My first time swimming

On Sunday our very kind neighbors invited us over for a swim with Elizabeth. This is the first time she had been in a pool. The video shows her first couple of minutes in the pool, but after we stopped filming, one of their kids-Angel, started jumping and splashing into the pool and Elizabeth was VERY excited about this. She would splash the water with her hands, yell and kick her legs like crazy. She did really enjoy her one hour in the pool and we would like to thank our friends for having us over. Enjoy the short clip of her first dip in the pool!

Saturday night/Sunday mornings

I remember a long time ago when Saturday nites meant going out and having a good time, eating drinking and be merry, right? Well now with the newest member of our family Saturday nites are spent having a bath!!!!!

And remember when Sunday mornings used to be for sleeping in, having breakfast and reading the Sunday paper. Well, the reading of the paper still happens around here-just ask Elizabeth!

Grandparents came for a visit

Today was very exciting around here, because Grandmama and Granddaddy Cooper came for a visit!!!!! As soon as the doorbell rang and they walked through the door Elizabeth got very excited doing her arm flapping that she does when she is happy and excited. This is good because most of Friday afternoon and evening she was quite miserable. As her dad put it, she was pissed off at the world. She screamed and cried for most of the afternoon on Friday. Nothing really mad her happy or calmed her down with the exception of a period of about 30 minutes that she was swinging in her swing. She does love that thing, as does her mom and dad!!! We were pretty pooped by the time she went nite nite around 8 pm. Thank goodness a nite of sleep made her a new woman and she was game on for her visitors today.

We have posted a couple of photos of our "movie" star in her sunglasses and just chillin' in her swing and a photo with her granddaddy as well. We sure wish they lived closer than 90 miles away, but it is close enough to come and visit for a few hours or the day. Too bad Aunt Janet couldn't come and then Elizabeth could have played with her digital camera!!!!

Enjoy the photos, Until next time.............................

Just playing

Not too much been going on around here. Just enjoying our days and running errands here and there. My mom has found some consignment shops she really likes for toys, clothes, etc for me. That is good because her and my dad had no clue what I was going to need when I got here. They have been cleaning house this morning and I have been listening to music and playing in the "pit." The pit is a big area with a gate around it in our family room that keeps my toys safe from Grady, my dog. Sometimes I really like the pit and play alot in it, other times I really don't want to be in there at all, but I know my mom and dad have some things to do so it is safe for me to be in there. Still I have to cry to make them realize that I am not too happy to have to be in there. Today it was fun though.

I have a big puppy that I can lay on and my dad is really happy that I show interest in the basketball! Of course, I have books, stacking cups, my Elmo phone-and I LOVE to talk to people on it, a puzzle and blocks. Everyone once in a while I have to stand up and rock out to whatever song is on. I pretty much have the mack daddy play area. Here are some pics of it for you to understand what I am talking about.

Love,

Elizabeth

Feeling better finally

Elizabeth got over her cold very quickly, like in about 36 hours, thank goodness. Unfortunately, her father and I did not fair so well. We have both been terribly congested and hacking up lungs. In fact, I was up from 12 midnite until 2:30 am just coughing last nite. Not so much coughing today but I think I coughed enough last nite for me, Patrick, Elizabeth, and our entire street. Patrick still has a snotty nose, but I can tell is feeling better because he has been out doing yard work this morning and hung Elizabeth's new swing!!!! She got her swing last weekend from her Grandmama and Granddaddy Cooper and we have been trying to figure out the best place to put it. Well it is up and she seemed to like it, although she had just gotten up for a nap when I put her in it the first time she wasn't firing on all cylinders yet. When it starts to cool off this evening we will go back out for round 2! She loves to swing on our big swing-a 2-3 person swing so let's hope she likes her own personal swing too.

