Journey To Our Daughter

We have a new blog!

2010-05-14T15:03:00.001-05:00

Thanks for coming here to visit. This blog followed our journey to our daughter Indigo and our life back at home with her over the past few years. Since adopting our son Isaac February 1st of 2010, we maintained a blog for our journey to him. Now that we're a family of four and living the adventure of having two children, we have switched to a family blog where we can regale (or not) the exploits of both our wonderful children. Please join us at the new family blog - we welcome and appreciate comments.
http://brookesweissfamily.blogspot.com/

We Survived The Blizzard of '09

2009-12-19T22:16:00.012-05:00

Our plans to leave for Myrtle Beach this morning were dashed by over 18 inches of snow. It began to snow around 9:00 p.m. Friday night so we knew that when we awoke it would be a winter wonderland scene. This morning David shoveled the 5 to 6 inches from the driveway and cleared the car. Later in the day another 6 to 8 inches were back on the driveway with more snow still falling (see the pic below with the ruler showing the second round). We took a walk, attempted to make a snowman (this is perfect snow for skiing, but not for making snow balls since it is very powdery and not wet) and then came in for some much needed hot chocolate. We hope that we can leave tomorrow morning... we're keen to see our family and have some r&r in Myrtle Beach.

Check out the video of Indigo wading in the snow!

Leaves Are Falling/Indigo is 2 Wheeling

2009-11-15T22:03:00.007-05:00

We have had lots of fun this fall with never ending falling leaves. Indigo loves helping Daddy rake the leaves, but best of all she enjoys jumping in the leaf piles. It was a beautiful fall day and we decided to have Indigo try to ride her bicycle for the first time. We went to the parking lot of a local swim club, and started on a basketball court. She had to learn the knack of pushing the pedals forward rather than back pedaling. But as you see from the video, she did it and had a lot of fun. We were so proud as you can tell from the exhuberant whooping from us. Indigo asked when she can go again and for longer. Watch out Lance Armstrong. :-)

Halloween Festivities & Follies

2009-11-02T20:48:00.018-05:00

Halloween festivities have taken place the last two weeks of October! The weekend before the holiday, we went to a Halloween brunch at Rick and Ellen's club. Our two princesses were so lovely and had a wonderful time. Later that same day, we went to Boo at the Zoo (so lucky that the pouring rain stopped just in time). The next day, we participated in our neighborhood Halloween parade, and Indigo went as a fairy! During the week, Mommy baked yummy Halloween cookies and Indigo and her friend Sarah got to decorate them with sprinkles. David and Indigo carved the pumpkins and Indigo chose the design of a witch on a broomstick. For the big event, Ellen, Rick & Sarah joined us for an evening of ghosts, goblins, witches and pumpkins! After dinner, we took the girls trick or treating. I wore shorts since it was so warm and the rain held off except for a brief bit when our umbrellas were unfolded. Indigo and Sarah loved trick or treating, and we often had to tell them to only take a few candies rather than the handfuls when people offered their bowls. We have enough candy to open a store! Indigo is ecstatic about the amount of candy she has. When she gets to choose a piece after dinner she wants to pull it all out and make her decision about which piece she wants to have - tonight the tootsie lollipop won out because it was red which is her favorite color.

First Day of School (08 and 09)

2009-10-01T14:50:00.006-05:00

We are so far behind in posting that we could run parallel posts from July 08 until now... Last year, I never posted her first day at school so as both a comparison and for historical purposes I am posting her photo of her first day at school last September 2008 when she went into the two year, two day program and this year, when she entered the three year, three day program. She has absolutely loved school and it has been a wonderful experience. How much she has grown in a year! She went to school this year looking a bit injured - she had a huge gash on her forehead from getting a scratch the night before and a bandaid on each wrist from trying to jump off the swing - in my defense, she was being supervised by another adult (not David) at the time. She loves the big girl swing and can "pump" all by herself. Can't imagine what kind of impression a bandaid on each wrist made!

Fun At The Beach

2009-09-05T14:03:00.019-05:00

We had a wonderful week away in MB, South Carolina joined by our friends the Benson family from Wisconsin. We also visited with Clare, Josh, Jacob and Sage, who keeps growing. The weather was perfect the whole week with plenty of sunshine. With loads of sunscreen, we went to the beach nearly everyday and played in granny/grandaddy's neighborhood pool as well. Rides at Broadway at the Beach, feeding the fish and attending a circus show were enjoyed by all.

Weekend in Baltimore

2009-08-13T21:44:00.010-05:00

On Saturday we met up with friends at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore to celebrate the b-day of Catherine. Indigo had a blast feeding a girafee, riding with all of us on a camel, watching the penguins being fed and seeing lots of other animals. We saw rhinos, lions, leopards, cheetahs, polar bears and lots more. Instead of driving home, we spent the night at a hotel in Columbia and had a lovely dinner with friends at a Chinese restaurant. After dinner we all had fun in the indoor hotel pool. The next day we went to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and to the Aquarium.

Berry Picking Fun

2009-07-18T20:29:00.006-05:00

We took advantage of the most beautiful weather to finally go to a farm to pick berries. Only the blackberries were in season, but we also picked peaches, carrots, lettuce, green peppers and a few tomatoes. This was Indigo's first time on a farm, and the first time for all of us to pick fruits or vegetables. We went to Hollin Farm near Paris, Virginia. This is some of the most picturesque parts of Virginia we have been too. We had so much fun that we definately will do this again!

Indigo's Belated Birthday Party

2009-07-05T17:14:00.000-05:00

Better late than never! Since we went to England on the day of Indigo's birthday and then needed time to recover, we delayed her party until early July. It was also one of the first available dates to reserve a beach. Many months ago, Indigo indicated that she wanted a "ladybug" party. So we went with that theme and had a ladybug pinata (handmade by mom and dad), ladybug cupcakes and party favors of shirts with ladybugs and bug stickers! We have many more pics to post so we'll update this at a later date.

July 4th Celebrations and Family Visit

2009-07-04T20:06:00.008-05:00

It was a busy July with Clare, Josh, Jacob and baby Sage coming for a visit. Lots of time spent at the beach and in the lake. A visit to the National Zoo was lots of fun. Later in the week Mom & Dad came up as well to join the fun. On July 4th we went to the Spy Museum and then over to the White House, where we had the excitment of a Presidential motorcade returning President Obama home. Before our adventure into the city, we participated in our community July 4th parade all in our red, white and blue. After the fireworks and a terrific barbeque, we had our own celebration of sparklers in our driveway. Indigo may turn out to be a pyro, no fear of the flames!

Click on the link below to view a slideshow:

http://picasaweb.google.com/brookesweiss/July4th?authkey=Gv1sRgCPzJt6K2xbXqVA#slideshow/5361470084201077042

Weekend fun and Purim

2009-03-10T16:58:00.014-05:00

On Saturday we went to the stables to play with Dan. After he was all cleaned up Indigo did a couple of laps around the ring on him and then we went off to sushi with Jason, Allyson and their boys - yummy! We had a great afternoon together - the weather was glorious. We stayed outside and washed our cars together. After we got home I went to the fabric store to buy material in an effort to make a Queen Ester costume for Indigo for Purim - yes, I am not in my right mind! I stayed up until 1 a.m. (that is before moving the clock forward an hour) hand sewing this costume. On Sunday we went to Temple for a really fun Purim carnival. Indigo wore her Cinderella princess dress she had fun playing games and winning prizes and using her gragger when she heard the name "Haman". After an afternoon nap, it was so gorgeous out that we hit the playground. We took Egan too and after some serious play and doing the "big slide" we walked through the woods to the dog park so Egan could have a good run. We then walked back to the playground for a bit more play and then home (it was 7 p.m. - got to love daylight savings). Dinner, bath & bed followed thereafter. I was then up until 1 a.m. again working on the Purim costume. Monday was a day of work and after we got her off to bed I worked on the costume until it was finally completed around 12:30 a.m. Again, I think I am nuts. Let us just say that the costume has a huge hem and I intend to have her wear it until she is 20!

In her preschool on Tuesday we had a Purim party and her little class paraded all around the school showing off their costumes and then we joined her music class before taking her out for a nice lunch with mom and dad as a special treat (part of the negotiations of having an almost three year old wear her costume and give a smile or two for the camera :-). She was so excited about us being in her class room that it was almost impossible to get a photo - she was a jumping bean! By the time she stood still, the skirt was a little twisted but you get the basic idea. While her costume may not be haute couture, I don't think it's a bad effort for a hand sewn effort made by a mostly un-crafty mum.

A visit from Sage and a Snowy Day (last weekend of Feb 2009/Beginning March)

2009-03-02T20:00:00.020-05:00

We were so excited to have a trip from Granny, Granddad, Clare and Sage! Mom & Dad drove up on Thursday with Clare and Sage (who turned six weeks on March 2). It was wonderful to have them all here. Sage is beautiful and lovely and such a good baby and Clare is doing an awesome job as a mom. The only downside was that we did not also have Josh and Jacob here but we're looking forward to a summer trip from them so that they can enjoy the lake. Given that we had a tiny baby here, the weekend was very mellow, which we needed after all our non-stop activities and my having been sick. The weather was not too charming so it was a good weekend to hole up. Indigo was enamoured of her baby cousin and was very sweet to her and would say "don't cry Baby Sage" and "it's okay sweetie" and she wanted to participate in every diaper change! She told us that Baby Sage "talks" as Sage is really starting to make a lot of cooing and wonderful baby noises, as well as starting to smile which is just to die for. We pretty much played "pass the baby" and Clare was very generous in letting us all have snuggle time with the little princess. Indigo also needed to be sure that she was held plenty and so frequently someone would have both "babies" on their laps. Indigo also loved to sing a lullabye to Sage - Rock a Bye Baby - after requesting each time to first hear the definition of a lullabye. Our family got to hear Indigo's latest favorite word which we have had almost non-stop the past month or so "WHY". However, when Clare turned the cards on her and said "Why", Indigo said, "no, no, no, don't ask why, I already told you". It was a wonderful family weekend. As you can see, Sparkle also thought the baby boppy was a wonderful spot of comfort! It's also cute how my mom was lying with Sage and Sparkle on her lap!

We were lucky to enjoy a Sunday afternoon visit from Cousin Ruth and Anna and Sarah Grace. Late on Sunday we got some serious snow which came down all through the night and was still coming on Monday morning.

The family had planned to leave early Monday morning when we went to work but our roads were a mess and with the snow still coming down it seemed best to wait. As the snow stopped, Dad went out and shoveled our entire driveway - no mean feat! It's long and steep. Thanks Dad - no wonder your muscles look so good in the muscle shirt! The plough had come down the street again by this point and the road seemed relatively safe and so they were in the car and back home to SC by around 12:30 p.m. We look forward to our next family visit and miss having Sage to hold already. After Indigo's nap, she and Daddy made a snowman and then we had a nice cup of hot chocolate - don't you love her grinning with her chocolate mustache!

Great Wolf Lodge FUN - February 20-22nd

2009-02-22T13:57:00.013-05:00

Well, no rest for the weary. On Friday morning we were up and packing and getting ready for the next trip. We left Friday and picked up Ellen and Sarah on our way south for our long awaited for visit to Great Wolf Lodge. We were there with a conference being held by OCDF - Our Chinese Daughters Foundation. Great Wolf lodge is a fantastic venue with lodging and a massive indoor water park - what could not be fun about that? Toni, Tom & Erica also came for the weekend, as did Pam, Robert, Elizabeth, Catherine and Peter. It was a great weekend. We had so much fun in the water park, sharing meals together, a little late night Walmart shopping, late night talking, and Chinese market shopping (put on by OCDF) and then some lectures we went to on Saturday given by Jane of OCDF. Thanks to Uncle Rick who watched Indigo and Sarah while they slept so that Ellen, David and I could attend the lectures. We did have a great time - especially on the crazy raft ride! We arrived home late on Sunday afternoon, when I promptly fell ill with what turned out to be sinus infection - oh well, at least it did not wreck the weekend.

