The Step Game

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Yes folks this is actual speed! She is kicking her feet all the way down.

Giggle box

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I'm having so much fun with this! After I figured out how to post videos! Dummy me, it's so easy!! I know what I'm doing this weekend!! I'm going to get her talking for you!!! Look for more next week!!!

Happy Birthday JANE!!

Everyone wish my friend Jane a Happy Birthday!!! She is still waiting on LOA! Her papers were lost at the CCAA. They have been found, but she is still waiting!!!!!! Jane I'm so sorry!!! Here is hoping that we bring good vibes and that paper comes today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a picture of me meeting her daughter at the orphanage!!!!

Just notes

Ok quick post and that's all there is time for..................

Our friend Jane is still waiting for LOA! Please send some good thoughts her way!

Emily is TALKING! YES! She says "Momma, Hello, An-nee (Anthony), A-den (Hayden), bye-bye." Aint it cute!!!

I met via internet a mom-to-be of a child in Hope Haven! She was a friend of Emily's!

We still can't get her to sleep thru the night..yes we are tired

Having a toddler is a full time job!! Not to mention I already have a fulltime job! Seriously thinking of refinancing and seeing if I can swing stay-at-home mom.

We won't be able to return to China for number 2...due to above.

Family can get ugly when it comes to money. Yes I am having troubles with my dad's estate. And it is all ugly money hungry family members.....very sad!

I love this picture of Emily in the corn! Please tell me these babies didn't have to shuck the corn!! Emily knows a lot about cleaning for 2yrs of age...very odd!

Just some photos

Just some photos, I'm off to the dentist today.....yuck!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Christmas?

Can I use this for the Christmas cards? Do you like this one? Emily doesn't like cameras so I gave up trying to go and have photos done..... Should I keep trying, or is this ok.....

Never mind, it's blurry.....the salt water must have got on the lens....ugh!!!

Things to think about

I've had a lot of questions about China. Thought I'd pass on some things I learned. Feel free to add....
Credit cards...ok in Beijing, and Guangzhou, but we could not use them in providence. I didn't have a problem using the Bank of China to get cash from my ATM card.

If your guide offers to take you to the store, go! We went days without seeing one. People told me not to take a lot of diapers. I took about 20 and was glad I did. We were days without seeing a store.

Clothes....laundry is not cheap. Or at least we didn't find it to be.....I would take the extra clothes if you have the room!!!! Clothes we washed in our room never got dry. I actually burned out the hairdryer in our room from drying some socks I think!!!!!!

Gifts for the nannies...I saw pretty much everything we have in America, in China. What I can suggest for nannie gifts is something that is from your State, or something that you have made. I didn't see any Chapstick, or Blistex, as Anthony needed this for the dry plane rides and we forgot to pack it. Luckly someone in our group had an extra. You may want to pack some!!! We brought candy for the nannies and found it in every store in China.....we felt kinda dumb, but it was probably something they wouldn't have bought for themselves..........

Safety.....there was a lot of concern about us walking around without the guide. We did do this. I never felt scared of the people in China. Maybe I was wrong, but I met some wonderful moms and grandmothers...there were police and security everywhere. I was careful of how we carried our money, but we were never scared. Pretty much every sign in China has an English translation on it.

Definetly pack the snacks! Don't go crazy, but if there is something you love, take it. After 4 days, we were all tired of Chinese Food.

There is no Diet Pepsi to be found...regular soda did not taste the same to me. I never got enough to drink in China....I was always begging the guide to get us more bottled water......they just don't drink like we do!!

Toilet Seat covers...Walmart carries them in the travel section. Very small package of 10. Worth every penny if you are not planning to squat! Look for handicapped bathroom, that means western toilet. WARNING...there were times we had to squat.

Wipes, and napkins.....yes you need them!

Money...wrinkles were ok, rips, or faded bills were not excepted.

We waited to shop in Guangzhou and were glad...it's cheaper!!

Our daughter.....came to us very scared, and after she stopped crying, did not make a sound for 4 days. Be prepared. She is fine, but she did shut down completely. She barely ate or drank for about 3 days.

She has to see me every second of the day, which means, she marches in the bathroom with me. Sometimes I forget and walk out to get something from the car....hubby will be with her. She completely freaks out until I come back in. She is terrified of being left, even now after being with us for a month.....

Airplane.....just be prepared to walk the isle....we had to do this, and carry plenty of baby snacks.....we took the Gerber Puffs and she loves them....no Cheerios for her.

Fruit....I couldn't get her to eat it until I was told that even apples are heated before serving in China. She likes her foods hot. No cold drinks either. I keep forgetting these things...as soon as I began to heat the fruit, she started eating them......vegtables are the same way. I'd never think of cooking my garden salad, but she likes it........

Our toilet is scary. I never thought about it, you would think I'd know better. She has never seen a western toilet, and here I am trying to put her on this thing naked........be prepared. We got the shortest potty chair we could find and she still trys to squat on it..........

Stuffed animals, dolls, and things that make sound are SCARY!! Emily took a long time to get over her stuffed animal fear. She doesn't like toys that move by themselves, or sing.....they just don't get to play with that stuff...she likes hard plastic toys......Fisher Price Little People are a HUGE HIT!!! She loves all of that.....

Ok we have been home almost a month and at age 2, she is not sleeping thru the night. Night, dark, all that is scary. She is getting up at least 3 times a night. We have done night routines, songs, rocking, nightlights, we have switched bedding a couple times too. We finally now have her on a toddler bed and she is doing better....still not 100 percent yet.......Ok, that is all I can think of for now........

Updates

Updates, we are still praying for Jane's family, see post below. Still no word on when they will receive the LOA. CCAA is now working to find her missing dossier.

