Week One at Home

We've been home a week now and have enjoyed a whirlwind of visitors! We only "allowed" the visitors because Mia was adjusting so well to us. There's more on that below.

Look Who's Walking! Monday she stood up and walked like a pro - well - a wobbly pro!

Uh - Matt do you think that's fair?

That's more like it!

The inflatable bath tub is the best invention in the last 9 years! Sidebar - I can't believe Mark is turning 9 soon!) I thought it was a complete waste of money when I bought it. A fellow blogger bought it and loved it but I stand corrected. No falling over like those bath seats from last decade, no slipping, just lots of fun splashing! We used this immediately when we got home and it was the first bath that she didn't scream and she has not cried since! Highly recommend buying one and taking it to Thailand if you haven't gone. I concluded there wasn't enough room in my suitcase so I guess what I'm saying is I would have made room if I had known.

Saturday was back to life as we know it plus toddler - Matt had a basketball game at 2pm so we had to set an alarm to make sure we wouldn't oversleep. One thing with Mia's AM parties is that they normally end at 5AM and then we sleep like it's nighttime until noon-ish which obviously is why we aren't getting back on schedule. So not complaining about the amount of sleep just which hours we are doing the sleeping. Mia did fine at the ball game - the whistles and buzzers did not scare her which is a relief since we do this a lot. Actually, Matt ended up playing a pick up game after his game so we were there for a couple hours. She ended up taking her nap and was great.

Sadly, Chris had to go back to work on Monday. Mia was very out of her element all day. She woke up looked at his pillow and screamed the WHO STOLE MY DADDY?!!! scream. It took me a while to figure out what the deal was because this was definitely a new scream. Nothing I could do except put the bottle in her mouth, rock her and say Daddy will be right back. It didn't last too long but she was not herself Monday. Matt had another game and again, no problem with the loud buzzers. Mia was ecstatic to see Chris walk in the door from work. (So was I - no really, the kids were good, but I like having him around all day).

Tuesday I awoke to more Who Stole My Daddy? screaming and immediately grabbed the bottle and rocked. Matt had another basketball game, plus Mia had her doctor checkup. Chris met us at the doctor. He said she looks great and gave her 3 immunizations. They did not repeat any vaccines which is great news.

Wednesday brought the Who Stole My Daddy? whimper - much better. I was so thrilled to not have any basketball games or practices. No offense Coach, but man we are tired, need to unpack, open the mail and pay some bills! I can't even think about taking down Christmas decorations although it's killing me. A friend asked me what I needed, bottles, diapers, clothes, toys? and I said time to get organized - it's driving me crazy to have stacks of mail, filled suitcases, dirty laundry, etc. She was sweet to offer to come play with Mia so I could get organized. I may take her up on that eventually, Mia was cranky today from the shots but a little Tylenol did the trick.

She decided to bless us with sleeping during the AM hours by this week. I was thrilled beyond measure to sleep from midnight-ish to morning waking only for 2 bottles. I can deal with waking up for bottles but I was never very good at all-nighters - not even in my college days when I was supposed to be good at it.

Lots of visitors kept us busy this week. It was great to see everyone and share Mia with them. Everyone thinks she is adorable and of course, we couldn't agree more. She has been great with them. She definitely prefers men to women. Most of the male visitors were able to hold her but she has not warmed up to the female visitors as much. We know her well enough now to realize when she's getting nervous or uncomfortable so we can avoid crying. Fortunately, everyone has been great even if they don't get to hold her during the visit. I don't give parental advice very often so I won't but I will say that after 11 years of parenting, 3 children and dozen or so parenting/adoption books, we have learned to say, "It's not a good idea" and not worry about hurt feelings. We're all grown up now! LOL So far, I haven't lost anyone and aside from the airport and Christmas - we limited the visitors to one new set of new people at a time.

