OH MY GOODNESS, IT IS WORKING!!!

HI!!!!!!!!!! I have been DYING, and I do mean dying, to get on here and be able to update you all myself. It has killed me that the internet has been down. I hope that I can get this posted without any problems. I have so much to say, so this is going to be a long one. It is 8:45 pm here and Justin and Lucy are both fast asleep. I was praying that this would work, and looky here, it appears to be!! Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments. I finally got to check my email today and read every single one of them. They made me cry. I am going to make a list of the things i have wanted to say and about some of the things you all have commented about.

1. The Visit to the Orphanage - On the 27th, we got to go to Lucy's orphanage. It was a 1.5 hour drive from Danang. Half of the road was on country roads and I seriously thought that the wheels were going to fall off of our van. The drive there felt like a million hours. We finally get to Que Son and see the orphanage. None of us knew a thing about the orphanage going into this, so it was all new. First of all, it is a very small orphanage - 7 babies total and 2 of them were brand spanking new. One got there that morning. I know one of the little bitties was a boy, but am not sure of the other one. We walk up to the orphanage and standing in the doorway is one of the nannies holding Grace, Sherri's baby girl - who by the way is absolutely adorable and a wonderful baby. I love me some Gracie Girl. We are all squealing about seeing Grace. We get to the entrance, and on a little bed is the main nanny holding Lucy. I was seriously speechless when I saw her through the window. She had on a red hoody, no pants, and a diaper. She couldn't have looked any cuter. The nanny was hesitant to hand her over, but she finally did. Holding her for the first time is something that I cannot put into words, it was simply amazing. She just let us hold her and she stared at us. She watched everything so intently. After a few minutes, the nanny came and took her back from me. She walked outside with her and was crying and kissing on her. It was almost too much for me to process emotionally. It was heart wrenching. The babies in Que Son are so loved and adored by the nannies. I felt so calm and reassured about the first 5 months of Lucy's life. She has had it great. The nanny finally handed her back over and I just held her and cried because I was so emotional about the love that the nanny had for her. We got to stay at the orphanage for about 2 hours. In the 2 hours we were there, Lucy was fed 3 times. That's right folks, 3 times in 2 hours. It was crazy. She would eat about three sucks of each bottle, but any time any of the babies would make a peep, they would put a bottle in their mouth. The 5 older babies were each in a cradle. I would give anything for a cradle at this point. The girl misses the rocking. They would rock the babies so high I thought she was going to fly out, but of course, she never did. We hugged and kissed on those babies for as long as they let us, but then it was time to go. I actually felt good about leaving her for one more night. The nannies still needed to say their goodbyes. She never cried or fussed a bit the whole time we were there - none of the babies did.

2. The Giving and Receiving Ceremony - It was short and to the point. When we pulled up to the city hall in Tam Ky, there is Lucy, bundled in a huge red sweater, a ski/snow hat, pants, and socks that were like hose. Heaven forbid that she got cold in the 85 degree weather. I have to say though, she looked adorable. I was hoping that they would let me keep the clothes that she came in to let her see one day when she is older, and I didn't even have to ask. Changing the babies into a G&R outfit was never even an option. I am so happy about getting to keep her clothes - they smell like women's perfume. I think it is neat that she stayed in her own clothes. It was another emotional overload situation because 2 of her nannies were there and they were all upset again. I had a really difficult time with all of this. After the ceremony, we took care of the babies passports and that was it. Another 1.5 hour drive to get back to the hotel. The babies all did great. She just sat in my lap and took 2 cat naps. No crying at all.

3. Once we were back - We get to the hotel, come up to the room, lay her down on the bed, and come to find out that this girl can move. She rolled all over the place and even laughed for me when I tickled her. We thought that she was just the easiest laid back baby in the world. We stripped her down and let her play naked for a while. She LOVED it!!! Then we thought we would find out what she thought about her bath. She REALLY LOVED the bath. We could not believe how much fun she had in there. All of the babies enjoy their baths, so that is great. We got her changed and went down for dinner. She still has not fussed at this point one little bit. Once we get back to the room, I think it started to hit her that things were different and maybe not going back to normal. She starting crying around 8 and cried solid until 10 or 10:30. She would settle down and then work herself back up. It was so hard to see. We just held her and let her cry. She would barely eat a thing. Once she got to sleep, she slept pretty well. Each day she seems to mourn a little less, but she has definitely had a rough time. She hates to be bored in the room. She will play for about 20-30 minutes, and then she is done. We have to keep her moving around. This is getting better each day, but poor little angel, she misses her nanny. I know it is a good sign, but it is heart breaking to witness as a parent. I wish I could make her understand that we love her as much, and more, than her nanny did. She is finally starting to eat a little better. She is a tiny little thing, and a lot of time she just doesn't have time for food. She is just not that interested in it. And the funny thing is, the nannies instructions to me were this exactly: She needs to be fed all day long. She eats all of the time. Don't just feed her 4 or 5 bottles, she needs a whole lot. Well, that is not how she eats for me unfortunately. She is getting to the point where I think she realizes that we are here to stay. She smiles and coos for us. She is very serious a lot of the time though. I have gotten her laughing several times though.

Now I am just going to comment on the fun stuff.

1. The hair - Her hair is beautiful. She has some bald spots in the back, but they will go away. She loves hats, which is great since you saw the hats we have brought!! I got the flower hat on ebay, since several people have asked. We copied off of one of Lucy's friends - Liberty Mai for that one. Sara and Liz, we will take pictures of her in the precious barettes you sent. Don't think I forgot them. The hair she has is pretty thin right now, so I don't know if they will stay yet.

2. The clothes - as my sisters said, she prefers to be naked, but that has not stopped me from trying. Most of the stuff we brought is too big. She fits best in 3 month clothes, and they are even a little big. Most of the stuff I brought is 6 month+. Oh well, she still looks very stylin every day. Her personal favorite look is a diaper and a big hat!! Kate, I know you are lovin the fringe on top!!

3. Eating - she eats about every 3-4 hours. We do a big time happy dance if we can get three oz. down in one sitting, but it is usually more like 2. We know she needs to be eating more, but it is going to take some time. She eats a little more each day. Formula is stinky and gross to me. I have tried to give her a little rice cereal. She thinks it is funny and likes to mostly spit it out and then laugh.

Okay, I know I have rambled on and on, but I have been dying to update you all. We love and miss you all. Thanks to my sissies for the great posts. We greatly appreciate it. Any suggestions on how to get her to eat more are welcome. She was dehydrated when we first got her, but some pedialyte helped her out. Seriously, thanks for the love and support! Y'all are the best. We head to HCMC tomorrow, so pray for more regular internet from here on out. I will post pictures as we go.