Happy New Year!

We hope your new year is filled with joy, love, and a whole bunch of fun!

The SPOON

Lily now insists on using her spoon at every meal.  She hasn't been able to actually get any food to stay on it yet but she is definitely giving it the old college try.

 Gotta love babies and spaghetti faces!

The bowl and spoon make a great percussion instrument!

LOVE this messy face!

Locks of Love

Maddie has been wanting to cut her hair for Locks of Love for quite a while.  I have been the one dragging my feet.  None of the girls have had their hair cut short since they were very very young and I just wasn't sure I was ready for this!!  But I finally relented, took the requisite before photos, and off we went.

 In the chair -- note all the missing upper front teeth!  I gave her one last chance to change her mind.  I think I secretly hoped she would.  But she stayed steadfast in her decision.

 The first big chop!

One very THRILLED little girl!

Yes, there were a couple of teeny tiny little mommy tears during the process.  But I gotta admit that she looks pretty darn cute in her new short do.  And hair always grows again, right?

Six Ladybug Princesses Together

The SIX Ladybug Princesses -- together at last!

It seems like it took forever to get all the girls together in one photo.  Either someone was sick, or I was sick, or the camera was missing, or the baby was crying, or someone had their finger up their nose (or their sister's nose!), or . . . . . well, you get the point.

Everyone had been outside playing in the sprinklers so they are soaking wet.  No one is looking in the same direction.  But there they were, all together, and no tears in sight!  I couln't believe my luck.

Then our computer crashed.  Thankfully I had most of our documents and photos backed up so we didn't lose anything of much importance except ALL my contacts in my address book (so dear friends, please e-mail me if you haven't heard from me in a while as I have lost you all!).  I have been using our little laptop which is temperamental to say the least.  All this as an excuse for the fact that I am a bad blogger!  I really do mean to post more often -- the days just seem to get away from me!

And I realize that I need a blog update -- I don't have enough little ladybugs after my name.  Diana -- help!  I lost your contact info in the great computer crash! 

Trouble Posting

I have been trying to post to my blog for a few days now and something is wrong.  I write everything up, add the photo, and then – nothing!  Nothing will post.  And now tonight after I tried it the site kicked me out and I can’t re-log on – shoot, I can’t even get to the blogger home page.  I am trying the e-mail route to see if this works.  Not sure what the problem is, but with the way things have been going around here I am sure that I broke blogspot!!

Finallly Coming Up For Air

Oh. My. Goodness! The past month has been absolutely crazy around here! We will have been home four weeks this Saturday but much of that time is just a blur.

Four days after returning home from China I dragged myself in to see my Dr. After every adoption trip I have ended up with a very nasty sinus/respiratory infection, and this time was no different. I am sure I caught it from someone on the plane ride home.

I drove home with my Zithromax Z-pak in hand and as I was getting out of the car I noticed that our big wheeled garbage tote was still sitting at the curb. I pulled it down the driveway to put it away but as I was adjusting it into its proper place, I dropped the #*&**# thing smack dab on my little toe! by the looks of it (and by the searing pain that has lasted over three weeks) I am pretty sure I broke the toe but I haven't had time to try to get back to my Dr. again to have her look at it.

Very early the next morning (as in 4am early), Annie came into our bedroom saying she didn't feel well. I touched her and the heat coming off her little body was shocking! I immediately took her temperature -- it was 104.3! An hour later Abby came in with the same story about not feeling well. Her temperature was 103.5! The next day it was Ruby's turn -- 103.2! Three days later Maddie joined in -- 102.5. The next two weeks were spent going to the pediatrician and pharmacy, constantly taking temperatures, measuring out amoxicillin, charting who I had given tylenol and motrin and when they got it, cleaning up sickness, and hobbling to the store to replenish our supply of meds. Between four very sick girls and the ear infections, sinus infections and who knows what else they were fighting, we had SEVEN bottles of amoxicillin in the fridge. At least I didn't have time to think much about jet-lag.

Amazingly Ellie and Lily have managed (so far) to escape everything. And our sweet Lily is an absolute joy! She is the happiest baby and her adjustment to our family has been amazing. She sleeps all night, with only a few little noises here and there but no waking up. She is now eating baby food well and is just starting to nibble on graham crackers -- she won't eat any other solid food yet (unless you count paper scraps that sisters leave on the floor which she loves for some reason). She continues to crawl at lightning speed and she can now easily pull herself up to standing. She is beginning to cruise along the furniture and, much to my dismay, has discovered the water in the toilets. All the other girls are working very hard on trying to remember to close the lids and the bathroom doors. She weighed 17 pounds at her first pediatrician visit and all her tests came back normal and healthy -- she is just small and slightly delayed developmentally for her age. We go again in three weeks for her next visit. It will be interesting to see how much weight she has gained as I can tell she is getting much thicker around the middle.

