December Post #1

We had a wonderful celebration called a baby naming to celebrate Lilly joining our family in December. Lilly was adorable in her little dress, and Eli had fun playing big brother and showing his Lilly Tai off to the extended family. I wore the silk dress I had made in Vietnam, we sang songs and made speeches and our whole extended family got to meet our Lilly Tai and catch up with Eli. Then, of course, we ate lunch!

November 2007

This is the first time I have been able to update our blog since just after the adoption. I am going to try to slowly go back through 2007 and up to date in 2008 with our blog as I was in touch with Danie today. Danie took care of Lilly when Lilly was a tiny baby in Vietnam, and it is so terrific to be in touch. I am so grateful to know Danie and have that piece of Lilly's past. Danie sent us some wonderful baby pictures of Lilly which will eventually be posted on my blog as soon as I am up to date. These wonderful pictures were taken of Eli and Lilly back at Thanksgiving in November 2007. Eli and Lilly get along so well and love each other so much. It is really very sweet!

Cousins

Dani and Ally welcomed home their new cousin with open arms! Eli is also adjusting very well and adores his baby sister. He is falling back into his routine nicely and loves being a big brother. We are all blissfully happy, and I am enjoying my adoption leave.

Creeping (Commando Crawl) and Almost Sitting -- Big Brother Sharing

Lilly crawled yesterday for the first time (commando crawled or creeping). That is the low to the ground crawl. She is very close to sitting up by herself. Eli, Lilly's wonderful big brother, is having fun sharing his toys with her. Lilly is watching me type this blog entry. She is so cute. It is a pure joy to have her home. Lilly's cousins, Dani and Ally, enjoy helping to hold, feed, and bath Lilly. They are 6 and 3 respectively.

Finally Home!

After 40 hours of travel, my family is finally home. Eli is thrilled to be reunited with Buster (our dog), and Lilly is so interested in her new surroundings she looks at everything with wide eyes. Yesterday we had Dani and Ally and Kathy visit and then Adam's parents, Les and Lorraine visit. Everyone was thrilled to see Eli again and meet Lilly for the first time. Eli is now off with dad getting groceries and I am home with Lilly and Buster. Buster is off on his own and Lilly is on the floor enjoying her ball and cooing. I will update this blog entry with pictures later today.

There were no issues in customs, and the customs officer was very nice and asked questions about the adoption process (ie how long it took start to finish). He informed us that we would get further instructions in the mail on how to get a US Passport for Lilly. She is now officially ours and a US citizen and the paperwork will follow in the mail!!!

We made it home!!!

Lazy Day -- Dinner for Two

Other than a trip to the airline to see if we could get Lilly a bassinet for the plane ride home, we
stayed in yesterday for the most part.

More pics to come.

For our last dinner in Hanoi, Chloe agreed to watch both kids. Adam and I decided to go for a quiet dinner in our hotel (so we would be close by in case there were any problems). It was a nice change to have dinner just the two of us.

Pagoda, Market, Seafood Lunch, Restaurant Bobbie Chin again, More Shopping

In the morning Pam (me), Adam, Lilly, and Eli ventured out to a Pagoda (a religous temple for Budism).

We had to take our shoes off to enter the temple, and it was quite beautiful. Eli had insisted on getting dressed in his new silk outfit in the morning. We then took a walk to a food market, and we shared the market with motorcyclists that rode through and picked up their meat and fruit. It occured to me that the fish and meat was cooking in the hot sun.

We returned to the hotel to get Chloe for lunch and headed out to a seafood restaurant for lunch. Adam and Chloe got prawns which turned out to be a two bite meal so after lunch we got ice cream and Eli got Sorbet.

After lunch we relaxed at the apartment for a little while, and below are a few pictures of Eli and Lilly from the apartment.

Adam and Eli had a night in, and Pam (me), Lilly, and Chloe went to Restaurant Bobby Chin as a thank you to Chloe. For all of you foodies out there, we photographed some of the meal.

Lilly and Pam reviewing the menu.

Seafood Ceviche appetizer and dessert plate pictured above.