Milwaukee, Madison & Jiangxi Girl Reunion (Feb 14-19, 2009)

2009-02-19T13:31:00.018-05:00

I had a request to go to our Madison office to conduct some training (Wisconsin in February, who does not want to go there then?). After looking at the calendar, we realized that we had a long weekend in mid-February and so we thought we could take advantage of my needing to go for work, to make it a little fun family trip combined with the work effort). We caught a 7 a.m. flight to Milwaukee on Valentine's Day (got Indigo up when the taxi arrived at 5 a.m. and she talked non-stop from that moment onward, including the entire flight to Milwaukee). We rented a car and drove to our friends, Jennelle & Craig who live in Occonomowoc. They have children Ean and Kaylee and Indigo and Kaylee are just a few weeks apart in age. We had a most marvelous time. After having a chance to rest and relax and catch up a bit, in the afternoon we went to a little local lake and walked out on the frozen lake - very exciting. There were people out there ice fishing - very Fargo. Not quite sure what the allure is of being out in the freezing cold watching over an ice hole but we have heard the fish fry afterwards is really tasty. Ean and Kaylee did wonderful snow angels - Indigo was suspect of that activity.

On Sunday we went to the Domes, which are these incredible glass atrium type things in which there are the most beautiful gardens, a show garden in which they were having a legoland and train display, a wonderful dessert garden and a tropical rain forest type garden - quite remarkable considering the weather outside. Sunday was David's birthday and he was treated like the king he is - amazing steaks from the local butcher and Jennelle baked him a cake. On Monday, which was a work holiday for us, we took Indigo into Milwaukee to visit the folks we work with in the Milwaukee office (no holiday for them). Indigo had a lot of fun and enjoyed all the attention. On Tuesday, Jennelle looked after Indigo while both David and I went to work for the day in our Milwaukee office. On Tuesday night, we had one final spectacular meal created by Jennelle and then around 8ish left for Madison. Indigo chatted the entire to Madison. The roads were a bit dicy as there was some sleet but we made it to Madison safe (and still married). David and Indigo took me to the Madison office on Wednesday where I conducted training all day. David and Indigo visited the people David knows in the office and went to lunch with one of his colleagues at a fun place called Ella's Deli which apparently has a ton of fun mechanical toys for kids to see. David & Indigo picked me up from the office and we drove to meet friends, Chad & Jennifer who had driven to the Madison that day for some training that Jennifer was going to be doing for her company. We met Chad & Jennifer in China and we were together in the same room when we each received our daughters that hot July 1st day in Nanchang, the capitol city of Jiangxi, Indigo's province. They live in Minnasota, so the Madison weather was practically balmy for them. Despite the 360 spin we did on the road (I am not joking) on the way to meet them, everything was wonderful. It was so special to see the girls together again and to have all that catching up to do. We hung out in their hotel room for a while, then went out for dinner and then came back and let the girls bath together and get into their jammies. Elyana is just a delight and it's just wonderful to know that we'll have this lifelong connection to these families with whom we shared this momentous moment - it's like all being in a delivery room together and having multiple births. The next day, while I was training again, David took Indigo back to their hotel and the girls got to play again. David picked me up around 4 p.m. and we headed back to the Milwaukee airport. We flew out after 7 p.m. and arrived safely in Virginia around 10ish). We were home by 11 and off to bed to be ready for the adventures that the Friday would bring. It was a great trip and I just have to say that Indigo was so great about all the travel, all the changes in sleeping arrangements etc. she just took them all in stride.

Valentines Cookies (Feb 12th 2009)

2009-02-12T14:04:00.006-05:00

The lovely dress that Indigo is wearing is from her Aunt Alissa, Uncle Steve, and cousin Sarina - we thought she looked so cute. Last year we had a blast doing cookies with Sarah and Aunt Ellen and so we had a repeat this year. Ellen and I both baked cookies so we had a lot to decorate. We would ice the cookies and then give the girls each a sheet to decorate - they love to sprinkle! At one point, the girls had decorated the one batch and were waiting while we iced another batch for decorating. Ellen suddenly said, I hear sprinkling... both them had started to decorate the table - you had to laugh. We had dinner together after the cookies were done and so it was a lovely evening. Ellen took Egan with them as they were looking after him for us while we had our upcoming Milwaukee/Madison trip. Egan loves being with them and Schatzie and we appreciate them looking after our boy so well. We look forward to cookies again next year.

Sage Elizabeth born 1/19/2009

2009-01-19T15:51:00.024-05:00

Okay - so I am breaking blog protocol and posting out of order to announce the arrival of our niece, Sage Elizabeth Amend, born to my sister Clare, Josh and big brother Jacob on January 19th, 2009. Sage was born at 6.11oz and 19 inches and is perfect in every way and I believe has everyone wrapped around her little finger. Photos are of Clare the night before, Sage's birth day, day 2, one week, February 1 (yes, she is already a Steeler fan) and February 8th. We cannot wait to see and hold her! Clare will come up with Sage with our Mom & Dad (aka Granny and Granddad) on the 26th so we're very excited. Our congratulations to my sister and Josh on their daughter - Sage is so very loved and her cousin Indigo is excited to meet the "tiny baby" as she calls her. She tells us that when she was born in China that she was tiny, tiny. However, right now, Indigo is more interested in whether Jacob is coming to play with her - she loves her big boy cousin.

Watch for upcoming posts - I am tired of being so behind so blogs might just hit at any old time, heading back to July 2008 and forward to present.

Lotus Blossom Festival and Weekend fun July 19/20

2008-09-16T20:01:00.012-05:00

Lots of lake time and fun this weekend. After work we decided to take advantage of the good weather and head down to the lake on Friday night. We ended up picking up a pizza and spaghetti/meatballs for Indigo and eating at the beach. The next morning we headed to the Kenilworth Aquatic gardens, which was the first time we had been to this place. It is along the banks of the Anacostia River, the lesser known river (everyone knows of the Potomac River). The fields of lotus blossoms were spectacular - it was amazing. We went on this particular day because every year they celebrate the Asian festival of the lotus blossom. On the Saturday night we went down to the lake again for swimming and playing in the sand. The next morning, our friends Gabi, Steven and their children Chloe and Isa joined us at the lake and them came back to the house to have a late lunch. Melanie had to leave early to attend the baby shower of a neighbor who had just received their referral for a Chinese daughter. We ended the busy weekend with dinner at Melanie's cousins Ruth, David and their children Anna and Sarah Grace.

Ellen's birthday & Rick's retirement

2008-07-21T19:57:00.012-05:00

Ellen and Rick had their families in town to celebrate Rick's retirement. They hosted a bbq at their home for Ellen's birthday and we had a lovely evening with them. The girls enjoyed their dress-up shoes. That week we were honored to share in the wonderful ceremony for Rick's retirement from the Coast Guard. Ellen had planned every detail perfectly, right down to the red, white and blue M&Ms in the glass star dishes! Congratulations to Rick on his retirement and our thanks for his years of service.

An evening with Sarah and a birthday party

2008-07-21T19:56:00.013-05:00

The weekend started Friday evening with a zoo picnic held in appreciation of the volunteers so I headed up to that after work - it would have been more fun to be there with David and Indigo, but although spouses are invited, wee ones are not. It was nice to hang out with some fellow volunteers and talk zoo and conservation. I also had a zoo shift on the weekend. On the Saturday afternoon and evening we had a total blast when we got to babysit Sarah while Rick & Ellen had a night out. It was so fun. We took the girls down to the lake where they ate some rocket popsicles and then had a lot of fun swimming. We had dinner together, lots of playing, dancing to our favorite "Jambo", baths and pjs. One of the funniest things of the night was when there was a bit of a spill and David bought up some of cleaning rags - which all happen to be old or stained t-shirts. Well, one of the t-shirts did not get used to clean up the spill and Sarah took a liking to it and wanted to wear it - fashion maven that she is. Well, it's a t-shirt that had the word DEMOCRAT on the front - we had to take a photo of that for her parents. By the time Rick and Ellen arrived, Sarah was now bathed and in her jammies but when we told them the story she wanted to wear the shirt again. So, much to Rick's chagrin, Sarah wore the shirt home - we thought it was hilarious. After that, every time Ellen tried to wash and return the shirt to us, Sarah would want to wear it - such a cutie pie.

On Sunday we had a really fun birthday party for our friend's son David. It was all Diego themed and our friend Becky did an amazing job. The kids got to decorate little vests made with brown paper bags with Diego themed and animal stickers. Indigo loved it. Also, they had some exotic animals come for a demonstration at the party and so we got to see a snake, a box tortoise, a hedgehog which was too adorable, a parrot, and a Madagascar hissing roach. You can see the birthday boy in his green Diego shirt sitting with his big brother and watching the animal critters. It was a really fun party and we all had a super time.

Fourth of July weekend

2008-07-21T19:46:00.011-05:00

Uhh, about five months ago we celebrated 4th of July weekend! How amazing to think that last 4th of July we were in China and had only had our precious girl for three days. We started our long weekend on the Thursday night by going down to the lake and enjoying the beach. David thinks this story is hilarious - after I came out of the lake, up onto the beach, I had water dripping from my bathing suit. Indigo shouts out, in front of everyone and the lifeguard - mommy is peeing! Isn't it wonderful when they are talking! On the 4th we had a lovely neighborhood parade and marched from one beach to another. Later that day, Rick, Ellen and Sarah came over for dinner. Unfortunately it was kind of rainy but the girls still had a blast playing inside together. We have fireworks in our neighborhood which are displayed over the lake and we sit and watch from our beach and so we went down there (with it being rainy) with umbrellas and the three of us huddled to watch the fireworks. Indigo really enjoyed them. We also enjoyed celebrating our friend Subir's 40th birthday party which was really fun. It was held at a minor league ball park and we all had a meal together and then watched a game. The 5th was also our 16 year wedding anniversary.

July 1, 2008 One Year Anniversary of Gotcha Day!

2008-07-05T21:24:00.031-05:00

WOW! One year of having our precious daughter has arrived; it seems both that the time flew by and that we have had her forever. So much has happened in this year. It's hard to fathom our lives without Indigo. It was really wonderful because Mom and Dad were here again, this time, just back from Alaska and about to go to England. They looked after Indigo on the 1st and got to spend the day with her while we worked. We left work and met them with Indigo at the most fantastic Chinese restaurant. We had an amazing meal including the Peking Duck and some delicious Shanghai lamb dish. After a wonderful celebratory dinner we took Granny and Granddad to the airport to fly off to England.

We are posting photos of one year ago (well, let's pretend I am up to date) on July 1, 2007 when our daughter was placed in our arms. What a day that was. We left Beijing with the families that were headed to Jiangxi (13 families); it was hard to separate from the two families in our group who were heading with another group to Anhui province, but everything was suddenly happening and we could not believe that we were going to have our daughter. I will never forget that day and words will never be adequate enough to describe it. We arrived in Nanchang, the capitol of Jiangxi and all got on a bus; Kathy our guide was telling us all what to expect. We went to the hotel where we would be staying for the next 5 days and were able to take a fast shower and gather the baby essentials and then before we knew it, we were boarded on another van to head to the civil affairs office where we were getting our babies. As we arrived, there was a van where we could see a lot of babies and we all choked up. One guy who was really the comic of our group, just broke up sobbing which was just very emotional. We were laughing and crying as we made our way up in the elevator. We entered a hot, hot room filled with babies, many of them crying. I think with our group and with families from another agency there were about 21 families receiving their babies. All we had ever seen of Indigo were our few referral photos of a baby that was much younger when the pictures were taken than she was at now 13 months. Honestly, it's quite awful to realize that you won't recognize your baby. We were told that once we knew which was our baby we could be with them but under no circumstances to take them from the caregiver until all paperwork had properly changed hands, all identifying the parties, matching passports etc. So, even though it seemed crazy, it was all very official. I was pointing out a baby to David that I was sure was Indigo, and then Kathy our guide was tapping us and saying, David and Melanie, this is your baby. We turn to see this tiny solemn little face looking at us. Her hair was in two tight pigtails with green rubber bands. She was not crying but she did look like she did not want to let go of the person holding her. David was showing her her picture which was on his t-shirt. We actually had our paperwork done very quickly, probably one of the first families, and then they handed her off to us. I took her and just held her close to me, but not saying too much, just petting her and holding her tightly. She did not cry at all but I think she was too shocked. She did cling to me like a limpet and holding her was just the best feeling ever. We took her to a less crowded part of the room and just held her. You can see from the photos how she was watching everything going on. The orphanage gave us several of the items we had sent ahead for Indigo including a photo album with photos of us, the grandparents and the pets. Also, a giraffe we had sent with teething parts and taggies on it, and best of all, the disposable camera we had sent to have photos taken of her and answers to questions we had asked about her daily habits and routine. Also, in some photos you can see her holding this little purple thing - that is a pencil sharpner, still in its packaging. When we sent the care package for the orphanage we had included a lot of pencils etc. for older children - we had put in several pencil sharpners and they obviously given her one in the packaging and she was really attached to it. After some time we reboarded the bus, this time with our precious cargo. Indigo drank some water from a bottle. Once back at the hotel, Kathy took the husbands to shop for the formula that the babies were used to and I stayed with Indigo in the room. I changed her into new clothes since she was so hot and sweaty but tried not to do much else that would be too much stimulation. She hated having her clothes taken off but did seem to feel so much better once the new clothes were on. What will never cease to amaze me is that by later that afternoon she was already sitting up and engaging and playing and smiling! It was just incredible. We just felt so lucky. It's impossible to relay with words the experience of this total miracle - I know that all our fellow adoptive families will concur. So enjoy the photos of her on July 1, 2007 - Gotcha Day and one year later on July 1, 2008 - my, how she has grown!

