There is no place like home

Sure wish we could have clicked our heels together to get home, but alas, it involved 20 hours worth of plane rides and a total of 30 hours travel time from point to point. The journey home took on a distinct Murphy's Law tone (near misconnects, missing luggage, wrong forms provided by cabin crew, cranky immigration officers, China's version of TSA stripping us of our water for making formula and some baby food, delayed luggage, new time consuming immigration procedures in Chicago and driving through a near blizzard with windshield wiper fluid that was frozen, just to name a few). I'm sure that some day in the future, it will be comical to us. OK, perhaps not the near future. No matter, we are now home and what a great feeling it is.

The trip to Viet Nam was very challenging. We faced a lot of health challenges along the way, not to mention adapting to having two children so close in age but at different stages. Keenan is such a wonderful little guy. His smile melts my heart. Sophia has been such a great big sister and it is really special to watch her look out for her baby brother.

With Keenan, we are still struggling with some lingering health issues and really hope to get him feeling better. Meanwhile, not surprisingly, everyone's sleep cycle has been totally thrown for a loop. At any given point in the day, one of us is delirious with fatigue and none of us are sleeping when we should be.

Just wanted everyone to know that we got home safe. Once we have gotten settled in, I will post more photos.

Homeward Bound

For the past few days, Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound" has been playing over and over again in my head. Although we knew were only days away from going home, the American Embassy has been very backed up, so we did not have a definite timeline. Yesterday, they issued Keenan's Visa and we are heading home tomorrow (Sunday). We are so relieved and look forward to the many comforts of home.

Father and Son

Brotherly love

Siblings

The many faces of Keenan

On the mend?????????

We are starting to feel better. Keenan is still struggling but we are hopeful the new antibiotics will kick in very soon. In the meantime...........
Poor Sophia with Catheter in place....

Gurney for 4 please?

Yup, you guessed it, we made our way back to the hospital today, but this time for Sophia and Keenan. Sophia has had a smaller version of what ails us and poor Keenan has bronchitis. Sophia doesn't like two things 1)Doctors 2)Men with facial hair. Imagine her response when the poor doctor (sporting a thick beard) entered the room! The howling started and didn't stop for nearly 45 minutes.

Keenan actually smiled at the doctor. I guess he figured all the probing and stethoscopes were small stuff compared to the nurses taking his temperature.

We are really hoping that is our last visit to the hospital (except for the required Visa medical for Keenan).

I promise more photos will be coming as soon as we can....I just can't say when that might be.

Montezeuma's Revenge

1) I'm happy to report Keenan is feeling better
2) We are not so fortunate....an amazingly bad 15 hours spent taking turns in the restroom. The area should be cordoned off as a biological hazard.
3) Sophia did throw up once but seems to be doing well now
4) A trip to the international hospital, lots of I.V.s and $1,100 later, we are feeling somewhat human again.
5) We are very shaky
6) Sophia and Keenan are being cared for by nannies our agency arranged for us. Hearing Sophia scream as they took her to the extra room they rented one floor away, was sheer torture. I thought my heart was going to break.
7) Being away from Keenan is no fun.
8) We hope to be on the mend soon and are determined to attend our first embassy appointment, even if they have to drag us there.
9) Will post more when we have reunited our family.
10)There is no place like home..................

Big sister, big help

So far, Sophia has been really amazing with her little brother. When she looks at him, she says 'baba'. She has surprised us by showing no inclination to go back to the bottle but she is ready to help give it to him. I'm not sure if this is just the honeymoon phase, but it has been so helpful.

Keenan is still quite ill. He is throwing up a lot and isn't eating nearly what he should. We are just hoping the medication kicks in soon and he feels better. He has one more day of antibiotics and then we'll see if his digestive system calms down.

Back to the Bottle

Sophia has been weaned from the bottle for a couple of months now, so it is a little strange to be back to making formula and cleaning bottles. Of course, projectile spit up wasn't some something we ever had the good fortune to experience with Sophia. Colin was the first recipient of this uncharted territory.