A few more skills.....

More new skills: The fake cough-gagging sound (video) and reading with daddy! Daddy is also learning a new skill....teething. Too cute....

Eddie's new skills

Eddie has suddenly discovered all the wonderful things his mouth can do. He's been making raspberries, other strange noises, silly faces, grunts, babbles, squeals, and lots of random mouth-opening-and closing! Here's a video of his new "raspberry" skill (the loud raspberries in the background are Daddy).

Lisa's birthday

Here are some cute pictures from Lisa's birthday party! We went to the cheesecake factory....yum!

Friend Tara, Lisa, Baby Eddie, Cousin Sammy,
Aunt Suzie

Sammy modeling his Mom's new purse from Vietnam

Orphanage Pictures

Rachel and Adam meeting Quinn for the first time.

A little boy showing off his origami.

Becky meeting Lya for the first time

Kids in orphanage playroom

Little boy who jumped into Eddie's arms as soon as we arrived.

Driving to the orphanage

Here are some neat pictures Eddie took on the drive from Da Nang to the orphanage in Tam Ky.

Arboretum

Here are some pictures from our visit to the Dallas Arboretum today. I've never been before and it was beautiful! We stayed several hours and didn't even see it all. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe there with a view of the lake and listened to live piano music. Nice! They also had a fun pumpkin house and hay bale maze.

Hoi An

As promised, I am finally starting to post more pictures. Here are some from our day trip to
Hoi An, which is a 30-minute drive from Da Nang and one of the best places to experience Vietnamese culture and shopping.

"Gas Station"

Old man in his boat

Lantern Shop

Jenny and Eddie, extremely hot and sweaty next to the Japanese covered bridge

Our food at a "real" Vietnamese restaurant

Rachel and Adam, another adopting couple

Temple

Market

Taking a bath

Here's a cute picture of the baby taking a bath in the sink. As you can tell, he loves his baths!

We are doing pretty well. Tuesday we went to the doctor and the baby has another ear infection (or maybe the first one never went away). The doctor couldn't believe he isn't fussier. Next week we have to go back for a lot of labwork and vaccinations. No fun! We really like the doctor, though. We called with a question today and they called back in 20 minutes.

We had a bit of a scare when we changed his diaper and his stool was a coppery red color (hope this doesn't fall in to the "too much information" category). We were afraid it was blood, but the doctor thought it was because we just started switching him from Vietnamese to American formula, or maybe even from his antibiotic.

I also think he is getting scabies....he is getting small pimple-looking dots all over his body....but just a few here and there. I can't tell if they're just baby pimples or if they're turning in to scabies. The other two babies from is orphanage had them, and the incubation period is about a month, so I'm afraid!

I am actually getting tired of being at home. Tomorrow I think I will do something exciting like go to Walmart! And Sunday is our baby shower at the library! We're so excited for that.

Video for a friend

Here is a video I'm posting for a friend. We visited her son while in Vietnam. We hope he will get to come home soon!

Eddie Laughing

Check out this adorable video of Eddie laughing.We almost cried because this is the first time he's laughed so much! Usually he'll just giggle a little. I think this means he's getting happier and happier with us. =)

We're back!

We got home a week ago Tuesday around midnight! Now I finally have the energy to post (and the time to....the baby is napping...yea!). I'm uploading my pictures from my camera right now and hope to start posting them soon (especially if the baby stays asleep).

Things are going really well. Baby Eddie seems to really be bonding with us--he smiles when he sees us walk in to the room and looks to us in unfamiliar situations or for comfort. He really is the sweetest baby ever. Sleeping is our biggest challenge.....we're not quite adjusted to the new time zone yet and the baby likes to get up REALLY early. It's been difficult to get him to nap, too. I had a technique that worked for about 2 days but now he cries if I even sit down in that rocking chair. Poor guy! He will go to sleep in the carrier or stroller and sometimes with a bottle. Hopefully as he gets more used to things here he'll relax and be easier to put to sleep. He's basically only waking once a night for a bottle, plus little fusses here and there. If we pat his bottom, he goes back to sleep. Actually, that is what he did in Vietnam, and finally got back to doing last night. Hopefully he will continue this--unfortunately he likes to get up at 4:00AM! That time change thing....

We can tell he's making lots of developmental progress, too! When we got him he could barely pick up a small toy that was just the right size for his hands. Now he picks up lots of big, little, heavy, squishy things, and it looks like he's about to crawl, too! He gets up on all fours but doesn't quite know what to do yet. His tummy muscles are much stronger, and he can sit up almost by himself (I can hold one of his hands and that's usually enough support). He is so much more active and busy and verbal than he was at first.

Yesterday we went to Target and registered for lots of stuff. We're so excited about our baby showers. I can't wait to get that exersaucer so he'll have something else to do! He likes the swing 'okay' so far....but is not crazy about it. I hope it'll grow on him. You can see our selections at www.target.com. I just realized we didn't register for any safety-proofing stuff so I better go back and do that.

Saturday

We are counting down the days until we can leave! Hanoi is really crazy.....I'm getting to where I don't even want to go outside anymore because I always feel like I'm going to get run over by a motorbike. There are so many of them and they are insane!

