Man, are we parents now...

Whew, we have had our roughest night and day since becoming parents--I have now listened to hours of blood curdling screaming, been thrown up on and projectile pooped on. Evidently we had tummy issues last night, but at the time we had no idea what could be wrong, but that she was NOT a happy camper. It was very hard and at those times, you start wondering if you were cut out for this--it can really get to you. At one point last night, I was just hoping she would exhaust herself from screaming and go to sleep, as nothing we could do was helping. Finally, I think that happened when Matt finally put her in the crib and just rubbed her back and she passed out. This morning did not lend itself the usually happy baby we had gotten used to either, and figured either is was greiving finally setting in, or the fact that we hadn't gotten a poop in the last day or so. :)

Chalk it up to not knowing the lanquage when you buy baby formula added to the fact that she is on medication that can upset the fine balance of an infants tum-tum. When we went to the store the other day to buy more formula, we thought we were buying a smaller can of what we had been feeding her (at the orphanage too), but on further inspection at the store yesterday, we realized we had accidently bought formula for a one to three year old (they seem to have lots of toddler formulas here, right with the other kind). OOps--the can labels looked almost the same, except evidently one was level 2 and we meant to get step 2--honest mistake,right!? Hey, we are new at this, and all the labels are in Vietnamese! Evidently either the formula change or the antibiotic or both did not sit well with her digestion. Well, in her crazy fits last night, she worked herself up so much, she threw up all over me, herself and the bed. That was fun. Then today, after our outing and she was still a little fussy, and just not herself--we took her temp, and no fever, so we decided it was probably the lack of pooping issue and gave her a tiny bit of infant laxative--about an hour later, we acheived what we all had been waiting for when she started grunting! We waited until we thought she was done to change her diaper, but when Matt went to change her it became evident she was not in fact done, and the diaper started to overfloweth--I ran to help, and while Matt ran to get a back up, I moved it away and was shot in the leg with you-know-what. I think she smiled. It was pretty funny, actually when all said and done and everybody was clean again. I know she will love reading this when she is 16. :)

Yesterday we doodled around in the room with fussy baby, and then at the appointed time, headed out with some others to take our laundry to a place the dads had found the day before near the city center. They were picking up, and we were dropping off, so we all went together. Interesting to say the least, it is so different how you can be on a busy street, with modern stores and then turn down a narrow lane and you will find women making food on little stoves by the sidewalk and just intimate daily life going on right at your feet. Many people live in the same shops that they work out of, by just pulling out a mat, so all of it is so intertwined. The "Laundry Place" turns out to be a tiny little 8' (if that) wide stall with a bike parked in front, that blocked the whole front, and the little lady comes out and weighs your dirty duds and charges you by the kilo. I think our good-size bag came out to be around 111,000 dong, which is around $7. Pretty good deal, seeing the hotel charges that for two items. I have been washing alot of small things in the sink in the room, like some baby clothes and diapers we use for burp cloths. I think I wash 6 of those a day. Word to people who will be traveling soon-bring extra, and bring the one-ply kind, not the pre-folded, as it takes everything a long time to dry in this humidity. You can get laundry soap at the store here, but I brought these little travel sizes that are the size of a travel shampoo (All Small & Mighty) and I'm glad I did.

When we got back yesterday, we walked down the street exploring a bit, the sidewalks here are pretty hard to navigate--there are scooters, raised grates, concrete debris and carts with things for sell all taking precidence over the area meant to walk--also, if the traffic is heavy people will drive their scooters right up on the sidewalk to get around it. We walked about a mile toward a baby shop I had seen when we were in a cab, but decided it was too far when we got to a certain point--the smog is really heavy and I had the baby in the Bjorn with a burp cloth over her mouth and nose. We realized today in the shuttle downtown that it was right around the corner from where we turned around--Oh, well, I may cab it next time. We ended up back at the mall with the "Big C", which was quite packed this time--I guess most everyone grocery shops on Sundays! Couldn't stand it for too long, so we had another coffee and Highland Coffee and headed back to the hotel--then we ordered room service again and (see above) ensued.

To go to the laundry place, the hotel shuttle drops us off at a place called Saigon Centre, another little mall with some upscale shops and cafes. That is where we bought M the new stuffed piggy and a couple of cute dresses that we paid more for than we would have in the States, but we can say they came from Vietnam-we are trying to buy her some things from her homeland that we can give her for future birthdays and such. The challenge is to keep them pack-friendly. :) There are so many things I would get if getting it back was not such an issue.

Well, after the poop, it looks like we have our baby back--for a while there I thought she had been replaced by the chick from the Excorc*st. She is a silly little thing with a sense of humor already.

Must go to bed now, but I am composing a post of Buttercup tidbits--little things we are finding out about our little girlie-girl.....

We are trying for a trip to Ben Thanh market tomorrow--we are running out of time in our stay in Saigon and we need to see a few things--if the little one is up to it, of course! New pics are on the Flickr site, so feel free to check them out--hopefully we can take some more tomorrow--haven't gotten out of the room a whole lot in the last day or so, unless it was to a little mall. :)

Matt & baby are sleeping......must get there too.....G'night!