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Friday, November 30, 2007

SHE CAN'T WALK, BUT WATCH HER DANCE!

Click here!

MY WONDERFUL GIRL - I LOVE HER SO MUCH!




MY GIRL - SO INQUISITIVE!

. . . some might even say 'Nosey'!

MY GIRL - LOVES HER TOYS!

She's never held this toy in this way before - but today she kept picking it up for a cuddle! The funny thing is that this ball is only really any good to play with on the floor - where it rolls around under it's own steam!

MY GIRL - LOVES FIFI!

Thanks GMA and KJ,M and C - for all of Alice's B-day pressies, she loves them all but is particularly interested in the ones with buttons that make noises! (Look closely, in a lot of the photos she's making Fifi talk by pushing the flower!)



MY GIRL - JUST LIKE HER MUM!

. . . just look at her chins!

A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER

It's cold. It's not yet 4pm but the skies are dark. It's raining. It's raining hard, hard enough to be distracting.

Miserable weather.

It's making me feel colder than it really is.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

OBSESSED

. . . by books! Alice adores them, especially the textured ones, but also turning the pages. Every book in the toy bag has to be put on a pile and then every book in the pile has to be read, then she'll look through them again on her own - really studying the pages and taking it all in. Show her a book and you'll get the biggest grin and the 'groaning' noise that relates to absolute joy.

Fabulous.

HEALTH UPDATE

Me: had a chest X-ray on Monday, results show asthma is bad in right lung, taking steroid inhaler and now have 4th prescription for antibiotics (in last 6 weeks). Still coughing alot - especially when I talk!!

Alice: pretty wheezy, on antibiotics since Monday, running a temperature on and off, quite happy but is crying quite easily at the moment and finding it tricky to get off to sleep. Still lovely.

Daisy: off antibiotics, back on arthritis meds, still seeking attention more than she has for a long while, posture better, looking much better, appetite still not quite what it was (which has been disconcerting) but improving.

TODAY SUMMED UP IN AN OUTFIT

. . . but which one? It's a total coincidence, I only noticed hours after putting Alice to bed! Let's just say that the antibiotics are taking their toll on Alice's digestive tract - necessitating a change of outfit!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

CO-ORDINATING

As L pointed out Alice's shoes match her highchair - I'd never noticed that! But I had noticed that the highchair matches the curtains - so you'd better watch out, come to CBH and you may be forced into wearing navy check or gingham!!

MUCH FAVOURED TOY!

It's an aeroplane, a ride on toy, a push along, a shape sorter, the propeller spins and lights up AND it plays music and talks to you! It's a complete toy shop in one toy, a home entertainment system for a 1 year old!!

Alice loves it. This toy was the final incentive to learning to connect pushing the button with the outcome - she's now so nonchalant about reaching round to push the button she wants, without even looking. She likes feeling the different textures, watching the spinning lights, bopping to the music but best of all - bashing 2 of the shapes together.

Monday, November 26, 2007

SADNESS IN BLOGGY WORLD

. . . because so many of my blogging friends are taking a break or signing off - you know who you are, I'll miss you.

TYPICAL SCENES FROM SUPPER

One foot resting on the underside of the tray.

















Dog on the scrounge.


















Watching her reflection in the oven door!


















Food in both hands.


















"I'm full, you want some Mum?!"

NO HAT REQUIRED!

Hair washed last night. All fell down with no 'help' from a hat!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

TICKERS

I love the tickers on the blog . . . sometimes I refresh just to see who's been visiting.

I've noticed a few regular visitors from abroad, but today's blog is just about just a few - a visitor from Ebbw Vale in Australia. Why this one . . . because there's another Ebbw Vale about 25 minutes drive from home, it's where I go to get my hair cut! It's a town at the top of the Valleys, it's had a hard time in recent years with the closing of the steel industry there, but now it's being revamped with the help of funding from WAG and EU etc.

The other visitors are from Singapore - not many until yesterday - 6 in 24 hours.

So please speak up - I'd love to know who you are, how you found me and whether we have anything in common.

ALICE AND HER DOGS

Alice continues to adore 'her' dogs. She pushes me out of the way as we descend the stairs to try and see them more quickly and then groans when she sees them! She's happiest when 'loving' them, patting them or (with encouragement) stroking them - whilst making the 'groaning' sound of great pleasure.

Daisy continues to be confused by Alice, Boozie (Alice's favourite) loves her but likes to sleep up-high so as not to be unexpectedly woken up and Fusspot loves her and interacts with her more often than the others - they continue to have a friendly relationship and tease each other with each other's toys!



6 MONTH POST PLACEMENT REPORT!

It hasn't actually been 6 months, but the report should be in China by the 6 month anniversary. So J, my SW, came to see us yesterday, Alice worked her charm and J continues to think (quite correctly in my view!) that Alice is amazing!

Photos are from before J's visit. Alice had fun spinning in Mummy's chair and then found an important letter, which she then proceeded to eat! Luckily I'd just printed it off, so another was easily obtained.


