Lights Out!

We had a little bit of excitement at the hotel tonight. While we were sitting in the room enjoying out evening and playing with Samantha, the lights went out! The computer screen stayed on to provide a little light in the room, so it made it less scary. We went out in the hall, and some of the other families were out there wondering what happened. We looked out the window and thought it looked like a tree went down on some of the MILLIONS of electrical wires hanging above the streets, but we were wrong. The hotel staff scrambled pretty quickly, and the power was back on before you knew it.

Samantha slept very well last night and woke up every 4 - 5 hours for a bottle. She woke another couple of times with a wet diaper. She is very good to tell you when something is going on. She played very hard and ate sooooooo much today. At the suggestion of some of the other PLAN mommies, we went to Kiti a few doors down and ordered the vegetable rice soup for Samantha. It's like a rice cereal but with more flavor. She LOVED it! The waitress took Samantha while we were eating and fed her. Samantha did very well with her.

Samantha is starting to learn my voice and look for me when I walk out of the room. She will be playing with Mom and will stop and watch me closely as I walk across the room. She's kinda starting to "ask" for me periodically through the day. She's very content and happy all day long, but periodically she wants her Mommy. It's the best feeling in the world. I'm sure some of you experienced Moms out there will say... just wait until she won't go to anyone else for a while! That's ok. I know it will come. For now I'm just enjoying the bonding experience.

We did a little bit of shopping in the afternoon, and I found a beautiful little jewelry box with some wooden inlays. I was so excited! We also found a cute little Vietnamese hat for Samantha. She's not going to wear it, but I will hang it in her nursery at home. There are lots of beautiful items here for sale for very reasonable prices.

We are leaving Saturday morning early for Ha Long Bay and returning on Sunday. We got two adjoining rooms on the Phoenix and are really looking forward to the trip. I'm sure it's more beautiful in person than even in the pictures. That means I'll be out of computer range for the weekend, but I'll be back to update everyone with more pictures and stories of our adventures.

Samantha had her first real bath with us today. We've been wiping her off instead of bathing her right away because we didn't want to introduce her to too much more new stuff initially. She was a CHAMP! She loved her little duckie blow-up bath tub. It "quacks" when you pinch the nose, and she is very curious about it. She knows where the noise it coming from, though, so she tries to bend around the head of the duck and look for the noise. It's too cute! Speaking of cute, here's a little sample of cuteness from the day:

We have found that Sam is a very strong little girl. She is pulling up on her own and walking with assistance. She has gotten better already from Monday when we first met her. Here is a video clip of her walking today: