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It is day number 10 in our adoption journey and we are headed back to Bangkok for all of our official adoption appointments. It was a range of emotions kind of day. 6:00 start for me, 7:00 for Aaron and Mia. She woke up crying quite a few times last night. Hoping tonight is better. We went down to enjoy one last beautiful buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurant and found none. It is the low season right now for tourism in Thailand, which means we got amazing deals on hotels (for a large terrace room like we had, it was the cost of a Holiday Inn back home), but also found that we were 3 of only 10 guests left at the entire hotel. Instead of a buffet, we got to choose what we wanted from a menu, but it still felt like they brought the whole buffet to our table for us.
Aaron had to run back to the room to get something as we were waiting on our food, so I started feeding Mia and she went into absolute hysterics. Thankful for that reason that there were only 7 other guests left. She cried and screamed at me, inconsolably, all the while letting me feed me her breakfast, until I gave her back to Aaron when she was done eating. Apart from the fact that Mia can‘t stand me, breakfast was wonderful. I can‘t tell you enough how perfect this hotel was – the atmosphere was just what my heart needed. I cried saying goodbye to the lady that had said such kind words to me last night and asked her if I could take a photo of her. This place was magical. I always get attached to people and places when we are traveling and today was hard for me.
We went for one last family walk on the softest sand beach that I‘ve ever been on, Mia completely unimpressed with the sand or water because she was holding my hand, and still screaming. We had two little breakthroughs back at the room. Her hair bow had fallen out at one point and Aaron told her to come see me to help her with it and she did – without crying. He also told her it was time for a diaper change and she started grabbing the wipes, powder, and diaper to help out. So sweet when she isn‘t screaming at me. 🙂 Aaron took one look at the diaper and handed her off to me. One more nap at the hotel for the girl gave me time to get our packing done and we had leftovers on the terrace before saying goodbye to this peaceful retreat.
3 more hours in a car and Mia did great and even let me hold her the whole time, falling asleep for about half the time for her afternoon nap. We arrived back at the Pantip and felt like we were being welcomed home by the familiar faces of the staff. We made our way up to our new room and found out that we had mistakenly booked a family suite rather than the regular one, but the price was about half somehow. :T So we are now staying in a room that is larger than our first home. It has two bedrooms, 3 baths, a giant hall closet, kitchen, dining area, and living room, all overlooking the massiveness that is the city of Bangkok.
As we were getting settled in, she was kind of whiny and fussy, so we just kind of let her be – can I say that as an adoptive mom? 🙂 Before long, realizing that her whining wasn‘t going to get her anywhere, she perked right up, started following us around the room, and helped us get things put away. I put some of her toys on a coffee table right at her level and we had a breakthrough! She played for the first time since we have met her. And not like the sitting in your lap kind, like Aaron would roll a ball and she would go get it and run giggling back to him. And then she grabbed her nesting bowls and started stacking them and figuring them out – lots more smiles and giggles. It was amazing!
And yes, she started crying when I tried to join in on the fun. Another random note, she tried Encompass Nutrient’s Complete Kids for the first time today and absolutely love it. She kept asking “mo?” (more?). Adorable.
We ventured out to the Life Center for dinner tonight – how have we never found that place before? It‘s a little walk from the hotel, but has lots of food options, some shopping, a mini-mart(ish) place, and a pharmacy. Mia was fantastic at dinner! The restaurant brought her a high chair and an adorable little Hello Kitty dinner set. She loved it. She was making all kinds of faces and talking to us, pointing at people going by, and just seemed truly happy and content for the first time since we‘ve met her, other than hiding herself in Aaron‘s arms from the world, but even then, she still seemed sad and scared. Tonight, she was an active, playful little girl. It was so good for our hearts to see.
We came back to the room and got settled in and Aaron gave Mia her first bath. She was a whole lot braver than her brother was for his! She did great and is getting so much more comfortable with letting us help meet some of her basic needs. I took another turn at getting her settled in to bed for the night and it was a fighting struggle again which just seemed defeating after having had so many breakthroughs today. It feels like we took 10 steps forward today and 9 1/2 back at bed time tonight. She wasn‘t having any of the me rocking her and holding her to go to sleep, so I put her in her crib and opted for the singing / playing with her hair bit. As much as she struggles, this girl can‘t resist the soothing powers of my fingers running through her hair. Before long she was out.
So tomorrow is another really big day for us. We get all dressed up and go before the Thai Adoption Board for our interview which will hopefully lead to their granting us the final approval we need to officially bring Mia into our family. It looks and feels formal, but these people are really kind and I just need to remember that they want us to be a family and aren‘t trying to scrutinize our parenting abilities through a 10 minute interview. That being said, it is a really important step for Mia becoming ours. If you think about us as you are getting ready for bed tonight, we will be getting ready to have our interview. We‘d love the prayer support, just that Mia would do really well and be comfortable in our arms during the interview and while we are waiting and that we would be comfortable and confident responding well to the questions that they have for us.
Side note #1 – You’ll notice the photo of the King & Queen of Thailand above in front of the large sky scraper. These types of photo displays are EVERYWHERE in Thailand! As a guess, we probably passed somewhere between 750-1000 of their images between Hua Hin and Bangkok today. The Thai people love their King & Queen and hold them in high respect. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that it’s next to impossible to be anywhere in the city of Bangkok and not see their image somewhere within eyesight at all times; usually many more than one.
Side note #2 – Aaron noticed a rather large cockroach out on the balcony tonight. Glad he’s out there and not in here with us.
Tools to document your day…
- Camera Phone (for easy pictures and handheld video)
- Osmo Pocket (for adding smooth movement to your video – like walking around the city)
- Go Pro (for unique movement in your video – Aaron has been known to attach ours to taxis)
- Insta 360 (to put yourself in the video and add unique perspective while you’re exploring)
We are headed back in to Bangkok today for our official adoption appointments, so we are back into travel mode with our gear. Lightweight, portable, and easily accessible is the name of the game for today.
This is how we roll, but it doesn’t mean you have to. Mix and match what is going to give you the best experience and level of documentation that you are comfortable with. Technology changes quickly, so we’ll try to keep you up-to-date with what is currently in our camera bag and the tools we are now using to document travel.