I'm still plugging along at closing dad's estate. I've had a couple of issues pop up and things are still not settled. It's getting there.

My house is a wreck. I forgot what toddler hood was like. And somehow I got elected to do the Thanksgiving thing this year. We have at least 4 guests coming. I thought it would be a quiet day at home with the kids...ha ha ha .....so much for that. Well I need to get shopping because as you can see from the photo, we are down to cheese crackers!!! Not that I mind the company, but absolutely no one can come to my home today and see the mess that is everywhere!!

My job is up in the air. I don't know what to do about it. I really would like to close the daycare and be a stay at home mom. I'm working out some things to see if I can indeed live without that 2nd income. If not, I'm really thinking of working part time at something else. Emily really does need the one on one time with us. But can we pull it off with the bills we have....that is the question.

And another total question.....if I stayed with the daycare....could I afford to adopt again? We are probably out of the China program due to the income requirements, but there are a lot of other programs out there. I don't know....every day my husband says, yes, and then no, and then yes......it's up in the air......so tell me, where do we go for advice on other countries here????

Need prayers!

Friends, we need to pray for my friends who have been waiting forever for their LOA. They have been told that CCAA may have lost their paperwork. Ok this is so unfair. I can't begin to think of how awful they feel tonight. Please everyone pray they get GOOD NEWS from China tomorrow! This little girl is so sad, she needs her Mommy!

Doctor and home

It is hard to get a good photo of Ms. Emily because she is always on the move! Here is the best I can do.

Doctor appointment went well. She hated it...no surprise. There is still noise in the heart. Doctor said that is nothing for the surgery she has had. He wants us to wait a couple months and then see a specialist just to be sure, but she is growing, eating, and healthy so he is not worried....oh for those on the waiting list, Emily had to get 3 more shots when she got home. Something about she got them too early and now needs to re-do to be safe. Daddy had to hold her because I couldn't stand that. Now I have two boys, but with everything Emily has been put thru, those shots just made me want to cry!!

We tried to get a family photo done, but Emily would have none of that. I'm going to have to do my own Christmas Photos I guess....

Enjoy the photos because there is zero time to keep up with this blog now!!! I'm trying!!!

1st!!

Ok time for some happy posts again!!
1) First Photo
2) First Smile
3) First Day
4) First Bath

Dedicated to my Father

This is my dad. He was a Waterman. Part of a dying breed now. People don't take this job anymore because it's a hard, rough way of life. I remember my dad's hands. His hands were like leather. Worn, and rough from the ropes, and salt water. I remember growing up poor. We didn't have a lot. We worked hard everyday of the week. We never knew that we didn't have everything in the world. Christmas was exciting to us, not like kids today that complain they didn't get everything on their list. I don't think we ever had a list. I think we all got something that we shared and we were the happiest kids in the world to have that. I remember the church giving us a food basket one year and my father sent it back saying that someone more needy could use it. Sometimes I feel sorry for kids today. They have it all, but they really have nothing.

My father built this boat. He didn't write any specs down. It was all in his head. He amazed people by his abilities. Yet his love was the water. He worked the river my entire life. I remember when I was about 10 yrs old there was a very bad storm and we had to swim out in our PJ's to save the neighbors boat from sinking. We had the only railway (to pull boats out of the water)for many years. My father also built that himself. It was a hand crank tractor engine that pulled that railway out of the water. I think that old motor still works, the railway was long ago done away with. Hydraulics now do all that work.

My father battled cancer for a long time. His one comment over and over was that he wanted to get back on that boat. Well, he never did. Cancer took him October 9th....4 days shy of his 75th birthday. We gave that boat to his best friend Gene. Gene took dad every Monday for months to his Chemo treatments. I thought that was best. We couldn't have taken care of the boat, and I didn't want someone we didn't know to have it. Gene cried to me on the phone one day and said he felt like he had not lost a friend, but his dad. He said my father was more a dad to him then his own father.

Dad is happy now, the waters are calm, and the nets are full. The gulls are screaming as they chase the boat into shore, the sun is setting, another day's work done.

The Finger

If Ms. Emily wants something, we get the pointed finger...hee, hee....you were thinking something else, admit it!

She is still speaking Chinese, but I am hearing Mommy, Daddy, and ball. I hear Goo-ga a lot...anyone care to guess what that means?

Her first doctor appointment is Monday to check her heart repair (done in China) I've noticed a slight tinge of blue in the hands at times....hope it's the lighting, and her skin tone. I'm really beginning to worry a little.....

Some problems

Well folks we are having some troubles. Emily has a terrible fear of bedtime. It's not a normal fear. It's complete panic here. If I go upstairs after dark, she panics. I have to go upstairs to my laundry room, which is where I spend half my life. But if it's after dark, Emily just falls apart. She screams at night if I put her down....not a normal scream, but like something out of a horror film. She is terrified. I have lights on in the room because I know she is fearful of the dark, but this fear of bedtime, I don't understand it. She wants to sleep in my arms. She has NOTHING to do with her bed. She sleeps in a crib next to us. I can touch her, but she wants me to hold her. I have never seen a child so scared....
Has anyone every experienced anything like this? My son had night terrors, but that is after you are at sleep. She is scared of the whole process.....pj time is panic time, because that means bed.........I'm really worried about her. I kinda wonder if she wasn't tied down or something at night?????

Happy Halloween

Ok time for a happy post. These are photos of Ms. Emily's first halloween. She liked giving out candy more than trick or treating. Be sure to look for her tail. She is supposed to be a bear, but the outfit looks more like some type of mole. Oh well at least she wasn't scared of it.