Playing at the hotel

Today is a chilly, rainy day in Hanoi. While we spend the day in our hotel room, we're continually amazed at what Owen is learning to do.

Very Busy

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are well & very busy. Owen is the most mobile & energetic baby in the group & we are still adjusting to the lack of sleep. He goes & goes until he exhuasts himself! Usually we can get him to sleep by 9pm, but on days that we venture out of the hotel we pay for it that night. Last night it was 11:30 before he finally settled & went to sleep.

The past few days have been fun. One day we went shopping in the old quarter. We bought a few things, but mostly just looked around. We were out for over four hours shopping. Then the next night we went for dinner with a friend of Gavin's that lives in Hanoi. He took us to a great local restaurant.I think the name of the restaurant was hava vien. I'll have to check on that. We went with the Mason's & ordered about ten different dishes to share. The food was good & Owen was a hit at the restaurant. The staff are always wanting to carry Owen around, & twice now we've caught him behind the bar serving drinks! I've found most of the food to be very good. There are millions of choices for food & you never know what you are going to get. But, for the most part we have enjoyed everything.

Yesterday we ventured out to Halong Bay. We left at 8am & returned at 8pm. So that's probably why Owen had trouble getting to sleep. Halong Bay was even more beautiful than we expected. The weather is cool here about 14 degrees on average. It would have been nicer if it were a little bit warmer. The caves are magnificant! You can't even imagine how big they are. We took over 200 photos of Halong Bay. Owen was so amazed he had to take a nap (pic above) ;>

Today we are staying in the hotel. we said goodbye to Gavin's dad this morning & now we are on our own here. Thursday we are meeting with our agency rep. & getting the babies passports, then we apply for the visa. We are still expecting to leave Hanoi on Feb.2nd.

Video/Photos

Here's the video that we couldn't post before and we're trying to post as many photos to our flickr account. (It's a little faster with uploading, but not much)

short post

I know we have to get better at the blog updates. But we've been staying in the hotel for the past couple of days. I think Owen is feeling much better & we hope to get out & around this afternoon. I want to try to get that video up later & upload all the pictures to flickr. It takes FOREVER to get one picture on the blog. This post itself took 40 minutes. I don't seem to have very many extra 40 minutes these days.... we will try our best later. No promises though.

The Next FULL Day

Today was great and very busy.

Owen Danh woke up in a good mood and we started the feedings. He doesn't eat/drink a whole lot each time we feed him, but he lets us know when he's hungry. We're doing what we can to get him on a routine.

He was sounding a little sick today, we thought his cold might be getting worse. So we took him to the SOS International Clinic just to be safe. Owen was brave as he ventured out, taking in all the sights and sounds. The doctor was very friendly and she told us that he has minor bronchitis (sp) and an ear infection. This was probably part of why he was crying so much yesterday. So far he's taken his meds, but he sure doesn't like them. Ange and I were even thinking of asking the doc to check us out as well, since we've both had sore throats all day.

On the way back we stopped by the local FiviMart to pick up a few things. Owen had his first shopping experience and he behaved remarkably. He was amazed by the selection and couldn't get enough of Vietnamese TV playing on the big screens in each isle. The baby clothes weren't great but we picked up a few colourful items for Owen, since most of his pants don't seem to fit him. (His belly is bigger than expected)

During this full day my dad has been a big help by running around getting us meals, picking things up for us, and only providing a little parenting advice here and there. Thanks Dad!

Tonight after Owen's nap he was up and playing with us for a while, we saw a few smiles as he crawled a little and a few grunts as he had his first poop! (eeewww, baby poop stinks more than I thought!)

Sorry we haven't posted more photos/video we really did have a busy day, we'll do what we can. We are having trouble with the video. But we will keep trying.

Our First Day

Hi everyone

I'll recap what happened yesterday, as we were too tired to write a proper post. We left for the orphanage at 10:30 am, we took clothes to get the babies ready for the G&R. None of Owen's pants fit over his belly! they are all too long but too tight. He has one jumpsuit that fits, we are going shopping later today.

