And it Begins

As of yesterday Ehren is no longer a static baby. He isn't crawling yet (thank God), but he now scoots as far as he can get which will take him off his playmat and into the dining room if we aren't paying attention. I have no doubt he would make it under the table if we would let him. Yesterday Joshua set him down to play and then sat on the couch to do a bit of work on his computer. Not two minutes later he jumps because "something" grabbed his foot. And of course it was our son who had wiggled his way 3 feet from where he was placed, chewing on his foot.

This is about to get interesting.

In other news he loves to have his picture taken. I'm sure this was a talent fostered by the nannies at Hannah's Hope. Here's the photo progression.

TOTALLY UNAWARE:

REALIZES THERE'S A CAMERA

AND POSE

Birthday Celebration

Today I (Joshua) turned 31 years old. And to celebrate, we partied it up took Ehren on his first trip to the park. The weather has been great here this week, so we're soaking up as much sun and warmth as we can before it turns cold.

I can't believe it's already been a year since I turned 30. So much has happened in the last year it felt like I just skipped being 30 and went straight to 31. In less than two weeks it will be one year since my dad died. During that year I spent as much time traveling as I did at home. I've been stretched, beat up, disappointed, pushed to my limits in every way, excited, encouraged, supported and loved. I can't think of a better way to end the last year than to become a father.

We've been back home one week and life has taken a huge turn all at once. Our family has adopted a new member and he is amazing. All-consuming, but amazing.

Now We All Match!

Fat Baby in a Little Hat

Ehren got his first walk in Crieve Hall today. The weather is beautiful, 60 degrees, nice crisp air. There's still a bit of color left in the leaves on the trees. The pines are foreshadowing Christmas.

Ehren loved seeing the neighborhood, and watching daddy rake leaves for a bit. A good time was had by all.

Baby Jet Lag

We are home and back in Nashville. We had quite a greeting at the airport and we played pass the baby one last time before Joshua and I are sequestered at the house with him for the next month.

I've spent the last 3 hours working while the boys are sleeping. The three of us are having quite a time adjusting to our new timezone on the other side of the world. However, Ehren loves his new house. He had a bit of trouble doing anything but staring when we first got home. Now that he has adjusted to the blue walls it is a toss up between whether he likes the mirror or playing best. I can't quite decide.

We've also transitioned to the cloth diapers and realize we need a LOT more. Hasn't been painful at all though. The only thing that is painful is the fatigue. He naps great but now he is napping through the night instead of sleeping which is so tiring. Hopefully he'll transition soon to the new schedule and then it will be all peaches and rainbows, right?

Next step is pediatrician appointment, social worker visit, starting the American adoption proceedings and those pesky vaccines. Should make for a full week month!

So Ready for Home

We are back in Taipei and Ehren successfully survived his first plane ride. We had our AIT appointment today and we are sitting in the hotel room waiting for 2:30 when they said his visa may be ready. There is a small chance they call and tell us there was an issue with the birthmother interview but barring that we got the "clear to go" and we get to pick it up this afternoon.

AIT was interesting. They do your interview just out in the open so you can hear everything. The couple before us met online and he came out here to marry her. They have only seen each other 3 times and they are trying to get her visa so she can come to the US. I can't imagine the stories these officials hear because just this one was fascinating.

Currently Ehren is asleep, Joshua is out finding us lunch and I'm frantically trying to figure out if we can get on a plane in less than 12 hours. The only earlier flight we can take is tonight so I'm trying to be prepared for everything if we get his visa. We have a southwest flight to book, hotel in LA and then packing us all up again. We wouldn't normally be in such a rush to get home but we are 3.5 weeks into the traveling and home just sounds so great.

So if you don't hear from us again that is a great sign and we'll be home on Saturday night. If we don't get an earlier flight then we'll get to buy a cheap ipod, computer and drink more milk bubble tea so it won't be all bad.

Here is America's newest immigrant:

Why I Wasn't a Camera Op

I have a really hard time documenting things when I just want to experience them. So sorry but you are left with very little pretty pictures. When we left for the afternoon I turned to Joshua and asked if we had the camera. Nope we had forgotten to grab it. But we did have 4 diapers, a bottle ready to be made and one content little boy with us.

Our last day in Taitung was spent checking out more of the aboriginal side of the area and learning a tiny bit about Peinan which is the tribe of Ehren's birthmother.

Then we sufficiently freaked out our waitress at dinner. We decided to eat at the hotel and invited some of the Hannah's Hope staff to join us so we could eat family style to try a few dishes. They needed to eat later than we normally did and it corresponded with Ehren's play time instead of sleep time. Not a problem! We brought a blanket and laid it out on the hotel restaurant floor between our chairs and let him play while we ate. The first waitress laughed and then brought the rest of the girls to see what we were doing. It didn't seem that weird to us but they were very concerned that we understood that the floor wasn't clean. Hello, we brought a blanket - he'll be fine!

