Better and Better!!

I missed writing last night. Things went very smoothly yesterday morning. We met everyone at the US embassy at 8:00, were called to the window around 8:45, and about 30 minutes later we had Olivia's passport with visa. She is now an American citizen when we arrive in Dallas!!!

Since we finished so early, we went straight back to our hotel and arranged our car and driver to pick us up at 12:00. We had a little time to kill since we had packed the night before, so we hired a tuk-tuk to take us around for about an hour. Olivia hated our hotel room at the Amari, so we tried to stay out of there as much as possible! The drive to Hua Hin was uneventful but pleasant. We enjoyed the scenery, and Olivia slept a great deal of the drive. When she wasn't sleeping, she was actually playing with some of her toys.

When we arrived at the resort, we settled in and headed down to the beach and pool pretty quickly. I must say it didn't go so well though. She wanted to stand up in the sand and put her feet in the water, but the minute the waves came up (just to her ankles!) she decided it wasn't for her! She cried a great deal of the time we were walking around on the beach, unless we were looking at the horses. She LOVES animals- except barking dogs. The pool didn't go much better. We went to a Thai place for dinner and that didn't go so well. We got our ice cream to go, so you can imagine. She also cried herself to sleep when we got back to the hotel. I'm not sure I have mentioned, but she does sleep well at night. She sleeps with us, usually wakes up twice for a drink of water, and goes right back to sleep.

Unfortunately, today started off about the same as last night. Breakfast, although the food was wonderful, consisted of Brian and me taking turns eating. I grabbed a danish on my way back to the room, so again I'm sure you get the picture! We spent the morning in the room, and Olivia fell asleep while I was holding her. When she woke up, she seemed to be a different child. We played in the room before lunch and she had a great time. Then, when we went to Burger King, she had so much fun. Afterwards, we walked around with her in the stroller and she loved that. By the way, we had not tried putting her in the stroller since the first day we met her, which was a disaster, so I put Bunny (her Build A Bear rabbit) in the stroller and pushed her around the room. After she saw Bunny could do it, she was ready for her turn! She practically threw Bunny out so she could get in! I think you will be able to see how much more relaxed she is in the pictures. She really had a great day today- other than this morning!

Anyway, about 4:00 we decided to try the pool again. We were hoping she would take a nap after we had lunch and shopped, but she wasn't interested in that and just wanted to play. (Some of the pictures are from that period of time.) So, at 4:00 she and Brian changed into their swimsuits and we went down. We were really trying to ease her into it, and she was doing really well until she jumped in! Brian was already in and she was standing on the second step. I was standing right next to her- touching her almost the whole time- practically on top of her. They were throwing this ball back and forth, and when it didn't come right to her, she decided to jump on in after it! Of course, everything turned south for a few minutes after that. We almost gave up and headed back to the room, but it wasn't long before she was over it, and although she didn't want to get back in the water, she did sit on the side for awhile and walked all around the pool. She also lay down on a lounger for a few minutes and let some man take her picture. She was totally relaxed and happy by the time we went back up to get ready for dinner.

Dinner went great. She loved her spaghetti, so we are glad she is starting to eat better for us. She was so happy, and all of a sudden she asked for her little pillow, put it on the table, and fell asleep!

So that's what has been going on the last two days. Overall, things are definitely getting better, but it's not smooth sailing yet! I'm praying for a good day tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. It is just wonderful to see her loosening up! I have the internet in the room for 24 hours, so I should be able to write again tomorrow evening, and then Sunday night we'll be back at the Amari in Bangkok.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Leah