Not much else going on-just thought I would post some random photos of our girl. The one where she is looking out her window in her room is too cute. She heard the weedwacker going last nite and started babbling "Dada, Dada, Dada" so I opened the blinds and she looked all over for him and then he appeared in her window and she got soooooooo excited and was waving at him and clapping like crazy. It was cute. She stool there along time watching him and then watched him walk off into another part of the yard. I have also posted another pic of her in her new wagon-compliments of Aunt Janet. She LOVES the wagon, loves to go ride in it and it such a ham while out and about. She waves to people (now I'll tell you a secret sometimes she is waving to no one at all but thinks she is) and babbles like crazy and often times before the end of the ride she is bent over poking her fingers through the holes in the bottom of the wagon. The wagon was intended to ride Elizabeth and our dog, but our dog is kind of hyper and will not sit still to ride. So Elizabeth has the mack daddy wagon, complete with cup holders, all to herself!

Enjoy the show, Until next time......................................

It's Saturday!!!

It has been a nice laid back Saturday at our house. Elizabeth had a visitor today. She got to meet Aya, my work partner, for the first time. Aya has known about Elizabeth for a long time now and it was high time they met each other!!! I wanted to take her by the hospital to meet the ladies there as well but there is just too much funk going on at the 2 local hospitals right now that it didn't seem like a good idea to go visiting there. So Aya came to our house and had lunch with us and visited for a couple of hours. Elizabeth loved her and loved having another "asian" face around. And of course, Aya came bearing gifts so that was a hit too!!!

We will be going to church soon. This will be our second try at a true church service. She has been to one mass and one funeral so far and has done well in both of those. Let's hope we don't break our streak today. We are going to not let her nap before church in hopes that she will konk out in church with the peacefulness and music in the sanctuary. Please pray this happens. =

I have attached a couple of photos-one of her and Aya chasing each other around the box for the play center that Aya gave her, and the second after Aya left Elizabeth stood at our front door peeking out of the sidelight looking for her new friend. Aya you have to come back soon, Elizabeth misses you!!!!!

Until next time.............................

One month ago + 1 day

I am a day late posting here, but did send a one month anniversary hello to our travel mates on our travel website yesterday. I know it is hard to believe but on July 20th, 2009 our lives were forever changed with the arrival of Chen Yu Heng, now known as Elizabeth Grace MacDonald. As I type this I can not believe one month has passed already. In some respects it seems like yesterday and in other respects it seems like a lifetime ago.

I have stated here before that I was strangely calm the morning of "gotcha" day. I think my craziness the week before lead to some down time the morning of July 20th. We were to get our babies at 11 am and due to traffic we were still sitting on the bus at 11 am and is was more like 11:10 or 11:15 when we finally arrived at the civil affairs office. Then there was just one tiny elevator for everyone to ride up and there was no way all of us were fitting in so a few of us had to wait for the 2nd elevator to arrive. At the time, we did not know that our babies were already in the room waiting on us or I would have found the stairs or just scaled the outside of the building! When we finally arrived in the room there was Elizabeth just sitting in a nanny's lap just looking around and taking it all in. I remember thinking to myself 2 things: she is very pale, and her eyes do not look very bright. Then when the nanny stood up and handed her to us then I thought "wow she is tiny" and "holy crap this is what we have been waiting for!" We talked softly to her and just walked slowly around the room. There was alot of commotion with babies being handed off, some that went willingly and others that went not so willingly. And then before you know it (it was really like 20-30 minutes later) our guide, XiXi, is saying ok guys it is time to get back on the bus.

We rode the 30 minutes back to the hotel and Elizabeth checked out the curtains, seat covers and everything else in our vicinity. Now to be honest, I can't remember if she fell asleep on me during the bus ride or not. I know I posted about it on "gotcha" day but now I have to go back and read the post to jog my memory. I do know she was asleep some in the hotel room but I just can't remember if when we walked in the room she was asleep or not. Isn't that funny that from just one month ago I can't remember that detail????

Well fast forward one month + 1 day and we have a precious little angel that just makes me smile everytime I look at her. She is a total people person, very outgoing, very inquisitive, pays attention to everything, is a number one imitator of anything, loves music, now loves to eat and has even started sleeping alot better! She has been sleeping from 8-10 hours each nite with only a slight whimper somewhere in the very early morning and then right back to sleep, takes a definite afternoon nap from 1-2 hours and sometimes a morning nap too. She would have a morning nap more but we seem to do errands at this time more so than in the afternoon. Since we live in Florida I try to plan activities around the afternoon thunderstorms. I have been caught a couple of times since being home with her when the rain started, and believe me, it is not fun trying to get us out of a store, wrangle an umbrella, get her in the car, then buckled in her carseat and then me in as well. Very quickly I learned you just go out in the morning so you don't have to go out in the afternoon!!!

