Day 5 and so many changes...

It's hard to believe she's the same girl who wouldn't let go of us during the first 24 hours we were together.  She's doing amazingly well for just having her world turned upside down.  Plus she was placed with 2 people who don't have much experience parenting a 1 yr old, so she's taking it fairly easy on us so far.  We're taking things slowly with her too since we're still trying to figure out her sleeping and eating schedule.  It really would be helpful if she would have come with an instruction manual!

Her first night with us and all tuckered out.

Day 2.  Still not so sure about us after her good night's sleep.

Day 3.  It takes her a while to wake up.  She fits right in to our family!

Day 4.  Feeling a bit more comfortable with us and starting to play.

Yesterday was our first free day and instead of going out exploring the town, we settled for a leisurely morning in the room and a nice walk to the spice market.

It was really interesting to see all of the spices, both cooking and medicinal, that were being sold on the street.  We could only identify a handful of them; saffron, ginger, cinnamon and chili peppers, but the smells were amazing and little Viv was fascinated by all the sights and sounds around her.  She's so alert when she hears Chinese being spoken, and that's all we heard in the market!  We would have loved to buy some of the fresh spices if we were cooking dinner, but staying in a hotel our options are somewhat limited to whatever we can warm up using our hot water pot.  We are ready for a home cooked meal.  Going out to dinner every night with a 1 yr old creates all new challenges for us!  Last night we went out for Thai food and before our food even arrived, Viv was ready to go home.  It's amazing how fast the food service is now that we have a child!  Luckily they boxed it up for us so we went back to the room and ate cold Thai food after Viv went to sleep.  We haven't quite worked out the afternoon nap or eating schedule yet...

Today we went to the medical center for Vivi's visa medical check.  She weighed in at a healthy 22 lbs (no wonder my arms and back are so sore!) and 28 inches long.  She didn't do so well during the rest of the check so we breezed through it fairly quickly.  She needed to be undressed and that's still fairly traumatic for her, so the medical staff, and everyone else who was there, found out that she has a pretty good set of lungs on her.   They did note that she has a chest cold, but the doctor doing the hearing and vision tests basically passed her through with flying colors!  It also didn't help that she fell asleep on our way to the exam so we needed to wake her up after only about 20 minutes of sleep.  We're still not doing so well with that nap schedule.  

This afternoon we walked beyond the spice market to the pet market and walking street.  Again the sights, smells and sounds were amazing.  The pet market was definitely not something we would see in the states!  We did find a couple of puppies we'd like to bring home for Feste, but decided they'd be too tough to pack and bringing a 1 yr old home for her is probably traumatic enough.  The only time I was fairly disturbed was when I heard a cat meowing and only saw a man carrying a moving flour sack.  Viv took it all in, with her eyes wide open for the couple hours we were walking around, so again we didn't do so well with the afternoon nap.  At least we realized it this time and ordered take away Chinese food for dinner.

Ready for an afternoon on the town.

 Today was a huge day for Vivi. It's hard to believe it was only 2 days ago that I was barely able to sit her on the floor.  This evening we were on the floor playing with her (it's crazy how she really does like the stacking cups and beach ball!) and she eventually started to crawl.  I think it was a first for her because she's tried several times before and she really seemed to surprise herself when she finally did it this time.  It was so neat to see, but we may wish she would have saved that trick till after our flight home!  After she crawled a couple times she actually pulled herself up and seemed far more interested in trying to take a few steps.  She didn't walk on her own, but I doubt it will be long before she does.  And then our world is really going to change!  We're quickly finding out that she is one determined little girl.

Tonight the rest of the Holt families arrive from the other provinces so tomorrow we are all meeting up to do more paperwork.  It will be nice to see the other families again, swap stories and meet their little ones.  We'll try to post more as time allows.  Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

Below are some pictures from the "island" where we're staying.  There are a lot of statues here and we've had fun photographing all of them....

Her favorite way to travel.

Sometimes you just need a latte....

Beautiful orchids.  I wanted to buy one to bring home.

It's a hoedown