This week we taught her to say Aaaah after taking a drink. She also says MMM-MA when we kiss her but she doesn’t initiate kisses or MMM-MA when we kiss her on the lips. She only makes the sound when we kiss her cheek. She will initiate hugs though. And She says Yum Yum Yum if she likes the food. She prefers Asian fare to American but will try anything once. If it’s too cold (ice cream), she squints her eyes and if it’s too warm, she shakes her head No. Too cute!

She also loves music so we have lots of “dance parties”! No lullaby music - she’s jamming to Top 40. I just didn’t find any baby cds yet - well actually, there IS this one that I plan to buy but it's still in production. I'll blog about it when it's ready and once I get permission. ;-)

Christmas!

Absolutely Priceless!!! Check out our Thai Princess! She's the best girl ever! This is Christmas Day after a good night sleep.

Mia is cheering! Nana is feeding me fried rice!!! Yes - that would be takeout from our favorite Japanese restaurant on Christmas Day. We're perfectly good with that. LOL
Memaw and Mia

Christmas Eve night - First Night Home - I could barely keep my eyes open but was cracking up that Mario jumped up in the rocker with Mia and I.
YAY SANTA! He got it right!
Gator fan until the Cards turn their program around! ;-)

What a wonderful Christmas!

Arriving home Christmas Eve to discover Santa had come was quite a surprise. Thankfully, he got the memo that we had a new addition so Santa Claus delivered Mia's gifts to the US not Thailand. Thank goodness!

Mia didn't really care for opening gifts at first. It was kind of overwhelming to come home to a bunch of presents/toys etc. after the airport introductions but she did great. She was quiet and we just waited for her to show interest before opening toys from their boxes. Probably didn't help that almost all her toys make noise. She warmed up to the new toys pretty quickly and played with everything. She's been so great.

Matt and Mark loved all their presents too but they didn't need time to warm up to them. Matt got a new bat since he is growing like crazy and his old bat broke this past summer - must have been all those amazing hits! ;-) Mark scored his favorite wrestlers and a new ring which is all he ever wants! I also bought them boxing grannies which I thought was hilarious. Picture Robo Boxers but Grandmas instead.

After opening the gifts, we decided to make an appearance at Christmas Eve dinner. Chris' mom was hosting this year so she wasn't able to meet us at the airport. It was killing us that she didn't get to meet Mia and we didn't feel right making her wait longer so we headed over to a house full of people. Mia did great. We were prepared to leave immediately at the first sign of anxiety. We felt like we were in a fish bowl for a while with everyone staring but it wore off after a while and we were able to visit and share our story.

I guess we wore her out because she slept very well Christmas Eve night. I LOVE MY BED!!! She woke up for bottles but really didn't wake up and we definitely didn't have the 3 hour AM party that we had been having in San Francisco. Phones were off and we didn't wake up until almost noon. LOL Anyway - we had some visitors Christmas Day and it was great for Mia to revisit with people a few at a time.

Christmas morning she was crawling all over the house checking it out and playing with her toys. Did I tell you she was amazing? We are the luckiest parents EVER!!!!

Christmas Night we were back to our usual Party in the AM hours. Setting our alarm to get up by noon. LOL So tired.

Welcome Home

Mia's Family and Friends at the Airport!

Chris' Dad aka Pops
Terri's Dad aka Papa

As I try to catch-up blogging, I am backdating my posts so don't be confused.

Welcome Home Mia!

The airport scene was incredible. It's a day adopting families dream about. It's a day that you see other people enjoying and celebrate with them! It's a day that you long for, play out in your head and wonder if it will really EVER happen. Well, it does and our day was everything we ever dreamed about - along with a little excitement that felt like something that was bound to happen to us! ;-)

We arrived in Louisville on Christmas Eve to a big crowd of family and friends at the airport. It was SO generous that they gave up part of their Holiday to wait for our flight to get a peak of Mia - no one expected to hold her. Our plane arrived almost an hour late. Mia did great with the crowd. She actually reached out to her 2 grandfathers almost immediately - was it their bright colored clothes or did she recognize them from photos we had sent, I don't know. But eventually, she was handed to everyone at the airport and while she kept her eye on Chris and I, she didn't miss a beat with all this love. She just went with the flow - which she has done pretty much all along. Odd how she is kind of like us - easy going.