The next day was super special and wonderful. Indigo and I got together on July 2 for a Gotcha day celebration and picnic with three of the moms with whom we had gone to China and brought home our daughters. The girls had the most wonderful time tearing around the grass and then we went to a national park that is an old working farm. The girls had a blast chasing chickens and seeing the big Belgian draft horses, going on a tractor ride and petting cows at the end. It was a wonderful and special super day being with these families whom we had come to know through our long long wait for our girls and with whom we had traveled to China for the most momentous and joyous occasion of our lives.

Hectic, hectic, what happened to June?

2008-06-27T00:33:00.021-05:00

June flew by with a lot of fun events. Ellen and Rick had offered to care for Egan while we took a brief trip and so on the Saturday we took him to their house and enjoyed a nice lunch together and then some time at their swimming pool which was fun. After a nap (for Indigo, don't we wish), it was off to Tricie's house where we celebrated Robyne's birthday with a great cookout and kids having fun in the blow-up pool.

On Sunday we left for a trip to Florida. David was attending a conference and Indigo and I tagged along. It was very nice and we enjoyed the pool but I am not sure it was worth it for the cost and for David to not get to enjoy spending time with us. Indigo did learn to enjoy love jumping into the pool (with me catching her) and I did meet another really nice mum who was there with her boys while her husband attended the conference too so that was some company. I went with that mum to beach in front of the hotel the one day and Indigo had the most fun playing with the foot sprayer where people wash the sand off their feet.

The next weekend was exciting as the zoo cheetah volunteers were given an portunity to go out to the Conservation Research Center to see the new Cheetah facility out there - we all met up at the zoo and then went in a bus together - so fun. It was also cool to see Tumai and Zazi, two of the cheetahs who had been at the zoo and went out to the new facility. What a treat. Rush, rush when I got home because David and I had a party to go to - the surprise 40th birthday party of our dear friend Amy. Our friend Tiffany came and babysat Indigo and I got dinner ready for them and then ready for the party. Indigo did great with Tiffany and they had a good time - thanks Tiffers! The party was a lot of fun and we had a great night out - only a select few of these photos can be public - you know the Vegas rules ;-)

Granny & Granddad back again!

2008-06-27T00:31:00.011-05:00

Mom and Dad came back our way in mid-June. They were flying from here to Seattle to vist friends in Washington State and then embark on their Alaskan cruise. While they were here we had a wonderful day when we went on a playdate with Ellen and Sarah to the stables. We cleaned Dan and then did "pony rides" Sarah just loved riding - she wanted to stay on. Indigo was keen in the beginning but then when she was actually put on she wanted to get off right away - we joked that David is probably secretly teaching her to not want to ride horses! Sarah had another turn and then we put Dan away and had a delicious picnic brought by Ellen. We sat at the picnic table under the shade of the large tree and it was just lovely. From the stables, we went to Clemy Jontri playground which is just so awesome and which the girls love. To top it off, the carousel has been funded by some private grant in the summer and all weekday carousel rides are completely free! David had been on business in NY but then returned home in time to have a nice dinner (Dad grilled) and then Mom and Dad were off to Alaska. Just also a note about the goodness of people in this world (which we sometimes forget with all that we hear in the news). I left my camera at Clemy Jontri - for those who know me, you will know this was disaster, the camera could be replaced but the pictures taken could not. After driving poor Rick & Ellen mad asking them to check their car, and turning our house inside out, I called Clemy Jontri and left a message at their office. They called to tell me that it had not been turned in. Then, a day or so later, I get a call from the office at Clemy Jontri, saying that a camera meeting my description has been posted on Craig's List Lost & Found as being found at Clemy Jontri (the internet can be really miraculous). Sure enough, to make a long story short, it was our camera and after describing the photos on the camera, we met up with the lovely lady who had found it and by her endeavors, ensured the camera's return to us. It's a reminder to assume the best in people.

First Father's Day - Sesame Place

2008-06-27T00:29:00.005-05:00

During the week we opened up this wonderful doll sent to Indigo by her Aunt Dina, Uncle Ken and cousins Troy, Jenny and Michael. The doll comes with all sorts of things, even a diaper bag but what is most remarkable is how many things it says! Also, cute, Indigo lying on the couch in the window - such a little miss. How wonderful to celebrate David's first actual Father's Day with his daughter. We planned a trip to Sesame Place and had the best time. We drove up on the Saturday and were met there by Pam, Robert, Elizabeth and Catherine. They had already been at Hershey park and then zipped over to join us at Sesame Place. We had a fantastic day and stayed until park closing at 8 p.m. They got us to be pretty adventurous with the water rides and Indigo loved it. We did the lazy river (Indigo with lifevest and with Dad on tube), a slide ride that she did with both of us where she sat in front of tube, again with life vests and life guards waiting at pool below just in case. The big one was the best of all. Both families all in one giant raft that had a huge draft - we thought we would die laughing. David and I stayed overnight and went back to the park again the next day. It was lovely. Indigo did the carousel over and over. We left around 2 and drove back home with her sleeping pretty much the whole way back. It was a great time.

June continued

2008-06-27T00:27:00.011-05:00

We spent a lovely evening at our Temple on a Friday night for Shabbat rocks. There was dinner first in the social hall and then a really fun musical service where kids and noise with noisemakers etc. are encouraged. Afterwards there was more fun in the social hall before we left for home and bedtime. Our dear friends Marty & Laurie entrusted us with their new yellow lab puppy while they went away overnight. Copper is a little cutie pie but watching a puppy still being house-trained and a two-year old is no mean feat. Indigo really liked him and would call him "Popper". The weather was hot, hot and I had zoo shifts on the weekend in the high heat. We spent some afternoon and evening time at the lake. On Sunday we had friends Wendy and Skip come to dinner (actually, they were so awesome that they made dinner which they brought to us)! Seeking more friends like that :-) After a most delicious dinner (I think Indigo had at least 3 helpings) we all took a lovely walk to the garden. Indigo loved Skip and wanted to hold his hand on the walk - so cute.

We lose our beloved Caleb

2008-06-27T00:24:00.012-05:00

We were ready to enjoy a nice weekend after the ordeals of the one before. However, the weekend had mixed happiness and great sadness. We had previously reported that Caleb, our 13 1/2 year old lab was diagnosed with a cancerous rectal tumor in December. We had not thought that he would do so well for so long so we are grateful for the extra time we had. On the Friday evening when we went on a family walk with the dogs we noticed Caleb having some struggles (we had just taken him to the vet on Thursday for a check). On Saturday mid-morning we went to Rick & Ellen's to go to lunch with them and let the girls play at the playground together - both girls were so cute with their dads, but we did not want to be gone from home for too long. The rest of that Saturday afternoon and evening, Caleb seemed to be having difficulty and was straining each time he went outside - it seemed that the time had come to say goodbye to our dear friend. I don't know what to say about Caleb - he was a fine and good dog his whole life. We got him as a tiny puppy (that is what happens when you go with friends for them to get a puppy) and he was with us for 13 1/2 years. He was always good, gentle and sweet (and never voluntarily missed a meal). He also had some interesting eating habits and we know our friend Jon will never forget that Caleb ate the whole back of a pair of his boxer shorts! We miss him under the table when we have dinner and I miss him staring at me, stamping his feet, reminding me of it being his dinner time. I reach to pet his head next to the bed and it's not there. Egan, our rescued Setter is sad without him and Sparkle, our kitty, never knew the house without Caleb. We are reminded of him each time we find one of his black hairs, which is bound to continue for years to come. We are glad that Indigo got to know him as one of her two first dogs and that he taught her to be kind and gentle with dogs and that she need not fear them. He was ever patient with her.
On Sunday, we needed to take our minds off the new emptyness of our home. We went to the National Mall and went to the new Butterfly conservatory that is part of the Smithsonian. After that, we spent time on the mall for the celebration of Israel's 60th birthday - it was a hot day. We took a break in the shade and let Indigo cool down in just her diaper while she ate a blue & white cookie. After that we headed home. That night, I went to see Sex & the City with my friend Robyne, which provided a nice light moment.

End of May: Indigo sick - horribly sick, awful, terrible, and gross!

2008-06-27T00:20:00.006-05:00

I should title this "please get me the h$%* caught up on the blog! We would skip this entry but we want to memorialize Indigo's first really terrible illness. After her birthday we had still had Mom & Dad with us. David went on a business trip to Milwaukee so it was great to have Mom & Dad here with me. Mid-week we had a lovely picnic with Ellen and Sarah on the beach at the lake. The next morning, Mom and Dad were getting ready to head home, this was Thursday before Memorial Day weekend and Indigo threw up. She had coughed a bit before throwing up so we thought perhaps that had made her sick. Well, Mom & Dad left and things went rapidly down hill. She kept throwing up, it was so awful to see her so sick. By about the 7th time we were on our way to the doctor. She said that it was from mucus in her throat. I was a bit suspect, but hey, that's the doctor right. Poor Indigo threw up again on the car ride home. I dropped off the prescription at the drive-thru pharmacy and then waited to pick it up because I did not want to take her home and then have to take her out again. She threw up several more times that day and then I got her off to sleep and David came home that night. On Friday she seemed to be doing better and was not sick in the day - after she went to bed, she threw up three times (I love my Whirlpool Duet and was never so greatful for having a washer & dryer). On Saturday, she did not get sick (but also was not eating anything). She was taking some gatorade. However, she started having explosive, need to change everything, diarrhea. We called the doctor and she said, "she must have a bug" duh. She said to call again if there were more than 7 instances of diarrhea - I think we were at six when she went to bed. On Sunday, she seemed to be okay again and actually ate some eggs and was perky. I had a morning shift at the zoo so David brought her to walk around in the stroller. On the way home from the zoo, she started throwing up again. She then slept but started again after waking up. I could not take it anymore and she was so weak. I thought of every terrible thing it could be and said it's not worth the worry and so we went to the ER. They were great and saw her right away. They gave her a pedialyte popsicle and basically said that they would observe her. They did not want to do iv fluids which they said they avoid whenever possible. Officially, if she still had tears they did not consider her dehydrated but they were worried. They also said that the doctor diagnosis of mucous was bs and not to continue the antibiotic and questioned why the doctor had put her on albuterol syrup. So, nothing really happened and then (not for the squeamish) she had explosive diarrhea, that was so awful that it went through her clothes, up her front, back and all over poor David's shorts. By now, I was already carrying three outfits for her so I got her all cleaned up and got the doctor to come and get samples for testing. They got David some disposable scrubs (hmm, he kind of looked good in them). So, everything they test for was a big fat negative. Then they decide we'll give her 10cc (10ml) pedialyte every 20 minutes. It's now late at night and she wants to sleep. Then she throws up the pedialyte popsicle they had first given her. In a way that was good, because then they decided to put her on anti nausea medicine to control the vomiting and gave us a prescription for that (after I asked). That seemed to help. So we finally come home and she sleeps through the night. The next morning she was screaming for water and they only wanted her to have tiny amounts at a time - that was truly hard on us. It's now the Monday of Memorial Day and she pretty much spent the entire day dozing or sleeping on the couch. This still was kind of scary to us because it's not AT ALL typical for her. I kept trying to reassure myself by reminding myself of what her poor tiny body had been through. She is so little and had already lost a pound which is a lot for her. Anyway, she had a few more bouts of the runs which was also horrible because even though we took every precaution and changed her immediately, she still got a horrible sore bottom and she was in so much pain - again, we felt terrible. On Tuesday, I had to go to work because of scheduled training events and David stayed home with her. When we woke up she had a rash all over her legs (of course, I am thinking, as I had been all along, Meningitis), but David took her in to the doctor (saw the other doc this time) and she said it was another way of the body fighting whatever virus it was. She recommended benedryl for the rash and a cream for the diaper rash. David said she spent all of Tuesday laying on the couch again. After that, she started to recover and was pretty much back to normal. It was funny, because once she got her appetite back, she ate everything in sight, to make up. Unfortunately, I had a major technical snafu and the pitiful photos we took of the poor girl laying on the couch with kitty pillow were erased. So the only photos are of the happier memory of her beach picnic and play. I have to say that this experience gave me a whole new level of respect and sympathy for parents who have children who are chronically ill or worse - to have your babies suffering and not be able to help them is so awful.

