Pictures and some firsts ...

Hi there!

Here are some pictures of some firsts for Emily, not necessarily in the right order...

- First Bath
- First pair of jeans! Yikes!
- First Canucks sleepers
- First night sleep in the crib! Yay!
- First Passport, she is official
- First grab at Daddy's glasses

We are having a great time and she is consuming every minute of the day (and sometimes at night). This is truly a honeymoon for all three of us! She's having a little catnap right now so I can post a bit. Darcy picked up her Vietnamese Passport yesterday and today the "boys" are off to the Canadian Consulate to drop off the paperwork to be sent to Singapore for Canadian Citizenship. We hope to have that back early next week, then we will be able to leave on time before the celebration of Tet. During that time everything shuts down, and we would prefer to get her home. We can't wait to see everyone - even though we feel closer with the blog comments there's nothing like in person!

We are hoping to get her out and about today, she and I have been hunkered down in the hotel room since Monday night and other than down to breakfast each day where a wonderful lady named Hung holds her while we eat, it's these four walls! Gotta give that Snugli a testdrive.

Last night we got to watch about 30 minutes of the new Bond film, then fell fast asleep (not bad for day 3 of parenting!) doubt we'll get time to get back to it. I know, you all warned me that there would be no "extra" time, I get it. Every moment is filled with wonderful little memories of a beautiful girl with who we are falling in love!

And Auntie Liz ... Emily would like to wish you a very Happy Birthday from so many miles away! She will grow to know how wonderful you are, she can't wait to pee in Auntie Liz and Uncle Keith's hot tub! (one day). I hope it's not too cold in Kingston and Ottawa, sounded like you were about to get blasted with cold! It's great here, a little cool but no rain and nice sunny afternoons (from my 5th floor window).

Take care everyone,
Thinking of you all,
ruthie

Recap of Giving and Receiving Day

Hello,

Here's the recap of Monday - our Giving and Receiving day.

We were told the G&R would be late Monday or Tuesday, then suddenly at 8:15 we get a call that is it in the morning and we must meet by 9:00 to get the bus to Bac Ninh. For all the couples absolute panic as nobody was ready and showered!So mad rush to get going and get out. We arrive in Bac Ninh only to be told the G&R will now be at 4:00 but we can go and visit the babies. We visit for 1 1/2 hrs and are then told the ceremony is at 3:00 and we should go and have some lunch. (we just want our babies). We have lunch and then return to wait in the orphanage courtyard for 1 hr and then are told it will be at 4:00, so we wait another hour!

Finally it is almost time and we load onto our tiny 12 pax van and head to the provincial buildings. We wait and wait and finally the babies arrive at 4:30.The ceremony went very well and we were last called up, all the couples took pictures for each other. Emily fell asleep in my arms on the bus ride home, she was wonderful. All the babies pretty much fell asleep, lots of stress for them. We got back to the hotel about 7pm and gave her the bottle they gave us, then changed her diaper (first one) then put on her Canucks sleeper and Daddy did storytime. We all cuddled and rocked and cuddled and walked and she was out like a light, didn't like the crib so we placed her in the middle of one of the beds.

We all got about 2 hrs sleep then she woke up hungry about midnight, so checked the diaper it was dry and made up our first bottle. Very nervous - will she eat the formula ... is it too hot ... put it in the mini bar fridge to cool down! She took the bottle very well with just a few spitty coughs. The swaddled and back to bed except now I couldn't sleep. I kept listening for her breathing (in between hearing Daddy snore... I think she likes that sound!). Poor thing has quite the body rash going (likely very dry skin) so we will moisturize her!

