First Doctors Appointment

Drew's one year check up was today (well yesterday technically). Dr. Sood said he is "perfect"...but we already knew that :) He weighs 21 lbs 10 oz. and is 29 1/4 inches tall. He's in the 20th percentile in both weight and height. He seems big, but I guess he's not. I think he's big for a Vietnamese baby...but not so much on the American charts. We go tomorrow for a battery of lab work. It'll probably take at least 2 visits to the lab to get it all done. I know it has to be done, but I just hate the thought of him being stuck. We'll go back to see Dr. Sood in about 3 weeks for results. We just love Dr. Sood. He makes us feel like we have the only baby in the world. Drew did great. He did get 3 shots today and the first one, he didn't even cry...but when she got him with number 2...wow...the crying began. He's been a little fussy this evening...but overall doing fine.

He's been extremely vocal today. He's watching and listening to Ian all the time. Scary.

Off to bed...lots to do in the next couple of days.

A Week Of Firsts

This week was full of firsts. Drew got his first haircut from our good friend Natasha. He did really well. She was so patient with him.

Friday afternoon we had Drew's one year pictures taken. When I get them electronically, I'll post them. He did well...but no big smiles. Only a sweet little, dimply grin.

Friday night we decided to enjoy some watermelon outside. So of course...his clothes had to come off. HE LOVED IT.

We've been home for two weeks and things are starting to feel somewhat normal. I head back to work after this week. While it's going to be hard to leave my new little munchkin, it'll be nice to have some adult interaction.

Drew has his first real appointment with Dr. Sood this Wednesday. That should be fun. He's really a pretty calm little guy, but he can get mad quickly and he's STRONG.

Ian is adjusting to being a big brother...somewhat. Thursday night Drew was running around the house and Ian was on my lap. Ian looked at me and said "you can take him back mommy.....take him back to Bietnam, OK?" I told him that we couldn't because he was our baby and he said "OK". I guess he had to try. On Wednesday morning, Ian woke up before Drew did. He wanted to go "wake baby Drew up" and I told him no. He said "but Mommy, I need to love on him". I didn't want to wake Drew up, but how could I resist that? I did though. In a few minutes he asked again...this time he asked if daddy could lift him into the crib so he could give him a kiss. Charlie did (at my prodding). Drew didn't wake up. BUT...about 10 minutes later I hear "wake up baby....wake up baby....WAKE UP BABY DREW". Baby Drew woke up. He giggled at Ian and then when I walked in the room he started to cry. He has figured his mommy out already.

Loving being a mom to these two boys. Oh, by the way....still debating the name of the new blog...but I'm hoping to get the new one up and running by the end of this week. So, stay tuned.

Getting Ready To Merge

Now that Drew's home, I'm finding it more and more difficult to keep up with 2 blogs. So...I'm going to start a new one for the family. I'll still keep both Ian and Drew's blogs live so families can look back at our journey. Now the difficult part...coming up with a name. I'm using all of my creative juices with a 13 month old and a 3 year old at present. So, please make a comment and give me some ideas for a new name for our blog.

Sunday In The Park

From an afternoon of fun at LaFortune Park. Ian is still trying to get the hang of holding on to Drew. He keep wanting to hold him by his neck....hmmmm....wonder if that will continue?



Brothers....hand in hand.....I've waited a long time for this!!!

New Name

Poor little guy....He's bound to think is name is "Drew...NO". That's what we say a thousand times a day. He's mobile and curious. This morning, I went to the bathroom. When I came back in the kitchen he had dumped all of the cat food in the floor and was proceeding to put a little at a time in the water dish. Cat food stew perhaps? He was awfully proud of himself.

My Boys

This is it so far. Ian is home with us today, so I'm sure we'll get lots more. These were taken on Sunday afternoon.

Each day is better. Jet lag has been horrible. Drew is gradually becoming accustomed to Oklahoma time. He has, however, had a virus. He's fine now. But...Ian has it. He's feeling fine now though. Hopefully mommy and daddy can avoid it this time.

Ian can make Drew laugh when no one else can. They look so sweet together. If Drew's awake, Ian thinks he should be playing with him.

More as I get a chance. Drew's napping, Charlie and Ian have gone out to run errands and I am should be doing dishes....but what am I doing....BLOGGING. Ooops. :)

What Happens When Jet Lagged Parents Aren't Looking

We're Home

We arrived home on Sunday morning, as scheduled. There were a few hiccups along the way, but too tired to go into them now. I'll save that for a later post.

