Picking up Elizabeth!!

Well, it’s Monday January 12th at about 2:40PM and Greg and I are sitting in our hotel room with a very little person who is drinking her first bottle with us! We left the hotel at 8:15AM with all of our bags containing gifts for the caregivers, officials and the director of the center. Mr. Haong, our coordinator here, picked us up and we headed out for Hai Duong. It was about a 1 ½ hour drive and it was a beautiful day. As we were driving, Mr. Haong received a phone call of his cell that our G&R was moved up even more! Instead of 2PM, they wanted to meet us at 10:30AM! The only sad thing about this was that it limited our time at the center greatly. We spent maybe ½ hour at the center with Elizabeth’s caregiver, Greg had a few minutes to walk around and take pictures while I sat with the caregiver showing her pictures of our house and family. They loved them, especially our cats!

It was hard to leave because the caregiver obviously loved Elizabeth very much, she kept wiping tears from her face as I kept saying thank you to her over and over in Vietnamese. With the exception of what appears to be a bad cold, Elizabeth seems to be in good health. No scabies or rashes, good weight, very alert, and can sit up and also stand if held.

We left the center and went off for what is called the Giving and Receiving Ceremony – it’s like a court date. We met the director, the officials and they proceeded to go through the paperwork quickly. The head official made a short speech, asking us to take our responsibility seriously, to take care of Elizabeth. We in turn thanked him for trusting us and promised to fulfill our agreement. A few pictures were taken with the official, the director and wouldn’t you know it, Elizabeth slept through the whole thing on my shoulder! I mean, hello! This whole ceremony is for her and she’s out like a light! 

We left and headed back to Hanoi, Elizabeth sound asleep in the van in her Daddy’s arms. I was able to take some video of the area. We got back to the hotel and gave Elizabeth a bath (which she liked), changed her (which she didn’t like) and then spent some time with her just letting her play with some blocks. She kept looking around for the caregiver so I know it’s going to be a few days before she really gets comfortable with us but she had a bottle and is out for the count again.

Happily, she likes the milk we got, a Vietnamese brand of Parmalate with some formula mixed in. She also holds the bottle which was a happy discovery. The only problem we may come across is when it’s time for bed because she does not like laying on her back to get changed so we’re waiting to see what happens when she goes in the crib. Of course, right now, she is asleep on her back on her Daddy’s tummy so go figure!

Tomorrow I have to go with Mr. Haong to the US Embassy to start the passport process and then in a few days we take Elizabeth to the clinic for her checkup. So right now, things are going really terrific! The only stinky thing to deal with is that our sleep is all out of whack. We both fell asleep last night around 9, then both woke up, wide awake at 11. Read for about 2 hours and sort of fell back asleep but not entirely. Like Elizabeth, we will need a few more days to adjust but if this is the only thing we have to deal with, that’s fine!!

We will post again in the next day or so!!