So, what are you doing tomorrow?

I'll be flying to Vietnam to get Aaron.

This afternoon, Boutros is going to his friend Maggie's house for the two weeks we are gone (thank you Maggie's mom Cheryl). We are going to miss him a lot, but we'll be bringing him a t-shirt that says "my humans went to Vietnam and all I got was this lousy baby". In the meantime, he is warming his tushie on the radiator while he waits for Merlin, our contractor, to arrive.




Speaking of which, here is how the room is coming along:



It should be done by the time we get back. There are hardwood floors, but they need a lot of work and we think carpet is better for a baby.

maternity leave

I just got home from my last shift before going away to get Aaron. I won't be back to work until the middle of December, which seems like a long time away, but I'm sure it will come quickly. We have less than 48 hours before the airport shuttle picks us up to start our journey. I am anxious, excited, and very tired. I'm worried about how I'm going to be a good mom after night shift like the ones I've had recently. It has been so busy in the ED and the patients and their families are very needy. I don't feel like I have anything left in me to give. What will happen when I have Aaron here and he needs me? It's a while off, but I'm still nervous. No big surprise there for anyone who knows me well.

Blog Update

I have posted our airline travel information on the right hand sidebar.

In other news...

We have decided to use the weekend between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to take a side trip to the coastal town of Hoi An. Of course, Mike found a posh resort, the Palm Garden, to stay at with Aaron. We want to make a good impression. We will be staying in a garden view bungalow.

Our contractor, Merlin (his real name), has started to work his magic in Aaron's future room. It started as a guest room with green walls and a slanty, yucky, plaster ceiling. The ceiling, walls, windows and closet will all be redone. Here are some pics of the day 1 progress:




It actually looks better than it did before the demolition began.

Another sweater- this time, not by me

I spent about a day and a half visiting my aunt Marjorie and uncle Yusef in Brooklyn this week. We went to a little event where the authors of my favorite knitting blog, www.masondixonknitting.com, were speaking about their latest book. Margie presented me with a sweater she made for Aaron, in a lovely lime green with brown sleeves. It is adorable!

Thank you Madge!

Travel update

We've made our plane reservations!! We'll be taking domestic carriers for a short first leg and then getting on Korean Air for the rest. It looks very luxurious, even in coach, which is how we decided to go. We'd looked into business class, but it quadruples our ticket price and we'd rather spend that on M&M's. We take off from Philadelphia on November 1 and touch back down on November 15th. Leaving with George Bush, returning, we hope, with Barack Obama. Not on our plane, of course.

Creeping ahead

Well, we're moving at a snail's pace, but we're moving forward. Aaron's room renovations/repairs begin tomorrow or wednesday and should definitely be finished by the time we get back from VN. Mike & I are going to see a travel agent this afternoon to try to book airline tickets with an adoption fare. Sometimes these fares are in the range of 50% off the ticket! That would mean many more souvenirs for Boutros. We've been researching hotels in HCMC and Hanoi and the really nice ones are a little pricy, but the mid-range ones are quite reasonable for big cities. There are places that will give you a room and a shower with hot water (what a selling point!) for $5 a night. I drink coffee that costs more than that, so I'm a little wary of picking one of those for my child. If the $5 room came with internet access, I actually think Mike would be ok with it.

Our plan is to fly to Ho Chi Minh City on November 1st, which gets us there on November 2nd. Vietnam is 11 hours ahead of us, so it will be a tough transition. We will take Nov 3rd to gather our wits and then our Giving and Receiving ceremony with Aaron is November 4th. And then he is ours. Welcome to Vietnam! Here's a souvenir baby who is almost a toddler. Good luck! You'll need it!

From there, our next definite stop is in Hanoi, where we will have an appointment with the US Embassy for an interview. That will probably happen on the 10th or 11th, according to our adoption agency. In between, I think we apply for Aaron's passport, get a medical appointment and get his visa photos taken. Other than that, we're free to roam. We still haven't figured out exactly where we're going. There are some other famous cities I'd like to visit, but I don't know how much is too much with a 9 month old.

OMG!!

We got word from USCIS and were approved for travel to Vietnam!! I will be talking to the director of the adoption agency this afternoon to discuss dates and the like. Hooray! I can't believe I have to go to work in a few hours- who can concentrate?

hoodie

The striped hoodie is done and is sooooo cute. This is the softest yarn I've ever worked with and it knits up beautifully. Now we just need a boy to fill it.

moving the chains

Well, we haven't yet been approved, but it looks like eight of the waiting families were. They were all notified today. It is unlikely that their approvals were all done yesterday, so there were people kept waiting who could have been on their way to Vietnam. It is not just paperwork. These are people's lives being dealt with in a very casual manner. I am trying to look at the positive side- if a bunch were approved today, the rest of us should be approved soon. The messages seem to come out on wednesdays for some reason. So, here's hoping that next wednesday is the day!

Forty days and forty nights

We have hit the forty calendar days until 60 business days for CIS mark. I realize the preceding sentence is difficult syntacticly. Sorry. Is syntacticly a word? It seems as if several families whose babies are in the Thanh Hoa province, which was "blocked" for a long time, have finally gotten approvals to travel. So, CIS is working on the applications at least. Hopefully, the rest of us will be approved soon. It is so hard to make myself get all ready to go when I don't know when the takeoff date will be. Aaron's room is still far from ready and we sprung a new leak in our roof during last weekend's monsoon. Mike & I still have to get travel vaccines, although I am hoping for a parasite to assist with some weight loss. It should be good for 5-10 pounds, which would give me a jumpstart. I'm not sure if Yellow Fever or Dengue is better for shedding pounds, but believe me, I'm gonna find out! In any case, if Noah and his ark could survive this time period, I think I can, too.

I started working on the hoodie last night. The green sweater was on size 3 needles, which was a pain and made for slow going. The hoodie is on 7's, and I got half the back done in 2 hours while I was catching up on my DVR'ed shows.