Hot Pots

It's like Taiwanese fondue but with potentially scarier ingredients. I vowed to wait until we had our translator to try it so I didn't offend by not eating anything I was served. Sansan and Lanfen invited us to dinner and were able to help me negotiate the menu to an original beef hot pot that I loved. They have these great mushrooms that I couldn't get the name to, all kind of "tofu cousins," beef, and an egg. There were unidentified fish parts that I left in the pot so I'll leave them out of the blog as well.

I basically copied Sansan as she ate her hot pot because the way you cook it is just as important as the ingredients. Took quite a bit of time to eat with Ehren strapped to me but it was really good.

Would I order it again? Absolutely! Without supervision? Probably not.

Dinner was a lot of fun talking, laughing and getting to know these great Taiwanese women who had both heard of couchsurfing - how crazy is that? We laughed so hard over the impression we had made before coming and the fact that we forgot our camera when we showed up to pick up Ehren that I actually woke him up from his nap. It's like friends away from home.

We are the first family that has been here and not jetlagged so we are getting to hang out with the staff a lot more which I think is so important to the experience. Besides couchsurfing we also had the scooter in common. They have Vino scooters over here and Sansan just thought it was great that Joshua and I drive a scooter like they do since that is so rare in the US.

High five for not being jet lagged and having a scooter!

Ehren took the best nap ever (you know in the last 2 days) so we stopped by this thing on our way home:

Taitung has a lot of aboriginal tribes in it. I thought they had something to do with this but turns out it is a Toaism thing. This is a show for one of their gods to watch. There is some important festival starting tomorrow and so they erect these things all around the city to entertain the gods.

Three stories. Animatronics. Sounds. Lights. All night. Outside our hotel.

Austin vs. Ehren

Growing up I was called the dog's name more times than I was called my siblings' name. I understand the tendency but after being away from "Austin the Dog" for 3 weeks I didn't think we'd slip into it so quickly. Turns out seven years makes quite a habit.

As a matter of reference for all involved here is how we are going to tell them apart:

Austin hates baths - Ehren loves them.

Austin barks at people she doesn't know - Ehren smiles.

Austin is cool to sleep for 8 to 10 hours - Ehren is NOT.

Austin hates traveling - Ehren seems to be fitting into the Fykes world traveling quite well.

And the most obvious... Austin has white hair - Ehren has black.

Should be simple.

Day One of the Rest of Our Lives

This is one loved kid. I mean he has fabulous parents but you should have seen the special mothers who have cared for him the last six months. They had written him cards, had gifts for him and couldn't stop balling and telling us how much they were going to miss him. By the time we left everyone but Ehren was crying.

The way it works at Hannah's Hope is there are 3 shifts and in each shift the child has the same caregiver. That means he had 3 people who cared for him specially while they were there. The start that Hannah's Hope gave Ehren is unlike you see in normal orphanages and we will be forever thankful for the love and care he received in Taitung from his special mothers.

I can't wait to show him the notes and cards that everyone gave him. Show him the videos of everyone telling us exactly how he likes to nap/eat/play. And most importantly I can't wait to bring him back here to see what a fabulous place he lived in for the first six months.

After leaving Hannah's Hope we spent some time buying the things we think we need for a baby. We'll see if we were right. We'll probably spend some time tonight googling stuff. Like do we need baby powder? What is baby oil for? You know crucial parenting knowledge.

Most of the day he was happy and playing but we had a small issue with a nap that I think he would label a catastrophe and that meant the rest of the day he wasn't his bubbly self.

It made for quite an interesting situation at the restaurant where we tried to eat dinner. Are they staring at us because we are Westerners with a Taiwanese baby or because we are Westerners with a screaming Taiwanese baby? We'll never know!

Introducing......

Ehren Taylor Wen Fykes

In case you didn't get that he said "Can't wait to meet y'all." You just didn't catch it because it was in Taiwanese. Love you all!

Hello Taiwan

Guess what it's doing in Taipei?

That's right it's raining.

Though even with the rain this place is great. I think we'll have no trouble coming back here and having a great time once Ehren is older. God willing everything goes so smoothly with AIT that we won't have time to even scratch the surface of Taipei which will leave us plenty to do on our next trip.

The only difficulty is that everything is in Chinese and almost nothing is in English. Thailand was a breeze because 80% of everything was translated. I can't imagine this being the first international city you ever visit. For us it just means a much greater sense of accomplishment when you figure something out. We were able to buy our train tickets to Taitung and make a payphone call to the person meeting us when we arrive... all without any English. You would have thought we had negotiated peace between two unstable governments. It makes travel feel new and exciting.

One other thing of note is everyone is in winter coats here. I don't exactly know the temperature but I'm in short sleeves and in a really crowded place I still sweat. I know it gets very hot here so this is their winter temperature but a fur lined jacket? Really? We only brought Ehren short sleeves so we may have to find him a jacket.

While we stopped for some ice cream there was a little girl sleeping on the bench next to us. She was probably a year old and Joshua and I just stared at her. Her mom was probably keeping an eye on us thinking we were going to try to grab her and run. Don't think the idea didn't cross our minds. I'm having trouble sleeping I just can't wait to get Ehren.

