Christmas ...here it is again

the crib came to the house for one night - signalling the beginning of Christmas!

Nelly and the Tree....

we are full of colds and coughs.....Xmas tree up....cards written only just mailed ....most presents bought ( not wrapped ) and stuff done but Nelly and I have been knocked over by horrid colds and coughs...so no food ordere or bought for the day itself..but it will all come together

That test

Was all about blogging on the go ! How cool now I can update whilst we are in the car, on train etc I am sure it is something most bloggers have been doing for a while but I am a little late to the party ....... now to see if I can upload a picture !
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Testing

test
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two years ago we got this.....

Rob reminded me this morning it was two years ago that we first heard about a certain littlegirl - the one who is sleeping soundly upstairs , who has the most wicked sense of humour you can imagine and who on Saturday will be a ' Purple Angel' in her playgroup nativity! ....has she changed - can you see the moneky behind those eyes...can you see the mischief she gets up to , the gorgeous things she comes out with, the wonderful hugs she gives every day ...I can....! WHAT AN AMAZING DAY IT WAS....

We have a child
called Bai Xiao En born on Feb 28th 2006 and is at the Dianbai SWI in Guangdong....we do not have a photo yet should have one next week so will post that as soon as....The SWI is on tyhe coast about 150 miles south of Hong Kong...more to follow ...............

She loves the seaside....

we decided to brave the elements and head off to Cornwall for a long weekend to see our great friends Frank and kate - we would go more often but the thought of the long drive is really off putting with a near 3 year old! so we set off at 6 30 pm and Nelly plugged herself into the DVD - watched Pooh Bear's big adventure for a while, chomped on sandwiches and bsicuits and then fell asleep at about 8 15! It was long even for us and as we came off the M5 at exeter we stoppped for more provisions and coffee to keep us going and I got into the wrong car in the service station car park! we laughed hysterically for about half an hour !it passed the time - finally arriving in Penzance at about 10 50pm....

Nelly, as I think I have said before is from South China and the town where she spent the first year of her life is right on the coast; everytime I see her at the sea I feel her amazing affinity for the place...she runs to the sea whatever the weather shouting BEACH.... we bought a bucket and spade in a shop in Sennen in November - ( the shopkeeper thought it was his lucky day! )

We spent a good couple of hours in total on four different beaches over the weekend!

A Year in the Country.....!

A year ago we were packing up and moving from the Smoke - to the Country! so glad that we sold our house when we did!

Amazing that a year has flown by ....has it been worth it ? yes - the quality of life is better, the air is better, less evidence of crime( although I am sure it is here..) friendly people, but also we are only an hour away from Marylebone on the train, an hour on a Sunday and we can be in Selfridges ...the schools are better,... children can get a place at a pre-school without any problems...but we do miss the people...can all our friends move into the village please!

Nelly loves it here and I don't think she really remembers her time in London as she was only 20 months when we moved her; she remembers her friends but not London the place...and as long as she can alsway maintain her commection with London then I hope she will not hate us too much for moving out!

In time for the one year anniversary of being here we have just laid the stair carpet and that is the last thing to do in the house! ( garden not touched yet but the design done..and the conservatory still to be repaired ...)



The front door now....

the van packing us up last year

Nelly and I saying goodbye to St Julians Farm Road

Remember Remember the 5th of November....

one week after Trick or treat and bang - we had another big friday night! the village bonfire..Last year we were still in London and we went along to the Streatham common fireworks Nelly was fine with them but it seems lots of little ones do not like them...All Friday Nelly was looking forward to the Bonshower and the Crack Bang Pop - fireworks..! She was a tad reticent at the beginning but soon warmed up after a sausage and a juice and seeing lots of friends from the village! we enjoyed it too! The mulled wine went down well !


enjoying the Crack Bang Pop ....!

Bit wary at the start of the evening .....

this was a couple of weeks ago in a Dim Sum restaurant in Milton Keynes - Nelly getting the hang of ordering!

Halloween... Half term ... and some exciting times across the pond

Nelly has been going through a big clingy phase and not wanting to go to nursery and pre-school...so a week of half term was a great respite for us all - no wailing in the car on the way and no tears ....instead a house full of cousins and friends popping in to keep Nelly entertained...! After a week off she has gone back and today when I picked her up from her half day in nursery one of the carers said 'It was lovely to have Nelly back again today! '

After a week of older children's company her language has improved enormously...she is really good company ...but as I read on another blog recently it is so difficult to leave behind those early days, thinking about Nelly this time last year when we moved here she still needed us so much she was still a baby....

