Friday September 21 - Thursday September 27th

Well, what do you know - I am behind again. On Friday the 21st, Elizabeth was here for the day and I worked. That evening we went to family services for Kol Nidre - the start of Yom Kippur. This is the holiday where we fast and is the Day of Atonement. The family service was very nice and very kid friendly. We were happy to see our friends Miriam and Jason there with their two boys. Indigo behaved very nicely although she did have David and I passing her back and forward between us a lot. We had not had a chance to have finish work and have supper before the service so we went to Thai food afterwards for our last meal - I maintain that the sun had not yet set. On Saturday we went in the late afternoon to break the fast at Lenny & Mark's house. Since Indigo had just been there for Rosh Hashanah she was very quickly comfortable at Aunt Lenny's house and was running about. She really enjoyed herself and we had a wonderful time. She just loved playing with Aunt Lenny's Matryoshka dolls. The pretty dress she has on is from my cousin David and his wife Brandi.

On Sunday morning we went to our favorite local diner for breakfast where the lady always fawns over Indigo. Later that afternoon, our friends, the Tills came over and we were able to enjoy the lake again. It might be the last time we are in the lake for the season but we had the most marvelous time and swam for ages. Terry and I actually swam from one beach across the lake to the other beach and back again and then Mary wanted to swim out too so I swam about 1/2 way over with her and then back again. The kids played in the sand, swam and enjoyed the swings. I think it was hard for us all to drag ourselves away. We came back to the house and had a great dinner of salad and grilled burgers.

On Monday and Tuesday Elizabeth was here while I worked. Indigo seems to be doing very well with Elizabeth and loves that Elizabeth takes her to play on the beach all the time.

On Wednesday I worked at home in the morning and then went into the office from noon to six p.m. After work I went up to the zoo to meet the cheetah folks and zoo bar for a drink and then over to the zoo for our monthly cheetah meeting. It was a cool meeting because Craig, the head cheetah keeper, had just returned from being at Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia and he had awesome slides and tales to tell us - perhaps one day you would like to hear about electro-ejaculation of male cheetahs. Anyway, for me, it was way cool. Also, while Craig was in Namibia, the science team that was there, doing all the repro science was actually able to create cheetahs through in vitro fertilization. It's the first time this has ever been done so now there are some frozen cheetah embryos in existence! Some of us little cheetah groupies stayed behind after the meeting and talked poor Craig's ear off. David had a great evening with Indigo and she was asleep when I got home. She woke up crying at about 12:30 a.m. but then was okay the rest of the night.

Yeah - on Thursday, for the first time that week, I was not working.

I spent the day with Indigo and we went to the garden. Since I had been so abysmal in photographing her, I took a bunch of photos. In the photo on the bench she is holding a sandwich in her hand and the foil wrapper in the other - in case anyone was wondering. I say that because David had thought it looked like something more suspect. She was very excited about the geese which came up very close to us. We had a lovely time although it was very hot. We just hung out the rest of the day and then that evening I went to knitting while David cared for her.

Friday September 14 - Thursday September 20

Wow, I keep getting so behind. Luckily for everyone the reading will be getting lighter because I have returned to work and we're not doing nearly as much and I think two whole days have gone by without any photos of her being taken. So we left off with finishing Rosh Hashanah. On Friday September 14th my friend Tricie came over with her girls in the afternoon. The weather was a bit gray and sketchy but we went down to the lake and did go in and splash about. The girls also played in the sand. I think it around 6ish and the rain started coming down much more seriously so we packed up to walk back to the house. Right then David showed up - he had come home from work and come down to find us so he gave Anna Kate a ride back in the car and Tricie and practically ran back to the house with the little ones in the stroller. They stayed for dinner and we all had a wonderful time together.

