trying to catch up but some litte tykes have other plans for me

okay so Jeff did a very nice job of filling everyone in on last night's adventure. i just wanted to add that yesterday, our last day at sandy beach, we decided to take the kids to breakfast before a jaunt to the beach. We got a ton of fruit (they're fav foods) and we each started to feed the kids. but David quickly said no. he wanted to feed himself. Emma watched and next thing we know, she's doing her best to stick this giant spoon in her mouth. i helped her a bit by scooping the food onto her spoon, but she managed to feed herself with no problem. the other sibs that were adopted came up to our kids during breakfast, but David and Emma wanted nothing to do with them. When Westerners approach the kids they look mildly uncomfortable but don't stress too much. However when Vietnamese people come over to them -- especially if they speak Vietnamese to the kids, they tend to look down at their feet. they do not like this one bit. and as many of you know, the Vietnamese are extremely friendly people and they like to come up and stroke the children and coo at them. but not for our wee ones. we're actually really happy about this. it shows that with a small bit of time they are transitioning to us and only want us for their comfort and needs. Emma pie will happily go to either Jeff or me, but generally chooses me first. just the same with David. he used to be daddy's boy and mama back off. but with a few attempts at feeding him, then working our way up to me being able to carry him, we've struck an accord. if pop's is not around, I'm pretty okay.

okay grumpasaurus's rex just woke from their nap. we're learning their needs and wants, or i should say they're doing an excellent job of training us.

so back to yesterday. from breakfast we took them to the beach. they enjoyed the sand okay (the part cooled under the umbrella) and had a regular laugh riot playing peekaboo behind our chairs. we took them to the water. As we've learned is typical of them, Emma tends to be the fearless one. she, with some hesitation, went into the water with me. David would not budge from the sand. We've found that what usually happens is that Emma will try something first (the potty for instance) and if David watches her, he'll generally join in. but the waves, as minuscule as they are, were not working for our boy.

we took them up to the pool and that was a lot of fun for them. Emma was sitting in the edge and went to step in more but instead went head first into the water. i quickly grabbed her and did the Yeah that Was fun! routine. she looked at me, then at David, and next we knew it was the game for the next 15 minutes. That's another thing about Emma she's resilient. her meltdowns now are pretty mild. i can get her to walk and sit on her own, far easier then David. they are just at diff stages, regardless of who is older. Their next game was run around the edge of the pool (the small one) and make mommy and daddy sick with nausea from circling around them. i could tell the lifegaurd would have preferred nice quiet sedate kids but they were too busy running us ragged. when the other kids came to the pool, again they wanted nothing to do with their recent bunkmates. nothing to do with anyone accept us. (and you just know how much we ate that up!)

bath time at the ranch is a TON OF FUN. these kids love the water and won't come out even though they're all pruney. David discovered this fun game of using my shaving creme cap to fill a little plastic boat. then he takes the boat and pours the water over his head. he puts the cap under his chin to catch the water.. and the game goes on and on. these kids are so close that even though it was a big enough tub they squeeze into this tiny spot together. so every time they wanted to fill their cups with water they had to push their arms and legs out of the way to get to the water. try and separate them, and meltdowns for all. Jeff had the good idea to let the water drain out and then take them out when it was All Gone!

as Jeff mentioned, once they woke up from their nap they saw that we were packing. we were worried they'd get all freaked out but they quickly ran and got their shoes -- something they always do... they want to make sure we know they're going with US. then David started filling his backpack with his toys. they are so darling. no cries or fits just helping mom and dad out. the airport was miserably hot and confusing with us all standing around not knowing what to do. our facilitator is not terribly effective at letting us know what the game plan is so all the dads had to jump in and take over. two went off in search of our luggage, another stood by Ninh at the counter trying to find out what was needed, his second in command would get the notes and run around and collect passports or count heads or whatever was required. honestly if it wasn't for our travel mates we'd probably still be standing there. we've come to really rely on each other with promises of if we hear anything we'll be sure to pass the word.

