All ready for the cyclo tour

Audrey's picture of Doug taking a picture of Norah and Audrey

Hair whipping back in the breeze

Doug's picture of Audrey taking a picture of Doug and Luke

The man and manchild (Doug's little term of affection for Luke) enjoying the ride

The happy family at the Jade Pagoda (why didn't we take the cyclo tour sooner and save ourselves the pilgrimage?)

Picture from the Kingdom of Lacquerware (lacquerware is BIG in Vietnam) on the tour

Self-portrait on cyclo. Notice Luke's typical sweaty head! And the soother (foreshadowing, foreshadowing!)

Norah's flattering picture of Lance at dinner

The last time Luke was seen with his precious soother in his mouth (you know, the one that keeps him relatively content?)...

Where Luke's soother ended up after Doug held Luke with his head over his shoulder at dinner. The restaurant is upstairs and it was perfect that Doug was holding Luke one of the few times the soother fell out. A dump of garbage was directly below Doug's shoulder. The floor was directly below everyone else's shoulders. Needless to say, we didn't try to find the soother! Luckily, we bought a back-up soother the day after receiving Luke and finding out about his addiction. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to enjoy the new one as much, but we're hoping, as with us, he'll grow to love it over time.

Our smorgasbord of ice cream - Doug's was the pretty one - he's a sucker for little umbrellas! Some interesting flavors, such as soursop, taro, and durian (which is a fruit that has been described as smelling like stinky socks). We didn't order that one.

All in a Day's Work

2009-03-20T10:33:00.011-04:00

The children have been hard at work here while the adults lounge around - as it should be. We’ve captured a few pictures showing them at their various activities. As you’ll see, Luke, in particular, is very industrious. He's often found working with his soother hanging out of his mouth, kind of like the men who work with a cigarette hanging out of their mouths.

Rearranging the hotel furniture

Keeping up with her work email while away

Quality control on Daddy's shoes

Norah's been here so long she's started doing tours. Here she is in front of Reunification Palace waiting for her group of tourists.

Trying to fix our washer/dryer combo. An interesting piece of engineering - just wait 3 hours and your clothes come out perfectly damp!

Checking that the doorknobs are secure

Shutting drawers so little fingers don't get caught

Taking the commuter train home after a long day (actually sitting on the train at the zoo)

Sitting back with a cold one after a hard day's labor

Quilts, quilts, wonderful quilts

2009-03-18T03:21:00.003-04:00

Audrey and I took a trip to a quilt store today called Vietnam Quilts. It’s a lovely little store not too far from our hotel. Note that if you go there, it's down a little alley and you can't see the entrance from the street. There's a tiny sign on a post with and arrow that's easy to miss. It’s a nonprofit organization that employs rural Vietnamese women. The quilts are gorgeous – all hand made and at very reasonable prices. Better still – they have a sale on for the next two weeks. Audrey and I scoped the place out a few days after arriving and then Doug and I went to the store on Monday when the sale started and bought Luke a quilt for when he’s a little older and in a bed. We also bought a beautiful quilt for our bed. When I told Audrey that the quilt she had liked was 40% off, she decided to go back. She ended up getting a different one (one she hadn’t seen the fist time) and luckily, it was also 40% off. So, in all, I was there 3 times within a week and the staff now recognize me. I think we’re done now, but I highly recommend this place to anyone visiting. The quilts are quite light-weight so it doesn’t add as much as you would think to your luggage, although they obviously add bulk.

Before we left, I asked if there was a grocery store nearby. We haven’t found one yet that carries all that we’d like in one place and we needed a few things. The woman suggested a place just down the street called Citimart (its right by a big place called the Saigon Sky Garden or Skywalk or something like that). It had the best prices we’ve seen so far and a pretty good selection. Despite the lower prices, however, Audrey and I bought 3 bags full (yes sir, yes sir, 3 bags full – sorry hard to say 3 bags full without that song coming to mind!). FYI again for anyone coming here – this place has baby wipes and lots of baby food and diapers, as well as bottles (Lukey’s getting picky and doesn’t like the ones we brought). As soon as we walked out of the store we realized that we had no money for a cab home. Awesome adventurers that we are (and me with my amazing special abilities – ha ha) we decided that we could walk it back to the hotel. Interesting that the first time we decide to walk a long distance it’s when we have 3 bags of groceries and a queen size quilt in tow. I said, “I think it’s this way, right?” pointing to the left. Audrey thought so too. Now I know what you’re thinking – you’re thinking that this is going to turn into a tale of us getting lost. Sorry to disappoint, but we navigated just fine thank you. I HAD been to the quilt store 3 times already after all, but we were impressed with ourselves nonetheless. What also amazes us is how used you get to things that a week ago were so foreign. No more hesitation crossing the street – we just step out with a “Thank you very much, but we’re going to cross now and I know you’re not going to plow me down, so lay off the horn” look. And to those laughing at us because we still don’t understand the light system –who cares! We just follow the locals who do know the system and we do just fine, even with 3 bags of groceries and a queen-size quilt. We arrived home hot and sweaty (I dare you to avoid this in HCMC, especially in March!) but very proud of out little excursion. It’s the small things that really satisfy sometimes.

Store front

Sign explaining the store's mission

Quilt hanging on the wall

Quilt we bought for Luke

Tunnels, Swimming, and Giraffes

2009-03-17T11:22:00.010-04:00

Today’s post will be like a Lost episode from this season. One story line on the island and the other story line off the island. Doug stayed in HCMC with the kids and Audrey and I went to the Cu Chi Tunnels about 1.5 hours outside the city (now don’t go thinking Doug’s a martyr – he’s going to get his turn in a few days). This was the most bombed and defoliated area in the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong guerillas built an intricate web of tunnels where they cooked, slept, lived, and fought. Cu Chi was continually bombed in an attempt to destroy the tunnels.

Audrey and I almost didn’t make it to the bus. We booked through Sinh Cafe, which is a great tour company in our favorite part of the city (yes, we’ve been here long enough that we have a “favorite”!). They seem to be open all the time (like most things around here) and we just went in last night and booked for this morning. They told us that the bus was leaving at 8:15. Now, we’ve been getting up pretty early with the newest edition to the family who refuses to accommodate to our lazy ways, so that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the traffic is even crazier at that time of the day! It was the first time we’ve ever had to wait for a cab and then it was just our luck that we had the only non-aggressive driver in the city. He only beeped his horn once and kept letting people in front of him – must have been new. We got on the bus just in time – they don’t check names to see if everyone is there. You snooze, you lose. They also were really prompt – no 5-10 minute grace period like in our part of the world. The bus left at 8:15. Luckily, we were on it!

The tour was fascinating and quite awe-inspiring. What we didn’t realize was that the people of Cu Chi, a rural area known for its easy-going lifestyle and abundant fruit, were all fighting in the war. They weren’t trained soldiers – just ordinary people who were forced to do some pretty extraordinary things to survive. Some examples:

• A 16 year old girl won an award for killing the most American soldiers one day. Her father had already been killed.
• The people of Cu Chi used traps that were normally for killing animals to trap and kill American soldiers.
• The people collected undetonated American bombs and land mines to kill the Americans. When they found a bomb, it would be the job of two people to saw it in half and collect the gunpowder. Some people survived this job and some did not.
• The tunnels that were built were three different levels: for living, fighting, and traveling. They were quite ingenious with how they built air vents into the tunnels so they could cook food and breathe without being seen. They only cooked in the middle of the night so it was harder to detect the smoke.

We saw a brief film on our tour and it was difficult to watch as a Canadian. I can’t imagine what it would be like for Americans to watch. Some choice phrases from the film:

“The crazy [American] devils bombed the children, bombed the Buddha statues, they even bombed the pots and pans.”
“The saying of the Cu Chi people was a rifle in one hand and a plow in the other.”
“They bombed us in the morning so we plowed at night.”

Anyway, sorry to get all sober and political and non-adoption-like, but it’s pretty astounding to see what human beings can do to one another and what ordinary citizens resort to in an effort to defend themselves and their land. When the war started there were 70,000 people in Cu Chi; when it ended there were 3,000 (don’t quote me on the first number, I’m doing this from memory, but the second one’s definitely what the guide said!).

On a lighter note, I picked up some valuable parenting skills form our tour guide. He was hilarious (without meaning to be). He’d yell things like, “Listen to me now!” in a really curt tone and “Hurry up and finish, we go back now!” I tried this on Norah when we got home and it worked (once). I may be on to something!

Back on the island, Doug and the kids lounged by the pool for a bit and then spent some time at the zoo and botanical gardens, which is just down the street from our hotel. This was Norah’s third time and Doug and Luke’s second time. We’re so busy it’s hard to keep up with all the goings-on so I haven’ posted from the zoo before!

We’ve got some more excursions planned, so stay tuned!

Our guide showing us the small picks and baskets that were used to dig the tunnels

A map of the area and a schematic drawing of the tunnel system

What the tunnels looked like on the outside

Guide showing us how to get into the tunnel - this one was about twice as wide as the original ones - they widened this one for tourists!

Trap originally designed to kill animals with bamboo spears - step on it and it looks like grass, then you fall in

Rolling trap

Audrey getting into tunnel...

...Audrey coming out of the tunnel. It was amazing how small this was - we were drenched with sweat because it was so stuffy and we were bent at almost 90 degree angles walking through.

