How Could I Forget!?!?!?!

So around 3am this morning I check my email and find that our friends, Jennifer and Todd, have finally received their travel dates!!!  They will be leaving in a few short weeks and I just want to say congratualtions to them and their beautiful boy who also has grown up with Wi!  I cannot wait to hear about your trip and see you adding to your family with your beautiful son! 
Love,
Nancy

Home Sweet Home!

Good Morning Everyone!!!  We are back!!!  The flights were very long, our plane from Tokyo to Detroit was held up so we missed our connecting flight in Detroit to get back to Nashville.  However, thanks to the nicest baggage guy ever, we were put in the last three seats on the next one out, and while a bit later than planned, still made it home yesterday! John's parents drove all the way up from Texas yesterday so that they could be here to meet our first child!  I cannot even begin to describe the gratitude we have for our families.  My sister here in town went shopping for Wi as all of the clothes we have for him are way too big on his tiny body, to get us through the first few days of jet lag until we can get out to a store.  My mom went grocery shopping for us so that we don't have to worry about that, and John's parents made us several meals that are heat and serve ready,  together they got the house all ready for us and we literally wept with joy when we saw the stocked fridge and pantry...thank you all so much!  The flights were difficult at times; Wi did really well 97% of the time...ok to be fair, he was asleep through most of it.  But on the first flight mostly, he was awake and cranky and fussy and everything he should be considering we got him up in the middle of the night and took him from the one place that was becoming comfortable for him - however, he would not even let his feet touch me on that first flight much less give John a break from holding him...so it is rough for all three of us.  Things did get better, he slept, John was finally able to get some rest and I watched some really bad movies. All total, our travel time was just under 29 hours and I slept through about 3 hours of that. Our parents met us at the airport and helped us get settled into the house as a new family.  Wi is really funny with Ruby; he knows what dogs are and is not afraid of them, unless Ruby comes within arms reach (fairly close considering how short his arms are!) then he just yells Maa Maa (Thai for dog) as if we did not know there was a dog in the house...we may need a new strategy to get them together.  The funniest part is, Wi was so tired that once we put him to bed, Ruby hopped up there too and the two of them have been cuddled up together all night!  Until Wi wakes up, lets the neighborhood know that there is a dog on his bed then falls back asleep - poor Ruby, she just wants to cuddle!!!  Both John and I went to sleep but around 2am, I woke up again and have been up since, not feeling great but so happy to not be feeling great in my own house!  We are planning on laying low today, resting and exploring the house together.  I did not expect to be this emotional when we got home, both of us were just a mess, but it is just so overwhelming to finally have our son home after all this time.  To have watched him grow up in photos that were taken on the other side of the world for two years to now turning around and having him standing behind me in person in the kitchen is just mind blowing.  I am not in denial, there will definitely be some rough patches ahead, but if nothing else, John and I have proven time and time again that we make a pretty good team and we will get through anything that we need to and stronger for it.  I am exhausted and am going to try to get some more rest before everyone else wakes up.  Last but not least, thank you all for your support, love and prayers over the years, our growing family is proof of all of that you gave, as there is not a chance that we could have done this without you, so thank you, from the new and improved Badalamenti Family - Nashville Division
Love,
Nancy, John, Wi, and Ruby

The adventure continues...

Good To Go...Home That Is!!!

Another early morning...boy are we changed people, have a hard time staying up past putting Wi down for the night now.  Used to be, I would take a nap at 7pm so that I would be rested to go out that night! HA!
It is official, John is really sick, I mean REALLY.  The poor guy has the chills then burning up and is absolutely green, but off to the Embassy we went.  We arrived early and waited our turn with another family that we are traveling with.  The dad of that family took one look at John, leaned away and said "Uh, dude, you are turning colors..." I feel so bad for him, and especially now that Wi has completely denounced all things Mommy the second we step out of the elevator, all I can do is be the pack mule and lug all of our necessities and Wi's treasures around the city.  Both John and I took turns in the bathroom splashing cold water on our faces trying to pull it together in fear that they would quarantine us if they really knew how we are feeling, did I mention how ready we are to come home?  Finally we were called up to the window, re-re-verified the whole story one more time and the woman said that she was sorry but would need more time.  I think we both almost burst into tears until she asked if we could come back in one hour to pick up Wi's visa!!!  Then we really did burst into tears, we were hugging and kissing each other and Wi, John kept grabbing both of us just saying "We are going home family, we are going home!" Some people in the waiting room actually clapped for us...yes a bit dramatic, but after all of the horror stories we have heard about the length of time to get the visa and additional hoops to jump through, we knew extactly how lucky we were and also how grateful we are for the way everything worked out.  I brought John and Wi back to the hotel, managed to make it back to the Embassy one last time myself, picked up the visa and very nearly skipped back to the hotel!  I felt like I was in a Disney movie with birds singing around my head...then I realized that I was just incredibly lightheaded and nauseous again so I hurried back to the room.  John and I started packing as our flight leaves VERY early tomorrow mornining, takes of at 5:50am, and we would have to be up around 2:30am.  After lunch and nap time, we made our way to the closest markets we could manage to get to, tried to finish up our shopping, ate dinner one last time in Bangkok, then dragged our sorry bodies home.  Wi was a great helper in the packing, even though we never even made it to the pool, he loved his water floaty things and wore them while gathering up his new treasures!  Well everyone, next time you hear from us, we will be back on US soil!
Love,
Nancy, John and Wi