So how'd we get here?

Our last night in SF was spent mostly awake... Aaah how I do love and miss sleep! So our 3:45 AM alarm was not well received by us since we went to sleep a little after 2:00AM... But I think we were all VERY excited to get on that plane to bring us home.

The first plane left the airport really late due to mechanical issues. I remember thinking Please Lord, Don't let us get this far and the plane go down. It IS my goal in life to NEVER be featured on a Dateline episode. Whatever the problem was, we had to fly at a lower altitude and arrived in Phoenix to change planes with 5 minutes to spare. We (we, being everyone on board) were told "They know you are coming." repeatedly. We only hoped that meant, "They are holding the plane for you." By the time we got off the plane, we had no time to spare. Restroom breaks were not a priority - neither was food - just get to the plane. As we all tried a walking trot for a while, I realized, "This is stupid. Chris and the boys should run and I'll do the walking trot with Mia." Did I mention we had to change Concourses? No? Well, we did on foot not tram or train. As they took off running, I started laughing (almost crying) at the scene. Hollywood could not create a better moment! My family, with all the backpacks and the rolling suitcase filled with goodies, running for the gate, after being gone more than 2 weeks adopting a child, who completes our family, from the other side of the world. Is there a better moment? I think not. I wish I had the camera handy but there would be no time for that anyway. They were now paging us. "The people who just arrived from San Francisco airport who are in route to Louisville, KY. We are holding the plane for you. Please make your way to Gate D7 immediately." Another guardian angel. So many on this journey. I nearly lost it. We didn't know if all our running would result in a closed Gate or not. I had taken a quick glance at "Departures" and Louisville was not listed so I was wondering if that meant it had Departed without us but we would run anyway just in case. I started praying Chris and the boys would make it before they gave up on us. As I looked up and saw them standing at the open Gate, I again, nearly lost it realizing we did not miss our flight, we would be home for Christmas. After frantically locating our boarding passes, I realized I loved Southwest Airlines and then they said, "We saved you 2 rows in the back of the plane." Remember, they don't have assigned seats. Now, I really, truly love them. They also had the entire plane wait a little longer to make sure our bags arrived with us and then commented that we had a lot of bags. LOL

Seriously, Mia took it all in stride. I mean, half holding, half football carrying, half running through the airport all within 10 days of taking custody. Are you kidding me? What could she possibly be thinking? LOL How blessed are we to have THIS child!? She's a complete dream. And yes, she was great on the planes.

San Francisco

I did not plan on being a blogger who fell off the face of the planet upon landing in the US. LOL I also planned on sleeping more than I am!!! HAHAHA!!!

Sunday thru Wednesday - we spent the days pounding the pavement of San Francisco trying to adjust to the time change. It is brutal. The 4 of us would have done fine. But Mia is another story. She is up 3-5 hours during the early AM hours - normally from around 1-5 AM which isn't doing much for getting us all adjusted to the time difference. Sometimes the boys were up too. 3 nights Chris or I spent a couple hours in the hotel lobby hoping the other 3 could sleep. One night she slept fine. We've taken it all in stride and just tried to keep her up during the day.

She is doing amazing with us. I can't believe it. She crawls all over the room, emptying suitcases, playing with her toys, getting into stuff, destroying the phone book, etc. Basically, she's acting exactly like any one year old would act in a hotel.

Chris' sister and his brother-in-law drove up from SoCal to meet Mia and spend time with us. We were SO happy to see them. Mia did so well adjusting to them we couldn't believe it. We had a blast with them as usual. It was also great that they helped carry her around! It was sad saying good-bye but I know when we get back together, Mia and the boys won't miss a beat, they'll be jumping right into their arms again.

Mia is showing us her new toy!