Tomorrow is the train ride and then Monday is the big day. I don't know exactly the time but if you think about it on Sunday night probably 8 or 9 send some prayers our way that everything goes smoothly for Ehren. This is going to be a pretty traumatic experience to be ripped from the only people he has known and given to these strangers who smell and sound funny. If all the adults in this metropolitan city stare at us, I can't imagine what a six month old will think.

Goodbye Thailand

Today is our last morning in Thailand, we catch a flight from Bangkok to Taipei shortly. Thailand has left a great taste in our mouth, we will definitely be returning. The people are the most hospitable we've encountered anywhere, and we have a new appreciation for Thai cuisine. We've also gotten to experience two very distinct seasons in the life of tourism here...Low Season and High Season. When we first got to Bangkok it was low season. It was oppressively hot and humid, but there weren't very many tourists. Now, two weeks later in Bangkok it's like a switch got flipped. The temperature has dropped to the 80s and the tourist population has tripled.

November 1st apparently really is the date. That's when everyone knows to hit Thailand. I would say being here right at the change has been perfect but if you want a comfortable trip with a little higher price tag and you don't mind crowds I say wait until November.

It's hard to believe it has only been about two weeks since we left Nashville. Tiffany wants Dr. Pepper pretty badly but other than that we could stay here for much longer.

We're only three days out from picking up Ehren in Taitung and the excitement is starting to be too much. While we're in Taipei our task is to find 18 gifts for him, so we have something from Taiwan each year for his birthday. Wish us luck!

Lost in Translation

See You Guys in Taiwan in a Few Days

Our last day on the islands gave us a short reprieve from the rain. And when I say short I mean just long enough for me to be totally toasted. We continued on our quest of relaxation but we were able to snap a few photos without the rain.

The only thing missing is that you can't see the emerald water. This should just whet your appetite to vacation at Thailand's beaches - we don't want to take away all the surprises.

La Laanta is by far the most amazing place we've seen on the beach. Ideal honeymoon place and seems very family friendly as well. Tell your friends!

Sorry To All the Other Tourists

Right now the locals say it is very rare to have this much rain in Koh Lanta. Its the beginning of high season which means the sun should be shining and the hotel prices sky rocket. We are good on paying twice what we paid last night but is has been two days without the sun. Cloudy is one thing but it has been raining for two days as well. Actually there is now flooding in the southern part of Thailand. It just follows us around. More than anything it makes for a miserable beach retreat for everyone who has made the journey south in Thailand. For us it is a nice change. It leaves us with nothing to do but talk, spend time together and sleep which is probably exactly what we need right now.

On Monday our family will expand from two to three. Ours days will no longer be ours and the reality of our new jobs raising a little boy will be upon us. We will no longer think 7am is an early morning and everything about how we live our life will slow and change.

Are we ready? Probably not. Does that make us any less anxious to get our hands on his already six month old head? Not in the least.

I think all this rain is just for Joshua and I to relish in the seven and a half years it has just been the two of us while getting us rested and unbelievably ready to go get Ehren.

Ramada Ballers

On our flight to Phuket we sat in front of a couple American guys - our first encounter with Americans. We're at the back of the plane waiting to get off and I decide to introduce myself, ask where they're from etc. etc. Mike & Sam are old friends from LA/San Fran and come to find out they're heading to Phi Phi - the island we're heading for as well. So I say "hey you want to split a cab to the pier and catch a boat together?"

At this point we all knew we missed the last ferry, but we didn't know that it was going to be extortionist pricing to get a private boat. After weighing all the options we decided to bite the bullet. We found another couple that was "in the same boat" (sorry, had to) that made the final price 18,000 baht ($642) for six people.........for a 45 minute boat ride......in a country where your hotel room is $35.

It took them 30 minutes to gas up the boat and by that time we were over the disappointment of the price and looking at the bright side: We get an awesome private boat ride right? Not so much. More than an hour later all of us and our bags had been drenched and we were sufficiently beat up by the choppy water. We did get a great view of the sunset and Phi Phi at night as we came into the pier. Oh but we didn't get to dock at the pier. Nope. They anchored and we waded into shore. With our bags. For $107/person. It was our Phi Phi walk of shame.

Upside is the first Americans we met turned out to be great beach partners and we had more than a few laughs over the whole experience "On a Boat." We also decided the boat ride had bound us together. Although we slept at different places we ate together, scubaed together and hung out until they left this morning.

Also for your information scuba makes snorkeling seem like a joke. Seriously, it changes how you view open water. We will now always wonder what we could be seeing down below. We also can't wait to get certified and do more dives. Is there scuba for babies?

Our Scottish dive instructor Gareth was a character and a great teacher. We did two dives with a lunch break in Maya Bay at Phi Phi Leh ("The Beach") Amazing. Honestly, the only reason we decided to dive was how helpful the dive instructor was when we had arrived after dark with our bags and were looking for hotel on our Phi Phi walk of shame. Taking a lesson just seemed like the best way to compensate him. If the boat ride was for nothing more than to meet our new American friends and learn how much we love scuba it is well worth the price of admission.