12/31/09 HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY, HAPPY NEW YEAR WORLD !

Took this with my i phone during dinner. We are celebrating not only New Years Eve, but Dave's B'day as well..... and my nephew too..... Rhonda, (my Sister), im'd me a photo of Elliott, and his girlfriend taken during their celebratory dinner..... I had Baylon in a highchair, feeding her dinner, and took an impromptu photo..... this is what I got. She remains the most lovable, funny, and quirky gal you could meet., and I keep asking, how is all of this in the package of a 14 month old??????????????????????????????????

So, we're looking at New Year's Eve.... but you can't have that without closing out the year behind you.....

We have dealt with many things in the past...... and all the while, we were waiting for our daughter, not understanding why our referral was seemingly going backwards in time.... BUT, there could have been no other time...... We are relishing in the epitomy of DESTINY..... and this child, is and has always been our daughter.

I have to admit, I got quite frantic for a couple of days.... perhaps it was jetlag, on my part, and definitely my daughters... I suddenly panicked about what to do, when to do it, and if I was doing it right...... suddenly I was asking permission to do the things that went against the grain of some...... but was in my heart to do.

When I finally asked the professionals... the people I was paying to take care of Baylon and ourselves.... they reiterated, what I had already known..... I was so afraid to coddle her, spoil her, and just relish in this special time that can never be again........ and suddenly I was questioning.... "oh gosh, she wants to be held AGAIN...... when in my heart I wanted to run to her....... BUT, there was this, "DON'T SPOIL HER" in my head........ suddenly I wasn't acting from my gut, but from my head..... when we went to see the Doc's.... and also spoke with my Social Worker, who, after 4 years of reminding me what papers had to be renewed, I somehow thought that was her specialty............ but NO, SHE KNOWS ALL THIS STUFF...... and what I got was just what was in my heart.... and you know what.... as soon as I acted with my heart, Baylon settled down....... tonight, she went to bed with a bottle, (IN HER OWN CRIB),.... that was it......... no drama, no worries..... just drifted off to sleep.......... HAPPY NEW YEAR ........HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE....... I think we CAN be GREAT parents....... I just want to close with this.... I'm beside myself with joy... I'm elated beyond recognition....... I'm tearful as I type, because I've never been this happy...... I'm in love with this baby, I'm in love with my daugher, I'm in love with my LIFE !!!! Truly Blessed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE........

12/30/09 Pirate's 2nd Birthday, and Daddy's B'day EVE

Mom, my clips dangling in my face....... can ya give a hand over here please..... oh, and bring my comb and gear bag.... we've some work to do if I'm to look gooooooood for my Birthday Party......Ohhhhh.......... could this be for me.....???????????????????? Ooooh, LA LA....... let's see one, two candles for my age, and one for good luck......... WOW, THAT'S A LOT OF CANDLES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Daddy, who does Chelsea's hair ???? I think it's LOVELY !Mom, I've told you three times, you have to cut the price tag off of Pirate's present !
Daddy, she just doesn't listen does she.... oh Pirate RELAX, I just said your new toy..... uh, GLISTENS........, yeah, GLISTENS !
Where's the cake??????????
Pirate, I'm the new "numero uno", glad to meet ya ! NOW GIVE ME THAT TOY, come on hand it over..... that's right, right over here and PRONTO !
Tee, hee, hee.....
I've' got them eaten outta my hands.......I know you love me........ say it again...... tell me I'm pretty again......

Me, me, me, me............. Happy Birthday to Pirate....... Happy Birthday to Pirate, Happy Birthday to Pirate, Happy Birthday to you..........

Are ya one, are ya two...... oh, yeah, Daddy's Birthday is tomorrow.......... okay, where's Pirate...
PIRATE..... I'm supposed to kiss you !!!!!!!
Let's do it again.......


Oh, I love it here................. what's on the agenda for tonight??????? An all night movie marathon?????? I can't wait for The Honeymooner's Marathon tomorrow night,,,,, who's with me?????

12/29/09 What A Difference A Day Makes

Today we braved the frigid cold and had our first train ride into Manhattan. We had our Doctor's appt. with the renowned Dr. Jane Aronson, International Pediatrician. She has many high profile clientele such as Angelina Jolie's adopted children. I figure if that's good enough for the Brangelina gang, it's good enough for us. Hell, they could afford anybody they wanted ! We're in great hands.

Before I go on about our trek into the City, I want to recap on last night for a bit. After my long post, I gathered up my little girl, and off to bed we went...... she fussed a bit going into the crib, but oddly enough, she let me lay her down, and though I could tell she wasn't happy, she fell asleep, while I watched on. Wow, couldn't believe it..... so then I thought, I've got to make it out of the room, and never thought that would happen, but sure enough it did. I crawled into my bed just on the other side of the wall, and set my monitor sound to high..... then I drifted off, into much needed restful sleep. The crying began a couple of hours later, and I definitely took a little time to realize the here and now, and go next door. A quick diaper change, a cuddle and a hug, and I placed her down again, and this time, strange though it seemed, she drifted off right before my eyes.

