It's come down to this.

Hi.
thank you to everyone that has offered support over the past few days. I really really hate that I have had to go undergroud with the blog. 7+ years of writing and it has never been an issue. What country are we living in?

I might have cut a few people out by closing it so soon but the fall out from that post has been absurd and the backlash even to Lily has been ridiculous. All the kids were photographed wearing their medals and posted on the team page, all of them, except her. Pretty petty huh? Since I have access to the page I nearly did it myself but chose to rise above.

Moving forward from this post on.

Lily is in her school play tonight. Due to all her swimming commitments over the past 2 weeks she chose to be the narrator as opposed to having a part with lines. Kind of nutty as she has more lines than anyone. That's Lily logic at it's finest!

RIP Amanda De Lange

Amanda you changed the lives of so many and inspired even more.

chinesestarfish.blogspot.com/

Amanda saved the lives of so many little babies, the sickest of the sick, in her Foster Home in Xi An China. Today she passed away leaving a legacy of love and laughter. For so many she changed the world. It is my hope that her work will be continued. I vow to do what I can to enable the Starfish Home and the Starfish babies to thrive.

Stepping sideways for a minute

I am so lucky in my life to have only lost less than a handful of people that I love. Until today I had only been to 4 funerals. Each one harder than the one before. My mothers should have been the hardest of all but I honestly believe that somehow I was in shock. Her death was very sudden and unexpected.

Each funeral that I have attended the person has been cremated. In the UK we go to the crematorium. It's really ghastly when the coffin slides behind the curtain......it is the final moment. I have seen, many times, on T.V. and in movies graveside services where the coffin is slowly lowered into the ground but have never witnessed it firsthand, until today. It is surreal. The procession of people walking to the grave. The heartbroken family members unaware that their feet are even moving. The noise that the earth makes as the loved ones shovel the dirt onto the coffin, their shovels upside down to show that this is something that they do not want to do. Watching the coffin disappear from sight.

A very dear friend said good bye to her Daddy today and she was amazing. As an only child and caregiver to both her parents for the last couple of years she stood before us and eulogised her own father. How do you do that? Her heart was breaking yet through her tears she painted a picture of a man that truly new the meaning of the word, Daddy.

We, all my friends and I, have reached the point in our lives when we attend more funerals than we do weddings. A milestone we could all do without.

May your pain lessen, sweet friend and the memories help you to soar above the hurting.

I have two children

We spent the afternoon at a party for 2 of the girls friends. This was the first time we had ever met many of these people and they all very nice. Lily and Rosie had a great time, they played in the bounce house for most of the afternoon and then ran about with all the other kidlets.

Once we got home it was bedtime so I bathed the girls and shortly after her bath Lily became very quiet. I asked her if everything was ok and she it was. After a few minutes I asked her again but this time she gave me a different answer. One that stopped me in my tracks and hurt me. It hurt me for her.

She wanted to know why everyone always makes a huge fuss over Rosie. She understands that Rosie is cute but she doesn't understand why people fawn all over her all the time. Today at the party she met a new friend and after about 10 minutes "Annie" spotted Rosie and asked if they were sisters. Lily said they were and Annie dropped Lily like a hot potato and went off to play with Rosie. Annie was Lily's age.

Everywhere we go people comment on how cute Rosie is. Believe me the kid is cute but all little kids are cute. They have to be cute so that we as parents will take care of them cos lets face it some of their needs that we have to meet are anything but cute: for example, bottom wiping. If the kids wasn't cute the chances are you would not want to go there! Grown ups literally fall over themselves when it comes to cute kids.

A couple of weeks ago Lily had a new friend from school over to the house for the first time and the the childs mother was all over Rosie. It actually got to the point that I was fed up with it. I wanted to say, Hello, I have 2 children would you like to acknowledge my other daughter as well please? Rosie was also uncomfortable with all the fuss as the lady kept asking for kisses. I have told my girls that they DO NOT have to kiss and hug people that they don't want to.

Today Lily and I were talking with a lady and she asked Lily a question as Lily was mid-sentence with the answer Rosie appeared and the woman just cut Lily off and fawned over Rose.

It all got to much for Lily tonight and as she cried she kept saying that she felt badly for saying this about her sister. She doesn't want Rosie to look like the bad guy but she gets sick of it. Lily, doesn't get upset and tonight she sobbed, for ages.

