Friday 4 September

Last night was all very new for everyone as you can imagine. However I think we all managed fine. He was in bed asleep by 6.30ish after falling asleep in my arms, so very nearly were we! Bottles were sterilised and preparations made for the ones that would be necessary overnight ie. water prepared, formula put into containers ready to pour and nappies etc. at the ready. We were incredibly lucky! We went to bed ourselves around 9.00 - he woke at 12 on the dot, he was changed and fed by the two of us in 10 minutes, there is no flies on this boy when it comes to food - a bit like his dad - and he was back to sleep by 12.15 at the latest. We fell asleep almost immediately and no one, including Alex knew anything until 6.00.

He woke with a start, everything is very new for him. We fed him and changed him and he seemed happy to stay awake. His carer at the orphanage gave us his schedule, but that already seems to have gone out of the window so currently we're winging it. Dennis suggested about 7.00ish that I go swimming and that he would put Alex in the buggy and wheel him around the pool area. It was a great success, there was plenty to keep him occupied and Dennis. He kept checking to see if I was there it was lovely. I got out of the pool and Dennis went to order some con gee for him. It is a traditional rice porridge and he is supposed to have his with pork. We tried him on some plain con gee last night but he wasn't too impressed. So we thought we'd try again. Whilst Dennis was ordering I started playing pee poe with him and it is the first time there has been a proper little smile and a gurgle. The moment brought tears to my eyes. Breakfast was not a great success - we are going to give up the con gee. He prefers baby rice, thank god for a friend who suggested that I bring some with us as at least we would be able to read the instructions - great plan.

After showers it was time for our breakfast. We took him to the restaurant in the buggy. Actually, as a first family outing things went quite well. He was centre of attention and he loved it - all of the waitresses thought he was very cute. I ordered the fruit bowl which is a selection of melons, pineapple, apple etc. as it was put down he swooped on a piece of water melon - hopefully his interest in healthy eating will continue. I followed this with some muesli with a banana, again his little nose twitched so we mashed some up for him and it went down a treat - that's his snack sorted.

We all played for a while and following his lunch - which is currently still a bottle it was time for his nap. He fought and fought, wouldn't go into the cot or the buggy, eventually we wrapped him up and I held him in my arms and he went to sleep lying curled up on our bed. Once he was really asleep I moved and we put pillows around him and kept a close eye whilst he slept.

Once he was awake we decided that we would take him to the SOS clinic just up the road. He has developed a rash around his neck, his little cheeks have become livid (at first we put this down to teething - he has two beauties cutting on the bottom) and he was very hot and bothered. So without further ado we put him in the buggy and pushed him down the street. People couldn't take their eyes off us, it was quite unnerving but not unexpected. Adoption is not new here, many other countries world-wide have Agreements with Vietnam, but I would think it is never something that you get used to.

All I can say is thank god we took him. We didn't have an appointment but as with any A & E department, babies and the elderly take precedent. After filling in some forms, that was very strange I can tell you, for the first time when asked for the relationship between us and the patient, we put parents, we saw the Chief Medical Officer almost straight away. He was a French doctor and extremely nice and very helpful. He gave Alex a thorough examination, he has a fever and he gave us some medication for that, his tonsils are slightly inf lammed, and some antibiotics will nip that in the bud. He also gave us some hydrocorteson cream for the rash and some cream for his little face. We have to start that in a couple of days. All in all though he is an extremely healthy little boy, mind you we did get a fright and I sure that this is only the beginning. We waited whilst the pharmacist brought the medicines to us and then we put him in the buggy for the walk home. This cost the princely sum of $158 dollars, around €120.00 euros and that includes all medication, consultation and examination. Cheap at half the price.

Dennis is on medication duty! For supper today he had more baby rice with mashed banana interspersed with medicine. We gave him his first bath, this was quite successful - not as traumatic as we had feared for either party. Once ready for bed, we gave him a bottle and he was asleep in his cot by 7.00. We have just had room service - not sure that we can face much more of that - we are going to have start cooking for ourselves. I am now writing this and we won't be long out of bed. Mind you there seems to be a party in the hotel this evening around the pool area, so maybe we will be awake a while longer.

Just one more thing, thank you everyone, on behalf of ourselves and Alex for all of your good wishes both on the blog and via email. They mean an awful lot to us and really are appreciated.

See you all soon.