Patrick and I have said frequently over the last few weeks that this little girl is not the same one they handed us in that small hot room on July 20th. She has really come out of her shell. We really can not remember what life was like before we hard her. Somehow the days were always filled with activities and things to do, but I never had the sense of accomplishment that I have now at the end of the day. Our girl is crawling and walking around on furniture and our hands, but has not taken that brave first step just yet. In some ways I am dreading her walking. To me it seems like she is no longer a baby once she starts to walk. I also know that we had better get to the babyproofing as well, because as stated many times before she is VERY inquisitive and will stop at nothing to investigate what ever it is she is after. She does respond to no, but does not remember from day to day what things she is to stay away from!

Our dog has adjusted well, and thank goodness, Elizabeth loves him and loves to look at him and try to pet him. Often times I look over at her and she is waving at him. One morning last week he was panting and she was trying to pull his tongue. He didn't seem to mind, but she never was able to get his tongue either!!! We keep her away from him while he is eating and playing with one of the "serious" toys. He definitely does not like it when she cries (and I mean really cry not just whimpering and fussing that babies do) and will go back to his doggie bed in our bedroom when she is really cranked up. Other than that, they seem to have come to an understanding that they both live her now and this is just going to have to work. We are grateful for that because Grady was #1 around here for a long time and was already rescued by us. I think he might have had alot of turmoil in his life before we got him and then once we had him our very first vet appointment revealed he had heart worms. He had been through alot by the time he settled in with us and we really did not want him to have to start fresh some place else because of issues with Elizabeth.

Our journey to Elizabeth was long and hard and as Patrick says "the end justifies the means." We both said all along that God had a plan for us and when he said it was time it would be time and the most perfect child of all would be placed in our family. You know what-it is true. She is the most perfect child for our family and we could not have asked for a better gift. She is a miracle in more ways than one. There were many dark days and nites that we never thought we would be able to live our dream of having a family the one day in May, 2009 that phone call came that has changed our lives forever. But the real miracle was July 20th, 2009 when she was placed in our arms and is now home, forever!

Just take a look at this adorable angel-how could you not love that!! Until next time...............

Our first cold

Well it is official, Elizabeth has her first tried and true cold. I should have been on to the fact that something was up as she was just not herself yesterday. She was extremely fussy, crying non stop for most of the afternoon and the only time she stopped was with extreme distraction from either Patrick or myself. She didn't nap well yesterday, only 30 minutes in the morning and again 30 minutes in the afternoon. Around 4 pm I had enough of the screaming and crying and honestly, pure misery at that point and told Patrick she was all his for an hour or two. Well, I think they walked around the back yard like 500 times and then sat in our big swing and checked out the trees, birds, squirrels, our dog, etc. This kept her happy until she came inside and meltdown started all over. She did go to bed fairly easy but was restless, tossing and turning, that we could hear through the baby monitor. Well, this morning the answer was apparent what her problem was yesterday. She was getting sick. She had watery eyes, was sneezing like crazy, runny nose and was poking fingers in her ears. Poor baby, has a cold. I now feel guilty for losing my patience yesterday but after 4 staight hours of screaming, not crying, I mean screaming, I was over the limit.

Then to top that off we had to go to the lab today for our infamous "international adoption" blood work (remember we tried to go on Monday but there was a 2 hour wait!) and the receptionist ask me right away "how much does she weigh?" I answered honestly and said 13.5 to 14 lbs. Then she says "well, we can not do all of this bloodwork today because we are only able to draw 5 ml per stick based on her weight and to do all of these labs it will take at least 4, maybe 5 different visits to get them all in." I swear to God I almost decked that woman. I can not friggin believe I have to take my baby daughter back to the lab for 4 to 5 DIFFERENT sticks and blood draws. This is insane. First all the nonsense with her immunizations in China and then again having to start all over here. Now this crap!!!! This child is going to have a fear of all medical personnel and I mean soon. This does not bode well for me particularly because I frequently wear scrubs to work (and she will see me in them before I leave) and I also wear a lab coat everyday(which all of the "mean" people have been wearing). How much can this child go through? So now we have booked 4 different appointments with the lab to have these bloody tests done and I am not happy about it one bit. However, I do want to know that she is healthy and that she has no infectious diseases so there is no way around this one.