I truly understand where she is coming from. I told her that Rosie only has a couple of cute years left and then she will be considered a big girl. I try very hard, when Lily has a friend over, to keep Rosie entertained and out of their business. I also explained that she used to be the one that everyone fawned over but now she is bigger and it doesn't happen anymore.

It hurt to see her so sad. she isn't jealous of Rosie per se more fed up with having her steal the spot light all the time.

If any of you have some advice I am all ears. I'm the baby of the family also so I don't know what this feels like. I asked Lily is she wanted to talk to Crazy Auntie Sally or Uncle Colin as they understand. Not that I was ever as cute as Rose, or Lily. In the meantime we are going to make sure Lily is included in conversations where people just gravitate to Rosie.

Both of my girls are amazing and to see one get forgotten cos people think her sister is cuter is wrong.

Home.

Yesterday started really early for all of us, I was up at 4am, without an alarm clock, that was set for 4.45am and considering I was still awake at 2.30am I think that is amazing/disgusting. At 5am Lily popped out of bed and within 45 minutes we were all downstairs saying our "see you soon's" and loading Auntie Ann's car and heading for Heathrow Airport. Ann took us back to the airport since my Father doesn't know where he is going once he leaves Heathrow and has been known to get lost. (We gave him a GPS system for his birthday perhaps that will help!)

The motorway was free and clear at that time of a day on a Sunday so we were in the check-in line by 7.15. After heading through security we went and had some breakfast at our favourite cafe and and then we shopped for a few things for the girls to do on the plane. We have a tradition at the airport and we always do the same thing in the same order. Soon after that it was time to head to our gate and keep our fingers crossed that we would all be able to get on. Success! Jacob and Lily were listed for First Class and Rosie and I were listed for Coach as Rosie is not old enough to fly in First or Business yet. To Lily's utter dismay there were no eats left in First so they had to sit with us in Cattle Car! The flight was long and pretty bouncy but we didn't mind and the girls were great. Rosie napped immediately we were up in the air and stayed asleep for 2+ hours and then they both slept in the afternoon and Lily was still asleep when we landed.

We arrived home to a stocked fridge, thanks to CF who was house watching for us and after a quick and easy dinner that nobody wanted to eat until it was in front of them, we all started fading fast. The girls were asleep by 815 without a peep and I followed a few minutes later. Of course that meant I was up at 5am today....never mind.

Thank you to Jeanne and Daddy from the bottom of our hearts. We had such a wonderful time and are missing you terribly. Rosie keeps asking where is Grandpa and Lily keeps chanting, I miss Nannie and Grandpa. If the school calender allows we will shoot back over for a long weekend later this year.

Last but by know means least, Happy Birthday, today, to the worlds best brother. Love you lots.

Waitng for a plane.

Ready for Take Off
Seat belt on and ready to go.
We had the best crew this time and had lots of fun.
I have tonnes of videos from the trip that I didn't upload when we were away as I tired one time and a one minute video took 13 minutes to upload so I will do a video post really soon and get them all caught up.

These Girls They Are A Changing

Stop the clocks...PUHLEASE.

It is happening in a blink of an eye. My girls are growing up so fast. Lily is losing teeth on a weekly basis and her face looks so very different now. Her perfect little white baby teeth that were all lined up like tiny soldiers are moving around as her jaw grows and she is getting huge gaps between her teeth and then of course the inevitable happens and one starts to wiggle. The wiggle is aided by an excited little girl and before we know it there is a gap as the tooth falls out. Her smile is funny now as she has lots of gaps and spaces and new little "icecaps" of teeth breaking through her gum line.

She is also getting quite tall and very strong. The other night after her bath she wanted to see if she could pick me up. I stood perfectly still knowing full well that there was no way she would be able to when all of a sudden I was lifted about 6 inches off of the floor. I was in complete shock to think that Lily could pick me up so easily. Admittedly I am not very big nor very heavy but still......the nerve of the child. LOL

She is very into Silly Band*z. This is the first craze she has ever been involved in. (for those of you that don't know what they are they are rubber bands in silly shapes and you wear them as bracelets. They have trading values and all the kids are wearing them)


They are like hotcakes and very hard to find. I have been seeing them in the oddest places and always pick them up when I do and keep them stashed away. A great week at school and she gets a trip to Mummy's prize patrol and always picks Silly Ban*dz. Rosie wears them too because what Lily does, Rosie must do too.