The G&R was nice, the officials gave a speach & then all we had to do was sign a few papers & take photos. The nannies drove the babies to the G&R. Owen did well during the ceremony, never cried at all. the nannies couldn't stop crying & kissing the babies goodbye, it was really quite sad. Afterwards, we had to go back to the orphanage with the babies to get some papers stamped. I stayed in the car with Owen, but one of his nannies came up to wave at him, he started screamimg & crying. He had a bottle & eventually fell asleep in the car.

We then went to the passport office to start that process. The guys went in to get that done, while we waited. Owen woke up & screamed for at least a couple more hours, until he eventually took another bottle & went to sleep. It was awful to see. We were trying not to cry, so we wouldn't upset him more. At the hotel he did much better. He actualy slept from 8pm-1:30, had a bottle & played for half an hour. He never cried when he woke up. He fell asleep again at 2:30 & slept until 6:30. We had a much better night then I expected. We were able to get about 5 hours sleep.

Today we are staying low in the hotel room. Daddy & baby are having a nap. When Owen wakes up we plan to take him to the SOS clinic. He has a bad cold that I would like to get checked out before it gets worse. Bad cold, teething & grieving are making for some fairly cranky moments. But all is well.

We are so happy that everything went as well as to be expected yesterday. We are hoping for some better days in the weeks to come.

Owen Danh is Ours! (officially)

It's been a long day, but the Giving & Receiving ceremony went well and Owen is finally (officially) ours.

Ange is sleeping with Owen right now and I (gavin) will be joining them soon. We will post more pics and video tomorrow.

Better get back to being a daddy. (I like the sound of that!)

Stay tuned…

We Made It

Just a very quick post to let everyone know that we made it to the hotel last evening. All families are doing well, & all luggage arrived.

Plans have changed . The giving & receiving ceremony is going to be on the 17th instead. I hope to find out lots about baby Owen.

I slept only about 3 hours last night & have been awake since 2:30 in the morning. I tried to post earlier, but it seems that the lobby opens at 6am. There is only internet connection in the lobby, not the rooms.
We will post when we return to the hotel tonight. We will post pictures as soon as we can. We have already gotten some great photos. Even though we have researched hanoi for almost 2 years, there is still so much that you can't even imagine until you are here.

As for meeting Owen, we are very excited & also much more nervous than we expected. Even gavin is awake early with a bad case of nerves. Wish us luck.

Until later....

And We're Off!

We leave in just a few short hours for the airport. We feel relaxed & ready to go. I even got some much needed sleep last night, I can hardly believe it.

We had a minor emergency with having to re-issue a last minute plane ticket for Gavin's dad. But all is well, it arrived this morning with the correct information on it, & we are feeling much better about our travels.

Next post will be from Vietnam!

Thanks EG

During this LONG and sometimes very trying wait I've come to realize one thing. Well two things, one I love Owen & my hubby more than anything, & two I've met some of the most wonderful friends during this journey. These past two years have been fillled with meeting bloggy friends that always have a comment of encouragement. I've also met some new friends that are among the strongest most wonderful people I know. The strength, courage and thoughtfulness of these women have been my strength during these two years. The wait was never easy, but it was possible with these women. I am thrilled that Owen's little friends will have the best parents around. I can't wait to have them all together for a group photo.

So with that, a sincere Thankyou. I hope your lives live out your dreams....
Love,
Ange

Spa Day Photo


You feel like a candle in a hurricane
Just like a picture with a broken frame
Alone and helpless
Like you've lost your fight
But you’ll be alright
You’ll be alright

Chorus:
Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break
Cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you’ve had enough
You get mad you get strong
Wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand,
Then you stand

2
Life's like a novel
With the end ripped out
The edge of a canyon
With only one way down
Take what you're given before its gone
Start holding on, keep holding on

Chorus:
Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break
Cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up
[Stand lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]

Decide you’ve had enough
You get mad you get strong
Wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand,
Yeah then you stand.