I'll post more pics later tonight after she goes to bed - I hope!
We're loving parenthood and just starting to realize how much time one little girl takes up ... and here in the hotel I don't do laundry etc. When we go downstairs for breakfast in the morning one of the restaurant staff is kind enough to hold Emily for 20minutes while we eat ... that won't happen at home! They are treating us like royalty here, I hightly recommend the Hanoi Elegance 4 Hotel to anyone coming here, it's in the Old Quarter.

bye for now,
ruthie

Giving and Receiving - She is ours!

hi everyone,

just realised these are in reverse order ... I never said I was a techie! you'll get the write up later...I've only got one hand right now - Emily is in the other. Darcy is out with the boys applying for her vietnamese passport - step one. yesterday was a long day in Bac Ninh, but she is finally ours!

we had a really good first night, she is wonderful.

thanks for all your comments, it means the world to us, and she will read them all (one day)

till later,

love ruthie

More pictures from yesterday - enjoy!

Hi there!

It's Sunday late in the afternoon and I thought I'd just load a few more pictures onto the blog. It's a bit of a slow process...

We had a great day today and went out walking in the morning, then this afternoon we took a tour around by bicycle carriage and saw some more of the Old Quarter. Very busy on the streets and very noisy (everyone uses horns and bells to communicate that they have the right of way).

We're off to dinner with another one of the couples for what might be the last night of "coupledom". I just talked to the adoption coordinator and we might have the Giving and Receiving ceremony tomorrow afternoon, just waiting to hear back from the provincial officials. Otherwise it will be Tuesday morning, as we need to get all the "after" paperwork started and off the the various officials and Cdn embassy. We have been moved to our bigger room so now we can unpack and settle in, this will be our home for the next two weeks.

Love to everyone, thinking of you all,

ruthie

Finally we meet! You are a dream!

Hi everyone! After a long journey here and a few hours sleep we got a call first thing in the morning that we were going out the the orphanage in Bac Ninh to visit the babies! This was a beautiful surprise on our first day here as we weren't supposed to go until Sunday! So today we got to visit for 1 1/2 hrs and then we will go back for the Giving and Receiving ceremony on either Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. It was so hard to say goodbye but we can see that she is very loved by her caregiver.

We left the orphanage and then returned to Hanoi for a celebration lunch with everyone! All the couples are walking on air, we are all so excited about the future! Now it's time for a nap, our room is not much bigger than a shoebox but we will be moved a suite tomorrow, we will need more room for Emily and all her stuff!

bye for now,

love to you all,

enjoy the photos - we've wanted to share this moment with everyone for so long!

thank you all for your love and support,

ruth and darcy

[The four couples and Marg (adoption coordinator) and our guide hopped in to a tiny 12 passenger van and headed out at 0900. When we arrived at the orphanage the older kids were playing in the courtyard and waving to welcome us. You could just feel everyone's nerves kicking into high gear!]

[They led us up to their gathering room and one by one brought the babies in. Emily was the last to arrive and we knew her right away from her cheeks and hair! Her caregiver handed her to me and it was surreal, my little darling in my arms at last! Both Darcy and I were just in the moment and taking her in, she was very calm and just looking around. I'll get to pictures because I'm sure that's what you really want to see.... here she is, the most beautiful baby in the world!]

having little editing problems, can't seem to move my paragraphs around ... oh well you get the message!

P.S. did I mention that her hair is growing so fast that she's already had a trim (she may be older than we were told...)

Ready set takeoff !

So it's the night before the flight and of course I can't sleep! Too darn excited (and nervous). So might as well post some pics of Emily's room (a million thanks Uncle Mike and Auntie Sandra!), as well as my little "formula lab" that I had going in the kitchen to make up some formula packets for her bottles. It'll be easier while travelling to make a bottle up as we go and I'd rather do all this fiddling in my own kitchen instead of the hotel room! I cannot believe how much stuff we're taking for this trip, the plane might not make it off the ground... literally everything but the kitchen sink. I think I must have amalgamated about 4 different packing lists that I found online, so I'm prepared for anything!

Okay Chopper is giving me the "can we please go to sleep look" ... better try to get some shut eye!

See you in Hanoi...

ruthie