We wish you a hoppy Christmas

No it's not a typo. We had a severe frost and myself, Mike and Daniel all took tumbles. I was the first casualty. We were heading for church on Xmas morning and I slipped on our drive way. I went from the top to the bottom in a matter of seconds. Mike heard me laughing and came out with Daniel in his arms to see what had happened. They both flew up in the air. Mike shielded Daniel as best he could, but he still ended up with a cut mouth:( The real problems began when we realised that neither of us could get back up. Mike tried to hold onto the wall between our house and the neighbours, but it was so icy he kept slipping down. We ended up taking off our coats and shoes, and putting the coats under us to gain traction on the ground, we inched our way back up the drive. I got to the top, stood up off my coat and fell right back to the bottom of the driveway again. Grace watched the whole pantomime from the safety of the door way. We never did make it to church. When we told our families about the incident their reaction could not have been more different. The Hayes' were full of concern for us all. The Coyles - well they laughted till they cried. Chris has renamed us Torvil & Dean Hayes.

Other than the fall we had a really lovely day. Grace woke at 2:10AM to say that she had heard Santa on the roof. We got her off to sleep after an hour or so, and she woke again at 8AM. She was thrilled with all her presents - especially her new pram from Ger & Nelius and a skipping rope that was part of of her present from Barry & Rose. Daniel was more interested in the wrapping paper than anything else. He's cut two new teeth over the last few days so he was a bit off form. I'm sure hurtling down the drive way didn't help to improve things for him either. He perked up after his nap though.

Chris, Pam Sophie & Jake came to us for dinner. Pam put Graces Peppa shop together for her. Daniel loved pressing the buttons on it. We got to talk with baby Eve in LA. She kept saying Moo which Grace thought was so funny. I'll post some pictures later. Unfortunately we have no footage of the fall. My family are particularly disappointed about that.

Visit to Santa

We went to the Dell Xmas party on Sunday 6th Dec. Grace and Daniel had a ball until "silly" Santa gave Grace a present that she already had - hence the sad face in the second picture. We went to Smyths on the way home & exchanged it for some play dough. paints, paper and two cups that she painted - inside and out, for Daddy. God help Mike if he tries to use them because he will definitely end up with some kind of poisoning. Grace is very arty though. She will paint and colour for hours on end. I have afine collection of her master pieces at home.

After the party we went to Neilus & Gers for Xmas dinner. They had it early for Neil, because they are spending Christmas with Dave, Rebecca & Eve in LA (the lucky gits). I may be slightly biased, but as far as I'm concerned Ger makes the best dinners, and I really do hope they have a ball in LA. It would also be great if they brought their favorite niece back a big bag of peanut butter cups. Ger, if you are reading this I'm considering myself as the favorite niece, not Grace.

The mutual appreciation society

Last nights conversation between Grace & and her Daddy went something like this.

D I love you Grace
G I really love you too Dada
D You make me very happy
G Oh Dad you make me sooo happy too. I just love you

Nothing like a little girls love for her Daddy :)

Birthday pics

This news deserves a post all of its own. Daniel took his first steps on Oct 27th. He was so delighted with himself that he gave himself a clap. He's still a bit nervous so it will be a while before he fully takes off.

Happy birthday Princess Grace

Grace was 4 on November 15th. I've never seen someone so excited about their birthday. A few weeks ago she told me that when she got to 4 she would be so big and strong that she won't be able to fit into the house anymore. I'm happy to report that although she is now quite big and strong the house is still able to accomadate her.
The Griffiths were due down from Sligo but unfortunately Gennie was ill so they couldn't make it. Grace cried for about an hour when we told her they couldn't come. Luckily Aoife was able to come for a sleepover on the Friday night. the two rips were up until 10:30PM, and back up again at 7AM. when I went into them I found them with straw hats on their heads reading stories to each other. Too cute.
We held Grace's party in Adventure City on Saturday Nov 14th. There were 16 children there in total. They all seemed to enjoy themselves. Her birthday cake was fabulous. It was made for us by my friends sister in law. I'll post pics of the cake later, but they don't do it justice.
I told Grace that she was going to receive presents from her guests, and that it was polite to thank them for the present even if she didn't like it. She seemed to take it on board. Then I heard her say to my friend Klaudia "oh no, not more clothes" when she opened their present. I was mortified-especially as I had told them to get clothes for her. Oh well live and learn.