Jeff already filled you in on Siren Boy's first plane experience. Poor Jeff you could tell how exhausted he was. David would simply not let him put him down, he couldn't even sit for a minute.

well gotta go wee ones got up from their nap, then we gave them their snack and went to the pool. now it's bath time and then din din. our busy lives

posted by Dad

thought I'd fill you in on the flight from Danang to Hanoi or as I like to think of it " Ho Chi Minh's revenge". Started out well enough we packed most of our stuff while the kids were asleep but we got them up and after the sleepy grumpys wore off they saw what we were doing and decide to help. they took their little backpacks and started loading the toys in them. As we completed each suitcase we would weigh them with this little scale. I put it down and then next thing I knew David had picked it up and was weighing his backpack too. and smiling like crazy. Got them down and checked out waited a bit for the bus , a nice big A/C bus. Got on and to my surprise David just sat right down on the seat next to me and was fine. I thought , hey this will be a breeze. Silly Daddy! When we got to the airport it was chaos. 7 families all those kids and luggage plus David got scared and would not allow me to put him down. Hot crowded miserable.  about 1/2 hour standing around there until we finally got on the plane. At least there was a/c on the plane. the plane was 3 seats aisle and 3 seats so we could not all sit next to each other. Rita got the seat across the aisle oh and by the way Emma was an angel this whole time. anyway got in our seats and David seemed to perk up and be looking around standing on the seat. After a bit I realized that was going to be the problem. You see we had a difference of opinion, I wanted him to sit down and fasten his seat belt ( per FAA regulations). He however did not feel thus regulations should apply to him. After a brief discussion of the various safety and legal implications involved our negotiation had reached an impasse. After waiting as long as I could I forced him down into the seat and strapped him in. Men have been strapped into the electric chair with less screaming. He has a very interesting scream, a very rhythmic wah wah. Luckily I was surrounded by mostly adoptive families so I looked around, smiled and said "kinda reminds me of Paris" you know those wah wah police sirens. Once the plane started to move the rest of the flight was uneventful other than a successful trip to the bathroom, for him not me. Emma was so cute sitting next to me on the flight just smiling and playing my little angel. David fell asleep toward the end of the flight so when we got off I was carrying him. then to hot sweaty baggage claim to get our 2 tons of luggage, no porter at this airport for the bourgeois capitalists. Rita had to take both kids while I struggled with a luggage cart with a bad wheel, thankfully one of our travel mates helped with the other cart. Got the luggage to a cab obtained by coordinator. Put Rita and kids in the car by this time David was up and OK. As I went to get in cab D & E were sitting on the seat next to each other and Rita picked E up to move her I did the same with D and pow total meltdown. This time to my amazement the answer was Mama's lap. Instant gratification. E fell asleep on my lap and D in hers so we had it made. only one stop to drop off another family and we are golden. Got to the first hotel dropped them off , I tell the driver the name of the hotel and blank stare....He had no idea. Had to find someone at hotel one to tell the stupid cab driver chosen by the coordinator where the hotel was. As it turns out only a few blocks away. Made it the hotel upstairs and into bed........END OF POST

we're in Ha Noi

hey everyone i have 5 minutes.  we're in Ha Noi at the Somerset.

Jeff left this morning to get the kids passport -- or maybe just apply for them.  things are VERY CONFUSING on this end.  thank god for all the families that have been there to step up and figure things out for us.

kids have to do everything at the same time, including pee!  no poop from Emma yet. has been 48 hours since she did that at the orphanage..  she eats a lot!!!  David hardly at all.  a little and he's done.

David has been calling me Me Me (mother) all morning.  Emma got sad at first (reminding her of her nanny no doubt) but now she seems to be okay.  gotta run who knows what our monkeys are up to in less then 5 minutes

The G&R -- the kids are ours

When we got to the center (without someone having a "roadside" incident -- thank you very much!!!)  we saw Kieu right away.  she was dressed in her "fancy" blue dress that makes her look like a Spanish princess.  Chieu was in the sleeping room.  when we walked in, he instantly stood up and went right into Jeff's arms!  ahhhh.  it was great for about 10 minutes.  then every single child came running in and they were jumping and yelling and pulling and it was chaos.  Chieu just freaked and started screaming.  Jeff really wanted to sit alone with him to calm him down but the other kids would run over and touch and push and annoy Chieu in a way to make him scream more.  then the nannies tried to "fix" the situation by scolding him.  finally (thank god!) a stern nanny came in and shooed all the kids away.  well away being 5 feet further out.  then Jeff was able to sit next to Chieu and soon enough he had him calm.  we laugh at the fact that our kids decided (very politely we might add) to have their individual meltdowns separately.  so while one was hysterically screaming the other would calmly sit and play.  the nannies kept giving the kids more and more treats and fruit, which did have the calming affect of distracting them.

