Home sweet home

Hi there!

We are home! It was an easy ride home from Hannoi, Emily loves to sleep on planes - Yay! We broke up the trip with an overnight in Hong Kong so that helped as well. Since she loves to see people and look around a plane is the perfect place for her! She's very generous with the smiles!

At the aiport this morning we had a wonderful welcoming party! Thanks so much everyone for coming out - you were all a sight for sore eyes! Throughout our entire journey to Emily we have always been so lucky to have the support and love of our family and friends. We can't wait for you all to meet our sweet little girl.

At home there were more surprises and Emily's room had more decorations, our bathroom reno had been completed and my house had been cleaned!!! (much needed!) Thanks so much to Mum, Mike and Sandra, Haifa, and Don. You are all "good deed doers" and we can't thank you enough for everything you did!

I will continue to put up some more pictures and details from the trip - should be easier now that we're home??? Then again the puppies come home tomorrow to meet their "little sister"...

Jet lag is setting in - and who know how much she'll sleep tonight...

love to all,

ruthie

Officially a Canadian!!!

Hello!

Today's big news is that Emily is officially a Canadian! Yay! We went to the embassy this morning to pick up her temporary Canadian Passport. We are done with the paperwork and can enjoy a few more days of tootling about before we head home. We want to see a few more sights around town and just take in the exciting atmosphere as everyone prepares for Tet. As we may have mentioned before it's like rolling your birthday, Christmas and New Year's together, the city is buzzing with people and the mood is great!

It's late so I put in a few snaps of the past few days, we've had some nice meals out with the other couples, some sightseeing, (notice the pagoda of coke cans ... this especially excited the grocer boy!). Emily is getting used to cabs and the honking horns (which never stop - won't miss that).

She's been a great little baby, luckily she's cute cuz yesterday she threw up her entire bottle twice on Mum! I just hope she doesn't pull that stunt on the plane ride home... it's not pretty. As a result we've managed to keep the laundry service fully employed. I had forgotten that feeling of shock that hits when you realize you've just been completely covered in ... formula!

Hope everyone is well, thanks always for the comments, we have fun reading those! Can't wait to be back home and sharing Emily with everyone!

Love Ruth

Our First Quiet Family Weekend.

This was our first weekend as family and we spent it very quietly in our hotel room. We enjoyed getting to know our daughter more and more. She is a doll, her eyes just make you melt and when she follows it with a smile you just keep falling in love with her. She loves her stuffed chocolate lab names kikichops, just a little teaser before she meets the real ones. When Emily is hungry, she gives out this little chirp that sounds like a bird. Ruth just loves the sound. I love to look after my girls, from making formula for Emily, to making Ruth a cup of tea. Just the way I like it. Ruth this afternoon discovered that Emily is getting her first tooth. I even felt it, wow another first of many more to follow. We met the other couples on Saturday night along with our Sunrise Adoption Coordinater for dinner at the Green Tangerine, a quaint little French Restaurant in the Old Quarter. Of course its exactually what Emily likes as she can charm the room with those beautiful eyes and that cute smile that follows. Its so neat that people we meet are so interested in our story and so happy that Emily will have a nice home and parents that love her. Over here in Vietnam, it feels like the people worship their children and you can feel it in the way speak about them and also by the way they treat Emily. When we go downstairs for breakfast the first thing Michael, the customer service manager does is takes Emily so we can have breakfast. His wife Honhg who also works in the restauarant loves to hold Emily and shows her off to the other hotel patrons. What a way to spend our first weekend as a family!

Cheers!

Darcy

Seeing the Sites.

We had a wonderful time checking out the sites of Hanoi with Emily. The streets were busy as the New Year TET starts in a week. The stores are filled with flowers and lanturns for their celebration. As we walked the streets all we could think about is the day we return with Emily as an older child, so we can explore her home country together. Ruth had fun riding in the bicyle carage and all I could here is that scream ,that we all know and love every once in a while. We are so happy to share this with Emily and with all of you!

See you soon!

Darcy

Out and about in Hanoi

Hi everyone!

We had a busy day today! We had to go to the Canadian Embassy to finish up paperwork and provide proof of travel documentation. After breakfast we loaded into a cab (no carseats here...) and headed off to the embassy and then went for a long walk near the Ho Chi Minh memorial and Presidential Palace.

Then we stopped for lunch at a beautiful hotel with a 10th floor restaurant which gave us a great view of the city, then home for a nap. Later on we had plans to go out for dinner with another couple but their little boy had been having a rough day and finally fell asleep so it was just the 3 of us, and we went close by to the restaurant where Darcy has been bringing back some takeout. They were thrilled to finally see Emily and of course wanted a quick cuddle... everyone does!

Tomorrow we will venture out again and pick a different part of the city to explore. The air is quite smoggy so it will only be for short stints, I worry about her little lungs (she has also been battling a bit of a cough lately).

Enjoy the sights! (I'll also throw in a pic of a not so happy Emily... she does have her moments where she lets us know right away how she feels!) and notice she has her own traveling chocolate lab puppy ... should we name him Minh???

night night,

ruthie