Daddy just left the room and she followed him to the door

What a good girl she has been!

Highly recommend the Ergo baby carrier! Saves your back in Bangkok where strollers just can't get around.

Mark was able to meet Jeff Barnes from the Raiders - he was really nice and great with Mark

SF Day One

Today was a hoot!

What happens when your children sleep for almost 20 hours? They don't sleep for the next 12 hours. Matt is at the point in life when he can sleep any time any where so he hit the comfy bed and slept. But Mark and Mia fell asleep about 5 AM. Mia woke up several times to eat or take bottles but we slept from 5 AM to 3 PM which would be night time in Thailand. We just went to dinner and grabbed a Starbucks - it tasted SO good but I forgot to order decaf so I threw half of it away (what a bummer) - then headed back to the hotel.

She has been crawling all over the hotel room, playing with everything and getting into everything. She's a typical one year old - so curious, checking everything out and putting everything in her mouth. She talks up a storm, laughs and smiles all the time. She took a couple steps Thursday before we left Bangkok. But tonight she walked about 5 steps chasing a toy car in the hotel.

Hoping we can fall asleep by midnight tonight. :-)

Welcome to America - Little M

Aaaah - after about 20 hours in airports and on airplanes, we were able to get a taxi to our hotel. It's hard to say what we missed the most about the US. There are so many things we take for granted. We certainly already miss some things about Thailand though.

Airport was simple but we arrived 3 hours early just in case - bought a ticket for Mia. They did ask to see our adoption paperwork (huge brown envelope we received with our Visa which is sealed and must be open by US immigration at US Customs). I asked them not to open it and they said they know - they just needed to see that it was still sealed. Then we proceeded to the Thai citizen line for a passport check. The employees tried to steer us away but I held up Mia's Thai passport and pointed to her and said Baby is Thai citizen. No problem.

Mia threw her pudding on the first flight which was 3 1/2 hour. Thankfully, it didn't land on anyone because it was chocolate. Took a bottle and slept the rest of the flight. Thank you Lord!

The transfer in Taipei was very easy.

The next flight was 11 1/2 hours. She slept almost the entire time. Woke up for bottles and ate breakfast and watched TV for a while. But mostly she slept.

Our taxi driver wouldn't take us to McDonald's which did not go over well with me. After 20 hours traveling, I didn't want to walk 3 blocks to eat. But I refrained from telling him what I really thought about him. Funny - we were in Thailand for 9 days and never, not one time, saw anyone lose their temper or even raise their voice. If only the US could be that way. I guess you can't have it all.

For those of you wondering - Mia became a US citizen the minute she landed in the US. We have a bit of paperwork to do so we get a birth certificate with her US name and the US passport with her US name.

We flew EVA Airlines which I highly recommend. The food was much better on the way home. And we brought snacks in case it wasn't. The service was excellent.

Flight changes

Today we got up and decided we are leaving Bangkok -

We are all missing the conveniences of home. So we were able to change our flights to today and threw everything in the suitcases.

Away we go!

Visa Day

Visa day was an adventure!

First another ok night of sleep - she wakes up to eat and cries a bit during the night but eventually, we are able to lay her down (ever so gently or she wakes up) and sleep some. We are taking turns sleeping with her so that someone gets some real sleep. Thank goodness she likes us both.

We spent about 30-45 minutes taking the train and then walking to the US Embassy. Waited about 2 1/2 hours to raise our right hand and swear that the documents we submitted were true and accurate or something like that. I'm sure that we signed everyone of those documents stating they were true and accurate 5 times. The appointment lasted less than 2 minutes. Then we walked and rode the train back to the hotel.

We also said goodbye to our Holt social worker Pat. I cannot say enough about her and Holt and their process. They take care of everything and we just showed up and took care of our little girl. She was constantly translating for us, putting paperwork in order, setting up appointments, and talking to Mia in her language anytime she seemed unsure of the situation. She was amazing and we are forever grateful that we had such a wonderfully smooth process.

