On our full second day together, Layla is warming up to me a little more. She holds on to you for dear life when you pick her up. She’s so tiny. Her “My heart belongs to Mommy” outfit I bought at Target is a tad too big and it’s 6 – 9 months. She can’t sit up, but she loves crawling and those nails can scratch. I have a drug store in my suitcase, but I forgot the baby clippers.
Layla, Ben, and James are all in the last stages of getting over a cold and congested. The doctor said, we didn’t need to give them anything. That’s a relief. I was a little concerned before leaving if Layla would have lice or scabies, but thankfully she has neither. She has some bug bites, but that’s it. I think the big discovery for our group is how heated our kids get. I’m sitting with my jacket on and Layla’s hair is matted to her head she’s sweating so much. I’m always cold so it’s been interesting trying to find a nice in-between for us. And because of the heat and humidity, she now has a heat rash but she’s a trooper. What else can she be?
For breakfast, Layla had her first taste of oatmeal. Her schedule says she ate rice soup, which is exactly as it is described, so this was a new taste for her and she seemed to like it. She doesn’t have the feeding thing down completely. And I’m pretty sure her bottle was always held because she doesn’t know how to hold one. I’m introducing her to the concept of putting those tiny little hands around her own bottle. I try to be a helpful mom.
Today we went to file the paperwork for her passport and went to her doctor’s appointment. I was surprised to find out they had her immunization records, but I’ve been told every country is different with dosage and other such things in regards to the shots, so more than likely her pediatrician at home will start the process all over again. I wonder how well she tolerates shots?
The doctor told me she was the average size of an almost one-year-old Vietnamese girl. Really?! I guess I’ll have to take his word for it. He would know better than I. But sadly, they had to draw blood for a Hep C test. And interestingly enough, us parents got kicked out of the room while this was being done. Minutes later, a crying, band-aided Layla was handed back to me. Poor baby, second day with the stranger and I leave her with people who poke at her. But despite this, she smiled more at me. If I kiss on her neck, she smiles and I’ve heard a laugh. She is a light sleeper. You move or touch her when she’s sleeping and she’s up.
I knew we would get off her schedule, but I had no idea it would happen the very first night. Her 8:30 bedtime came and went and was replaced by an 11:20 bedtime. Though on the upside, there was no 1AM feeding. Maybe the food is filling her so the 1AM bottle is now unnecessary. We can only hope.
After the doctor’s and a nap, we went out to dinner at a restaurant across the street from the hotel. Thank goodness it was close since it randomly started raining once we were in the restaurant. It rains at will here. When I saw all the scooters/motor bikes, I wondered what they did when it rained and now my question was answered. Everyone throws on ponchos with hoods and keeps on trucking. They either have ponchos which cover the handles and they maneuver their bikes from underneath or they just let leave the scooter uncovered. I think they consider the rain the same as the Hawaiians do “Golden Sunshine” which to the rest of the world is really rain. Water from the sky is called rain. But rarely is an umbrella seen.
Will, you advised me to be adventurous with food so I have been. At breakfast the first morning, I tried the fried rice being served at 7AM. I even overlooked the fact that it was gummy. I also sampled what looked and sort of tasted like apple jam. When Layla refused to eat more of her breakfast, I finished it. So now I can eat regular Quakers oatmeal, cinnamon roll, maple brown sugar, and apple cinnamon, though this one is not my favorite and I understand why Layla didn’t want to finish it.
At the restaurant across the street from the hotel, I had beef with lime leaf. It sounds exotic, but to be truthful it was beef shiskabob with these leaves in-between. I dumped the leaves and ate the tasty beef with steamed rice. And for dinner at my own hotel, I ate the shrimp fried rice though for some reason it had cilantro in it. I avoided the cilantro.
In Danang, I decided to be adventurous and order the burger and fries. I knew this might be problematic when I tried to add cheese and it was pretty apparent the waiter’s English, did not include the word “cheese”, that poor, poor man…a world without cheese is like a cruise without lobster night. The burger was on Subway type bread and had some extra ingredients that had a kick to it. The fries. Well, the fries looked as if I gave Jory a potato and told him to chop it up so we could leave them in a vat of grease and not drain any of it off before serving.
I was pretty sure I would be stuck watching my Asian soap opera, which we’ll talk more about in a minute, or the Discovery channel, but to my surprise I found another channel and all of a sudden I felt like I was in an editing bay with Joe, Harvey, Marcus, Diane, and Jerry.
Babes. Beaches. Guns. CSI: Miami - You think they could mention the dead bodies, but I’m not the promo writer.
Is it Horatio’s fascination with his sunglasses? Is it Alex’s romances with dead bodies? Yada. Yada. CSI: Miami.
There is a CSI supreme night every Sunday on AXN. (Thanks Jerry for making the rest of the world think if they come to Miami, Vegas, or NY, they’ll get murdered. Though on the upside at least they know their cases would get solved and their murderers would get punished.) And just to make me feel more at home, they thrown in an episode of Numbers. The Guardian (Simon Baker is so much hotter, funnier and charismatic on The Mentalist). Shark. Amazing Race (Rox, Dee, I said the frat boys were my favorite team, but now I think it’s the two older men who were best friends.) It’s like I’m back in program coordination.
Then I discovered the Star World channel and found How I Met Your Mother (Could Doggie Howser/Barney be any funnier?), Reaper, 90210. And B, to keep the surprise going, I didn’t watch the season finale of America’s Next Top Model Cycle 11. Sorry Angela, there’s no Privileged or Gossip Girl, I guess this Asian market has taste. I’m just kidding, sort of.
Did I mention they air Early Edition? Yes, every morning I can stare into the face of hellafine Kyle Chandler. Why did they cancel that show? It could have been paired with The Mentalist and been two hours of hot men who make a difference. I would have been all over that.
And for all my Beacon/Holding buddies, The Guardian is showing on Cinemax. It’s like the best of all worlds.
These channels are pretty up to date, The Golden Globes is airing on Jan 12 and American Idol starts on Jan 14. It is slightly strange to see eyeliners at the top of the screen.
And on my Asian soap, I saw the worst product placement. The couple walked into the restaurant and suddenly on the right third of the screen was this huge advertisement for some type of beer. It was on the screen for a good 10 to 15 seconds, then I realized it wasn’t an eyeliner ala The Eleventh Hour premieres promo, but it was a billboard, like the kind you would see at the bus stop, in the middle of the set. So when the actors walked into the restaurant, they paused by the billboard, while they waited to be seated. Was that really necessary?! And why would a beer billboard just be randomly in a sort of upscale restaurant?
Until next time….
Here's me holding Layla.
The Visa medical center.
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