Ups and Downs

Like I mentioned yesterday, we double checked the medical forms and realized that nothing was filled out properly or signed in the correct places even, so we went to the other reccomended place to have his medical done again and things went much better.  I was tempted to get John checked out as he is really not feeling well and both of us are getting worse by the day but we had a mission at hand to complete.  Wi saw the doctor, while we did not agree with one thing she was saying about him, John finally kicked me under the table and gave me a look that said "quit fighting her, let her think what she wants, get the forms filled out so we can leave quickly"...which I did...Raced back to the hotel where I put both of my boys down for a rest and waited for the phone to ring.  Early afternoon, we received the call to come on down back to Homeland Security to go over the Visa paperwork.  I have to tell you something about the Homeland Security office that is hysterical...so the "gaurd" at the desk has been alseep more times than not when we have been there (this is the 4th or 5th time now) and while he has only checked my bag once and not even the whole thing just lifted the main flap, we have yet to be able to walk through the metal detector without lathering hand sanatizer on all three of us!  Unfortunately for him, I think it is too late to clean us of germs...
The meeting went well, discussed the various events that led up to this day and Wi's background, verified that we are still married and got the seal of approval that all paperwork was complete and in order!  Man, I am proud of us!!!  We hurried over to the Embassy across the street as we were not sure what time they closed and met with another woman to re-verify everything that Homeland Security went over.  Again, they just needed one extra copy of a paper that they were happy to photocopy themselves and asked us to be back early Friday morning for the final interview! 
We strolled leisurely back to the hotel, walking in and out of sidewalk markets and picking up bites to eat here and there, all in all a great day...but we are starting to be ready to come home.  It is hard with everything legal still hanging over our heads to truly relax and enjoy our time here fully.  Also, the sicker John gets, the more Wi demands of him.  Now I cannot even hold his hand in public, only Daddy.  Thankfully I had read up on this sort of thing during the waiting phase of the process and know that this is completely normal and not to take it personally.  See Jen, I did retain some of the things you had me read!  When we are in the hotel, Nancy as Mommy is great and funny and wonderful to tickle and cuddle and play with, even in the lobby...the second we hit the sidewalk, Mommy no more...It also seems to make a difference when there are other Thai women around and they speak to him in Thai - perhaps reminds him too much of his nannies and he feels like he is betraying them for the care they gave him by letting me now take care of him...at least that is what the books say and since it makes sense, that is what I am going with. Also, we found out that all of the children at Wi's orphanage call the director Mom, I cannot even imagine how confusing this all is for the Wi One, there were only two men on the whole campus and I don't think Wi ever even interacted with them...more later, I am not feeling so great anymore either...
Love,
Nancy, John and Wi

Wi reading up on current events while we waited for the USCIS to call - kept this up until he had looked at every page of the whole paper! This child cracks us up all day!

The Big Day!!!

We did things right this time, we ate breakfast FIRST, then all of us got all dressed up and headed over to the board meeting.  Wi was really fussy this morning as none of us can seem to shake this bug we have gotten, ugh not a good time for this.  But off to the meeting we went!  There were about 30-40 families there, all of these gorgeous children getting the families that they so deserve, just speechless watching these families be made.  We found out that we were number two on the list to be presented (yay!) and also received Wi's passport.  The first couple to go was the Swedish couple that we had met earlier in the week.  Their little guy (I mean TINY 10 month old baby) had been sick also with a fever and throwing up but today was a bit different.  Apparently one of the board members is a doctor so they requested that family go first so that she could give their son a quick look over.  We sat with their things while they went in and just a few minutes later they came rushing back out, the mom in tears.  When the doctor\board member looked at the child, they determined that he was actually quite sicker than orignially thought and sent them straight away to the emergency room.  John and I really like this couple and the reality of life really brought things into prespective for us.  We helped them get their things together and gave them our info both here and at home in case we can help in any way we can.  Then they called us in, so we took a moment to thank God for Wi, each other, our families and our friends then went into the meeting...
I think it is funny that we were so worried about this; the "board" consisted of three women, one in her 20's, the other who looked like the sweetest Thai grandma anyone could hope for and the third I would guess to also be in her mid 60's that we had actually spent time with on Monday, talk about luck!  Wi played with some toys they had for him, we answered some easy questions, they asked Wi who his mom and dad were - he got a huge grin and pointed to John and I respectively, then the matriarch of the situation with tears in her eyes, thanked John and I for giving one of their children (the Thai's) a great life already in this first week.  She gave us the wai, stopped me on our way out and whispered that she hoped she would see us again.  The whole thing took less then 20 minutes but Wi had everyone laughing through most of it so the time flew by.  We walked back out to the waiting area for some paperwork, talked with some of the other families, Wi got to hang out with his little friend one last time, and off we went to the hospital for Wi's Visa medical exam as a family of three...as far as Thailand is concerned anyway, we still have one more government to make it through.
Wi did excellent at the doctor's, although they had quite a difficult time trying to figure out the paperwork side of it.  I will have to double check that later and make sure we have everything we need.  While there, we saw the family with the sick child, it is not our story to tell, but please keep all of them in your prayers as they may have a long road ahead of them.  After the hospital visit, we made a quick nap stop at the hotel then literally ran to the Embassy to turn in our Visa paperwork.  Again, everything there went relatively smoothly, Wi was still holding up like a champ and other than needing one more copy made of our homestudy all of our paperwork was in order!  They told us to stay near a phone tomorrow as they would be calling us to set up our Visa interview.  The binder that I have worked for two years in preparation for this week is so far serving me well.  I know you may think I am insane, but you have to be extremely organized for this process and luckily, I am kind of anal retentive, so yes, I am proud of my color coded, chronologically ordered binder and I am not ashamed to say so!  Off to sleep as we have another big day tomorrow!
Love,
Nancy, John and Wi