the other two families, The NY Family and Amber and Jim, were in their own rooms meeting their precious ones.  when we finally got our two to relax a bit we got them dressed.  the 12mos dress i brought for Kieu was snug around her belly -- this girl has skinny arms and legs and a big belly!  Chieu on the other hand, had his size 2T pants down by his knees most of the time.  he's a true Ashton Male, no butt and no hips, but in his case skinny minnie arms, legs and no belly.  the kid is thin as a rail but completely healthy looking.  well we got the kids dressed and Chieu was loving his new shoes -- ones coincidentally matching Ba's.   the orphanage director came in and she wanted photos of her, us and the kids.  and we got to take some too, the first time as a family together (okay so this was before the G&R but let's not split hairs!)

The facilitator kept making us leave the kids to come to a ceremonial type room for the handing of the gifts.  well we'd done that already on Sat, and what's more we want to be with our kids!  so Jeff just kept walking out to see if Chieu and Kieu were okay.  see he's a fabulous dad, he put his children before any forced protocol.  I stayed behind and gave the director a photo album from another PAP family.    (i took this time to ask about getting our photo album back, but i was told she wanted to keep it to show the birth family if they ever came looking for pictures.  not sure how true this was, but heck if that's even remotely possible we'd love for them to see their children's new family)  as we've been "warned" before the orphanage director is a bit of a... hmmm..... let's say politician and liked holding court.  the vice director on the other hand i loved so much!  but we sat in this miserably hot room and endured as much as we could.  The NY family gave the kids these clapper toys which really was ... not the best choice.  of course the kids loved it, don't get me wrong.  but in those echoing rooms it was deafening.  finally the male guard or caretaker, not sure, rounded up all the kids and took the toys away.  that was a huge relief.  we led our two wee ones into the playroom where they sat on this low swing.  within seconds our little goofball Kieu was doing somersaults.  she had this lolly pop in her mouth and I'm smiling at her and saying you're getting away with this now, but you will never do somersaults with a lolly in your mouth again!  but she was cracking up and Chieu was cracking up too.  I just want to say real quick i had every intention of taking picture of all the kids there.  we were told we'd have an hour at the center, but that never turned out to be the case.. at least not an hour alone to do what we pleased

it was incredibly, horribly, miserably hot.  i had brought two towels and Jeff and i were just mopping up the pools of sweat.  we'd look enviously at the other families, the ones with kids NOT having meltdowns.  they were so cool and comfortable looking. i was a soaking wet rat with my hair plastered to my scalp, no make up and desperately in need of a cold cool shower. ahhh, sometimes things don't work your way do they?   from here we drove to the province court building.  i don't know what it's called but it was an official building.  it was cooler here and that was a momentary relief.  momentary because Kieu had decided to take her turn at meltdown mountain.  just before we left the center their nanny -- this one being one they were obviously attached to and she was very obviously attached to them, took Kieu from me and was giving her hugs and kisses.  then i had to take Kieu and put her in a hot stuffy van and drive 15 minutes or so to the place.  man this girl can holler.  she screamed the whole entire time.  now Jeff and i really wanted to sit down and just comfort our kids and love them.  but Ninh kept insisting that some woman there take Kieu and leave the room.  i was really upset about this, but i bit my tongue.  this was the official signing of the G&R documents so i just did what i had to do.  once again, Jeff would sit down long enough to sign what he had to, but then he was right there beside his little boy Chieu.  Chieu loves his daddy.

 the moment we were done signing the documents i walked out in the hall.  there was the nanny holding Kieu.  I walked right up to her and the nanny shrugged her shoulders thinking Kieu would not go to me.  But i was not to be swayed.  i put my arms right out and kieu came right to me!  nanny was a bit surprised, but i didn't care.  we went inside and the ceremony continued.  the part where they have you stand up and shake each officials hand, and then ceremoniously hand you your child -- well that had me bawling!  as everyone tells you it was fairly short and not before long we were headed out.  Jeff, me and our two newly adopted chickapees!  the drive back had Emma fussy but Chieu was glued to Jeff, and as long as Jeff was holding him, he was all grins.  Jeff thinks it's hysterically funny that Kieu decided to throw up all over my new white dress at almost the exact mile marker where i had previously made my donation.  but the rocking sensation of the van had her asleep soon after.  once we got to the hotel we put her to sleep and Chieu decided to explore the toys i had laid out.  he instantly realized that the suitcase was filled with more goodies and suddenly he had everything out.  Huge Grins from him.  we had shown him his backpack and Power Ranger toys back at the orphanage.  he found the rest and was busy stockpiling his riches.