Stopping for a quick snack of tapioca plant (I like the pudding better!) and tea

Back on the island...Sibling bonding by the pool

Catching some zz's without getting harmed by rays

Self-portrait at the zoo

Doug taking a picture of Luke (aka Sir Sweatsalot) while he was strapped to him in the Hip Panda (we would be miserable without this handy carrier!)

Posing for the paparazzi at the zoo playground

Checking out the giraffes

Top of the morning to ya! The only sign of St. Paddy's Day we saw here (we miss you Doug, Joanne, and Sara!) - outside a bar in the hitchhiker's district (off Pham Ngu Lao, where we spend about 50% of our time!)

Family Day in Vietnam

2009-03-15T04:31:00.007-04:00

We celebrated yet another milestone while in Vietnam: the 3rd anniversary of when Norah joined Doug and I to make a family of three. We had a busy day so we had a low-key celebration of eating in (the first time since arriving here) and having spaghetti with some fromagio cheese (we think it was Romano?). We then went for an evening swim (Luke's first!) and in the tepid tub (calling it a hot tub just wouldn't be appropriately descriptive). Norah finished off the evening with an ice cream cone - when we bought the ice cream, the lady went to the back of the store and brought back sugar cones to go with it - yum! The rest of us were too tired for ice cream (our first!). Pretty low-key, but very special nonetheless!

Cheese we ate

Little party (Luke's crawling on the floor and Doug's taking the picture)

Norah loving her spaghetti

Homeboy kickin' it with Hello Kitty

Luke loving his first swim

Enoying the tepid tub with his crazy slicked-back hair

Pagoda Pilgrimage

2009-03-15T03:54:00.004-04:00

Guest blog by Audrey [editorial comments by Lisa in brackets]

We decided that it would be nice to visit one of HCMC’s famous Pagodas. The Jade Emperor Pagoda was touted as being one of the city’s most uniquely ornate pagodas with the added bonus of harboring a turtle sanctuary; turtles being the symbols of good luck and fortune. We packed our trusty tour book [Ok, “trusty” might be pushing it – the same book led us to 2 different restaurants that are no longer in existence] and consulted the receptionist at the hotel’s front desk for directions. This is where our little pilgrimage begins to sound like a Robert Munsch story….

The receptionist looked at the map and shook her head, “ No, no, no, no, no - this map is wrong, the street you want is right here,” and she drew another street on our map. We asked if we could walk there and she said yes. “OK,” we said, “let’s walk there, it seems pretty close.” [of course the same woman told us to take a cab to the electricity store that was a few yards away, which might have been a clue for us…]
We walked for a bit, past way too many motorcycles and mopeds that had way too much on them and we came to a huge roundabout. "How do we get across here?" we wondered. “Let’s follow that old lady, she looks like she knows what she’s doing” said Doug. He grabbed Norah, Lisa carried Luke, and Audrey carried the tour book [wouldn’t want to lose that gem!] and off we went following the old lady [and we’re not exactly spring chickens ourselves, so when we say old, we mean she was old] across 56 lanes of traffic, safely to the other side. We decided right was the way to go.
We passed an old man making kissy noises at the children. “Pagoda?” we said pointing to the picture in the tour book. He just shook his head and made more kissy sounds at the children [Audrey's being modest - of course the kissy sounds were for her]… we smiled and kept walking.
We came to a man selling rear view mirrors; “Pagoda?” we said, pointing to the picture in the tour book… he just shook his head and showed us the rear view mirrors… we smiled and kept walking.
We passed some chickens on a garbage bin… we didn’t bother asking them; chickens don’t know anything anyway. So, we walked through the garbage and kept going.
We came to a man picking at his toes sitting on his moped, “Pagoda?” we said, pointing to the picture in the tour book… he said, “No, no, no, no, no blabbety blah.” We smiled, nodded and turned around.
We came to a man sitting on a moped and asked, “Pagoda?” He said, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes” [or at least that’s what he would say if he spoke English] and pointed in the direction we had just come from.
At this point we also met a small, white, scruffy, short-legged dog that decided he’d come along on the adventure with us. We turned back around in the direction we had just come from.
We startled a girl selling fruit; “Pagoda?” we said, pointing to the picture in the tour book. She smiled and pointed to where we were headed. We kept walking…
We walked back past the man picking his toes, past the chickens on the garbage bin, through the garbage [at which point the dog started eating a dead bird], past the man selling rear view mirrors, and past the kissy man and kept walking.
Finally we came to the place where we had originally crossed the street and just past that was the street with the pagoda… apparently right had been very wrong. At this point the dog left us and walked out into the traffic, confidently navigating the cars, mopeds, and motorcycles.
We finally made it to the Jade Emperor Pagoda. There were indeed turtles, and ornate décor, statues and incense. [Unfortunately, this was a case where the cliché about the journey being more important than the destination was really true.] We walked around a bit, then left. [There really wasn’t much to do or see and Audrey commented later that she felt jaded by the Jade Pagoda.] We hailed the first cab we saw [Oh yes, we’ve learned from George W. – fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, well, let’s just say we’re not going to make that mistake again] showed the driver the hotel card “Somerset?” we said, he smiled and nodded. We sat back and enjoyed the cab ride back to our hotel.

Traffic circle we crossed - looks way less daunting in the picture!

Check out the loads on some of these motorcycles

Walking across a bridge going back to where we had just been

Man selling rear view mirrors

Chickens and garbage

Roadside restaurant

Pagoda - looks way more impressive in the picture!

Turtles at the pagoda

Doughnut stand outside pagoda

Cultural Musings

2009-03-13T11:20:00.007-04:00

Yesterday I went with Loan to a couple of different government offices to arrange for Luke’s Vietnamese passport. The rest of the gang stayed behind. Very interesting experience. There’s a number of times in my life when I’ve been in a situation where I’ve been the only White person and this was one of them. The people here are so friendly though – no staring or rudeness. No one looking at you wondering why you’re getting a Vietnamese passport when you don’t look so Vietnamese!

Some interesting things I’ve learned about Vietnamese culture:

The people (really, I think it’s mostly the women) want to be as white as possible. Loan says, “They all want to look like you – pale and skinny.” Did I mention that Loan is now officially my best friend (for the skinny part, of course; the pale I’ve never been so fond of)? Many of the women on the motorcycles ride with long sleeves, long pants, a mask on their faces, thick stockings under their sandals, and fuzzy gloves on their hands. Loan says they don’t want to get tanned – and I thought it was due to pollution, but apparently that’s a secondary issue for many. Even the bread here is really, really white – not sure if that is related, but it looks very strange. I have yet to see whole wheat. Also, people have commented on how beautiful Luke’s skin is. Now, don’t get me wrong, he’s a cute little guy, but right now he’s full of scabs from the scabies. I was puzzled by the beautiful skin comments. Turns out they mean his skin is very pale, so that’s why it’s beautiful. We’ve also noticed a lot of signs for Pond’s Spotless White Cream. Seriously. There are billboards everywhere. And at home we have a tanning salon in every strip plaza. Crazy world, isn’t it?

Loan also says that the Vietnamese don’t like to name children after relatives. It’s superstitious behavior. She says that they yell at their kids to correct them and it would be like yelling at their ancestors! So, when they name children, everyone tries to check to ensure no one down the line has had the same name. She thinks it’s nice that we often name our children after relatives. She named her dog after an ex-boyfriend. Not sure what that says in any culture!

I asked about all the retail here and how it seems that everyone has a store. Loan says that many people live in the buildings and open up a store front. Some people rent out the front of the building to others who open up a store but they (the people who own the building) still live in behind or up above. Makes sense that many immigrants become entrepreneurs when they come to North America.

Loan’s never been to China. She said that she’s heard the food is strange and very greasy. Interesting how we North Americans lump most Asian foods together. Not too many of us could distinguish between Chinese and Vietnamese food. In Waterloo, it seems most of the Vietnamese restaurants are also Thai – you rarely see one without the other. Guess they figured out that we don’t distinguish.

Speaking of distinguishing…When we go out everyone thinks Norah is Vietnamese. If they understand (the Vietnamese word for China does not appear to be China, which makes sense since it’s not the Chinese word for China either!), they don’t seem as impressed with us to find out she’s Chinese. We redeem ourselves, however, when we confirm that yes, Luke is Vietnamese. They look at us knowingly as if to say, “Yes, you got it right this time.” Obviously we got it right both times! Nice to see such cultural pride though.

Try finding this in Canada: Audrey and Doug went to the bank today – Audrey’s Dongionnaire status was getting precarious. When she went in she could see that there were some of the bank workers whispering and it appeared that they were talking about her. She figured it was her good looks, but it turns out that the last time she was in the bank, a few days ago, they had given her the wrong exchange rate. Get this: they OWED her money. So, they handed her the money that she was owed, which was almost a million dong! What’s even better still? When she was in before she had been exchanging money for Doug and me, so we’re now Dongionaires multiple times over!

Totally unrelated, but kind of relevant to our world (not to mention the blog!) – here’s a few pictures I took of Luke yesterday after his bath. What a cutie!

