Well we are in the airport again! Our flight to Danang was suppose to be at 11:50am with a flight of an hour and 10 minutes. But of course everything couldn't go smoothly and our flight has been delayed until 3:20pm. We decided to stay in the airport but let's just say it's certainly not P.E.T airport!! And the intercom system is something to be desired...so loud and crackly! Mom is shopping at some stalls that are set up, Nathaniel is running around with Jon and I found these nifty computers ALL over so I decided to take advantage!
Nathaniel slept from 1:30pm yesterday afternoon until 1:30am this morning! And he has been on the go ever since. Jon & mom slept a REALLY long time as well. When you;re up at 1:30am, breakfast at 6am is a really long wait!! But it was worth the wait...although still not comparable to the buffet we ate every morning in the Philippines! The big difference between the Philippines and Vietnam, we actually feel "safe" to roam the streets. We saw more of Ho Chi Minh on our morning walk we took than we did of Manila the whole week we were there! The other couples we are with seem to be more "adventure" type people...so I think they'll be doing a whole lot more than us. Although mom and I did agree that we need to do some tours since we have a lot of time to kill between the 18th of April and May 1st.
Praise God no migraine today! :-)))
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Good Morning Vietnam...
Ok you knew I had to throw that title in at some point !
So we are finally here, and as dreadful as a 15hr flight plus all the others should have been, it really wasn't that bad!
Nathaniel was an absolute trooper. We boarded the flight to HKong at 1:20am and he was still as happy as can be at 3:00am at which point I told him he had to go to sleep and seconds later he was snoring. Mom and I bought neck cushions which have been wonderful...we actually all slept this trip rather than only Jon getting the shut eye! Nathaniel only slept a few hours and has been on the go since! Although it finally caught up to him on the drive to the hotel and he is snoring away...this will make for an interesting night tonight! It isvery extremely hot here! It is 29oC + humidity...my hair is one big poof ball already! When we get Fredrick it should be interesting because they have warned us not to put the air conditioning too low because he's not use to it...the hotel itself isn't even air conditioned, only in the rooms. Oh and the driving is insane! But since we've already done the Philippines, this is a piece of cake! Mom and I aren't gasping as much or holding on for dear life as much! And the mopeds...oh my the mopeds! I've seen pictures, but until you actually see it...WOW! I am using the hotel's computer since mom's plug convertor doesn't fit a 3-prong plug so I can't upload my photos and share yet...although I know you only want to see those of Fredrick! :-)
So we are here until tomorrow morning 9:00am and then we take yet another flight to Danang and then the big day is on Monday...Sunday night 9-10ish I presume, your time, we'll be meeting Fredrick. It still amazes me that we are a) in VIETNAM and b) here to bring home our 2nd son! We really thought we'd be waiting years before meeting our 2nd child and here it is 1 year later since we registered with our agency. Blows my mind! I never in a million years thought I would have travelled to the Philippines and now I'll be spending almost a month in Vietnam. God is good :-))))
Thank you for all prayers. I do not have a migraine at the moment and my ears were fine on the last flight! I just happened to yawn really hard just as they started to get blocked and they popped and have been fine. Mom says hers are still hurting though! And thank you for all the messages. I am passing them all on to mom. Keep 'em coming! :-)
So we are finally here, and as dreadful as a 15hr flight plus all the others should have been, it really wasn't that bad!
Nathaniel was an absolute trooper. We boarded the flight to HKong at 1:20am and he was still as happy as can be at 3:00am at which point I told him he had to go to sleep and seconds later he was snoring. Mom and I bought neck cushions which have been wonderful...we actually all slept this trip rather than only Jon getting the shut eye! Nathaniel only slept a few hours and has been on the go since! Although it finally caught up to him on the drive to the hotel and he is snoring away...this will make for an interesting night tonight! It is
So we are here until tomorrow morning 9:00am and then we take yet another flight to Danang and then the big day is on Monday...Sunday night 9-10ish I presume, your time, we'll be meeting Fredrick. It still amazes me that we are a) in VIETNAM and b) here to bring home our 2nd son! We really thought we'd be waiting years before meeting our 2nd child and here it is 1 year later since we registered with our agency. Blows my mind! I never in a million years thought I would have travelled to the Philippines and now I'll be spending almost a month in Vietnam. God is good :-))))
Thank you for all prayers. I do not have a migraine at the moment and my ears were fine on the last flight! I just happened to yawn really hard just as they started to get blocked and they popped and have been fine. Mom says hers are still hurting though! And thank you for all the messages. I am passing them all on to mom. Keep 'em coming! :-)
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Well we're sitting in the T.O. airport @ 11:35pm. We board at 1:00am. Nathaniel did AMAZING on the first flight. He got to sit by the window so he was thrilled! I could hear him chatting the whole way. I on the other hand had a terrible first flight. Migraine + blocked ears = no fun! My ears have never hurt like they did the whole flight...I didn't think I'd get my hearing back! I pray it's not that bad going to Hong Kong. I was also the only one who was frisked at both securities we went through. Sheesh I felt like a criminal...better safe than sorry I suppose.
