Number 12...... Check

Who would have thunk? We have been LID for 12 months today and I actually wouldn't even have noticed if it wasn't for Michelle congratulating us. It's been a busy day but more on that later.

This wait just seems eternal and now I am at the point that I don't even notice how long we have been waiting. I suppose because in my head I know that we still have such a long way to go and that I know it will happen I just don't know when.

I think I shall probably pass out from shock when we get to the point that I know we are next. (This is probably better than what happened when we received Lily's referral, I threw up! Nice Huh...I was so excited). I long for the day when we receive that little photo and we finally get to show Lily her baby sister. I just want to see her reaction and of course I want to see her...the little one whom my heart has grown bigger for.

So here's to 12 months and hopefully the next few will fly by.

Keeping It Simple

After yesterday's fiasco of the slide show not working and the link to Katie Starr not working, today I am keeping it simple! This is Lily's self portrait. The funny little bits that look like Octopus' are her hands, apparently.

Oh and I have done away with the slideshow from CNY and posted the photos individually so that now they can actually be seen. Thanks to all who let me know that it was invisible to the naked eye.

Me................. (yes, she does have some clothing on!)

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L.Y.C.

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Chinese New Year Festival w/ working photos!

Yesterday was our local Chinese New Year festival and it was fun. Our local group of adoptive parents was invited as a guest by the chap organising the event. The kiddos were able to meet the Dragon and the acrobats and Lions for a photo and autograph session. Lily started out the day wearing traditional Chinese clothing but as the temperature rose she switched into a dress. It was really hot and we were sitting watching the show for over 2 hours.....which in my opinion was just way to long. We snuck off during part if it and went in search of lunch and an ice cream for one hot kiddo. Lilys favourite part of the day, playing with her friends in the bounce house. My favourite part, bumping in to Katie Starr and her folks. That was such a lovely surprise and I swear that little girl just gets cuter and sweeter by the minute.
Lily and her friends

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Making Music

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The Dancers

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Squashed Mummy

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Wow this is a big dragon

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I bet I could do a dragon dance

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Lily's favourite part of the day

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Ahhhh, Saturdays

I went to bed last night so happy that today was Saturday and we had nothing important to do. I thought I might take Lily to the beach if the weather was favourable but I hadn't mentioned it to her cos I wanted to take things as they came.

This is how things happened.

Before 8.am Lily is already dressed as a princess and decides that she needs breakfast in her Princess pop-up house. I saw no harm in that and at that time of day I was not going to try to form sentences.


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Then after brekky she needed to put on a spinning show, still at some ungodly hour

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Few minutes later and tada.....change of clothes.

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I really wanted to go to the Mall today because I suddenly decided we needed new towels, like NOW! So we shot up to Macys and I got towels and then I saw this for Lily and had to have it. Talk about Bling! She loves it. And it was in a huge sale and I saved $56 off the original price. Didn't pay even close to that for it.


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Back home again for lunch and then I felt bad about spending the morning shopping so we grabbed our stuff and took off to the beach. Photos are below so if you are not happy about seeing beach photos cos you are living in the frozen Tundra, scroll down fast.

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We didn't stay very long at the beach cos it was tooooooo cold! The sun was beautiful but the wind was chilly. So after a couple of hours we were done for and needed hot chocolate (just kidding). So we zoomed home and as I was cleaning up the beach stuff outside and cleaning up duck poop from the new residents Lily was being attacked by a mosquito and by the time I came back inside she had over a dozen bites. Thankfully I have some medicine that a friend gets for me in Hong Kong so they instantly shrunk to a normal size and stopped itching her. After a quick game of find the Mossy we had dinner and a shower and she is now fast asleep and getting ready for another crazy day tomorrow.

Here are the new residents. These were taken yesterday when Schnoog came home from school.

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And last but by no means least here is our Red Thread saying now that it has been framed. I love it. Thank you so much Jeanne.
Before:

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After: (Non reflective glass shows flashes more than ordinary glass....WHY????)