Picture of the Tax Center where we've been doing a little shopping:

Alley where we've been eating dinner almost every night. It's called Pham Ngu Lao - lots of vegetarian places here:

Same alley after supper:

Don't worry, we didn't eat here:

Sign in the bathroom of a restaurant:

Didn't faze us because we never put strange corpses into toilets, unless you count the dead bugs I sometimes flush!

Trip to Ben Thanh Market

2009-03-12T11:41:00.007-04:00

Wednesday we went to Ben Thanh Market, which is the biggest one in HCMC. It's pretty touristy, but, hey, we ARE tourists, so it worked for us! The advantage is that most people who work there can speak some English so it makes it easier to navigate the place.

Yummy vegetarian meal at the market. We sat on benches outside the food stall and were waited on attentively. This is what we ate:
If any one knows what we ate, please let us know because it was delicious! Audrey was so impressed with herself for eating strange unknown food that we had to ensure the moment was captured forever:
More pictures of us eating!
Me haggling at the market. My skills from China came back to me instantly.
No, I'm not drunk in this picture. Luke was so cute in his hat and inadvertently matching outfit, I had to post this one despite the less-than-flattering picture of me.
Luke, admiring his big sister, who insists on wearing the same outfit over and over!

How low can you go? Driving home from Vung Tau

2009-03-11T11:52:00.006-04:00

Check out the evolution of Doug's sleeping posture on the way home from Vung Tau:

And the finale, because it is just so sweet:

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

2009-03-11T09:30:00.004-04:00

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

Meeting Baby Luke in Pictures

2009-03-11T05:24:00.002-04:00

Nannies getting Luke changed to go to the Giving and Receiving Ceremony

Loan helping the nannies get Luke ready

Mommy and Daddy get their first picture taken with Luke

Leaving the orphanage to go to the ceremony

Official picture at Giving and Receiving Ceremony

The day before the Big Day

2009-03-10T19:56:00.003-04:00

Doug reaching for his money at the market - me telling him what to buy - different country, same routine!

Woman cutting a yet-unidentified fruit

Norah and Cocoa taking a break from walking in a park

Sweeping? Raking? leaves in the park

Impromptu restaurant around the corner from the hotel

Monday we were up by 6:30 (you know, typical day for us – ha ha) and out walking around early. We thought it was busy yesterday, but it was crazy today! The hotel did not have an adapter for the computer (thus the late posting) and we had to wait until today to buy one at the “electricity store.” The front desk wrote down the address and said they’d call a cab for us. It turned out that the store was literally around the corner from the hotel! We felt so silly for taking a cab. Maybe we still looked weary from the jet lag and they didn’t think we could handle the few meters from the hotel to the store! Well, we showed them and walked for a long time all around taking in the sights. We found a market and bought some fruit as well as a few snacks for Norah who seemed to be melting from the heat.

Loan (our agency’s representative here in Vietnam) came around noon and we signed a bunch of papers in preparation for tomorrow. It took over an hour and Audrey kept Norah entertained the whole time, which was great. We found out that Luke is about 20 lbs and likes to eat lots of baby cereal. Loan says he’s a happy little guy (yeah!) and is quite active (uh… wait a minute – we must assimilate him into the Lazy Bones Family). After paper signing we ate at a yummy vegetarian restaurant in the touristy part of town. And then Audrey and I went to pick up a few groceries. We had a quiet (and a little Zombie-like) dinner by the pool at the hotel and most of us had an early night to bed again. I stayed up until 2:30 AM (yes, that’s HCMC time) finishing some work that had to get done that should have been done before I left. I know, I know, not so smart of me, but those who know me well are just shaking their heads knowingly right now. I’ll be in tip-top shape tomorrow, given our start time….

Loan gave us the choice of going to get Luke at 7:00 AM on Tuesday or 10:00 AM. I think Doug’s really excited because he chose 7:00 AM without missing a beat!

We made the decision that we will leave Audrey and Norah in HCMC for the day and go get Luke in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. The drive could be as much as 3 hours each way with a lot of paper signing. Luke also has scabies, as do the other children in the orphanage and we’d rather not expose Norah and have to treat her. She’s been having a bit of a rough time and the new-found familiarity of the hotel with its pool, playground, and play room seem likes like a better place for her to be. We should be back by 5:00 PM so plenty of time for meeting her baby brother and bonding then.

Talk to you next time when we’re a family of four (plus Audrey, who we like to call our Aud Pair – sorry Kyle, Sophie, and Rick – I think she might have to live with us now!).

No baby yet...

2009-03-09T11:47:00.005-04:00

Our Giving and Receiving Ceremony is now scheduled for Tuesday, which is tomorrow here. Now a little catch-up since leaving Hong Kong:

We arrived in HCMC and found a driver waiting for us when we came out of the airport. The airport was wild – so many people! The drive was interesting. The first thing I noticed was that there appeared to be some kind of [dead] bird under the seat in the van. Of course it was right under where I was sitting. Audrey took some pictures as she was sitting behind me.

The traffic here is insane! Cars, motorcycles, scooters, and bicycles all drive together. The best description I can give is that it’s loosely organized chaos. Sometimes there seems to be lights and sometimes not. It doesn’t seem to make a difference. Audrey’s a bit obsessed about the traffic and can’t stop taking pictures. The pictures don’t do it justice though. We’ve seen people carrying what would be considered truckloads of goods on motorcycles, including ladders, air conditioners, piled produce, baskets, and Tupperware. Really, anything you can think of that wouldn’t belong on a motorcycle. We also had a near-collision with a woman who was eating and talking on a cell phone while riding a bicycle. Our cab almost collided with her and she actually gave us a dirty look as if the driver was the one not paying attention! Audrey thought it was interesting that we’re so preoccupied with car seats in North America when over here there are toddlers riding on motorbikes with no seat belt or special seats. They’re just hanging on! Oh, and did I mention that people drive their motorcycles on the sidewalk too? I’m not sure I’ll come home with all 10 toes intact, as I’ve already had a few close calls!

We spent the rest of the day getting our bearings and trying not to sleep. Norah finally gave in and fell asleep around 6:30 PM and Doug and Audrey followed about an hour later with me not too far behind them.

Notable quotes from the day:

“Their snow is all melted” - Norah, upon arriving in Vietnam and seeing all the green at the airport.

“I’m a Dongionnaire!” - Audrey, after trading $100 CAD for over a million Vietnamese Dong.

“I’m keeping my Dong out.” – Doug, having just put the American and Canadian money we brought in the hotel safe.

“There’s a bird under my butt.” – Lisa, see above for explanation.

Lesson of the day: She who hesitates stands on the corner for a really long time.

Pictures: Traffic in HCMC; Doug and Norah walking on the sidewalk with traffic; bird under the seat in van on the way to hotel; Norah doing my hair while I’m having a snack at the Hong Kong airport

Hanging out in Hong Kong

2009-03-07T17:21:00.003-05:00

It's about 6:30 AM here in Hong Kong - we've got a 4 hour layover before we leave for Ho Chi Minh City. Norah is currently running around after the confinement of a 16 hour flight. I don't know where she gets the energy. The adults' batteries are running pretty low right now.

One word description of our flight from Toronto to HCMC - turbulent. No, it wasn't air turbulence. It was the Norah variety! Take a good amount of fear of the airplane toilet, mix it with a proneness for nightmares, and then a pinch of strange guy who's sitting in the seat where my Daddy should be and apparently you get the Norah perfect storm! She was actually excellent for the vast majority of the flight, but emulating her Nana, she decided she would "make her presence known" on the plane when everyone else thought it would be a good time to sleep. After 3 episodes, one of which involved her doing an interesting angry dance by the washrooms with a flight attendant unsuccessfully trying to humour her, all was well. And the bonus was that the strange man switched seats with Daddy so we all sat together. Clearly it was all part of her master plan!

Next stop Vietnam! We found out just before we left that our Giving and Receiving Ceremony (when Luke is officially ours) is March 9 - the day after we arrive!

Artist's Rendition

2009-03-01T21:53:00.003-05:00

Here's a picture that Norah created in daycare in December. That's when her teachers must have thought that she had an invisible baby brother. When we told her school in January that we were adopting again, her teachers pulled out the picture, which suddenly made more sense to them. Which is Norah and which is her baby brother? Depends on what day you ask Norah.

And the name is...............

2009-02-27T21:20:00.001-05:00

Luke Hoang Quan Keeping Brown

We considered many names but Norah refused to let us name him anything else and those who know Norah know that you don’t want to get into an argument with her. As we did with Norah’s name, we looked up the meanings of Luke and chose the one we liked best. Here’s the scoop:

Gender: Male
Ethnic Origin: Latin or Greek
Meaning: Light/Bringer of light (Latin)
Numerology: People with this name tend to be very logical thinkers. It is very important for them to have a rigid routine. Many of their actions are quite calculated and thought out. Professionally, they can be successful as an Administrator, team player, or small business owner.

As for his Vietnamese names:
Hoang: Phoenix
Quan: Soldier

So, he’s a phoenix soldier who brings light. We will especially appreciate the logical thinking part. The rigid schedule part – well, let’s hope he’ll continue smiling though life with non rigid schedule parents!

Another interesting coincidence: when I looked back at the entry with Norah’s name, one of the meanings of Norah we found was light. How fitting since she’s been the light of our lives since we met her. And we expect it will only get better with more light in our lives!

