Yes, we are still here

OK, so I guess our definition of a few days is more than 3 and less than 365. But yes, we are still here and doing well.

Elspeth continues to adjust well to her new life. She eats well and has started taking a bit of formula again (mixed with a bit of Chocolate Rice milk to make it more appealing to her). She is no longer just skin and bones. She actually has some muscles and some body fat. She is even getting a toddler belly. Yay!

She has been to the doctor's once. He said that she looks fine, just under nourished and physically under stimulated. Nothing that good nutrition and some exercise won't fix. He also said that her hip dysplasia does in fact seem to be corrected. So that is one less thing to worry about.

We need to take her back soon for immunizations and update exam.

Our biggest problem now is sleeping. We get her to bed around 8. She sleeps until 11:30 or 12am and then wakes up crying. I can usually get her back to sleep by rubbing her back, but then she wakes up every 20 minutes or so. I usually give up around 3 am and take her into the bed with me. After that she sleeps better, but is still restless and makes the occassional peeping cry. She tends to reach to to make sure I'm there too, and occassionally kicks me. I'm not really sure what is going on there. Is she having nightmares? Sometimes I can't hear her breathing deeply, so I was afraid it was sleep apnea. But when I put my hand infront of her nose, I can feel the breath.

We have also noticed that she is scared of most women, but will accept grey haired, grandfatherly type men. She really likes my dad and gets very excited to see him on Skype. She also goes to Pat's dad and her uncles Peter and William after an hour or so with them.

When we first received her in China, she preferred Pat slightly to me, but soon accepted me as primary caregiver. But, oddly, she called me a-ba, which means daddy in Chinese.

Our speculation - she may not have been treated that well by her foster mother (under fed, ignored, perhaps even treated roughly) but there was likely a friendly, maybe loving father figure who she preferred and would call out for when she was scared.

This will be her first Christmas with us. I don't think she'll understand much of what is going on. But we are happy she could be with us this Christmas. The big gatherings of family and friends may scare her a bit. Hopefully not because we would like her to meet all of her uncles, aunts, cousins and friends.

Today, Maeve got some focussed time as she went with daddy and aunty Carolyn to see the play the Secret Garden. She loved it and managed to sit through the 1 1/2 hours before intermission and the 1/2 hour afterwards without fussing too much.

We've been trying to do some one-on-one time with Maeve so she doesn't feel too left out. In general, she is doing really well at being a big sister.

Here are some photos of our activities over the last few weeks.

Like her sister, El likes to swing.

 


El goes sledding for the first time.

 



























































It is much warmer inside!

















Decorating Gingerbread Men: the more icing the better


























 

















My attempt at a photo shoot in front of the Christmas tree

























 











































































Our first visitors at home:




















 






















Herself:





















 



















































Maeve holds up her key to the Secret Garden















El's first visit with Santa was kind of scary... the subsequent ones were much worse and much crying ensued...