Halloween - Grandma came to stay and we dressed Nelly up as a spider and put out our pumpkin lanterns at the end of our drive. Apparently in our village they will not come trick or treating unless you place a pumpkin outside - which is great so we could regulate the amount of time we would have to man the door and ration the sweets! Nell was both scared by some of the childrens' masks but excited and wanted more children to come to the door for sweets - nevertheless she woke at 3 having a nightmare! I think it was the blood dripping Edvard Munch mask that did it for her...!We will wait and see what she thinks of Bonfire Night on Friday in the village with all those bangs and flashes!

As I type Rob and I are tuning in to US election coverage -and thinking back to that night in May 1997 when we were on the verge of electing Blair after years of Thatcher - remembering that excitement and thinking how exciting and momentous this night will be for the US and the world...

Blenheim Palace...

Nelly and her cousins with my sister...

Nelly and her favourite Beth!

Three cousins....

the wait in china these days for a referral for those waiting is LONG...to put it in perspective for those not in the china adoption community our papers went to china end of August 2005 and we got referral end November 2006 - so 15 months wait ...In the last 21 months since we came home with Nelly they have only managed to clear 5 months of paperwork ...the wait is getting longer and longer...numerous explanations and theories - many to do with the number of children in institutions, lower abandonment figures, the trend towards domestic adoptions within China etc etc ...whatever the explanation it would seem that there will be fewer and fewer little ones from China and for those waiting it seems will only get harder and harder...I just hope that the theories and explanations are true ...

some recent pictures

My good friend Gill came over from the States and it was the first time she and Scott had met Nelly , we met up in Kensington High Street on an amazingly warm Saturday afternoon in late September and spent an hour or so in Kensington Gardens and then went for something to eat in Wagamamas ...it was lovely to catch up with old friends that we chat to on Skype..

All I want for Christmas ......

and birthday ( december 24th ....so not that far apart! ) ...and maybe for next years Christmas and birthday too.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

are a pair of these beautiful boots........

I

growing up....

my little girl can hold real grudges!



Saturday evening we went along to a fundraising evening at her pre-school...a Bingo night! not our usual Saturday night out ( well we don't go out anymore! but hey.....) but as I am on the committee I thought I should attend ( I made sure that a friend was going to be there...) anyway we passed up Strictly and hotfooted it down the the village hall...They had arranged for Sam - Nelly's key worker - to spend the evening in the other room with loads of toys, books, drawing etc and juice and crisps! to keep the children amused while we played BINGO!!Nelly did well but got tired and we ducked out early....Yesterday afternoon when I picked up N from preschool Sam said that she had been really off with her all morning and Nelly had told Mary ( another worker ) that it was because Mummy Daddy put me in a room with Sam on Saturday night!

some new pictures .................

With Rob between contracts! resting at home ....he has been buying art for the walls!

We found this fab site degreeart.com run by two women who trawl the final degree shows and then represent up and coming new artitsts.. being a distance from London now and having a small child makes doing the degree shows difficult!

ANyway we ahve broken with our usual very abstract works and gone for something a bit more daring, and interesting....

This is by a woman called Kate Marshall - not surprisingly titled Blue Stocking!

These two are by Ruth Holloway and are from a study of hers on womens legs! They are on satin and the image itself is drawn and then overstitched in different colours... this is on our bedroom ...
This is called suncatcher ....................

moving from the cot to a big girls bed....

so one of the final milestones of Nelly moving on from baby to big girl is the move to a bed! We had planned on doing this after our summer holiday but with the whole crying and waking in the middle of the night scenes we had in the summer we decided against it ...SO two weeks ago we dug out the bits to turn the cot into a bed...well we had most of them but the most important bits - the screws had gone missing! Fortunately for us Mothercare provide a service for dippy parents who lose things two years after they have bought them!

I have decided to buy Nelly one of those funny Kidsleep Wake Up bunny clocks to encourage her to stay in bed in the morning when she wakes as for the last two days she has been waking as usual at 5 50am drinking some milk and then falling asleep in our bed until 8am!

Any other tips on making the transition would be appreciated !

we got eggs

this says it all!!

Thank You Chick Chicks .....!!

Just cute pictures!

She is really good company just now and after our reunion picnic in the park we headed to the nearest Pizza Express to eat before heading back home - where she insisted on eating with large knife and fork!

Another Reunion...........

Last summer!

This year
Chaos!
will you all stand still!

Nine little ones with some help from big sisters and mothers holding them down!

We were so lucky in that we were a large group from the Uk in China together....lots of us live ( lived!) in or near to London so we have decided that regular reunions for the girls will be great - we did the first one last September and then one on the anniversary or thereabouts of meeting them all....So yesterday was our second summer reunion! last year we had a bunch of small toddlers and a year on - so much changes - we spent most of the time running around the playground in regents Park chasing them! We had amazing weather and there were nine out of the 13 families there for the day....so we had a big picnic and lots of catching up. Last year we took a group photo and tried again this year - More like herding cats this year!

Controlled Crying

so the time for Nelly to be rocked to sleep is coming to an end....The Banshee screaming resumed again as we decided that enough was enough of rocking her to sleep and being woken at 2 in the morning and her coming into our bed ..