Indigo's Second Birthday!

2008-06-27T00:16:00.003-05:00

The day before Indigo's birthday we had a lovely play day and picnic at the beach with Ellen and Sarah. On Indigo's actual birthday, I took her to work to have lunch with her Daddy and with her work aunties. We had a great lunch together and enjoyed cupcakes in her honor, and she enjoyed seeing everyone at the office. That evening, I cooked her favorite dinner of spaghetti. Ellen and Sarah came over to celebrate with us. Auntie Amy had sent a fantastic fruit bouquet to Indigo and so Indigo and Sarah just loved having that. After dinner we had cupcakes again and Sarah had two candles as well so that she could show Indigo how to blow them out. We had success after a few attempts. It was a lovely evening and a nice quiet celebration of the first birthday shared in person with our girl. Just as on referral day, it's another poignant moment, because I found myself wondering if her birth mother in China had thought of her on this day. We took her to the doctor for her two year check up the next day (I know - this did not really seem fair). Her statistics were all good, she weighed 25 lbs, 4oz which put her in the 35th percentile for weight and she was 35 inches tall, which they indicated put her in the 80th percentile for height. Her birthday seems to be a good spot for me to put some reminders about what else was happening "developmentally" at this time. Prior to April, she had been picking up words but just a few new words here and there, and just using them as singular words. Around mid-April, words seemed (to us anyway) to start exploding from her mouth and all of a sudden it seemed she could say whatever word she wanted to say (not that we could always understand). Then, we were watching for daddy to come home from work one day and watching the cars go by and she said "bye bye car" so I kind of consider that to be the first instance of our hearing several words together. From then on, words and 2-3 word sentences became the norm. Since this backs to May, we have come further since then, but will leave for future update. She also became enthralled with counting and could pretty steadily count to 10. It also seemed to be the turning point with actually knowing and correctly identifying colors. Before she could say the name of the color but identification was unreliable - considering how many color books we looked at - I wondered if she was color blind, but yes, as you laugh at me, that was just paranoia. She also got into naming shapes and would like us to draw shapes so she could name them. Her interest in coloring/drawing really picked up and became a favorite thing to do. Our girl is also wowed and fascinated by turtles! We're not quite sure how this came to be but she really likes turtles - hence the couple you will see on a log on her birthday cake. Gosh, it's hard to track this stuff. We live it every day and one day blends to the next. She also continues her love of books and reading takes up a part of every day - not just at bed time. I can't think of other stuff right and it's boring for the non-parents of Indigo, but as said before, this is also our journal for her. It all seems pretty fantastic to us. So, then Mom and Dad came back to us so that they could be here to celebrate the birthday (and they were a big help too). The birthday party was scheduled to be at one of our beaches and we had really hoped to have it there. We had the truck all packed the night before with everything going to the beach - the signs were made etc. However, early the morning of the party, the weather seemed very dicy and thunderstorms and lightning predicted. At some point, we finally just said, it's too risky, and we decided to host the party at the house. This meant trying to reach people to let them know, and unloading the truck, dad reposting signs to divert people back to house, getting the house set up to host a large number of people etc. Could not have done it all without the help of granny and granddaddy. The party was so fun (we thought). The kids had a blast out on the back patio blowing huge bubbles (and as the photos show, by kids, I mean some adults too); there was lots of fun playing indoors and then we had ordered pizzas to be delivered and we had the cake. Thanks to every one who came to help us celebrate this momentous event. Indigo got this Potatoe Head from my cousin and family, and as you can see, she just loved playing with it with granddad.

Lake Time, Sand Day and Mother's Day

2008-06-27T00:13:00.017-05:00

The first weekend of May we went to a playground where people were all meeting whose children will be going to the same pre-school that Indigo will start at in the Fall. She will be going to our temple pre school two mornings a week for three hours a time. We're very excited about her starting this. Indigo enjoyed the playground and we chatted with a few other people but really the playground was too small for the number of kids that were there and as per usual, when kids are all playing at a playground, nobody really gets to chat or know one another. After that we went and met with our friends Eugene and Julie. They live up the road from us in our neighborhood and were waiting for their referral from China. We had dim sum and the wait staff at the restaurant just fawned over Indigo. Later that day, our friends Pam and Robert were in our area because of a birthday party and so they brought their girls over to our house and we went to the lake, where we had a super time. Elizabeth and Catherine really took to the water - despite the fact that it was still cold (for adults anyway) and they had a blast. Then, they all took turns on the kayaks and took the girls out. We put Indigo in a life vest and for the first time she sat with her daddy on the kayak - they went about 10 feet max from the shore so that she would be safe - especially since we did not know what she would do. After a wonderful time at the lake, we went back to the house and David did a superb grill and I did side fix'ns and we had a great dinner. It was a lot of fun.

The next weekend our neighborhood celebrated "Sand Day". The lake has five beaches and every year, at the start of the season, they dump a huge pile of fresh sand on each beach. On Sand Day, they hold an event at one of the beaches where they hide goodies and coins in the sand pile for the kids to find, and they play tug 'o war, sack races, limbo etc. - all fun beach games. They serve brats and dogs and it's a fun time. The weather was really sketchy but the rain held off and so the event was on. Rick and Ellen were able to join us with Sarah and the girls had a really fun time. They raked in the sand and even ended up in their bathing suits paddling in the water.

That Sunday was Mother's Day - my first with my daughter actually here with me. It was not the greatest of days weather wise but we all got to be together. David had planned for us to go walking at a local woodland trail in a wildlife refuge (local wildlife). We had a lovely hike through the woods and then found a playground where Indigo had a great time playing. From there we went to another nature center that had a wonderful trail along a really nice creek. From there we went to brunch and then came home. Unfortunately, David had to go to work but Indigo and I got to spend the rest of the day together.

May 1, 2008 - We Celebrate One Year from Referral Date

2008-06-27T00:10:00.011-05:00

Unbelievably we reached the one year mark of seeing our precious Indigo's face for the first time last year on May 1, 2007. Many of our friends recalled their emotions of that day and we too, found ourselves reliving the roller coaster of emotions that we experienced. It was hard to believe that on May 1, 2007, that long waiting journey came to an end, and we saw the darling face of Ji Wen Zhou, born in Jiangxi province May 15 1006. The prior month we had been so bitterly disappointed when our 10/28/05 LID date did not make the cut off. Our group of friends all waiting together had been so very certain that we would be included and then rumors started that were rapidly proved true - it was not the month for us to see our daughters. That time was so hard and it took a lot to regroup and move on and wait for the next batch of referrals. Well, God bless the CCAA because they did not make us wait long and within less than a month rumors started flying that referrals were coming and this time our date was amongst them! Over the weekend I had been at a scrapping retreat with a bunch of girls (yeah, have not scrapped anything since then) but it was a fun get away with girls and I got to walk and read and watch the birds. It was at that time I saw my very first Indigo Bunting! I also saw multiple ladybugs that weekend. On Monday, it was impossible to do a stitch of work as we all kept relaying the rumors we were hearing about the referrals. I was freaking out because I had an event at the Patent Office on Tuesday which I was attending with colleagues from work, including someone from out of the office. Unbelievably, we kept it to ourselves (except for family) that news seemed imminent. Our agency confirmed with us that there was a stork alert and that the stork was on it's way to our agency. They told us that if on Tuesday we got an e-mail say that they had our referral then we would be phoned that day. David and I planned that he would go to work to see if the e-mail arrived and then he would come and get me from the Patent Office and we would go home together to receive the news. On my way to the USPTO with my colleagues I told them that I had to leave early because we were expecting the news - needless to say, I could barely concentrate at all but the event was really just a kudos for a beta in which we had participated. Anyway, to make a long story short, David got me (despite him being so ecstatic and wound up that he came to the wrong entrance and I had to run through the building to the other side to find him) and we drove home. He confirmed that the e-mail had come saying the agency had our referral! We sat by the phone and sure enough it rang - well, we tried to answer so fast that we hung up on them! We were freaking out. I can't remember if we ended up phoning them back or if they phoned us again - it was a blur. The referral counselor started giving us the baby's information and with shaking hand we tried to process and write down what she was telling us. I don't remember much except her saying - do you want to see her photos? Duh!!!! She sent them to us and we just cried and looked at her face. We eventually phoned parents and I choked out "we have our daughter" before just completely falling apart. I did not want to leave the computer because I did not want to stop looking at her. Eventually, our friend Tricie said we had to celebrate and to come over so we copied her photos to a cd and stopped at CVS to print them so we could keep looking and go to Tricie's house where we celebrated the news. I had to go to bed that night with her photo at the bedside table. Now, it's a year later since that day and she is our daughter and it's imcomprehensible that a year has passed. On that day, we were excited for us and on cloud nine. Since having her, I have reflected a lot on the fact that some incredible and wonderful woman, chose to have her baby and place her in a safe place where she would be found and ultimately become our daughter. We are so grateful to that woman and we only wish she could know that the daughter she gave birth to is LOVED, happy and safe. If it were not for China and the circumstances there involving the restrictions on numbers of children etc. we would not have our daughter and we are very much aware that our happiness is not without someone else having grief. As everyone with children knows, words cannot describe the love we feel for this child.
To celebrate the referral day we got together for dinner with Ellen, Rick and Sarah at our Canton Cafe and had a lovely celebration dinner with our girls.
Pictures of those first referral photos (we don't know how old she was then) and one year later, Indigo on May 1, 2008.

California - friends, wedding, Sea World and we all get sick!

2008-06-27T00:08:00.004-05:00

We took off for our long awaited trip to California - we were so excited to be going and to having Indigo meet David's brothers and their families, to see our new niece, to attend the wedding of our niece Jessica, and to have Indigo meet all our dear friends from high school and college who live in CA. Our dear friends Marty and Laurie took Caleb and Egan (the same weekend they ended up getting a new lab puppy!). We were really grateful to them looking after the dogs especially with Caleb having the cancer and we had to write all the necessary permissions etc. but he ended up doing great and the puppy loved having the big boys. Anyway, back to CA. Indigo was really super on the flight out - we were cheap and did not buy her a ticket since she was not yet two so we spent pretty much the whole flight with her bouncing around on top of us - she slept about the last 30 minutes of a five hour flight, but she was happy and really good the whole time. We dealt with getting our rental car and headed to David's mom's house - it's about 11 a.m. on a Friday - LA traffic - dead halt on the freeway. We lived there but the traffic seems way worse. We hung out at the house and rested until Grandma Lee came home from work. Late that night, our dear friends, Lisa and Tim and their daughter Kiki arrived. They had driven that night from San Luis Obispo, where Lisa and I went to college together and were roommates for a couple of years. Kiki will be two in August so she is just under 3 months younger than Indigo. On Saturday the girls got to meet and play - Grandma had bought all kinds of dolls, toys and a stroller to play with at the house. After a little competition, mostly Indigo intimidating poor Kiki, they got along like a house on fire and we had the best few days together. On the Sunday morning, we all left LA together and went up with Tim, Lisa and Kiki to San Luis Obispo (SLO). We hung out Sunday and did our favorite things like going to the mission creek and having Country Culture yogurt and then we walked (the great thing about SLO is that you can walk everywhere) to Lisa's parent's house and had dinner. Lisa's siblings and spouses were there too so we were really happy to see everyone. On the Monday, we had a wonderful day - coffee at Linneas, and then meeting some of Lisa's friends at the playground for a play date. From there we walked back to their house for the girls to have lunch and nap and then we went to the horse unit of our university and saw all the baby foals born this spring - oh my gosh - there were so many and they were so cute! They were so friendly and we petted little small noses and had a wonderful time. Then we went to the horticultural gardens at the university and went walking through all the gardens, the most spectacular being the "South African" gardens and I show no bias. It turns out that we were there later than we were supposed to be and we kind of got locked in but we found another way out and were able to access the car. Sadly, after that we had to pack up and hit the road back to LA. The first slide show is all of our time with Lisa, Tim and Kiki, at David's mom's house and then up in SLO and a couple with Grandma back at the house.

