Passports Away

Today started off not so great for Nathanh...he had to have his oral vaccine to keep him healthy during our travels.  Erwin and I have to do ours tomorrow and I know from experience that it does NOT taste good.  So poor Nathanh has had to endure two shots, one weird insect bite and one yucky drink in the last few days!  He is a trooper though and finished his drink (I may have bribed him with candy).  That was followed by a trip to the dentist for his 6 month check up.  What lousy morning - poor kid!  When I was making Nathanh's next appointment, for February, I realized that we would need two appointments.  So I made one for his sister too!

After that I dropped Nathanh off with my parents so that I could run around and GET STUFF DONE.  I sent away our passports to the Embassy of Vietnam.  I decided I felt much more comfortable with Nathanh travelling on a Canadian passport than his Vietnamese one so now we will see what they send me back.  I think Erwin and I will have visas issued and Nathanh will have a visa waiver issued to him but we will wait and see what happens.  As long as we all get there and back without difficulty, I don't really care what they issue!

The rest of the day I spent picking up things that we needed for the trip, a couple of pictures for our little girl's bedroom and a storage hamper for ALL of Nathanh's stuffed animals.  Tomorrow I need to tackle turning Nathanh's old room into a little girl's room and laundry.

Visas

Today has been busy.  It started off with a doctor's appointment with Nathanh.  His bug bite from yesterday was still swollen and red this morning.  So I thought I should be on the safe side and take him in.  Although, by the time we got there the swelling had gone down a lot.  Oh well, better safe than sorry.  The doctor did prescribe a cream to help with the ichiness and the heat,  so not a wasted visit. 

Then I dropped Nathanh off for a play date so that I could get some stuff done.  I contacted my work and now we are just waiting for dates so that the paperwork part of my leave can actually get done.  Then it was time to tackle the Vietnam visas.  The forms for Erwin and I were easy enough to fill out and I already had the necessary photos to go a long with it.  But then I contacted the Vietnamese Embassy about current visa costs and Nathanh's visa waiver.  After answering a few of their questions, they said he didn't need anything because his Vietnamese passport is still valid (he holds dual citizenship).  The thing is, I am a bit nervous about this.  I would much prefer it if we were all travelling on Canadian passports.  In his Vietnamese passport it has his Vietnamese name, so our names won't even match.  I don't know, Erwin and I ALWAYS seem to have airport and visa issues so I just want to do what I can to have a smooth entry and exit from Vietnam.  (That being said, we probably haven't had a big issue in about 6 years).  Erwin thinks it is all fine and is actually happy about saving the $139.  So my question is should I worry or just go with it? 

Getting Ready!

We were hopeful to get the go ahead to book travel for August 9th.  Unfortunately we were told to wait for a bit longer.  We do not mind getting there early as long as we can do transition visits on the days prior to the Giving a Receiving Ceremony.  But we'll wait until we are given the official go ahead.  So we still have not booked travel or hotel but I really do think it is coming soon.

The good news on the paperwork front is that the documents that needed to be processed by the DA in Hanoi (that we were told would likely take one week) were processed overnight!  They were dropped off on Monday and picked up on Tuesday!!  On Wednesday they are being hand delivered to the province, along with the transition book that I put together.  So things are moving ahead.  I am hopeful that we will be given the go ahead to book travel by early next week.  I am also very happy that by this time tomorrow night, our daughter will have at least seen our pictures!!

Around here we continue to get ready.  Today we all visited the travel clinic and got our vaccinations updated.  Both Nathanh and I had to endure two shots, while Erwin only had to get one.  But we all get the yucky drink.  Nathanh was a trooper and he didn't even cry.  In fact, he was more concerned about the game that he was playing on my phone. 

We did have a bit of a scare tonight though.  Just as Nathanh and I were having dinner he suddenly says that his arm is bleeding.  I took one look at it and immediately saw swelling.  I was a bit panicked at first as I thought it might be a reaction from the immunizations.  In the end, I think it was some sort of insect bite.  It was just odd because he had not been playing outside recently and I didn't see any bugs in the house.  His temperament and activity levels seemed fine and all he really wanted to do was finish dinner while I held ice on his arm.  I called the nurses' hot line just to be on the safe side.  From my description the nurse thought it sounded like a spider bite. She said to watch him over night and take him to the clinic tomorrow if the swelling hadn't gone down. 

Tomorrow Nathanh is off to the beach for the day with friends so it will be my chance to get some things done around here.  Vietnam visas, leave of absence paperwork for work, and bedroom clean up and decorating are on my list.

Photo Book and Good News!