Drew did GREAT on the flights. He slept for 9 of the 13 hours from Hong Kong to LAX.

It was great to see so many folks at the airport on an early Sunday morning. We sure loved seeing your smiling faces.

BUT...nothing compared to Sunday afternoon when Marcia and Bill brought Ian home. I LOVED seeing that face. He was so excited to see us. He and Drew are doing well, so far.

I'll blog more when I'm less jet lagged and have had a chance to sleep. Little Drew is still on Vietnam time....so Charlie and I aren't sleeping much. He'll adjust eventually.

More later....with pictures :)

Last Post From Vietnam

Today is the day....the day we leave the country of Drew's birth. It's kind of bittersweet. But, we're ready to come home and begin our lives as a family of four. Wow...that sounds kind of odd when I say it out loud. I'm going to be the mom of "boys"....plural. Wow.

We've had a great journey. At times, I thought we'd never get here. But, I knew that we were working with one of the best agencies...if not THE best...in Vietnam. Jynger, Katie and Mary Anne all held my hand, listened to me cry, try to calm me when I was angry and celebrated the victories with us. I'll never, ever forget that 11:15pm phone call from Jynger when we finally received our pre-approval. The Dillon staff on the US side is great....and so are the staff in Vietnam. They have made everything so easy for us.

It's amazing the people God puts in your lives through an adoption journey. We have met so many friends through both of our adoptions....life long friends. We were blessed to travel with the Borski's to India and this time we traveled with the Perkins. Both of these families will ALWAYS have special places in our hearts and families.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our great friends Marcia and Bill. They have taken amazing care of our sweet Ian while we have been gone. We can never repay them for the love and comfort they have given him during this time. We are so very thankful for them.

So....here we go. Little Drew is taking a nap and we're almost packed. We a few little things to do. Loc is picking us up at 3:30pm, so the time will get away from us.

Thanks for following our time in Vietnam. Next post.....from HOME!

Another Cool Thing About Being On This Side Of The World

We're, well....I'm, watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics LIVE. Of course it's in Chinese, so I can't understand anything that's being said. But, right now is the parade of Nations and I can read the names. What a neat experience.

BTW...it's a pretty spectacular opening ceremony, so watch if you get the chance.

In less that 24 hours we'll be on our way home. Yay!!!

The Golden Ticket...Almost Time To Go Home

We're good to go!!! The Visa interview, if you want to call it that, was yesterday at 2:00pm. Loc picked up our packet at 4:00pm. Now, we're just waiting for tomorrow afternoon to come so we can head home.

We celebrated last night by eating at Al Fresco's. Loved it!!! Then we had some cake when we got back to the room.

Our plans yesterday were foiled by the rain. So, today we went to Hoan Kiem Lake. It's beautiful. Then we did a little shopping in the area. We had to buy an extra duffel bag because all of our other bags are filled....or will be.

We did most of our shopping in HCM, but we should have done more. It's so much easier to get around there and things are a lot less expensive.

Drew is doing great. He's quite the little eater. I gave him some Kiwi Mango Fruit baby food gel this evening and he didn't like it. That was the first thing so far. He had a great time at Al Fresco's last night too. All of the girls picked him up, carried him around and he loved it. He's also quite the dancer....well bobbing his little head up and down when ever he hears music. It's the cutest thing.

I am a little apprehensive about our flights tomorrow. Drew is VERY active and being confined for that many hours is not going to be pleasant. Hopefully he sleeps through most of it.

We have enjoyed our time in this beautiful country, but it's time to come home. I'll try to post one more time before we leave.

Ian...we'll be home very soon. We're so proud of you and we know you've had so much fun with Marcia, Bill and Amanda. We understand Leslie and Nicky have been part of the fun too. We love you so much Ian!!!

Please start praying now for our long trip home and for Drew's transition into our family.

I Don't Think Ian's Missing Us

But...we're sure missing him. He's having so much fun with Marcia, Bill and Amanda. He looks like he's grown a foot in this picture. Marcia has done such a good job emailing updates and pictures to me. Only a few more days and I can kiss that smiling face.

Visa Interview Tomorrow

Tomorrow is our Visa interview. If things go as they have in the past few weeks, we should have Drew's Visa tomorrow afternoon. Then, we're free to go home. We have loved our time in Drew's birth country...especially Ninh Thuan. But, it's time to go home.