By the time we were back in LA David and I were both starting to feel under the weather and it just kept getting worse. After a day or two hanging out in LA we headed down to the Riverside/Moreno Valley area for the start of the wedding events. David was starting to a do a little better but I had a full blown head cold and felt pretty miserable. The first night we had a rehearsal dinner which was really nice event and our first chance to see David's brother Ken, his wife Dina, our nieces and nephews, including Jessica who was marrying Doug. We also got to meet Doug's family. The restaurant was a big spaghetti factory and so Indigo was happy with her dinner. She was very good for the whole event. The next day Dina and Ken hosted a great afternoon and evening at their home and the kids (grown up ones too) all got to play with bubbles. We had good Mexican food and a wonderful casual evening with all the family. The next day David played with Indigo in the hotel pool and him and his mom took Indigo to a little park to play while I tried to get some sleep in my efforts to get better. Later we went to Ken and Dina's and helped with wedding stuff - the table place settings and we just hung out and had left over Mexican food - it was all very nice and casual. The next morning, Jessica, the bride, decided that she was going to cook breakfast for Grandma, me, David and Indigo and so we went to Doug (the groom) mom's house and had a super breakfast and a nice relaxing time just hanging out, sitting outside and enjoying the weather etc. Indigo loved all the dogs there! We then all headed to the Mission Inn where we were staying for the wedding. The Mission Inn is amazing and gorgeous and spectacular. If you are ever in CA and need a get-away weekend, this place is a treasure - presidents have honeymooned there. Again we got to see people we have not seen for a while who were coming to the wedding. Seymour and Gitty who have been friends of David's parents for many, many years, back to their childhood's in NY were there and they were just so sweet and enamoured by Indigo. She loved flirting with Seymour. On the morning of the wedding we had the most divine brunch at the hotel with Gitty and Seymour and then it was time to prepare for the wedding. By this time, I was starting to feel on the upside of the cold but Indigo was starting to show signs of a cold starting - oh boy. The wedding was beautiful! The flowers were some of the most amazing I have ever seen. Of course, the bride was stunning and her groom handsome. We got to see David's brother Steven and his wife Alissa, who just became parents to our beautiful niece Sarina at the end of March. They had left her for a few hours with proud grandparents so that they could come to the wedding and a bit of the reception before heading home. Unfortunately, because we were recovering from illness and Indigo seemed to be getting sick, we had to be careful with proximity. After Indigo had eaten David took her for a nap and then after a while I went and relieved him and stayed with her and then we all went back to dance some more. The next day we had to check out. I was worried about Indigo so we found a really nice clinic and took her in - mostly to rule out an ear infection since we were traveling on down to San Diego for a few days. So, we just get back from the clinic and David accidentally slammed my right hand in the car door and my middle finger was particularly damaged. So now, I have a shoulder just out a sling that is barely functional and a bum right hand. Did I mention also that in LA David had kicked his foot on a suitcase or something and his whole foot was black and blue! So, we head on our way to San Diego. The next slide show is photos from the wedding events and the wedding.

When we got to San Diego and checked in, David and his mom went to visit Steve and the new baby. We did not want to expose the new baby to Indigo and besides, she needed to get to bed and have a good night sleep. She woke up great the next day and David, Indigo, Grandma and I all went to Sea World. We got there early and had the most spectacular time. Indigo absolutely loved it. She was so great at all the shows - even while waiting for them to start. She loved the dolphin show, and the Shamu Orca show. It was a great day. We left around 2 and took her back to the hotel for a nap. That evening we were invited to Steve and Alissa's for a Passover Seder. Ken and the family came down and Alissa's family was there. It was agreed that the baby would stay upstairs with her parents checking on her so that she would not be exposed to contagion. However, I was permitted to have a peek at her and take a picture. Indigo had been doing great all day but as is common with colds, started to get worse as the night wore on, and the evening and dinner ran late and things were going down hill so David and I left with her and went back to the hotel and Grandma (that party girl) came home later. The next day, our girl was perky again and so we went back to Sea World for the morning and again had an amazing time - she loved the walrus and we saw the penguins. We saw the sealion show which she loved, fed the dolphins and did the Shamu show again and then left and she was able to nap the whole drive back to LA. Back in LA, we hung out and tried to get a little R&R. We had a lovely evening with our friend Sabina, and we had a wonderful breakfast and time with friends Fran & Jeff - Indigo loved playing with Jeff and he dragged her all around the floor on this furry blanket. We had a wonderful Chinese dinner with Seymour & Gitty who were keen to see Indigo again. Before we knew it, it was time to get back on the plane and head back home. The next slides are of the time in San Diego and then back in LA. As you can tell, it was a great time but sadly marred by all the illness.

Hallelujah - made it to April!

2008-06-26T23:56:00.018-05:00

Whew - catching up is tough but I am determined to get there and get in the milestone events of one year from referral, her birthday and then the biggie - one year since Gotcha Day.
Mom was with us in the beginning of April and still helping out in a major way. We enjoyed another lovely sunny day picnic at one of the beaches on the lake with Ellen and Sarah. Sarah now also calls Mom "Granny". David enjoyed an evening walk to the garden with "his girl" and took some cute photos of her. Mom, Indigo and I also went to visit Elizabeth (Indigo's babysitter) to see her and her new beautiful baby boy. While Elizabeth has been on leave, her lovely sister Maia has been caring for Indigo and the transition went very well - Maia was coming with Elizabeth during her last few weeks so Indigo already was very comfortable with her. Dad came back from his week working in Harrisburg and enjoyed having his granddaughter on his lap again before heading back to Myrtle Beach. They took our cat Sparkle with them to look after her as we were going to be leaving for California. On the weekend we had a terrific time (if a bit cold and rainy) at the birthday party of our friend Susan's twins, Emma and Lillian. They were two and the party was at this delightful farm where the kids could pet and feed the animals and we did a hayride etc.

End of March - Yeah - A visit from Shelli, Jason, Rou Rou and Hui Hui!

2008-06-13T20:44:00.027-05:00

After three weeks of helping to care for our family, my mom had to leave to go home for a week. It was great to have her and it was great to see her and Indigo getting to know one another. Indigo was so cute "dressing up" Granny one day and she enjoyed playing in her flashing Princess cowgirl boots! Right after Mom left, we had visitors! We were so excited to have a visit from Shelli, Jason, Rou Rou and Hui Hui. It was our first time getting to meet Hui Hui and she is adorable - she just has the cutest grin.

Indigo loved having the girls in the house. Shelli and family drove to us from Michigan where they have been living the past year. Sadly, the weather was not fabulous while they were here - despite having been perfect right before (and with their icky winter they had been having, they were in need of sunshine). We loved seeing them and enjoyed a walk to the garden by the lake and seeing the first pink blossoms coming out on the trees. We went to our temple together and David and Jason spent some time, under blue skies, down at the lake with the girls where they enjoyed the beach and swings. On Sunday they had activities with friends and we went to partake of the Easter festivities at the home of our friends Mary and Terry. Mary had a little easter egg hunt for the kids and Indigo really enjoyed finding eggs for her basket. We had a great dinner and the kids enjoyed a bath together. During the next week Shelli and the girls had lots of people to see and catch up with but we did rejoin again for Friday night dinner and temple. It was wonderful to see them all. During that week Ellen and Sarah picked us up one day with a picnic lunch and we headed out to a super park in MD which has both a train and a carousel, as well as a great playground. Same sob story - I was still in the sling and unable to drive so it was great that Ellen was prepared to help me by helping with Indigo. The weather was glorious and it was a great day out. That weekend as Shelli et al. were moving on, Mom and Dad arrived back at our house. Their friends, Chris and Linda, who we know because of their long friendship with Mom and Dad, came to D.C. to meet up here with Mom & Dad. It was wonderful to have them staying with us and Indigo took a massive fancy to Chris - she loved him. On the Saturday we went into D.C. on the metro for the kite festival. It was so fun and especially great because we were able to meet up with the three of the other families with adopted

girls from China and the girls got to run and play together on the mall - we just love seeing all our girls together. It was a beautiful day with blue sky and Dad got his kite way high up in the air - all the way out to the end of the string. After the kite flying we took a great walk down to the tidal basin where the magnificent cherry blossoms were in peak bloom - so gorgeous. We then saw some other monuments and headed home. On Sunday, before Chris and Linda had to hit the road we took a nice walk to the garden by the lake. A lovely weekend!

March Zoo trip

2008-06-13T19:38:00.002-05:00

For our weekly outing we decided to go to the zoo. Mom was going to go with us but she was in need of a break and Ellen said that she could drive Indigo and me and manage Indigo if I needed help - I was still in the sling with the strap fastened around my body and not able to even put Indigo into a car seat. Pam was able to join us with her girls and so we all had a really fun outing to the zoo. We had a great time going around Asia trail and then just when we were almost finished lunch the rain started and so we headed home. I love the photo of the Elizabeth, Catherine and Sarah on the sloth bear sculpture - Indigo would not go near it!

March continued,

2008-06-13T19:31:00.002-05:00

With Mom still here, we enjoyed another lovely picnic with Sarah and Ellen. The girls first played at the house and loved playing on the Dora car together. After that we headed to Beach 5 for a picnic lunch. The girls enjoyed running on the grass, kicking a ball on the beach and then also had a lot of fun playing at the lake edge on the beach, putting sticks in the water. Granny spent a lot of time retrieving sticks. On the weekend, Granddaddy came (he had been working in PA during the week). We took a drive to Huntley Meadows which is one of our favorite county wildlife refuge parks. It has a super boardwalk through natural wetlands and we always see good birds. This time we saw a neat frog and cool turtles. We had a picnic lunch watching all the birds coming to the feeders they have out at the visitor center. It was a lovely family outing.
During the week, our friend Tiffany came over for dinner - Mom/Granny cooked a yummy Shepherd's pie of which Indigo had three helpings! Tiffany had bought Indigo her own special cupcake which she loved.

March Madness - Play Dates and Zoo Visits

2008-06-07T13:36:00.009-05:00

Crocus - proof of Spring! So we came into March with me in a sling 24/7 and still in a lot of pain. Mom was here helping to take care of Indigo while David was working and also helping us by helping with laundry, cooking, groceries etc. all the things that it usually takes the two of us to get done. It was so hard not being able to pick Indigo up and having to tell her to be careful when sitting on my lap - I was icing my shoulder all the time and she would say "cooooold ice" it was very cute. David had to do all her baths because I just did not think it safe to try bathing her one armed and I could not change her at all (diapers or clothes). We were so happy that Spring was finally here so that we could spend lots of time outside between the cold of winter and before the heat of summer. I was still in a lot of pain and really not able to fend for myself but it was good to be outside.

During this time of getting better, we were so glad to have Ellen coming weekly with Sarah to play with us, and it was the start of having many wonderful weekly picnics. While it was still difficult for me to travel and go places, we stayed close to home and our first picnic was just at the little garden at the end of our road. Indigo and Sarah loved seeing the geese! On the weekend, David, Indigo and I went with Granny to the zoo. It was a cold day but we spent a long time in Amazonia which is really hot and Indigo was just completely enthralled by the turtles she saw.

Ugggh, shoulder surgery

2008-05-24T18:42:00.011-05:00

On February 28th I had shoulder surgery. I had somehow managed to tear my labrum which resulted in my shoulder continually partially dislocating. I had been doing PT for a month to strengthen prior surgery and then went in for arthroscopic surgery on an out patient basis. I thought it would be no big deal but boy was I wrong. The surgery was about 1 1/2 hours and David and Indigo waited for me. We came home and I was just in excruciating agony - way worse than I had expected. I also don't do well with anesthesia and so, despite the fact that they gave me something called "happy tummy" in my iv, I ended up being sick as a dog. Fortunately, by Saturday my mom was able to come to help us which was a good thing because poor David was exhausted from his two days of caring for Indigo, me and the pets. I really could not do a thing - not to help and not for myself. It was awful and continued to be for quite some time. Anyway, while I recovered, we had my mom here for three weeks and we really appreciate all that she did to help us. On an early day of convalescence Tricie came over with her girls and helped entertain Indigo a while by reading to her - David, on other hand, entertained me with his gymnastics of having Indigo fly up in the air on his legs.

Mommy's shoes and the Oscars

2008-05-24T15:32:00.003-05:00

By February Indigo was really starting to get a kick out of putting on our shoes and stepping about the house. The one day she put on these big fleece lined boots of mine - it was so funny. Our friends David and Elizabeth join us for the Oscars every year - it's been a long standing tradition. They came up for the event and to spend the night and Indigo really enjoyed their six-year old daughter Phiala. Phiala is very sweet and thinks of Indigo as her little sister. This was our last hoorah prior to my surgery or at least the last of me being capable of hosting and entertaining.