Chris and Matt returned to the Embassy to pick up the Visa at 3:00. Note to those traveling - the security guard, who didn't speak English, told Chris the office was closed and to come back tomorrow. Chris insisted he had an appointment at 3:00 to pick up a Visa and the security guard eventually let him in and called the Visa office to verify. He was able to pick up the Thai passport with the US Visa in it so we are now free to leave the country.

Woohoo!!! We have finished all our adoption meetings until we get home!!!!

While they picked up the Visa, I took Mark and Mia swimming. Oh my goodness - she was hilarious. Unfortunately, no pictures or video since I had to hold her in the pool. But she splashed and kicked like crazy. She spent about 20 minutes laughing and smiling until she was ready for a nap.

She is definitely getting more comfortable with us everyday. Today she would let all 4 of us hold her and played with some of her toys. She is also talking more, laughing more and interacting more. And the best news is we can sit down with her in our hotel room! Thank Goodness for that. She also wants to walk everywhere. She's so cute and we just love her to pieces.

We are debating the beach but so tired that we don't feel like packing all this stuff up to go. We'll see.

Board Meeting Day

Thanks for all your sweet comments - wish I had time to email everyone!

Bell Party of 5

They look so hot! Oh wait - they are!

First night - princess finally let us put her down!

The board meeting went well - just about 5-10 minutes of people asking us questions. They weren't hard. Then they approved us to adopt Mia and signed the final piece of paper to get her US Visa. Mia cried once and we gave her a treat and she stopped immediately. Yay for Gerbers treats. They are like magic! The board meeting waiting area is not air conditioned and did I mention it's hot here and we're all dressed up? We were all sweating to death by the time we were called. I think we were last.

While we were there, we ran into a very nice family from Tennessee with their completely adorable little boy. We saw families from all over the world adopting all ages. All happy parents with anxious kids. It's interesting to see how different the kids take this adoption stuff. Some crying, some running away, some scared to leave their new parent's side, they are all different so we new parents don't know what to expect. For us - it has been mostly happy just keep her moving and keep her bottle close by. It's more of a pacifier than a bottle most of the time. It is fun to watch her reaction as she takes it all in. I can't imagine what it must be like to experience so much so fast but she is doing amazing.

But how did the first night go??? She fell asleep about 8 and woke up at 10 and 2. At 10 we just rocked her with a bottle of water and she went back to sleep immediately. She normally wakes up at 2 and takes a bottle with formula. I know - I couldn't believe that either. Well - she wanted it - she drained it and fell back asleep until 5:45. Chris and I woke up at 5 to get ready for the board meeting. Wasn't sure how the first morning would go with the party of 5 so I wanted some cushion. Morning went fine - we were early. I thought that was pretty good for a first night/day.

We are exhausted now and actually heading to bed. Mia is already asleep.

Tomorrow is the Visa meeting day. Another long, hot, tiring day. We have to be at the building by 8:30 so that's a train and a 5 minute walk or a taxi but traffic is so bad - I'm kind of afraid we'd be late if we go take a taxi so train it is. It's no biggee now - we take it everyday.

Gotcha Day

Today was much less emotional for us but Mia said goodbye to her social workers and her foster mom today. Her morning was emotional and traumatic for her. After going over her Visa paperwork, we were free to spend the day with her. No meetings or appointments! YAY!!! Our goal was to stay out of the room...period. And we did for the most part. She is fine in our room except we cannot put her down or sit down. Yes - we are calling that fine. Actually, that's exceptional! We can sit down in public and have managed to sit a few times in the room but for the most part - the princess prefers to stand.