Happy 1st birthday to our beautiful boy

Daniel turned one yesterday. As you can see he is getting more beautiful by the day. He's going to break hearts in the future - though hopefully not mine. We had a party for him on Sunday, and as the weather was so nice we had a bouncy castle. He didn't think much of the castle but the other kids enjoyed it. Yesterday we headed to the beach where Daniel could indulge in his favorite pass time of eating sand.

Busy busy busy

Cannot believe how quickly time is passing. We have had a hetic few months since we came home.

May: We headed to Sligo to see some of our very best friends, Sonia, Dave, Gennie, Kai and of course Nellie dog. We travelled to China with Sonia and Dave in August 2006 to adopt Grace and Gennie. They are so good to us and we love spending time with them. I can hardly believe that Gennie is now four and Grace will be four in November. I remember like it was yesterday the day I first held her in my arms. She was the same age then as Daniel is now (9 mths). Even though she is now a big girl (according to herself) she will always be my baby girl.
May: My nephew Adam made his communion. The lucky duck got 700 Euro. I took Grace to the church with me - not one of my best plans. She swung her cardigan around and it sailed across the room and hit a lady in the face. I was sooo embarrassed. Grace didn't bat an eyelid. In the end I had to let her play her DS with the volume switched off.
May: We went to the Christening of Zach O'Shea in Cork. We also got to meet us with Peter, Louise and Jed. Zach, Jed and Daniel are all from Langson. All three boys have grown a lot since we have come home. It's great to see them thriving.
We had a BBQ on the Monday of the bank holiday weekend. The weather was fab so the paddling pool was brought out. The kids had a great time.
June: Dave, Rebecca and Eve came home from the US for Eves Christening. Eve is a year old now and it was the first time that we got to meet her. She is fabulous. It was also a chance for us to show off our new addition. We had a great week with them. We went to Fota Wildlife park and Galway. Eve was christened on Sat June 13th. I was delighted to be asked to be the Godmother.
June: Mikes Aunt Doly and his cousin Debbie came from England to see Daniel. It's been lovely catching up with them. We went to Audrey's for a party with all the Hayes Clan. Daniel managed to stay awake until 10:30PM which was a first. He usually has to be in his bed for 8PM or he is like a demon. Grace would stay up all night for you if you left her. I'll post some up to date pictures later.

Cannot believe that we have been home for four weeks already. Time has flown by. The journey home went well - apart from Grace spilling about 10 drinks on us. Daniel and Grace slept for a good portion of the flights. We had a five hour stop over in Singapore. Initially we had planned to rent a room in the airport hotel but there was none available. Thankfully the airport is so well kitted out that you could nearly go there for a holiday. There's a butterfly garden which Grace loved, a cinema, loads of designer shops to drool over and some nice restaurants. Ger picked us up from Cork and we were back at home by about 1PM.
Things have been going very well since we came home. Daniel has settled in like a dream. Grace absolutely loves him. She is the first into him when he wakes in the morning. If she thinks I'm giving out to him she will tell me he has to do A, B or C because he's only a baby and I should leave him alone. He thinks that the sun shines out of her bum. Hopefully the mutual love affair will continue... Daniel is on antibiotics at the moment for a perforated eardrum. He has also cut his first tooth (26 April)
Grace is back to school since the day after we came home. She was delighted to bring her brudder in to show him off.

This will be our last post from Hanoi as we are leaving in the morning. Although we are glad to be going home it is sad to be leaving the place where Daniel joined our family. We decided that Daniel should do his patriotic duty today and visit the Hanoi Hilton. It's the prison where John McCain was held during the American War (that's what we call it here). The two rebels are pictured above. Grace has a Vietnam hat on and Daniel is holding the Vietnamese flag. It should be good fun in our house in the future when they are killing each other over whether China or Vietnam is the best but for today they were friends.
We also went to a quilt shop today and bought handmade quilts for them both. I could have bought out the shop.