Newest member of our family!

Wi and his friend from Songkhla - it was so hot in the waiting area that we had to roll up Wi's pant legs as he was sweating through them - uugghh!

Daddy's Boy

No one was feeling all that great this morning, I seem to be about a day behind John with coming down with something, so all three of us were a bit sluggish and sniffly.  To top it off, the issues have started to move south if you know what I mean - if you don't, trust me you don't want to.  Off we went on an adventure to find a pharmacy!  The hotel pointed us is in the general direction that we needed and more of the city we discovered.  Can I just take a moment and tell you how much I love this city!  It is such a phenomenal mix of old tradition and new age living.  It is hard to describe it in words that do it justice but John and I both agree on how comfortable we instantly felt here.  I am not going to lie, the hotel we are staying at and everyone that works there has helped more than I can say in making this an easy trip.  I cannot recommend this hotel enough for any kind of trip, but especially for adoption!  We wandered around the shopping district for a while, picked up some medicine and quickly realized that we had not timed things very well as the lunch hour was quickly coming close.  So we did something we promised John's Grandma Angie we would do, we took Wi to his first McDonald's...Mommy and Daddy were not feeling it but let's face it, some chicken nuggets and a toy make every child happy!  This will not happen again for quite some time as I can't even tell you the last time we ate at a McDonald's, but there are many things that I said I would never do as a mother that have flown right out the window.
After lunch and a nap at the hotel, we headed out to MBK.  Sort of an inside version of the weekend market but smaller and much more manageable.  We walked around the various stalls, bartered with some people (much more sucessfully thank you Sharon!) and found a...Dunkin' Donuts!  Now at this point you probably think we are complete junk food addicts which cannot be further from the truth, but there are two types of people in this world, sort of like Rolling Stones or Beatles, night person or morning, Starbucks or DD?  We are proud to say DD in this house!!!  So an ice coffee for mom and dad and a first donut hole for the Wi One...let's just say that he enjoyed it perhaps even more then we did, the coffee is just not that great here, and it comes in tiny cups, this was a much needed oasis in the desert of tea drinkers!  Picked up a few needed items at the supermarket downstairs, ate dinner and back we went.  John and I have been taking turns holding hands with or carrying the little guy, but for the past two days, I have been having less turns.  Wi is really taking to John now which is great, even though it is a biased opinion, I don't think this little one can have a better male role model than his daddy.  I am actually really ok with this turn of events as for one thing it is beautiful to watch, and two, with all of the meetings coming up and my binder about to be put to the test, it makes sense that one of us be able to focus on the technical side of things while one is watching Wi.  I just hope that this turns around again once the schedule is back on track and he becomes an equal opportunity kind of child!  More tomorrow...wish us luck, it is the big day of the board meeting where the Child Adoption Board determines if they think we are a good match for Wi!
Love,
Nancy, John and Wi

We promised you Grandma Angie!!

Covered in powdered sugar - he took so long eating that one donut hole, you would have thought that we gave him a full dozen!

OK, enough free advertising for one day...