We went to the Dusit Zoo for a few hours. It was ok - not a great zoo but a great distraction. It did have animals that we don't have and it was also a bit crazy. I'll have to post pictures another time - too tired for that. There were some lizard/komodo dragons things in a pond without a fence. We took pictures when we went by the first time and on the way out, one was on land. We walked so fast past it and were more than freaked out. This after seeing a guy climb a tree to catch a Toucan who had gotten loose and seeing 2 cranes loose. Made me wonder if the tigers were free to roam too... Anyway - it worked - we kept everyone occupied and busy. We let Mia have a taste of ice cream which she LOVED!!! At one point I joked about the tram saying next up on the left is our new exhibit - 4 Americans carrying a Thai girl! Wouldn't you know it - as we were leaving this guy jumps off the tram with his baby and asked to have his picture taken with us. Of course, we all smiled trying to hold back laughter and complied with big smiles! HAHAHA!!! We were curious if he wanted the blonde boys' picture or the American family with the Thai girl. I found it hysterical that he did it though.

She has been great all day! Had major smiles and one more giggle. Girl loves to eat! Ate dinner at the hotel, gave her a bath and she is asleep. She's so tiny - You wouldn't believe it. Cannot believe she's sleeping so I'm going to bed too.

Tomorrow is Board Meeting Day which is a short interview about why we wanted to adopt, why Thailand and do we like her? I'd say she is a hit!

BTW - she has a Thai passport and will come home on a US Visa. All the pictures on her official documents are completely adorable. Of course, they are!

Mall Day/Foster Family Visit

What a great smile!

What an amazing and emotionally draining day!

Today was Mall Day/Foster Family Visit

The short of it - Nice mall, great lunch, 2nd visit in our hotel room, long ride to the foster home, very emotional time and long ride back. Headache and tired.

The Details -

We met Mia in the lobby this morning and both families and social workers rode in a van to a mall. This is a different mall than the other ones we have talked about. It is very nice - still have only found one Thai doll which is very big and way too old for her - bought a sweater and bubbles. It was interesting to see Mia’s reaction to the store. She was very calm, did not want to touch anything and we couldn’t get a reaction from any toy we showed her. It’s the same reaction she had with the toys we brought. She could care less. She did like the lights and decorations. But she has never been to a store like this so it was very overwhelming. For those of you in the process, we only shopped for an hour. I always thought it was about 4 hours of shopping so I was relieved.

Lunch was nice. Mia ate some rice with broth, pork and carrots. She also had her first french fry ever (Pat from Holt gave it to her not me) and that one fry was obviously something she really liked!!!

Mia was really good in our room. She cried a couple times but only for a minute. The key is we can’t put her down...at all...until she’s sleeping. We have a huge window and when she cried we would tap on it and say whew look at the cars, etc. and that seemed to work for now. She loves TV. She followed the TVs at the mall and then seemed relieved that we had one too. She sighed like oh thank goodness! Guess it will be another 18 years before I get to pick my channel. LOL

We got several smiles out of her today and Chris managed to score the first giggle - it was ever so slight but it happened. Matt and Mark have been SO good with her. They have been patient and loving so hopefully, that will continue. They also have been great with the long days and transitions. Thank Goodness!

We drove to the foster home which is very nice. They have a lot of green fruit trees which were so beautiful and tranquil especially in the craziness that is Bangkok. We were encouraged to ask questions, take pictures and visit. It was very emotional - watching a mom who has raised and loved this girl 24/7 for 11 months grieve because it is her last day with Mia, she is unsure of when or if she will ever see her again in person - that is one of the saddest things I’ve witnessed. It’s just a reminder of all the loss that adoption encompasses. We are so blessed in this process but we are sensitive to the fact that while we are blessed, there are so many people around us who have loved and supported this little girl for us and they will miss this little girl so much and she will miss them. It will be ok but it’s a process that will take some time.

So - tomorrow is custody day, gotcha day, placement day. She will arrive at the hotel at 11:00 AM. We plan to spend the day at the zoo.

Some More Pics - That's what you want anyway! ;)

Girl loves her bottle!

It was my fault - I let her feet touch the ground for a second!

Sound asleep - a princess on all her pillows! Yes - we will take her shoes off when she's sleeping but we were getting ready to leave so we left them on.

