Hoan Kiem Lake

We went to Hoan Kiem lake and the old Quarter yesterday with another family. Was definitely fun, and you get alot of practice at saying no thank you in vietnamese (khong, Cam On).

We have our I-600 interview today and apparently our case isn't quite as cut and dry as it could be. Without getting into a lot of complicated details, since our case took so long, it was caught in the middle of some law changes and the province not being fully aware and up-to-date on those law changes. It SHOULD be fine, but there's a little room for problems. We'll see. If today goes well, the rest should be home free apparently.

Yesterday's pics.

Just spent some more time playing. Lots of playing, lots of bottles, lots of vomit. Welcome to parenthood. Eating was going much better until we discovered she appears to have a latex allergy as she was developing an awful rash around her mouth. Luckily we brought silicone nipples too which she absolutely hates!!! The good news is the rash is getting better. The bad news is we are starting all over with coaxing her to eat. We were going to go the the old quarter today and go shopping but Jaidyn had a very rough night so we are going to save that for tomorrow. We will work on paperwork this afternoon and then it will be submitted to the embassy tomorrow. We are supposed to have our interview on Tues at 1:30 so please be praying it goes smoothly and is processed quickly.

More cute pics.


A first music lesson.



Playing with toys.



Just a good pic of a photogenic baby.

The ticklemonster

Ok, so here's a cheesy video of Heather tickling Jaidyn and Jaidyn and I looking at ourselves in the camera. Kind of something that only grandparents might get into, so watch at your own discretion.

Another fun Vietnam Picture

I took this picture on the van ride back from the Phu Tho. It's a sign for a small street side eatery. Look at the picture and take a guess at what they serve. We saw signs for Thit Cho all along the route. Not as much in the city though.

More pictures

Today we started the process for applying for Jaidyn's passport. I went down to the passport office with the other father's and our contact. Heather and Jaidyn stayed in the room and hung out. We're taking small steps in taking her out to see things. She seems to get overwhelmed and overstimulated really easy. We took her out to a restaurant for lunch. The waitresses insisted on holding her and playing with her, so we let them. They had fun and Jaidyn did too, but we could tell it was beginning to be too much. Especially since we had to walk down a street with about hundred mopeds racing by all the time. She did good though. We thought we'd share some more pictures of her today just for fun.

Jaidyn's size

I promised I would post her size once we had her and I was better able to tell you. Well it is still difficult to say. She is very long so 0-3 is short if they are pants and onesies are a tight fit. However the waist of the pants I brought for the ceremony were almost 3 inches too big. The nanny kept trying to get me to get another pair but the other ones I brought were 3-6mo and I told her that was the smallest I had. Didn't think to pack preemie for my 7mo old although it would have been way too short. Today I put her in a 3-6mo outfit and the waist fit (the elastic was tighter) but again it is slightly short but she swims in a 6-9mo right now as far as pants in the waist although I think I will need to in the next few weeks put her in 6-9mo onesies and 3-6mo pants. So hope that clears up her size. Currently it just seems to depend on the outfit. Getting her to eat enough right now is a challenge. The most I can usually get her to eat is 4oz so we are feeding her every 3 hours or sooner if she is hungry. Although once today she ate almost 5oz and that was a milestone but the next feeding was 3 oz so we have a ways to go. Her stomach is just really small and so she can't hold much so we are trying to make up for it with frequent feedings. Guess I didn't get to skip the night time feedings. :) Jacob said he would help so I took pity on him and gave him the 5:45 feeding since we are getting up here by 5am anyway. She wouldn't eat for him so I had to get up anyway. Can't say that I mind though.:)

Introducing Jaidyn Oanh Bolton

Hey everyone, the internet has been down the past day or so here so I haven't been able to post the most important post of them all. Wednesday morning we loaded up in van for the province of Phu Tho. We went to a government building that was basically like a ghost town, went to a room where they had a large sign and the babies waiting for us. We then signed a few papers and somewhere in there the official declared the babies ours. A couple of us gave a short speech and then the official decided we had run out of time and congratulated us. So Jaidyn is now officially ours! She's adjusting really well to us. She's generally really happy, is a SOUND sleeper, and hasn't seemed to have any problem taking to Heather and I at all. We're doing all the fun new parent things of trying to figure out how much formula to give her, figuring out the tricks to make her drink enough, and lots more. Heather has lots of experience with babies and kids anyway so it hasn't been too bad. We think Jaidyn's going to be a daddy's girl though. She likes hanging out with me. I don't think she's seen and played with many men, so maybe I'm just an entertaining side show. Regardless it's fun anyway. :)

Anyways, next step is to start getting her a US Passport and Visa to enter the United States. Thank you all so much for all your prayers and support. Your prayers have been heard, even if it didn't come as soon as we'd hoped, we're thankful to God and trust his timing was and is still good.

Here's some pictures from a fun first day. Woo hoo!