Back in bed, and very comfy, I too, got some much need rest, and again heard the faint cries a couple of hours or so later..... this time, changed the diaper again, but for some reason, didn't feel comfortable just putting her down..... this time, I was still groggy, and wanted my bed, THIS TIME, I took her with me, and I have to say the two of us snuggled, and the two of us drifted off into oblivion and woke somewhere in the vicinity of 8 a.m. This time, my little girl woke with a big grin on her face, and this time, so did I.

We thoroughly loved Dr. Aronson...... and I can't believe just how wonderful and knowledgeable she is. The blood draw was enough to rip my heart out, having to use her Jugular Vein.... that was more traumatic than I care to think about again. Baylon is in the 13th percentile of weight, and 56th percentile for height.... but I have to check those numbers, doing this from memory, and may be a tad off, but I do believe that's what I heard.

It didn't take long before Baylon warmed up, and began captivating everyone. She is perfectly healthy, except for Vit. D deficiency, enough to show early signs of Ricketts, and we have some prescription Vitamins to correct this.

She is no longer to be on formula, but introduced to Milk, or Soy Milk. I still have to research the Organic Milk farmers in the area, so for now, it's just easier to go Soy. She's to have 12 to 14 ounces a day, and to eat EVERYTHING we do except nuts & popcorn....... it's very important for her to feed herself, and have the hand, eye coordination, and to discover the thrill of eating all of those wonderful foods that she's never tasted before. For the next two weeks, we are to have a field day, and make every meal delicious and fun..... after two weeks of this, Baylon should start settling in, and the sleeping should get easier.... there is a whole basis behind this, but once again, I'm drained and not thinking as clearly, or shall I say, not having the most accurate recall. Will go over my paperwork and clarify things tomorrow.

In the meantime, she passed everthing, (other than the unknown labs), but passed everything with flying colors. The Doctor thought that not only was she beautiful, SMART, and comical, she was "CHARMING" !! We've always thought so.

After our workup, and prior to the 2 innoculations that aren't given in China, that she was to received, we met with a Psychotherapist that is among a network of people that Dr. Aronson incorporates in her practice. They all seem to have formed a circle of knowledge, readily available for each of their patients. I was so eager to speak with this woman, and get some answers to all of those aching questions I've been toting around.

Mostly, we spoke about Baylon's bonding issues, of which, she's doing a fine job...... but we gained insight into the co-sleeping, pick her up/ don't pick her up mindset. The bottom line is, that Baylon should be picked up when she cries, held when she cries, and even brought into bed for either co-sleeping or partial co-sleeping....... whichever fits better into our lifestyle. She feels that an adoptive child under 2 or 3, can benefit from the security of this situation and it will set her up as a stronger more emotionally stable individual later in life..... again, I'm tired, and really need to post this when I have clearer thoughts, but I've been gathering quite a following reading my posts, and want to respond to today's events, and followup on last nights posting.

So, there you have it....... I feel completely more optimistic. I have been so afraid that I would be injuring my daughter by making mistakes.... but now I have some insight into her mindset, and a team of professionals available to help me.

Lastly, we have some more tests to go through.... we need to see an audiologist, and an optomologist (spelling)....? run some fecal tests to rule out parasites and giardia, see a Pediatric Dentist, and then return to Dr. Aronson in 8 weeks for followup.... In the meantime, she requested that I interview some local Pediatricians to take over as Baylon's Doctors. She gave me some criteria to look for..... find out the patient base, how many of those patients are Internationally Adopted, what hospital they are affiliated with, if they have sick hours, as well as well visit time, and lets see.... there's more, just not remembering quickly enough...... oh, what's their response time for emergency calls, general calls, do they use a service.....hmmn...... lets leave this here for now, my head is spinning.

Now, my biggest decision, is do we bring her upstairs into our room, and place her pack n play there for a bit, do I keep her downstairs...... I'm currently voting to move back upstairs....... # 1 Miss my hubby....... # 2.... It's warmer, VBG ! It's so cold down stairs... that's the older part of the house, and somehow, even though there are two heating systems, the heat down there doesn't warm up, quite like upstairs.... we need some electric heaters down there.

It seems that Baylon is psyched and quite comfy with the days events, as she passed out and never fussed when we lay her down in the pack n' play...... the picture that I placed at the top of this post, was taken just as I began writing... other than the addition of another blanket, nothing has changed.