Passport Services and Old Friends

This morning we woke up extra early as we were meeting with our Thai social worker, Nuanthip, to apply for Wi's passport.  Miss Oh's driver called the front desk to confirm that he would pick us up at 8:30am to get us across town in time for our meeting.  So after breakfast we got Wi cleaned up - quick tip for first time parents, while this may seem quite logical, sometimes in early mornings with not a whole lot of sleep it does not come to mind, dress the child in their nice clothes AFTER breakfast of yogurt and waffles with honey, just a tip - and down to the lobby we waited...and waited...and waited...finally gave up at 10 minutes before 9am and grabbed a cab ourselves.  The "meeting" itself was quite quick and painless, verified that we did have the paperwork that Nuanthip sent us and then we waited for her to work with a family from Sweden.  Once they were settled, we hopped into another cab and went to the other side of the city to the passport building.  Again, quick and painless, snapped a quick photo, took a few fingerprints of Wi and off to the waiting room we went.  While there though, and this is hands down the best part of the day, I looked over and recognized a little boy sitting with his new parents.  It was one of Wi's friends from the orphanage that lived in his building!  After pulling myself together (yes more tears of joy) we went over and intorduced ourselves.  The family is from the Netherlands and once the two little boys saw each other, they started talking and laughing with each other.  Even John and the other parents were choked up watching this.  Their process is vastly different from ours and they are staying with someone provided by their agency as a tour guide\social worker\interpreter, so he came over and helped us with a few things that Wi has been saying over and over again, getting more frustrated by the day that we have no idea what he is saying.  Once all of that became crystal clear and Wi was a bit more relaxed that his non-Thai parents can respond properly to a little more and he saw his friend again, everyone relaxed considerably.  We hung around with the other families for a bit, received our receipt and back to the hotel we went.  Unfortunately, we will not be receiving his passport until the board meeting on Wednesday so we are unable to get his medical check up done tomorrow as we had hoped. 
Wi's cold is back in full force and now John is starting to feel a bit more uncomfortable himself, so we let Wi sleep a bit longer than usual for his nap...actually he had no desire to wake up at all, so we bundled everyone in comfy clothes and just hung out together again, watching Disney movies and counting to 3 with everything that we could find.  All in all a good day, here is hoping that some good rest, extra vitamins and full belly's will help everyone feel better in the morning.  One quick ridiculously cute thing...so after Wi gets a shower we wrap him up in towel and bring him out to the bed to dry off, put lotion on him (the poor kid has the dryest skin) and get him dressed for bed.  Well, our hotel has bath sheets and he is so tiny that the towel wraps around him about four times.  The first night we did this, he thought it was hysterical and I laughingly said he looked like a little Thai buritto, tucked the bottom of the towel into iteself and carried him out of the bathroom.  Now every night, he runs out of the shower and holds his arms straight down at his sides waiting to be wrapped up, giggling uncontrollably - here are photos to show you what I mean...the child is such a ham for the camera!  Talk to you tomorrow!
Love,
Nancy, John and Wi

Can't I Just Pay What is on the Tag?

Yesterday evening we were able to get in touch with some of the other families that are here adopting and made plans to get together today.  This morning, we met up with another family from the States, also using WACAP and headed out to the weekend market.  Rode the Skytrain there...*side note - I am not a fan of heights but used to run up to catch the "El" reading a book and eating my lunch at the same time, this was not the El.  This form of transportation was in the clouds, I don't think bugs or possibly even birds can survive at this elevation, to say I was not a fan is a huge understatement.  Once we reached the summit of the platform I grabbed Wi tightly and sat down as from from the railing as possible and proceeded to have a mild panic attack. Once we reached the market, John had to carry the little guy down the 23 flights of stairs (not literally but I was starting to hyperventilate and that is how many stairs it felt like) because I had to use both hands on one railing to walk myself down - it wasn't my finest moment. 
The Market - 28 acres and 10,000 booths, really cool place to wander around.  There were no cars and narrow walkways between the rows of booths so Wi was able to get down and walk around himself a bit. Here is the thing though, you have to barter with everyone, it is expected and that is just how this place works.  Unfortunately, that is not how John and I work.  It took a good 20 minutes for me to convince John to do it so that I could get my sister a gift but he used Wi as an excuse to walk away and I was left stuttering before finally just putting the item down and walking away embarassed.  I caught up to John and said "So, when Wi takes his nap I am going to run up to the mall, OK?"  The one time John did sucessfully stand his ground and barter with the guy, the guy scammed him out of half of his change, but with Wi tugging on you it is hard to concentrate fully on anything else.  We walked around there for just a few hours then headed back again - in a cab, the way we were meant to travel.  In the afternoon we did go up to Central Chitlom again as we were running out of clothes that could feasibly fit Wi and grabbed some dinner.  Actually, before that, we called the other family that was in Songkhla with us as we had asked if they could pick up a few things from the orphanage that we did not receive when we were there and they wre able to get the items and left them at their hotel front desk for us!  We were able to get a few of the things we had sent Wi over the last few years, namely a stuffed animal and one of the photo albums, but most importantly his complete and updated medical reports and his daily schedule.  We immediately checked out his schedule, looked at each other and realized why the child disliked us so much...we were feeding him and sleeping at all of the wrong times, and totally skipping a few of the much needed snack times!  Hopefully with this new information we can be a step ahead of the game from now on!  Well, Wi is all tucked in with all of his stuffed animals now and we are going to try to get some rest as tomorrow we meet with the Thai social worker and apply for Wi's passport!  Wish us luck...
Love,

