THE GREATEST DAY EVER

Up very early today as we kinda had some important business to attend to.  I actually slept pretty well all things considered. Tony – not so much.  We were up at 6.20 am and showered soon after.  A quick breakfast to fill the nervous tummies and then we changed into finery and set off to find a taxi.

Of course today traffic went at a snails pace and it seemed to take forever.  We didn’t have much trouble getting a taxi to figure out how to get there once we said it was Chualalongkorn Hospital.  We just waited till we saw some familiar signage and said “STOP” so we could get out. Thanks so much to Lisa, Harry, Sandy & David for making this part so much easier for us.

We were a wee bit early but there was no stopping us from going up the ‘stairway to heaven’ (the children's home is on the 2nd floor.) We met Khun Voraporn straight away and then we were escorted up another set of stairs with the photo album and Winnie the Pooh bear we had sent over earlier for Nate. She warned us that he had a bump on his head and some grazes as some of the toddlers are a bit rough.

He was moved into the toddler room last month so he was one of about a dozen little faces we saw immediately.   One of his carers scooped him up and we all went into the toy room.  I must say that as soon as we got to the TRCCH we felt a sense of relief.  Now in seeing and touching him it was almost overwhelming.  We must say proudly that we held it together and just enjoyed the first few moments of discovering our son.  We sat down on the floor with Voraporn and a carer and started to play.  He was inquisitive and sat very quietly checking us out.  I think it was about 15 mins that we played together then they left us on our own.  We thought this to be a good sign and he seemed to be quite comfortable with us.  Theyre very protective of their children which is fantastic.

We gave him a toy that looks like a mobile phone, and those of you who know our love of gadgetry will not be surprised that our little man took no time at all in figuring out how to make the toy make noise and how to mimic answering a phone (not that he would have ever seen one for real.)

Then at about 1130 Voraporn came in with a bowl of soup, a cup of water and a custard cream puff for us to feed him.  All she said was make sure that you make small pieces.  It was so so great as Tony sat him on his lap and I fed him.  This was awesome – it felt like we were really caring for him.  He loved the soup and noodles and even the carrot.  The custard puff also went down a treat, and was spread from ear to ear to hair to chin.  We were surprised to see him drinking from a cup as we thought it was bottle only.  The second we finished cleaning up the mess we made it was nap time for Nate and we were asked to come back at 2.30.



As sad as it was to part for even an hour it was good to have the time to take it all in.  We went back up to the MBK for lunch and Im sure we floated on air the whole way there.

The after lunch play session was still pretty good, but it seems that he has a cold and a fever so was a little bit grumpy.  He was still really good and despite a small cry he settled quickly.

We were both really sad to leave as he has already totally captured our hearts.  We had to put him down in the playroom with the other little monsters who wouldn’t let us go with out hugs to all.  We really hated leaving him - surprising how fast the protective mechanisms kick in.

Day 2

Today we had some more general orientation to Bangkok transport.  We opted for a tuktuk ride into the sky train.  All agreed it was pretty neat and in fact we thought it was better than the ride we had last time in Bangkok.

We then ventured onto the sky train for a bit of a birds-eye view of the city.  Certainly a contrast to the tuktuk.  We traveled to the Taksin bridge and then jumped onto the shuttle boat to go on the river over to the Marriott hotel (where we stayed last time).  The water and refresher towel that we had was also most appreciated.

It was then back to the MBK for lunch.  We had some really great club sandwiches and some interesting iced coffees at a shop called Black Canyon Coffee.  The only other things on the agenda then was more shopping and swimming.

We had dinner in the same little restaurant in the hotel – seems like Lasagne is the favourite for the youngest and the oldest of our group.

I thought I might add a stressometer to the blog to monitor daily stress levels but today Tony would have recorded a record.  It is hard to believe that it is now only a matter of hours until we meet our boy and see that he is infact real and not a figment of our imagination.

Day 1

All of us were up and ready for breaky at around 8 am which was actually fairly surprising due to the late night.  When we finally found the cafe, this time the 12th floor in the other tower, it was quite good. Bacon, eggs, French toast, omelet, toast & fruit salad were the main fare of our table and of course some rather strong coffee for Tony.

After breakfast Phoebe and Tony went for a little swim which I believe was most refreshing. Post that we all headed off in a couple of taxi’s to the MBK shopping centre.  We needed to get some baby supplies (my fav type of shopping right now) and some things for our room.  We of course also found the very cheap watches and shoes!  I also decided to splurge and buy a kettle to share.  I also wanted an iron so we lashed out on both of these and a couple of power adapters for the grand total of $25.

Lunch was an exotic affair – McDonald's.  And before I hear you all groan we had pork burgers. Tony had a black pepper pork burger which he thought was really good – we also had curly fries (remember them from years ago).

Post lunch we returned to the hotel pool and some reconnaissance for beer and drinks for the hotel room (theres two 7/11 stores within 5 mins walk from here).  Bangkok has this weird rule about the sale of alcohol – only possible from 11am – 2pm, then 5pm till midnight.  sure if this is usual or due to the fact that today is their Chinese New Year Celebrations.
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The Longest Day ever....