Introducing Le Hoang Quan

2009-02-24T21:45:00.002-05:00

These are the first pictures we received of our new son. Isn't he totally adorable? And so cool that he's already very in touch with his feminine side. We think his shirt says Angel, which we assume is descriptive of his personality based on these pictures. This prompted our friend Rick to suggest we name him Angelo. Um...thanks, but no. No offense to all the Angelos out there! The name has been a dilemma for us though. We'll keep people in suspense on that front until the next post.

THE CALL: We received the call telling us that we had a son totally unexpectedly from our agency on Dec. 4. What was even better was that my Mom was visiting us, so she got to share in our excitement and see his pictures with us.

THE INFO: He's living in Vung Tau III orphanage, which is in the province of Ba ria-Vung Tau. This is in southern Vietnam. These pictures were taken when he was about 5 months old. Here’s some of the info we got on our baby at his medical exam at 5 months old:

“Weight- 7.6Kg (60%), Height- 66.5cm (55%), Head circum= 43.5cm (60%).” As our doctor said, he’s a very well-proportioned boy!

Oh, and for all those jokesters out there making fun of his pink shirt: “Genitalia –male. Normal.” Enough said.

“Makes good eye contact, follows objects to all directions, responds to sounds, smiles, coos, babbles, reaches for toys, passes toys from hand to hand, uses grasp, rolls over, pulls to sit.”

And now the really interesting part – his birthday is June 19 – the day after Norah’s. Even weirder, we left to go to China 3 years ago on March 8 and we leave for Vietnam on March 7. So, when we meet our son he will be almost exactly the same age as Norah was when we met her.

There now - all caught up!

2009-02-22T02:33:00.000-05:00

Norah's 2nd birthday

Note: despite appearances, there were more in attendance than just Norah and I.

2007 Father's Day 5K

Norah's 3rd birthday

No 2008 Father's Day 5K as Doug had a torn meniscus. Stay tuned for the 2009 come back!

Norah's First Birthday and Father's Day

2006-06-30T11:43:00.000-04:00

We started out the day by running the annual Waterloo Classic - a local 3K, 5K, and 10 K race. Norah and Doug ran the 5K and I muddled through the 10K. As Doug reported it, "Norah beat me by a stroller's length." And amazingly, she didn't even break a sweat! After the race we went to brunch with our friend Natalia. Norah and I then gave Doug his Father's Day gifts and then we went to Best Buy. Doug decided it was time Norah finally got the big screen TV she'd been coveting for months. My favourite comment about the TV: "If that's what they got Norah for her 1st birthday, I can't wait to see what she gets for her 2nd!"

Because it was Father's Day AND Norah's birthday, AND my Mom couldn't come this weekend, we decide to have Norah's party the following weekend. But, we still wanted to acknowledge it among the 3 of us. So, we put a candle in her favourite food - fruit cup. At first she was intrigued by the flaming fruit cup, but by the end, she just wanted the damn fruit and got a little testy. As you can see, she's not lost her 'tude!

Parallel Blog

2006-04-30T23:17:00.000-04:00

We forgot to mention that when we returned we discovered that Lance (one of the grad students in Doug's department), who was taking care of the house and the cats for us, kept a blog while we were gone. If you're interested in laughing your butt off, please take a look at mojowatch.blogspot.com.

Update: Home for a Month

2006-04-30T20:38:00.000-04:00

Well, we were getting harassed about updating the blog by a few people (you know who you are!) and we finally feel rested enough to do it. So much has happened since we returned. Here's some highlights (and you know with me, the list will be wordy, so get comfy if you plan to keep reading!):

Norah woke up 7-10 times every night for the first 3-4 weeks we were home. Boy were we all fun to be around then! We're happy to report that she now sleeps more or less through the night. It's actually quite a fast adjustment - those first few weeks just seemed REALLY long at the time!

Norah and Lisa have been going to the Early Years Centre. This is a community centre with a lot of kids' programs. We are taking a class together and playing in the gym and attending Music and Movement with other kids, including Sara, Doug and Joanne's daughter.

Norah loves the park, especially the swing. She is also quite a daredevil on the slide - no holding her around the waist. We just hold her hands and she slides down and jumps into the sand.

Norah is eating quite well. She likes veggie burgers, tofu, carrots, and cauliflower, among other things. She LOVES (i.e., she bangs her feet and sits straight up with her hands out) fruit cups (the deal is that she gets the peaches and pears and we get the pineapple as compensation for our labour in feeding her) and peach soy yogurt.

Norah's quite a fan of eating out - I guess it was all the practice she had in China. Again, we're amazed at how well she's been matched to us. Her first outing was to our favourite Indian restaurant - she loves curry just like us. We've also been to a couple of Chinese restaurants and the congee is still a big hit with her. Finally, she’s particularly fond of Sunday brunch - we've been 3 times.

We're working on getting Norah a little healthier. She has another ear infection and is just getting over another cold. Since we've known her, she's been congested almost the whole time. Her disposition is still really good though.

We think Norah will be walking relatively soon. She scoots around on her bum and knees, but doesn't seem to be interested in crawling. She's much more interested in standing, pulling herself up to standing, and walking while we hold her hands.

One of the keys to Norah's newfound sleeping success has been our bedtime routine. Doug gives her a bath, Lisa sings a selection of tunes from The Sound of Music, we read a couple of books (one is a book of nursery rhymes that Doug reads in a very William Shatneresque style). Finally, Norah has a bottle while Lisa sings a selection of Simon and Garfunkle songs (Doug turned the light off one night and "Hello darkness, my old friend" seemed like the natural thing to sing - the repertoire expanded from there).

Yesterday was Norah’s first outing to the big city of Toronto. We went to visit Uncle Doyle and Aunt Heather and saw their “deluxe apartment in the sky” (they’re on the penthouse level). We timed it so that we drove there during Norah’s naptime (she likes to sleep in the car). Since we had such trouble with her sleep before, we tried to stay true to her routine (we really love our sleep and want to ensure we keep it!). We had dinner and then changed her into her PJs. Doyle and Heather joined in the singing and story time and then we did our Simon and Garfunkle revival in the car and Norah fell asleep. She stayed asleep when we got home and we transferred her into her crib. She slept right though until 7:00 AM. Yeah!

So, it's been a busy month with lots of changes. At the same time, however, it feels like we've been together forever. Things are great, but it seems like they just continue to get better every day. We feel so lucky to have Norah in our lives. She's sweet and funny, with just enough "attitude" to make her fit right in around here!

March 23: Last full day in China

2006-03-23T13:02:00.000-05:00

Today we had no agenda. Most of the families leave tomorrow, but many left today. We had a leisurely breakfast (for once!) and packed a bit. It was weird not to be on a bus. Everyone says that one of the hardest aspects of this is that we can’t establish a routine for the babies. I think the problem is that they have a routine – get up, have breakfast with a huge group of people, get on a bus and fall asleep. It will be very strange for Norah when we get home. Not only will she have different sounds and smells and lots of people who don’t look like what she’s used to, but it will also be really quiet. Living in a hotel with other babies is what she’s become accustomed to. And no more riding in busses – and she’ll have to sit by herself in a car seat. That should be interesting. She doesn’t like to go for very long without being held. It will be very confusing to her when I don’t take her out of her car seat when she cries.

We went back to the Pearl Market at about noon and bought a small suitcase and a few other small things. We really didn’t do a lot of shopping while we’ve been here – I guess a lot for us, but that’s still not much. We spent the afternoon at Beihi Park. It was gorgeous. We walked around the water. Of course, Norah slept through most of it. She’s slept through most of Beijing’s attractions! Now if only she would sleep at night. We again attracted a lot of attention. People are very friendly, however. One man asked us about the babies and Joanne told him they were from Guangxi. He said, “You are very kind.” Good thing Joanne is a lot swifter than me – she told him that her daughter is a little treasure in Mandarin. I was just so touched that he would think we were kind rather than realize what a gift the girls are to us.

Ironically, we spent our last night in Beijing at Pizza Hut. One of the couples we went with has a 3-year old who really wanted some Western food, so that’s where we went. After dinner, s few of the women got together for drinks. The men had done this the night before, so Joanne thought it was only right that we have our turn. Although we didn’t have the turnout that the men did, it was really nice to unwind just a little. We’re all interested to see how the long flight home will be and are hoping we all make it though without any major incidents.

This will be my last post from China. I’ll try posting pictures again later – no luck for a couple of days now. It’s hard to believe we’ve been here for only 15 days and have only had Norah with us for just over a week. We’re glad to be returning home, but it’s also sad that Norah will be leaving the country where she was born and a culture that is very different from the one in which she’ll grow up. We’ve seen so many changes in her already that it feels like little Jin Xia Hua will remain in China and Norah Xia Hua Keeping Brown will be one of Canada’s newest residents.

March 22: Last time together as a group and Norah’s bully status is confirmed

2006-03-23T13:01:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the last time our group was all together. It was our celebratory Peking Duck dinner. Mary had arranged for vegetarian options for us and we ate well – they brought out at least 4 different courses for us. Before dinner we had group pictures. One picture was of all of us together, another of just the babies from our orphanage, and a third of the babies from the other orphanage. For the picture of our babies, we placed the children in strollers because not all of them can sit up yet. The picture taking had barely begun and Norah proceeded to hit Matilda, who was sitting to her right. Matilda is a sturdy little girl compared to Norah’s petite stature, but Norah didn’t seem to notice. After making poor Matilda cry, Norah turned to her left and picked on little Abbey. Finally, all three of them were crying, and of course other babies joined in. So, it’s official – Norah’s a bully. When I apologized to Matilda’s parents, Paul and Paula, they said they didn’t mind because they were glad Matilda had finally met her match!