For the first time ever Lily has had a brain challenged in Math. She could not get her head around multiplication tables. I found this very odd as I taught them to her when she was 4 and she had no problem but now she has a mental block and it was making us both crazy. I didn't show her that it was making me crazy and just kept plodding along and trying different techniques. Finally it clicked. Not sure what happened but I was getting ready to take her to Aunt Pammies house for a few hours cos that woman can teach math to a stone!

Both girls are so excited to go to to England for the summer. We have a lot of plans over there this year. A bloggy bash, meeting with my cousins that I haven't seen since I was 10, and of course all the normal friends and family fun. I think we need at least a month. ( now British Airways needs to get it's game face on and quit mucking about)

Rosie is also growing and changing. The growing is not quite as noticeable cos it is after all Rosie that I am speaking of. She now calls herself a big girl because only baby's wear diapers. She is dry all the time but still wears a diaper at night even though she never pee's in it. A couple of days ago she asked to take it off so I did....very happily. I heard her use the toilet and then a few minutes later I heard her again and this pattern continued until she finally came downstairs and announced in a somewhat flabbergasted tone that she needed a diaper as she could not sleep. I have tried to get her to wear pull ups at night but she thinks they are swimming diapers and flatly refuses, stating that she is going to bed not to the pool. If nothing else this kid is a hoot.

She has finished her Alphabet Soup class and is now raring to start school in September. She talks non stop about needing her lunch box and getting new shoes, just like lily.

She no longer calls Lily, "Big Lily". It is a bit sad as I thought it was the sweetest thing. I suppose now that she too is a big girl she doesn't have to.

She still cannot say "almost" she says "oafter" so when we are almost there or she is almost done she is "oafter there or oafter done. Cracks us up. Washcloths escape her too they remain "lofjoffs". Funny little Peanut. Other than that her speech is pretty much sorted.

Her demons have been sleeping lately! Amen to that. Not sure what all the summer plans will do to that but again we will just work through it. I hope everyone understands that when I say NO, it is for a reason.

The biggest change in Rosie is this; orange is no longer her favourite colour. You could have knocked me over with a feather when we were out shopping a couple of weeks ago and she chose yellow over orange. I stood back and let her choose and she made her decision. I thought it was a one off thing but it isn't she is now very into yellow with orange falling into second place. Yellow is a much easier colour to find. Now if she would just stop calling it blue we would be golden! (wait, maybe she is colour blind like me and really thinks it is blue, or maybe it is blue and only I think it is yellow)

Both of the girls are loving the fact that the pool is finally warm enough to swim in so that is where we are heading today. I have 2 little fishies and in this weather I am so thankful for that. Rosie is swimming better and better by the day. I had a very disturbing conversation with a surgeon from childrens hospital the other day regarding the lessons given to children to teach them to roll onto their backs and float when they fall into the water, I'm not talking about swimming lessons but survival lessons. Apparently they don't work when the kids just fall into a body of water and are surprised by it. Many of the kids that drown or nearly drown that arrive at the hospital have had these lessons. Don't let your guard down and think for one minute your child is protected because you have done this for them. The element of surprise takes over and they forget what they are meant to do. ( end of public service announcement. )

So when you see me please don't tell me how big the girls are getting because I am painfully aware of it. I don't need you to remind me. My babies are growing up much to fast and there isn't anything I can do about it. I love the changes and embrace all the new things that they learn, just don't find it necessary to tell me K.
Have a wonderful Sunday.

Making Lemonade.

This morning when I awoke, somewhat early due to the arrival of the tooth fairy last night, I fully anticipated receiving an email from cousin Andie stating that she was winging her way over the Atlantic Ocean on her way to our house. This was not the news I received instead I received the exact opposite, "due to the Britis*h Airway*s strike I am still here. Am trying to get on the flight to Dallas and will then get a connection to Miami. If I get on the flight I will not be able to email again so will ring once I arrive in Dallas." My heart sank a little bit but I knew she would get here just a lot later than expected.