Nathaniel is now in his jammies and will hopefully sleep once on the plane. I wish I was in my jammies and in my bed. Although I'm glad I'm not home...we put dear Daisy down today and I was missing her...I kept thinking I saw her run past me. I'll miss her terribly...but at least my mind is occupied.
As we're walking down 1 end of the airport to the next we all have our hands full and I say, "So if our hands are full now, how do we plan on carrying Fredrick when we come home?!?!?" Good question, and I can't wait until my arms are full with him in them! :-))))))
Nathaniel is now in his jammies and will hopefully sleep once on the plane. I wish I was in my jammies and in my bed. Although I'm glad I'm not home...we put dear Daisy down today and I was missing her...I kept thinking I saw her run past me. I'll miss her terribly...but at least my mind is occupied.
As we're walking down 1 end of the airport to the next we all have our hands full and I say, "So if our hands are full now, how do we plan on carrying Fredrick when we come home?!?!?" Good question, and I can't wait until my arms are full with him in them! :-))))))
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
When women get pregnant for the 2nd time, I know there is that feeling of can they have enough love for the 2nd as they do for the 1st. I don't feel that. I already love Fredrick with all my heart. In fact Jon says I "attached" myself more to Fredrick's picture than I did for Nathaniel. My concern is how this change is going to affect Nathaniel. Right now Nathaniel is the centre of our life and he has mommy's attention ALL day long (when he's not in school) and the moment daddy gets home, he has daddy's attention. In just a few days his world is going to change completely. Nathaniel is a very sensitive child and I am VERY tuned into that. I have already warned Jon that he is to be ultra sensitive to Nathaniel's needs/emotions during our trip. If Nathaniel is crying we need to care about "why" he is crying and not just make him stop crying! Maybe I'm concerned for no reason and he'll adjust perfectly and love having Fredrick around, but I want to be prepared!
I went to the osteopath yesterday. At first it felt wonderful and I didn't want him to stop "adjusting" my neck. BUT then he started rubbing deep and he touched on some very tense points in my neck. I wanted to SCREAM and he gave me permission to do so but I controlled myself. WOW it still hurts thinking about it! This morning my neck definitely feels better but those pressure points he released still hurt to the touch. I really should go more often! I just pray that having this adjustment before travelling will prevent any debilitating migraines from occurring (like the one I had in the Philippines).
Well my next entry should be from some airport, and if not definitely from Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. Cho đến khi thời gian tới (Until next time...)
If any of you were impressed by my Vietnamese, don't be!! This is what translation websites are for! LOL! :-)
Monday, April 4, 2011
3 Sleeps
Well there are only 3 sleeps left until we head off to Vietnam (as if you didn't already know what happens in 3 sleeps)! Today I drove once again to our agency to pick up our passports and visas. This is starting to feel real! I also dragged my long time friend (of ~22 years) to shop at Walmart and Pharmaprix for some more shopping. Also after reading the directions for the creams for scabbies and lice I realized the packages I bought were only good for 1 person...well that does't work since by next week there will be 5 of us! So I found a Jean Coutu (pharmacy for you non-Quebec readers) that held 4 more boxes of each for me. Another whopping $160 on stuff we may or may not use *sigh*...I keep telling myself better safe than sorry, right?!?!?
Fredrick's suitcase is pretty much packed. And Nathaniel's is almost done. Now Jon and I have to work on ours. Of course Jon will be packing an hour before we leave! Tomorrow I have an appointment with an osteopath to do a little adjustment to my neck and hopefully my migraine will be helped and not return for a really long time! He does wonders and I am so thankful that he was able to fit me in. An answer to prayer really! So nothing else too exciting around here.
Fredrick's suitcase is pretty much packed. And Nathaniel's is almost done. Now Jon and I have to work on ours. Of course Jon will be packing an hour before we leave! Tomorrow I have an appointment with an osteopath to do a little adjustment to my neck and hopefully my migraine will be helped and not return for a really long time! He does wonders and I am so thankful that he was able to fit me in. An answer to prayer really! So nothing else too exciting around here.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
$128...WHAT?!?!
Our agency provided us with a list of pharmaceuticals that we should consider bringing with us. Because I'm such a "how can I save the most amount of money?" kind of person, I decided I'd use my air miles at Jean Coutu which gave me 40$ and I had rolled all our change which gave me 22$...62 easy dollars that wouldn't have to come from our adoption funds!