Some of the group leave tomorrow and the rest of us leave on Friday. It was sad saying goodbye to people, but nice to see everyone so excited to get home and start their new lives. It’s amazing how attached you become to people so quickly. We’ve been like one big family, watching each other with our new babies. We’ve all lived out some of our most joyous and most difficult moments in the presence of each other. It is amazing that we’ve all shared together what is usually such a private process. And to think that we were all essentially strangers to one another just a few short weeks ago. I can’t imagine doing it any other way. Through this experience of a lifetime we share an incredible bond.

March 22: Hutong Tour

2006-03-23T12:56:00.000-05:00

This morning we went on a tour of a Hutong area. This is an area that has preserved what it was like in old Beijing. People still live there, however – it’s not just a tourist area. We traveled by rickshaw – one for every two people (plus a baby) because the alleys are really narrow. We had to cross regular streets a couple of times and this was pretty scary – we just went right through the traffic. Norah loved the rickshaw ride. She loves having the wind whipping through her hair. She really is at her happiest when she’s outside. We visited a kindergarten school and got to see the inside of a resident’s house. He served us tea, showed us pictures of his son, brought out his grasshopper and his cricket (how lucky were we to see them both!), and answered questions through our guide. Incidentally our guide’s name was Water and he told us his last name was Loo (not sure of spelling). Isn’t that weird that we’d have a guide named Water Loo when we live in Waterloo? Today was probably our favourite day in terms of touristy things that we’ve done.

In the afternoon we went to the Pearl Market. I actually bought a strand of pearls for myself (and for Norah, of course). I’ve always wanted pearls, so it was really nice to find them here at such a reasonable price. The Pearl Market is not nearly as bad as the Silk Market (i.e., in terms of salespeople being aggressive), but after the pearl extravaganza, we didn’t have time to do a lot of other shopping. We had to get back to pick up the babies’ passports and prepare for our farewell dinner of Peking Duck.

March 21: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and Silk Market

2006-03-22T08:33:00.000-05:00

We left at 9:00 for our daily tour. Today we saw Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City (called this because during the time of the Emperors, regular people were forbidden from entering this area). I think today was the first day that I really felt like I’d like to go home. It was interesting seeing the sights, but I wasn’t as into it as the previous days. It was a lot of courtyards and palaces. At one point, the father (Charlie) of one of the parents (Elizabeth) got lost from the group. We sent out a posse to find him and gave them 15 minute to come back. Charlie came back within about 5 minutes and we had to wait for the posse to return (after rejecting the idea of sending a new posse for the old posse). This gave us plenty of time to hang out and have people admire our babies. Our guide, Mary, told us that one of the reasons local people make such a fuss over our babies is that we dress them so nicely in bright colours. She said that the babies here don’t tend to be dressed so well.

The highlight was the four-star bathroom in the Forbidden City. I was a little dismayed that someone had already thought of my idea of rating the various bathrooms in China. However, I was eager to see what made this one so good. Although it was rather clean compared to most, I think what gave it the edge was the automatic flusher – not something you see on most toilets in the ground. I must say that between the Great Wall and the toilets in China, my quads are getting quite shapely!

In the afternoon we went to the Silk Market. The salespeople are extremely aggressive here. You don’t even make eye contact and they are yelling at you, touching you, and sometimes grabbing you. They say, “Hey lady, you wanna buy nice purse (coat, shoes, etc.)? Looka looka.” Then, if you make eye contact they say things like, “I gave you special price because you have a beautiful Chinese baby.” We didn’t buy much because the salespeople were so whiney – when you talked them down in price they would get very upset with you and tell you that they’d make no money from you or that you were a bad person. I looked at tea sets in one stall and didn’t buy anything. Unfortunately, I did slightly chip a teacup when pulling out another one (it was in too tightly). The woman didn’t care until I didn’t buy from her. Then, when I left, she chased me across the market, grabbing onto my arm really tightly. I finally gave her $10 in Chinese currency for chipping the teacup. It was a little scary actually – she just kept pulling at me and whining. I did manage to haggle pretty well on an outfit for Norah and some shoes. Doug and I used the Good Cop, Bad Cop routine. I acted like the helpless little wife with the big, mean husband. I gave them a price well below what they asked for (like 30% of asking price), told them that he had the money and that was all he would let me spend (see picture above). After they chastised us for being so cruel to them to force them to sell at such a low price, we paid what we offered them. We’re much better at this than we would have imagined. I think it’s because they’re so aggressive – it’s just a game and you know they won’t sell it if they don’t make money on it (one women let me walk away when I severely lowballed her).

In the evening Sara and Norah had a little impromptu play date in the hallway. I’m worried that Norah is a little aggressive. Frankly, all the girls are aggressive in their play. Many of us caved and ordered pizza to our rooms – Mr. Pizza – the finest pizza in China. It wasn’t bad, but it was a pretty small pizza and was probably the most expensive meal we’ve had here. It was nice to have something hot and not have to go out and find something though.

March 20 Pictures

2006-03-22T08:18:00.000-05:00

Pictures in order: Norah conked out after her meltdown in the cab on the way home from the zoo; waiting in the Greek restaurant to get into the medical clinic; waiting for the doctor in the medical clinic; panda; Norah looking stylish at the zoo for about 3 seconds before she ripped off her sunglasses.

March 20: Babies' Medicals and Beijing Zoo

2006-03-21T08:47:00.000-05:00

We left really early this morning (7:30 AM) to go to an international clinic to have the babies’ medicals done. It was your typical doctor’s appointment – first we waited in a Greek restaurant and had Chinese coffee and fruit while we waited and filled out, you guessed it, more paperwork. Then we went in smaller groups to the clinic. We waited some more in the clinic and then visited the nurses who weighed and measured the babies. Unfortunately this involved undressing Norah, so the nurses got an earful of her powerful lung action. She weighs about 17.8 kg (hard to tell as she was kicking and screaming so the weight kept changing) – she’s in the 25th percentile for each of head circumference, weight, and height. Then we saw the doctor – she was from Montreal. Turns out that Norah has an ear infection, so we have to give her antibiotics in the hopes that it will clear up in time for the plane ride home. We also have to give her decongestant for her cold. Otherwise, she’s in fine shape – slightly delayed in some things (e.g., she can’t crawl yet), but the doctor said she’d catch up soon. She behaved well for the doctor and she said Norah was good-natured (obviously she hadn’t conferred with the nurses on this!). Five and a half hours later we were all done and headed back on the bus to the hotel. We took 15 minutes to regroup (translation – change diaper, eat Pringles and a protein bar) and a few of us decided to spend the rest of the day at the Zoo.

The Zoo was OK – nothing really special, other than the pandas. The most interesting part was the Special Small Creatures Club (or something like that – I can’t remember exactly, but it was a weird name). You had to pay to get in to this part, but there was a tear in the tent, so we took a peak. The creatures on display were domestic dogs. They had signs for each breed, just like they had signs for the lions, tigers, etc. It was weird to see Cocker Spaniels, Dalmatians, St. Bernards, etc. on display at a Zoo! The other interesting thing is that we seemed to be more interesting to people than most of the Zoo animals! People come up to us constantly. They try to make the babies smile and often tell us to bundle them up better – or just do it themselves. Now, the temperature has been about 18 Celsius for the last couple of days – we still have winter coats and hats on the girls, but that’s not enough for some of the local women. We were warned about this before we left, but experiencing it is another thing entirely. It feels weird to be stared at constantly, have people take your pictures, and touch your babies without asking. I’m sure by the time we leave we’ll be as used to it as Brad and Angelina. Then, just when we’re heady from the fame, we’ll come home.

Norah had a major meltdown in the cab on the way home. She tends to have at lest one of these a day where she is inconsolable for about 10-15 minutes. She just shrieks and flails about. She also tends to choose moments like when we’re in a confined space – e.g., a cab or the bus, so there’s not a whole lot we can do. We were with another couple (Heather and Paul) and their baby (Jocelyn). The poor cab driver started shaking his thermos at us. I think he was saying, “For God’s sake people, give the baby something to eat!” – you can see my Mandarin is getting really good. We made it home and Norah was spent – slept for about an hour. This gave us an opportunity to change her diaper without her screaming. The referral said she was a deep sleeper and we’re happy to say that this is very true in her case.

We actually got take-out tofu last night – a small reprieve from the Pringles, which, as you might recall, we’d already had for lunch. We fed Norah some rice cereal with bananas and she loved it. This helped her sleep a little longer. Doug has been getting up with her at night (this was night 2 where he’s done this) and this has helped with the bonding for him – and has also given me a much-needed break. I still wake up, but my arms get a rest from holding her.

I'll have to post pictures tomorrow - it doesn't seem to be working again tonight.

March 19 Great Wall Pictures

2006-03-21T06:06:00.000-05:00

More March 19 Pictrues

2006-03-20T10:01:00.000-05:00

Pictures at the jade factory and looking at the seals in the hotel.