I feel like things will be easier for us and the baby when we get home, too. Poor little guy has been having night terrors (at least that's what I think they are). One of the adoption books I read said that adopted babies often have them.....it may be their way of grieving their losses (favorite nanny, familiar surroundings, etc). In one of them he just screamed and screamed in the middle of the night and we couldn't comfort him because he's asleep! Some of the others he cries the saddes, most mournful sobs you've ever heard. It's heart-wrenching. During the day he's a happy, laid-back little guy. I hope his night terrors will fade soon.

Today was a pretty boring day! We were going to go swimming at the hotel of another adopting family, but we found out it would cost $12 a person so we said "never mind." Eddie and the baby did a little bit of shopping--we are trying to buy all our christmas presents here....we've gotten some neat stuff. Now I guess we'll have a bath and go to bed. Tomorrow we're going to see the "water puppet" show. It's puppet show on water with Vietnamese music....they apprently used to do these on the rice paddies hundreds of years ago. It's supposed to be a really neat experience. Then Monday we should pick up his Visa and Tuesday leave! Yea!

I can't post any pictures right now because the CD drive on ths computer doesn't work and the other one is occupied.....maybe if I hang around a while the other person will get up...

Hotel in Hanoi

Here's one from the balcony (tiny) of our hotel room. Somehow you just can't tell how crazy it is here! There are lots of tall, skinny buildings like this everywhere and over 3 million motorbikes in the city. Crossing the street is an adventure.

Pictures

Now that I have time, I'm (finally) going to start posting some pictures! Here are some from the day we left.

Emily and Guarav picking us up

We're ready to go!

Mom and Betsy waving good-bye

And to answer cousin Whitney's question: Eddie weights 16.76 pounds and is wearing 6-9 month clothes!

Baby Eddie's passport

Hi all--

The last two days have been very busy! Yesterday we picked up baby Eddie's Vietnamese passport. He looks very cute in his passport picture. Then we went to the SOS international clinic to have his medical exam (all immigrants have to have this). Making progress! Monday we will have an interview at the embassy and (hopefully) get his visa so we can leave on Tuesday.

Today we visited the Museum of Ethnology....it was pretty interesting. We learned all about the different ethnic groups of Vietnam (I think they have over 50 different ones). The best part was the exhibit outside--there were life-sized replicas of the houses that the different groups built.....very cool. Here's the website: http://www.vme.org.vn/.

Here's a cute picture of Eddie in his favorite position....upside down!

And another picture of him "reading."

Baby Eddie

Here's a cute picture of the baby....he's reading about his homeland.

More fun facts about baby Eddie:

1. He's a very good pooper (in case anyone wanted to know). This is very important.....several babies are constipated and feeling bad!
2. He likes to be sniffed. Apparently the nannies did that as a gesture of affection and to "get his smell." He likes it when we do it, too. They did it a whole bunch right before they gave us the baby....I guess so they could remember his smell longer!
3. He seems to be teething in the back first! Does anyone know if this is possible? He's always chewing on his bottle and his fingers and our fingers back there.
4. He is a night owl! His favorite time is evening after his bath. He is so silly then.....he rolls and squeals and plays and laughs. It's so cute. I have some good video.
5. He loves to "read"! He studies each picture for a long time very intently. It's so cute!

Yesterday's trip

Yesterday's trip was quite an experience! It's taking forever to post these photos, so I'm going to wait until later to post the ones from our trip. Our bus picked us up at 8:00AM and we had a two hour trip. It was interesting because there were people from the US, Vietnam, and Australia. The Australians were funny--they kept saying things like "that crazy nutter." They also explained to Eddie what vegemite is.....he's apparently always wondered. We tourted the ancient capital of Vietnam, Hoa Lua....about all this is left is two temples dedicated to two monarchs who ruled about 1,000 years ago. Then we went to lunch and on a boat trip....it was absolutely beautiful scenery.....but it was freezing cold and raining and windy! Poor baby Eddie didn't like it at all. We only had a think blanket and rain poncho to cover him with. He wouldn't eat when he was supposed to, so we ended up making a bottle in the middle of the ride--not easy pouring formula powder in the wind. He was REALLY upset. Poor guy. I felt like the worst mom in the world.....we just didn't know the weather would be so horrible!

He was so happy to get "home" to the hotel....he had a great time playing and squealing and looking cute.....he was so riled up that he didn't go to sleep until 9:30.

Today we are mostly just hanging out in the hotel....we're so worn out from yesterday. Tomorrow we have our first embassy appointment and doctor visit. Progress!

Our hotel in Da Nang

Here are pictures from our hotel in Da Nang (where we stayed for a few days when we were adopting the baby). This hotel is close to his orphanage. It is gorgeous! It was like a mini-vacation.

Finally some pictures!

Finally some pictures! These are from our Giving and Receiving ceremony, where we officially adopted the baby. Thanks to Nick and Becky for letting me borrow their laptop!

All three babies with their nannies (Eddie is in the orange)

People's Committee Building where G&R took place

Eddie has to change pants because he got his orange ones wet! Note the detail on the new pants.

Getting the baby!

Official Adoption Decree

By the way, I still my email is still messing up. I'm getting emails from some people (but not everyone), and I'm getting a lot of error messages when I sent things out. I don't know who is getting what. For instance, Malia, I haven't gotten anything from you! Krystale--I sent you a list of names for the baby shower.....if you don't get it, email me again and I'll try again! Mom, I answered you, too. Actually, I've answered everybody whose written. So if you haven't heard from me, things are just apparently not going through!