One of the things that I have been working on is a little photo transition book for our little girl.  I can only imagine how hard a transition this is going to be for her.  She will be taken away from the only home she can remember and passed along to virtual strangers, who do not even speak the same language.  In that same situation I would be terrified so I can only imagine what it will seem like to a two year old.  So I spent some time putting together a transition book for her.  It was very simple,  twenty-four pages in all (weight was important) meant to explain who we are and what would be happening in the coming days after we take her from the orphanage.  I wrote out labels and simple sentences to go with each picture and then had it all translated into Vietnamese.  I stuck both the English and the Vietnamese words onto each picture in hope that it will not only find her in Vietnam but that someone will take the time to read it to her and explain it to her - everyday.  I do not know how realistic that last part is but at the very least I hope she will get it and be able to see our pictures.  I know there are volunteers at the orphanage where she is and I hope that even if the nounous do not have time to sit with her and read the book to her then perhaps the volunteers will. 

In other news - I just found out tonight that the Canadian paperwork is complete and has been sent to Vietnam!!!  The current estimate is that it will be one week at the DA in Hanoi and then 1 - 2 weeks in the province before a Giving and Receiving date can be set.  So that means that earliest possible travel would be the week of August 11th.   We are hoping for a few things to happen and work into the date.  First, if possible, we would like to have a few days stopover in Hong Kong before we go to Vietnam.  This will give us some special time to spend with Nathanh in his last few days as an only child.  And second, we are requesting facilitated transition visits with our little girl prior to the G & R.  I really hope this is possible as I truly believe it will make everything so much smoother and be less traumatic for our little one.  I know when I see her all I am going to want to do is take her back to the hotel with us but I also know that more transition time will be in her best interest.  Although, I have to secretly admit, I have NO IDEA how I will be able to say good-bye to her on those occasions.

For now, I am going to focus on finishing her room and start looking at flights, hotels, and travel shots - for us.

And It's a...

...little girl.  I say little girl as she is exactly that - a little girl, not a baby. 

But let's back up a couple of weeks.  We received the proposal June 26 but in an effort to get it out to us quickly, as we have been waiting sooooooo long (way longer and harder this time 'round than with Nathanh), our agency sent it right away before it was actually complete.  Meaning that medical info, pictures, blood work, etc.  all trickled in over the following week.  Then, between our social worker and pediatrician being way on holidays it took some time to formally accept the proposal.  But we accepted last Tuesday evening and got going on all of the paperwork.  Today Nathanh and I went and hand delivered everything that was still needed and now we are just waiting for the Canadian end of the paperwork to come in.  We were told it would take about ten days, so next week sometime. Then everything will be sent back to Vietnam.  It was estimated, about four weeks to get things completed there before we will travel.  We are hoping to travel before the end of summer.  Which would be very good for me.  I say that with my fingers crossed, as nothing about this has been easy or smooth.

Now back to my little girl.  She is about two years old, a bit older than we were expecting, even though our home study said a child up to age two.  But once we saw her sweet little face we fell in love.  It is funny, when I first saw Nathanh's proposal and he was a boy I was taken aback.  I had always just expected a girl.  After about half an hour, when it had sunk in, I was fine with it and could not imagine anything else besides my baby boy.  It was much the same with our little girl.  Once it sunk in that she is a toddler rather than an infant, we were only able to see all the positives on how she will fit so perfectly with our family.  For us, a two year old and a four year old is perfect.  With them being closer in age to one another, I think it will make them closer.  And well, let's face it Erwin and I aren't getting any younger.  We are ready for those trips to Disneyland and LegoLand, if we had an infant they would have to wait even longer.  So in the end we are thrilled!  Really, Nathanh turned out to be the perfect child for us so now we have faith that this match will be the perfect fit for our family too. 

So what have we been up to?  We have been BUSY!  The first and probably the biggest item on our "to do" list was to get Erwin to move his office from the upstairs bedroom to the basement.  Erwin had started prior to the proposal but that really motivated him to get it done.  Once it was cleared out, we had someone come in to paint it last week and all of the new furniture was delivered last Friday.  Ewin and I spent the weekend assembling everything and tonight Nathanh is sleeping in his new bedroom for the very first time. 

Can you tell Nathanh LOVES Star Wars?  Yup, takes after his daddy!

This afternoon I finished moving all of Nathanh's clothes, books and stuffed animals to his new room.  We still need to put up some wall art and finish off little things but it is definitely ready enough  for Nathanh.   All along (for more than a year now) we have asked Nathanh if he wanted to stay in his room or move to the other room.  He has always said that he wanted to move into the Lego Star Wars room.  I don't think he believed it would ever happen.  He has been pretty excited since it started to take shape!  Now I need to clear out his old room and get it ready for a little girl!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words