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.

Happy Birthday

It has been raining quite a lot over the last two days, but the heat is still intense. We went shopping today with our travel group to buy nappies, formula, clothes, stationary and washing powder for the orphanage. Thanks again to all who donated to my sponsered fast. We will be bringing the stuff with us tomorrow. This evening we had a little birthday party in the hotal playroom for Aine (one of the children in the group) as she turns three tomorrow. All the kids had a great time. We are having our second visit in the morning. We have to leave the hotel at 6AM so as soon as I finish this post we're off to the leaba.

Happy belated birthday to my lovely nieces Aoife and Megan. We left cards for ye at home xxx

Here he is

I don't think any of the adults in our travel group managed more than an hour or two of sleep last night. We headed off for Langson at 10:45AM this morning, and we were on the road about 10 mins when travel sickness kicked in for me. I spent the whole of the journey lying on the back seat begging my breakfast to stay where it was. We got to meet Daniel for the first time at about 1;30PM. He was the last of the seven babies to be brought into the room, but as you can see he was worth the wait. Grace was running around telling everyone that she had a "brudder". He weights 7.1 kgs and seems to be a really heathy, happy baby. We got to spend an hour with him before he was taken away for his nap. Our second visit is scheduled for Friday so at least we don't have to wait too long before we get to see him again.

Only one more sleep....

Grace decided to revert to Irish time last night and was up from 12AM to 4:30. She had us signing every song we knew. We had to pull her out of the bed this morning. We walked the legs off her today so hopefully she will sleep tonight.

We met up with our travel group this afternoon. There are seven couples and seven kids in total. We went out for a meal with them all this evening. The resturant manager nearly had a stroke when he saw the size of the group. He managed to fit us all in though. Grace had a great time with her new friends. One of the couples doesn't have any children yet so we all spent a plesent evening enlighting them to the joys of parenthood. They have gone off to bed now suitabley terrified. Everyone is so excited about tomorrow. We are being picked up at 10:30AM, so while ye are all in bed snoozing we will be meeting our son for the first time. Four of the girls in the group - including Grace will be big sisters.

This is a rainy day???

The forecast for today was rain. Well the rain in Hanoi must be invisible because we didn't see a drop. The temp was around 25 degrees C so after a leisurely 15 hour sleep (yes 15 hrs) we went for a stroll around the lake. It is beautiful. Grace wanted to see fish in the water but unfortunately all that floated by was a lump of poo which she thought was hysterical. We met one of the other couples who will be going to LangSon with us. They have a three year old called Aine. Grace is deligted with her new friend. We spent a few hours with them wandering around the center of Hanoi.

Ready for bed (we hope)

This is Grace in her Spurs PJ's

We've arrived

We arrived in Vietnam at 12:30PM this afternoon - that's around 6AM Irish time. Grace was brilliant on the flights. We had one minor hickup when she had a nosebleed on the flight from Amsterdam to Singapore. The airline staff couldn't have been nicer to us. They even followed us into the terminal afterwards to double check that she was okay. She didn't sleep very much during the flights so we have our fingers crossed that she will sleep well tonight. It's now 7:40PM in Hanoi so we've been on the go for over 30 hrs at this stage. Mike and I are absolutely hanging and Grace is buzzing around the room.
We went out for a short walk earlier. The traffic is nuts. The only rule of the road appears to be that there are no rules. Drivers go up and down each side of the road, changing to the opposite side at will and doing u-turns in the middle of road with no warning to the other drivers. On our way in from the airport we saw a man walking on the top of a moving bus. No one else seemed to be bothered. We'll try and add some pictures tomorrow