The girlies knew of her impending arrival as this was an impromptu trip and we sort of changed our spring break plans and they heard us chatting with her on the phone and were so excited. They did not, however, know that today was "Andie Day". I made them both little paper chains so that they could tear off a link each day but I made an extra one just in case so they thought she was coming tomorrow.

Lily had a riding lesson again this morning and I was so happy when we left at 9.50 that there was no more news from her as this meant she was on her way. In my head I was calculating riding lesson, lunch, nap, and heading off to the airport all whilst trying to remain calm and not showing any excitement whatsoever. ( I am not known for hiding any emotions well, if at all.) Jacob came with us to riding, which in itself is a treat and Lily and Rosie were both so thrilled to find out that Lily was riding Tacoma, the love of Rosie's life.

Her lesson went well. She is now in the advanced classes ~gulp~ so yet again this horse proved to be a challenge. Lily rides Paso Fino's and Tacoma is not one so her lesson today was completely different to any she has had previously as this horse has a totally different gait. I am not sure what breed Tacoma is but frankly Lily looked to be riding an over sized Labrador with his big lolloping waddle. She also had to use her whip non stop. Tacoma is the friendliest, kindest, most gentle creature off of the field but put a saddle on him and he is one stubborn fellow.

Lily was so relieved to be not be on Red Beauty today that she embraced this challenge and did really well. She was a tad peeved that she was not allowed to gallop today. Galloping is never allowed the first time you ride a horse but Lily usually manages to convince Gema that she can do it for a minute a the end of the lesson. Not today. I don't think she had enough strength to kick him hard enough to make him gallop she was kicking and whipping just for a trot.

If you click on this photo to make it larger you can see Lily's newly acquired gap! I love her smiley happy face.


OK, I am ready to go!










Playing with Daddy's hat.






A tender moment with Daddy.♥


Sitting on Tacoma at the end of the lesson....look at that blissful face.


After the lesson I ran into the house and thought I would find the confirmation email from Auntie Ann but instead there was one titled "bad News" and the sender was Andie. I knew what it was going to say and I didn't read it for a minute or two. I had to think what I was going to tell the girls and how we were going to salvage Spring Break. I was correct. She wasn't able to get on and the flights are all over sold due the BA strike so she cannot even come tomorrow. I am so disappointed, as we all are.

But I am the Mummy and it is my job to "fix it" so I put myself into overdrive and remembered this saying:

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but about learning to dance in the rain.

We needed to dance! Goodness me, my hubby works for the airlines so we can savage Spring Break very easily but I needed to put a smile back on the kiddies faces. When Rosie woke up from her nap we drove to Coc0nut Grove and went to a really wonderful park. They played for awhile and then we drank/ate frozen lemonade before walking down to the bay and all around the park. The girlies were hungry so (gawd help me) I bought them hot dogs from a vendor that they declared to be the "best ever" and then Lily said she didn't want to go home yet. We jumped into the car and headed to Key Bisca*yne. I love driving out there as the views are fabulous and on either side of the road you can pull your car over and literally just paddle in the ocean. I don't like that part of the beach though because quite frankly it is trashy, (call me a snob!) but I knew the girls would love it and they did. They whipped their shoes and socks off and splashed around for ages. I didn't take my camera because when we left I was still feeling fed up so I don't have any photos of the frivolity. By now it was 7.pm and they were still going strong so I told them to get back in the car and tell me where they wanted to stop on the way home. They picked the Gr0ve again. We walked through some shops, people watched and had some more giggles. We ended the evening at an ice cream shop and sat outside where they chatted and giggled and just loved life, me too.

After a quick swill in the tub they hit our bed and were asleep before I left the room.....all snuggled up together.

I am still a tad blue but in the big picture life is good. There is a chance, if BA stops their strike that Andie will still be coming for a few days but we don't know when. Fingers crossed that it happens cos we really want to see her and all that chocolate stashed in her luggage is mine!

A Moment Of Pause.

Recently our lives have been affected by the lives of others and each of these sad moments has forced us to stop what we are doing and thank our lucky stars that it was not us. It has made us STOP and reassess what is truly important to us and make us realise that we are not immortal and that life cannot be taken for granted.