Let's hope our ladybug is feeling better tomorrow and the next few days afterwards. Her nose is like a faucet but she does not seem to have fever, and her appetite is definitely not affected. That girl can eat, I swear it you were to feed her what I had on my plate at each meal I do think she could eat all of it. On that note, I did try her on stage 3 baby food today to get her used to increasing food textures and she gagged with the first few bites but was then eating like a champ. She did have a bit of a small problem drinking her milk due to her nasal congestion but she did manage to get every last drop out of it.

Until next time..............................................

Grandparents weekend

Elizabeth and I took off on Saturday morning and went to see my parents for a 24 hour visit. I am not the person to stay at home alot so I was getting a little stir crazy around the house. My dad had been out of town all week so I knew he would be too tired to head our way, so Elizabeth and I packed up the van and headed west. Of course, you know Elizabeth had a grand time. Grandparents and Aunt Janet to entertain her 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. She did not cry all weekend because she was kept entertained during our visit. My parents loved showing her off to the neighbors and she loved being the center of attention. I know Patrick missed her immensely but it gave him the opportunity to do some chores around the house without us there to interupt.

We attempted to go and have E's bloodwork drawn today but when I walked in the waiting room was full and the receptionist said it was about a 2 hour wait. With a one year old-you must be crazy!!!!! So we are now scheduled to have labs tomorrow at 2:30 pm. Let's hope we get a poopy diaper between now and then to also have for our giardia testing.

I have posted a couple of pics today. One is from our last nite in China when we stayed at the Marriott Hotel in Hong Kong. Elizabeth had just ridden 3 hours in a van from Guangzhou and we were all exhausted and hungry. She explored every inch of that hotel room and I had a slight panic when we walked in and discovered there was no bathtub. Well you can tell from the pic that it didn't matter. The vessel sink was more than adequate to accomodate our peanut and she was having the time of her life in that "tub." She is waving at her daddy in the pic!! Isn't it cute!!

The other pic is her "lounging" on her new "puppy" she got as a gift this weekend from my parents neighbors. It is huge and she just loves laying back on it and relaxing and watching the Backyardigans on DVD.

I can not believe we have been home for 2 weeks and that we have had Elizabeth for 4 weeks. I seriously can not remember what life was like just 4 weeks ago. I remember I was eerily calm the morning we went to get her, but was a raving lunatic the one week prior to getting her. She really is not the same child we picked up just 4 weeks ago. The color in her eyes is so bright, I think her hair has grown, she eats as much as me, and she is testing the waters to see what she gets away with. The day we picked her up she just sat in the nanny's arms and really didn't look like she cared what was going on. I remember thinking how pale she looked and her eyes were very flat and showed no emotion. That has all changed. She loves her dad and her mom and loves to show her personality now. She is fiercely independent (Patrick says just like her mom), she has cut 2 more teeth since we got her, she LOVES music and LOVES to dance, she catches on to things QUICK. My mom taught her to do high five and to rock back and forth and do "tick tock" to the rhythm of the clock. She is just so precious. That is not to say she doesn't have her moments, but we love her and are just marveled at how much she has changed and how much we have changed too.

Until next time.....................

Thursday, August 13, 2009

We feel like we are in China!!! Our a/c is broken in our house and it is hot and feeling like China. Which is kind of funny because I was feeling a little sad this am missing our traveling group and seeing all the girls!

Remember how I said in one of the previous blog post that things in China are merely suggestions like traffic lights, not smoking on planes, etc. Well usually in highchairs there is a divider for one leg to go one way, and the other leg to go the other way. As you can see from the photo our daughter thinks this divider is just a resting post for her legs. She is Chinese therefore the divider is just a suggestion, right?!?!?!?