THE WAY TO A MUMMY'S HEART

. . . send her lovely photos of her baby. Thanks D.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

THERE WAS SOME GOOD NEWS TONIGHT

. . . but it's hush hush for now. Just to say that I'm pleased and relieved!

Sorry, not even going to label it, no clues.

PLEASE HELP!

Computer crashed.

ALL bookmarks lost. Daily reads, shopping, blogs, Yunnan links . . . EVERYTHING.

Please comment - leave me your blog link and any of your favourites, just let me know if you don't want me to publish it. Johnny, need to hear from you!

Monday, November 19, 2007

DAISY, HEALTH UPDATE

Despite not giving her enough antibiotics, she is slowly getting better. They think that she had a bug that caused the vomiting and that then she aspirated the vomit, causing a chest infection.

She's improved quite a lot since the appointment today. She looks perkier, her ears are up again. She ate much more for supper tonight, begged for more, tried to let herself in after supper and is back to nudging my hand for scraps and affection. It's lovely to see her getting better, I hope it continues. Alice loves the dogs, I love my dogs, this one's particularly special.

SHAMBLES

This morning I felt like a one woman disaster zone.

For the 4th or 5th Monday in a row I had a doctor's appointment. Last week Alice had a chest infection but I was apparently clear, despite the fact I was coughing quite a lot and feeling off colour. Alice finished her antibiotics yesterday. Today my lovely GP wasn't sure if I had a chest infection - but she'd heard me coughing for 10+ minutes before the appointment and knew that I still wasn't well (haven't been since mid October and I'm more than bored by it now). More antibiotics - the third course in a month, hopefully this lot will work! (Before anyone flames me with comments about over use of antibiotics and creating resistance etc please remember that I'm diabetic and so I tend to get infections more easily and it takes more to get rid of them too.)

From the doc's we went straight to the vet's - luckily the doc's were running close enough to time so the timings worked well. Alice's Bugaboo looked a little lop-sided, the seat doesn't always engage properly, I noticed the problem but didn't rectify it (thought it would be OK for 10 minutes). Got into surgery, discovered I'd misread Daisy's antibiotics and had been giving 1 dose each day instead of 2. Then seat unit on the buggy collapsed - Alice was left, strapped in, standing up! Shambolic. Slightly ashamed but more amused!!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

FINALLY

. . . Strictly . . . the weakest celebrity dancer was voted off. She worked really hard, she tried really hard, but she's not a dancer . . . it was well beyond her time to go. This series has the best group of talented celebrity dancers and is certainly the most controversial . . . excellent entertainment, love it!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

SO DIFFERENT!

They are so different - you wouldn't even think that they were the same nationality, they look different, they are totally different builds and they are meeting different milestones.

L is 5 days older than Alice.

So Alice has been reminded that by next Thursday she should be walking a couple of steps unaided, virtually running holding on to a supporting hand and with a vocabulary of at least half a dozen words! In the meantime L has a lot of eating and growing to do!!

And yet, at the same time, they're so similar, so wonderful, so special and so loved.

MY GIRL (REVISED)

Last night I watched a slide show of the photos from the first week in China. Today we watched the video that N took while we met the girls on 1st July. Emotional times. I can't believe that it's only been 4 and a half months, the girls have changed SO much.

One of the wonderful things about today was how easy it was - the girls and the grown-ups relaxed together and just enjoyed being together, great times, special times.

Today is also a significant anniversary for Alice - I spent the week thinking about it and then (luckily) we were so busy that I didn't remember until late in the evening. Today her birth parents will be thinking of their child, today I remember her birth parents and thank them for their bravery. I wish they could know the happiness she brings and the tremendous child that she is, I hope that they have peace with what they did.

ANOTHER SPECIAL VISITOR

N came for tea - to see all of us. Alice got some rough and tumble play, she's a real tomboy and N knows it! He stayed for bath time and Alice had a wonderful time giggling at his antics and silly voices - N enjoyed himself too!

LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR . . .

"The panda is mine . . . keep away from the bear!"

(Actually Alice wasn't too bad about sharing, but she was delighted when I produced panda!!)

P.S. Delighted to hear that another friend now has a panda of her own, A - I hope that you have as much joy from yours as Alice gets from her panda!

THIS WALKER DOESN'T!

"Look, there's the problem - there's an Alice in the way!"

A WONDERFUL DAY!

We had some very special visitors today.

M, C and L came over for the day. They arrived at 11ish and planned to stay til 4ish, luckily they stayed a bit longer. N joined us after lunch and stayed til Alice went to bed.

It was lovely to get our travel group together. L was a little reserved to start with but relaxed very quickly and enjoyed exploring and playing with Alice's toys - she managed to show Alice how to play with some of them, particularly the walking toys!

They both love musical toys and really enjoyed all of Alice's noisy toys, sometimes several were playing at the same time - they both 'bop' to the music, but Alice bops forward and back, while L bops up and down!

They've both grown up incredibly in the 4 and a half months we've known them and they continue to be wonderful and so different - in looks, size, development and so much more.

It was lovely to see them again and just reminds me (again) how special our relationship is - I wonder if China realise that they don't just make (or expand) families, but that they create extended families too?