Now that things are sort of settling down around here, hopefully I will be able to take some photos of the SIX ladybug princesses all together. My camera was actually lost for a couple of weeks in the craziness of sickness and unpacking from the trip. But things are all put away now, laundry is as caught up as it ever will be, and we are slowly working on finding our new "normal".

Hanging out with Annie and Ruby playing wii

Lily and Maddie

Sisters in Guangzhou

 

Out For a Walk

 

Playground

The kid’s playground has been moved from the center of Shamian Island to the riverfront behind Lucy’s.  We have spent a lot of time there!

Lily LOVES the Swan Room

 

Just Some Cuteness

 

Buying Pearls

 

Consulate Appointment

We had our US Consulate appointment yesterday.  We were in one of the first groups to fall under the new visa procedure.  The facilitators no longer submit the visa paperwork at the Consulate – this is now is done by the families themselves.  We rode the bus from the hotel to the Consulate as usual, but we went on the actual day of our scheduled CA rather than the day after as was previously done.  We had to go into the Consulate by ourselves and the facilitators all had to wait in the first floor lobby.  We were ushered into a smaller room that is adjacent to the large room where we used to have the oath ceremony.  We took the oath first and then each family was called up to a window to submit their paperwork, to have a “face check” to make sure we were the right family with the right child, and to sign the DS-230.  There are only 12 families scheduled at a time (either at 8:30am or 10:00 am each day) so we were in and out fairly quickly.  Today our facilitator went back to the Consulate to pick up Lily’s passport/visa and her sealed brown immigration envelope.  This new procedure will cut one day off the travel time for future families.  Unfortunately we were already in China when these new procedures were instituted so we have to stay a day longer than we are required to since our flights were already confirmed and purchased.

Medical Exam

This morning we completed Lily’s medical exam for her US entrance visa.  The place was packed as usual.  But we are the only Small World family here right now so Rebecca had us in and out in about 20 minutes.  As you can see, Lily was “thrilled” to be there.  She weighed in at a whopping 16.5 pounds.

Our Nanjing Guide

Our guide in Nanjing was Denise.  She was great and Ellie and Maddie absolutely loved her.  We miss her but are very happy to have moved on to Guangzhou where it is a bit warmer!   

Ellie Gets to Feed Her Sister

 

Historic Nanjing City Wall

Today we toured the Nanjing City Wall.  This historic wall was completed in the late 1300’s by the first emperor of the Ming dynasty.  The girls had a great time running up and down the steps.  I wasn’t quite as nimble as they were!  The next time we climb a wall in China I am going to make sure that all our girls are capable of walking on their own!  It’s funny how a little peanut like Lily becomes a heavy sack of potatoes when Mom is climbing stairs.  

Forever Sisters

 

It's Official

Lilyanne Kate is officially our daughter forever and ever!

Our Sixth Ladybug

 

Our Lily is PERFECT!

We arrived at the Civil Affairs office at 9:30 and the staff was already there.  They had brought three or four children but we were the first family to arrive.  Lily was with her nanny and we sat next to her on the couch.  After about 10 minutes the nanny handed her to me.  There were no tears, although she wouldn’t look at me to begin with.  By the end of our stay there, she had downed a full bottle of formula, eaten some little Gerber puff snacks, played with the toys we brought, giggled, and had her diaper changed.

 

We came back to the hotel to Skype with Daddy and the three big sisters at home.  Lily then drank another full bottle and started to fall asleep.  We went out to lunch at McDonalds and Lily slept in the Ergo the entire time.  She continued her nap for another hour after we came back to the hotel.  As soon as she woke up she downed another full bottle of formula and a few spoonfuls of baby food.  The way this girl is eating she should catch up on size in no time!

 

Lily is so ticklish!  Her little giggle is too cute.  She loves to blow raspberries and babbles in a sweet little voice.  She is a pretty good crawler but she can’t stand up yet.  She is sooo very tiny – much smaller than I expected.  There wasn’t much baby under all those layers of puffy clothes that were many sizes too big for her.  I have no clue what she weighs but the 6-12 month clothes I brought are plenty big on her.  The socks she had on from the SWI said 0-6 month and they fit.  She has four teeth (two up and two down).  She is such a happy baby and the only cries we have had so far (and those were very soft) have been when she was hungry.

 

As most of you know, we are adopting Lily through the special needs program. She was born prematurely and weighed only 2.2 pounds at birth.  The SWI staff kept telling me that they know she is delayed in her development but that they just didn’t have time to devote to her the way she needs.  They have over 300 children to care for right now.  But now she has a Mommy and Daddy and five big sisters!!  She will never lack for attention again.

 

I will work on posting more photos.  Even though the hotel calls their service “hi speed internet” it takes a long time for photos to upload and post.

