I'm British!!!!!!!

Charlie was delighted when I showed him his British birth certificate, that I picked up at the British Consulate yesterday morning. Not actually sure if Charlie was British before he got this piece of paper, but he definitely is now.

Next month we will be getting Charlie his British passport and probably a Vietnamese one as well.

Under Vietnamese law it is theoretically illegal to have another nationality in addition to Vietnamese, but the government knows that this happens and doesn't appear to have an issue with it.

As I am no longer able to post pictures on this blog I have decided to create another blog and will continue on from where I have left off on this blog. I anticipate that this will be my last posting on this blog.

My new blog is here: http://mjgodwin2.blogspot.com/

Hope you have no issues geting in to the new blog.

4 month check up

Charlie had his 4 month check up at the FV hospital on Monday 5 May, when he was 4 months and 7 days old. His stats were as follows:

Length: 66cms
Weight: 7.6kgs

We were expecting slightly higher figures than the above judging on Charlies growth performance over his first 3 months, but still weren't at all disappointed with the above figures. I had been a little concerned about how quickly Charlie had been growing before I received the above figures.

Haven't checked the above figures with baby growth charts yet, but as last month his stats were equivalent to a baby that was 4 months and 10 days old and Charlie hasn't reached that age yet we know there are no issues.

Still having issues posting pictures to this blog.

Charlie the scholar

Some more pictures, but I am having issues uploading them.

Charlie's playing

Both pictures above were taken earlier today.

Over the last week or two Hien had told me that, on a number of occasions, Charlie had raised his hands to try and grasp at certain objects, but I had seen no evidence of this up until earlier this week.

Last weekend Charlie was given one of those water resistant material books about puppies. We introduced this to Charlie and it was an instant hit. As soon as Charlie saw this he was raising his hands to touch and grasp hold of it. Hien and I both read from the book and turned over the pages. After only a very short time Charlie was also trying to turn over the pages with us. He has had time with this book every day this week and is enjoying it more and more.

Mid-week I had a couple of days off as they were national holidays. This gave me time to hunt through the huge eclectic pile of toys that Charlie has accumulated over the last few months. Out came the blue mat thing that you can see in the pictures above. Another instant hit with Charlie as within minutes he was kicking the ball and reaching for the objects above his head.

Charlie has had more and more tummy time recently and this week it was very noticeable how much more able he was to raise his head for a long period of time.

Overall a thoroughly rewarding week watching Charlie's progress.

Speaking gobbledygook

All of the above pictures were taken today.

The first two pictures above are of Charlie outside our front door. Most mornings, at about 6:45, I take him out around the block for about 10 minutes and get back just in time to see the BBC News at 7:00 am. He appears to enjoy this and seems to becoming more aware of his surroundings with each trip, especially now he is sitting up more in his pushchair. This time of year it is becoming increasing overcast and this makes our trips easier as when the sun is out it can be quite blinding.

Having difficulty taking a picture of Charlie when he is smiling as just before the camera flashes a red light comes on and this distracts Charlie from his smile.

Charlie's recent progress:

• day by day he is coming out with more and more gobbledygook and this can go on for a few minutes at a time.
• he can control his head better and he is able to sit up more
• he is begining to grasp at colourful objects
• he responds more to sounds and turns his head to them
• he does the things that a 4 month old should be doing

He should be having his 4 month check up on 4 May.

Charlie ventures out today

The 3 picture above were taken today.

Charlie has been ridiculously molly-cuddled since birth and I insisted that he went out of the house today. I believe that today may have been the first time he has been exposed to the elements for more than about 20 seconds. Hien and I placed him in the his pushchair and wheelled him around the block. During this 10 minute jaunt we met more of the neighbours than we have in the 5 months we have been living in our present residence.

Charlie enjoyed the outing very much and from now on will be going out very often.

3 month check up

Charlie went for his 3 month check up after 3 months and 7 days. He had his injection and had a slight temperature for the next day, but is OK now.

His 3 month and 7 day numbers were:

Weight: 7.1 kg's (15.7 pounds)
Height: 64 cm's (25.2 inches)

Looking at various American baby growth charts it appears that as Charlie's birth weight was 3.5 kg's and his birth height was 50 cm's, he would normally (50th percentile), have reached the above weight and height at about 4 months and 10 days old. The charts have many disclaimers about ethnicity, breast feeding verses bottle feeding etc., but regardless of all the disclaimers and small print we summise that Charlie is a healthy baby who is growing well.

Charlie at 2-3 months

Above are a few pictures of Charlie at about 2-2.5 months old.