We found the wonderful quilt shop this afternoon. Charlie said I looked like a kid at Christmas. I loved that place. We found a beautiful quilt and a few other things. I wish I could have purchased more.

It looks like our traveling pals will be going home tomorrow evening. We haven't been able to spend much time with them in Hanoi. Things kind of revolve around nap schedules right now. They will always have a special place in our hearts and in our family. Sweet little Layne Nhi is precious and it's been so much fun watching her blossom. She is going to do great with their family.

Just finished dinner and now we're getting ready for bath time. The first bath was not a good thing...but now....wow...they're quite fun.

Drew is a joy and we're having fun getting to know him. Now it's time for everyone else to meet him and see his sweet face. I'm looking forward to seeing my boys together.

Hello From Hanoi

I'm going to keep this short because I'm supposed to be putting clothes away while Charlie and Drew are downstairs in the playroom. But, no....had to blog for just a second.

We're doing great. No more falls for me....hope I didn't just jinx myself. The flight to Hanoi was pretty uneventful. Drew slept the first 45 minutes and then cried for about 20 minutes. But, keep in mind...it was nap time and he was hungry. Of course, I think he's always hungry.

We were sad to leave Ho Chi Minh. It was more difficult that I thought it would be to say goodbye to Phoung. She traveled with us to Ninh Thuan, so we spent much more time with her than the other Dillon staff. One of our favorite road trip memories came on the way to Ninh Thuan. We stopped to eat...and Charlie was trying to eat rice with his chop sticks. Phoung touched my hand and said "tell your husband use his spoon". She even had a friend in Ninh Thuan send us a copy of the newspaper dated July 31st...our GNR date. All of the Dillon staff are great. Minh is fabulous. Walked us through all of the paperwork and got us where we needed to go. Thomas is a hoot....he's so much fun.

Loc met us at the airport in Hanoi. Nice, nice young man. He was very helpful. We love the Somerset Grand Hotel...apartment. It's FABULOUS. I'm doing laundry as I'm blogging. Last night after we checked in the housekeeping supervisor came up to give us a tour of the room and show us how to use the stuff in the room. I thought he brought us something to drink. Charlie gave me some water and I said "isn't there Coke?"...Charlie in his very exasperated voice said "here you go ala-ka-freakin'-zam....it's Coke".

We've gone to the grocery store today and we're just hanging out with our sweet kiddo. Have I mentioned just how cute he is? Well....he is. Our house is so NOT ready for him. Ian was never a child that opened cabinet doors or anything else. Not Drew. He opens them, gets in them, closes them. Anything he can think of...he tries it. The boy loves to eat. He's opening up more and more. He giggles quite a bit and smiles A LOT. But...he also has his moments of frustration....I'm hearing one now in the kitchen. He just closed the door on his finger.

htmgbfvbv (That's from Drew).

Our Visa interview is on Thursday at 1:30pm. His Visa should be ready the same day. But, we're not sure we'll be able to come home earlier. All seats are full on Friday. So, we'll probably keep our stame return schedule.

Couple of things....Susie, Amy, Heather, Shelley and Lori....we delivered the pictures of your kiddos to the nannies. They loved seeing them. They were very excited to see Sadie smile Lori.

I'm missing Ian a lot today. Talked to him earlier. He didn't say much to me, but Marcia said he was just smiling from ear to ear. Can't wait to see him.

Said I was going to keep this short didn't I? Oh well. We're going to venture out tomorrow and go to the Water Puppet show and I'm going to try to find the quilt shop. We'll have Friday free as well and up until about 4pm on Saturday.

I'm laughing at Charlie and Drew again. Drew and Daddy are going to have their fair share of head strong moments.

Love to all of you!!! Can't wait for you to meet our newest blessing.

It's Sunday Morning in Vietnam

It's a beautiful morning. Hot, humid...but beautiful. The only thing I can think of that would make it better is if I could hold and kiss my sweet Ian. But soon...soon.

Did Imention it's HOT. I think it must be about 100 degrees, with 5,000 percent humidity. The evenings are nice though....still humid, but a little cooler. The past two evenings we've had rain.

We've had an interesting couple of days. Drew is fantastic. Coming out of his little shell more and more. He keeps us laughing...and running. I've decided that all of the trash cans in our house now have to change to ones with lids, probably locking lids, on them. No matter where we put them in the hotel room, he finds them. He's quite curious about everything and tries to do anything we're doing.

