Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Moving...

Although I am emotionally attached to my blogger blog, it's time to move to a safer site for Ms. Lillie Kat. If you would like to come along, please email me for the password. If I do not *know* you, either in real life or by email communication, please let me know who you are. I will be transitioning this blog to a secondary typepad blog that will be open to the public, as my "archive." I'm still in the process of moving pictures over, and when I am done I will delete this blog. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Monday, September 25, 2006

OK, all better now

The Typepad people are trying to figure things out for me over at that blog, so I'll stick around here for now. I've spent so much time messing with the blog, I haven't updated it in forever... so why start now, huh? Just kidding. Here are some recent pix of Miss Lillie-Kat. Enjoy! A long over-due picture of Lillie at the beach over Labor Day weekend: Lillie-Kat and her Beanie-dog relaxing at the beach hotel: OK, tried to post more but Blogger is not cooperating... oh well!

Friday, September 22, 2006

Ignore the mess...

that is my blog. I am trying to get it formatted to export to Typepad, and am having problems getting it up on Typepad so I have to leave it like this for a while. UGH. I am beginning to think I will just bag this whole idea.

Friday, September 15, 2006

A day of thank yous...

Thank you Lillie Kat for stopping your screaming just long enough for the nurse could get a good EKG reading... Thank you J for dancing like a fool behind the nurse to coax the short pause in the screaming... Thank you Dr. S. for delivering the best news ever and telling us that LK's heart condition is extremely mild and nothing to worry about (though we will continue to monitor it)... Thank you Lillie Kat for recovering so quickly from your doctor's office "trauma" and being such a happy girl with such a generous spirit... Thank you to all of our friends who have supported us through the unknowns and who celebrated with us yesterday... Thank you Aunt H for your love, support, and medical advice... And the icing on the cake, thank you to my awesome blogger friend Colleen, who with impeccable timing sent a care package to Lillie that arrived right after the doctor's visit!! Thank you, thank you. Colleen sent the cutest little Asian doll and little outfit for Lillie - Can't wait to see Hannah in her matching set! Here's a picture of Lillie-Kat going for the doll: I tried to get a picture of Lillie-Kat actually holding the doll, but ya know, she's a toddler and did not sit still long enough!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Arrrrrrrrrgh...

I set up a typepad blog so I can go password protected. The problem is that it's a total PITA to import all my posts from here... but I don't want to leave here a "dead" blog with random pictures of my kid... and I don't want to just delete here either. ARRRGHHHH. Why can't Blogger just go PW? And the new beta isn't really PW... just restricted access, so people have to sign up for a google account or something... ARGHHHH! That's all.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Home Sweet Home - And Life Post-China

After a loooooooooooooooong flight (Lillie-Kat slept the whole way, but I had a brutal cold that made flying miserable and painful), a short night at an airport hotel in New York, and a commuter flight, on August 18, 2006, we were finally home! Friends and family met us at the airport, and we were so excited to finally see our house again! My brother and his family and my mom and dad hung around the day we got home - a nice quiet day, and Lillie-Kat and her cousin Luke had a great time bonding over the stuffed penguin he gave her (which she loved!) We were too tired to take photos, but my brother has some. When Lillie-Kat took a nap, Luke whispered to me that he wanted to check on her, and he brought the penguin to her crib - too cute! The next day, James' family, including aunts, arrived. It was a bit of chaos, but we figured we'd let them get their first glimpse in exchange for some time to adjust afterwards (they totally got this concept - thanks guys!). We were so touched that his family drove from far away to welcome home Lillie-Kat and we did not want her to "miss" this memory of knowing that she was eagerly anticipated and loved by the entire family*, but it was a tough day for me. My cold was still awful, I was jetlagged and exhausted, and my baby was jetlagged and exhausted. I enforced naptime for Lillie-Kat (and the relatives patiently waited in total understanding) and I took a little r&r myself. As my mom reminded me, I now got mommy privileges, including naps! Most importantly, Lillie-Kat handled it like a champ. She played peekaboo with people, and played with the other kids, but she would check in with us very regularly (by looking for us and for our approval) and didn't want to go to other people (and no one made her). These were all positive signs that she was continuing to bond and attach to us as her parents and caregivers. Everyone left Saturday afternoon, leaving just my mom and dad and me, James, and Lillie-Kat. Mom and Dad were great - sitting close to Lillie but never encroaching, and she warmed up to them quickly as you can see from this picture with my dad: My mom stayed for a week to help with the house, shopping, etc., which was a godsend and please everyone arrange for help! The first day James went back to work (the Monday after we got home on a Friday) was awful - still jetlagged, Lillie-Kat wouldn't sleep, I must have cried ten times... without help I don't know how I would have done it (Note: We did all the Lillie-Kat care. Mom did all the rest! I couldn't even manage to wash a dish, and thankfully she did it for me!) After that, it got better and better, and by Friday when my mom left we were all in good spirits. Here is mom playing with Lillie-Kat in L-K's favorite chair: Since then, we've been taking it easy. James (with Lillie-Kat's help) put together the jogging stroller: When the weather is good, L-K and I head to the park and I get exercise while Lillie-Kat get a good nap in her chariot. We've had some visitors, who she has handled well, and we've visited with friends at the local coffee shop. We also took her to the beach for Labor Day - I'll post those pictures in another post. For now, enjoy some gratuitous Lillie-Kat photos taken since we've been home. At the coffee shop playing with a friend's daughter: Goofing around with the playwall: Loving her kitty: Trying out the sippy cup: Apparently, we love that green dress! Oh well! So that's it. To China and back, and now our lives happily revolve around a 20-lb bundle of energy and personality named Lillie-Kat. We've enjoyed the ride, and are looking forward to the road ahead. I'm going to post a few more entries here, then I'll probably be moving to a password-protected site. I'll let you all know when I do that in case you want to follow us (though I will require some introductory info from those of you I don't "know"). This is to protect Lillie-Kat's privacy as she grows up, particularly as we deal with whatever challenges her heart condition may bring our way. Thanks to everyone for your good wishes, support, friendship, and comaderie throughout this process. I know many of you are in the waiting process, and I look forward to the day when I get to see the smiling faces of all of your children! *Yes, I know she won't remember directly, but it's something we can tell her, and we have pictures to show her (I look like crap in all of them so there's no way those are getting on the blog though!)

