New Nagowski Family Tales Blog

Now that we are a family of five, we have started a new family blog to celebrate life together and share with our family and friends. Moving away from you all is hard and we want to keep you in our lives and share with you family events and pictures of the kids.

Our new blog is: http://nagowskifamilytales.blogspot.com/

The new blog is not password protected, so you won't need an invite.
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Our first 6 weeks with Tori...A Recap

Tori has learned to do many really cool things since she joined our family. She can clap, blow kisses, gives wet open mouth kisses, say "mama", "dada" and "hi'. She started walking just before she turned 11 months old and now is walking very well. She can even get up without holding on to anything.

She loves to read her books, enjoys watching baby einstein movies, loves to eat and feeds herself finger foods very well. She is still learning to sleep well, but managed to sleep through the night two nights this past week. There is hope!

She likes playing with our dog Kailee, although not so sure that Kailee wants her playing with her toys. Kailee has batted them out of Tori's hands and then run off with her toy into another room.

She is tolerant of the carseat for short rides, but hates the longer ones, which can lead to screaming! Can't wait until she is 20 pounds and we can turn her around in her car seat. For longer rides, maybe the dvd player and baby einstein will help stop the crying.

She spends her days exploring every part of the house, loves the cabinets, can go up the stairs (gate installed now) and still is small enough to maneuver under tables. She has us all wrapped around her little finger and her smiles melt us along with the kisses she freely offers to us.

She eats all day long...lots of little meals (this has helped her to throw up little to none). She will now eat baby and regular foods. She has been introduced to the sippy cup, but prefers her bottle still.

She likes taking baths and playing in the water. She likes many bath toys, but is afraid of the farm animal bath toys.

She loves visitors. She is a ham and shows all her skills to anyone who will watch.

She is learning to become a good shopper too! But this may still take more training:).

A Picture Fix

Tori is adjusting very well to her new family. While we were in Buffalo, we spent two weeks visiting family and friends along with Tori's Christening and Ashley's high school graduation. Ashley and Nick are Tori's god parents. We had a joint party for Tori and Ashley which was a great way to see everyone before we left for North Carolina.

Trying to unpack is very challenging with a baby. Tori is a very busy young lady who just starting walking this past weekend. She is getting very brave and letting go of everything with an attempt to walk to wherever she needs to go. It's a good thing her diaper adds padding for the times she loses her balance and lands on her bum.

Loving Victoria...AKA...Tori

Each day I look at our little girl and still can't believe she is ours. She is adjusting so well to her new family. She seems to be attaching well, but also enjoys family and friends as long as we are near. She is learning quickly to clap, blow kisses, and wave good bye. She is also initiating kisses on her own with a mmmwah (which she learned from blowing kisses). It cracks me up when she gives the water bottle a kiss...one of her favorite toys!

Tori has met most of our family and friends. With us moving next week, we have been working hard to visit them. She had done very well...Tori is a very easy going little girl who smiles and laughs often. We just love her deep belly laughs which we hear often when raising her over our heads or tickling her.

We introduced Tori to Kailee, our toy poodle. At first she was very scared, but she is getting more comfortable around her. She was also afraid of stuffed animals and Elmo on TV, but is getting used to those things too.

Tori is so observant of everything going on. I would love to know what she is thinking of everything that has happened in the past two weeks and what she learns about each day. So far, she loves music and books. We got her an activity table since she loves to pull herself up and stand. It wouldn't surprise us to see her walking in the next month. She seems very determined to walk and loves to keep trying.

Regarding eating...Tori doesn't want anything to do with baby food. She was tolerating fruit for a little bit, but now she actually closes her mouth and turns herself around in the high chair. The doctor said to just give her regular food that she will eat, so far that is cheerios, fish crackers, eggs and bread. We will keep trying new foods and are happy she at least like to drink juice.

We're Back Home and Had Some Sleep

I wanted to update you all on the last few days of our trip. On Sunday, we were joined by the Costa family. We went to see the Temple of Literature, the first University in Vietnam. After we went to Kraftlink to do some shopping. I found a really cute silk embroidered silk purse there.

Then we went back to the hotel and Mike took Tori swimming. At first she was timid, but in a short while she was loving it and hated to come out of the water.

At night we met the Rees and Costa families for dinner at Al Fresco. We had a good dinner and great conversation with friends. It truly has been wonderful to be in Vietnam with folks we have been chatting with online for months.

On Monday, we went shopping at the Rubymall. It's a small department style store in Hanoi. Here I got Tori a jade bangle bracelet and I got myself a jade link bracelet. After we returned to our room to pack up our goods for our trip home. We caught the van at 5:30 to head back to the airport.

The plane ride was long coming home as we flew from Bangkok, Thailand to JFK in NY. Thai Airways hooked us up with the bulk head seats that had a bassinette for Tori to sleep on during the trip, however, she didn't like the bassinette very much. When Tori sleeps she is always moving around and the bassinette was just a little too confining. She did well the first 11 hours, then got a bit antsy for the rest, but at least she wasn't screaming. Having the bulkhead was perfect because we were able to put a blanket on the floor and she could play with her toys.