Charlie is now 3 months and 2 days old. He was due to be taken for a check up on 28 March, but he hasn't been yet as the hospital said they were too busy and have asked us to call back next week to make an appointment. Charlie is doing very will so the above doesn't cause any concern.

Charlie is:

• making lots of funny sounds (believe cooing may be the correct term)
• becoming more aware on a daily basis
• very healthy and is growing normally
• happy he has had his first haircut
• looking forward to getting out of the house more as apart from scheduled hospital visits he has hardly been out
• liking his swing
• in agreement with me that English is a much better language that Vietnamese
  

He's a swinger

A picture of Charlie at 1 month 25 days old.

Chinese New Year (Tet)

At new year Charlie had the opportunity to venture our of the house again when we did the rounds of the various houses that Hien's family live in.

The 3 larger pictures above are the lunchtime spread and the other smaller pictures were taken at the party.

Upon arriving back in Ho Chi Minh City we arrived to a spectacular sight. It was the day of Charlie's 1 month party and in Vietnam one month parties are very serious occasions. Unbeknown to me it is tradition to lay on a spread at lunchtime, which you can see above. Mum, Dad and I were all greatly relieved when we found out that we didn't have to eat this food and that it was all going to be given away to people. I still don't know who it was given away to.

The evening of the party had arrived and we set of to a famous seafood restaurant in downtown Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate with Hien's family and a few close friends. Making the invitation list was a long drawn out task when we realised how many people we had to invite. Hien's family consisted of about 40 people and then there many others we wanted to invite as well. In the end we invited about 115 people to the party, but thought only about 80 would arrive.

An hour after people were asked to arrive the room was still looking decidedly vacant of guests and if I were in any county other than Vietnam I would have been panicking. In Vietnam it is customary to be very late for everything and it is not the done thing to arrive less than 1 hour late for a party and 1.5 to 2 hours late is generally considered very acceptable. An hour and a half after the scheduled start time Hien turned up with Charlie and it was around this time that the majority of the guests turned up as well.

Many of the guests brought presents for Charlie and as is customary in Vietnam many guests brought money. The party was a great success with over 100 guests in attendance and we would like to thank everyone for coming and especially for bringing gifts and money. Charlie now has enough presents to last until he is about 35 years old and he has the finances to put himself through university.

Spent the next couple of days in Ho Chi Minh City being lazy and generally not doing much with the exception of a trip through the mangrove swaps of the Mekong Delta in my motorboat.

Then off on another motorboat for a 3.5 hour trip down to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta. There we stayed at the Victoria Hotel which was situated on the banks of the Mekong Delta overlooking a bridge which is presently being constructed to span the great river. The main reason for going to Can Tho was to experience the river so one evening we charted a huge junk just for the 3 of us. We spent about one and a half hours on a sunset cruise and with the exception of 4 staff had the whole boat to ourselves. One can certainly be decadent in ways like this in Vietnam.

After a couple of enjoyable days in Can Tho we found ourselves geting up early ro get the 7:15 am boat back to Ho Chi Minh City.

15 Jan Mum and Dad arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. I collected them from the airport and to my great surprise Dad came out of the airport in a wheelchair. Knew they were getting on a bit, but this was still a bit of a shock. Dad claimed something about falling over playing tennis, but this was a little difficult to believe.

Was great to see them and they were obviously delighted to get back to the house to see Hien and Charlie.

Champagne Charlie!!

It was a guys only night at Bar no. 5 to wet Charlie's head. About a dozen of us gathered from 6:30 pm onwards. It was champagne and finger food all around to celebrate the arrival of Charlie and to catch up with friends, some of which I hadn't seen for some time. A thoroughly enjoyable evening that went on to the wee hours of the morning and inevitably ended up around the pool table. Luckily I had my driver to take me home. Hope everyone else got home OK?

Wetting the baby's head

This Friday 5 January, starting at 6:30 pm, I will be celebrating Charlie's birth with friends at Bar no. 5 on Mac Dinh Chi Street. It will be an all guys' affair.

Charlie comes home

This morning, Wednesday 2 January, the doctor at the FV hospital gave Charlie the all clear and we took him home. Even though we were overall very happy with the hospital it felt especially good to be home together as a family.

In true Vietnamese tradition Charlie insisted 0n photos being taken as soon as he had entered the house.

Happy New Year

Both Charlie and Hien had a good night's sleep last night and are doing well. Had a few visitors today. Not much to really report on other than Hien and baby are still hoping to be joining me at home sometime tomorrow.

Charlie is feeding, sleeping and pooping (new word for me) well.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi to all!!