Thursday, September 07, 2006

1 month anniversary!

I know I promised home sweet home pictures next, but I'm interrupting my own blog to say HAPPY ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY to us as a family! We received Ningning on August 7, 2006 at 3:30 in the afternoon... I can't believe it's been a month already! Here's a picture of her very shortly after we received her - you can see she is not happy: Now, here she is one month later, sleeping peacefully in her crib with her two loveys : Yes, I know a sleeping picture is boring, but that's the first time she has been still ALL morning... so I'll take it! And no, I did NOT put her in that position - she did that all by herself. Happy anniversary ningning - we love you!

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

China, Part 4: Guangzhou

We left Nanning the afternoon of August 11 in the middle of a rainstorm caused by the typhoon that was lashing the Zhejiang coast, but luckily the weather cleared by the time we got to the airport. We were leaving without Ningning's passport, which wouldn't be ready until 5:00pm, but our guide had arranged for another family to carry it to Guangzhou. She told us not to switch to the later flight because it always got cancelled... and so despite my misgivings about leaving without this document, I trusted the wonderful Grace and boarded the earlier flight. (Good thing, because the 8pm flight was cancelled, and the remaining families missed getting their medical exams done that Saturday morning!) We sadly said goodbye to Grace, our guide, as we would get a new, Guangzhou-based guide in Guangzhou. Maybe it was our imagination, but we thought that even Grace looked a little sad as she watched us go through the security line. Anyway, the flight was uneventful and we landed in Guangzhou and were met by Kelly, out new guide. Originally we were going to wait for another family arriving a bit later, but Kelly decided to send us to the White Swan with the driver. We checked in STARVING with a sleeping baby and splurged on room-service hamburgers. YUM! The next morning, Kelly took us to get Ningning's visa photo (as with any official photo, she howled), and then to the medical exam, where, you guessed it, Ningning howled: Seriously, they were only taking her temperature! With the medical exam out of the way, we had several days to kill while our paperwork was processed at the Consulate. Kelly went over the paperwork with us to make sure everything was right. She also took us to the Chen Family Temple and the pearl market. I bought matching pearl and earring sets for me and Ningning, and a "ice jade" buddha pendant for me. I shopped in my typical way: walked in, found what I wanted, bargained, bought. That left plenty of time for Ningning to run around the mall while we waited for the other families (who were much more serious about their pearl shopping!). Luckily, Ningning and Zifeng, a little five year old just adopted by a Florida family, got along great: Zifeng is quite a helper! And she loved to help out with Ningning. I hope she and her family are settling in well!! We pretty much did our own thing in Guangzhou. Kelly arranged one other outing, to the toy market, but James and I decided to skip it in favor of lounging by the White Swan pool. Ningning was uncertain at first, but the other babies at the kiddie pool convinced her that the pool was ok, especially with her stylin' pool wrap and rubber duckies in tow: We did tag along on a Pearl River cruise outting organized by the coordinator for another agency. We had made friends with one of those families while in Nanning, and they invited us along. It was fun to see the river and James got video, but overall it is pretty overrated. The food was terrible, and I spent most of the time trying to keep Ningning occupied and happy (she thought the food was bad too!) It was fun to hang out with our friends and their adorable kids though. We also went to visit the Swedish replica of a cargo ship that sank on its voyage to China hundreds of years ago. James works for one of the sponsors, so he wanted to see. The ship was docked directly across the Pearl River from the White Swan so we walked along the water on the Shamian Island side, then crossed the big bridge and walked around the peninsula where the daily light show occurs to see the ship. We did not get to go on board, but Ningning did get to ride a cannon: We enjoyed Shamian Island and the White Swan and spent most of our time playing with Ningning