On Saturday morning we had really high winds and our power went out. Fortunately after David had made us yummy waffles. We went out with Indigo and the dogs and had a wonderful exerting family walk together. It was so nice with the wind but it got pretty sunny towards the end. We stopped at the little garden by the end of the lake and saw a boy fishing with his dad - he caught his 41st and 42nd fish of the day while we were watching! In the morning we had made a plan to meet Rick, Ellen and Sarah for lunch at our Canton restaurant and we all had a nice lunch there together. The weather was so beautiful that afterwards we decided to go to Lake Accotink. Indigo was asleep by the time we got there and slept through all the fun on the carousel which Sarah just loved! Sarah was really upset that she could not ride again but it only goes every 1/2 hour. Indigo woke up in time to go on her beloved swing, Sarah just does not understand the allure of the swing but she did give it a go before declining. We parted ways and went home for a brief rest. In the early evening we went over to our friends, Steve & Gabi to have dinner with them and their girls, Chloe and Isa. The girls were wonderful playing with Indigo and Indigo took a bath with Chloe before we left to come home. It was a very lovely evening - we are so glad that have moved back to the area! Other news of Saturday is that my little sister Clare turned the big 30 and Indigo turned a whopping 16 months!
On Sunday we ran an errand out to a mall and Indigo got to play in the playground in the mall for a while. David went to work for the afternoon and while Indigo napped I baked a cake (note, I am not a baker). We went over to our friend Tricie and Jon's for the evening and had a super dinner and fun with the children all playing,not to mention that Indigo really approved of my cake. Tricie showed off how athletic she still is with antics of legs held high in the air (Tricie's sister Margaret (Gator) is the other athletic person) and Anna Kate and her cousin Elena played at Harry Potter. However, on Sunday night we had a really rough night with the girl and were up with her for about 6 hours during the night - perhaps she sensed my anticipation about work.

On Monday, the dreaded day arrived - I had to return to work. Our nanny Elizabeth started on Monday. We are very grateful to our friend Robyne who found the nanny. Elizabeth watches Robyne's twins twice a week and will be here at our house with Indigo the other three days. She is really lovely and Indigo has taken to her very quickly. It makes me sad though. Apart from David and I, Elizabeth is the first person to change Indigo's diaper, feed her and take her out of the crib from her nap (I am still putting her down for the naps) so it's really a big deal for me. So the first Monday David came home late morning so that I could go into the office for 3 1/2 hours and attend a seminar. Indigo would not nap that afternoon until I got home. Later that evening I went to dish dinners at Let's Dish so that we can dinners ready at home.

On Tuesday, I worked from the house all day and Elizabeth came to care for Indigo. I took care of putting her down for her nap and had a break for lunch but apart from that Elizabeth cared for her completely. Indigo loves to go outside and loved that Elizabeth would take her out back and out to the garden at the end of the lake. Indigo naps again after Elizabeth leaves so I am able to continue working until about 4:30 - 5ish. I have loads of work to catch up with and our whole team at work is absolutely inundated with deadlines and projects so I have completely jumped back into the fire. That's about all I want to say about work - people I work with read this so got to be careful :-) On Wednesday David was sick with a bad cold and he stayed home. He had been going to come home at lunch time so I could go into the office but he was in bad shape so he stayed home for the day. I went to work from noon to 6:30 p.m. so by the time I got home it was the longest I had ever been away from her. David had done very well though. On Thursday I worked in the morning but I had already way exceeded my 60% for the week so we went to Ellen & Sarah's to have lunch together and for the girls to play back at the house in the afternoon. This turned into the evening and we only left after supper and a bath. We had a lot of fun. I had more work projects I wanted to finish that day so I stayed up working from about 8:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. Oh, it's back to the days of wishing for the weekend. Gosh, just realized how few photos there are of Indigo in this post. Must do better.

Tuesday September 4- Thursday September 13th

Apologies for the delay in posting - just not enough time. The Tuesday after Labor Day, Indigo and I took a drive out far into Maryland to go to my friend Tricie's barn - to see her lesson on her horse Stormy. Indigo loved being out there and was running all around and enjoyed petting the baby foal with Aunt Tricie. After the barn we headed back to Tricie's house and spent the rest of the day together. We were later joined by our friend Robyne and her children and we brought in pizza and then headed home around 8 p.m. to get Indigo to bed. The exciting news of Tuesday was that the last couple in our mid-Atlantic Chinese adoption group received their referral for a beautiful daughter. We are so happy for Toni & Tom and cannot wait until they get to travel to China to bring their daughter home.

On Wednesday Indigo and I stayed home all day and then I took her to the beach in the very late afternoon, where she played in the sand and in the water.