I had to finally wake Kieu from her nap and with a little fuss and a little whine she was up and for the next 3 hours they were laughing and playing and dancing and singing to each other.  they would always play right next to us.  and constantly look up to assure themselves we were staring at them 24/7.  Jeff got great footage of them, and as soon as we learn how to cut these long segments down, we'll try to upload them.  while the kids were playing Kieu got accidentally hit on the lip.  she started crying which turned to wailing.  i took her in to go potty and then Chieu out of no where starts screaming hysterically.  they were feeding off each other's misery, Jeff took Chieu and i took Kieu and we went off in separate directions.  she'd calm down a bit and look around, but then start crying again.  i could hear -- across this huge property, Chieu screaming too.  when we thought we had them settled down, we both went back to our room, but it instantly started up again.  so Jeff had this great idea to take them to the beach.  ohhh that man, he's so smart!  as soon as we walked down there and sat down, they were quiet as a lamb.  both nestled in the arms of their favorite parent.  we managed to have dinner there, which we're happy to report they have good appetites, but Kieu is a big eater and Chieu will eat just enough to be full then it's play time for him.  we met up with some other folks from our group and the kids did fine.  running and playing together.  Jeff took the kids down to the sand and boy what a fun new experience that was.  they figured out how to climb up the wide concrete "rail" of the steps (about 4 steps big) and leap off into daddy's arms.  i tried this once with Kieu but Me does not do this right and she had no problem saying Khomg to me (no).  so daddy had to race to keep up with them as one would climb up and leap as the other would climb up behind.  they pretty much barely avoided kicking each other in the head, but they did not care one bit.  Chieu and Jeff had their first battle of wills when Chieu decided to climb the jagged rock wall.  Jeff said Khomg so Chieu would keep one foot on the wall, not climb it, just keep his foot on it.  we decided it was time to head back to the room which resulted in a major meltdown from Chieu.  but Jeff just sat down with him, and waited it out.  it took about five minutes but Chieu eventually realized dad was not playing this game.  so when he settled down, Jeff said, You Ready?  and took his tiny hand and we all walked back to the room.

okay Jeff is packing up since we leave here tonight and fly to Ha Noi.  so I'll just quickly add bath time was a huge riot!  they love love love playing in the bath.  sleep was an issue at first, eventfully i got Chieu to fall asleep -- both laying next to each other on the one twin bed.  he had two night terrors but we consoled him gently and he put himself back to sleep.  okay gotta run!  will try to post tomorrow... we have no idea btw what is happening,  our facilitator has been awol and we all "think" we're supposed to leave here at 5pm.

oh happy day

hey everyone.  quick note.  we had the G&R yesterday.. so the KID'S ARE OURS!!!!!  yeah.  so much to write about.  a few MAJOR meltdowns, and some sweet loving cuddles between David and Jeff.  the kids are still asleep (so much for them waking up at 5am!)  so we're going to wake them up in a bit and take them to breakfast. when they go for their nap I'll try blogging the day's events. 

love to all

Rita and Jeff proud PARENTS to David and Emma

Leaving for the G&R in 30 min, butterflys aplenty

finally news on our G&R

okay it's super late for us...  but we JUST found out we are meeting tomorrow morning at 7:30am... to go get our kids!!!!!!!!!!!!  we've all been on pins and needles, with no one in our group (that's seven families) having any idea what was going on.  so i finally called Ninh and he calmly says oh yeah be down stairs at 7:30 and can you tell all the families.  imagine if none of us had called him.

but we had a great dinner tonight.  we met all the other families in our group and a surprise guest... someone from our old agency.  they were here at the same time so we had dinner with them too.  they are also having their G&R tomorrow so it will be an amazing day for all.

okay gotta go to bed in hopes of getting a few tiny minutes of sleep.  tomorrow night David and Emma will be ours... they will be ours forever.