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Earlier start today – unplanned, but thankful for being awake early. Standard breakfast and swimming to follow. I stepped into the pool with two men already swimming laps. They were wearing swim caps and speedos and did that whole flippy thing when they reached each end. They were obviously super impressed with my froggy style swim. Just sayin‘.
Today was placement day and I‘m going to do my best to tell its story, but it‘s 8:30, feels like midnight, and who knows what kind of a night we have ahead of us. We packed up this morning for our trip to the beach so that we could check out of our hotel as soon as Mia arrived.
We were finally told that the children were arriving and Mia was up first. This girl. Friends, she is braver than you know. She came in crying (par for the course), but walked to me by herself and let me pick her up. She didn‘t stop crying until Aaron held her because, well, Aaron is apparently the key to Mia‘s happiness.
The social workers gave us a giant bag of her things – from social workers, her foster family, and general supplies. Her foster mom was sure to include her favorite towel which is her go-to comfort item. The social worker told me that it was a hard morning and the family was sad. Mia cried, but she walked by herself into the social worker‘s arms to come to us. Brave girl. She‘s going to have some fight in her, I think, and I like that about her. Placement day means that she is ours and we are hers from here on out.
We walked up to the room to grab our things and the tears started again and I was once again reassured that we had made the right decision in leaving our hotel immediately. By the time we were back downstairs in the lobby, the tears were gone and we were off to lunch. It was awesome! She was laughing, talking in her adorable little voice, watching traffic go by, pointing to things to show us. So great. She had an appetite and drank lots of water so yay! And she hasn‘t asked for a “nom“ yet! A couple more stops around the block to pick up supplies and we were officially off for a trip to the beach. Today was also the first day that just felt truly hot too. Random note, but I’m tired, so there ya go.
Side note : Trips out of Bangkok are no longer allowed on placement day like we did. We feel like it was a great option for our family, but as you are planning your trip, keep that in mind as they prefer you to stay in Bangkok longer.
A 3 hour taxi ride gets you to our hotel here and only costs about $75. Mia let me hold her the whole trip and fell asleep in my arms. One of my very favorite things about Thailand is a lack of car seats. We pulled up to our hotel and oh.my.goodness, it‘s absolutely gorgeous. We‘ll have photos and honestly, at this point my mind feels like mush, but there will be more to come. 🙂 We settled into our room, Mia starting to get a little sad, and then headed out to dinner… at the hotel‘s restaurant… right on the beach… under palm trees. This is the kind of restaurant that brings you lemon scented hand towels before your meal. It cost us $20 to eat as a family of 3 tonight. LOVE IT HERE!!
As we were eating, the waves were crashing on the beach, Johnny Mathis was crooning “Chances Are“ to us, and a rainbow appeared in the sky. I actually teared up. The moment was so perfect with this girl by our side in this beautiful location. And then Aaron got up to photograph it and it was meltdown central… next to this really beautiful, young Asian couple that looked like they could have been on their honeymoon. Sorry guys.
The rest of the night was full of tears which was to be expected. We took turns taking walks on the beach and got to do a little facetime with Ty and my parents at home. I have felt so good being here this whole time, but with Mia crying and seeing Ty‘s beautiful face, it made me homesick a little bit for the first time. I miss that guy! And can‘t wait until we get to officially be a family of 4 on the same continent.
We came back to the room, unpacked, and got Mia ready for bed, all to the tune of Mia‘s cry / screaming “mai ow!“. Mia girl, I know you don‘t want me right now, but we are going to get through this! Rather than the easy option of giving her to Aaron (which solves all of the world‘s problems), we fought this one out.
I held her in my arms, let her scream at me, snuggled her through her tears with her towel and pink chang. Somewhere in there, she gave up her fight, her body melted into mine and she relaxed. I sang her a couple of rounds of “I love you a bushel and a peck“ and that seemed to do the trick. She fell asleep in my arms, which I know were not the arms of her Mae that she so desperately wanted tonight instead of mine.
She fell asleep and she let herself stop fighting which is something. Crying lasted about an hour. She was asleep by 8:00 which is her normal bedtime. Whaa hoo! I feel hopeful. Not sure how many times we‘ll be up tonight with her, but for now she sleeps and she got 2 naps today, so I think we are off to a great start.
Right now, I am sitting on a reclining chair on our rather spacious terrace. Waves are crashing below me, there is a warm breeze blowing in off the ocean, and I‘m fairly certain that it‘s karoke I hear faintly from the restaurant on the beach. There is a girl sleeping in our room tonight. Mia girl is ours today. We made it through placement day together. She is permanently with us for all of time… or until she goes away to college or gets married or whatever this brave girl decides to do with her life. She is amazing and I can‘t wait for you all to meet her. So proud of her already.
Tools to document your day…
- Camera Phone (for easy pictures and handheld video)
- Mirrorless Camera (for wide angle & zoom options to add quality video and photos)
- Osmo Pocket (for adding smooth movement to your video)
It’s placement day! Today was a transition day for us, so bags were packed and we were back to equipment that we could easily travel with and access in our bags. While documenting is always a big part of our travels, moving forward, you’ll need to find a balance. You don’t want to miss these first steps together as a new family, but also want to be present for your child and their needs. 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.
