Season craziness continued

First just some fun pictures of Indigo. She has also really taken to pears (for right now) and so there is a picture of her eating pear if one has a hard time telling what this is.

This week saw the end of Hanukkah - how special to have celebrated it with Indigo this year. We really just gave Indigo small presents - she has so much already.

However, on the last night we gave her a large plush rocking horse which she loves. Our thanks to Kristi who told us about this horse a long time ago when it was being offered at a great sale price. It's been up in the attic and it was so awesome to finally have our daughter riding it!

On Saturday night we attended a holiday party at a friend's house. After a few moments of shyness, Indigo wanted to check things out and partcilularly enjoyed rolling around on the floor. On Sunday we went to friends Allyson and Jason who we had not seen for awhile and had a great evening with them. Allyson had made some chocolate lollipops and Indigo just loved that. We have a really cute video and it's on youtube but because we did not take the video we cannot figure out how to post it on the blog. On Thursday Melanie brought Indigo into the office to have lunch with the girls. Indigo had a great time running the corridors of the office. We have mentioned how much Indigo enjoys her book and the one day, Melanie had popped Indigo in her crib with some books so that she would be safe while Melanie took a shower. Melanie returned to Indigo's room and she had fallen fast a sleep holding a book in each hand. Indigo also loves to have hair clips put in her hair, but often takes them right out. In this photo she has her beads, hair clips and is holding her phone and purse. The pink slippers featured in so many pictures were sent by our friend Shelli and have been a big hit. The purse featured a few times was one of her presents from us. The mad dash continued as we prepared to have our friends Kris & Tommy, and kids Michael and Maddy over for one night before they headed down to Kris's parents in Virginia Beach. Indigo instantly was enthralled with Michael and Maddy and they played so wonderfully with her. They gave Indigo a lovely mushroom fairyland playhouse which she is really enjoying. We had a wonderful visit, although it was very short. Kris et al. left the next morning and we still had to pack, load the car and get on the road down to Myrtle Beach.

Here she is loving her Caleb doggie again.

Eight Crazy Nights of Hanukkah

Hanukkah came early this year and we had barely recovered from Thanksgiving before we had to bring out the menorah, dreidels and decorations. Indigo quickly learned that after we lit the candles each night, miraculously, a gift would appear for her to open. During the week we took her for her 18 month check-up. Indigo did really well except she did not want the doctor to look in her mouth, nor did she like being held down for her latest round of vaccinations. She is 33 1/3 inches tall which places her in the 90th percentile for height on the American scale of babies, and her weight of 22 lbs. puts her in the 25th percentile. This is funny to us because the generalization is that taller Chinese are from the northern provinces, and Indigo is from a southern province. More importantly, the doctor seemed to be pleased with her development and felt that she is on track which is of great relief. On the Wednesday we had our first snow of the season, about 2 to 3 inches. We know that she has no gloves on in the snowsuit pictures in the snow but she was only outside for a few minutes. That night our friend Mallun came into town from CA for a short work related visit, and after finally being able to hail a cab at Dulles and making her way on the snowy streets of our neighborhood (and the treacherous trip up our driveway!) was able to meet Indigo in person. Indigo took to Mallun right away and enjoyed showing Mallun her books. The following day our social worker came to conduct the six month post-placement report that is required to be sent back to the China Center for Adoption Affairs. Indigo was in a terrific mood, despite having a cold, receiving her vaccines the day before and bumping her forehead and eyebrow a few days before - we were so afraid she would have a black eye or something when the social worker turned up. We were very relieved that the social worker gave us a lovely report. Now we just have another 12 month post placement visit and probably readoption in our state and then perhaps all formalities and paperwork to do with the adoption part will be done. When we came home from work the next day our nanny told us that Caleb (our 13 year old Labrador) would not get up and something seemed wrong with him. Given that he has never had trouble getting up ever before in his lfe, we thought he must have hurt himself during the day. Melanie had just taken him to the vet earlier in the month for a minor cyst on his shoulder and he had been pronounced to be in good health, although Melanie had told the vet he was straining to poop. The vet said that could happen with older dogs. When I took him to the vet that evening, and again mentioned the pooping, a different vet determined that he had an internal tumor in the rectal area. A biopsy was taken and it has been determined that he has a cancerous mass that is not surgical. We still don't know why the babysitter experienced him not being able to get up because that has not happened since. For now, he is doing well, eating well, and is comfortable and still playful and enjoying life. He is getting a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) for pain relief - based on the assumption that he may have discomfort from the tumor. Because he is over 13 we don't feel that it's right to try heroic measures. The vet says the tumor is not operable because of the location and we don't think it's right to put him through a bunch of stuff for our benefit. Our goal is to keep him happy and comfortable and if that changes then we'll have to cope with that. Caleb is just an awesome dog and has been his whole life. He has been phenomenal with Indigo and she loves him (and Egan) so much. That just makes it even more heartbreaking. On a happier note, the Chaklader's joined us for a night of Hanukkah celebration - the second year so I guess we're making it an

annual event. Melanie made potato latkes and after dinner we all played the dreidel game with gelt (chocolate wrapped in gold coins). Indigo enjoyed having Harry and David, as well as Becky & Subir, over. On Saturday morning, we went over to Patricia's house where her husband Jon cooked wonderful pancakes, bacon and lots of other breakfast delights. Indigo had lots of fun playing with Anna Kate and Louisa downstairs in their play room. That afternoon we went to get hair cuts for our evening event and Indigo ended up receiving her first proper haircut, sitting on Daddy's lap and wailing her eyes out - mostly because she did not like the cape being put on. Later that night we had our firm's annual holiday party which is at the Four Season's in Georgetown. Our friend Mary Till came over to watch Indigo so we were able to go to the party. We can't thank Mary enough and we had a fantastic time (and did not call home once). We had no worries knowing that Indigo was in such capable hands. Indigo has been loving her small Hanukkah gifts and we thought she looked like a real "lady about town" strutting her with her handbag on her arm. Elizabeth, who cares for her while I work, was kind enough to give her a Hanukkah present so here she is opening her present from Elizabeth, whom she just loves.