I do believe that we firmly, undeniably, LOVE, Dr. Jane Aronson.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, calls and emails...... tonight, we stay in the living room for a while..... will figure plot new course in the morning.

12/28/09 11 PM

Let the games begin .......................... a Mexican Standoff....... ROUND ONE ! or is it two.......???

As Baylon screams, Pirate is burying his head in his favorite toy....... he's just got it in his mouth like a pacifier... maybe he's trying to show Baylon how it's done. I'm right next to Pirate..... not far from Baylon at all.

Okay, can someone please tell me, where my sweet, beautiful, warm, funny, calm, HAPPY baby went????????? She's so overtired.... she's so beyond the beyond, it's all I can do to not run over and pick her up.........

For the whole time in China, our little girl went with the flow. That's more than we could have even asked of ourselves. She, as was all of the other little ones, was the perfect little trooper.

Even the plane ride was pretty much uneventful. We came home, and as I've mentioned before, the crib level was set too high, so we couldn't place her in there, and off to the living room we went for a few hours, me on the couch, and Baylon across from me in her pack n play. We both slept for an hour, initially we couldn't sleep, and didn't fall off till 4 a.m, and then she woke, guess when........... " FIVE" a.m. Oh yeah, that's right......... F I V E A.M...... oooh, I bet I could come up with a few good words to start with those 4 little letters.

Okay, that wasn't so bad, and I'm resourceful....... after all, it was Christmas Day, and I have so much to be thankful for....... okay, well, we had so many people that we couldn't disappoint this wonderful day, the first day home, and it WAS, afterall, Christmas.....so off we went. Once again, Baylon was the PERFECT child, and won the hearts of everyone around her............. when we got home, it was too late to lower the crib, so again, we stayed in the living room, me on the couch, Baylon asleep in her pack n play....... Now I don't remember how much sleep we got, but not enough.... seemed like just when we fell asleep, or let me rephrase that.... just when I fell asleep, she woke up. That following afternoon, the Sun was shining brightly, so beautiful and warm, but I felt so out of sorts, and she was exhausted too, that I just took her into the guest bedroom, next to her brand spanking, BEAUTIFUL newly decorated, newly built, nursery. She and I slept for what seemed forever........ we languished between the sheets for what felt like a delightful eternity............... which brings me to my new problems............ I felt that perhaps I'd made a huge mistake, by bringing her into my bed......but no problem, this night, we'd put her to bed in her crib and all would be well, right as rain....... boy was I wrong.

Last night, Baylon cried for over 2 + hours....... I kept running in and reassuring her every 20 minutes or so.....that was the game plan. I have a monitor on her, and I could see her standing there plain as day, just screaming bloody murder. I was determined to ride this out, and no matter what it took, I was going to reassure her, but not bring her back to my bed..... I had her out, hugged her, changed her, gave her a bottle, but put her back in her crib, and somewhere around 4 in the morning, the crying stopped, but Baylon hadn't fallen asleep.... Baylon was playing, and making all kinds of happy sounds, and with that, I allowed myself to fall off to sleep........ but I made a promise to myself, this was no longer the game plan.

Tonight, I would do whatever it took to make sure my baby is a happy, secure, little camper......

or so I thought. We'd been at Dave's family's house for the entire day, it was a Welcome Home Baylon Party, of sorts....... once again, Baylon dazzled everyone around her. Hard to believe that it was the wee hours of the morning on her little Asian Clock.... she fell asleep in my arms, as the family broke out in the usual Irish Songs......(a family tradition), Dave's family is quite talented in this department, and his Brother Dan, a performer, brought his Banjo, and his Uncle John...... also the performer and a fantastic bagpiper, carried us through an array of wonderful Irish music, both traditional, and originals...... so Baylon who loves music fell, asleep swaying to the tunes, and I placed her safely in another room.... perhaps this was my downfall, I should have kept her up, as "tired", would have been the magic word.