Chinese New Year Party at our House

2008-05-24T14:43:00.003-05:00

To continue celebrating Chinese New Year we decided to have a party at our house. The party was so fun and it seemed that a good time was had by all. We had quite a crowd but all the kids were super and the Chinese food delicious. Thanks also to everyone who helped contribute with drinks, additional food, moon cakes and almond cookies - we really appreciate it. We decorated the house in the spirit of the holiday and all the kids received lucky red envelopes as they departed.

Cookies for Valentine's Day

2008-03-30T16:50:00.008-05:00

February brings Valentine's Day and David's brithday. Melanie had a lovely day with Indigo and Sarah decorating baked cookies at Ellen's. I really enjoyed the yummy cookies.

Chinese New Year Fesitivities

2008-03-27T21:56:00.009-05:00

The Year of the Rat marked our first Chinese New Year with Indigo. We went to a Chinese New Year celebration with several of the other families that traveled with us to China at a mall in Maryland. It was wonderful to see all the girls dressed in their Chinese dresses. The next day we took the Metro and met Pam and Robert with their daughters Elizabeth and Catherine and Ellen with Sarah to attend the New Year's Parade in Chinatown. Afterwards we went to the Chinese Cultural Center. Indigo loved the parade, as well as all the decorations we put up at home to celebrate the New Year. Interestingly she wants a book entitled My First Chinese New Year read over and over again, and especially is interested in the pages related to the parade (such as the Lion Dancers and the Dragon).

woo hoo, we made it to February!

2008-03-19T21:27:00.014-05:00

The first Sunday of February our friend Deirde came over and spent the night so she could get to know Indigo. Deidre works with us so she just came into the office with us the next morning. Deidre was very sweet and brought Indigo a fabulous dress-up outfit and a tall giraffe for measuring her height. We had a lovely evening and then the next morning, after Indigo had fed Deirdre sufficient cheerios and had her read enough books, we headed into the office.

Indigo loves her dogs and here are some pictures of her loving her Caleb doggie.

Melanie took Indigo to have her hair cut before the start of Chinese New Year - sadly no photos, but a much happier event than her first hair cut. With a fresh hair cut it was off to have some photos taken for Chinese New Year and also of her Valentine's outfit. We're including some of the photos of Indigo in her Chinese Dress. With Chinese New Year officially underway we looked forward to our upcoming weekend events to celebrate!

No Winter Blues Here - Through 1/31/08

2008-01-13T15:30:00.027-05:00

Indigo is wearing a blue sweater knittted by our friend Tanja. Speaking of knitting, Melanie had a knit night with various neighborhood knitters over, some of whom are in a class that Melanie attends. We had a fun long Martin Luther King weekend. We were invited to brunch at the Army Navy Club in downtown DC to celebrate our friend Rick's birthday. We had to dress up, which gave us an opportunity for Indigo to wear one of her pretty dresses. Indigo and Sarah looked adorable and behaved amazingly well in the ornate dining room. Later that night, our friend Amy came over to babysit Indigo while we met our friends Becky & Subir at an Eddie From Ohio "EFO" concert at the Birchmere. Amy brought her oldest son Jacob which turned out to be a good thing since Indigo really took to him. Unbelievably, an opening act called One Horse Town sang a song entitled "Heart of Indigo", which brought tears to Melanie's eyes. Needless to say we have a signed CD from all the band members.
The following Saturday, we had a fabulous time and dinner at
over at our friends Gabi & Stephen with their two daughters Chloe and Isa. Indigo was fascinated with each of their hamsters. They also gave Indigo her first tricycle, which included a license plate with her name on it. We could not get over how quickly Indigo caught on about peddling, soon she will be riding a bike! There was also much fun singing karaoke without any drinks.
On the Sunday, Indigo and I drove Melanie to the airport for her flight to Milwaukee which was the first time Melanie spent a night away from her. I then took Indigo to a playground at a park and to see the ducks and geese in a pond.
After all of Melanie's worries, we survived the three and half days that she was in Milwaukee. We had the babysitter on the Monday and Tuesday while I worked and then Ellen came over with Sarah on Wednesday and spent the day at our house looking after both girls which was really awesome of her.

January Catch-up Continued Through 1/13/08

2008-01-13T15:28:00.009-05:00

Indigo has developed her first true attachment to a stuffed animal or doll, which is her kitty pillow. She must sleep with it, and will hold it when you take her out of her crib in the morning. She calls it her kitty. She is also beginning to say more words. Among her favorite new words are saying meow, bye-bye and mmm for moo (we are so behind on posting that since we wrote those words Indigo's vocabulary has greatly expanded). We went to an open house at our Temple to apply to their pre-school for next September. This will be a two day morning program.

On Saturday morning, Melanie took Indigo to Patricia's house where Indigo had a play date with Patricia and Robyne's kids.

We had a lovely evening when Rick, Ellen and Sarah came over for dinner and we shared a belated gift exchange. The girls were so cute and had a wonderful evening playing together.

First weekend of 2008

2008-01-07T22:23:00.002-05:00

We drove out to Warrenton and met up with our friend Joanne and her three year old son Miles, as well as our friend Robyne and her twins, Calli and Stirling and Alexandria. After having lunch we went to a local park where the kids played. Indigo enjoyed Miles' small two wheel bicycle with training wheels. Unfortunately the only photos we got that day were on the cell phone. The next day Melanie took Indigo to the barn to meet up with Robyne. Indigo sat on Dan for the first time, but again we were without camera. Indigo enjoyed playing with these blocks which were given to us by friends Toni and Tom while we were still waiting for her.

New Year - Six months and 2008

2008-01-07T22:21:00.010-05:00

Whoa there - don't faint! A long overdue update - that's one resolution that's already hit the toilet. We had a really lovely New Year's evening. Our friends Marty, Laurie and their two boys, Connor and Aidan and the puppy Cody all came over for dinner, exchange of holiday gifts, watching a movie, celebration of the New Year and to spend the night. We had a great evening and it was particularly nice to all be at the house in the morning together on New Year's day. We cooked breakfast and then took all the dogs to the dog park before Marty & Laurie et al. headed home.

As has become an annual tradition for at least the past 3 years for us, later on New Year's Day we went to the traditional good luck dinner hosted by Jayme and Bill. Jayme always makes the most amazing meal of sausages, pork and sauerkraut and accompanying fixings. We can't believe how many people they are able to host for a sit down dinner and this year she had even more people. We all had a super time.

On January 1st it was six months of having our beloved Indigo in our lives. It seems like both a short amount of time and also forever. It sure does seem like it was ages ago that we were in China having her placed in our arms and I look at pictures of her then and hardly recognize her. 2008 - the first full year with our daughter - that makes it a good start! Lots of catching up to do so hopefully another post to follow soon.

Week of Christmas holiday in Myrtle Beach & Dim Sum

2008-01-07T22:20:00.001-05:00

We headed down to stay with my parents in Myrtle Beach on the Saturday before Christmas. We hit a fair bit of traffic and the journey took us 9 hours. Indigo was really super and did not get cranky until about the 8 hour mark - who could blame her, we were cranky by then too.

Our time in Myrtle Beach was really super. We took some time almost every day to take a walk on the beach with my parents and the dogs. Several times we were joined on the beach by my sister Clare, her dog Meathead, her boyfriend Josh and his son Jacob. We love being on the beach and it was especially special to have Caleb there with us, where he really enjoyed himself.

Christmas Day was fun with Indigo really enjoying receiving presents and the family all having a roast lamb dinner. One of Indigo's favorite books is Goodnight Gorilla - she loves it. Granddad taught her to pound her chest when she sees a gorilla so one of the gifts from Granddad and Granny was a plush gorilla. They also gave her an adorable oinking/walking pig and a very special gift of a music box with a spinning dreidel. The dogs both got new toys too!

One day we took a drive out to Huntington Beach State Park where we enjoyed a walk along the boardwalk through the marshy wetlands, checking out the bird life. While there we also went to Atalaya, which was a winter home of Archer and Anna Huntington, built around the early 30s and last visited by them in 1947. Atalaya was really interesting as it was built in a Moorish architecture similar to that of what is along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It is now essentially ruins but the layout and rooms are all essentially intact and there are all these beautiful arches and tall palmettos. From there we walked right down to the beach which is awesome because there are no houses. Some people were feeding gulls and Indigo was fascinated watching them. On our return home we drove through Myrle's Inlet and enjoyed the sunset and the pelicans. One evening Mom and Dad were kind enough to watch Indigo and we got to go the movies! We saw Charlie Wilson's War which was really superb and we highly recommend. We left the next Saturday. The journey home was pretty good until about the last 40 odd miles out from Washington and then it was dreadful. David drove the whole way on both trips and he did a superb job.

On Sunday we enjoyed a great brunch of Dim Sum with a couple of the families with whom we had traveled to China. The girls had a fabulous time and were all very cute.

Season craziness continued

2007-12-19T22:54:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-15T10:21:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-05T15:08:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-05T15:06:00.001-05:00

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.

Week and weekend of November 12th - 18th

2007-12-05T15:03:00.000-05:00

What do you know, we're behind on posting again and getting friendly nudges for updates. Going back a little to the week before Thanksgiving. Ellen and Sarah came over here for lunch and brought Schatzie and I thought these photos of Sarah kissing Indigo and of Indigo with Schatzie were really cute. On the Friday of that week we took Indigo to temple for Tot Shabbat. She seemed to really enjoy all the singing. This service is geared towards young kids so it's earlier and short. Indigo particularly enjoyed the cookies and juice served afterwards. Our friend Miriam was very sweet and made Indigo this lovely frame which she brought to the service. On Saturday we spent most of the day at home cleaning house getting ready for all the Thanksgiving company. On Saturday night friends in the neighborhood invited us over for an open house to view Bobbi's paintings. Bobbi is an artist in our neighborhood and we got to know her and her husband when I had her do a painting of the lake for David one year. Indigo had a really fun time there and enjoyed their dog Phoebe very much. On Sunday we had a really fun day when Eugene and Julie came over for breakfast and then joined us at the dog park. Eugene and Julie are also neighbors and we got to know them because we had learned through the neighborhood grapevine that they were adopting from China. They are very much hoping to get their referral in January and so we're crossing our fingers. They loved seeing and playing with Indigo and we all enjoyed the dog park together. On Sunday evening we had our very dear friends Marty and Laurie over for dinner with their boys Connor and Aidan and their new lab puppy Cody. It was a lovely evening together and Indigo enjoyed having Connor read to her. We met Marty and Laurie more than 14 years ago when we had our first Irish Murphy as a puppy and they had a black Lab Molson and we got the dogs together every day to play - the first children. Their dog Barley was Caleb's brother from when we added second dogs to the family. It was funny because Indigo got some ice cream dessert on her bottom and the puppy kept licking her bottom. It was fun to have the puppy over but boy we kept talking about how much work it is to have a puppy again when we're all used the senior citizen dog.

Girl loving her doggie

2007-11-28T10:33:00.000-05:00

Indigo's favorite word is doggie and she just loves both of her dogs. She is always petting them and loving them and as you can see, lying on them. Here she is with Caleb.

Next update coming later today - our trip to Myrtle Beach (for those who have been fussing at me for the delay).

November 8-11th

2007-11-23T14:52:00.000-05:00

The week after we returned from Myrtle Beach we enjoyed a visit from our friend Elizabeth and her daughter Phiala who were in town and able to have dinner with us. On Thursday we had lunch with Ellen and Sarah and then enjoyed a bit of shopping together. The sweater that Indigo is wearing is the first sweater I ever knitted and I made in the knitting classes I started taking while waiting for Indigo so it was really special to see her in it - even though it's still a bit big. For a non-football famlily we think it looks like she'll have a good throw. Indigo still does not have an abundance of words but she started saying baby and she is springing some big top and bottom molar teeth. Indigo has also really been enjoying collecting all the falling acorns - there has been a deluge of them this year. She likes to collect them in her basket and then toss them all out again so she was having fun doing this on our driveway. On Saturday morning Indigo had great fun pushing around the laundry basket and then sitting in it while I twirled her around - who needs toys? We had a surprise birthday party for a friend from work on Saturday early lunch time. It was a lot of fun and she was completely surprised. Indigo's party outfit is from her self-professed "number 1 fan" Terry, who I met through my work with her office at the PTO and also then personally through my friend Mary. We love this little pink corderoy dress. From the party I left to go and do a volunteer shift at the zoo and then met David and Indigo back at the house. We went to dinner at the home of the Gustafson's - what an amazing couple - they have five children! Number 4 kid ended up being twins so we're pretty in awe of them. Kathy is our financial advisor and over the years we have also become personal friends. They had another couple over who are pursuing adoption from China so that couple was very excited to see Indigo and talk to us about our experience. We had a terrific evening. On Sunday morning we went to the dog park with the dogs so that they could get a good run and then I went to the zoo for another zoo shift. My last of the season. It was a really fun shift because the cheetah brothers were really active and the two young Grevy zebras were very playful and were interacting a lot through the fence with the cheetah boys so I had a lot of interest and questions from the public.

