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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Green Day is blastin' below.

As Barnabas said, we are in Hanoi now.  He will have to go back and finish up the posts about the market & tunnels from Monday & Tuesday.  Norah was great on her first plane flight and only got fussy about 10 minutes before our decent.  No real heavy crying however I still am not looking forward to 22 hours of travel  on Friday.  The plane we flew here on was MUCH better than our international flight (makes sense right??)  The seats had a little more room and there was more foot room too.  We got a meal on a 1:45 min. flight which is pretty much unheard of in the states.  It was a little noodle dish with shrimp and chicken and a green fruit & coconut jello on the side. 

We got in late yesterday afternoon around 5 pm and are EX-HAUS-TED.  Yeah.  Norah is STILL sick.  She is snotty all over the place and we are completely out of clean clothes for us.  Her snot makes all our clothes filthy in minutes.  To all the families approaching travel.  Before leaving the Rex in HCMC, send all your clothes out to Thuy's sister for cleaning.  We did not do it and I am regretting it big time.  The hotel here is nice, more western.  For the most part I like the room better than the Rex however, it is LOUD.  We are on the 9th floor and I can hear every single word of every conversation below and 10 million honking horns.  The bed is also pretty hard.  Gran Becki would love it, it is like sleeping on the floor.  My whole body is aching this morning.  It feels like someone kicked the crap out of me in my sleep.  The people here act like it is the north pole and are wearing down coats and hats.  Of course, we each only brought one sweatshirt and they are both covered in snot already.  It should be a fun next 3 days deciding which outfit is the less snotty.  Norah was up in the middle of the night last night fighting sleep.  She did not want to go to bed at 8 and just wanted to play.  When she fights sleep she scoots around on her head and "talks" loudly.  Then she swill stop and scratch the sheets or the bed or the couch, whatever she can reach.  It is a really annoying noise to hear all night long but at least she is not scratching herself.  I can't wait to get her home into a crib in ANOTHER room.  I think we will all sleep so much better. 

Barnabas had his first poopy diaper last night (I have saved him the stress and anxiety for the last week) and it was a good one.  Then he got a surprise poopy this morning and right after he finished changing it and picked her up she spit up all over him.  Double whammy.  ;-) Breakfast was really good.  Everyone raves about the Rex, I guess because of the variety of fruits.   The croissants are actually fresh here, like they had come from a bakery.  The Rex breads seem like they come out of a package.  Don't get me wrong, Rex is good but half the fruits were umm... not so great so I am okay without them.  I did miss my gouda, pomello and pineapple but it is a great trade off for being able to eat without a baby crawling all over me.  And like Barnabas said, no one wanted to hold her in HCMC but there were a line of servers here kissing all over her.  They came right up and inspected her closely and then whisked her off.   Then we came back to the room to blarin' Green Day and she fell asleep for a quick nap. 

As far as her progress goes, she is "standing" now when we hold her.  It is great to see her actually trying to use her leg muscles.  The were just limp noodles a week ago.  She has somewhat sat up twice on her own, kinda.  She really doesn't try much.  She can hold for about 10 seconds before taking a face plant into a pillow.  She is much more interactive than she was last week.  She hisses and coos and waits for us to repeat it, then she grins from ear to ear.  It is quite cute, even at 2 am.  =)  She is eating her toys and making some effort to get to them.  She particularly loves the stacking cups and her chew ring.  From the amount of drool coming out of her I think she might be teething.  I can barely see something on the top right but it is hard to tell because every time I try to touch it she screams.  Anyway, she is awake now and it is cereal time.  Barnabas will post pics of the past few days shortly.

 

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8 comments:

Jess said...

I just love her smile and I LOVE her in orange, she is adorable! It sucks that she is still sick, but like you said, she could be teething (lucky you, LOL!) The trip sounds like it going really well, we miss you guys and can't wait to meet the lil missy!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to hear you're all safe and sound in Hanoi and enjoying the city. Great pix of Norah! -Gina

Anonymous said...

I love the pics with her orange little outfit. Too cute. Orange is definitely her color = )

E

Anonymous said...

I love the pics with her orange little outfit. Too cute. Orange is definitely her color = )

E

Ann said...

Love watching your trip, your daughter is so sweet and lucky to have you as parents! LOVED your snot remark...oh yes parenthood, parents AKA : Human Klenex! Have a safe trip home.

Unknown said...

Wow, it all sounds so interesting. Lots of fun adventures and good times with Norah. She really seems to becoming attached to you and enjoying everything around her. We love the pictures of her on the bed especially standing on her head. How cute!!!! She still seems to be loving her bath. That little crab is positioned perfectly Ha-Ha!
Spain had their produce and meat with clothes in some of the stores. It was a strange phenomena to first see. Maybe we should discuss a change with Walmart?
We hope all paperwork is complete for Norah's return and enjoy those dirty clothes, you will be in clean ones soon!
LOL,
Granny Janny and PaPa NeNe

Joe Raschke said...

You guys are the luckiest parents! Has the trip become surreal yet? After we spent 12 straight days at the Rex it took on a life of its own. You'll be home soon.

Congrats,

Joe & Cathy & Nicholas

Stacie said...

Love all the pictures of your cutie-pie girl! :)