Babies are like Aliens!!

They come from nowhere/Vietnam.....invade your planet/home...and next thing you know you're taking orders from them. Our little Alien happens to be called Maeve and she totally tells us what to do. It's okay right now, since she is just getting used to us, but soon enough, I'll have to let her know that I'm the Mommy and she's the baby (not the other way around).
We've been home for two weeks...and if you want to know how it's going, please check out my friend Marci's blog (you can access it through the comments section). She summed it up rather nicely...and accurately. Just remember to substitute the name Maeve whenever you see the name Echo:)

Since I am too tired to write a lot, I'll just say a few words about Maeve. She has a great appetite. I can't figure out how an 18 pound baby can eat 20 pounds of food??? She is generally happy....She loves her Daddy...She hates the car seat....she likes to tease Nigel by holding a Cheerio in front of him and then eating it herself......she can stand up on her own and take about 7 steps before she face plants it into the cold, hard floor. She loves the bath.....she wants to be held, like all the time.....and if only she would take a nap I might be able to hold on to my sanity (what's left anyway):)

We have had a jam packed few days and haven't had time to post until now. We're on our way home from Vietnam in Soul Korea airport for a 3 hour layover.

We took a tour to Ha Long bay 2 days ago with a group of other parents we are here with. The trip was a lot of fun and very beautiful. Ha Long Bay is a very popular place to visit in Vietnam(world wide for that matter). The bay has 2,000 islands with high rock cliffs covering most of the islands. We toured the bay on a large wooden junk boat. The name is a little deceiving, because the boat was very nice, all be it rustic. The crew served a huge authentic Vietnamese lunch. Chook stole croissants from the hotel because she new she wasn't going to eat the authentic Vietnamese food off a boat...she was worried about getting sick. I ate most of it and was fine...and it was excellent food.

We visited one of the islands that had a cave located inside one of the cliffs. It turned out to be a huge cave that took up almost all of the island. It was a big surprise to walk into something that big...very cool. After the cave, we toured around the bay some more and then took the van ride back to the hotel. It was a long day, but a great one. And even better was the fact that it was Maeve's first birthday. What a great way to celebrate her first birthday.

Yesterday, we did some last minute shopping, confirmed our travel arrangements, packed and boarded a plane from Vietnam to Soul at 11:50pm Vietnam time. Our next leg is 13.5 hours in the plane. I'm expecting it to be rough, but Maeve is a trooper. Maybe more so than her mother!!! Next update will be from home sweet home. Tam biet Vietnam!

We have lost our minds!!!

What happens when you are in a developing country...with no sunshine...and a baby, who I swear takes crazy pills when I'm not looking? you get silly!!! We had another fun filled day with little Miss 'I don't want to miss a thing, so I'm not going to nap!!!' We went to the Hilton tonight to have a drink with Marci, Ba (Marci's mom) and baby Echo. They are so awesome and we had a really good time, but Maeve was in crazy mode....she fell asleep in the taxi on the way home and we put her right down to bed. Just a few pics from the day...by the way, don't freak out, those a Chrisfeeney's arms wearing Maeve's pants (don't worry she doesn't have Monkey toes) And I was thinking Maeve and I might be the same size, so I tried her pants on...just a little small....I'm starting to get punchy :)

We went to the water puppet theatre today. It was really cool, but not so much for a one year old. We are going to Halong bay tomorrow with some people we met at the hotel. It's a three hour drive to and from....not looking forward to the drive....people drive like maniacs...I'm not even kidding..it's really bad. You spend more time on the wrong side of the road than the right. It's a good thing that the Vietnamese people are sooo nice (they love the babies too), it balances out the traffic craziness. Gotta run for now...time for bed...Maeve will have me up by 6am. Maeve will be one tomorrow. Happy Birthday little girl!!!!! Thanks for the sling Marci...my back thanks you as well!

Knee Deep in Congee

We had a really nice day today. All the babies went to the SOS clinic this morning. Biggie smalls weighed in at 17.5 pounds...oink, oink. A little under her fighting weight, but good none the less. Plus the Dr. said she had very nice skin (oh so important). After that we walked down to the lake a few blocks away and then through some of the small street side shops that line the streets near the lake. There was a slightly annoying woman selling hats and she follwed us for 3 blocks trying to sell us the hats. I think I said no thanks about 50 times. I was getting ready to give her an ear full and I think she finally gave up on us and moved on to the next set of "tourists".

