On again, off again, on again!

A lot has happened since my last post!

After many phone calls and escalation phone calls, we did receive confirmation that December 29th is the scheduled G&R Ceremony. The Giving and Receiving Ceremony is the description of the “Gotcha” acceptance of the baby. (Some of the Viet Nam adoptive parents have affectionately termed it the Getting & Running Ceremony!)

The flights were mostly full and where seats were available they were ultra expensive ($12K for one person roundtrip coach with three stop overs!). It is amazing to recollect the other outrageous travel nightmares we came across when booking a trip with 4 days notice during the holiday season.

I was beginning to think that Santa’s sleigh was going to be the only transportation available. I had to enlist the assistance of a travel agent and he was able to find us a route with availability. Prospective Adoptive Parents can’t be choosers!

The airline is Thai Airways, the layovers are in LAX and Bangkok before getting to Hanoi, and the return flight has a 12 hour (hotel overnight) in LAX. The ‘good’ news is that price was only twice the normal fare. So… with these factors we decided that I would travel alone to Hanoi to get the baby and my sister Cindy will stay here at home with Jordan.

I am looking forward to one-on-one bonding time with baby Brian, and I feel pretty comfortable with the process since it is my second time around. It is certainly different than China, and I will be expecting tons of last minute challenges that require flexibility. I feel much confident this time however in the care, feeding, bathing and loving of a baby. I am cautious and a bit scared about the airports and luggage moving logistics by myself. I am also concerned about the Bangkok airport with the recent political unrest and incidents at that airport. So, I am cautiously optimistic overall, but will need to put on Traveler Alert third eye for the trip.

I am so sad though to be separated from Jordan during these 9 days, and sad that she won't be a part of the trip or of baby Brian's first days with me. She is very sad that she isn’t going. She has been so excited to see Viet Nam! We have been using this entire process to better educate her about her own adoption. I want to make sure that she doesn’t feel too left out of the baby joining the family. We’ll talk on the phone, I’ll try to get Skype up and going and will probably blog more than I had planned to for her... She is excited that she will get to spend time with her Aunt Dede here and wants to know if she'll take her swimming while she is here.

I am also sad that my sister Cindy cannot join me on this Asia adventure! She is totally ready – from travel purses, immunizations, she has her Visa and is an experienced and loving mother… I learned so much from her the first time around and ever since! We had so much fun just planning and packing and preparing. Sigh. I feel happy that the trip is finally on, but there is a sense of loss as well! Cindy is coming in from Florida on Christmas evening, and I leave on the 26th, home on the 9th of January.

I’ll make up an agenda for Cindy and Jordan while I an gone, and there are some great events (birthday parties, New Year’s party, dinners etc.) that are already planned for Jordan to attend. Cindy will be having a very social time while I am gone! They will have a wonderful time. I am hopeful that our friends and China playgroup people will reach out to her for assistance while she is here. They are wonderful folks and we are so lucky to have them in our lives.

So we returned from Florida last night and I have three days to finish the Christmas last minute stocking stuffers, pay bills, go to the grocery, repack for Viet Nam, prepare for the parties Jordan will be attending and prepare for her birthday party scheduled for Sunday, January 11. It will be a whirlwind three days!

Jordan in the Admirals Club at the Miami airport - she has her vitamin water, fruit and cheese tray and DVD player watching Cinderella!

My mom had the mother of all colds while we were in Florida so I didn’t get to spend too much time with her. She called the doctor and got some antibiotics (after 5 days of being totally wrecked). After a day and a half of those, she felt well enough to spend some time at Walmart Grocery Superstore with me the afternoon before we left. (Growing up, one of my favorite things to do with mom was go to the grocery store!)

I must have been ripe for her bugs though! Last night I didn’t get to sleep at all, I was coughing, congested, my muscles ached and pained, and I had a massive headache. I bucked up early today and went to Care Now. My PCP is all the way across town, so the local 'doc in the box' is great. I love the PA there. She loaded me up!

I got an antibiotic prescription, B-12 shot, steroid shot, and some Mucinex D. Within two hours I was feeling asymptomatic and was buzzing with energy. It was like drinking a triple shot Grande Vanilla Latte with Energy X2. I have light sweat beads all over – and am currently in a massive preparatory OCD frenzy – the kind I only dream of! I wish I had this energy all the time.

I’ll post more later about the great Florida holiday trip but I am going to focus on my To Do list at the moment… I feel the need of the satisfaction of "check, check, check"!

Is it finally happening???? I think it might be...