First U.S. Visa appointment and going to Hanoi!

Today we had the first of two U.S. visa appointments for Ian. This is the U.S. immigration step which allows us to bring him home. The second U.S. visa appointment must be done in Hanoi and is being scheduled. We are going to Hanoi I think tomorrow, but I am not sure when our second appointment will be. After that appointment (could take days or longer to schedule), and the visa is issued, we can all come home. The whole trip usually takes three weeks, but sometimes it is shorter if all of these steps happen quickly. We shall see. We have been told that Hanoi is MUCH hotter and more humid than Ho Chi Minh City. It has actually been not too bad here (very, very humid, but not that hot). I am not sure how we will tolerate the heat & humidity, but we will find out soon. I know both cities are very polluted so that does not help with handling this humidity.

Tonight Sean, Ian and I went to a "grown up" restaurant. The only actual restaurant we have eaten in before tonight is at our hotel (well, except for lunch at KFC in Vung Tau yesterday). That is partly because Ian is often asleep in our room already and we order room service (very inexpensive). And there is a breakfast buffet included with our hotel room so we eat breakfast there most mornings (unless we have adoption business to attend to). Well at this restaurant, it was very nice. We ordered dinners which have several courses. We though Ian would have his bottle and maybe fall asleep in our arms. Um, not so. He was too interested in everything and got tired and fussy. A woman at the restaurant (owner?) took him off (we had heard this often happens in restaurants in Vietnam - waitresses hold the baby while you eat - mixed feelings about that), and was playing with him. She had him belly laughing, but she was loud and was making him laugh by kind of scaring him. Well, eventually he had had enough. He got very upset and since the restaurant was across the street from our hotel, I just took him to the hotel while Sean finished up and paid the bill. We were almost finished, but felt bad that our plan for him didn't work out quite as we had planned. He gets so fussed over....the Vietnamese women fuss over him and play with him and he puts on a cute smiley show for them. But it is very overstimulating, considering he was just in an orphanage a little over a week ago. That is why most of our outings have been short.

So I brought him to the hotel, laid him on our bed to change him and he just stretched out his arms with the most contented look on his face. Then he had a bottle the proper way, all snuggled up, and he crashed.

So we did not get pics at the Immigration Office (silly me, they took our camera at the security check), but here are a few cute ones of Ian.

Our plan is to go to Hanoi tomorrow (that means packing up a LOT of stuff), but I guess we need some paperwork to take with us, so we are not sure if we will go tomorrow or later. Our hotel room is pretty big, with dressers, cabinets, and ledges and we have our stuff unpacked and organized as a "little home" so it will be something to pack it all up again....which I should start doing. Off to load the pics.............

Michelle