Bridge:
Everytime you get up
And get back in the race
One more small piece of you
Starts to fall into place
Ooohhh

Chorus:
Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break
Cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you’ve had enough
You get mad you get strong
Wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand,
Then you stand
Yeah then you stand. ~rascal flatts

Christmas

This is my Christmas card from Gavin this year....



Merry Christmas my Sweet Baby!. While we wish that we were able to have you home for the holidays, we are comforted knowing that we are leaving for Vietnam soon. We hope that you've had a wonderful day, with lots of hugs & kisses from your nanny. Today we think about the future with you & we can't wait to see Christmas through your eyes.
We Love You Owen. We are coming soon.
Love Mom & Dad


Some of Owens Loot



Stockings

Vietnam Here We Come!

We received confirmation that we leave for Vietnam on January 12th at 8:15 pm We are beyond excited! We fly from Toronto into Vancouver, then to Hong Kong where we have a HUGE layover, then on to Hanoi. We don't actually arrive into Hanoi until Monday January 14th at 3:55 pm. That's almost 2 days of travel. It looks like flights were hard to get, as the other families we will be travelling with are on different flights. But oh well, we don't care we just want to leave!

We are coming for you baby Owen!
WOW! what a great Christmas present.

Travel Date (sort of)

We received word from our agency on friday, that they have a tentative travel date set. We are told to plan on leaving January 12th!. We are cautiously optimistic, & hope that the date doesn't get changed. But for now we are thrilled, and for now we have a travel date!

Small Update

Sorry I have been away from the blog world for so long. It's just been very hard to post the "we're still waiting" post. Currently we are awaiting our "letter of invitation" from Vietnam. It was expected two weeks ago, then last week, & now this week. Once that letter comes in, we are to be in Vietnam within 30 days.
Our agency has informed us that flights to Vietnam are booked up over Christmas, and the first week of January looks somewhat the same. It is expected that travel will be mid January.

We plan on decorating our house for Christmas. We have the lights up outside, but are waiting to decorate the tree. Seymour (our cat) LOVES to climb the tree & sit in it. I'm not ready to deal with that, so the tree will be going up last minute. It took some time to decide if we wanted to decorate for Christmas this year, it's hard to be in the Christmas spirit. After some thought we decided that Owen would have loved the lights, so the tree must go up!
Oh and of course Santa will still be visiting our house this year to drop off baby Owens presents. They will be waiting for him when he gets home.

And now why I can't put the tree up early...

Last Years tree Before....



And After.....

New Baby Pictures

Today we got to see new pictures of Owen! We are so excited, but a little sad to see how much he has changed. His pictures are so cute though! You can't be upset for long. He looks very happy & healthy. To say we are thrilled to have new pictures would be an understatement. I am dying to post the pictures for everyone to see. But I don't want to post them to the blog until things are final with the adoption. If you are dying to see his new pictures leave your e-mail address in the comment section. If I know who you are I'll send them to you!.


Still no word on travel. There is hope it will be before Christmas. We need to get this little baby home by then!

What a great day!

1 Year

What does one year look like since DTV?

70 + e-mails from adoption agency

280 + e-mails to and from adoption friends.

and not one e-mail about travel to Vietnam.

UGH

With Love to Adoptive Parents Poem

This poem was sent from our agency today. The author is unknown, but I LOVE this poem.


With Love to Adoptive Parents

You cannot change the truth
these are your children but they come from somewhere else
and they are the children of those places
and of those persons as well.

Help them to know all about their past
and all about their present.
Help them to know that they are from extended families,
that they only have one set of parents
but that they have more mothers and fathers…
They have grandmothers, godmothers, birthmothers, mother countries and mother earth.
They have grandfathers, godfathers, birthfathers and fatherlands.
They have family by birth and by adoption
they have family by choice and by chance.