Not much else going on. Unfortunately, word in trickling out that several girls in our adoption group have now tested positive for Giardia. I have been putting off doing Elizabeth's stool sample because she also has to have quite the battery of labs drawn at the same time. After our big immunization visit last week, I thought she needed a break. But, I guess first thing Monday we are headed off for lab work and turn in our stool samples. If she does test (+) for this (it is a parasitic infection in the GI tract) then she takes meds for one week and then gets a recheck on her stool. Hopefully hers will be negative because if it isn't then Mom also has to be tested since I have been bathing in the same water as she has been. NICE!!!! Maybe Daddy will escape this one, but I can't be sure.

The a/c man just left and we have to replace a part that was just replaced one year ago. That doesn't make me happy but thank goodness it was under warranty. The whole system is less than 2 years old so replacing the same part twice in a new system is giving me concerns over the repairs for the future. We'll just have to see what happens!!

Until next time.....................................

This is what I do in the afternoon

This is just a glimpse into what Elizabeth does with her afternoon while mom is on the computer. Last time I checked she was trying to get a piece of dried gum off the bottom of the trash can-nice huh?!?!?!?!?

My first birthday photos

This morning at 9 am sharp we ventured down to the photography studio on Sanford and had Elizabeth's one year photos taken. She had a terrible nite, was fussing and whimpering most of the nite and I really don't think ever got into a deep sleep. Patrick did get up with her at 4:30 am and was up with her until 6 am, when I got up. He had just finished giving her a bottle and I took her and sat in the recliner and rocked her and she went back to sleep for about one hour. We actually had to wake her up so she could eat and get dressed to leave the house around 8:30 am. Thank goodness we had that one hour nap because she was "game on" for her pictures.

We did a couple of outfit changes and did hairbows, no hairbows, pink shoes, white shoes, the whole nine yards and she held up very well. I will post a few of the pics at the bottom. I think they turned out great but I am not prejudiced at all, right???

I forgot to mention the other day in the weekend update post that we took Elizabeth outside to "try" grass for the first time on Sunday. She did not like it at all. When Patrick tried to sit her down she drew her legs up real tight to her body and then we he did finally get her to sit she would lean over on one leg and hold the other leg straight up in the air. Finally she did start to relax and eventually put both legs down and then picked at the blades of grass until she got one she could put in her mouth. However, I repositioned and she thought I was getting up so that was the end of the grass trial. We haven't tried it again since, but probably need to so that she learns it is normal and a big part of life in Florida. I think it just proves that she had very little time outdoors when she lived in the orphanage.

I told you yesterday we had bought a walker for her to try and she has now figured out how to make it go and she seems to be really enjoying it. She really had a great time chasing her dad last nite around our kitchen, foyer and living room area. She also discovered how to make the "hunny" jar on the tray play music and when she hits it and the music starts to play she is bouncing up and down like a crazy woman. Let's hope it keeps her happy for some time.

After photos today, we went over to Jo-Ann's and took her outfit the orphanage gave us (this is the original outfit she was found in when she was brought into the orphanage) and had it framed in a shadow box. The framer looked so excited to be able to do this project and really wanted to do something special with the clothes as this is all our baby girl had to her name other than her bottle and the outfit she was wearing the day we got her. I really don't like to talk about it because I get teary eyed just thinking about it, but we needed to do this for her so that she has peace one day that someone did care for her and love her enough to bundle her up and leave her in an area where she was sure to be found and taken to the orphanage. I can't wait to see it when it is done-they said probably less than 2 weeks to finish it.

Unfortunately, since we have been home today Elizabeth has been a pill. I am quite sure this is a byproduct of not sleeping last nite. She is currently down for a nap and I pray wakes up in a better mood. At least she held it together for pictures today!

Well here are some photos, please enjoy-we sure did

Until next time.................................

Quick sorry to everyone

Just wanted to say sorry to everyone reading the blog-I can not for the life of me figure out how to put photos on the blog and get the correct caption under the right picture. I will continue to work on it, just be patient!!!!

Monday, Monday

"Helping" my mom with the dishwasher

Playing with my cousin Murphie-I loved her!

l

"Hey when did that Chinese girl get here?"