March 19: The Great Wall

2006-03-20T09:40:00.000-05:00

Today we went to the Great Wall. We first stopped for a tour of a jade factory. These tours are 5% tour and 95% sales job. Of course we tourists all buy things anyway! The ladies are very skilled at putting jade bangles on women – they use a plastic bag to get them on and off and choose the size that they think is right for you. It is Chinese custom for a woman to wear a jade bangle until her daughter is 18 and then she gives it to her to wear. So, I bought one – how could I resist when the woman told us that the colours would intensify over time and that by the time Norah was ready to wear it, it would be worth so much in value that it would be priceless? I did manage to get her down to a good price – for jade that is – jade is very expensive, as it turns out. I drove a surprisingly hard bargain – so much so that the sales lady leaned over after I negotiated with her manager and asked me not to tell anyone else in our group what I paid for the bracelet. The only problem now is that I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to get the bracelet off myself. I am not trained as the ladies at the factory are. And once I’m off my Pringles diet my wrist is sure to get bigger.

We then went to the Great Wall and climbed and climbed and climbed and then we climbed some more. Norah fell asleep in my arms on the bus, so Doug wore the carrier and we put her in it while she was still asleep. At this point Doug declared that “all Hell would break loose on the Great Wall” when Norah woke up to find that she was with Doug rather than me. Doug and Norah climbed to the point where most people stop, Norah had a bottle to psych herself up, and then they kept going. I went ahead of them to navigate the steps for Doug. Let me just say that the Great Wall is one looong wall! It goes on forever. Doug bought a t-shirt that says, “I climbed the Great Wall” - we couldn’t find one for Norah that said, “I slept through the Great Wall.”

We got home and a bunch of us went to see the seals that are in our hotel. Norah liked the seals but loved the running water in front of the seal tank even more. We were all pretty tired, so after another Pringles dinner (Norah had formula, in case you were concerned), we went to bed.

March 18: Norah is 9 months old!

2006-03-20T06:31:00.000-05:00

Not much to report for this day. Norah has been sick and now Lisa is too. It's our first day back in Beijing after arriving late last night. Norah had her picture taken for her visa so she can enter Canada and we did yet more paperwork for her. We chilled in the afternoon to see if we could feel better for the excursion to the Great Wall tomorrow. Stayed in for dinner - Pringles again. It's the official food for Adoption Tour 2006 - I'm sure the local stores must stock up on them when new parents come to town. I think we all buy them because we actually know what they are and we can read the label. Interestingly, they're imported from Belgium. There's not much food to be found around this hotel - it's not located in a great area. I think I'm going to write a book when we get back - the Pringles Diet. It will be all the rage with the celebrities and maybe I'll be on Oprah. A tailor came to the hotel to measure us for dresses, jackets, etc. They will be custom-made for us out of 100% silk. I'm worried the dress I ordered won't fit once I'm off my Pringles diet.

Just one photo of Norah in her birthday suit.

March 17 Pictures

2006-03-20T06:19:00.000-05:00

Blog wouldn't post pictures again, so we're posting them separately today. Pictures are of the following: Sara taking her first steps with Joanne and Doug; Norah walking (sort of) and showing off the sporty outfit that Lisa got as a gift from her students; Norah, Lisa, and Doug with the local guide, Glen, before leaving Nanning; Norah sitting in a highchair for the first time; Norah on the plane and loving it.

March 17: Beijing Welcomes Norah

2006-03-19T08:38:00.000-05:00

It was a day of firsts today. Norah sat in a highchair for the first time, she stood with some assistance (ok it was a lot), Sara walked for the first time, and all the girls took their first flights. It was also the first leg of our journey from Norah’s old home to her new one. It was a long flight, but Norah was a trouper, she played for the first half of the flight and slept for the second half. Their was a new bed waiting for her in Beijing, unfortunately she doesn’t seem to approve-which is why we haven’t posted for a few days. We’re tired.

March 16 Pictures

2006-03-19T08:03:00.000-05:00

We can't tell if the pictures from March 16 were actually posted, so we're posting them separately here. Not sure what order they'll be in, but we are posting the following: Orphanage Director and nannies waiting for us at the front gate; Welcoming at the orphanage; A picture of the new orphanage building; One of Norah's nannies talking to us with the assistance of our guide Glen; A nanny giving Lisa a diaper changing lesson (she rushed over when she saw Lisa was changing a diaper-she put the diaper on backwards....or we do every time)

March 16: Trip to Guiping Social Welfare Institute

2006-03-18T06:13:00.000-05:00

Today we took a long road trip to Norah’s orphanage. The landscape was gorgeous on the way there. Didn’t get many good pictures though because we were going pretty quickly on the bus. It was a crazy bus ride – 11 newly adopted babies and their families on a bus traveling in southern China with 1.5 lanes. The rule of the road was the biggest vehicle gets to go first-that was usually us. The driver honks and the other car gets out of the way, regardless of which direction it is going in.

It was a very emotional day for all of us. This is something that we will share with Norah when she is older. There is not much that I want to say that is appropriate for a blog. The orphanage is in a very poor region. We had to walk up the road to get to it. The good news is that our children were in a new building, which was clean and bright. We got to see where our babies had slept and played. We also met the nannies and the orphanage director. It is obvious from the behaviour of the nannies that the babies were well cared for. Our group put together money and bought the orphanage a water heater, which the director proudly showed us. We were also greeted with a bounty of fruits, tea, and cookies and the director organized a lunch with us and the nannies. We finished the day in Guiping City by going to the finding spot for each baby, where each family could spend a moment.

We spoke with a nanny who cared for Norah and found out that Norah had been fostered for about half the time before we received her. It turned out to be a twelve hour day which ended with a chorus of screaming babies on the way back to Nanning—Norah led the pack and on a few occasions had a solo.

March 15 Pictures

2006-03-18T06:03:00.000-05:00

These didn't post the first time. Pictures are of the following: Norah in her JLo outfit, one of her on the bus in her cute little hat, one of Doug and Norah at the top of the tower we climbed (it was very windy - isn't it sweet how she looks while Doug's protecting her!), and one of Doug H. and Joanne and Sara getting swarmed by a group of young girls asking questions and admiring Sara.

March 14 Pictures

2006-03-18T05:33:00.000-05:00

Oops - pictures didn't post the first time. Here's one of Norah happy not to be unencumbered by clothing, us after the ceremony where we received our official adoption registration card, Norah making funny lips (does this a lot), Doug, Norah and I posing for a picture with the birthday cake for the one year olds (practicing for the real thing in June).

March 15: Much Progress

2006-03-15T11:02:00.000-05:00

Today was a much better day than yesterday. We started with a bath and breakfast and then went to visit a park with a big tower with hundreds of steps that we all climbed. It was a great view. We also fed some fish (carp to be specific - I know this will be important to Rick), who went crazy fighting for the food. We then went to a famous Buddhist temple. In the afternoon, we walked with Doug, Joanne, and Sara to another park not far from our hotel. This place was gorgeous - it had a nice little lake, lots of flowers, and bridges. Norah slept through the whole thing. We also bought some squeaky shoes for her - these are worn by Chinese children - they squeak when the children walk, which they love. Good news for adults - you can remove the squeaker at any time and put it back in when you want.

Tomorrow promises to be perhaps the most significant so far. We will travel to Norah's orphanage in Guiping and visit there. We may get to meet the nanny(ies) who cared for her and we will also visit her finding spot and Guiping City. This is a 3-hour bus ride each way, so it will be a very long and emotional day for all the families.

Here's a list of what we've learned about Norah so far:
Things she hates: Having a bath, getting her diaper changed, laying on her back, laying on her stomach, getting dressed
Things she loves: The outside, other children, the water fountain in the hotel, her little piggy toy, her bottle, chicken (yes, you read that right) congee, cheerios, playing with spoons and chopsticks
Personality: People have commented that she is "shy" or "quiet". This is in contrast to many of the babies who smile a lot and squeal and like to be tickled and cajoled. We just think that she has discerning taste. She likes to take her time and size up a situation. She is very observant and is always watching others. Once she warms up though, she can be quite a little charmer. It's amazing how this matching process works, because I'm well aware that I've been described the same way (minus the charming part!). And certainly Doug is typically described as quiet. It's also neat that she loves people watching so much - very apropos for the daughter of two psychologists.
Progress Report: Norah smiled at us today - at us and not at someone else (unless there was someone behind us!); Norah sat by herself without crying - she played with us like this for a good half an hour; Norah ate mashed banana, peaches and chicken congee in addition to drinking her bottle; Norah made it for an entire day in the same outfit; we all ate outside the hotel together for the first time (Doug needed to take her for a few spins in the stroller, but we managed); Norah and I took a spin in the HipPanda (the carrier we bought for her - my back says thank you!); Norah let us put shoes on her (OK - she screamed the whole time, but once they were on, she seemed to enjoy them and played with her feet all day)

Just a few pictures - not sure of the order or if they are even posted - the Chinese is throwing me off tonight! One is of Norah in her JLo outfit, one of her on the bus, one of Doug and Norah at the top of the tower we climbed, and one of Doug H. and Joanne and Sara getting swarmed by a group of young girls asking questions and admiring Sara.

March 14, 2005: It's Official!

