Cindy and Allen

Well, we are back home, safe and sound, and Bao is snuggled in his new crib. This is where our story ends of our journey to Bao. And this is where our new life begins as a family - Allen, Cindy, and the boy from Vinh Long. ... read more

So the Boy from Vinh Long, who rarely got outside the orphanage door, took his first international flight, Hanoi to Seoul, Korea. He was pretty good, well, when he was sleeping, which was most of the flight. They brought us a child's passport holder with pages to have the captain of each flight sign. They also brought us a really cute bassinet and attached it to the wall in front of us in bulkhead seating. Very comfortable and he seemed to enjoy being in a makeshift crib. Sounds great right? But, he was hungry way before we landed, so we gave him the bottle too early and then when we started our descent, his ears were really hurting him. Screaming, screaming, screaming. Upon landing, he looked totally peaceable, thumb in mouth, face and body relaxed, looking ... read more

It is the day before Tet and we are leaving tonight. We went for lunch at our second favorite place, Quan An Ngon. It means "Delicious" in Vietnamese. The restaurant originally was set in a courtyard, with chefs cooking all around the outer perimeter. The cuisine is all traditional Vietnamese based on the three regions of the country - the North, South, and Central Highlands. The courtyard remains but they also have an indoor part, perfect on a day like today - the coldest day in Hanoi so far. Today we dressed baby Bao in a long-sleeved shirt, pants, socks, a quilted vest, and even a blanket, but still faced comments. What if they knew that he was actually the Boy from Vinh Long, living all of his days until recently in one of the warmest ... read more

Aah, post scabies treatment. Bathtime was fun for Bao, except that the water was room temperature. We used La Vie bottled water as we didn't want him to get the shower water in his mouth. Ok, when arrive home are going to resume our pledge of not spoiling baby. Then we dressed him and laid him down in his crib. He looked at his hands like long lost friends. "I thought I'd never see you again", he seemed to be thinking. He stared at them in wonder, twisting them here and there, and cooing at them. (ok, made up the cooing part). In general, a renewed love affair with hands. The funny part? He was so exhausted from all day crying and trauma over realization of once again traitor parents that he zonked out, legs splayed, ... read more

Today was the day of reckoning, the second scabies treatment. The doctor said he didn't have scabies after we applied the first treatment, but we decided to apply it again as a preventative measure. We had to keep the cream on all of us for at least 8 hours. As you recall, Bao's favorite thing besides feeding time is sucking his thumb(s). Therefore, we had to swaddle him with arms at his sides. Luckily, the family next door had already checked out. Bao delivered two lessons to us today. The first is that you have to multitask with children. We thought we could handle the triple challenge of changing the poopy diaper while applying the scabies cream and keeping hands out of mouth and poop, when Bao suddenly projectile gakked onto the bed and then wanted ... read more