Introducing Mia Issariya

WOW! Where do we even start????

The short of it - Today we met Mia, she’s such a beautiful, great baby. We were able to spend 4 amazing hours with her and just said good-bye - ready to hit the MBK mall after our post.

The Details -

Mia came in the room while we were watching a film. She was so quiet I didn’t even realize the babies were there. At first she was very leery of us. She is definitely fond of “her things” - her bottle is A#1 - have it handy, don’t take it away period, her toys are a close second (jingle ball and a light up stoplight teether) and bubbles are our new best friend. She checked us all out from a distance. With the help from her social worker (Miss Jai) she would roll a ball to us and we’d roll it back. She wasn’t quite sure about us at first. They showed her our pictures from an album we sent her over the last few months. So while we were sitting there, they’d point to the pictures and say Daddy and roll the ball to Daddy. They repeated the ball rolling with all of us several times. All day they spoke to her in Thai to explain what was happening and she seemed to understand what they were telling her.

Then it was time to hold her. Miss Jai handed her to me (Terri) and Pat (the Holt worker) guided me away from Miss Jai and toward the window. Mia has quite a set of lungs when she uses them but much to my surprise, she didn’t scream or even cry the entire time. She did at first and then she did the “shiver from crying” for a little while but eventually, she settled down and rested her head on me and fell asleep. Chris held her next and she woke up and was quiet again. We were shocked and amazed. Did I mention we think she’s great??? HAHA!!

At one point Chris and I were convinced she was hot, so we took one arm out of her sweater and she screamed at the top of her lungs so we put the arm back in the sweater and she stopped immediately. We are going to buy a sweater right now because we didn’t bring one. LOL

We all went to lunch and she ate fried rice. I fed her while she sat in my lap and she ate really well. Miss Jai and Miss Pat seemed very pleased with how well she is doing with us. She really lit up at lunch, started playing with us, kicking her legs, playing with her shoes, let Matt hold her, walked around with Miss Pat and Chris. She’s not walking on her own yet. She’s very close to walking and so curious. She would even smile at us and we were just in heaven - knowing we will see that smile a lot more as she gets more comfortable with us. She also started making a few sounds but she was mostly quiet just taking it all in. Everything is so new to her. By the end of lunch, she would go back and forth between Chris and I and she follows the boys every move. She’s SO cute!!! She is so inquisitive - completely checking everyone and everything out all the time.

She was wearing the outfit that I sent her at 6 months. It’s a 6-9 months outfit and it fits. The shoes she has on were a little big and she loved playing with them. She had a checkup on Dec. 11th and she was 18 pounds and 28 inches long. Her top 2 teeth are in and she is cutting her 2 bottom teeth.

We walked her to the van, kissed her goodbye, can’t wait to see her tomorrow and miss her already. She is on her way back to her foster home where she will spend the night. This slow transition process helps with bonding and the transfer of attachment from the foster mom to us. We will spend tomorrow with her and visit the foster home. She will spend tomorrow night at her foster home and then we will take custody on Tuesday morning.

But it was pictures you really wanted...right??? Here they are!!! Did I mention she's SO cute?

Everyone is playing with her and she is watching her Daddy

Thailand Day 3

Not today friend - not today! The Grand Palace

Hot Hot Hot - on the Riverboat

This is a Tuk Tuk

What a cool boat!

Today we were the “lost white people” and everyone was out to help us. Actually, we weren’t lost but we were not informed.

The short of it - sky train, sky train, river boat, Grand Palace, No Grand Palace Today, “Where you from?”, Tuk Tuk? Tuk Tuk? Tuk Tuk? I speak English! I can show you. Here a wat, there a wat, everywhere a wat wat, river boat, sky train, mall (aaaah - can you say AC???), sky train, bed - 4PM. LOL

The Details -

First I woke up at 1AM. UGH - what is that about??? Just too nervous about Matt’s foot which seems to be doing ok and too excited about our day.

