Bubbles

Laina received a "gazillion Bubbles" machine and we tried it out one day. She loved it of course, although she wanted to put her mouth up to the gizmo and eat them! Here's a shot of her playing in them. We've been very busy with guests and will be until after Columbus Day. Laina is in Day Care for 3 days a week and I am getting back to work. She loves the Day Care place but we wish she could tell us stories of her day. It feels very wierd not to know what she did every minute!Oops, she's awake..gotta go!

Daddy's Little Girl

We're ba-ack..sorry for the long break between posts! Laina is busy, busy. We have had a fun month of August, Laina has had a couple of birthday parties, we had a China Reunion with the families that we traveled with, we've had house guests and of course, the little one is running everywhere. Today I am posting a couple of cute pix of her with her Daddy. One is of them watching TV, he gives her an old remote and she thinks she is changing the channels, it's pretty funny. Another is of when she just suddenly fell asleep on him. There's a photo of her with her cousin Jacob at the window in their diapers and a great one of her on a Rocking Horse. As you can see, she controls the world with her pointer finger and is leading the charge! I have also included a picture of her in her new duckie slippers that she loves, from our friends Stephanie and Annabelle. She is doing so well. There's 2 new teeth coming through on the bottom, she is mimicking a lot of words and is really cruising around steadily now. I am starting to dread Day Care starting in a couple of weeks, it is so fun to be with her everyday. We'll only do 3 days though and I guess it will feel good to get back to work and be with grownups once in a while. I guess...

Laina's First Birthday

Wow, our first kids' party. It was a lot of fun, a bit chaotic but in a good way. About 20 kids came, although some left and others came as they needed naps, etc. The kiddie pool was a huge success. I am posting a picture of Laina in her party dress at the very beginning of the day and then the only one I have of her eating cake. Jimmy moved the cake a bit too close and she dug right in! We did give her a piece to eat with her hands, as tradition goes but I need someone else to supply a photo of her in all her chocolate glory. There's a picture of Laina and me with our friends, Silla and her baby, Isabelle, whose bday is this month also. There's one of kids watching the cake show. Another is of some kids in the pool, and there's one of our new kid in town, Cameron, who was recently brought home from Vietnam. She's a real beauty and already knows how to turn a camera into a phone! I didn't have time to pick up my camera much but we all had a great time and everyone gave Laina really nice presents too. We opened them that evening, after her long nap and want to thank everyone so very much for them and for making the effort to pack up the kids and come over. We all had a really fun time!

More Laina

Oops, I missed a picture that I said was there yesterday of her and I at the beach so here it is. Also added a funny one of her cousin Jacob, who is actually about 19 months old when he was feeding her a huge bite of breakfast. I handed him the spoon when he indicated that he wanted it, thinking that he wanted to try her food himself, instead he gave it to her! She ate it and thankfully didn't choke, and he gave her some more. What a big boy!

Baby Girl Walkin'

Today, Laina took her first steps! There were about 4. Lately, she had been doing a new crawl, sort of a hop-a-long with one leg tucked underneath and one stretched out. She has now decided that crawling is just not the way to travel. Her cousin Jacob was visiting with his grandparents for one night and she saw him walking. He's about 16 months old. We all saw her do it so it was good family excitement, and boy, was she proud of herself! We didn't have our cameras for the first time but I am posting a photo of her standing all by herself that we took only moments ago to verify her achievements. There is a photo of Jacob at the beach, one of Laina and I as she was trying a drink of my vitamin water. Another is of her and her friend Taylor(the boy she kissed on the 4th of July,xxoo) They had a playdate and I guess all the fun in the kiddie pool was pretty exciting because this is how they ended the lunch date at the table. I think there's 2 more..one of her with her first raspberries, YUMMY! And one just to confirm with all the other mommies that we shouldn't let Daddy pick out the clothes for her to wear when we are out. Stripes and plaids?!

