Hey ho, hey ho, its off to China we go!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you from our Little Turkeys!

Hooray, hooray its update day!

I was sooooo hoping that we would get something this morning and we did!!  Sweet Ching Lin looks as adorable as ever, hair is totally wild, love it!!  I know it sounds silly but I was a teenie tiny bit disappointed that she wasn't in one of the outfits we sent, I wonder if maybe its because they like to have the babies legs showing?  I think this photo would have been from the end of October so I don't think the bare legs would be because of the heat, I'll have to check WeatherUnderground to see what it says.  Although come to think of it we had photos of Beau in full outfits so probably its just random! Anyway the polka dots are super cute (does anyone recognize this as an outfit they sent to their baby and left behind?)

If this photo is from the end of October (the same as the measurements that came last week) then she was probably just about to be moved to her foster family, she is lying on the exact same blankie and bed as the last update so I think she was still at the nursery when they took this photo. When she is moved I hope she settles in quickly its a big change for a little baby.  I'm hoping she might go to the same foster family as Beau but I guess it depends on whether they had space.  I'll have to go back and check but I think I may have a photo of Beau on this blanket and bed.

Enough rambling here she is, our little sweetie pie with her cute, chubby little baby legs. Love the way it looks like she is waving to us.   Still can not believe this is really happening!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Calling for backup!

Hello?  Is this the Nomby Bomby Help Line?  Its my Mum she doesn't know when to admit defeat, she types one sentence and a photo and calls it a post, please send help quick!  Oh and if you can pull any strings update photos of Baby Sis would be good too :)

 

Santa's naughty little helper!

No update photos of "Amy Sparkles" (bummer) I was really hoping there might be some yesterday but no such luck so now I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Monday!!!

In the meantime here is a photo from yesterday, we spent the day at Natick Mall in MA and it was fabulous, I always get giddy when I get to visit civilization, talk about Country Mouse.  Back in our NJ days I wouldn't have batted an eye at this Mall but after 10 years in the depths of darkest CT it was like being dazzled by the bright lights of the big city, everything was sooooooo purdy!

Here is Beau getting a word in early with the Big Man, I'm hoping no-one from the American Girl* store is seeing this because if you look closely you will see Beau is handling stolen goods (that's my boy), just a little something he pilfered earlier in the day.  Takes a lot of chutzpah to pay a visit to Santa with hot merchandise in your sticky little mitts!

p.s Before anyone thinks I skipped a day of Nobbly Bobbly I want to explain that I really didn't, its just that I added yesterday's (wee hours of the morning) post onto the post of the day before.  Okay just wanted to clear that up before the Nibbly Bibbly police come round to try to disqualify me.

*In case you do happen to be a representative of American Girl I promise we will be mailing back the missing record from Julie's Bedroom Collection

Update - kinda!

Just got a measurement update for "Amy Sparkles" but no photos yet "sob".  Its 3.00 am Friday morning in Taiwan right now so I'm hoping and hoping that we will get photos and video tomorrow, pretty please!  Of course tomorrow is going to be one of those rare days when I probably won''t have access to my computer for most of the day - gah!  I know our case worker often works late hours, infact last month she emailed us photos and video at 11.50 pm (thank you, thank you) so its just possible they could come through this evening - probably not likely but just possible enough to keep me checking and re-checking emails.

In the meantime I'm studying those measurements, they are always nearly a month behind so the ones we got today were taken October 29 and (if I've done the conversions correctly) show her height as 24" and weight at 13.23lbs.   So I'm guessing that right now she is 14lbs. 

Keeping everything crossed for photos very, very soon!

Its 1.00am and I'm updating my post about updates!  Couldn't sleep so had to come down and check just on the off chance that our case worker was pulling a late one again and received photos from Taiwan and forwarded to us, but alas no.  Well good for her that she isn't working crazy hours today but boo hoo for me that there are no photos.  Its 2.00pm Friday in Taiwan right now so if they aren't in our CWs email box first thing this morning than we definitely won't see anything until next week at the earliest.  I "almost" wish we hadn't had the measurement update because its put me on super alert for the photos whereas before they appeared I was just quietly thinking that it was getting to be around update time, now I'm desperate "super alert" for them!  I have to head out first thing tomorrow, I mean this morning and I won't be able to get to my computer till this evening to check, oh the sweet, sweet agony of update day!

Crumbling!

I'm crumbling fast, no time to think of coherent posts, no time even for incoherent.  November is such a terrible month for Nobbie Bloggie, February would be much more sensible, in February I would be able to write pages of amazing posts, pages and pages, but its not February its November so you'll have to make do with an old video because its all I've got and its already loaded on you tube so love it or leave it but its all I got.

p.s That's "a mouse-ie song" she switches to at the end, as in mice - they are her obsession.