I started blogging in 2006 and have followed the same blogs continuously. I have added a few along the way but the same ones have remained. Some of them are no longer on my blogroll because they are private now but I still read them. Some don't post often and some have gone from the blogging world and have chosen Facebo*k. When I started to follow Joannah she was also waiting to bring home her daughter from China, she was single and her blog was just different. I loved it, it is was classy. One day she reached a fork in her road of life and chose to forfeit her adoption and marry the man of her dreams. I was saddened at first for her daughter that wouldn't be but I followed along on her new life on her new blog and was thrilled to see her so happy. This was 2 short years ago. Her and her hubby struggled with infertility and then last November her husband was diagnosed with cancer. He passed away last Sunday. Joannah, lost her true love. This was a story of love, dreams and commitment. It is heartbreaking, simply heartbreaking. Please, stop by her blog and leave a note for her.

Then there is the story of Layla Grace. I think nearly everyone with a FB account or Twitt*r account has heard of her. Again, a heartbreaking story that brings us to tears. She passed away this morning at age 2. Each night I hug the girls so tight they say ouch.

Much closer to home is a friend of ours who is laying in a hospital bed with multiple skull fractures, a brain bleed , 3 broken ribs, a collapsed lung and on a ventilator because on his way home from work 2 weeks ago he was stopped at a traffic light waiting to make a left turn when a drunk driver hit him from behind. The arsehat that hit him, well he is fine of course but our friend who has a four year old son and a fabulous wife who barely leaves his bedside well they are not doing so well. Bryans prognosis is good but in the meantime every single day is a struggle for his family. Drunk drivers really don't deserve time on this earth.

My own BIL is undergoing chemo but he is doing it with gusto and humour. By brother is there by his side for the most part. LOL. He doesn't make the best nurse, or so I hear.

All of these things gave us a moment to pause. It shouldn't really be necessary for things like this to happen to make us take stock and be thankful for everything we have but they have a way of making you notice. So for now I am trying to not sweat the small stuff and making each moment with my family count. When things aren't going well I try to put them into perspective right then and there and realise in the scheme of things that they probably just don't matter at all.

It.

The last few days have been filled with utter heartache as the dust from the earthquake in Haiti has started to settle and the magnitude of the destruction is rising to the surface. Through the many pictures that I have seen it is the ones of the babies and children who have lost their parents that hurt me the most. It really doesn't matter to them that the rest of the world is sending aid because they have lost the most important part of their lives, their mummy's and daddy's. Everything in Haiti changed in an instant and for those little tiny children the only person that could even start to make it feel just a tiny bit better has vanished, forever.

This morning as I was getting ready for work it was these tiny victims that were weighing heavily on my heart. As I looked at Lily and Rosie all snuggled in bed with their Daddy and watching Curious Ge0rge on television this conversation took place.

Me: Lily how would you feel about a Foster brother or sister?
Lily: Would we have to keep it?
Me: "It"? No, we wouldn't have to keep "it" we would just take care of them until his or her situation got better or until a forever family was found.
Lily: How old would "it" be?
Me: Oh I don't know somewhere from about 10 down to Rosie's age I think.
Lily: Would "it" be a girl or a boy?
Me: I really don't know but I think probably a girl since we have 2 girls and are better suited as a household for girls but I really am not sure.
Lily: Where would "it" sleep?
Me: Since you and Rosie now always sleep together in your room, "it" could have Rosie's room.
Lily: So long as "it" doesn't have to sleep with me that would be fine.
Me: Well actually, "it" would probably be very scared at first and the thought of sleeping alone would be horrid so yes, perhaps "it" should sleep with you.
Lily: Are you crazy? 3 beds in my room, that's way too squishy.
Me: Okay then "it" can have Rosies" room.
Lily: So long as we don't have to keep "it" , "it" can come and stay here.

I'm sure she was being very nice really. LOL
My poor sweet husband who had no idea where this conversation came from was laying in his bed looking somewhat shell shocked at his wife who is apparently about to sign him up for a Foster Child.
I am not about to do this. I would love to but Rosie is not quite ready to get ousted from her position in this family and I cannot mess up the dynamic that has taken so long to get to where it is. However if someone should knock on my door and beg for help..well then I would not be held accountable for my actions.

Your Parents Were Right !