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So much for a do nothing kind of day.

Befores and Afters.

Yesterday morning I dropped my happy go lucky little munchkin off at pre-K and when I returned to pick her up I was greeted by Cybil. When we first met Lily we found out very quickly that she had a BIG , actually mammoth, stubborn streak in her. If things didn't go the way she wanted she let everyone know about it. Everyone in our group starting referring affectionately, to the other Lily, as Cybil. Fortunately once we boarded the plane in Hong Kong Cybil disappeared and is only rarely seen. Not the case yesterday. I always take Lily a drink when I pick her up and yesterday the choice I made was not the right one and out of nowhere came Cybil. Dear Lawdy, she was furious and let out this huge meltdown. I choose to ignore her but that didn't help either. It takes all of 4 minutes to get home and once we walked in her dad knew to stay clear. She stayed pretty mad for about 10 minutes, with her arms crossed so tightly across her chest that I was amazed she could even breathe and her lower lip jutting out about 2 feet in front of her. When she saw me going through her books she panicked and thought I was giving them away so she begged me to let her have them. I explained that I wasn't but she was not to have any toys or books until she was being nice again. That was the wrong move too and finally the only thing that budged her grumpy little bum was me threatening to video tape her cranky little face and publish it on the blog. She said, NO, no cranky, mad photos of me on there please. And slowly her little frown turned around. Since everyone always comments on how happy she is all the time I just wanted to let you all know that she is just an average kid with a bigger than an average stubborn streak. Thankfully she doesn't get like this to often and I have been trying to catch her on tape when she is bothered by something but yesterday was not the right time as she was hell-bent and I didn't want her to think I was making fun of her. When Lily re-appeared from the madness we talked about it and she was fine and promises talk about things next time rather than calling Cybil for back up. I begged Jacob to let me go to work for him yesterday but he wasn't buying and he shot out of the house ASAP and was probably ridiculously early to work.

NOTE TO SELF: take the correct juice today!

Learning With Lily.

I am so glad that the Great Halls of Academia are having such a positive affect on our child. Now I know that she can spell although not necessarily the words I would like her to spell.


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Call It What You Want

Depending on where you live and what your beliefs are, yesterday was either Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday or as in our case, Pancake Day. What the heck is Pancake Day? In the little town in England that I grew up in on Shrove Tuesday there is a peculiar little tradition called the Pancake Race. Basically you have had to live in the town for x amount of months to participate and it starts at the Market Sqaure and ends at the Church. Not just a running race cos that would be boring. So all the ladies must be dressed in an apron and wear a headscarf, and have a frying pan in hand with a pancake in it (in the States you call them crepes) and she has to dash like a looney through the streets tossing her pancake as she goes, all the way to finish line. Now this crazy little race is a big deal and every year Olneys participants race against a town in Kansas and sad but true it is even in the Guiness book of records for the fastest time ever run in a pancake race! (Nope, never did it but nearly did the year we got married)
If you should so choose you can read more about it here. Pancake Race

So last night we had pancakes for dessert and Lily had her first attempt at tossing one. This is an integral part of making pancakes! I was a nervous wreck because I have never had her working at the stove before. Oh, one other thing in this epic length post of silliness, the cookery book that we used to make the batter was mine when I was a little girl and I can honestly say, I use it frequently when I am cooking with Lily cos it is all done with pictures.

A Zesty Little Toss

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This Kid Is Unbelievable.

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She Put Way To Many Toppings On Hers (traditional ones have lemon juice and sugar)

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Cooking One

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Determined or Stubborn? You decide

Just over a week ago Lily and I were at the park and she realised she was tall enough to reach the monkey bars with just a little leg up from me. She tried and tried to make it across but couldn't quite do it. In the end her hands were so sore that I made her stop. At the beginning of this week we were at the park again and she almost did it herself. Again she wouldn't stop until her hands were blistered. She then asked her dad to take her back yesterday and she finally made it all the way across and back. And now she won't stop.
Once she makes her mind up to do something nothing nor nobody can get in her way. This is one stubborn little chickadee. But I think it is a good thing because she has got drive, and tonnes of it!

