Norman Adoption Blog

It has now been 3 months or so since we have been home from Vietnam. It has been a busy and crazy couple of months too…between two weddings in New Orleans, a birthday, a baptism, and one big family trip.

We went back and forth to New Orleans for the showers and weddings that I was in for Jenny and Natalie (who were married a week apart). Hannah and David were great travelers on the 3 hr drive (especially when a movie was put in for them). The kids loved staying at Baba’s house for a week and 1/2, seeing the cousins and being with grandparents. I enjoyed having someone to watch the kids while I got to go celebrate with my friends and do my bridesmaid duties.

Jesse and David playing at Baba’s house.

Hannah was recently baptized at church on David’s 2nd birthday- June 24. Family from New Orleans and Birmingham came to celebrate both the baptism and birthday with us. Saturday June 23 we had David’s 2nd birthday party with friends and family at our house. After church on Sunday we celebrated her baptism by taking in food from our local Vietnamese restaurant. I wish I could say that was exactly what we ate while in Vietnam, but I think this restaurant is more authentic to the South Vietnam cuisine…although we experienced some of it.

Isabella Joy (Christina Brock’s baby) and Hannah Leigh baptized on June 24 at Redeemer Church.
Daddy, friends and family singing “Happy Birthday” to David, who turned 2.
On the 4th of July the four of us (Patrick, David, Hannah and I) drove up to Gatlinburg, with a stop before and after in Birmingham to see Grandparents and family. This was our first family trip. The kids did great on the way up there (stopping for a night in Birmingham really helped). We went swimming a lot, drove through the National Park and walked up to the Dome, went up the tram to Over Gatlinburg, visited the Aquarium, and walked around the town a bit. It was a lot of fun spending time together. We stayed in a wonderful cabin up on a mountain, with a beautiful view off of the deck. As short as the visit was with family, David really enjoyed his time with Seth and the rest.

Celebrating the 4th in Gatlinburg.
Family trip to the Ripley’s Aquarium in Gatlinburg (at the end…the kids are exhausted and overstimulated!)
Playing with cousin Seth in Birmingham on the way home from Gatlinburg. Seth was making a funny face where as David was just drinking. Funny picture!

Hannah is now 7 1/2 months and is growing at rapid rates. We have our next checkup at the doctor early next week (for her next round of shots, booo…) and I’m sure we’ll get a report of how much her weight status has increased. Hannah is not yet crawling, although she will get up on her knees and rock before pushing herself backwards. She will end up across the room in a minute by rolling or moving backwards. I don’t think it will really take her long to figure it out though. She is a quick learner.

David loves his sister. He is still very affectionate towards her. We are working with him on not throwing things at her, however. It seems to be a new phase we are working through. He will throw at us, the dogs, Hannah…and I’m pretty sure all in fun. He just has to learn his new skill and put it to good use.

Hannah has been eating solids since 6 months but has yet to get attached to anything she eats, other than bananas. She doesn’t like many veggies and makes a funny sour face with most other fruits (apples, pears, peaches). The last two days she slept from 6:30-9 basically. So I think she is getting her energy up for crawling or something to that affect. She has one tooth and another about to pop.

Next week we will be finalizing all of the re-adoption stuff in front of a judge on Monday. Hannah’s name has been officially changed from Binh Thi Nguyen to Hannah Leigh Norman. She will then receive a Mississippi birth certificate instead of the Vietnam one. She will always know what her given name was by the original birth certificate and also by the citizenship certificate.

[ Side note: I plan on moving from this blog to a family blog…since in my mind the adoption has been complete and we are now the Normans…

For more family and favorite Veitnam pictures: photallery.com