It is always fun until someone gets hurt. Did your parents say that all the time? Mine did and they were right!
Yesterday we went to Attitash and rode the alpine slide. Jacob really wanted to do this with Lily as he had gone there when he was just a tyke and wanted to go back with his kidlets.
Just as we were arriving Rosie fell asleep in the car so I let the others go off without me and once Rosie woke up we joined the fun. By this time Lily and Jacob had gone on the slide 3 times and were quite expert. Lily was a hair to short to have her own toboggan so she had to ride with Jacob and Rosie was allowed to ride with one of us also. You go up the mountain in a ski lift and once at the top you slide down. The ski lift got me a little jiggy. I am an adventure seeker but having 2 little one puts thing into perspective and as I was freaking out and making sure Lily was holding on with both hands her and Jacob were making fun of me!

After we got to the top and got our toboggans we headed down the slide. I went with Rosie, rather slowly, as  these sleds reach speeds of 40 mph. She giggled the whole way down and it was great fun. Jacob and Lily were waiting at the bottom chanting, slow poke!

We went again and this time Lily wanted to take me down. Jacob said to let her drive cos she was very good at it and they told me to not tell her to slow down. (Bad Move) So off we went again.

Before I go any further let me show you some pictures of the fun!

Going up!


The slow pokes


The speed demons


Now as you know Andie is with us and she chose to bow out of the fun and sit in the sun listening to her ip0d instead.
If you are squeamish stop here because I am going into detail and showing some piccies of my trooper.

Lily and I climbed on the toboggan with her in the drivers seat and me in the back. She took off like a bat out of hell and I screamed slow down, she was scaring the pants off of me. We took the first bend way to fast and before I knew it we were heading into the second turn. I was screaming again and she was laughing when suddenly our sled flipped over and we were airborne. We landed hard and she landed on her face, my cheek whacked the fibreglass and I really felt it but i needed to get to Lily. When we flipped were travelling between 30 and 40 mph and now were were sliding on our skin! Lily was face down and I was trying to lift her face up. I couldn't reach her and it was killing me. Somehow we finally stopped and she looked at me and said. "why did you do this to us?" I nearly cried right there and right then. My baby girls face was all bloody and she was screaming. I ripped her off off the slide grabbed the sled out of the way and waited a few seconds for Jacob. His face, now as I look back, was priceless, his baby and wifey wrecked, and he is barrelling towards us with Rosie in his lap. I grabbed Rosie from him, placed Lily in his arms and told him to get her to the medics, FAST. I then put our sled back on the track put Rosie in my lap and we went as fast as I dared to the bottom where Andie stood with her mouth wide open pointing to the first aid area. I ran like hell to get to Lily.

Once in the medic area they started to work on Lily. Everything is superficial her face is wrecked, her elbows and knees have no skin left and somehow she cut open her ear...that part remains the mystery. The chap was very gentle with her but dear lord did it hurt. She was so brave. Her lips were swelling but it appeared her teeth were intact. After an eternity her and I hobbled out of the tent. At one point she looked at me and said, Mummy, you have a big hole in your shirt. It relieved alot of tension and we all cracked up. I don't have any skin on one knee ditto my right elbow. My elbow has 3 burns on it where you can clearly see how I was changing positions to try and get to Lily. My hand got messed up but compared to Lily it is a piece of cake.

Once we were all recovered Jacob decided he needed to get rid of some tension and he wanted one more go, by himself so he took off again and we headed to the car. To make a long story short when he finally arrived back at the car I walked out to meet him and noticed his shirt was ripped, his jeans were filthy and ripped and he was bleeding. EGADS he had wrecked too! Lots of burns but he is fine. We have lots of clothes to throw away now and on the way back home we saw an outlet mall so Jacob took Lily into Gy*mboree to buy her any dress she wanted, to make her feel better. What a guy!

Here she is all battered and bruised. These were taken this morning after her bath. The ones from yesterday are a bit grim for public viewing. I am just glad that I always travel with my trusty Germolene. (My Canadian readers might know what it is, my family does and all my US friends are now addicted to it also. It is an ointment for cuts, burns, bites, etc for the UK and I cannot live without it is a miracle worker.) Andie just bought me 2 tubes with her and laughed that we have used one already this trip with all the calamities so she will post me another.




It really is all fun until someone gets hurt!
I loaded her up with M0trin last night and she was fine. Her bath freaked her out big time but she was OK and she is doing much better now. We leave the North East tomorrow, some might say it is a good thing. We are going to miss the Aunties an awful lot. We will Miss Andie too much, cos for a change she isn't coming home with us. Today we are just staying safe! Well that is the plan, wish us luck.