Here is her timeline in videos. Her little face shows some true grit. I know my dad will be proud of her cos his mantra in life is, if at first you don't succeed try, try again.
So I now have a 4 yr old little girl with hands like a 70 yr old farmer. But she is proud, oh so proud. Me too. I just need to work on those hands for her.


Saturday Feb 10th

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Feb 17th. Take 1

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Take 2

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Yesterday after much blood, sweat and tears...she did it!

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Gung Hay Fat Choi

Ok so I am a little late posting this but yesterday was filled with so much fun I just didn't have time. We had a huge gathering with our South Florida Asia Group to ring in the year of the Piggie and it was fun. A tad on the chilly side at 60 degrees, for us sun worshippers but we survived. A few of us pooled our pennies and hired a bounce house for the kids and we had a karate demonstration, fabulous food and of course, little red envelopes and bracelets for the kiddies. The friendships forged through adoption are like no other and to each and everyone of you, we say thank you. It is so wonderful for our girls to grow up surrounded with families just like theirs and to be able to celebrate their heritage.
Oh, and looky here! Our little bash made the newspaper. I wasn't sure whether to post this or not because for some reason they had to use our full names and I have always tried very hard to leave them out of this blog but at this stage of the game I am throwing caution to the wind since I know that most have you have had more background checks than death row. Goodbye anonymity in bloggyland. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cchinese19feb19,0,4923606.story?coll=sfla-news-front

Yum

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Don't think I should try this

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I swear she did think it was fun!

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One if these kids is not like the others.......he's to BIG

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Here's that BIG bully again. The kids loved him.

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Poor Wittle Catterpillar

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No Jacob we cannot keep her. Put her back!

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While I Was Sleeping

Jacob has a strange habit of getting up in the middle of the night and eating cookies and drinking milk. I cannot even eat breakfast so I can't imagine waking up from a dead sleep and scoffing a handful of cookies and drinking milk. Not only does he do this but sometimes he doesn't actually wake up to do it and when I get up in the morning I am faced with a disaster in the kitchen because he is not so tidy when he is asleep. On more than one occasion Lily and I have come downstairs together and been greeted by the leftovers and she just says, Daddy ate the cookies again, in her most stern voice. When she saw his latest assortment of night time treats she begged him to let her join in one night.

Apparently last night was the night. While I was sleeping the 2 of them got up at about 2am and went on a wild kitchen raid complete with hot chocolate made with milk and Pepperidge Farm Seville's. He went in to her room and woke her up and she immediately sprang into action. She thought it was the most fun ever and refuses to tell me anything about it but slips every now and again and blurts something out and then says I can't tell you it's between me and daddy. I woke up this morning to find Schnoog in our bed because Jacob had just elbowed her in the head and she was complaining. Other than that I oblivious to the escapade, which is probably just as well cos when I asked if he brushed her teeth I just got a dirty look.

He tried to get pictures but her eyes were to sleepy and everytime the flash went off she said it hurt her eyes but he managed to get one that you can actually see her in the others were just a fuzzy blur. It kills me to think she is this awake and alert in the middle of the night just seconds after waking up.....maybe it was all that sugar, daddy!

I've found your stash, Daddy

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Boys Boys and More Boys

Yesterday afternoon we went over to my friends house cos her folks are in town and they havent seen Lily, before! It is just one of those things and everytime they come to town we are either away, Lily is sick, her kids are sick, the Gods are not happy and so it goes. Ames has 2 boys and these boys and Lily are bestest friends and we hope and have an odd feeling that it will stay this way. When we showed up yesterday much to Lily's horror there were some imposters there, 2 extra boys. Lilys wasnt sure what to make of it all but she weighed the situation and decided it was better to play with everyone than to sit sadly on the bedroom floor by herself. So she threw herself into the thick of things and played her heart out.........doing boy things. Shhhh dont tell anyone! She cracks me up she is the biggest tomboy ever but the thought of playing with 2 new boys puts her in a tail spin cos they are boys!


