Monday, December 29, 2008

Random pictures

Tomorrow is Aaron's Early Intervention evaluation. When I made the appointment, he wasn't interested in standing at all, but now he pulls himself up without a second thought. I feel like his speaking is still a little delayed, but we'll see what they think.

We've been spending time in the park when it isn't raining.



Aaron also likes to model his handknit gifts. This is a sweater by Margie. He looks great in it.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Holidays

Aaron had his first family holidays this week. We have been lighting the menorah every night and he loves to watch the flames.







Last night, we went to the Kilgannons' house to celebrate Christmas Eve. Aaron met Santa and seemed a little confused by him.


Thursday, December 18, 2008

Kissing Cousins

Aaron met his cousins Reuben and Alessandra over the weekend during a visit to Massachusetts. They were so cute together, but it was hard to get a good picture, as 2/3 of them are mobile. In the end, it was snacks that won them over.


In not so nice news, my dad's pancreatic cancer has reared its ugly head again (despite the fact that they took out the head of his pancreas). He had surgery on monday and is looking to start chemotherapy in the next two weeks. He is so excited about being a grandfather and we want him to be around to fulfill that role!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

swingin'

It's too bad cameras don't capture hysterical giggling.

Friday, December 5, 2008

The POP SHOP meets Aaron Lovell

Big day today, folks. Aaron went to the Pop Shop for the first time. For those of you not in the know, the Pop Shop is a 50's style diner that is very kid friendly, while still managing to be a place grown-ups like to go. They serve comfort food (over 30 kinds of grilled cheese, for example) and have a full ice cream counter. Grandma Linda took us out to lunch. Aaron had the cheese plate. Seriously. For $0.99, they bring over a plate of cut up cheese. He shoved it in his mouth like there was no tomorrow. Nice to balance out the cheerios. They gave him a cool soda jerk hat, which he wore in style.





Wednesday, December 3, 2008

On the move

Aaron is very busy these days between hanging with Grandma Linda and crawling all over the place. Here he is listening intently to the tale of a rabbit who is playing hide-and-seek. He really enjoyed the book, so he is going to bring it to his next book discussion group.


This afternoon, Aaron decided that he wanted to visit the kitchen. We were playing in the living room with a bunch of toys handed down from Dan Ellis and his wife Amy.


Then it was time to leave the living room:




A brief stop to admire the rug in the dining room:



Almost to our final destination:



Finally! Aaron reached Linda's leg. And then turned around. He was very pleased with himself.


Saturday, November 29, 2008

Who loves a parade?


It turns out that Aaron loves a parade! Today was the annual Collingswood Holiday parade, which features High School marching bands, Mummers from Philadelphia and, for some reason, every Corvette in South Jersey (I capitalize "South" because it really is a different state). He seemed mesmerized by the floats and wasn't scared of any of the noise! I guess after Vietnam, drum corps are barely audible.





Here is Aaron a few days ago wearing a cool hat from Grandma Susan.

Grandma Linda is visiting right now and for some reason, wants to paint two rooms in our house. No complaints from me!!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Day to day


Our day to day life is not so interesting, really. We do a lot of mundane things now that we are in our own country. We take a walk most days and bundle Aaron up against the wind. There is a lot of feding and changing of diapers. Aaron is learning to pick up cheerios and put them in his mouth, although he only has about a 45% success rate. I would be much skinnier if I had the same odds of getting the food in. We have a high rate of lip-sticking.

Bouts is ever hopeful in his mealtime position.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Exploring


Aaron has started being more comfortable exploring his environment. Here he is playing in the breakfast room after refusing to take a morning nap. It's like living with a terrorist that I love whose demands even he doesn't know. He just fell asleep on Mike's lap, so we will try the crib again.



Over all, things are going well. He is eating us out of house and home, but still doesn't want to drink anything. Ah well... He sleeps at least 11 hours at night and naps for 3 hours in the afternoon. I am thankful for that, although I still feel exhausted all the time! My upper torso and upper arm muscles are incredibly sore from lifting, lowering, carrying. It didn't occur to me that 18 lbs would feel so heavy. I should be really buff by New Year's.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Visits

The visit with Grandpa Alan and Judi is going great. Aaron is starting to warm up to my dad, which is very cute. He has a harder time with men. Judi can communicate with him on a level that I, frankly, cannot achieve. It's like she is a baby mind reader. Happy to say that Bouts has found his niche as cleanup crew.


It's hard to get a picture in which both Aaron and my dad are smiling. Aaron turns his head too fast and my dad is a typical Starr and if he smiles at the camera, his soul is stolen.



Aaron has also gotten more used to not being held 24/7. He spent 10 minutes in the crazy bouncy activity center that Barbara Gordon sent.


We had our first visit to the pediatrician today. Aaron is 80%ile for length and between 5-10%ile for weight. Long and lean, just like his mom and dad. Other than some eczema, he got a clean bill of health. The jury is still out on whether his immunizations will all need to be repeated. The doctor is going to have the records translated from Vietnamese to English.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

First few days at home

Well, we've made it through the first few days at home. Last night, Aaron slept through the night for the first time since we came home. Thank goodness! I think all three of us will be in a better mood today. Aaron has met his maternal grandparents and uncle this week. They seem to like him. My mom was such a help during the first few transition days. Dad and Judi came yesterday and are here through the weekend. Aaron prefers to be held only by me, but he will go to other women easily. Especially if that woman has food. He will eat anything, although refuses a bottle, no matter what is in it. We go to the pediatrician tomorrow and I'll ask about it.