Happy birthday to Luke. Hope you have a great one. Happy belated birthday to Klaudia and happy birthday in advance to John and Al. John, sorry we are missing the party tonight. The Hayes's always throw a great do. We'll probably be getting up just as ye are heading for bed. Love to all Sharron, Mike, Grace & Daniel xxx

The last supper

We went out with some of the group for a last dinner this evening before the first of them head home tomorrow. It was a great night. All the kids behaved themselves at the same time which is a first. As you can see Grace and her friend Niamh preferred to sit anywhere but at the table.

We gave the last of the fast sponsorship money to an organisation called Operation Smile. http://www.operationsmile.org
They work with children in Vietnam who need cleft pallet surgery. The money that we gave will go towards 5 cleft pallet operations. Thank you all again for your generous donations. In total you have made it possible for a boy in China to leave an orphanage and go into foster care, provided much needed provisions for Langson Orphanage and now the surgeries.

Passport day

I took Daniel back to the medical center today. He's added a sore throat to his list of woes. We got stronger meds for the colic. One of the teeth on the bottom is also almost through the gum so hopefully the poor pet will get some relief soon.

Mike went with all the other Daddys in the group to pick up the Vietnamese passports today. As is the tradition they all headed for a beer afterwards to properly wet the babies heads. They were a very refined bunch and were home after one much to Mikes disgust.

Grace is very good with Daniel. She is so gentle with him. The picture above shows her playing with him on our bed. She told Mike he could leave because she was minding him. Oh for the day when that will be possible.

Sorry for not posting in a couple of days. Poor Daniel is teething really badly and he also has colic. We are dosing the poor pet with every bit of medication that we can get our hands on. He's such a happy little fellow when he's not in pain. Here he is asleep in his Daddy's arms. You can just make out a little wooden bracelet on his left hand. His carer put that on him. Apparently it aids sleep. It didn't work last night but maybe tonight...
We went to the museum of Ethnology yesterday with some of the other people from our group. It was amazing to see the type of house that Daniel would be living in if he were staying in Vietnam. The Tay build their houses on stilts. The floor is a woven mesh, and it was really springy. Grace and I walked across the house. I was never quite sure that we weren't going to fall through the floor. It was very beautiful though and shows a much simpler way of life.

It was flogging down all day today so I took myself off for a massage (as you do) It was fabulous. It cost $28, lasted a full hour and I don't think I've ever been so relaxed. Mikes treat is to go for a haircut tomorrow. Somehow I think I got the better of the deal.

Happy Mothers Day (to me)

We spent another day by the pool today as it was so hot. Grace really loves the water. Daniel hates it though. We put him in the bath with Grace this evening and he screamed blue murder. Daniel and Grace bought me a lovely handbag for Mothers Day. Daddy may have helped them pick it out. It's fab.

Water baby

We spent about three hours in the hotel pool today. Once you got over the initial shock of the cold it was lovely. Grace had a ball with me in the water while Mike entertained Daniel. We met some of the other couples this evening for dinner - not a good idea. Both the kids were wreaked and they worked out in the restaurant. I think the people at our table were sorry that they sat beside us :0( One lady asked Grace what her name was and was told that it was "just Princess" On the plus side Grace received lots of compliments on her beautiful dress. Poor Daniel looks like he's bursting out of his clothes but it's just the way we have him perched beside her. We confirmed our flights for Sunday 29th arriving into Cork on Monday 30th. Although we are loving it here we are really looking forward to getting home to see everyone.

Sleeping babes (Hope it lasts)

It's 9:30PM in Hanoi and it is seriously hot. Daniel and Grace are panned out in bed and I'll be doing the same as soon as I finish this post. We took Daniel to the Medical center today. The pediatrician checked him out and apart from a very blocked nose he is fine. His blocked nose is making it difficult for him to take his bottle so he's been a little cranky today. We were given some saline solution and an aspirator to sort it out. I wont go into details about how it works but suffice it to say it will be Daddy's job. His eyes light up when he sees his Daddy so hopefully we will get on alright. Grace is being the best big sister ever. She's playing with him and kissing his little head off.
We also went to try and change our flights as we are currently not booked to leave until April 1st. At the minute it looks like the earliest we will be able to leave is Sunday March 29th but even that wont be confirmed until tomorrow.

