Homecoming

One year ago today, we arrived back at O'Hare - my sister and niece were there to meet us after we picked up our luggage and made our way through the loonnggg line at the customs and immigration desk. Tommy became a US Citizen when the immigration officer stamped his IR-3 visa, and we had never been so happy to get off of an airplane!
The flights were long, but thinking back, they weren't that bad. Ninh took us to the Hanoi airport around 10pm on April 15, and we boarded a flight to Seoul around midnight. Tommy slept the entire 5 hour flight to Seoul, and then during most of the 5 hour layover at the Seoul Incheon Airport. He was wide awake and ready to go when we boarded the plane for our 14 hour flight to O'Hare!

18 Months

Tommy turned 18 months old on Sunday. He passed his 18 month checkup with flying colors and was flirting with all of the nurses and doing all of his tricks for the doctor.
He is in love with anything with wheels - trains, school bus, trucks, wagons, etc. His current favorite is the loud school bus that wheels itself when you push the button. He pushes it under the couch and chairs, and then crawls under to retrieve it. He's also been watching a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD over and over, and has a new Thomas push train he carried around with the school bus.
The weather has turned warmer, so we've been out for walks and stroller rides to the park. He is becoming more steady on the stairs that go to the slide, and is becoming braver when it comes to climbing on things outside and around the house.
Happy Spring!

Celebration

We celebrated Tommy's adoption day with a chocolate cake and balloons. Tommy liked stinking his finger in the chocolate frosting and hitting the balloons like they were drums.






Giving Mommy a taste of the frosting















The cake, minus two fingers full of frosting













Yum










Tommy is very generous when it comes to sharing his food

Our Adoption Day

One year ago today, April 3, 2007, we met our son. In some ways, this day is more monumental to us than Tommy's birthday because it is the day we became a family. The day we had worked towards for months, traveled around the world for, and wanted for a very long time.

We've been looking through our pictures from our trip to Vietnam, and of course, of the day we met Tommy. Looking back at those first pictures, we realize what lucky parents we are to have such a happy and easy-going baby. We were so fortunate that he bonded almost instantly with us - there was no grieving, no wailing, no signs of distress, and for that we are very thankful to his nannies at the Tam Ky Baby Centre.

Tommy, we love you more than we could ever have imagined.

Last year at this time....

we were in Hanoi, biding our time until we flew to Danang on April 3. We had met two of the three families we were traveling with, and also two families in the travel group ahead of ours.

We spent the day walking around West Lake and visited the Tran Quoc Pagoda, and we went to dinner at Bobby Chinn's with two of the other families. We joked that it was like a last supper for us - as a childless couple, that is.











Offerings of money and fresh fruit to Buddha. This picture always reminds me of the book Stealing Buddha's Dinner - a very good read.

There was something very peaceful and calming about West Lake and the pagoda. I remember watching this guy fish - and it sounds silly now, but I thought, wow, I'm in Vietnam. And I'm going to be a mom tomorrow. How did this happen? How did we get here? And that guy is just fishing - doesn't he know how important this moment is in our lives? See, it does sound silly, but I was so wrapped up in my own anticipation and nervousness, that I failed to take in a lot of the surroundings and beauty of the country.