Stinky Tofu

Everyone who knows me will tell you that I LOVE China.  I love the people, the sights, the sounds.  I love the language, the food, the culture.  But yesterday I encountered something that I never ever want to experience again -- the smell of cooking stinky tofu.  Oh my word!!  S.T.I.N.K.Y. Tofu.  You don’t even want to read a description of the smell.  No wonder there weren’t many people in that street.  Although I guess I don’t feel too bad because even the Bizarre Foods guy couldn’t stomach stinky tofu.

 

Thank you all for your kind comments on the blog.   I can read them but unfortunately can’t respond.  We will be leaving the hotel in about 4 hours to go to the Civil Affairs office where we will meet Lilyanne.  We are all getting very excited.

 

Oh, and in the photo the girls are eating McDonalds ice cream cones – NOT Stinky Tofu!

Sunday in Nanjing

Today was our getting settled in day.  I woke up at 3:30am and then fitfully dozed off and on until about 5:00.  Thankfully Ellie and Maddie slept until about 6:30 so they were pretty chipper all day today.

 

After talking with everybody at home on Skype, we went down to the buffet breakfast around 8:00.  Ellie and Maddie both ate well but I just couldn’t get much down.  Utter  exhaustion hit right as I sat down at the table with my plate of food.  As soon as the girls were done eating we came back to the room and they played quietly with their Nintendos and art projects while I got a couple of hours of good sleep.  That made a huge difference in my ability to function!

 

We met our guide, Denise, at 2:00 and took a quick taxi ride to Walmart for some essentials (diapers, formula, snacks, water).  After coming back to drop off our purchases, we headed out again and wandered through the Aqua City Mall that is attached to our hotel.  We then walked to the Confucius Temple area near our hotel.  While there we took a short little boat ride on the river.  Near the end of the ride Maddie kept asking when was the ride going to be over and when were we going to go back to our room.  That was my cue that she was running out of steam so back we came (but of course we just had to stop in the little shop with all the hair bows on our way!).

We ate in our room and the girls are now getting ready for an early bedtime.  My eyes are starting to see double too so I won’t be far behind them.

 

15 hours until we meet Lilyanne.

We Have Arrived!

We are safe and sound in Nanjing!  Our journey here had a few little “moments” but over all we had a pretty good trip.

 

Our flight on Hainan Airlines was very good.  The girls only started to get restless the last couple of hours or so.  Each seat had a little touch screen with dozens of movies and video games to watch and play.  That kept them so entertained that they didn’t even get out their DS games.  The food was not bad considering it was airline food.  For anyone taking this flight – the option of “sausage and noodles” is in reality ham and cheese tortellini – quite good.

 

Our one glitch was that the tickets indicate that the flight was supposed to arrive in Beijing at 4:35, with our connecting flight to Nanjing at 7:10.  A fairly short time to make the connection but I was confident that we could do it.  Well, in reality the flight was scheduled to arrive at 5:35!  That cut our connection time by an hour!!  I didn’t think that we would make it.  But, even though we actually got lost in the Beijing airport for a short time, we made it to the check-in counter with 2 minutes to spare before they closed.  And then the security guided us through a speedy check line so we made it to our gate as the last people were passing through the boarding process.  Since we were so late getting checked in the lady wasn’t able to give us seats together.  But two very kind gentlemen on the plane were willing to switch seats so that the girls and I could sit together. 

 

Ellie and Maddie were such troopers the entire time.  They slept great once we were finally in our hotel room and actually slept in this morning.  I, unfortunately, was up at 3:00am and not able to go back to sleep for any length of time.  I am sure we will all have naps later this afternoon.

 

We are supposed to meet our guide later this afternoon to go shopping for some baby essentials.  We are scheduled to receive Lilyanne tomorrow morning at 9:30 at the Civil Affairs office.

Attempting to E-mail Posts

Since blogspot is blocked in China I am trying to figure out the e-mail option for posting.  I have heard that the formatting might get a bit off and that photos all appear at the top of posts. But anything will be better than nothing I guess.

 

Tomorrow is the BIG day!  We leave bright and early for China!!  We will fly Seattle to Beijing and then on to Nanjing.  We are supposed to receive Lilyanne on Monday.  Woohoo!!

 

Countdown to Lily -- Three Weeks!

Three weeks from today I will finally be holding our precious Lilyanne Kate XiaoXue. Our travel arrangements are all set -- we leave for China on 2/18 and receive Lily on 2/21. Since I am a world-class procrastinator getting the plane tickets is about all that is done to get us ready to leave. Our suitcases have been pulled out of the closet but not much has been packed in them. This week will be spent running around trying to pick up the rest of the stuff we need, getting a bunch of appointments out of the way, and basically trying to keep from getting too stressed! Woohoo!! China here we come!!

Lily and her special nanny who obviously adores her