More Happy Birthdays

Happy Birthday cousin Martin for today and Uncle Dave for tomorrow xxx

And then there was 4

The GNR went really well today. Daniel smiled his way through it. I got a bit emotional as usual, but it would be hard not to be emotional on a day like today. Mike went to apply for Daniels passport on our way back to the hotel. We should have it back next Thursday afternoon. We are hoping to travel home next weekend but we have nothing fixed yet. We'll be taking him to the doctors tomorrow because he has a chest infection. He finished a course of antibiotics today so we just want to make sure that he doesn't need any other treatment. His teeth are driving him mad and he is developing a taste for Bonjella. We gave him a bath when we came in because he was very sweaty. He screamed the place down so it lasted all of two minutes. He has just gone to bed now. Hears hoping for a quiet night...

We didn't do a whole lot today. We just wandered around the shopping centers and spent some time with Grace. We met our travel group for coffee this afternoon. One of the little boys in the group told his mum that he didn't want to go get his new sister tomorrow because five in their family would be too much. One of the girls in the group is called Amy. Grace keeps telling her that she has a cousin called Amy as well. We've given Grace a camera so that she can take her own pictures and leave Daddy's camera alone. Here she is checking it out.
We have our bags ready for the trip tomorrow. I'd forgotten all the paraphernalia that a baby requires. We have a 6AM start so hopefully by this time tomorrow Daniel will be here with us in the hotel.

Happy St Patricks day

Happy St Patricks day to everyone and Happy Birthday to Chris. We went shopping today to get some traditional Vietnamese outfits for Daniel and Grace. We also went to the water puppet show. Grace spent the first two minutes screaming that she didn't like the puppets and wanted to get out. Just as we were about to leave a duck puppet came out and she announced that as she loved ducks she would stay on for the rest of the show. She was laughing like a hyena as puppet mommies with babies on their backs glided across the water.

We had dinner with our travel group again. There was a huge open floor space so the kids spent their time playing following and doing their exercises!!!

GNR set for Thursday

We got the date for the GNR. Unfortunately it's not until Thursday. Ah well I'm sure we will find plenty to keep us occupied. We had a quiet day today pottering around the various shopping centers in Hanoi. We bought the baby food and nappies etc that we needed. I think Grace was delighted not to be spending hours travelling on a bus.

Halong Bay

Following in the top gear footsteps we took a trip to Halong bay today with two of the other families in the group. It is absolutely stunning.

As you can see Grace loved being on the boat. We got to choose our dinner from the fish tanks (I picked a kit-kat) and we also went into one of the caves.

Buggy shopping

The weather in Hanoi has taken a turn for the better today. Mike and I even got a little sun burned despite having sunblock on. We headed to the Old Quarter this afternoon to buy a buggy. Two other couples came with us because we figured such was our haggling skill that we'd get a better price if we were buying in bulk :0) Twenty minutes of the most pathetic haggling later I'm pretty sure we paid a higher price than the ladies actually wanted. The only problem now is that Grace has laid claim to the new buggy and is insisting that Daniel be given her old one...

We bought Grace a traditional Vietnamese hat. She looks so cute in it.
Grace also wants everyone to know that she saw a tiny lizard and a bat today. These things are very important to a three year old.

Second visit

We had our second visit with Daniel today. He was in great form, laughing and playing with us. We found out that he is from the Tay ethnic minority so we will have to do some research to learn about his culture. His carer told us that he likes his bottle piping hot - so much so that it almost burned my hand when I was feeding him. He didn't seem overly fond of the bottle but he does love a doody.

We signed the commitment papers in the Justice office prior to the visit so now we have to wait for a date for the giving and receiving ceremony. It won't take place until next Wednesday at the earliest. We're disappointed that we wont get to see him sooner, but we will use the time to see some more of Hanoi.