Hello to all, hope your weekend was great. Ours was even though we did not have much planned but still had ALOT of fun anyway! On Saturday we kind of chilled out around the house, but did make it to 4 o'clock mass. This was the first time for Elizabeth to attend a church service and we were prepared for the worst, but she was amazing. She loves music so with the piano playing and the priest talking she was pretty mesmerized. Then they rang the bells to signal the start of communion and that occupied about 5-10 minutes of her time looking for where the bells came from. Then we also were turned backwards looking to the back of the church and waving at everyone in the pews behind us!!!! But the biggest thing was she was quiet. No screaming, no crying ,no yelling or clapping her hands, just quiet. I am sure it will never happen again and Patrick will be back going to church by himself, but at least the first visit was good.

Then on Sunday, our niece Murphie and her mom and dad (Patrick's youngest brother and his wife) came over for a play date and lunch. Murphie has been so excited about "ladybug" since she was old enough to understand that a new baby was coming home. She has been anxious awaiting the arrival of Elizabeth and finally on Sunday they had their first official play date. They were so cute together and totally occupied each other's time. Murphie kept Elizabeth entertained and Elizabeth kept Murphie on her toes finding new things to do and keep her happy. The size difference is also hilarious. Murphie is 4 1/2 and Elizabeth is now 1, but the size difference is too funny. You can't appreciate it in the pics, you have to see it in person. It was such a nice afternoon. After they left Elizabeth took a 1.5 hour nap, which is great for her. Murphie you can come over anytime!!!!!

Now today is Monday and we had visitors this morning as well. Patrick's uncle and his wife came over from Altoona to meet Elizabeth and she really turned on the charm for them. Smiling, clapping, dancing.. you know the whole show she has going on. It was great to see them. We then had some house chores to do and little miss thing decided to "help" empty the dishwasher. She was pulling the rack in and out and hitting all the dishes, and then once that got too boring we just leaned down and chewed on the rack itself, you know it feels great on those gums when you are teething! I then took her into our bathroom to wash her face and put some cream on the skin underneath her nose because it is so raw and dry and she saw "that baby"(really just herself but she didn't know that) in the mirror and was waving and clapping at her. I took a pic and will post it here for you to enjoy!!!

After our house chores the "girls" went shopping. Our first stop was the baby consignment store where we purchased a walker for our girl. She is pulling up and cruising on everything but can not walked unassisted. She gets upset if we leave her in the playyard too long so we thought we would give her the option to follow us around in the house. Then we went to Walmart where she was the Walmart greeter, waving at everyone and pointing her finger at them. It was truly cute and fun too. Our girl loves to get out and about and go shopping-YEAH!!!!!

Now we are just "chillin." Nothing special planned for the evening but tomorrow we are having our one year old photos made!!! I am excited about that and hope to God she sheeps well tonite and is in the mood to have pics made.

Well enjoy the photos-

Until next time..................................

Had our checkup today

Today was our first pediatrician visit here in Florida. We saw Dr. Chong at 2:30 today but actually it was a little later because Patrick had to go home and get the documents that proved we were her adoptive parents. Deep down I understand everyone has to CYA but not many people are going to "steal" an asian child, pass it off as their own and also take time to take them to a medical checkup. The first photo above is Elizabeth all dressed up for her first doctor's visit. It is also the first time she wore shoes. She loved playing with the flowers on the shoes and at various times in the afternoon one or both of the shoes was hanging off her toes. She LOVED the doctors office because all the girls were talking to her and paying her so much attention. But, then the needle lady had to show up and it was all over. Unfortunately, because she was immunized in China there is some concern amongst pediatricians here in the US that the shots are not stored properly, handled properly, given at the right time, etc that most adopted kids end up getting a whole new round of shots when they come home. So that's right, Elizabeth had 5 shots before we left China last week, and now today she had 3 shots and a TB test placed as well. Poor baby, it just breaks my heart, but there is literally no way to get around this. I want her protected against disease, but there should be some give and take. She also still weighs right at 13.5 lbs and is about 27 inches long. The way she has eaten the last 2 days, when we go back for followup in 6 weeks I think she may weigh 2o lbs. All kidding aside, I liked the fact our pediatrician did not make a big deal out of her weight. Asian people are naturally smaller than Americans and she is very likely going to be small. I have just not been concerned about it at all, particularly watching the way she has shoveled food in the last few days. In fact, we had to cut her off a couple of times because she was eating so much she would vomit at the end of the meal.