We had no issues with immigration in JFK...and our little girl became a US Citizen. We stopped briefly to take a picture our the newest American Citizen.

Then we rushed off to Jet Blue for our final leg home. We arrived around 11:00 in the morning. We were greeted by family and friends. Tori was timid at first, but quickly warmed up to everyone, sharing her smiles and babbling. We made sure we wrapped her in the quilt that was made from squares from all our family and friends. We new everyone could not be there, but they were there in spirit as we wrapped the quilt around her to welcome her home.

After we left the airport, we headed to the Hampton Inn where we are staying for the next two weeks so the kids can finish school here in New York. On July 2nd we will head to our new home in Fayetteville, NC.

We have spent the last few days visiting friends and family. With us moving in two weeks, we wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to meet our new daughter. Tori has been a gem, she has such a wonderful calm disposition...yet, she loves to laugh and play for hours on end. She is still the enegizer bunny...playing hard and staying up even in the night time. Saturday night was the first night she slept for two 4 hours sessions without playing in between. We think she is getting used to the 11 hour time difference. Our jet lag is also wearing off. Thanks goodness!

Sight Seeing with Tour Guide

Today we hired a tour guide to give us a Hanoi City Tour. This was a wonderful way to see the city. The guide came with a driver and a private air conditioned car. He took us to the Presidential Palace which was next to the Ho Chi Minh Mossaleum. It was really interesting to see the Vietnam comparable to the White House. It was very beautiful and located amongst many gardens with beautiful bonsai styled trees, mango trees, and flower. We also went through the Ho Chi Minh Museum where it was obvious how much the Vietnamese people loved and honored him as a leader of their country.


After, we went back to the old quarter for a fabulous lunch at an Italian restaurant called the Mediterraneo. Then we shopped in the boutiques around the restaurant. We bought Tori an embroidered bear from Nagu with her Vietnamese name Ngot and Thai Nguyen embroidered on its foot.

Then we went to find DVD's for Ashley. You can buy them for $1, so she bought many of them. Not sure how we will get everything we bought home, but we will manage.


Finally, we went to the Fine Arts Museum. Most of the works were from within the last 50 years. We had hoped to see some of the famous painters often displayed in art museums.

We Have A Party Girl On Our Hands

Little Miss Victoria sure is the energizer bunny. When she is up, she is moving all day long, pulling up on everything, babbling up a storm. She likes to play with her toys, but is always eying everything she is not suppose to have like the TV clicker and magazines about Vietnam that were in the hotel. We will definitely need to find her a baby TV clicker. She is fascinated with it and the TV too. Ashley bought some DVD's for a dollar and Tori loves to watch the Disney ones.


Yesterday we went to our Visa Interview and after a few minutes with the Embassy Officer, we had been given final approval and were told we could pick up her Visa after 4pm that day.

We technically could have left that night, but we wanted to do a few more things in Vietnam and also wait for a good friend of mine who just got approval this past week and is arriving on Saturday. She will be getting her daughter on Monday, so we will meet her before we leave. Tori and Lilli have been in the Thai Nguyen orphanage together, so we hope to keep the girls connected over the years. Cathy and I have talked almost daily for months as we waited together.

In the afternoon, we ventured back out to the Old Quarter for some shopping. It was quite an adventure. Crossing the streets is a life risking deed since you have to just walk even if the motorcycles are coming right at you. They will go around you if you keep walking and if you stop you can get hurt or cause an accident. We are still very uncomfortable every time we cross the street. There are no real street lights either so people come in all directions and we don't think there are any published road rules. It's truly random road chaos. I can't imagine learning to drive here.
We were on a mission to buy the baby supplies needed with the monies raised by the National Honor Society at Ashley's School. It was not easy to find formula. After walking many streets and going into many shops where nobody spoke English, we managed to find formula in the last store. We also bought some pants, shirts, baby bath soap and shampoo, powder and diaper cream. We gave the donations we brought from home and those purchased in Vietnam to our agency representatives (Martin, Kenny and Kim) to take to the Thai Nguyen orphanage on Monday. There just wasn't room last week with all the families going to Giving & Receiving.


In the evening we went back to Mama Rosa's for dinner. Mike had lasagna and I had spaghetti, both were pretty good, but very different than home. Ashley stuck with the pizza which she knew was good from our last visit there. The people in Vietnam love to hold babies and here is the waiter that held Tori while we ate at Mama Rosa's.


It is around 4 am and Tori is still having a rough time sleeping. We knew to expect some sleep disturbances due to the fact she may be grieving all the things she has known that are now gone. She may be realizing that she will stay with us and that may cause her to be sad that she will no longer see her nannies at the orphanage and her crib mates. Babies do grieve the loss and one of the things we can do to help her is have familiar sounds, so we are thrilled that the Disney DVD's can be played in Vietnamese or English. Here is a picture of Tori and the nanny who brought her to us at Giving & Receiving. She obviously loved being around Tori and cried when she left her.