2006-03-15T10:49:00.000-05:00

We had a bit of a rough day today. After less than 24 hours with our babies, we had to go to the Notary Office to finalize the adoption. This involved waiting for quite awhile and then an interview with an official who asked us basic questions such as our level of education, salary, etc. We also had to promise such things as to never abuse or abandon Norah and care for her as our own. This went fine, except that Norah began to shriek right before it was our turn to go in. She needed a bottle and we didn't have time to mix her one before it was our turn. I think the poor official felt badly for us. I could barely hear her questions over Norah's screaming. Regardless, she let us keep her anyway! We then went back to the same hotel where we received the babies. Another official made us make similar promises as the first. This was done as a group ceremony though. Then, the director from each orphanage (there are 2 different ones in our group) came up and gave each family a gift from the orphanage (as though Norah wasn't enough!). We were all quite thrilled and surprised to receive a set of pictures - some of Norah during her time in the orphanage and some of the city where she's from. I've never heard of this happening before so it was very unexpected. Needless to say there wasn't a dry eye in the place. It was an amazing gift.

We went to a department store in the afternoon. I bought a couple of new outfits for Norah, as she has been quite "productive" since she's been with us and we've had to make many clothes changes. Many of the babies are having problems in this regard, so we're quite lucky. She's also a great eater, although she mostly sticks to her formula. The evening was rough. I was only working on a half-hour of sleep from the night before and Doug was quite sleep deprived as well. We also have found it surprisingly difficult to find vegetarian options in China and the lack of food was taking its toll (Thank God for the 34 protein bars that we packed - I'll be very surprised if there will be any left by the end of the trip). It was an emotional day and Norah is quite "pettish" as her description suggested. I can't even imagine how her little mind is processing any of this. We capped off the day with a 1st birthday party for all the babies who had already turned one before being adopted. Apparently many schools get children to bring in a picture from their first birthday, so one of the parents ordered a cake and a picture was taken of each family with the cake. Norah fell asleep at the party, and she won't have her 1st birthday until June, but we got a picture taken anway. We all went to bed early. Norah woke up a number of times, but we all managed to get some much-needed sleep. I should also mention that Norah was fine with Doug holding her today, so my arms got some rest and Doug's lower back got a workout. Norah will not allow us to put her down, which is fine by us, but tiring. We haven't weighed her yet, but she is much chunkier than we were expecting - this is a good thing though.

Not too many pictures from today - forgot to download most of them and I'm too tired to do it now!

March 13: The Big Day!

2006-03-13T11:52:00.000-05:00

Today was Gotcha Day - the day all our families received their babies. It's just after midnight in Nanning. Doug and Norah are both asleep. I'm pretty tired but wanted to post a few pictures. The day went quite well considering how stressful it was for the babies. They were bussed from the orphanage, which is about 3-4 hours from here. We all waited in a conference room in a hotel and the babies were brought in by their nannies. The families' names were called and we were given our babies one at a time. Norah was very quiet for a few minutes and we thought we had a "deer caught in the headlights" kind of baby. Then she started screaming and we realized we had a really angry baby. She refused to let Doug hold her and barely tolerated me. I can tell you that she is quite strong and arches her back well! We've learned quickly that she lets you know when she wants something. She cried herself to sleep and we all went for a 15-minute bus ride back to our hotel. Unfortunately, we had to have our official family picture taken (for her paperwork) and they had to wake her up for this. She was not pleased. We took her to our room and she sucked back a bottle petty quickly. Many other babies refused to eat, so we were lucky - and she didn't mind the bottles we brought. We took her out into the hallway and discovered that she's very sociable. She loves other children. The Rodmans have their son Ian with them (4 years old, I think). She loves him. She gets excited when she sees him and claps and coos. She also likes to pull other babies' hair (that's a form of sociability, isn't it?) and isn't happy when we make her stop. She ate some cheerios and then we took her for a walk in her stroller in the hallway. She fell asleep in it and slept through us getting dinner. She then woke up long enough for us to take her out of the stroller and put her on the bed. Doug was so empathic that he slept with her. She woke up about 3.5 hours later, screamed bloody murder for a bottle and drank it and a bit of another one. Then she fell asleep again (oh, and need I mention that Doug did too?). So, all in all, not bad.

So far she wants to be held all the time (except for her little stroller jaunt) and will only let me hold her. I think she prefers me because I'm female, however, when she looks at my face and sees that I'm not someone she's used to, she cries. Doug fed her her second bottle tonight, so we'll work on the holding tomorrow. My arms are already killing me - I knew I should have worked on the upper body strength before getting here! Tomorrow we process the actual adoption paperwork. Right now we're in what they call the "harmonious period" where we have her, but she is not legally ours yet. Tomorrow we make it official.

Here' a couple of pictures - one of our group in out hotel before leaving to get the babies, the other of Doug and I receiving Norah.

P.S. I hope this posts OK - the computer and Internet is in Chinese and I'm just guessing at things based on their placement and colour!

P.P.S. We can't see the blog from here or read comments, so if you want to communicate with us, please email. You can press the link on the blog that says email and the message will come to my account.

Gotcha Day Pictures

2006-03-13T11:15:00.000-05:00

Pictures are: Norah being sociable in the hallway, Norah when we first received her, Doug and Norah - 1st sleep of the night, Norah in the stroller, Norah with her stuffed piggy (which she loves to suck on)

Saturday, March 11: Summer Palace in the Winter

2006-03-11T12:01:00.000-05:00

Today we toured the Summer Palace with a number of people from our group. The Summer Palace is actually a huge estate with many buildings and its own man-made lake. It started out as the Garden of Clear Ripples during 1115-1234 and had extensive construction during 1644-1911. In 1888, after it was bombed, Empress Dowager Cixi rebuilt it (and made it even bigger) and renamed it the Summer Place. It was a favourite spot for Cixi who indirectly ruled China for about 50 years. I say indirectly because she ruled through her son, her nephew and the last Chinese Emperor. They were all very young when they came to the thrown (the latter 2 she chose for this reason) and she told them what to do. In particular, she liked to spend the country’s money on rebuilding and maintaining the Summer Palace where she lived in the summer (guess that might have been obvious by the name!) rather than putting money into making the country a better place for its people. As you can imagine, she is not very popular in China, even today. While we were touring the grounds, the weather went from nice and sunny to cloudy and cold and then it started to snow. We felt that it was simply China welcoming a bunch of Canadians by trying to make us feel at home.

After a group lunch we kind of faded and spent the afternoon napping and packing to go to Nanning tomorrow. The limit for in-China flights is 20 kg per person, so we had to choose what to take and what to store at the hotel for when we return. We then went to a local restaurant, which turned out to be the biggest adventure of the day. It’s one of those “you had to be there” kind of stories. No one spoke English and we couldn’t tell what anything was on the menu. Luckily one of the couples we were with spoke Cantonese, but this still posed a challenge when trying to communicate with someone in Mandarin. It ended up being a pretty good meal. The prices here are the opposite to what they would be at home. If you eat at a local restaurant it is very cheap. Our meal tonight consisted of tea, beer, soup, rice, and at least nine different dishes of food. It cost $215 Yuan, which is about $31 CAD. This was divided among 8 of us! In contrast, another couple and their two children had burgers and Cokes in the hotel and it cost them $400 Yuan, or $57 CAD.

After dinner Doug, Doug, Joanne, and I went to the bar at the top of the hotel to celebrate our last night in Beijing without children. When we return next week we will no longer have the same freedom. We were the only ones in the bar and were entertained by a four-piece band who played a variety of tunes, such as Country Roads, Unchained Melody, I Just Called to Say I Love You, Moon River, Beautiful Tonight, and a few Chinese songs. Very surreal – it kind of felt like a scene from Lost in Translation.

Tomorrow we are off to visit a silk factory in the morning on the way to the airport. We then fly to Nanning, which about 2.5 hours south of here. We receive our babies at 3:30 the next day (Monday). I’m not sure what the Internet situation will be there, so this may be the last post until we get back to Beijing. Even if there is Internet access, I’m also not sure what we have in store for us from little Jin Xia Hua, soon to become Norah. Our guide, Mary, is teaching us a few phrases in Mandarin that we can say to our babies to comfort them. Today we learned how to say, “I love you” and “good baby.” It’s both such a happy and sad occasion that we are going to change these little girls’ lives forever.

Pictures of the Summer Palace

2006-03-11T11:51:00.000-05:00

The pictures of the man with the broom are of him practicing his calligraphy with water. This is much less expensive than using paint.

There’s also a picture of Mary, our guide, explaining the history of the Summer Place to us while we were on the bus.

The Dougs, Joanne, and Lisa at the Hotel Bar

2006-03-11T11:27:00.000-05:00

Friday, March 10: Lisa's Initiation and Doug's (almost) Speedo

2006-03-10T10:39:00.000-05:00

Just call me Goldilocks. At home I often complain that our mattress is too soft. Never again. The mattresses are so hard here that I woke up each time I tried to move last night – my hips feel bruised. I finally used the extra pillows we had as an extra layer and slept on top of those – so then my mattress was “just right.” Doug’s going to recap our day:

Our first full day in Beijing or as I likes to call it, Lisa’s initiation—into proper public restroom use and etiquette (see picture posted for an example of a stall). We set out on a couple of excursions. We began the day at the Temple of Heaven, which is the place where the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties would worship heaven and pray for bumper crops. The highlight, which is clearly evident from Lisa’s face in the posted picture, was the Animal Killing Pavilion.