Once home tonight, after a small meal, and bottle, she drifted off to sleep once again in my arms......... oooooh, Dave this couldn't be easier....... till I placed her in her crib, and she like one of those old blow up toys from the 50's that you just can't knock over, sprung up into a seated position..... I swear that girls eyes were CLOSED..... okay, so, we'll start this again, and not diswayed in the least... I brought her back upstairs and this time Dave held her till she fell asleep. Once again in dreamland, Dave attempted to place her in her crib, and as if she got an electric shock, sprung to life...... okay I said, still not forced off track... that's okay, maybe she and I will just sleep in the living room again, and we'll begin this tomorrow........ WRONG...... I've done everything except hold this child.... well that's not true...... I got up, went over to my hysterical baby, and placed her lovingly in my arms....... I wanted to soothe her, and make the tears go away...... tomorrow I'd ask the Doctor what to do, and we'd begin again...... BUT, I have to tell you this....... the second I picked her up, her eyes danced happily, they glanced around the room, and looked up at me as if to say........ SUCKER !!!!!!, she played me like a violin......... and so, I am now holding my ground. This time, I'm in the room with her...... we spent our entire time in China, and she was so independent, she'd play in her crib with the toys that she has now.... only, excuse me, this pile has grown.... more toys...... okay, forget the toys..... she inconsoluble..... , SHE is screaming, as if she was alone in the room. So, not only did she win the battle of not being alone in the room downstairs...... NOW, she's upped the antie...... she's screaming, because she wants to be held.... picking her up right now goes against every fiber in my body.......... it's just wrong. She convinced me a short time ago, that she wasn't that upset at all....... the second I picked her up, GAME OVER !......... Where is the book on this..... okay, a moment of silence..... oh, she's just getting air...... where is the book on this for adopted children. I am absolutely positive this is nothing more than a temper tantrum..... if I truly knew that I'd place her in her bed downstairs, and let her cry and cry, oh yeah, did I say CRY,...... but I can't......... honestly, I think that picking her up, is worse than letting her cry at this point...... so, here I sit, failing terribly at Motherhood.

QUESTION OF THE DAY??????????? Where is the baby reset button..... I want a do-over please !

***********NEWS UPDATE************* the crying has stopped, and she's chatting away..... I actually think I can hear her mocking me.... no, I'm only kidding, BUT, she is FINE !!!!!!!! I bet if I so much as look at her she'll cry..... oh yeah... big mistake. Live and learn............... side note, in the time it took me to re-read this post, she has calmed down, and She's making clicking noises, you know, where you snap your tongue... she's quite good at that...... so here we are, her clicking away, and talking to herself, and me, afraid to look at my own kid......

So, there we have another chapter in the Saga of a new, VERY old Mother...... but you know, I wouldn't change it for a minute...... I've been waiting a lifetime for this little girl, she is, and always has been my daughter. I just so want to make her the bestest, strongest, MOST well rounded individual, I can't afford to make any mistakes, and I do know that isn't realistic and EVERYONE makes mistakes.... but this little being is now our lives..... my life....... and again, I wouldn't change a thing, except maybe the hysterics..... laughter, I'll take laughter......... so I'm signing off now with one exception...... there are 4 hands at this keyboard....... right now, 4 very happy hands...... oh boy do I have questions for Dr. Aronson!!!!!

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Somewhere around 2 A.M. 12/28/09

This picture was taken just a couple of minutes ago.... that was before I placed her on my lap, and before, those very quick little fingers deleted the post I was typing right now....... so with patience at a stand still, I'm not going to retype.......

Baylon is still on China time, and having a very difficult time adjusting.......... so, I'm off to put her back to bed, as she just finished a warm bottle I gave her, hoping this will help send her off to dreamland........ the Saga of a very new, OLD, Mom will continue another time :).

Those Long Awaited Red Couch Shots !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay........ so here's the complete box set of The Red Couch Shots..... and I will probably take a break from anything China, except our little girl that is. If in my travels through our photos, I find a must "show", picture will definitely post it, but in the meantime, it's onward and upward.

I will be concentrating on the here and now, and can't wait to post pics of Pirate with his new additional crew member. He's is the loving, doting, big furball brother that I anticipated and hoped he'd be...... Chelsea is an opportunist, and I believe she feels that Baylon has to earn her space here..... she's been great, but you can see her wheels turning as to how she will remain Queen of the "Hubbs"...... little does she know, she is allowed to remain the Queen, as the throne has been abdicated to a new EMPRESS !

Noooooooooo, wait................ you can't fit another here, this is myyyyyyyyyyyy space...... doesn't anybody hear me ??????????????

Hey, Gia, you're freakin' crowding me....... move over, I said move....... MOVE !!!!!
Awwww, come on already.... take the shot ! We got babies cryin' ova heeeeer !
You're not supposed to show the safety netting below........ don't you know anything ?????
Mister Demille, I'm ready for my closeup !!!!!!! Listen, I'm not in the middle for nothin'

Okay, e-nuff already, that's with a capital E........ where's the stunt double..... cry baby #1 right, you're OUT !

Yeah you buddy, I'm talkin' to you......... just press the button and let's get on with it.
Okay, on the count of three...... blow the razzberies like I showed you.......... 1......... 2......... 2 1/2..

yeah..... whatever....... let's just get this done with k??????

The Blessing Of The Babies..... The Buddhist Temple....... There's no stopping us now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waiting for The Blessing Ceremony

Last views from Guangzhou and The White Swan Hotel !!!!! Onto Beijing.......... just some random shots I didn't have time to upload before we left. Now I'm beginning to add posts of our new family home life, so sorry to go back and forth, but don't want to let them disappear.