Backing up a little bit, she did sleep for 10 hours last nite and was so rested and good this morning. Unfortunately, between the doctor's visit and other things going on she only had a total of a one hour nap and we paid the price from 5 to 6 pm. Constant screaming and crying and if I moved at all it started all over again. Over the last couple of days she has become extremely clingly with me, more so than ever. I can put her down and literally walk just 2 feet to turn on a light or walk into the kitchen where she can still see and hear me, and the screaming and crying starts. According to some of the other moms in our travel group, they are seeing the same thing. Also, some of the babies have regressed some since coming home-like not holding their bottle or cup any longer, not able to play by themselves at all, etc. I am sure alot of the behaviour we see with Elizabeth has alot to do with coming to the USA, being away from familiar voices, familiar language, familiar looking people, etc. The pediatrician really didn't have any words of advise other than just keep making her feel secure. He basically said "I can tell you what to do medically, but parenting styles differ as much as styles of physicians." Being in healthcare I can appreciate that statement.

After the meltdown between 5 and 6 she had some dinner and then a bath. She really enjoys getting in the bathtub. The other pic at the top is her in her little bathtub that sits inside our big tub. If you squeeze the duck's nose it quacks and she starts bouncing up and down. She then reached around behind her to the edge of the tub and found the Cool Whip bowl that I use to rinse her hair, and she promptly put it on her head and left it there. It was too cute to not photograph! In fact, when I took the bowl off her head she kind of fussed a little bit like to say "hey, that is my hat leave it alone."

I didn't post yesterday, but mostly it was a down day. Patrick went to work/Ormond for a few hours so just me and Miss Priss hung out. We went outside and sat in our swing and had a nice relaxing swing until the 2 kids down the street started having knock down, drag out and getting spankings and told to go inside. Elizabeth became completely distracted and it was time to go inside. So we went in and I decided to do nail care for her big doctor's visit today and guess what??????? I nicked her thumb again cutting her nails. Good Lord I am a nurse for christs sake, why for the life of me can I not cut my daughter's fingernail. I swear she only whimpered for like 2 seconds and she was over it, but it continued to bleed for like 30 minutes. Good thing we were not in China, because after that incident I am quite sure they would not have let us leave the country. I am telling you this is payback for all the times I heard something a parent had done and thought to myself "what a dumbass." I am surely paying the price for those thoughts now!!!!!! Good thing her memory is short and she forgave me in like 1o seconds and was hugging my neck and ready to be loved on. I just felt terrible and kept praying Patrick did not come home while I had the kleenex and pressure on the thumb and have to explain to him that I cut her finger AGAIN. I did eventually tell him later in the day but it sure was nice to not have to do it the minute he walked in the door.

We are slowly adjusting to life in the USA. Some days are good, some nites are good, some days are mediocare and some nites are bad. Nobody is perfect that is for sure. We are still learning about her each and every day and all I can say is thank the Lord I took 8 weeks off to be with her. It is going to take me at least that long to just get the night time routine down. It is just amazing how much our little girl has changed over the last 3 weeks. I can not remember what life was like before her and am not quite sure how I managed to fill my days. She takes up all of our time, but what else did we used to do? We have had alot of visitors as this little girl has been talked about for 4 years now and people want to see her. She loved her grandparents coming up on Monday, her aunt came on Tuesday and saw the not so pretty 5 pm side of her, and then her uncle came yesterday. The neighbors have all been over and the phone calls have been constant. We don't care-it is so nice to know so many people have been involved in this process and are genuinely happy for us.

Well, stay tuned I am trying my best to post a couple of times per week.

Until next time.................................................

WE ARE HOME IN FLORIDA!!!!!!