This one is for Grandpa.....

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Teamwork


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Suddenly Boy's Toys aren't so bad! This is going to lead to trouble, me can tell!


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Feeling The Love

If yesterdays post seemed a little harsh perhaps this will clarify where I am coming from. If you need a special day in your year to profess your love then I think you have forgotten the plot.

Four years ago my best friend died. Nancy was truly a best friend. Her and I spent many years together and she taught me a lot but more than anything she taught me a lot about the small things in life and taking the time to appreciate them. She always took the time to smile and to say hi....to everyone. We called each other every single morning and fixed the world but one morning when I rang something wasn't right and I asked what was wrong and she said she had a lump in her neck. I told her very matter of factly to go to the DR. She didn't for a while cos she didn't have insurance and was waiting for it to kick in. To make a long story short, it was cancer, stage 4 when it was diagnosed. It was a long and very, very ugly battle. At one point it looked like she had beaten the odds but that joy was was short lived.She had an elderly mother but no other immediate family. Some cousins, one whom I love dearly the other I call the Rottweiler. Her mother was becoming senile so that left Jakey, Nanc' and I to take this on together and we made a hell of a team. We went to all her appointments together, when the chemo and radiation got to much she stayed with us. Jacob, who thought this woman was a nutcase friend of mine when he met her for the first time, did everything for her when I was at work. She fought tooth and nail cos she didn't think she could possibly die. She fought like hell cos she wanted to be Lily's auntie and we wanted it so badly. She was in denial so badly it sucked and made our lives hell. She kept smiling and always said, I love you dolly and that handsome husband of yours.
The hospital staff probably thought we were gay cos I was always laying in her bed with her. I would bathe her and change her when the nurses took to long. I am not sure they could figure out Jacobs role in the equation to begin with so we played it up to confuse them. I was her next of kin and health care proxy. Jacob would visit by himself and get on the bed too. I didn't care I loved this person and so did he.
She lived life to the fullest: pool boys and yardmen got hired for their looks!
In the end we pleaded with her to say goodbye. We had done everything we could. We made sure her mum was taken care of and I had spoken to her nice cousin and we knew it wouldn't be long but I wasn't expecting the phone call that I received. The nursing home called to say her mother had passed away and within the hour while we were at the nursing home the hospital called to say Nancy was gone too. She needed her mum to lead the way. Now that is love!

I miss her, we miss her and Lily never met her. I do not cry for her because the memories are so good. We talk about her all the time and it is always with a smile.

If you have someone so special in your life you are truly, truly lucky, but make sure you tell them how you feel and not just on Valentines day. We always did and I learnt to never miss an opportunity to do so because of Dolly.

Happy V.D.

That would be Valentines Day!

I am not a huge fan of the commercialness of this day. I think it is wrong that it is geared for women and men are guilted into buying ridiculous gifts for their significant others while people who are single are made to feel left out. GIVE ME A BREAK. Keep it simple that is my rule. I love my hubby, very much and under no circumstances do I want him to go over the top today because society says he should. In fact I beg him not to get me anything. Oh, thats not true he better get me a card or he will be in the dog house! But he always does more and buys flowers and chocolates and I buy something for him too. Now Lily, thats a different story. We have a great time getting little bits for her ValentiMes (that is what she calls it) gift. And it is fun decorating the house and making heart shaped cakes and cookies and trying to explain the meaning of love to her. She even wrote her own cards this year....that one made my brain itch. And she read the ones she bought home. My pumpkin can read and write......holy smoke.

Jakey....thank you and Happy Valentines Day. XOXOXOXOX

All ready for school and her LOVE party

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Lily's Candy

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It All Started So Innocently

Our VCR went on the fritz which was no big deal since they are obsolete anyway. Jacob decided to just get another one with a DVD recorder in it and be done. So off he went on his little shopping trip and thought he was all done. Not so, sonny!

