ANOTHER REMINDER

Radio 4, tomorrow 11am, China Girl - my experiences during the process to adopt Alice!

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WOOLY TIGHTS IN JULY?!

The weather's attrocious. My thoughts go out to all of you who are coping with severe amounts of rainfall and flooding.

QUIETER DAY AT HOME

N came to visit, as usual Alice had great fun!

We had a breakthrough last night - the orphanage 'routine' said bed at 8.30pm and then wake for a bottle at 10.30pm, when we tried this in China Alice was irate and would not touch the milk. I tried again last night and Alice drank the whole bottle! Success!! Then she slept until 8am, fab!!

I tried keeping her up a little later tonight, tried feeding the bedtime bottle at 7 instead of 6.30, no good, screaming with tears but no drinking. I'll keep to earlier bedtime for now.

Hoping for another lie-in tomorrow!

TINKERBELL IS TWO!

A and E had both just had haircuts - they look ever so smart and ever so grown-up (next to Alice!)

I can't believe A is 2, how time flies.

A lovely time with the Gs, as usual.

INTRODUCTIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

A's 2nd birthday, so went went up to YM to meet the Gs.

A was especially pleased to meet 'Baby Lalice!' - the feeling was mutual, Alice couldn't take her eyes off A. E was very good at finding toys for Alice and made sure to offer her a drink when the grown-ups had tea!

OPINIONS NEEDED

My friend, 3CMum, is going to take a photo of Alice to Guangzhou, so that I can have a portrait 'done'.

Please comment - which of the photos would you send to be immortalised?

REALLY SHOWING THE GORGEOUS GIRL AND THE OUTFIT!

Got to love her!

This photo was taken today - but it is the outfit that Alice wore while I adopted her.

MORE THANKS,

To J, J and C - Alice loves her clothes, thank you.

(J - is there something in your eye again?)

I LOVE MY BEAR

Thanks Great God-Mother M - Alice really loves her cuddlies!

THE PARK

Came on Saturday, since then it's been well tested, Alice loves it, but there's room for friends - come and try it! We even had tea under it this evening.

CONTACT!

The phone hardly rings, the texts have ceased.

Whatsup?

We're home and settled. Alice is in a routine. She's in bed by 7 pm ish and by 8 pm Mum's ready to gossip, so come on, phone, please!!

CHINA GIRL - RADIO 4 PROGRAMME

Here's the link to the first programme.

Click!

It's proving tricky to find the link successfully, I hope that this works.

Alice and I are 'on' next week!

RADIO 4

Radio 4 have put together a series on adopting from China, we took part in the second programme, the first show is broadcast at 11am this morning.

They asked permission to use A's photo and copied them from the blog, but I still got a surprise to see her face on the BBC page!

Here's the link.

COMMENTS

Thank you for all your comments, it 's lovely to know that family and friends old and new are following this incredible journey. I will use this blog as a diary for A - so she will know the depth of feeling and emotion that support us in this amazing journey.

SETTLING IN AND NEW ROUTINES

So, how are we getting on?

So far, so good. She's eating, sleeping and filling nappies just the way she should.

Her spirit is incredible, she's open to all new experiences, almost always with a smile or a giggle. She was a little intimidated by the dogs, for 2 minutes or so, within 5 minutes she was reaching for them and now she squeals in order to attract their attention and hopefully lure them closer enough to touch.

She greets the inevitable visitors with a grin, but Mum keeps a firm hold!

Her attitude is incredibly laid back, she rarely cries, she's grumpy for less than a minute upon waking up. She doesn't yet indicate her needs - for wet or dirty nappies or when she's hungry, but already her cries are changing. She now has a warning siren, used when anticipating something new but 'real' crying with tears happens rarely.

At the moment it's too good to be true - I'm worried that this happy-go-lucky child may change to a more stubborn or less satisfied child, but whatever she becomes I will always love her.

On Thursday I registered her with my GP. She examined her quickly and pronounced that A is happy, healthy and developmentally exactly where she should be. She told me that I am exceptionally lucky to have such a healthy, alert and gorgeous daughter. I know.

On Friday I was interviewed by Radio 4 for the last time - the programme that we are part of goes out a week on Monday. In the afternoon we went to visit school. The children were delighted to see her hair and make her smile. The staff thought she was lovely and that I'm extremely lucky, I agree. She sat on my lap during assembly and smiled and blew raspberries in front of the whole school - not in the slightest bothered by the noise or number of children.

Today I braved Waitrose, wearing A. She grinned at everyone and attracted quite a lot of attention! Grandad came to meet her this afternoon and she was her usual smiley self. Also this morning Sovereign came to assemble her 'park'. A took her first swing this afternoon and loved it!

ANSWERS!

I've had lots of questions - being asked in comment, by email and even in person!

What is everyone so curious about?

My beautiful daughter? NO!
Her magnificent spirit? NO!
Her incredible hair? NO!

In fact, they're not even asking questions about her, everyone is intrigued by N!!!

The facts:

• Yes, he's single.
• He's a farmer.
• He's a current affairs encyclopedia.
• He's mad about Kylie Minogue.
• We went to primary school together, I've known him since I was about 8.
• We're FRIENDS - the only person who flirts with him is my daughter, not me!
• I will forever be grateful for his support and companionship on our trip to China - I couldn't have done it without him.

STATISTICS

At least 4 new countries and 2,700 visitors to the blog in the last 10 days. WOW.

IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME!

Very good indeed.

Alice is sleeping in her own bed. The nursery curtains are up, they look good. The changing table has been assembled, it's the wrong colour, it's got to go back - I'm extremely cross about this fiasco, but the nursery is coming together.

She's been smiley all day and has been quick to adapt to new circumstances. There have been lots of new faces, places and objects today, probably more than is good for her, but she has coped well. I will need to make things predictable for her, but first there are a few (hundred) people who are longing to meet her, and I need to see them.

As for the journey, Alice was very, very good. The first flight (6.30pm Tuesday night in China to Hong Kong) was short and sweet, then had to wait 4 hours for the next flight to Heathrow. We had pushchair hassles (I bought the pushchair especially for the anticipated evening at Hong Kong airport and then DIDN'T have it there at all, it was retrieved at Heathrow). The second flight was over 12 hours, Alice slept for the first 9 hours, she was a bit grumbly for the final few hours. I managed a few hours sleep. We flew BA business class, it was worth every penny. I was hesitant when buying the tickets, but it was a great decision.

ALL HOME
Happy to report K and A home safe & sound. A just as gorgeous as her pics, soaks in everything that goes on around her keeping up a happy noise most of the time! I suspect K is smiling in her sleep, she might be travel weary but can't stop smiling. I will happily pass the posting job back to her from now on - after she's caught up on some sleep of course!