Myrtle Beach 10/31 - Sunday 4th

2007-11-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

We wanted Indigo to meet her Aunty Clare, Melanie's sister, who lives in Myrtle Beach. Late on Wednesday afternoon of Halloween we left for Myrtle Beach. I was concerned about how well Indigo would do in the car seat considering our past drives have taken as long as 8 hours or more. Indigo was truly amazing. The good news was the drive only took 7 hours, but she only slept for about an hour. She snacked (a lot), listened to music, looked at books and played with mama who sat next to her. Our Expedition was filled to the brim because we also had our two dogs and cat, along with all the luggage (how can such a small person require so much stuff, the pack 'n play, stoller, booster, etc.). Melanie was sick with a bad head cold but was excited to be visiting Clare and for us to be having a mini vacation.

We had the most marvelous time in Myrtle Beach. Indigo loved her Aunty Clare and we got to spend a lot of time together. On Thursday, November 1, it was our four month anniversary of having Indigo in our lives - it is remarkable to us every day how phenomenal she is and what an impact she has had on our lives. Not a day goes by where we don't say "we're so lucky to have her". It's been an amazing four months, and now as we post this so late, it's almost about to be five, and we're planning our six month post-placement report with the social worker which is required by China. On the Thursday, Josh, Clare's boyfriend was working but we were able to go out with Clare and Jacob (Josh's son). We had a lovely lunch together and then took the kids to the carousel and other rides at Broadway at the Beach. Clare and Jacob had a great time on the rides. After that we went and fed the ducks and these incredibly large fish. They have vending machines to get food out for them and the fish just climb all over each other with these vast gaping mouths. That night Melanie cooked dinner for everyone and Clare made a divine dessert which Indigo just loved. Indigo was kissing her Aunt and then they were throwing their heads back laughing with one another. After the children had gone to bed we watched a movie. It was a great day. On Friday we had another lovely day - very mellow. We ran some errands with Clare and then went to visit Josh's mom. Indigo enjoyed being there and was very happy to ride the large rocking horse and then had a tentative try on the trampoline with her Aunty Clare. We spent the evening at Melanie's Uncle Bernard's house. He is her father's cousin and he and his wife live down the road from Melanie's parents. His daughter Marie Louise (Melanie's second cousin) and her husband Tom and their two children Eleanor and William came in for the evening and we all had a very nice time together. Little Eleanor was very sweet playing with Indigo.

On Saturday we had the most superb day at Brookgreen Gardens. We went in the morning with Clare, Josh and Jacob and had a fantastic time. The weather was glorious and the gardens are so magnificent. Their vastness is indescribable - huge place. It's filled with amazing sculptures and fountains. We all loved this one of the muses running across the water. We had a lot of fun including all rolling down this big grassy slope. Later we went to the small wildlife protective area there and saw otters, fox, owls, hawks and other water birds. It was a great day.

On Sunday we hit the beach in the morning and Indigo just loved it! She could not get enough of wading in the water and ended up with her pants soaked but she had such a great time. After we returned from the beach, it was time to pack up and be on our way. We were sad to leave and little Jacob was so sad that Indigo was leaving that he cried. We're looking forward to our return visit over the December holidays. We had a really good trip home. Indigo slept more than on the way home and was just very good for the whole journey. We had bought her a doodlebug and she really got into scribbling on that and then getting a kick out of erasing her scribbles.

Boo at the Zoo and Neighborhood Halloween Parade Oct 27-28

2007-10-29T22:07:00.000-05:00

We had another fun filled, but busy weekend. Our friend Tanya came over to go to Boo At the Zoo, and we met up with Ellen, Rick and Sarah there too. This is annual fundraising event for FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo). The Zoo is decorated and there are stations from one end of the place to the other passing out various treats and goodies. In our rush to have everything for Indigo, "we forgot the bottom pants of her kangaroo costume", but she still looked adorable (Melanie says - hmmm, the famous "we" - no mind, as our friend Tanja said, she was a kanga zebra - kangaroo top and stripey legs. We also were fortunate to find our friends Mary, Terry and their two kids, Alex and Adam among the throngs of people. Indigo absolutely loved the chocolate covered ice cream dips that were among the many goodies handed out.

Our Halloween festivities would continue with us participating in our neighborhoods Halloween Parade on Sunday. This time Indigo was in her full Kangaroo costume and she looked very cute. The parade goes from Beach 5 to Beach 3 with the local police shutting down the street.

The parade has fire trucks, the local High School marching band particpates and hundreds of residents came out either to march or watch. Then their are goodies and drinks with the band performing down at another beach. Indigo loved eating the home made cookies and sipping lemonade. Later that day, Melanie left to volunteer at Boo at the Zoo.

Sarah's birthday at Sesame Place and the Pumpkin Patch Oct. 19 - 21st

2007-10-25T16:46:00.001-05:00

Our friends Ellen & Rick invited us to join them in celebrating their daughter, Sarah's 2nd birthday by going to Sesame Place in Pennslyvania. We all drove up together in one car together on Friday after work - the girls were very good. We had a nice dinner together and then tucked in for the night - it was a brand new experience for Indigo to sleep in the pack-n'play and she took a while to fall asleep. We were in our bed and she kept popping up and saying "hi" and then she would make kissing sounds at us. However, she did eventually fall asleep and slept until morning. Bright and early on Saturday morning we left for Sesame Place to attend a breakfast with Elmo, Big Bird and friends. Indigo was wide eyed taking in all the new sights. While she enjoyed pointing and looking at Elmo and friends, she did not appreciate when they came to close to her. We were teasing Rick when Burt came up - don't you think they look alike with the hair? We had an absolute blast. Sarah and Indigo enjoyed riding in the double push cart and loved playing together on this massive soft footing type thing where they could carry large soft blocks and other shapes around. They were also entranced by an Elmo show. Sesame Place was having a Halloween scavenger hunt so we enjoyed following the clues and collecting goodies. Rick and I enjoyed smashing potatoes and throwing balls at targets to win stuffed Elmos for the girls and then Melanie & Ellen played games and also got smaller stuffed Elmos for the girls so they ended up with quite a lot of Elmo loot! Later in the afternoon, we lined up on the parade route and right before the parade started Indigo fell fast sleep on the side walk. She slept all during the noisy and festive parade which Sarah watched with joyful glee. We came home on Saturday night after having had the most marvelous time. We all now have a season pass for next year and can't wait to the take the girls back. It was very emotional to celebrate the birthday of precious Sarah - we were with her parents just days after she became their forever daughter in China and their bond is so strong and Sarah is just thriving in their loving home. It was brought us great joy to celebrate her birthday with them.

On Sunday, we went to the mother of all pumpkin patches at Cox Farms where we were meeting with some of the other families from our same adoption agency. It was so fun to see most of our group with their girls. Indigo had an amazing time, playing in the hay, riding on a hay ride, sliding down slides with daddy and seeing many animals, including pigs, chickens, and turkeys. She also got to pet a cow and loved petting all the goats too - she wanted to get her hands on all the goats. We also celebrated Sarah's 2nd birthday with all the other families and were able to wish Toni & Tom farewell as they would be leaving for China at the end of the month for their daughter Erica. Toni & Tom had a later log-in date and are the last of the families we have been getting together with for well over a year to finally get to hold their daughter in their arms. It was wonderful to celebrate that their moment was arriving. Indigo was so tired that she fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot!

After we got home we put her down in the crib and she continued to nap so long that we finally had to wake her up because we were going to dinner at Melanie's cousin Ruth and her husband David's new place. We had a lovely dinner with them and enjoyed catching up. We were pretty exhausted by the time we all fell into bed that night.

The rest of the following week was pretty routine and then on Thursday, when Melanie was off work, she had lunch with Ellen and Sarah, Karen and Ava and with Toni, which she really enjoyed. After lunch, she stopped by our friend's Laurie and Marty's house and visited with Laurie. They have a brand new 10 week old yellow lab puppy - Cody. Indigo really loved the puppy and after he got used to her he was trotting all around the house after her. From the pictures you can see the puppy is quite adorable.

Indigo has been come quite the daddy's girl. When I arrive home from work she will often joyfully shout "hi, daddy" and stomp her feet with excitement while having the biggest smile. She then wants me to pick her up and not put her down for quite some time.

Friday October 12-Thursday October 18

2007-10-14T08:41:00.001-05:00

On Friday the 12th after work, I caught the metro to the MCI center for another night of the horse show. David stayed home with Indigo as he felt it would be too late of a night for her (and he was right). I joined Robyne and Tricie with Robyne's little baby and Tricie's girls. We had another wonderful horsey night of musical freestyle dressage and exciting jumping events. On Saturday we had a nice family day around the house and running some errands. We went to the bookstore and Indigo just loved the kids book area. Later we took the dogs to the dog park so they could have a good run. Indigo loves seeing all the dogs.

On Sunday we went to Tricie's daughter Louisa's 2nd birthday party. The pretty outfit Indigo has on is from her Grandma Lee. The birthday party was a lot of fun and all the kids had a super time. The birthday girl is in pink and in the fluffy pink tiara - and later in the fancy dress playing dress-up. Proud big sister, Anna Kate, is the red head. We had glorious weather and were able to play and eat outside.

Indigo's big things right now are patting the bed in an effort to get the dogs to jump on the bed with her, she is also obsessed with hair clips and will even wake up from sleeping patting her head and saying "eh, eh". Of course, we're losing hair clips at a heck of a rate because she pulls them out as fast they go in but she keeps wanting to have them put in and then pulls them right out again. When you put them in and she sees herself she just gets the biggest grin. She has said "on" a few times for having shoes put on and has been saying "eye" Doggie remains her very favorite word. She has been saying "dadadadadada a lot, and tends to shriek it loudly. She is starting to have a version of saying her own name which sounds like "igaga" We're seeing some signs of potential upcoming tantrums - David had an event at the CVS where she threw a bit of a fit over wanting to be able to run free. I am sure our feisty girl is going to give us a run for our money.

After a nice weekend, on Monday there was a work again. Because I had an IP retreat that I had to be at on Wednesday and Thursday, I had the Tuesday off and we met Ellen and Sarah for a nice lunch at our Canton place. After lunch the girls were walking around and playing a little game which involved taking turns looking at each other under the barstool rails but that was about the limit of what Ellen and I could figure out about the rules of the game. After lunch Indigo and I went to run a bunch of errands. On Wednesday and Thursday I went to the IP Retreat. On Wednesday, after the session and before the dinner, David brought Indigo to the hotel to visit with some of the work people who were keen to see her. She was very funny and greatly amused everyone. David did a really good job of being the primary caretaker those two days.

P.S. I wrote this post at least 2 weeks ago but had to get the photos added. I know it's been a while so I will get another update done much more quickly.

Friday September 28 - Thursday October 11th

2007-10-01T09:56:00.000-05:00

Well, here we go again, it's a coffee break catch-up. We left off just before the last weekend of September. That weekend was really fun. On Friday the 28th I spent the day working (the fourth day that week (on my three day schedule) but that's the way it goes sometimes. The USPTO has put out a massive revolting package of new rules (no offense Terry and Mary :-) and in my role as the IP trainer for the firm, there has been a big effort to get the information disseminated as quickly as possible to all people working in IP across the firm before the new rules go into effect November 1, 2007 so it has been really busy at work. It's been an incredible team effort so I have actually felt really good about our IP team at work. Anyway, after a long day I had a great opportunity to head up to the zoo to see Jeff Corwin speak. The zoo volunteers were invited to see him speak before he did a big fund raising event for the zoo later on Friday night. I have to say that he was really incredible. I have periodically enjoyed watching his show but to hear him speak in person was just amazing. He did a brief intro but spent the rest of the time doing Q&A and I was in awe. I did get a picture taken with him on the camera phone but the odds of that making it from the camera to the computer are slim to none. I had taken the metro from work up to the zoo so David and Indigo came and picked me up and we went over to our friend Tricie's to hang out and have supper. It was a nice end to the week. When we got home, David had been very busy for my birthday and had done a photo framed collage of China photos and hung it in the hallway - it's a very special gift and definitely earned him some brownie points!
Saturday, September 29th was my birthday. We had a busy day planned. We met at a local restaurant with two other families who had adopted from China and all had lunch together. It was really great to see the other families and to see the other babies. The babies in the photos are Lillian (in the stripey dress), the daughter of the Gunns who we had met earlier in the summer when they came to the lake. The other little girl is Kaileen (in the pink dress with little blue flowers) and she is the daughter of Michele and Mark who were part of our GWCA mid-atlantic group but they had traveled to China two months before us - they had a LID date of a mere 4 days earlier! It was our first time seeing Kaileen so that was great. She is older than Indigo but is a real little peanut and is not a whole lot bigger.
After the lunch we headed down to Orange, VA to visit our friends David and Elizabeth and celebrate the sixth birthday of their daughter Phiala. We caught the very tail end of her art party which seemed to have been a lot fun. The kids did Jackson Pollack inspired artwork - fortunately, it was a glorious day for outside painting. Indigo loved being with Phiala and gave her kisses and had a lot of fun pinching her hair clip! Zephan, Phiala and Indigo all had a climb on Elizabeth's David - well deserved! You can see Phiala wearing her hot pink pants we gave her as part of her birthday present - she is a very stylish girl who loves clothes.