Again - Chris and I have impressed ourselves of our ability to figure out the transit system. I ran it by the hotel desk before I left though. Would have been nice if the friendly face had known it was a Buddhist Holiday today. All our trains and boats left us with an unforgotten journey but no tour of our destination. Try explaining “it’s a journey” to the 11 year old with the bum foot and his brother who is MELTING!!! LOL They have been great but Chris and I have to laugh at them sometimes.

We jumped on the Sky Train, hopped off at Siam Mall, changed Platforms (I know - it’s so Harry Potter right? but we didn’t have to run through a brick wall), hopped on a different train, got off at the Central Pier. Bought a riverboat ticket, saw sights that I can’t even begin to describe, got off at the correct pier and got all the way to the Grand Palace to find out it doesn’t open for 3-4 hours because it's a Buddhist Holiday. UGH! Did I mention we are all dressed up and it’s hot? No? Well, it is and we are. So Tuk Tuk driver after Tuk Tuk driver are stopping us (or attempting to stop us) because we are clearly lost and need their help. "You want to see a Wat? Let me show you, this is my favorite Wat. 40 Baht - I take you there." First lesson - Everyone has a different favorite Wat so I have about 10 circled on my map and now they are asking Oh You see this Wat? You like? We still haven’t seen one. I will say - We don’t stop for Tuk Tuk drivers but have stopped to speak to a few “Tour Guides”. I use that term lightly. They are very friendly and we’ve learned a lot about Thailand but have yet to go with any of them. I have kids with me and it’s just not happening. Thai people are very hard working. That’s my nice way of saying, “They don’t know when to quit selling.”

So we find a great little place called River City Mall (I think). It’s an antique and handcrafts mall and we are the only customers. We go in there to escape the Tuk Tuk pushers and heat. It’s not really that hot; we just have too many clothes on. (To visit the Grand Palace, you have to cover yourself.) Bought a few items - chilled in a restaurant with a river view for a while. They were cute - we were the only people there and as soon as sat down, the English remake music started. As we were leaving, an instrumental started - we were listening to Country Road, Take Me Home, To the Place I belong, West Virginia, Mountain Mama, Take Me Home... Made us think of our WV friends and had a good laugh that we hear that song in Thailand. Never heard Take Me Home, Country Roads played as a slow, wind instrumental. What’s next My Old KY Home or RockyTop or California Dreamin'?

So we head back to the Grand Palace and find out it closes in 1 hour (and I’m not sure that was accurate) but our feet are killing us anyway so we write it up to “It’s a journey” and we will have to do it another time.

We end up back at the mall because we are starving, dying of thirst and of course "melting". Dinner was Auntie Ann’s and DQ blizzards. I would blame it on the kids; but I really just wanted a pretzel. LOL

We are the white family here. I guess I had read about Bangkok being this “international city” which it is and all this biz so I didn’t realize it would be just us. But it’s us and a handful of other tourists spread among all these Thai people. I really don’t even think about it until I catch someone staring at the kids. It doesn’t bother me because I realize, it’s not everyday they see 2 blonde kids. And I should reiterate - these are the nicest, friendliest people I have ever been around. I could go on and on about the little things they do to be helpful.

Boy did we pick a great country to adopt from!

And on that note - We meet Mia in 14 hours!!! I can’t believe it. I’m not nervous. I don’t expect her to like us and I do expect to be putting a lot of effort into her from tomorrow forward. We had a couple of days to see and explore and had a blast but now it’s time to focus on why we are here. I have just spent an hour cleaning our room and laying out her toys so toys are the first thing she will see when she visits our room tomorrow. She doesn’t have to like us but maybe she’ll stick around for the goods.

Chris and I are very excited to state the obvious! The boys are very excited! They keep asking me - What day it is, when do we meet Mia and what day can we keep her. Oh yeah - they also wanted to know if we get to eat the BIG Breakfast Buffet before we meet her. LOL They love the buffet and don't want to miss it!