Nancy, John and Wi

At the Weekend Market - if planning on going, be there before they open at 8am

Tucking in all of his stuffed animals for bedtime

Wat Pho

Early morning for us as Wi does infinitely better in the first half of the day as opposed to the afternoon when he is fed up with our incompetence and lack of Thai language skills.  Miss Oh picked us up downstairs and we took the scenic route around town and made our way to Wat Pho - Wat of the Reclining Buddha.  This temple was one of the most incredible places I have ever been.  I believe that the actual statue is 150 feet long and I can't remember how tall, the following photos can give you an idea of the massive-ness that stood before us.  We walked around the grounds for a while but no photo can do justice to this beauty and craftmanship.  During our stroll, we heard a band strike up - think marching, not hip Asian Pop, Miss Ph asked around and found out the today novice monks were going to be ordained and we were there in time for the processional!  Very cool to see and be a part of, such a happy occasion for the familes of the monks.  Following up with Wat Pho, we were going to head across the street to the Grand Palace and another Wat but the little guy was getting tired out and it was incredibly hot out so we decied to save that one for another day and just get home.  After lunch and nap time, we just putzed around a bit and then headed to Lumpini Park for dinner and hopefully the night bazaar.  Remember how I said that Wi does better in the morning - we were really stupid to take him down there - meltdown city!  There was some special show going on, tons and tons of people (still not great in crowds, gets very overwhelmed) and H-O-T!  So we found a quiet bench away from everyone and watched the kimono dragons (?) until the crowd thinned out enough to get back to the hotel.  On the way back we noticed a little Italian restaurant that was still empty (hey, we are with a child, we eat at the blue plate special time for every meal) so ducked in there for dinner.  The amount and variety that this child eats still amazes me.  Instead of breadsticks or garlic bread they served naan (hysterical!) so we cut up his food, folded it into the naan and he ate everything like that...then ate all of my food and some of John's!  Let me tell you, a toddler with a hearty appetite is the best diet this girl could ever hope for!!!  We have been giving Wi showers as that is what he is used to but decided that we would try a bath tonight instead...BIG mistake; I am not sure if the boy thought he could swim away from us or was trying to give himself a concussion so that we could take a family field trip to the hospital, but a bath is not going to happen again until we are home and can have a rubber mat on the bottom of the tub :)  Long day for all of us and us big kids are fading quickly, so good night for now!  Hope all of you  are doing well and we can't wait to talk to you when we get home!
Love,
Nancy, John and Wi

Head of the Reclining Buddha

We were standing about 5 feet away from the Buddha here

Wi only smiles before and after the photo taking!

Buddha statue in one of the other buildings at the Temple

Parade of monks leading to their ordination

Just wandering around in Lumpini Park

With no rubber mat - one of the worst ideas Mommy has had yet!

Getting to Know Each Other

I love breakfast, ok I love every meal, but the spread at our hotel for breakfast (free for all three of us by the way) might make the first meal my favorite!  It is a buffet but they have the Asian buffet, the Intercontinental buffet, fruit and granola station and the egg station for both western and Thai style eggs, and real coffee ( I do not even want to talk about what we have been drinking!)...aaahhhh...Wi is an eating machine, now that he does not have constant acess to his water cup throughout the whole meal, he puts more food in his tummy than we ever thought someone his size could but are so happy to see it.  The main part of his meal is still what he is used to, a mixture of rice or noodles, broth, a veggie and a meat product.  On top of that though, we order dishes that he will be able to try and he tries it all, the boy does not discriminate on food!  He still has a little bit of a cold so we are taking it easy with him and laying pretty low.  Miss Oh came over after breakfast and made sure we had everything we needed for the coming week and planned on taking us around town tomorrow.  After the technical side of things was over, we walked down to the shopping district for a bit.  Nothing was open yet but it was still great to be out and people watching and wandering in and out of the sidewalk shops.  After hanging out at the room for a bit we went back up to Central Chitlom (think really large Macy's, or the old Marshall Fields down on State Street) to the Food Loft - food court but 100 times nicer with large variety of food from all over the world.  Best part of this place?  Wi can talk as loudly as he needs to, and the majority of people there speak both Thai and English, this comes into play with the little guy as his frustration is starting to grow with the language barrier.  Nap time came and went, the three of us headed down to the Embassy, verified that they had all of our paper work (yea!!!) and wandering around we went again.  Wi is really holding up well, but by the end of the day is pretty overwhelmed and over the whole situation, so we are trying to stay within walking distance or at least a 10 minute taxi ride from the hotel for the time being.  Tonight on the menu was room service, comfortable clothes, sitting closely in the living room, eating snuggled up under a blanket is exactly what the wee one needed tonight...and mommy and daddy too!  We have plenty of time for adventure, but only one chance to get to know each other.  Off to sleep, visiting temples tomorrow and all of us are exhausted!!!
Love,
Nancy, John and Wi

Walking around Bangkok

Hot already very early in the morning

Mommys other hand holding the reindeer eye Wi had just pulled off

Child will not take off this sweatshirt in the room - no matter the temperature!

Daddy taught Wi how to stick the pencils behind his ears - cheap entertainment!

Bangok Bound!

Who was worried about Wi on a plane for the first time, more changes in his little life, confusion and language barriers?  If you were, it was not necessary.  Talk about a trooper!!!  He did wonderful at the airport, (taxis are still a bit odd, but if you saw the driving here, you would be wary too) and as soon as we got on the plane and he was able to fully investigate the inner workings of the seatbelt, he hopped in his seat and entertained himself with crayons and the wonderful flight attendant the whole trip.  Once landing in Bangkok, we were met by Miss Oh (tour guide\adoption helper person that we hired), she put us in a car with her driver and away we went to the hotel. The hotel is wonderful, the staff is incredible, the apartement is HUGE, and the menu looks great!  We unpacked some of our things...kind of...and headed out to see the city.  Now,  "to see the city" means something completely different than it did two weeks ago before we were parents, today it meant clutching our little one for dear life, waiting for the light to change when crossing the road instead of boldly walking wherever we want whenever we want, and looking for a restaurant that does not have white tablecloths but still immaculately clean and sanitary!  My how the times have changed!  Our hotel is on the street behind the Embassy so it is a bit quiter but still has plenty of restaurants and is easy to navigate.  With full bellys we put Wi down for a nap, took a deep breath and tried to figure out what the heck we were doing :)  Later in the afternoon, we wandered up and down the streets around our block, got some more food (that is what we do!) came back, spent some quality time coloring and playing with a slinky, cleaned up and put the little one down for the night.  He had one little breakdown right before bed, but I am not going to lie, I think we were all so tired and hot, any one of us could have broken down in tears right then...So tomorrow is a new day, we are meeting with Miss Oh to go over our paperwork and then the world is our oyster!  Chat soon, sawatdee kha!
Love,
Nancy, John and Wi

Daddy and Wi taking in the view

View from our hotel - 19th floor

*ps. the tree filled land below is not a park but rather the house and land of the US Ambassador...