We followed up our visit to the Temple of Heaven with a trip to the Pearl Market. It didn’t take long to figure out that the price of goods was negotiable - the less you wanted something, the better the price. Saying no automatically meant that the price was cut in half, continued resistance led the vendor to exclaim that they would give you “friend’s price, special for you.” We became suspicious of the legitimacy of the friend’s price claim after hearing it repeated to all other shoppers…either the vendors have many friends or they use the term pretty freely. There were lots of great bargains being offered up, including a super looking Speedo for me – I still don’t know how I found the willpower to resist it. Our final stop on our whirlwind day was at the Beijing Chaoyang Theater Acrobatics World. The trip in the cab ride there was as exciting as the show – it was like a game of chicken the whole way there. The show was great. We have a few pictures below, but they don’t really do it justice.
We returned to the hotel tired and hungry, so we set off to the same restaurant as last night. Lisa’s fluency in Mandarin proved advantageous for a second night as we feasted on “spicy deep fried tofu” again. Tomorrow we are off to the Summer Palace….hopefully we pick up a few more terms before dinner tomorrow night, but it doesn’t look too promising. We also start LWWN – last weekend without Norah.

Not your typical vegetarian hangout

2006-03-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

A sight you won't find in a tour book...

2006-03-10T10:17:00.000-05:00

This is the first public toilet I saw, so I had to take a picture of it. It was on the grounds of the Temple of Heaven. Deciding it was not to my liking, I decided to wait for something better, while Joanne was not so picky. Later, she was a little jealous when I found one stall that was more typical of what we would see at home. She was vindicated, however, when my "initiation" into the real Chinese public toilet system came later at the acrobatics show. Let's just say that I've seen things no one should ever have to see! Turns out the toilet in the Temple of Heaven is quite pristine.

Acrobats

2006-03-10T10:12:00.000-05:00

Thursday, March 9: We've arrived!

2006-03-09T09:29:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are on the other side of the world and nothing has changed – Doug’s sound asleep and I’m wide awake at the computer! This, of course, is despite the fact that he slept on both flights and I did not. We flew to Beijing through Vancouver. Considering how long we were on a plane, it wasn’t so bad. We traveled with Joanne and Doug, who are from Kitchener and also in our group. We met them last summer and have gotten together with them a number of times since then. They are wonderful people and we feel so fortunate that they live so close by. Their daughter, Sara, is in the same orphanage as Norah. It’s strange to think that they already know one another, but we have yet to meet them.

We haven’t seen too much yet. We arrived in time to check in and get some dinner. Although my noble intentions to learn Mandarin never did inspire much action, I did manage to master the phrase for “spicy deep fried tofu” (vegetable proved impossible for me to pronounce). We went to a local restaurant for dinner and the waitress spoke very limited English. I’m proud to say that I tried out my one phrase and it worked! We dined on some delicious tofu and veggies and the food was so cheap we ended up giving the waitress a huge tip, to which she responded, “See you tomorrow night.” We then went to a local supermarket and bought some beer, Pringles, and water (in order of importance, according to Doug).

It’s still hard to believe we’re actually here. So far, it just feels like a regular vacation. We don’t think it will really sink in until Norah is placed in our arms. Well, I’m off to try and sleep. Tomorrow we go to an acrobatics show and maybe take in a little shopping

First leg of journey to Beijing

2006-03-09T09:25:00.000-05:00

Second leg of journey

2006-03-09T09:23:00.000-05:00

View from bus in Beijing

2006-03-09T09:17:00.000-05:00

She'll Be Sleeping in Style

2006-02-22T22:44:00.000-05:00

The plan was that Doug would put the crib together this coming weekend with the help of our friend Rick. However, Mojo couldn't wait that long, so Doug decided to help him and they managed to finish the whole thing! Here's Doug and Mojo working hard.

Mojo and Doug Proud of Their Work

2006-02-22T22:42:00.000-05:00

The Finished Product

2006-02-22T22:40:00.000-05:00

Our Itinerary

2006-02-15T22:07:00.000-05:00

Here is our official itinerary for our trip. I'm tired just reading it! Remember, Beijing is 12 hours ahead of Ontario. So, when we meet Norah, it will be March 13 in China, but still March 12 in Ontario.

March 8: Leave for Beijing on AC029.
March 9: Arrive in Beijing.
Mar 12: Leave Beijing to to go to Nanning.
Mar 13: The Day we Meet Norah! Called Gotcha Day in adoption lingo. Go to the Civil Affairs office to meet the baby and sign the adoption agreement. In the afternoon do adoption registration and apply for Norah's passport.
Mar 14: Go for notarization process.
Mar 15: Visit GuiPing SWI where Norah has been living.
Mar 16: Visit Qing Xiu Shan Park.
Mar 17: Pick up passport. Then back to Beijing.
Mar 18: Medical for baby.
Mar 19: Visit Tian An Men square and the Forbidden City.
Mar 20: Go to the Canadian Embassy for visa appointment.
Mar 21: Sightsee the Great Wall.
Mar 22: Hutong tour. Beijing Duck Dinner in the evening. Needless to say, Doug and I are not so excited by the menu!
Mar 23: Pick up visa.
Mar 24: Leave to come home - AC032 - arrive in Toronto at 1:55 PM.

Hotel information:
1. ChangAn Days Inn, Beijing. Tel: 010-67731234 Fax: 010-67733456
2. Mingyuan Xindu Hotel, Nanning. Tel: 0771-2118988 Fax: 0771-2830811

And the name is..................................(e-drum roll)

2006-01-18T21:53:00.000-05:00

Norah Xia Hua Keeping Brown

We know, it's a lot for a little baby! This was the shortest we could get it though. Anyone who's looked on sites for baby names knows that you find many descriptions of the meaning of names. Here's the one we liked:

Gender: Female
Ethnic Origin: Latin (or Celtic or Hebrew)
Meaning: Honour/Light
Numerology (not really sure what this has to do with the name, but it's interesting):
Expression Number 11: People with this name tend to be idealistic, highly imaginative, intuitive, and spiritual. They seek after spiritual truth and often find it. They tend to be visionary and may inspire others. If they fail to develop their potential, they may become dreamers, or misuse power.

So, to interpret her name fully: Honour Summer Flower Keeping Brown. And, of course, she will develop her potential, so no worries about her trying to take over the world with an evil plot!

More Info on our little "Summer Flower"

2006-01-13T13:07:00.000-05:00

We received the official documentation on Jin Xia Hua today. It contains results of medical tests and some information on her name, personality, living habits, etc.

Her surname, Jin, is used in memory of Jintian Town, the site of the uprising of the Taiping Rebellion. All children in the Guiping Social Welfare Institute (SWI) have this common surname. Xia means she was born in the summer and Hua means flower. The document says that "the name Xia Hua conveys our sincere wishes that she would be as fragrant and beautiful as a summer flower." Pretty poetic.

We were able to solve one mystery regarding the matching process. Xia Hua is described as tending to act "pettishly" (definition of pettish = easily irritated or annoyed). Hmm....I wonder who that sounds like? Let's just say that the belief that the baby is matched according to the father has been confirmed for us! One definition of pettish I found online used the sentence, "an ill-natured disagreeable old man." Can't wait to see how that description might apply to a baby. I think we'll stick with the summer flower description - oh and she's also supposed to be optimistic - that sounds nice. She apparently also loves outdoor activities - I guess she'll enjoy running outside with us then...although, the outdoor experience in Southern China might be slightly different than that here in Canada!

Referral Day has finally arrived!

2006-01-06T14:20:00.000-05:00

Here is our baby, Jin Xia Hua! She was born on June 18, 2005. We're not sure how old she was when the pictures were taken. She is currently living in Guiping Social Welfare Institute in Guangxi Province. This province is in southern China and borders Vietnam. There is a link on the right side of the page that provides some information about Guangxi.

Some facts we were given about Xia Hua are that she is active, a deep sleeper (here's hoping that stays true!), can hold her head up when on her tummy, can tear paper, locates sounds, laughs, and can distinguish acquaintances from strangers. On November 2, she was 25 inches long and weighed about 13.5 pounds.

We still have to determine what we will name her. We will keep Xia Hua (Jin is like a last name; often the babies from the same orphanage share this name), but her first name and last name are still to be decided. We did notice that the pictures were labeled Brown. Perhaps our agency is trying to give us a hint on the last name...

Doug losing it while waiting for our referral

2006-01-03T11:52:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of Doug after the long wait has finally gotten to him!

Events leading to The Big Event

2006-01-03T11:42:00.000-05:00

February, 2004: Attended an information session by Children's Bridge and decided to go with this agency and to adopt from China.
May 14, 2004: Went to Las Vegas with six of our friends and got married (a requirement for adoption from China). After 11 years together, we thought we'd risk it and take the plunge!
June, 2004: Began our homestudy.
January, 2005: Our homestudy was sent to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and we waited for approval.
March, 2005: Our homestudy was approved by the Ministry on March 4. Our complete dossier was sent to China on March 23 and we became part of Children's Bridge Group 229.
April 15, 2005: Our file was officially logged in at the China Center for Adoption Affairs.