While, yes, I realized all the products needed would definitely cost more than $62, I didn't think it would cost us an additional $88! So I spent a total of $128 on allergy pills, cold medicines, pepto-bismol, scabies treatment, lice treatment etc... I should even mention, I went cheap and bought store brand...imagine the bill if I had bought all brand name!!! And my list is yet to be completed...I couldn't find everything and there was no way I was asking the technician for any more help! So I shall return another day (maybe to a different pharmacy :-) ) You're all going to think I'm cheap...no I just don't like to spend money if I don't have to and if I can save on products, YEAH FOR ME (I just don't go cheap on food products. There is a definite difference between Heinz & No Name Ketchup!!!)On another note...we have to bring a special outfit for what is called the giving and receiving (G&R) ceremony. I wanted Fredrick to be in a tshirt and overalls, I LOVE overalls. I looked in his closet and found exactly what I wanted. Mom had bought him this outfit and I forgot about it. It's only 12 months, though. Eventhough my baby is only 8 months I found out he weighs 22 LBS & is 27 Inches. He's a big boy! I think the outfit will fit, but I need to go find something else just in case! Here I was all excited to be able to buy cutesy 9-12months clothes but it looks like we might be starting at 18 months. Although, Nathaniel never fit in any of the clothes that were in his weight zone because Asians don't have waists or bums, so maybe Fredrick will be the same.
Friday, April 1, 2011
J or G...
Weird title I know...but I'm trying to be witty! You'll understand in a moment!
We (ok Jon) phoned the hotel last night to make reservations in Hanoi for 2 weeks. *remember there is 11 hours diference* Jon decided to phone 4pm our time so 3am Vietnam time, assuming they would take reservations at any time. But no he was nicely told it was only 3am there phone back after 8am (9pm our time). So we waited and he tried again at 8pm but was once more told to call back in an hour...I guess the first guy was right afterall! So finally Jon was put through to reservations. We had to phone versus internet because we get a cheaper price because it's for an adoption. Jon said once he mentioned we were going to adopt a baby, the lady was all happy. This is a good start. So our price is $15/night cheaper than if we had booked online. Not bad!
Jon had to give the nice lady an email address to send the confirmation to. He gave her mine, which I immediately thought was going to be a bad idea...so many letters for her to understand correctly. At least Jon has easy letters in his and numbers. She said she would send the confirmation IMMEDIATELY! We waited, and waited and waited some more. I went to bed! I was feeling tired and I didn't want to fight it with fear that I would be awake at 4am again! I finally heard Jon talking on the phone and confirming everything was good so I dozed off to a deep sleep! This morning Jon said he had to phone her at midnight because he had not received anything by email. She was apologetic for misunderstanding the letters in the email address so she was unable to send it! Ah-ha, my feeling was correct! My first letter "J" was the problem...she thought it was "G" and I assume that's because the sound "J" in french is "G"...make sense? Anyway, all this to say, she sent the email to Jon's address (which is what I thought originally, right?!?!?) and the Somerset Grand Hanoi will be our precious home for 2 weeks!
6 SLEEPS
We (ok Jon) phoned the hotel last night to make reservations in Hanoi for 2 weeks. *remember there is 11 hours diference* Jon decided to phone 4pm our time so 3am Vietnam time, assuming they would take reservations at any time. But no he was nicely told it was only 3am there phone back after 8am (9pm our time). So we waited and he tried again at 8pm but was once more told to call back in an hour...I guess the first guy was right afterall! So finally Jon was put through to reservations. We had to phone versus internet because we get a cheaper price because it's for an adoption. Jon said once he mentioned we were going to adopt a baby, the lady was all happy. This is a good start. So our price is $15/night cheaper than if we had booked online. Not bad!
Jon had to give the nice lady an email address to send the confirmation to. He gave her mine, which I immediately thought was going to be a bad idea...so many letters for her to understand correctly. At least Jon has easy letters in his and numbers. She said she would send the confirmation IMMEDIATELY! We waited, and waited and waited some more. I went to bed! I was feeling tired and I didn't want to fight it with fear that I would be awake at 4am again! I finally heard Jon talking on the phone and confirming everything was good so I dozed off to a deep sleep! This morning Jon said he had to phone her at midnight because he had not received anything by email. She was apologetic for misunderstanding the letters in the email address so she was unable to send it! Ah-ha, my feeling was correct! My first letter "J" was the problem...she thought it was "G" and I assume that's because the sound "J" in french is "G"...make sense? Anyway, all this to say, she sent the email to Jon's address (which is what I thought originally, right?!?!?) and the Somerset Grand Hanoi will be our precious home for 2 weeks!
6 SLEEPS
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