Family of Three...or Four, sorry Ruby!

Woke up early again this morning, nervously ate some breakfast and packed up Wi's little book bag to bring with us to the orphanage.  We were not too sure what to expect other than there would be another family staying at the same hotel that would be going over with us...other than that, nothing, not one idea of what was in store.  After getting everything ready to go we headed down to the lobby to wait and saw another couple walk up carrying large bags of stuffed animals.  John looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said "Probably, go for it."  So I walked over asked Songkhla Children's Home? and ending chatting with the nicest couple from Switzerland!  He is German, she is from Cambodia and they were waiting to meet their little girl for the first time.  The van picked us up and all of us very anxiously rode to meet our children.  Upon arriving we were whisked off to Wi's house again where he met us with big smiles!!!  There are a few little boys in his house that knew we were Wi's Mae and Pao and they also gave us big smiles and wai's, really adorable!  We hung out with some of the nannies again, said many tearful goodbyes - I cannot tell you how much they love these children, so touching to see, ate lunch and back to the main admin office we went.  On the way out of the door from his house he stopped and ran back to grab something from his cubby and came running back out with a big smile clutching a little stuffed elephant that we sent to him in the fall of 2008! Let me tell you, that elephant has been L-O-V-E-D!  Around the house there were other toys that we recognized and the nannies pointed them out to us and told us they were going to get the rest of his things together for him before we left.  Once back in the admin office, we signed some paperwork (not too sure what it was, but the airport accepted it) asked a few questions about Wi and what he likes, questions about his background, but there was a bit more of a language barrier than we had anticipated so unfortunately we were not able to get too much info on his past, we did find out though that the Director feels that it is very important to get the kids out in the world so he has been on field trips to the zoo, the beach and airport!!!  Took some more photos with Kuhn Suda and Kuhn Jampi and went back to his house to say goodbye and collect his things.  By the time we made it back though, it was nap time and the doors were shut so we were not able to do those things.  The other couple (they would bring their daughter home the next day) and the three of us got back in the van and went back to the hotel.  The woman we were with told us that she was speaking with Kuhn Suda and she told her that she is very happy when the children get a good home and will have a good life, but she loves each child as her own and is sad to say goodbye.  Then I cried, I guess it was about time, I held up as long as I could :) I am just so sad that his whole world is turning upside down and we have absolutly no way to communicate that to him, I am sad at how terrifying that must be and all he has to go on are his instincts that he can trust us.  Back at the hotel the little trooper grabbed his book bag and marched right on in with us holding our hands.  It was waaayyy past nap time at that point but we figured better late than never and laid him down.  He had one minor tiny meltdown when he looked around and did not see his bed but let us pick him up and fast asleep he went.  We pent the rest of the afternoon rather quietly just hanging out together and ate dinner at the hotel.  Another unfortunate thing is that even though the social workers at the orphanage said they wrote down his schedule and likes and dislikes, we did not get that so going forward should be interesting!  Bed time was a breeze and all we can hope is that tomorrow goes just as well...please wish us luck as we make things even harder on the little one as we get on a plane back to Bangkok!  Talk to you from Bangkok...
Love,
Nancy and John

Heading into the orphange, King's BDay preparations

Wi's first house - building #21 (I think, they told us in Thai!)

Nanny who LOVED Wi!