So Much Happened And Then She Was Gone. :(

It is hard to believe but we have just taken Andie to the airport for her flight back to the UK. I cannot believe that she has gone already. Actually as I type this we are sort of expecting a phone call to say come and get me because her flight was pretty full and we are not 100% sure that she will get on it. (we are very selfishly hoping that she won't!)

It took Rose all of 7 seconds to warm up to Andie, or An-nie as she called her and Lily is so in love with Andie that she was just attached to her the whole time. This had to have been the most boring holiday she has ever had because the week was spent going from one appointment to the next with very little fun thrown in between. We did have some nice plans for this weekend but sadly the weather from hurricane Gustav squashed them.We had a wonderful time with her and are so sorry to see her go.

This was our week in a nutshell:
Following Mondays MCH appointment I had an eye doc appointment on Tuesday and I actually got some very long awaited good news. My eye is 95% healed and the pressure is down! The not so good news is that I now have and will always have, atrophy in my left eye. Both the iris and the pupil are an odd shape and will remain that way but my vision is nearly perfect again so hopefully there will not be any permanent vision loss. We tried to take a close up of my newly shaped eyeball but it didn't come out very well. I sort of have a cats eye now. I think the expression Andie used was. Oh that's gross!

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Wednesday was Rosie's 18 month check up and that went well. Well that is if you don't consider all the screaming! She has finally broken the 20 lb mark( 20.4 to be exact)and is on the weight percentile chart for the first time. She isn't very far on it but who cares we all have to start somewhere. She has also sprouted up another 1 1/2inches. She is right on track developmentally and everything else looks great and we don't have to see her pediatrician again now until she is 2. She had to have 3 shots which she wasn't happy about!


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Wednesday was a pool afternoon which was fun and a much needed break from all the doctors.

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Testing the underwater function on the new camera. Sadly I managed to stick my finger over the lens.

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Thursday Lily got to show off her horse riding skills whilst Andie, Rose and myself baked in the So Fl sun. It was so hot. Lily didn't even seem to enjoy her lesson this week because of the heat.


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We even found a pony that was just the right size for Rosie

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Baking in the sun

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Sweaty Betty

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Sweaty Betty is teething!

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Friday I met with our attorney to start the paperwork for Rosie's readoption. We can get this finalised before her surgery but we asked him to postpone it until after the surgery. Puh-lease: a mother can only take so much stress before her head caves in! I flew home ASAP and we headed our to dinner with Chicken Feet, (yes that is her nickname and yes she knows we call her that, she also calls us that) for an authentic Chinese meal. It was intimidating but Andie loved it...well sort of! After a brief lessons in chopsticks she was a pro or so we thought but it wasn't until we got home that she showed us the indentations in her fingers from where she was holding them way to tight...ha ha ha.

Saturday was a lazy very rainy day and Sunday the plans were to go down to Key Largo and take a dive boat out but the storm stopped that so then we decided to go to the zoo instead cos Andie mentioned that she would love to feed the giraffes but the zoo was also closed. So we wasted a lot of time just being silly! We did make it to the park.


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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Rosie, don't worry, Lily will catch you...bwa ha ha ha ha

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I love this photo of Andie. Most of the photos here are hers cos she just takes amazing photos.

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I do believe that when this video was taken I heard something muttered about how this had better not show up on the blog! Ooops, my bad.

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This is so very sad: they are sitting next to each other talking on Skype! They were comparing camera quality so they sat and chatted to each other. They are mad I tell you, mad.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


We did manage to get to the zoo today and we all fed the giraffes.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Feeding time at the zoo. I crack myself up.

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It was hot...105 degrees hot!

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Me, I went on strike after being in that heat!

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And sadly we ended the day here:
Andie looks happy being able to escape from our home but Lily was so sad.

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Even Rosie was sad to see her An-nie leave.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

The phone hasn't rung so that means Andie is on her way. Jacob just checked the computer and even with the lack of available seats she is sitting in first class....jammy dodger!

Andie, thanks a million for coming. We had a great time. We always do. Everything is twice as funny when you are here. We all miss you already. I hope you get some rest now. Love, all of us

Horrors, this was a very long post. Congratulations, if you made it through you deserve a stiff drink.