Week after Thanksgiving through December 2

All the grandparents stayed the following week after Thanksgiving with Grandaddy leaving for his consulting job in Harrisonburg early Monday morning and returning on Thursday night. The grandmothers watched Indigo while Melanie and I went into the office. They did a marvelous job!

On Thursday Ellen and Sarah came over and we packed a picnic lunch to take to Clemyjontri park. It was practically vacant so the girls had the run of the place and both had so much fun trying out so much of the playground equipment. On Friday night we met Ruth, David and their girls, Anna and Sarah Grace for dinner. While the grandparents were with us Indigo loved to read with Granddaddy, Granny and Grandma Lee - notice a theme? She also loved to "share" Grandma Lee's cereal. On Saturday Granny and Grandaddy left in the morning for the drive home and we went to brunch with Grandma Lee. We then went to the Chinese take away to order food for the Chinese family lunch the next day.

We drove Grandma Lee to Dulles airport and then onto Zoo Lights at the National Zoo. We met Mary, Terry, their boys Alex and Adam and another family. Later at the Zoo we met up with Pam, Robert and their girls Elizabeth and Catherine. This is the first time the Zoo has held this event. Indigo and all the children seemed to enjoy seeing the different animal light displays. We then walked back through the Zoo and onto a restaurant for dinner. While the guys picked up one of the cars the three girls had a blast running in the empty parking lot in their snow suits - if you can call it running when all bundled like that. It was another late night for Indigo who didn't go to bed until after 10:00 p.m.

The next morning was a big day. Finally, all the families who had been gathering had their babies and we were able to gather with all of us as complete families for the first time (well, complete for now). We were thrilled to meet Erica, who had just come home from China with Toni and Tom. Kristi & Eric's rented their clubhouse so that all the children could play. It was the perfect location and we all had a great time. We made another attempt at a couch photo - somewhat more successful than our effort in China but there is still room for improvement. We also took a photo of all the mums with their daughters. During the gift exchange, Indigo received a talking toy vacuum cleaner so she can now copy her daddy when he is using the real vacuum cleaner. It was such a fun occasion to celebrate.

week of Thanksgiving through November 25th

With life being pretty hectic, we had a lot to do to prepare for the Thanksgiving festivities. Our friend Tiffany came over on the Wednesday before which turned out to be a godsend since she was able to watch Indigo while Melanie made beds, set out towels, and did other chores. Tiffany also brought a pumpkin pie which saved another errand needing to be run. Later that night I went to Union Station to pick up my cousin Veronica, her boyfriend Harald and her daughter Becky. Early the next morning Grandma Lee arrived from Los Angeles on the red eye flight. When she arrived to our house Indigo had just gotten up. The day was unusually warm for late November so we took a walk down to our beach to show Veronica, Harald and Becky the lake. On the walk to the beach we popped Indigo into a great big pile of leaves. As we walked home the wind really kicked up and the leaves were flying off the trees. Granny and Grandaddy were waiting at the house having just driven up from Myrtle Beach. We realized that it was less than an hour until our guests would begin to arrive so the mad dash was on. It was wonderful to spend Indigo's first Thanksgiving with so many of our friends and family. Our friends Mary and Terry with their two children, Alex and Adam, and Gabi and Stephen with their two girls, Chloe and Isa. Our friends Elizabeth, David and their children Phiala and Zephen, as well as Elizabeth's mom from Texas came for Thanksgiving dinner and also spent the night. We had a record fourteeen people (including us) sleeping at our house. The next day I took Grandma Lee, Veronica, Harald and Becky into DC to do some sight seeing and to go to the National Gallery Of Art to see a Turner exhibit. The next day we went on our first "date" without Indigo, chaperoned by Grandma Lee to see the IMAX Lions of the Kalahari at the Smithsonsian National History Museum, while Granny and Grandaddy watched Indigo at home. We had a wonderful time seeing the lions in 3D. That night we had a lovely dinner at a new brew pub by our house called Dogfish. The next day was Granny's birthday and she considered sky diving, but when we found out that no video cameraman worked on Sunday's, we went with another plan. Since we enjoyed the movie so much, we decided to all go back so that Granny and Grandaddy could see it and we explored the mammal exhibit with Indigo. So we all piled onto the Metro to go into the city. Well Indigo absolutely loved seeing all the animals and would run up to each one and call them "doggie," and she beat her chest when seeing the gorilla. We then walked across the Mall to the carousel where daddy took her around and then Granny. She is enjoying the carousel more and more each time. We then took the Metro to the Foggy Bottom stop where we enjoyed snacks and coffee at a Starbucks and Indigo had a nap in her stroller. Then we took the shuttle bus to the Kennedy Center for a concert featuring Sandra Boynton with special guest Davy Jones of the Monkees. Amazingly Indigo sat for an hour and a half (although the final few minutes she wanted to crawl away) and really enjoyed the singing, dancing and Boynton characters. It was a wonderful end to an event filled Thanksgiving weekend and a great day celebrating Mom's birthday.