I had much bigger plans. Since he had to move the wall unit out about 6 inches I thought we should just go ahead and change all the furniture around, buy new area rugs, clean out 3 closets, make 2 trips to the charity drop off site and bake a heart shape cake! The poor guy, me thinks he wishes he had never woken up today.

He did get even at the second rug shop though. They had just received a new shipment and they were still rolled up and we were trying to look at them very carefully and gingerly since they were all on a table. He pulled one out length ways and we put it on top and unrolled it a little bit and decided we didn't like it after all so then I saw another one further down in the heap and as I moved back they all started to roll so I had to stand with my body holding them on the table and so dearest hubby looked at my panicked expression and took off. Another lady saw what was happening and started to laugh so Jacob just went over to her and denied knowing me. He did come back to rescue me but not before I was laughing uncontrollably. The damn rugs were huge and weighed a tonne. But we checked them off the to do list and came home and carried on with the rest of the day. The rug looks even better in here than it did in the shop.

I think then Jacob thought he was done but I knew better. We were on a roll or at least I was and he was being dragged, kicking and screaming along for the fun. So we headed upstairs to the bedroom....it's not what you think, so get your mind out of the gutter! We then went through the walk in closets. He asked me what we were doing and I told him we were taking EVERYTHING out of all the closets. He knows better than to question anything when I get like this so he just went for it and we dumped the walk-ins. I say, stay or go and he replies and off we go and it is done! I don't do clutter so every few months I have one of these fits and then I am OK for a while longer. Jacob likes to keep things and I am fine with him doing this but certain things have to go and today was B-bye day.

Frankly we were interested to find out what the Schnoog would have to say about the changes since last time she came home and we had done something different she announced that we were wrecking the house! Everything passed her inspection, lucky for her really cos it would have been tough otherwise! Opinionated little madam.

Well, I can breathe again now...the air is uncluttered!
I'm tired. Good night.

Glass Bottom Boat Ride

Yesterday we took Lily on her first ever glass bottom boat ride. We went down to John Pennekamps in Key Largo which just happens to be where Jakey took me snorkelling on our first date. The weather was a little chilly yesterday but we had a wonderful time and once we were drifting over the reef and Lily was looking at all the fish, she exclaimed, I can't believe my eyes. It seemed like such a grown up saying to come out of her mouth.

Mollasses Key is the 3rd largest reef in the world and if any of you ever make it down to these parts you really should take the time to stop at Pennekamp and do some snorkelling or kayaking or even take a glass bottom boat tour.


Hi Mummy, I'm getting all wet!


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Now I'm getting Daddy all wet too.


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Looking at the reef


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Some Fishey Wisheys Under the Cat'



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They Look Freezing



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The caberet show in the car on the way home. Jacob was driving while he took this video in the rear view mirror. We were stuck in a jam at the toll plaza leaving the Keys. He doesn't usually do this!


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Thank you to everyone for all the wishes for Lily's Great Nanny Rene. I rang today and she was doing much better. I am sure she will be rather surprised to see all the wishes from so far away.

Get Well Wishes

We came home this evening after a day out and received a phonecall from home telling us that Nanny Rene had fallen over yesterday and had broken her hip. It has been snowing over there and she slipped on some slushy stuff going down a step. Nanny Rene is the sweetest lady alive and is in hospital in England having just had hip replacement surgery earlier today. She is the one who is busy knitting the blankets for us to take to China with is for all the little babies left behind in the orphanages.

Jeanne said she will be fine but right now she is really hurting but won't complain. What a trooper, she is nearly 86 .

We hope you are feeling better soon Nanny Rene.

Just A few Black & Whites

Just a few black and white shots from the park today. I find black and white photos very calming and serene. Considering the subject matter of these piccies calming and serene is an oxymoron for sure!


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While most of the country is making snow angels we are still making sand angels.

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Have YOU ever eaten Ploppers?

