The hardest part of the trip was the long wait at the White Swan Hotel before we could come back home again. Lara and my mother both had a bad case of Chinese flu, and the stress of new motherhood was beginning to get to me.

We returned to the White Swan on Saturday, March 30. The group arranged a sightseeing trip on Sunday, but we decided to pass on it, since it was so hot, and my mother and daughter felt so crummy.

Lara slept huge amounts of the time, which I thought was the best thing for her to do. But it meant that we needed to stick fairly close to our room. Unlike the other babies, Lara was unable to fall asleep while being held. She was afraid of missing out on something interesting. So, unless we laid her down flat and threw a blanket over her, she just refused to go to sleep.