Thank the Good Lord, we arrived home in Florida on Sunday evening around 8:30 pm!!!! We were gone a total of 18 days, but felt like 18 years. We really enjoyed our time in China but it is always good to come home. As you can see from the previous post we spent a day and a half at Patrick's brother's house just outside of Newark and we terrorized his house and family during that time. They were all so good with Elizabeth and she had the time of her life while we were there. Undivided attention from about 6 family members can do that to a little girl!

Typical of vacations and trips away from home however for Patrick and myself, we left for the airport on Sunday morning and it was raining and fairly nasty in Newark. I had been worrying that we would have delays with weather since we were flying mid day and during the summer time we all know storms are common. Sure enough, just as the plane was backing away from the gate they closed all departures in Newark. Long story short-we ended up sitting on the plane for 2 hours in Newark just pushed back about 500 feet from the gate so there was no way we were getting off. When the first hour passed it became pretty clear we were going to miss our connection in Atlanta. We had even booked a longer layover than usual just to account for possible weather delays and since we were now traveling with an infant, we figured we needed the extra time. Thank goodness we were in first class so at least we got some special attention and a nice meal, even though we were not airborne. Once it was clear we were going to miss our plane into Orlando, I got on the phone with Delta reservations and got the nicest agent on the line who helped us secure a different way home. Unfortunately, we were not able to get into Orlando like we had planned and my parents and sister were very disappointed. We only had one option and that was to go to Daytona Beach. So that is what we did. Our neighbors were so kind to come and get us and we finally arrived in Daytona about 4 hours after our original schedule to come home. It was just a nasty day overall and Atlanta airport was a mess with people trying to get rebooked on flights, delays, missed connections etc. Our only snafu once we got to Daytona Beach we realized our luggage went to Orlando. So after traveling all day, going to a different airport, getting home at 9:30 pm and finally going to bed around 11:15 pm. the phone rings at midnite. It is Delta baggage wanting directions to our house to deliver our suitcases! We had just fallen asleep!!! Then at 5:15 am the phone rings again and it is the luggage delivery guy saying he missed a turn and needs new directions to our house. Now Elizabeth had just been up from 2:30 to 4:30 and I had just gone to bed and literally just fallen asleep when the phone rang at 5:15, I was a little perturbed at that point. But, none the less our luggage was here when I finally got up at 7:30 am.

Elizabeth met her maternal grandparents yesterday and she loved them and they loved her. She was quite fussy and didn't want to nap before they arrived so I was a little concerned over how she would be. But they walk in and dote attention on her and she just comes to life, despite only a 20 minute nap. She pulled out all of her tricks for them-clapping her hands, pointing her fingers, doing how how on her lips, grinning, babbling and just doing the things Elizabeth does. Also all of a sudden her appetite took off yesterday. She ate just as much as Patrick and I did. She really didn't show much interest in food unless she was starving and crying, but yesterday she made up for that. Whatever we put in front of her she ate, and when I thought she was full up to the top, she would eat some more. After her big day yesterday she was pooped out at 7:30 pm but I kept her up until 8:30 pm for a bath and bottle before bed. She did not finish the bottle as she was sound asleep by the time she took 2 ounces. So off to bed she went and slept until 3:30 am. She was crying so I went and got her and Patrick made her a bottle. She drank the bottle and went right back to sleep until 7:10 am!! HALLELUJAH!!!! The longest nite yet!!!

We have plans to call the local pediatrician today and get her an appointment this week. Her Aunt Janet is coming to see her later today as well. Janet was supposed to meet us at the airport on Sunday but when we were diverted to Daytona Beach she was not able to get over there, so she is very excited to see her niece for the first time and we are excited for them to meet as well.

Not much else going on now except getting Elizabeth on a schedule and keeping her on a schedule. I am off work until the end of September and plan to soak up every minute with our girl. She is quite special, but we are not jaded at all, right????? She loves her mom and dad and is very interested in getting to know our dog, Grady quite well. She wants to crawl after him and we have been careful to let them have limited interaction but no full blown one on one just yet. He was number one child around here for a long time and is feeling a little neglected so we don't want to traumatize him too much. Not to mention, Elizabeth thinks his toys look like fun so we have to keep her away from them as well.

We'll post some photos later of our girl

Until next time...............................