A Girl's Best Friend

Before a girl gets diamonds, she also likes things that are soft and cuddly.This is a cute photo of Laina and our big, nice kitty named Nick. They have really bonded. He lets her poke and inspect all his body parts, even when she pulls his tail pretty hard. He cries when she cries and sometimes it's like I have 2 babies!The second is of Laina and her stuffed flamingo, aka Pinky. She was originally scared of him, and cried when we took him out of the gift bag, but as you can see, he has proven to be a great pillow. Also, we have some major progress in the crawling department. Laina has invented a sort of inchworm technique where she kicks her feet so her butt is in the air, then pulls with her hands to move forward. She still wants only to walk, and can do that pretty well holding someone's fingers. It is difficult now to get her to sit down and play, just always wants to be on the move.I don't have a crawling photo yet, but hopefully I can get one soon.

More China, At your request

On our first 3 days in China, we were in Beijing. This is before getting the babies. They kept us very busy every day; this is when we went to the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City among other things. Here are some photos; one is of Jimmy in front of the massive portrait of Chairman Mao, another is of some guards that posed for me(a couple of them got all serious and puffed up their chests).One is of our agency guide and Pediatrician,"Dr. Steve" with our friend Peeps and a guard. That photo was taken at the Guard's request. There are a couple of the Forbidden City too. One, not a great photo but it shows the imperial chair at the "Hall of Supreme Harmony" and above it hangs a bronze ball that looks like a giant pearl. Supposedly, the ball will fall on any "Pretender" to the throne and crush them. There are many Halls and many thrones, used for different functions and ceremonies. We were zoomed through the whole place at a frantic pace, following our guide, just barely seeing him sometimes up ahead of us. There is a photo and in it you may see a pink flag way up ahead, that's what I am supposed to be following. Our guide, Tom was very nice and informative but FAST. The 28 families were divided into 2 buses. The other bus group actually did lose some people! They made their way back to a restaurant that we had been to the evening before somehow and made their way to the hotel from there. We managed to stay with our group, but felt as if we didn't absorb half of what we saw. It was all very impressive and the history just wraps around you. We just recently watched the movie "The Last Emperor" just to see all the places we had been. The movie was filmed on location within The Forbidden City and really gives you a sense of what it was like for the Imperial family to live there, and never go outside the walls.

Laina's first 4th of July

Laina went to her first 4th of July parade and loved it! We went to our friend, Laurel's house where the parade actually goes by twice. Jimmy was asked to be in it and march with a fife and drum corp from Fall River. He was given the uniform to wear from an older man who stripped down to his tighty-whiteys right there and handed them over! He was having knee surgery soon and really didn't want to march anyway. Jimmy really enjoyed himself and wants to do it next year too. I'll put up a picture with him. Laina clapped and waved a lot, she especially responded to the horses as they went by, and a huge inflated rat that was on an extermination co.'s truck.Laina also met a nice baby boy named Taylor, we put them in a chair for some photos and they were very funny together. She actually leaned over and kissed him. My photo isn't great, but you get the idea. We caught some beads and wore them, and stayed until the very end. As soon as she got in the carseat she was sound asleep. We have also been playing in our new kiddie-pool and she loves the water. She is taking a long nap as I write this, she was splashing and kicking so hard that she wore herself out.

Funny Face

This is a photo taken by our friend Sandra, of Laina in China. She made this face all the time which cracked everybody up. She still does this one, as well as a lot of new ones she has invented! We have a lot of laughs playing mirror games.

Imperial Dinner

One night when we had been in Beijing for a couple of days, we decided to break away from the group and go out to a restaurant.This is before we had the babies. Our friend, Sandra(aka Peeps) found it in a travel guide, I believe it may have been called the Imperial, but I'm not sure. The taxi cost about $2 and it seemed like we drove all around the city. We had been a bit disappointed by the food served to the group in the hotel, it seemed "cafeteria style" and very americanized, there was nothing exotic or unique to us. This place was incredible, it was on Beihail Lake, with an impressive entrance manned by guards and women in full traditional dress. We were escorted to the restaurant down a lovely walkway lit by Chinese lanterns. There were meals to choose by the group, in other words, you would order together a "page" from the menu that would be served to us on the center "lazy susan" for evryone. There were 14 courses and it cost about $12 US. Jacqui and I ordered tea and the waitress served it to us in a beautiful, long-spouted teapot.Must have been a hard technique to learn! I am posting and using some pictures taken by Sandra as well as some I took myself. This is the place that offered "Camel Paw, Deer Lips, Deer tendon," and all kinds of crazy sounding stuff. I don't remember exactly what we had (not those things!)but it was all delicious!