Traffic

Now that we have video ability, we're going to start posting several of the videos that we've made so far. The first is of the traffic outside our hotel. This is what every intersection in the city is like (maybe not quite as bad, but close).



At about 10 seconds you can see a couple of people crossing the street. Picture this with two kids.

Some intersections have traffic signals, but they are completely ignored by everyone. There are 5 million people in this city, and 2 million motorbikes and 200,000 cars. Each month there are more than 1,000 accidents, and in August almost 1,000 people were killed in those accidents, with another 1,000 injured. September is "National Safety Month" where the rules are being reinforced, but apparently the numbers are worse so far this month than last.

More vids to come (of things more interesting than traffic).

Dennis

Morning with the Terror

This morning around 7, I looked over at Will in his crib and he was scooting around on his tummy and grinning at me. I expected a wail of some kind but all I got was the gummy grin. So he and I decided to go ahead and get up and let Dennis and Ava sleep. I put him down on the blanket in the living room and he immediately launched himself into his toys. --Hold on a second. He just spit up on the floor and now he's playing in it. - Okay, I'm back.-- While I made some coffee, he quietly played by himself without me having to be right with him or hold him. And now Ava & Dennis are up and we haven't had a single temper tantrum! Either I'm getting the hang of this or the Terror of Thai Nguyen is taking pity on me.

I think Dennis mentioned that I managed to get sick a few days after we got here. The pollution is awful and I guess I'm probably just going to have some form of a chest cold the whole time we're here. It's very frustrating because I'd like to be out doing some shopping. Nicole -- I took notes from your blog re the places to get the teddy bears with the conical hats and the handmade clothes. I want to SHOP! But the dr. said to keep the kids in for the next 3-5 days so next week, "Silk Street, here I come."

Thank you so much to everyone who has commented or emailed. Those of you who have been through this before know exactly how much it means when you're here. A connection to home. I'm going to start going back through the blog and adding my comments and details about each day. I want to start that tonight.

Also, to those of you who haven't traveled yet -- Stay at the Somerset! It's awesome! More later.

Love, Tami

Another milestone

Ava decided that today was the day that she was going to learn to roll-over. The first time she did it, she really freaked herself out. Now she's done it 4 times and it's pretty much second nature.

We have a lot of room In our new apartment so we've put the kids on the carpet. Will has shown himself to be quite mobile when he wants to -- he's been scooting all over the place (and almost pulled the laptop off the table when we turned our back).

A day full of firsts. We should have some more pictures up in the next day or so (since they're so darn cute), and hopefully we'll get some movies up soon as well.

Dennis

They aren't being nice anymore

Since Tuesday we've changed about 2 dozen diapers. We were both a little intimidated at first, but we got the hang of it pretty quick. We knew going into it that the babies wouldn't poop for several (up to 5) days from the time we got them, so we were looking forward to the grace period to learn how to handle everything.

I guess they've decided that they like us and they're going to keep us, because they certainly didn't wait 5 days to share the joys of parenthood.

In the past 3 hours we have changed 3 dirty (like really dirty) diapers. We didn't know that smells and colors like those were even possible.

Poop pics to follow.


















just kidding about the pics.

Dennis

Day 1 is almost over

This morning all the men went to Vietnamese immigration to apply for passports for the little ones. It'll take a week to get them back, then we start the US immigration process.

We took the kids to the clinic when I got done for a check-up (we were nervous), got tons of medicine for their cough, then spent the rest of the day (since around noon) trying to get Will to take a nap. It didn't work.

Tomorrow we're going to move to a different hotel (with two bedrooms) which will help with the space crunch that we're experiencing at the moment (two adults, two babies, two cribs, 8 suitcases in a smallish standard sized hotel room). I'm also going to make Tami go to the Dr -- she's got the same cough as the kids, and she's miserable.

I'll post more if I get some time, and at some point Tami will get on and post much more detail about what's going on.

Dennis

The Results of a Long But Amazing Day...

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it
----------------Rumi

it's official

We leave around noon tomorrow (midnight tonight for those in Austin) for the orphanage and the G&R ceremony. We should be back here around 7 - 8 tomorrow night (tomorrow morning for those in Austin) so look for pictures then!

Dennis