For my birthday and our friends Tricie and Susan's birthdays, our friend Robyne had planned to have massages for us at her house. So on Sunday I went to her house for my massage with the person she had brought in to do them - it was so nice and a great birthday gift. The other girls had their massages and then David came over with Indigo and we all played and had lunch together. Later that day David and I took Indigo and the dogs to the dog park. Indigo loved running with Daddy in the field next to the dog park and she loved seeing all the dogs. Afterwards we all walked over to the playground and she played there until it was time to come home for supper. It was the most glorious sunset with great swathes of pink sky and the end to a lovely weekend with lots of nice time together.
Monday was back to work but was a significant day in that it was THREE MONTHS since Indigo was placed in our arms in China on July 1, 2007. It's unbelievable that it's only been three months. We cannot imagine life without her. In some ways it seems like forever, in some it seems incredible that it's been that long. We are constantly awed and amazed by her adaptation to life with us. We're so grateful and so lucky to have such a wonderful and special girl - her level of attachment and bonding never ceases to amaze us and how much she understands already is just remarkable. We are blessed and we are so lucky. This little girl just rocks our world!
Tuesday was another day at work and then a trip over to my friend Tricie's to hang out for girls night. Wednesday was a play day -yeah. Ellen came over with Sarah and I brought in Chinese food for lunch. The girls were lovely playing together and we feel so lucky to have a friend for Indigo close by. David had left for Chicago first thing on Wednesday morning for work and was gone for two nights.
On Wednesday, Indigo had the signs of a cold possibly starting but we were not sure if it was just allergies. However, on Thursday it seemed official that she had the start of something more so we just hung out all day. On Friday I worked and then spent the evening caring for Indigo. David's flight was delayed so he did not get home on Friday night until after she had gone to bed - he was sad as it was three nights of not seeing her. I was pretty tired from doing the single mom thing to Indigo, two dogs and the cats for three days, and working, so I was glad he was home + I missed him a little bit :-) My hat goes out to the single moms out there because looking after one small active child alone is exhausting!
On Saturday we took a drive out to our very favorite sushi restaurant and met our friends Jason and Allyson and their sons Jacob and Joshua there. We all majorly filled our bellies on yummy sushi - Indigo stuck to miso soup and a tofu dish. Afterwards, despite being in an almost comatose state we went back to their house for the kids to play. Indigo loves their basement of toys and spent time playing with everything! It was a beautiful afternoon and we were sad to leave but we had get home to care for the boy dogs.

On Sunday the 7th of October we had a now annual event when we headed out to Front Royal, VA to the Conservation Research Center. The CRC is part of the Smithsonian (as is the zoo) but it is usually closed to the public. Once a year they have a Fall festival the first weekend of October and the public can visit the grounds and see some of the animals that are in the endangered species breeding programs there. We met up with our friend Tanja and her mom and also with our friend Liz. Tanja, Liz and I all volunteer at the zoo together. The weather was a tad bit too hot but still a lovely day and we had a super time. In addition to seeing the cool endangered species that are bred out at CRC such as the Tahki horse (also known as Prewalskis) and very cool white naped cranes, they also had a group there replicating the civil war military calvary and so we went up a hill to see them fire at balloons while at full gallop and we also got to go on a hay wagon ride pulled by enormous percheron horses. It was a really fun day.

Monday and Tuesday at work. Tuesday night I did Let's Dish but was not feeling great and by the time I got home I was having fever and chills and spent much of the night that way. However, by morning I felt better which was a big relief. I took Indigo to the doctor on Wednesday morning because despite the fact that she was cheery and happy, her cold was not really doing better. They said that based on the consistency and color of the secretion from her nose that she had a sinus infection so she was put on an antibiotic. After the doctor and picking up her prescription she came home for a nap and then we left to drive down to have lunch with and play with Ellen and Sarah at their house. The girls had a great time and were so cute sharing their food with one another. Ellen had this cool moon sand and the girls spent time making molds from the moon sand - it's all a campaign to get Sarah used to the sand before she next hits the beach with us again. We had a really nice afternoon and the girls played (or some may call it competed for toys) and we read books together. When we were leaving it was so funny because I had grabbed Indigo's shoes and socks and by the time I had her socks on the one shoe was missing. We were searching everywhere for it, only to find it on Sarah's foot!

On Thursday I got to spend the day with Indigo again and we hung out in the morning - she was very cute and was playing with her shapes while sitting inbetween Egan's front legs. After her morning nap we went and met our friend Laurie for lunch which was a lovely time. On Thursday night, David stayed home with Indigo and I joined my friend Tricie to go to the Washington International Horse Show which is an annual event that we have been enjoying for many years - way preceding there being any kids on the scene. We oohed and aahhhed over the glorious manoevers of the dressage competition, piaffe, passage, pirrouets and tempe changes - it was breathtaking. We also enjoyed the international show jumping competition. It was a good old horsey night. And now, because everyone has been so patient and made it to the end of this diatribe, we have (hopefully, if everything goes accordingly to plan) there should be video here of our precious daughter. Enjoy!

Friday September 21 - Thursday September 27th

2007-09-25T16:50:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-15T21:15:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-06T19:12:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-09-05T11:15:00.000-05:00

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.

Friday - Thursday August 24-30

2007-08-27T08:04:00.000-05:00

On Friday the 24th Indigo and I had lunch at CPK with our friend Ellen and Sarah. Between our company and their trip to CA, it had been a while since the girls had seen each other so it was really fun to see them again. The girls were both superbly behaved and ate a very good lunch of honey chicken pizza. After lunch we went to look at some shoes for Indigo (I am earning a reputation of not putting my child in shoes). We bought a pair suitable for now and then we both got the girls the same adorable little clogs for the fall/winter. After that we made a quick stop at Costco to check their fall outfits but no luck with the right sizes. The girls were so cute together in the shopping cart! Daddy came home a bit early as we were going to Shabbat Rocks at our temple. This is an annual summer event where there are activities for the kids such as a rock wall, moon bounce, crafts etc. The families all eat together and then they have the service outside. We had a good time and it was great to introduce Indigo to some new people and she ran around a lot. However, it was terribly hot and humid - about 100 degrees so we ended up coming home earlier.

On Saturday we had a nice family day together. We did projects at home in the morning and then a little shopping together in the afternoon and a quiet evening with dinner at home together. It was a nice bit of rejuvenation - Amy, no comments from the peanut gallery!

On Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast together at our local favorite diner where they call Indigo "sweetie". We then ran some errands and returned home later to get Indigo down for some sort of a nap before going over to our friends. We had a lovely afternoon and evening at our friend Tricie & Jon's house. We did a potluck style so as to not have all the pressure on one family and got together with Tricie and Jon, their kids Anna Kate and Louisa; with Robyne and Stuart and their twins, Callie & Stirling and new baby Alexandria and also with Susan and Gary and their twins Emma and Lilly. Indigo enjoyed playing with the other kids although she was not interested in being photographed with them - perhaps ugly memories of the red couch debaucle? When we returned home we got Indigo to bed. However, shortly after that our friend Elizabeth arrived to spend the night and Egan barked so loudly that he woke Indigo up and we had a long long period of screaming with both of us taking turns to settle her down which took ages.

On Monday morning, while David and I were both here, we had our first injury with blood! Indigo was trying to get on her little rocking horse by herself, fell and made her lip bleed. We were definitely more traumatized than she was and you'll probably notice a few photos with her bottom lip looking less than perfect. After Elizabeth returned from her morning doctor appointment - that is why she had come into town to spend the night, she, Indigo and I went to lunch and had a lovely time. Elizabeth went off to another appointment and Indigo and I hung out. Indigo had a lot of fun pulling all our newspapers out of the recycling bag - she thought that was a hoot. The cute little outfit she is wearing is from her Auntie Amy. Elizabeth returned and enjoyed a nice afternoon nap and then after David came home I cooked dinner for all of us and Elizabeth left for Orange after dinner. We had quite a dreadful night with difficulty getting her down to bed and then her waking up several times in the night. Why? That's the million dollar question. Best suspect is teething.

On Tuesday morning she woke up at 5:30 a.m. This is considerably earlier than her normal wake up time. She was up so early that she was napping by 9:15 a.m. She was much cheerier after that and Ellen and Sarah came over and we took a trip out to the stables to see Dan the horse. We had a quick lunch on the way and then hung out for a few hours at the stables. We washed Dan and turned him out in the paddock to dry off. Indigo and Sarah seemed to enjoy their time outside and Indigo loved running all about. She was also enthralled by the buckets and wanted to tote them all around the barn. Sarah was very good with Dan and loved giving him carrots which was so cute. After playing with Dan we hung out around the picnic bench and the girls were so adorable giving each other kisses. With all her running around and hard play, Indigo was asleep before we got to the freeway.

We had another rough night - she is madder than a snake when we put her to bed - she was really yelling but you can tell it's because she is cross that we are putting her to bed. She does not want to miss anything. Anyway, she fell asleep after about 25 minutes which was better than the prior evening. However, she woke up at 1 a.m. and I was up with her until 3 a.m. - even ended up with her on the single bed in her room but she just wanted to play then. Finally she fell asleep again and then she woke up again but she fell back asleep herself. I felt like a bit of a wreck on Wednesday morning. On Wednesday we had lunch with our friend Mary at Cactus. Mary was joined by her friends Terry and Adrian. Terry is someone I had met once before and who I communicate with somewhat frequently in a work capacity as she works in the legal office at the USPTO. Terry has been an avid fan of Indigo and the blog and she was very keen to meet Indigo. She was so sweet and bought Indigo the most lovely gifts - very generous and very thoughtful. She got Indigo two great books - one even had a picture of meerkats because she knows from Indigo's zoo visits that she likes to see the meerkats. She also gave Indigo the most adorable outfits - lots of very cute pink corderoy - will probably feature those in some pictures this fall/winter. Anyway, I was very touched. Indigo was good at lunch but a bit fussier than usual probably due to her complete lack of good sleep. However, she did laugh and interact and tease and we had a nice time together. She had a great afternoon nap and was very chipper again by the time daddy came home. She had a good dinner and I went out to my friend Tricie's house to hang out with my girlfriends and Daddy got her to bed - and with relative ease - she fussed for a much shorter period. Today my parents left for their long trip to South Africa - they will be gone nearly three months. They plan to blog their trip which will include a safari so if interested you can follow along with their trip via the link on our blog - Mom and Dad AKA granny and granddad.
On Thursday morning, David left the house very early to go and pick up his mom who came in on the redeye from CA to see her new granddaughter for the first time. Indigo and I were up when she arrived and Indigo has been extremely cheery and playful with her Grandma. She had us laughing so much while playing with Grandma. She was fascinated by Grandma's watch and played with that for ages. After lunch she played with Grandma on the couch, pretending to feed her over and over again. Indigo was just cracking herself up and we were both laughing so much. When Indigo thinks she is funny she throws her head back and laughs - it's hilarious. We had dinner together at home and then Grandma opened "the suitcase" Naughty (but very generousand sweet Grandma) had bought a whole suitcase filled with things for Indigo - it was like a fashion show and Indigo is going to be very well attired for the cooler season - probably both this year and next. We are so excited that Grandma is here and getting to spend time with Indigo. After Indigo went to bed we watched the "Gotcha Day" video and there was a heck of a lot of sobbing going on in this house!