Today

It really was almost surreal. Today I held my son and made him giggle fed him a bottle (actually 2) and held him close. I didn't cry, which came as quite a surprise to me actually, I simply felt complete. Finally. Fin-a-ly. That is what I thought as I gathered him into my arms. I had been waiting for this day forever.

It started with a lovely meeting with the director of the orphanage who was most kind with his words...thanking us for giving the children of Hai Duong a better future. He received gifts for the children, the nannies and himself most graciously. All of this occured in a formal office with the doors thrown open wide to a cool and damp day. The courtyard behind us was noisy...with the slaughter of dinner. Dead pig pictures, though they exist, will be avoided on this blog.

Off we went into a small office where the waiting mommies sat...while we waited for the babies to arrive from up stairs I presented some photos of children already home in Canada. To say the director and the nannies were thrilled is such an understatement. Over the course of the afternoon people came in to enjoy the photos over and over again. So pleased to see Hai Duong babies doing well in Canada.

Then came the babies. First little Mira and then Sweet Benjaminh. He really has the sweetest disposition...looking at me and looking for his nanny and then looking at me again. His nanny behind me trying to make him laugh and smile. I held him close and stared at him in wonder and in just a short time he warmed up a bit and was laughing and smiling and cooing and leaping up and down upon my lap. According to his nanny he is shy with strangers and his reaction to me was very unusual...not sure I really buy that but it sounded nice.

I held my sweet boy for a long time and he never got heavy. Though he looked big I'm guessing he may only be 16 or so pounds. I'm told he is difficult to feed and so he is fed often. I won't go into detail about his apparent feeding schedule here (because it is about to change dramatically)but I will put up a bit of a video of the conversation with the nanny at a later date. The short version is my son is spoiled rotten. He made a tiny little noise at one point and his nanny literally sprinted from the room to fetch his mid afternoon snack of 4 ounces of very think formula mixture. Not 30 minutes later when he put his hand in his mouth she declared him hungry and off she sprinted for his second serving.


Carrying the little guy we went on a tour of the baby rooms. all of the baby rooms. And if I know you and your child is waiting for you at Hai Duong I can assure you we have photos. If I don't know you we have photos. Lots and lots of photos. Oh, and a dead camera battery so patience is a virtue all of you will be practicing for a bit.

The baby rooms were full of babies. Perhaps as many as 50. 4 of them belong to the families in my group and 6 have been referred to families in the next group and then...the rest...they will all find homes either in Canada or in Italy but the sheer volume of babies was staggering. And it was cold in those unheated baby rooms. Bundled babies in hammocks, walkers, on beds and floor mats. And many of them were suffering from colds. Runny noses and rattling coughs. I would if I could take so many of them home.

Photo taking and baby visiting and even holding and loving on little twins headed to Ottawa (during which time I VERY briefly handed Benjaminh to Kristen and she took self portraits in case she never gets another chance to hold him...) and it was time to go. Back to the hotel, shopping for formula and rice cereal, blog writing and getting ready for tomorrow. The day sweet Benjaminh becomes a Gillmore forever.