Recently I served Lily a salmon dish with an apricot sauce for dinner and she flicked an apricot with her fork with a look of utter disgust on her face and asked, What are these ploppers? I of course did what I always seem to do and burst out laughing. I then explained what they are and showed them to her but she refused to eat them. She ate everything else but would not go near the ploppers. She eats them uncooked though and loves them. In fact Lily eats nearly everything and eats somethings that I think most 4 yr olds would run a mile from including Gorganzola cheese. Tonight I made the same dish again and decided to include her in the prep in hopes that it would sway her opinion of them........not so!


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I love this one as she was afraid to touch it and she did without realising it.

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Sous Chef

Tonight I had a little helper in the kitchen when it was time to make dinner. She was still into singing and I have no idea where she got the words to "blue suede shoes" from. I swear it is not from either of us so it must be something to do with school cos she started singing it about 3 weeks ago. Don't even ask me about the hair.....it just happens to it! Some strange vortex just sucks it out of whatever doodads you put it in and it can happen in a nano second. I bet my father has a fit every time he looks at this blog!


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Enjoy Your Wait

Lily adds more to our lives than words can ever express. I think it is perfectly obvious what an outstanding match the CCAA did when they paired us and her to form our family. We firmly believe that she was our daughter all along and that we just needed to be united and that is where the CCAA came in to play. Our lives have changed so much, much more than we could ever have imagined and hoped for. For us, it was love at first sight with the little butterball who first made her self known to us on July 3rd 2003. We couldn't sleep that night and we just kept staring at her photos and talking about her, our very own "little schnoog". Before this post turns into a sob fest of epic proportions and you think I am a complete sap I will put back on my good ol' English stiff upper lip ( actually I wear my heart on my sleeve) and get on with it.

I understand, only to well, how incredibley hard the wait can be but I urge you to make the most of it and spend a little quiet time because before you know it this too will be your life! I was in the kitchen making dinner when all of sudden my head exploded and blood threatened to spurt out of my ears, glass was shattering because in another room a rock star had been born. I grabbed the camera and dashed off to discover this. Oh and look she climbs on to her table half way through. Yes, I know it isn't high but that is not the point! Make mine a double anything as long as I can have it with Excedrin!

Yes, she sings just like her Mum, she can't carry a tune in a bucket!


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The Monkey Strikes Again.

For the last few days Lily has been a little off. I am not sure if she is coming down with something or if she is just testing us but she has really been a pill so when I picked her up from school today and her teacher said that there had been an incident in the playground my heart sank. In a flash second I thought maybe she had shoved another kid or hit them or something. She has never done anything like this before but there is always a first time. Her teacher then went on to say that Lily got her leg stuck on some playground equipment, really stuck. The little kiddos were all outside playing when Ms. N realised Lily was crying and was up on this piece of equipment. At this moment all the other kids went running to get her. Lilys leg was STUCK. As much as Lily has tried to free herself she couldn't and then to the teachers dismay as much as she tried to free her she couldn't either. Now I have to tell you as she is telling me this Lily is bouncing around with her friends as happy as a clam so the story made me giggle because I know what a monkey this kid is and she obviously isn't hurt. I think the teacher was relieved that I wasn't upset cos she giggled too. Anyhoo after she tried and tried she finally thought, oh no, I am going to have to call the fire department cos Lily was getting more and more upset and was tensing up making her muscles bigger which wasn't helping at all. On the final try, voila, her leg came free! She has a really nice bruise on both sides of her leg from the vice like grip but I massaged her tonight with some Chinese medicine and thankfully due to the cold weather she is wearing long pants or woolly tights so the bruises remain covered because ever since she learnt to ride her bike her legs look like we beat her with a broom at least twice a day. The poor little thing was so tired this evening and it took me awhile to figure it out. I think she got really frightened by the whole ordeal and it just drained her. Good thing the new Cinderella movie came out today as she was able to watch some of it after her bath. And finally, is it just me wishful thinking here or is there a chance that she will have learnt her lesson about climbing?

