Mother's Day Surprise!

The big brothers came home to visit!!  We LOVE these guys!!!

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!