Beautiful Taiwan

Beautiful Taiwan we miss you!  It was such a whirlwind trip to Taiwan last year, traveling half way round the world with your 3 year old to meet your 7 month old baby for the first time is seriously exhausting but also seriously wonderful and we fell in love with not just Beau but also Taiwan, beautiful, beautiful Taiwan.

Changing Faces

My Funny Face boy then. . . .  .

 

and My Handsome Face boy now

 

Love you so much my funny, handsome, kind, sweet, crazy little man.  There's no other like you.

Move along now, nothing to see here

I've got nothing, not a photo, not a video clip, certainly not a post, too tired to make my brain work, so this is my official Nomby Plomby free pass! I'd like to be able to say I'll be back tomorrow with a rip roaring-ly excellent post but I think the chances might be slim on the rip roaring side, never the less I will be back, I might be a slacker but when I start a Nomby Pomby by heavens I finish a Nomby Pomby.

See ya tomorrow! 

Heave ho, heave ho!

I dream of a house with central air, such bliss to not have to lug great big window AC units out every winter.  Although since Lulu has been home it doesn't seem to be quite so much work for us as it used to be.  Before you go getting all "poor little girl" on me just remember she much prefers this to going up the chimney.

*No child labor laws were broken during the making of this video.  Two small but strong children available for rock breaking, ditch digging and general hard labor please call 1-800-slave driver.

Loved it.

You can't hurry love.

It is both thrilling and butterfly inducing to see your child's referral photos for the first time, the anticipation is agonizing and there is always that little nagging fear that you might not fall in love.  Referral photos, like passport and driving license photos tend to be not the most flattering of pictures and so it really is understandable that sometimes you need to view those 3 little photos over and over again before you suddenly realize you've fallen - big time!  What is surprising is just how often those photos actually do cause instant and head over heels love.

I've followed adoption blogs for long enough to know that the correct procedure is to photograph or video tape yourself as you see those precious photos for the first time.  Being a world class (currently ranked #2) Slacker Mum I have of course failed to record that moment with any of our 3 (OMG 3!!!) children.  However, I saw an opportunity to redeem myself somewhat this time round by remembering to video tape Lulu and Beau's reactions when they saw their baby sister's referral photos and video tape.  For Lulu it was the love at first sight response, that little Ching-Lin/Amy Sparkles had her at Ni Hao.  For Beau it wasn't exactly love at first sight, truth be told not even "like" at first sight.  We are hoping an intensive course of Immersion Therapy will bring him round.

The bestest bit is around the 37 second mark where Beau apparently finds the video of baby sister just too awful to look at.

Its the little things that amuse me.

This one is from last summer, when Beau was just a teeny tiny baby and now he's just a teeny tiny toddler (seriously gonna have to put the little guy on the stretching rack).  Lulu looks so young too and I should explain that her ENORMOUS ear is not the result of going 10 rounds with Tyson but a reaction to a mosquito bite.

My mother had insisted that Northanger Abbey was not written by Jane Austen so I taught Lulu to say  "I think you'll find that Northanger Abbey was written by Jane Austen" and had her call Granny up and put her straight.  For my further amusement I taught her some very useful Irish and English phrases "top o the mornin to ya" and "Cor blimey Gov"  its just one of the many perks of having a British mother ;)

Constantly in motion!

The sheer joy of movement.

 

 

Tired

Its only day 9 of Nomby Plomby and I don't know if I will be able to keep up the posts for the whole month.  I'm soooooo tired, feeling stressed about lots of things and that always knocks me out.  I thought I'd just post this couple of lines to keep me officially qualifying for NoPlo and see if I get a burst of energy tomorrow!

In Remembrance

Today was Remembrance Sunday in the UK.  When I lived there I would watch the BBC coverage of the National Ceremony at the Cenotaph in London and every year the Queen and various members of the Royal Family would be there to lay wreaths.  I think that continuity, that constant presence at these events is one of the most valuable things about the Royal Family.   I've lived in the US for so long now I haven't been able to watch the ceremony for years and I miss those Remembrance services but thanks to YouTube I was able to see some of this years coverage.

This piece really brings home the reality of the loss of each individual Serviceman or woman.

These are some of the constants that I remember from every year's ceremony, Big Ben, the Cenotaph, the two minute silence and the laying of the wreaths. This is from this year's Remembrance service at the Albert Hall. A song made famous by Dame Vera Lynn - the "Forces Sweetheart" and also, much to my mother's annoyance, one of my Dad's favorites. That is Dame Vera at the end waving to the audience. I couldn't find any footage from this year, but this is last year at the Albert Hall as the poppy petals rain softly down, so, so many. Each one representing the lost life of one of the fallen.

My Dad is the boss of your Dad!