So Monday evening this week we bit the bullet and armed with copy of Richard Ferbers Sleep problems book ( the one that I was going to give back to my friend as I thought I was not going to need it! HAH!!!!) and the 12 point list of how to do controlled crying we developed our plan and stuck to it...so four nights in she is now sleep ing in her bed all night ( one hiccup at one this morning but we maintained the controlled crying thing of waiting 5 minutes and then going in and going away again - she then realised that we meant business and went off to sleep...) and tonight there was not even a whimper as I turned out the light and left her room...here's crossing all fingers that she is back to being a good sleeper and good at going to bed!!!!!!!!!! Never say Never I say.....

Bagging a Bargain on the Only Summer Day this year ...........

Nelly and Her Bargain Silver Cross Pram!

Lilly and Nelly - being pursued by some woman in a pinny! Sorry Sara!

I love my new Pram -

Getting into the Bran Tub!
My Bran Tub present!

The sun shone on Saturday and there was an amazing balmy almost Mediterrranean feel to the day...we spent the afternoon with friends at their local village Arts festival and bagged a bargain for Nelly on the White Elephant ( £2 for a Silver Cross Pram - there were three for sale courtesy of a family of triplets ! so enough not to disappoint! ) and she had a great time with her friend Lilly at the Bran Tub digging out presents that mainly consisted of chocolate! Nelly has really enjoyed these fete / fair things this year in the country! we just never would have done things like that in London - it is real Midsommer Murders type event - on the village green / in the churchyard....loads of kids and dogs running around, drinking tea from a hot water Urn and eating home made cakes! playing coconut shy, jousting, Punch and Judy, tombola, local produce, second hand books , crafty bits....better take her back to London next year for some Urban fun !! In London we did have something called the Lambeth Country Show in a local park but that was mainly reggae bands and West Indian foods! with a few sheep thrown in from the local City farm!

Sunday - normal weather resumed and it rained all day - ...................!!!!!!!!!!!

Nelly gets her comeuppance............

as some of you may know - Nelly can have a tendency to be on the aggressive side...the pinching seems to have stopped but she still can be known to bop / slap her friends on the head when they do something she is not keen on....Last week our friend Claire came over with Lola - they were in china with us last year....Nelly was happily running around with Lola's big brother Freddy (aged 9) and pushed Lola around a little - just for being in her house / garden etc! Bank Holiday Monday at one of the local village ' Fayres' ( note not fete...!! ) she ran around with her friend Jack ( 2 in October ) and then just pushed him over followed by a slap on the head....

Today I was at an all day meeting when my phone rang- call from the nursery...immediate Alarm Bells started ringing in my head - apparently Rob had picked up Nelly bu they had forgotten to get him to sign the accident form as she had been bitten on the finger by another boy..! When I got home she repeated at least 15 times during dinner, colouring and bath time that ' little boy bite my finger Mummy ' ....I reinforced that it was not kind, a bit like hitting or pinching... ' ! Maybe the penny will drop.....

Hector Zaza and Kiki have landed ...

KIKI, ZAZA and Hector ( left to right!)
Cickens in their Eglu
Nelly and the Eglu!

They have been named as above - I realised when i asked people in my village that I am seriously older then most of them as when I mentioned the names I was met with blank looks - bit like asking a 2 year old these days if they like the Magic roundabout! Anyway as I will be the one to let them in and out and pribably clean them I named them! They are fab...Nelly loves a little walk to the back of the garden to see them and feed them bits and pieces...apparently according to my sister who now has chickens too - they love cabbage! Watch out chicks we are not keen in this house so when the veg box arrives you will be in for a treat!

CALL FOR VOTES..............

so what shall we call them - we are collecting the chickens tomorrow...Purple Eglu and three chickens....So we need your votes if you are still reading!

Rob favours -

1. Scrambled, Fried and Boiled

He also likes -

2.Tikka, Korma and Masala

I personally like -

3. Hector ZaZa and Kiki ( if anyone here remembers Hectors House ...! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_tVxvnEJko )

Add a comment or email us to let us know - ...Results to be published on Sunday evening...

living the country life...without a car

I don't but I have a friend coming over with her little girl , she lives in a town in Oxfordshire - about 40 minutes away in the car -she does not drive. We live spitting distance away from Oxfordshire and I could collect her from one of our nearest towns...She looked into it and guess what One bus from Witney to Banbury on a thursday and two on a Saturday! No good when I have her coming over on a Wednesday ! And in thsi world of getting us out of cars and onto public transport I would never see anybody !

Sunny Bomo...