and strolling the quiet streets. We were between big referral groups, so while there were other families around, it was not a zoo. Unfortunately, that made the shopkeepers all over the island a little pushier! I got pretty tired of the shops filled with the same stuff, but did take advantage of the cheap baby clothes shopping and bought Ningning quite a few outfits and shoes. Here she is testing her new pair of pink squeaky shoes in our room at the Swan: I was a little disappointed with the food on Shamian, mostly because I did not think the Chinese food offerings were very good. We ate at Lucy's several times, and it was fine. Apparently unlike most babies, Ningning thought their mashed potatoes were awful and refused to eat them! She loved their chicken and noodle soup though. The breakfast buffet at the Swan lived up to its incredible reputation, and we LOVED the Thai restaurant called CowBridge. Here's James with Ningning on our last visit to the CowBridge: Tip for parents: Try the steamed beancurd and broccoli for your kids. It comes in this honey-sweet sauce and Ningning tore it up, as did another baby we ate dinner with one night. Ningning also loved the waterfall and koi pond at the White Swan, so we visited there a lot. It took many, many, tries, but we finally got a decent picture of me with Ningning (ok, she's sticking out her tongue, but oh well, she was mid-babblestreak): After six nights in Guangzhou, we were ready to head home! But first, a last stop at one of Ningning's absolutely favorite places - the tree outside the ice cream shop. I think she and James are actually celebrating the mango ice cream I went in to buy for them but she does like looking at tree leaves (as we first discovered during our nightly walks in Nanning to soothe her grieving spirit): On that celebratory note, it was time to pack up our room at the Swan, get a good night's sleep, and head for home. After being gone for 18 days, even I, the experienced China traveler, was more than ready to head for home... and our waiting friends, family, and menagerie! Next stop: Home sweet home, and life with Ningning!

Friday, September 01, 2006

China, Part 3: Fun in Nanning

On August 8, adoption day, we woke up to find a still-sleeping Lillie-Kat. We let her sleep as long as possible, then woke her up for breakfast. A new day had certainly begun! Though still wary, she now clung to us as well as to pink bunny! We quickly learned that breakfast with a toddler is not a quick affair, especially since our punkin loves to eat! Then it was back to the Civil Affairs Office for the official adoption. Lillie-Kat wasn't thrilled about going back in there, but I kept her in the hip hammock and she stayed calm, even giving out a few smiles. The interviewer asked us if we were pleased with Lillie-Kat and did we want to keep her... uuuum YEAH!! She asked us our plans for her and we talked about wanting to give her the best of everything, especially an education. The adoption officer really liked that and warmed up to us. Even though we look ghastly, here's a picture of us on adoption day: I got to speak to the nanny from the orphanage a bit and learned that Lillie-Kat was still on formula, not a picky eater, that she loves to go outside to play, and that she loves to go shopping. Yay! We also found out she loves a kind of drinkable yogurt, which we promptly went out to buy: Then we had to go to the notary, and while we waited outside, Lillie-kat and her baba got some face time: The rest of our time in Nanning was pretty relaxed. We went to a big park with a temple and did a blessing for Lillie-Kat, and then she got to feed the gigantic goldfish. She tried the goldfish food, and decided it was ok for the fish to eat instead! There was a big pagoda too - Lillie-Kat and I stayed grounded and ate ice cream, but James went up. We took a family photo in front of it: Everywhere we went Lillie-Kat attracted attention, especially at the Nanning Wal-Mart. Maybe because she is a rockstar in training? Her favorite place in the hotel room was this chair: In fact, she liked to sit there and eat like a big girl: Finally, after five and a half wonderful days in Nanning, it was time to head to Guangzhou. The packing must have been exhausting for Baba and Lillie-Kat (nevermind that mama did it all!). Here's a final snooze in that chair before heading off to the airport: Next up... playing around Guangzhou and heading home!


Unwritten
By Natasha Bedingfield
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