I'm not even sure how to introduce this video clip, I'm still a bit flabbergasted.  We were at the book shop earlier today, which is a sadly a rare occurrence these days, (visiting bookshops I mean) Beau was tired because he'd missed out on his morning nap and the more tired he got the better his impersonation of a Whirling Dervish became when suddenly he spotted an Obama calender.  Lulu can spot a photo of Obama from several 100 yards away but I wasn't aware that Beau could even recognize Obama and actually quite possibly he doesn't! 

So Beau rushes up to the calender and I hold my breath wondering if he will declare "Obama!" at the top of his lungs, as his big sister does whenever she sees Obama, but no he does not!  Although, apparently he does believe he knows our esteemed leader, indeed it would appear he believes he has a very special relationship with the President.  Watch and you will see what I mean.

I can not for the life of me figure out why he did this, I'm not sure whether it is some kind of compliment to Simon and I or whether our son is just a social climber trying to trade us in for better and more beautiful.  I swear I did not and have not coached him to do this in anyway.  After he did it the first time I scrambled to find my camera and whilst I was doing that Beau was running wild around the fixture and I thought for sure there would be no repeat performance but to my delight he did it again.  Got to admire the boy's ambition, I mean if your looking to up grade your family, might as well go for the top!  Hmmm wonder if he can get me an invite to The Whitehouse?

Of course if he ever gets lost and is asked to describe his parents we might have a job convincing the police that "no really, we are his Mum & Dad."

Comfy, comfy sofa!

This is getting a bit embarrassing now.  Once again I am on the sofa, so once again no Fairy pics.  Just to clarify I haven't been sitting on the sofa for three days, well not the whole of the three days, its just that by the time I come to post this is where I am.  However, I do have a good replacement for Fairy photos.  One of my most favorite things is when Lulu and Beau make each other laugh, its the bestest best to hear that beautiful sound.  In this clip Lulu was cracking Beau up by pulling the seat belt for him to hold and of course it kept winding itself back up much to Beau's amusement.  By the time I thought to pull the camera out they were really on the tail end of the joke but I still got a bit of that sweet sound.  I love at the very end they are holding hands, so often when we are out in the car I will check in the mirror and see them sitting their holding hands and it makes my heart go melty melt.

Oooooh which reminds me talking of melty melt, today for the first time ever Beau asked me for a kiss!  I kiss him all the time and he will give me kisses if I ask for them (well mostly he will) and if I'm very lucky he'll give me a spontaneous kiss but today was the first time he actually asked me for a kiss (well apart from kissing a hurty better).  It was sooooooooooo sweet and then in the afternoon he asked for a hug, just like kisses we hug all the time but this was the first time he asked me for one, whaddya know, that boy really does love his Mama

Coasting is the new blogging.

Oh no its happened again, I'm on the sofa, Fairy Princess photos are not on the sofa.  I'll just coast a wee bit more and post these non Fairy Princess photos from this morning.  I love my babies and oh how I love that they love each other sooooooo much.  That's a lotta love!  This morning they took photos of "Amy Sparkles" to show their teachers.  Lulu has been in love with her baby sister from the moment she heard about her.  Beau on the other hand has no idea he has a baby sister but when he sees her photo he proudly declares "baby!" like the old man of almost 2 that he is.  "Amy Sparkles" you have the best big sister and brother in the world waiting for you - I think their compensation for your coasting parents.

 

I'm coasting, I'm coasting, watch me coast!

So Anne Marie totally saw through my cunning plan to coast today's post with a photo of Lulu in all her Fairy Princess glory.  However, those photos are on my GDrive thingy and I'm sitting on the sofa and can't retrieve them from here cos the lead doesn't stretch that far.  Instead, I'm going to coast with the H1N1 photos which are on the laptop hard drive!

Lulu is terrified of shots so we happily went with the nasal mist for her and Beau, being small and easy to sit on, had to suck it up with the shot. I know this stuff is still in short supply so it really was a relief to get them both done. 

To NompyPopy or not?

I'm debating doing the NombyBlompy thing again this November (blog posts everyday for the whole month) so here is a quick photo to at least keep me in the game while I decide how much of a glutton for punishment I really am.

Two fairies and a dragon conducting long and serious studying of the candy!

More Halloween!

It was such a good Halloween there had to be two sets of costumes!

Happiest of Halloweens!

We had so much fun yesterday, the weather was mild and the "trick or treaters" were in high spirits!  Lulu and her good friend M know the drill but Beau took a while to really get the hang of things.  For the first few houses he found the choosing of which piece of candy to pick VERY over whelming and he wasn't entirely convinced that it was okay for him to take it.

Here he is at the start of the evening, the girls had long since picked their candy and were raring to be off to the next house but we all had to wait, and wait, and wait for Beau to make his choice.  I felt sorry for the man holding the candy it was an awfully big, heavy bowl to be holding while the Little Dragon tried to make his mind up and he was super patient with him, he'd probably heard that Dragons are quite partial to a nice bite of crispy human being with ketchup on top and wanted to stay on the right side of him.