Yesterday we went to the Market. WOW. Let me say that again...WOW. Talk about sensory overload. Not so much for Drew, but for me. I've never seen anything quite like it. I might have done better if I hadn't had Drew with me. But, we (Drew and I) lasted about half an hour and then took a taxi back to the hotel. Charlie stayed behind and shopped. Drew and I had some great fun in the room. Giggling and playing....and then finally trying to take a nap. Afternoon naps are not our friends. He just doesn't like them. He cries and cries and cries but he's so tired and wipes his little eyes. So, I know he needs a nap. Finally after about an hour he was out. Charlie showed me all of the cool stuff he purchased.

Then, I went shopping. Found some lovely little shops on the streets. Some with beautiful hand embroidered stuff. I found a great store of Ao Dai's and I'm having one made for me. I can pick it up tomorrow morning. Did a little more shopping and then headed back to the room.

Drew was still asleep. When we woke up, we changed and then headed out for dinner. We were going to try to find the Wild Horse something or other place...but we never did. We found a bookstore with some great children's books. Then we found KFC...so we had dinner. Drew ate almost all of my mashed potatoes. This boy LOVES to eat.

I think this is the trip of the Nadra mis-haps. Day one...fell getting out of the shower. Last night...fell again in the bookstore. Imagine this big American woman lying in the small isle of a bookstore. I had so hoped no one saw me...but no....this sweet little Vietnamese young lady ran to my rescue. I'm fine...bruises on my behind (from the shower fall) and on my lower left leg...but fine. I'm sitting here laughing as I'm typing this...clumsy should have been my middle name.

All in all, this has been a great trip. We're going to try to do a little more sight seeing today....I promise...I'll be careful. Then, we're having dinner with the Dillon staff tonight.

It's been a long journey to get here and God has blessed us more than we ever deserve. It's Sunday morning here and I feel like I should be in church. I'd love to be listening to Bobby H. singing and Deron preaching right now.

We leave for Hanoi tomorrow. We have one official thing to do there and then we're done. Woo, hoo!!!!

Ian....mommy, daddy and baby Drew are coming home soon. We miss you so much. You are going to have so much fun playing with your baby brother. We can't wait to see you. Hugs and big kisses from mommy and daddy!!!

Better Each Day

Drew's napping now, so I'm taking a minute to post. He's doing very well. Hates...I mean HATES....to take a nap. Not so much the nap...but the getting sleepy part. He WAILS. Poor little guy. It's not like that a bedtime...just nap time.

Some things we've learned about Drew so far....he's stubborn, his favorite toy is an empty water bottle (if we put it in the trash can, he goes over and gets it), he loves eggs (ate about 1/3 of an egg and cheese omelet this morning)....he loves to eat..period. He knows who his "mama" is....he knows who is "daddy" is....he's not quite sure why we keep calling him Drew though. He had his first bath last night....hated it. Maybe it'll get better when we get home. He loves his little stacking cups (not as much as the empty water bottle though).

We had a pretty bad storm here last night. It rained for about 2 hours. After that, Charlie went over the the tax center to pick up a few things. He ended up carrying his flip flops and walked through water up to his knees. His shorts were wet when he got back. He decided to inquire about a stroller. The lady in the shop said 5 million dong.....WHAT? That's like $400 US dollars. So he thanked her and walked away.

After Drew's nap we're going to head down the Ben Tuan market and do some shopping. There seem to be a lot of nice shops on the way there.

We're done with the paperwork here in HCM. Minh met us this morning and we gave him our VISA application and new I-600. I love Minh. He's such a nice man. Of course I didn't get to spend much time talking to him this morning because little Drew was sleepy and WAILING. As soon as I could sign the forms, I headed back upstairs. We're having Dinner with the Dillon staff tomorrow night. Monday Mr. Minh will pick up the Visa medical check paperwork and we will then fly to Hanoi.

We're really doing great. I hope we get to see more today. It's a little difficult with a child that wants to walk all the time. I'm breaking out the Mei Tai carrier today. I have a feeling Mr. Stubborn will not like it much. It might just be too hot. It's very humid. I am NOT using my flat iron. It doesn't do any good. I have lovely wavy hair right now :)

Marcia & Bill....we didn't get a chance to call to day....it was too late by the time we got back to the room. We'll try to call you tomorrow. Ian....we love you and miss you like crazy. You're going to have to teach Drew lots of things (like not throwing his cups).

More as we can....and more pictures too (I think we've taken over 500 so far).

Love to all of you!!!