Wednesday, September 19th

WOW!! We must have been very tired yesterday-- even the post was mis-dated--- oh well. Last night we slept MUCH better with Miss Iyla. She slept until around 7am and only woke up at around 3:30am. Not bad.

Today, we went to the SOS clinic and had Iyla checked out. Thankfully, she is HEALTHY and the doctor gave us some instructions to handle her cold (which mysteriously has seemed to VANISH- yay!). So, no Bronchitis or ear infection or anything else similar-- YAY!! We were very relieved to hear from the American doctor that all looked very good! She weighs 8.5 kg or 18.7 pounds-- so she gained 2.5 pounds since July and over 12 pounds since April when she was found.

After SOS, we went to lunch at Mondo Gelato which has DELICIOUS American-tasting pizzas and ice cream. We split a pizza and Miss Iyla was quite content in her stroller which is where she is right now-- sleeping in her stroller. Next it was back to the room for a quick change then out to the Nokia store to buy the requisite cell phone that the embassy can reach us on when we are out and about. On the way back we stopped at Highland coffee for some drinks and played in the room for a while. Later, we went to Ha Loa Prison-- where John McCain was held as a POW during the Vietnam war. It was FASCINATING to see all the artifacts and read the Vietnamese view of how they held our POW's.

Iyla with the new cellphone:

Ha Loa prison


John McCain flight suit and personal effects-- parachute, shoes, helmet, etc

We then headed back to the room to wait for our agency staff to complete our visa paperwork. Loan (agency staff) came over and we quickly signed all the paperwork. She also left some papers that talk about Iyla's story. This includes where and when she was found as well as what she was found with. Very interesting and will be nice to have for her as she gets older. Following Loan's visit it was nap time. Four hours later it was time to wake up and now it is BEDTIME!

Janie getting ripped off to the tune of about $2.50-- too funny!

Iyla is doing VERY well and she is adjusting nicely. She however, does NOT like going to bed. I think she is afraid she will miss something. Rest assured young Iyla-- nothing happens without you!!! :)