The sun almost made an appearance today after almost 7 days with misting cloudy days. We are in between the dry and rainy season (aka spring time) in Hanoi. Can a brotha get some sun around here??

Today was the first day we saw Maeve crawl. She also stands up and walks holding the coffee table. We are starting to see so much of her personality now. I think some of the initial shock has gone from us tearing her out of the orphanage. She is laughing a lot and loves to go outside for walks more than anything. She seems to get a ton of energy seeing, hearing and smelling all the cool things in Vietnam. I guess she is on sensory overload after spending the first 12 months of her life in the mountain regions of Vietnam. What ever the reason, we love to see her so active and happy. It makes us feel great.

This post is from CF. Chook is busy stuffing her pie hole with Congee....actually, with peppermint patties. One of the feel good foods we brought from home and not something you would find in your local Hanoi shop.

Our little rock star

If this baby could talk she would be saying "look at me, look at me" "watch what I can do!! She's a saucy little minx for sure! She loves to be around people and she wants everyone to notice her, which isn't hard because she is very vocal.

Well, I talked to a few people today and it seems that they also experienced the same sort of dificulties that we did last night (thank you Susan for your advice) I think Maeve's Nanny must have carried her around everywhere because the kid loves to be held.

Today was a much better day. We went to the Temple of Literature, which was founded in 1070 and became the country's first university to educate the son's of Mandarins (and I don't mean oranges). It was really amazing (thanks for the tip Marci). Afterwards, Maeve and I went back to the hotel for our afternoon nap, while Chrisfeeney went to pick up Maeve's visa from immigration. Tonight we went out to a cute little restaurant near the hotel where Maeve tried to pull everything off of the table and onto her lap.

She is becoming very attached to her Daddy. He has been feeding and changing her often and carrying her around when we are out on the town. I'm really happy to see how quickly she's taken to him.

Tomorrow we are going to the SOS clinic to get her physical. I'm anxious to see how much Piggie smalls weighs.........Thank you all for you comments and well wishes. We miss everyone at home :)

Notorious P.I.G

aka. Piggie smalls...the girl loooves to eat. We went down to breakfast today and she ate two bowls of congee (rice porridge). She then moved on to my pancakes...Helloooo, those are Mommies :) she's cheeky!!!

Maeve has been a really happy baby considering she has only known us for a day. Today, however, she was a little fussy..a little weepy..and at times, inconsolable. The poor thing is not only teething, but probably missing her Nanny from the orphanage. Maeve's Nanny love, love, loved her. OMG, their attachment was so apparent and sweet, I'm so grateful to her for taking such wonderful care of Maeve. Although, I almost didn't think she was going to hand the baby over to me...I thought we were gonna have to throw down!!!

Maeve loves to be out and about...checking out all of the people... she's quite the social butterfly really. She loves to cuddle, she smiles and laughs, she loves to play with her stacking cups (thank you Susan)...just a joy really. I think we're gonna be just fine.....as long as she stays away from my pancakes!! :)

Doesn't she look just like me?

I knew it would be an emotional day, but I had no idea there would be so many tears...loud gut- wrenching sobs.....snot everywhere...and that was just from me!!! Maeve, she was fine!! I'm totally kidding, I maintained my composure...for the most part.

I'm going to keep this short because we are exhausted (it was an amazing day!!) But I would like to post a few pictures of Maeve, so that everyone can see how adorable she is!!!!

Jet Lag

So...yesterday wasn't a great day for us. I think traveling through multiple time zones finally caught up with us. I was feeling nauseous, unsteady on my feet, sort of 'out of it', and irritable. It was not fun!!!! We wanted to get out and do something though, so we went to the Museum of Ethnology in the morning. It was really interesting. We learned about all the different ethnic groups in Vietnam...so worth seeing. We came back to the room after that and kind of crashed. After a little rest, I felt better....however, poor Chrisfeeney started to feel crappy, ugh!!!

We also met 3 other families yesterday who are using the same agency. It was so nice to meet them and share our 'Vietnam experiences' so far. We also found out that our G&R will not be on Monday as we thought. We should find out this afternoon when we'll be able to travel to Lang Son to pick up baby Maeve. Hope everyone is well back in the homeland :)