After paperwork with Kuhn Suda, Director

Kuhn Suda, other family, the Badalamenti's, and Kuhn Jampi, head Social Worker

Littlest Angel

Woke up this morning feeling more than just a  few butterflies, perhaps more like the monarch migration across the Southwest to South America?  Got ready, hopped in our cab and away we went to the Songkhla Children's Home.  Upon arrival it became quite clear that we were not completely expected, however in typical Thai style they greeted us with a smile and a glass of water and hurried to get everything together for us.  A few moments later they walked us down to Wi's house (the campus, for lack of a better word, has individual buildings with bedrooms, classrooms, play rooms, etc for the children).  As we walked up to the front stairs we see this tiny little naked boy running across the doorway giggling uncontrollably with a nanny two steps behind chasing after him laughing waving clothes at him!  John and I looked at each other with huge smiles and said "Well, that's our boy!" and just shook our heads laughing!!!  Once they wrangled him long enough to get some clothes on him, he put on his Power Rangers mask and walked outside to meet us.  They basically said "ok, this is him, feel free to go wherever you want and we will find you before lunch."  So we found a gazeebo (yes even though it was outside the floors are just as shiny as the photos inside the buildings) and gave him some of the presents we brought for him.  His favorite was our photo album of him that we have been clutching in our hands for two years.  He thought seeing himself like that was the greatest thing ever!  After about 10 minutes he started to relax and scooted over next to John, pointed at his mask and gestured to take it off.  John leaned over, took off the mask and Wi gave him the biggest smile!  I cannot tell you how amazing this little guy is, truly inspiring.  We hung out like that for a while and played with Spider Man and looked at his photos, then the social worker came and got us to go for lunch, so we sat with Wi while he ate then helped get him cleaned up, walked him inside and tucked him in for his nap.  John and I were both beside ourselves with joy but sad that we would have to wait until tomorrow to see him again. We walked back up to the admin building to say thank you to the director and ask what time to come back the next day and she said "Did things go well?" Uh...yes... "Does he look happy?"  Yes the boy never stops talking or laughing!  "Well then, go back to the hotel, get cleaned up and get some food and be back when he wakes up from his nap, he will want to see you!"  So off we went back to the hotel, got cleaned up, quickly shoved some food down our throats and hurried back to the Children's Home. 
We waited again in the admin building and they brought him down to us. He had just woken up from his nap and was groggy so they handed me his milk, he climbed up onto my lap (!) and we cuddled while he woke up.  After that, he jumped down, grabbed our hands and brought us to the place we had played earlier the morning. We spent the afternoon laughing and coloring, bouncing around the side play area, talking to the nannies and writing down everything they told us about him. Before long, we gave him dinner, cleaned up his area and turned him back over to the nannies to get him ready for bed.  The director had someone from the staff drive us back to the hotel and we are about to fall asleep with BIG smiles on our faces, we have a son!!!

*The director there, Kuhn Suda, is the tiniest thing I have ever seen, but she keeps every single child in line and loves each one like her own.  It is really remarkable to see her in action!  Every care taker we met knew every child's name that walked past and the children all wai and nod to every adult, even the littlest kids there press their hands together and smile politely...then break into a fit of giggles and go chasing each other around the yard!  I know this is an orphanage, but these children are some of the happiest and most well taken care of kids I have ever seen.  There are about 200+ children there, of all ages, and our deepest gratitude goes out to the care takers, they obviously are working their tales off to give these kids the best they can.  More later, as you can imagine, we did not get a whole lot of sleep last night!  I leave you with a few photos from the day...
Love,
Nancy and John

Check our those floors...and that is OUTSIDE!!!

Songkhla

Our Hotel from the beach across the street

Hello Everyone! Monday morning (local time) we finally woke up, and started our day.  The breakfast at the hotel was great, WIDE variety of choices; pancakes, french toast, fried eggs, thai omlette station, saffron rice, curried egg noodles, toast, fresh preserves, well you get the point, we were very happy campers!  From there we set out for a day on the town.  Walked to the top of the beach, saw the golden mermaid statue, took a blantant tourist photo, then just wandered around. 

Found a 7-11, learned how to say band-aid in Thai (very important as they do not come packaged like what we are used to in the States and they are kept up front by the mints, not in the bathroom supply section...obviously!) then walked around the market for a bit and finally found a restaurant we had been looking for. It is called the Buzz Stop and it is an Irish pub that serves both Irish and Thai food with some fusion options as well, mainly it is frequented by Irish ex-pats, but the point of this story is that they do a lot of fundraising work for the Songkhla Children's Home - the orphanage that Wi (pronouced like the video game thing Wii) lives in. The owner, George, came out and started chatting asking if we were on holiday and we told him that John had found his website and saw the Christmas party that they threw for the children last year and we were planning on finding them to thank them for all that they do for the children. He brought his wife out, chatted with her for a bit and then were on our way. For future families heading down there, you really should check this place out, really incredible people that have enlisted the help of other bars, restaurants and stores into donating time, money and goods to raise money for our children and their friends. Really great, down to earth people, I have their email and phone number for those of you heading down here soon if you would like.

After that, the sun came out and we headed on back to this side of town, took some covert photos of entrances to Wats and perhaps a school...not a whole lot is translated in English down here but thank goodness Sharon had sent us the handiest map ever that stayed clutched in my hand all day, thank you so much Sharon!

We returned back to the room, and don't judge us, but we took another nap, got up, had dinner, packed up everything for the orphanage, made arrangements for a cab to pick us up in the morning, and then tried to sleep...it lasted for about 4 hours and then I was awake. Our son is going to be sitting on our laps tomorrow, standing in front of us in real life, we will have no idea what is goin on in his head and all that we have to communicate with is our smiles and body language...so I can't sleep and if I can't sleep neither can John. I am like a kid on Christmas Eve, John is a little grumpier - he will get over it. So I will leave you with some photos of the day and try to get some rest myself and the next time we write, we will have met our son!!! Hope everything is going well with everyone and we will talk to you soon!

Love,

Nancy and John

ps. our hotel makes animals out of the towels when they clean up the room, this elephant had me giggling for ages! Sometimes it is the small things right?