Childhood is short
They are our children to raise.
They are our children to love
and then they are citizens of the world.
What we do to them creates the world that we live in.
Give them life.
Give them their truth.
Give them love.
Give them all that they came with.
Give them all that they grow with.

Your children do not belong to you
But they belong with you.
You cannot keep from them what is theirs
But you can keep loving them.
You do not own your children,
But they are your own.

Dinner

We attempted to make our own Vietnamese dinner on Saturday night. We used one of the recipes from Adopt Vietnam. I must say the meal was excellent & we will be attempting to cook more Vietnamese foods.





Here is the recipe:

NUOC MAM CHAM - FISH DIPPING SAUCE

1 cup of water
4 tablespoons of rice vinegar
4 tablespoons of sugar
5 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of garlic (finely chopped)
2 fresh small chili peppers


HANOI BUN BAO
1-1 1/2 lbs beef flank (can use chicken or pork) we used chicken- cut into thin slices & pounded

Marinate with:
1/2 thumb size piece of ginger julienned
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of water
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 lb roasted peanuts smashed
1lb- bean sprouts blanched
1/2 head of lettuce chopped
herbs- basil, cilantro, mint- 1/2 cut each

2 tablespoons oil in frying pan add chopped garlic. add beef or chicken & fry

serve beef or chicken on top of rice noodles and add- herbs, lettuce, bean sprouts, meat, peanuts,fried onion, add Nuoc Mam Cham sauce

ENJOY!

A Little Behind

Since starting the adoption process I have had in my head that I wanted a photo of the referral delivery. Thursday morning I just about missed my chance!. I had come downstairs & saw the "notice of delivery" on the front door, I raced to grab my shoes & call to the Purolator guy "I'm here!". Thankfully he saw me running out the door & brought me the package. I would have been so upset If I had to wait to pick up the referral papers at the Purolator drop off center.

I told him he was carrying the papers for our new baby. He was more than happy to pose for a photo with the paperwork. He said he does that all the time!

Crazy Week Recap

Let's Recap. We waited a total of 309 days from dossier to Vietnam for our referral call. Before that we waited over 9 months for the Vietnam program to open up for our agency. Waiting for over 19 months in the adoption process,that is a long time people.

Honestly, I've surprised myself quite a bit with my ability to keep it together. I'm sure I've surprised my husband & family as well. I know for certain that if it wasn't for all of the family & friend support, particularly the support from other adoptive parents, I don't think I could have made it through this process. It's hard, harder than anyone would have expected. But we've made it this far, & baby is just around the corner. So thank you to everyone that helped with their kind words etc. over the past year & a half.

When I think about how long we waited to see his face, & to find out his birthday & exactly where he lived, & to now have those answers I get choked up. It's amazing. More awesome than I could have pictured it. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me & I can finally breathe.

He's beautiful. My God he's perfect. His name is Owen Danh (Danh apparently means fame & prosperity in Vietnamese). He weighs 11 pounds. He was born in Northern Vietnam. He has the cutest little lips, chubby cheeks, round face, short spiky black hair. He looks healthy & happy, he looks like our son. More importantly he feels like our son. I'm dying to kiss him & hold him, we are told that the agency is expecting travel in September. Probably late September/October. We were originally told that his birthday was the end of July, but that is being confirmed.

We are going to hold off posting pictures until everything falls into place.I really want to share the photos with everyone, so we will see. Currently we are awaiting his translated paperwork, then we will make an appointment with the Dr. & social worker. Everything will be translated once again & returned to Vietnam. Our agency will be helping us with travel arrangements, we are to travel with 2 other families. It's a very exciting time around here.

Thanks again to all of you for sharing in the excitement of Baby Owens referral. We are truly blessed.

We are coming baby Owen, we love you.

Oh yeah, I'm a MOM!!!!!!!!