On Thursday we had a very impromptu lunch with Ellen - we met up at our Cantonese restaurant where both girls were fawned over by the ladies that work there. Indigo and I headed back home and she played with her new toy from our friend Rakhee - she loves this toy. She is also so into the dogs and spent ages walking from one dog to the other to pat and love and them. They are very patient with her and as long as her pats are gentle, they seem to enjoy the attention. On Thursday evening, when David got home from work we went down to the beach with her for a while and I swam and they played in the sand. It's been a while since we noted any of her favorite things and activities so a quick update with those. She is now constantly on and off the couch and is mostly good about turning around to come down off the couch but we have to prevent the occasional urge she has to just walk off it. She does not love to eat vegetables but we found a combination of soft steamed chopped up cauliflower with sweet corn kernels and some butter are vegetables that she will eat - although as I write this now after a long delay in posting, she rejected that at dinner last night. She does love to eat chicken so we hope that continues. She still eats a scrambled egg and yogurt for most breakfasts - more and more often she ends up feeding her banana to the dogs. She loves to close doors and she absolutely loves to look at her books and have her books read to her. She is in the phase of wanting the same books over and over again. Her favorite for a while was "A - you're adorable" which we sing and she still likes that but current favorites (one might say obsessions) are Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (we have three copies of this book) and also Brown Bear, Brown Bear. David and I can mostly recite them from memory at this point. She loves, loves her bath and is reluctant to get out when it's time. We have also now completely transitioned her from the toddler formula she was on to whole milk and have pretty much eliminated her bottles - she drinks her milk from a sippy cup but we still hold her when we give it to her. Still not a ton of words but very noisy and vocal - predominant word is still doggy but she seems to be understanding a lot more of what we say. Grandma Lee taught her "stir, stir" when she was here - she loves to have a spoon and stir in her cups - her version comes out "dir, dir" which is very cute.
On Friday we had a great time when Ellen and Sarah came over for lunch (or should I say they brought lunch with them for us) and then after lunch we went down to the beach and lake. We had a marvelous time and the girls were so cute. Sarah was not such a fan of the sand but she loved being in the lake with Ellen and was in there for ages. It was so fun to see them playing in the water together. After a while in the water Indigo wanted to go in the swing which she just loves. Sarah thought that looked like fun and so we took Indigo out and put Sarah in - Indigo was not pleased. However, Sarah did not enjoy it as much (sort of how Indigo was the first time) so Indigo went back in. Then Sarah thought she would try it again because Indigo was having so much fun. So we put Sarah back in but she did not like it again. In the meantime little Indigo had thrown herself down because she had been taken out of the swing - that part was too hilarious and Ellen and I had to work hard to stifle our giggles at her outrage. Later Sarah and Indigo both sat on my lap which was as close to enjoying the sand that Sarah got but she liked to watch me make molds with the sand toys. It was a really fun afternoon and we look forward to the time when Sarah loves to play in the sand as well as in the lake. David, Indigo and I just hung out and stayed home on Friday evening.
On Saturday we took the dogs to the dog park and while I was in with them David let Indigo run around the grass on the outside of the dog park and he took her over to the little playground where she enjoyed the slide. After taking the dogs home we ran a few errands and shortly after we returned my cousin Ruth came over with her mom Arlene and her youngest daughter, Sarah Grace. We went to the beach and Sarah Grace just loved swimming in the lake. Indigo played on the sand and swam in the lake and of course enjoyed the swings. We stayed home on Saturday night and after Indigo went to bed we actually watched a movie!

On Sunday we had a very nice time at our friend Shawn & Karen's house. They had invited us for the start of football season. It's hard to tell that they are Jets fans! It was so wonderful to see Ava again as we had not seen her since we had left China. Ava is doing very well and is obviously extremely happy and thriving under her excellent care. Indigo and Ava did play a bit together which was lovely to see even though it mostly consists of us trying to be sure that Indigo does not take everything from Ava. We really enjoyed ourselves. After the long trip out that day, we stayed home on Sunday evening.
On Monday I had a quiet day with Indigo except for running several errands with her between her morning and afternoon nap. She was so good about all the in and out of the car. We had lunch at an Afghan restaurant and she really enjoyed the food.

On Tuesday we were home all day except going to get some picture frames in the early evening. Indigo thought it fun to stand on top of her learning table - she wants to climb everything now. It was September 11th which always makes us think of our friend Rick who died in the twin towers that day. His wife is our dear friend Kris who sent us the pink Indigo chair. It's hard to believe that six years have gone by. While we were reflecting on sad memories it was also a joyous day because our dear friends Shelli, Jason and their daughter Rou Rou, left for China on their journey to bring home their new daughter. Shelli is keeping the most amazing journal of their travel in China - see their blog from the link on the right or click on http://redthreadstory.blogspot.com/ they had the most incredible experience taking Rou Rou back to the area where she came from and were able to see her foster family which is very rare.
On Wednesday was the start of Rosh Hashanah, our first new year with Indigo. She was very funny in the day and kept wanting to walk around holding a coach shopping bag (hopefully not the start of things to come in the future) and a tube of marine animals. We were supposed to go to an early family service at 5:45 but David did not get home from work until that time. He has been very busy at work and is quite stressed but It probably was for the best because Indigo was feeling rather fussy - her tummy was a bit blocked and so she did not feel great. We had a very nice supper at home and said the blessings, ate apples dipped in honey and round challah bread.