When the Superbowl Is In Your Town

So what so you do when the Superbowl comes to town? Run like hell and hide if you have little ones. The amount of people that smushed themselves into Miami for this weekend was basically rather scary so we decided to take cover. The last time the Superbowl was here we were childless and threw ourselves into the thick of things and went to SoBe and partied but not this time. We made plans with some friends to head in the other direction and go to the zoo but as you probably noticed the weather wasn't cooperating so we stayed home and entertained the little ones here which was great fun. The only time I have the foggiest clue about pigskin is if the piggy is still wearing it.

Last night when the game was on we organised all of my tax paperwork for the accountant so we are good to go. I am self employed and have this really awful habit of denying that I have paperwork to do and each year at this time I am heard uttering these words over and over again, NEVER AGAIN, I WILL BE MORE ORGANISED NEXT YEAR. But I'm not. Thankfully hubby isn't very interested in football and he sat on the floor with me and buckled down and went through my mountain of chaos with me. He was the numbers guy. It worked and by the time the game was done so we were we!

Youv'e Gotta Love A Guy Who Is NOT Afraid To Clean The House!

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Playing House

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Refreshments

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Elefun

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Yepper. I'm Drawing on the Windows and Nobody Seems To Mind... It's wild!


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The Most Fun Way To Descend The Stairs....Over and over and over

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Very Private.

Yesterday afternoon when we returned home following a playdate there was a big package on the front steps from England. I wasn't expecting anything at least not yet so we went inside and ripped into it. When I went home at Christmas I had asked Jeanne if she would cross stitch the Red Thread Saying for us and she said she would love too. I said no rush and she said, good! Well, her idea of no rush and my idea of no rush are apparently years apart because yesterday when we opened the package that is was was inside. It is really lovely, thank you Jeanne. I have to have it framed and I will show it again when it has been done.

Also there is a beautiful hand knitted red blanket from Jeannes mum, Nanny Rene, who is a very young 86, and the sweetest little lady you could ever care to meet. She made it for us to take to China and donate to the orphanage but she wants to know if it is ok? OK, yes Nanny Rene it is absolutely beautiful and we love it. She makes them all the time for a charitable organisation in the UK that donates them to hospitals for preemies who are not going to survive so that they can be cuddled in these really soft blankies as opposed to the nasty hospital issued ones. She also believes that this is the furthest that one of the blankets will ever have traveled, and to quote Jeanne, at 86 it is good to have a little one upmanship! I agree. So now Nanny Rene will make us some more but first I hope she will make one for us to keep.

Of course no package from Nanny would be complete without a a package for Lily and this one was very special since it had the words VERY PRIVATE written on the envelope. I read them to Lily and asked her if she knew what it meant. When she explained that she did she asked if it was for me or daddy so I showed it to her and she nearly exploded when she saw her full name on it. She scurried away with her gift and her envelope and just shrieked with delight and came back to show me. All she said was, my nanny loves me very much. It was a hair band and 2 lolipops but she just loves them to bits cos they came from Nanny. It actually bought tears to my eyes.

An Invisible Red Thread

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Lily's Private Surprise And The Beautiful Blankie


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I love this, but not this.

I love February because of Valentines day. I am not a big romantic, far from it, Hubby is agreeing here quite emphatically, but I love all the hearts and the colour red everywhere. Add to this that I love any occasion in which we get to get decorate the house and I am one happy girl. So yesterday when the Schnoog came home from school we made some Valentines decorations for the house. We ended up having a conversation about love it was quite comical and she was deeply involved in her artwork at the time.

Table of Love.

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My Heart

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Feeling The Love

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This is what I don't love: the fact that new blogger will not allow me to comment on any of your blogs! SInce the not so subtle swtcheroo yesterday I have been rendered useless in the comment department. Perhaps this will blow over in a couple of days and I can once again leave my snappy little retorts but until then you will have to fill in the blanks.