We had been feeding him on our laps until last night, when a high chair arrived courtesy of Carolyn and Chris Trend. Thanks Trends!! My dad put it together for us and Aaron was very happy in it.



Monday, November 17, 2008

Travel Epilogue

We've been home for 36 hours, after the ongest 40-hour travel ordeal of my life. Aaron slept a total of 3 hours in that time period and screamed his head off for the remainder. We were very popular on the plane. On the last leg of out trip, from Dallas to Philly, an anonymous "concerned passenger" sent me a note to tell me that the baby was uncomfortable and maybe I should try giving him a bottle so his ears would be more comfortable and maybe he would fall asleep. Really? Try calming the baby? We hadn't thought of that! We thought that screaming and crying were happy signs! We had pretty much tried everything. At one point on the Tokyo to Dallas portion (11 hrs), I started to cry from the same exhustion and frustration as the baby.

But we're home. My mom picked us up from the airport and brought us home to a gorgeous new baby room and a fridge full of food. Then she sent us to bed and was up most of the night with Aaron. He is sooooo jet lagged and overwhelmed. He has been up most of tonight as well. We let him scream for a while, but it feels so cruel. So it's 5 am and we are awake. I am blogging and he is eating a gross teething cookie that even Bouts isn't interested by. Aaron met Bouts tonight and seemed kind of scared, but I'm not worried. I am so glad to have my puppy home! Thank you Cheryl and Maggie for dogsitting.

Aaron is wonderful and totally worth everything we went through, but we are not hurrying to travel overseas with a baby again. We figure he'll want to find his roots when he is 15 and he can fly again then. Thank you to everyone who has been following our trip and progress and making comments. It really helped us get through this crazy time. I can't decide whether or not to continue with an Aaronblog or not. Any input from the peanut gallery?

love,
Beth, Mike, Aaron and Boutros Boutros Boutros

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Last Aaron fix until the USA




It is friday morning in Vietnam and Aaron woke up happy.  Probably because we are soon to get out of this hellhole of a city.  Our flight isn't until almost midnight, so much of the day will be spent sitting around with our stuff.  We can't wait to be home!!

Almost out of Hanoi


We are so ready to come home.  Aaron is having a little bit of a tough time with the eating again.  He loves juice, but I think we have made him an addict.  He takes some formula and eats a little rice cereal, but not nearly enough.  

The three of us have been walking around Hanoi, which is a lot harder than it sounds.  The scooters and the cars don't follow any kind of logical traffic pattern and they don't care about pedestrians.  The people selling things on the street are very aggressive.  They have also been pointing and laughing at Mike when he is carrying Aaron in the baby carrier.  He has started just saying, "Mike Lovell" to everyone who comes up to him or points.  He thinks he is Denny Crane.  

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Errata

Our plans are back to coming home on saturday.  It has been a regular clusterf*@k here in Hanoi.  First, we were told our embassy appointment would be wednesday, so we changed our flight to wednesday.  Unfortunately, Veterans' Day screwed that up, so we were then told thursday.  We ran around changing our plans to fly home on thursday.  This morning, we got a phone call saying our appointment is friday because the embassy is really busy. 

Here's Aaron eating rice cereal, oblivious to the change in plans


Coming home

We have changed our plans and will be coming home on friday during the day, not saturday.  We have had a run around with timing of the Embassy appointment and flights.  So, we changed our plans.  Aaron is having a crying/not eating day.   Not fun.

Monday, November 10, 2008

In Hanoi

We made it to Hanoi yesterday afternoon.  Unfortunately, much of the day was spent like this:


Aaron likes to be held and walked around and basically freaked out if we so much as sat down for a second.  Luckily, that is getting better.  He is turning out to be a great plane baby, at least on the two short flights we took so far.  He falls asleep during takeoff and sleeps through the flight until we get up to deplane.  He also seems to enjoy the business class lounge.  Who doesn't?  




Our place in Hanoi is a great two bedroom serviced apartment with carpeting that he can crawl on.  We slowly worked up to not screaming when put on the floor.  It was Ferberizing for floor, what Michael termed "Berberizing".   Aaron has his own bedroom where his baby cot is (Vietnamese term for crib).  We all slept much better last night and he woke up in a good mood.  


We met Nikki from Mandala yesterday and she is taking all of our paperwork to the Embassy today.  She said we should plan on an appointment in the afternoon on Wednesday to finalize his visa.  After that, we are free to leave for home.  Today, Mike is going to get in touch with Korean Air and try to sweet talk them into changing our tickets.  We are very anxious to get home.  It has been a good experience, but we would all benefit from being in a permanent place with a regular schedule.  It has also been a challenge to figure out the washer/dryer unit here in the apartment.  We are very good at using the one at home.

I don't recall when this picture was taken, but it is so cute!!!