On Thursday we went to our friends Lenny & Mark for Rosh Hashanah celebrations. We have been joining them now for about 12 years. It was a wonderful time to celebrate both the new year and our having our daughter at long last. Indigo was really very good especially since we were still dealing with the "tummy issue". She was very into the apple pieces. She enjoyed "reading" the story of Rosh Hashanah with her Auntie Allyson and also playing "swoop in and be loved" by Aunt Lenny. She would throw her head back laughing. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful start to the new year. On Thursday night, with the holiday officially over, I went to the first night of knitting which has just started up again. While I was gone we finally had "success" with the tummy issue and that was wonderful news in our family.

Labor Day weekend and Two Months!

We had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. It was so great to have Daddy (David) home for 4 days and to have Grandma Lee here. On Friday, David had taken a vacation day so we packed a picnic and after Indigo's nap we headed out to Burke Lake Park. This is a wonderful park and we rode the miniature train and Indigo rode the carousel. Then we found a wondeful picnic spot right down next to the lake and enjoyed a wonderful breeze and lunch together. We were joined by several wood ducks and Indigo was so excited about them! She then ran around on the grass for a while - chasing after a goose which she kept calling "duck, duck". It was a wonderful afternoon out together.

On Saturday we had lunch at home and then we all took a drive out to Huntley Meadows which is a favorite spot of David and mine. Indigo's favorite moment at Huntley meadows was along the gravel path - playing in the dirt. The rest of the boardwalk did not impress her much and she was a bit fussy and cranky from heat and tiredness. Because of the drought conditions there was not much in the way of water fowl and the migratory birds did not seem to be coming through yet although we saw a lot of swallows. The major spots were pretty flowers, a couple of huge turtles, a very cool spider and a butterfly taking a sip of nectar. Indigo fell asleep on the way home.

After her nap we took her down to the beach and she was so happy to be playing in the sand. She also met a new little friend, Ocean, who is just 10 days younger than Indigo and they "shared" shovels and buckets together. It was so nice to have Grandma see Indigo enjoyed the sand as it's how we have spent a lot of time this summer and now she has a picture of it in her mind. We enjoyed a nice dinner at home and Indigo played on the couch with Grandma and had Grandma reading books to her. September 1, 2007 marked our two month anniversary as having Indigo as our daughter. It seems like yesterday and it seems like forever - we are so grateful for our precious and wonderful daughter. Her sense of humor and her great personality never cease to make us laugh and to enchant us. We are so in love...

On Sunday we headed out to a local mall to try to take photos of us with Indigo and Grandma. Indigo was not so keen on this idea - will she be forever traumatized by the red couch photos at the White Swan in Guangzhou? We managed to get a passable group shot but any attempt at ones her by herself were disastrous - she just looked so pitifully sad and even had tears. After lunch she was a really happy camper and we went by the Picture People and Grandma said that if they could get a picture of her smiling then she was buying so they fit us in and since Indigo pretty much got to run around a bit while they took some photos we did get a few good shots. The minute they brought out the props to take photos she was not pleased! While we waited for prints she played in the playground area of the mall and then we went back to choose photos - by the end of that process I was exhausted and Indigo had fallen asleep in the stroller. However, we did have some lovely photos for us and Grandma to enjoy. When we got home I framed a group of 3 5x7 poses for Grandma for her to take home to CA. Thanks Grandma for the gift of the photos. After a short spell at home we went to dinner at Vietnamese where Indigo ate a vast quantity of food. It was sad that it was our last night with Grandma but she has promised to come back for Thanksgiving.

On Monday (Labor Day) we had to take Grandma to the airport in the afternoon. She took a photo with her four-legged granddogs first. We had lunch and went to a toy store on the way (where Grandma further indulged her granddaughter!) and then stopped at Frying Pan park, which is close to the airport. Indigo really enjoyed seeing the animals there. She petted a pig, she petted sheep, a cow, and a goat. however, she was afraid of the chickens - go figure. We then took Grandma to the airport and saw her off. From there we went to our friend the Tills to join them at their local swimming pool which Indigo loved playing in, and then we went to their house for a wonderful dinner. Indigo enjoyed having a bath with Alex and Adam and then we put her in her pajamas and she fell asleep on the way home and straight into bed from there. It was a lovely day although somewhat marred when she woke up at 1:45 a.m. and I was then up with her until 4 a.m.