Travel Day Part 3

Monday Morning December 7, 2009 - Yesterday morning we awoke to the sound of a very special alarm clock...the neighborhood rooster running around the block over and over again letting everyone know it was time to get up!  Got ready, ate a quick breakfast, brought our stuff downstairs, watched the rooster seriously run up and down the block as if he was alterting that the British were coming or something, hopped in the shuttle to go back to the airport.  We had some time to kill so in our wanderings we found a...Dunkin Donuts!  Yes we are embracing the culture and have yet to eat any non-Thai food, but lets face it, who can deny that D2 makes a great cup of coffee and sometimes after traveling for 3.5 straight days, a girl needs her good coffee!  Jumped on the next flight and off to the deep south we went.  The whole flight was spent with John and I trying to imagine what is going on in Wi's head right now.  (side note: Wi is Frank's Thai nickname that we will be using for the time being, slowly adding Frank onto the end and the hope is being able to use both once enough time and trust go by).  Does he know how many sleeps are left before mommy and daddy come? Is he mad that he has to leave? Is he scared and if so how scared?  What if he doesn't like us?  And not just because of the scary of situation he is about to go through, but as people he just doesn't care of us much?  Is he really excited to leave and is waiting patiently with his bags packed (figuratively of course).  Basically, our minds just running like crazy...So we arrive in Hat Yai, grab a cab and take the most death defying ride of my life.  John's knuckles were white from clenching his fists so hard and I was about two seconds away from throwing up everything I had eaten so far that day! 
The hotel...Well we are 1-2 folks!!! The hotel is gorgeous and the staff is amazingly friendly, nice pool, clean room, clean bathroom...all of the needed things!  Around 1:30pm we unpacked a bit, ordered room service to split a plate of pad thai with the plan being to eat, get cleaned up, rest a little bit then go out exploring...it didn't quite happen like that...we finished eating around 2pm, decided to nap first and then woke up in the middle of the night sometime decided that the last two years of stress and excitment and anxiety were finally catching up to us, rolled over and went back to sleep!  5am monday morning, we have awoken after 15 hours of sleep and feel like completely new people!  So now we are getting ready, and promise not to spend another day in the room and are going to go wander around town, check out the beach, then come back and get ready to meet our son tomorrow!!!  More later, I have got to get out of this bed, pretty sure I may start getting bed sores...
Miss all of you terribly!
Love,
Nancy and John

We Have Arrived!!!

Good Morning...err, afternoon?...umm, maybe midday? Just not sure any more!  Totally besides the point though...
GREETINGS FROM THAILAND!!!!  So we arrived safe and sound perhaps a few hours ago and are now wide awake in our hotel room and judging from the silence in the rest of the hotel and outside, we can only assume that it is too early to go down for breakfast.  So let's catch up a bit shall we?
Last week we attempted to finish everything up early in the week so that we could relax leading up to the big send off.  To those of you unfortunate enough to have received a frantic call or email from us, thank you for your kindness and understanding and for looking around your houses for our taxes from last year even though there is no possible way they could have traveled!  To say that things did not go as planned is a vast understatement.  Paperwork went missing, clothes suddenly didn't fit anymore, the most comfortable shoes on the planet were not so comfortable anymore, the suitcases filled up with things to bring to the orphanage before we had even started to put our clothes in, and mostly...no more than 3-4 hours of sleep a night were had in our house...which meant severe grumpiness!  Then we got a phone call from our social worker who let us know that some things had come up and some things were newly discovered that would change our itinerary a bit.  Yes I know I sound calm about it all now but at the time...not so much.  But there was nothing we could do about it, the tickets were purchased and, thanks to my mom coming over in the last hour to help, got everything packed in the right amount of suitcases and with our clothes too.  Let me just say that if there is ever a World Tetris Competition, you want my mom on your team, it is incredible the amount of stuff she got in these bags and not one wrinkle; I really hope it is a gene that will kick in in me some day :)  And above all else, none of that really mattered, we were doing all of these things in preparation to meet our son!!!
So picture this, 2am Friday morning, John and I are both wide awake with excitement, maybe a little bit of fear too, but definitely excitement.  Everyone gives up trying to sleep, get last minute things thrown in a bag, say goodbye to the most wonderful yet pathetic puppy and go on to the airport in Nashville.  Things went very smoothly, except for a gate change and a small delay, we are good to go.  We arrive in Detroit, remember that small delay?, well we end up running like a bad sit-com through the world's longest terminal (you were right mom, they don't use the old building anymore) and make it just in time.  13.5 hours later, land in Tokyo, brush the teeth, splash some water on the face, hop on the next plane for 7 hours to Bangkok.  Slightly smaller plane than the last one but more roomy and much newer which was a plus.  Finally get through immigration\customs\bagage pickup\find hotel shuttle service around 12:30am local time, get to the hotel (more on that later) Skype our families to let them know we are safe (REALLY tired, but safe), clean up and snuggle in for a few hours rest before going back to the airport to go to the south.  That lasted about an hour an a half, we both gave up, snacked on some left over rolls from the plane and here we are...waiting for breakfast to start.  The hotel...so far we are 0-1.  For those of you about to travel, scratch this one off of your list, I will explain more later.  We are planning on getting to the airport fairly early so that we can exchange some money and sort out our cell phone sim cards so that we can call home more easily, and that is where we are.  I am not sure what our internet availability will look like in the near future but will update when we can!  Sorry for rambling, have I mentioned the lack of sleep lately?  Hope everyone is doing well and cannot wait to talk to you soon!
Love,
Nancy and John