Early Adventures of Baby L - Vietnam Part 2

After our excursion to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, we flew back to Saigon. The flight was a little rough for Baby L since we were all recovering from colds - she had never had any issues with her ears on an airplane, but for this flight, she was particularly fussy during landing so I tried to nurse her as best as I could. The flight attendants kept trying to tell me her ears were hurting her, and I kept trying to tell them that she had already been on 3 airplanes without any issues!

Fussy baby during takeoffs and landings!

We made it back to Saigon and had a quick dinner in the hotel room. Bà Ngoại and Ông Ngoại went out to buy Vietnamese desserts for us to snack on in the evening and we all went to bed early.

After our buffet breakfast (where Baby L made lots of friends, as usual) we picked up my ao dai and G’s suit. We liked the work that his tailor did so much that we ordered 2 extra shirts! We had banh bot chien for lunch, which is sort of like an omelet with chunks of fried dough and scallions. It was yummy! After all that we headed back to grandmother’s house in Dong Nai to rest up get ready for Baby L’s baptism.  I finally succumbed to the head cold that Baby L and G had, so an easy evening was more than welcome!

Baby L getting a kiss from her second cousin, Dat!

The next morning, Uncle #2 came down from his church and we all got dressed up for Baby L’s big moment. We were originally going to have her baptism at his church near Vung Tau, but he recommended we do it at the village church because it would be easier to access her records in the future. Baby L was such a doll during her ceremony, and all afternoon she was showered with traditional Vietnamese gifts of gold and cash from my aunts, uncle, and parents. G made a comment that Baby L now owned more gold than he did! 

Baby L was mostly cooperative during her baptism ceremony

Golden baby girl! And this is still missing one necklace and one bracelet that she received later!

You can see underneath Baby L is a white quilt -- since my dad couldn't find my the original white baptism blanket that my sister and I were both baptized in, I made a baptism blanket for Baby L. I didn't actually start the blanket until just before Christmas, so you can imagine there were some late nights as I frantically hurried to finish it! In the end, I was so happy with both my new sewing machine and the quilt. The machine stitching for binding is pretty wavy, but hey, I was in a hurry!

You can faintly see in the upper right corner, I was able to embroider Baby L's name and baptism date on the quilt with my fancy new sewing machine.

We were able to have a professional photographer during Baby L’s ceremony, and afterwards, he took a 4-generation photo of Baby L’s great grandmother, her Ông Ngoại, Baby L, and me. My 96-year-old grandmother is the last of Baby L’s great grandparents, so we are thrilled that they were able to meet each other.

Four generations!

That evening, we had a big party at grandmother’s house, and of course, Baby L was the center of attention. G was whisked off to the table with all my male cousins to drink copious amount of beer, and Baby L was passed around to be showered with love and affection.  My cousin’s wife catered the party, and the food was delicious! We had something like 5 or 6 courses, so by the time desert rolled around, I was stuffed.  Baby L got a little fussy since it was way, way, way past her bedtime, so eventually she and I spent some quiet time in our room before she finally went to sleep. It was a good day, though a very long day! It was lots of fun to see many of my cousins again!

Everyone loves Baby L! She is sitting on the lap of Uncle #9.

We originally planned to visit Auntie #5, Auntie #7, Uncle #2, and the beach in Vung Tau, but since Baby L was so worn out from all the traveling, we opted to skip the beach and just visit family. Auntie #5 raises goats and has tons of really cool trees and plants at her house. We visited for a little while, before heading over to Auntie #7’s house.

Baby L kicking Auntie #5's plants (one of her favorite activities at home in Dubai) while sitting on Auntie #8's lap

Auntie #7 owns pharmacy and electronics shop, and we enjoyed some jackfruit while we were there. The original gold bangle that she gave to Baby L the day before didn’t quite fit, so she took it back and gave Baby L a gold cross necklace. It was so cute! We eventually had to take it off though, because like everything else, Baby L kept trying to chew on it. 

Baby L can ALMOST sit, but not quite!

Our last stop was to Uncle #2’s church to visit and have lunch. The church is beautiful, and lunch was also delicious. Uncle also sent us home with a big cooler full of ice cream for grandmothers house - in their province, there isn’t a supermarket or grocery store nearby, so Aunties and Uncle usually bring things that aren’t available at the open air market.

The church near Vung Tau where Uncle #2 serves as a priest

We got back from Uncle’s church around 3pm, which gave us time to rest and relax for that evening and the whole next day before heading home on Friday.  We took a little motorbike ride to the rice field and to see my grandfather’s grave. We didn’t get to take G to the open air market, but I committed to my grandmother that I’d come back in 2021 (and again in 2023 if grandmother lives to 100), so both G and Baby L (by then she won’t be a baby anymore!!) will get to see it next time.

My family owns a small portion of these rice fields near the village

It was definitely a whirlwind trip, and I think next time we might try to do a little less so there is more time to relax...which is funny because my friends who know me know that I have a hard time planning “relaxing” vacations! There  is just so much to see and do!!!

Baby L's new favorite napping spot