Well we made it safe and sound.  A mere 17 hours after leaving the airport we were tucked up into our very comfortable beds.   The flight was pretty good although Qantas/British Airways have a strange seat allocation system.  One seat in row 1, 3 seats in the row behind, and then 2 seated together in the next row but on the other side of the plane.  We reallocated ourselves anyway with out much drama.  Plane food was good, we all had the chicken & polenta and all agreed it was yum.  The only weird thing then was that soon after dinner it was lights out and we were forced into sleep mode at 7.30 pm (Adelaide time).

We arrived at the airport in Bangkok all a little pooped out and were really thrilled to have to stand in a queue for immigration for 45 mins NOT.  We were almost the last ones from our plane to collect our luggage and some nice Thai airport copper was looking after them.

The next adventure was packing the 6 of us, and all of the luggage into a minivan.  Amazingly we did all fit but we were a little nervous about having the unrestrained suitcases joining us in a hurry if he braked too quickly.  Of course Bangkok traffic is always slow and sedate so what were we thinking?   A number of our party had their eyes opened to a new and exciting way of travel.

The last adventure was finding the right reception desk to book into.  This hotel has 4 towers and 3 reception counters.  This is spread over many different levels where you catch one lift up then transfer to another to go down then transfer to yet another to go up again.   Our first solo effort to find our way had us tracking back to our starting point; via the car parking garage complete with rubbish dumpsters.   When we did finally get to the right spot the rooms were pretty nice and definitely new as many of the details you look for were missing, ie tea & coffee. We picked the biggest of the three rooms so that we could get a cot in it - thats exciting just planning for these little things.

Happy Birthday Australia

Today being Aussie Day we had a traditional gathering at my brother's house - seafood and steak on the BBQ. Greg is such a great hostie and he does a wicked BBQ - complete with an esky of ice being dished out to the most deserving guest....this year revenge was swift and he suffered the consequences.

Nearly there

Baby Shower

Tonight some of my wonderful work mates threw me a baby shower to celebrate Nathaniel's impending arrival.  Must say that I am so lucky to work with some great people who spoilt us rotten with lots of pressies for us and for Nathaniel.  Thanks guys, and a special thanks to those who sent their best wishes and pressies but couldn't make it in person.  We will be having a big welcome home bash after he (us) is all settled in so we really hope that you can come then.

Many thanks to Bronte for the last minute use of your house, and thanks to all of you who came along - Karen, Dan, Dee, Cathy, Maria & Hayley, Amanda & Jason, Katrina & John.  I had a great time, and yes we were up very late playing....err putting things away.

 

Success finally

As predicted today has sorted itself out.

We have flights for all of us! yippee.  We also all have a place to stay.  We will be staying at the Prince Place Hotel for the duration.   It faces the Chao Praya River and also a little canal so it should be quite ok.   While it wasn't our first choice I had great difficulty securing rooms almost anywhere.  Oh and I should also say that directly under the hotel is a multi story garment retail/wholesale market.

So now I am off for a hair cut so I can recolour my rapidly greying hair (whats left of it anyways after pulling out great chunks of it yesterday....)

Getting it together

Flight details

What I can say is that we all leave Saturday morning from the scungey old domestic terminal for Sydney to connect onto a British Airways flight direct to Bangkok.

The home trip is the same in reverse leaving saturday the 11th and arriving back home in Adelaide at 10 00 on Sunday 12th feb.
 

The Arrangements

Had a fairly average day today trying to piece all of the travel details together.  Made a mistake of relying on a travel agent to ensure our flights.  The problem is not getting out of the country, but getting back in. 

After 24+ hours with no resolution I took matters into my own hands and went online - I couldnt leave it alone as I was starting to get an ulcer.  Well after 6+ hours; a number of credit card problems and lots of phone calls we are about half a step closer.  I should get the travel agents commission as Ive done all their work.  Tomorrow morning I am sure it will all be resolved and everything will slide into place. The trouble with having such a great day yesterday was that the exact opposite was on its flipside....oh well I hope we get some solid sleep so I can attack finalizing the travel details head on in the morning.

THE PHONE RANG

Finally what we thought would never happen infact did.  At about 10 am today the phone rang and I heard the words that we have been waiting for over the past months (years)  finally we have permission to bring our son home. 

While the voice on the line did sound familiar, I got chills the instant she said who it was and I new at that second that what I was about to hear could only be good.  Since I had the cordless phone I ran up to our walk in robe where Tony was, head down bum up looking for shoes, and I think he knew instantly too when I smacked him on the butt to get him to look at me and the expression on my face.  All I needed to say was who was on the line and he started the celebration.

I was given the option of 2 panel hearing dates - the 8th of feb and the 22nd.  I think that we have waited long enough so I had no hesitation in saying that we would be at the first date. Everything else she said was a little fuzzy as I came to realise that we would be travelling at the end of the week (providing that flights and accomodation could be secured). The next few hours was a bit of a blur as what seemed to be endless phone calls and multitasking (2 mobile phones, the land line and the internet was used to spread the joy.)  Our travel party were all stunned with the news as it was quite unexpected.

In one afternoon our world has changed for ever and we can hardly wait for the next few days to pass. I bet it will feel like no time at all until we board that plane to go get our dream boy.

The photo is of the boys at our impromptu celebration dinner enjoying their cigars.