Despite the weather forecast telling us it was going to pour with rain for the whole week - we had one day of gales and rain and since then glorious sunshine...I think the Meteorological Office are manning a bid to kill off tourism in the UK....the beach is quiet when the sunshines and I guess the businesses are quiet too....! Nelly has realaffinity with the sea and the beach - she adores it. YEsterday she was running and jumping in the waves...making sand castles with James ( 8 ) while Gabs and I sipped Pimms....! WHat a perfect day! But she came from the sea...the orphanage at Dianbai was so close to the beach ,but I'm guessing she did not get there often in the first 11 months of her life! Maybe it is the sound and the smells...and we live in the most landlocked part of the UK!!! poor little sea baby - oh well ...more visits to friends by the sea -of which we have many!

also the Hens they are a coming!

the hens are coning in two weeks time! hurrah !

tomorrow Nelly and I are off for a wet few days in Bournemouth! we are off on the train again - to stay with the Gabs, Jonny James and Ziggy .....! hurrah a UK beach holiday - I read in the paper yesterday that 9 out of 10 UK childen have never been to a UK beach ! Nelly not doing badly so far ! Bournemouth at least three times, St Ives and various Cornish and North Devon beaches. .. and Anglesey ...rock on British holidays...

sleeping better, new toys in the house , getting the garden designed...

I am feeling better Nelly is sleeping better - although I now have to sit with her and rock her as they do at nursery! well hopefully this will only be a passing phase.....here's hoping - she still wakes in the night and wants to come into our bed, so am very loathe to take the sides off the cot and convert into bed!


Rob has a brand new toy in the house - A Geneva sound system - looks like one speaker on a stand but does a whole lot more - Ipod, CD , plugs into the projector we bought and we can now watch films on our perfect white walls at 71 inches wide without having to have a nasty plasma in the drawing room!...I approved...

Last Monday our good friend Lesley came over to look at our garden - we rented a house from her and Stephen in oxfordshire in 1995 and have been friends ever since - she is a garden designer and they now live by the sea in Swanage but all her work is in Oxfordshire so we asked her to come and see our garden , I trust her enormously and Rob will trust what she does so I am really looking forward to a amnageable garden with some style... What I really need is trees and hedging which I want to get done in the autumn ...

We had a houseful this weekend = hungarian cousins were over and came for lunch on saturday and our great friends kate and Frank popped in !!! from Cornwall ! I had been moaning about the fact that nobody around here ever pops in and they called on Saturday afternoon to say they were taking their brother to Bristol airport and would come over - so they arrived at about 9 00 Nelly woke at 11 30 to total surprise that Kate was here...we had a lovely Sunday, breakfast and papers, pub lunch, walk through the cornfields and football in the garden...




KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE !!!!

Rob's new Toy....

Nelly with Itsa and Kata

Nelly and Gergei...

From a dream sleeper to a banshee at bedtime.....in one week

Nelly has moved from going to bed perfectly with an easy routine and a Night Night - before closing the door and getting an evening together....to a screaming banshee as soon as I put her into the bed and leave the room. Such a Banshee that she can keep at it for a good hour with me going in, reassuring her, not talking, putting her back down , etc ( controlled crying ) until she then stops screaming for Mummy and starts on Daddy at the top of her voice for another half an hour and literally thwos all of the toys and bed linen out of the cot! ( I now know where that saying comes from! ) .....poor thing is soaked through with sweat and finally falls asleep in Rob's arms or in our bed. Decided along with little sister advice that she really probably needs to kick the afternoon nap habit! So yesterday was a long old day of keeping her awake! success she still wanted to scream at bedtime but I sat with her for ten minutes after story and soothed her until she fell into a deepl sleep and got a full 11 hours! hoping today will be the same. Will try and limit the sleep to only 1/2 an hour or 40 minutes and see what that brings...

holidays, weekends away , work ...

nelly with the fat controller on a day out to Thomas Land...

Nelly loving the sea on the villa balcony...

all happening - where does the time go...
the garden is overgrown with weeds.....the cat cost me £1500 in vet fees and since coning home from holiday with only one Canine tooth left she has managed to bring me at least three mouse presents and one bird!
Unable to add images onto blog at the moment so cannot share images of Nelly in Corfu ...she had a great time, was a star on the aeroplane and loved joining in with Greek dancing one evening at a taverna! Photos to follow...every morning she and I spent an hour or so in the pool doing what she called Proper Swimming ....by the end of the week she was floating around on her ring unaided. She did go under the water once on her own but was not phased...!"

last weekend we spent the weekend in Amsterdam - I had a meeting just outside the city on Friday morning so we thought we would take the opportunity to visit. It rained most of the weekend, we had a lovely time despite that and took in some of the sites....we had planned on the Anne Frank Museum but the queue was so long...The architecture is fab and Rob and I spent most of the time walking around looking through windows ...an amazing place once you leave the Red Light area, I managed some retail therapy ! fab pair of shoes and two tops ....I never shop for myself these days always for Nelly so that was fun...