Starfish Update September 11...We have light

Sean.

Today is already September 15 and so this news is a little old but I am sending it none the less.

We have been without electricity for four of the past eight days. You have no idea how crazy that is. That happened without warning and so we had not prepared extra water for anything and the laundry backed up and on top of that there was many poopy clothes and bedding. It looked like a mountain that had to be washed and the mountain stank. I am constantly amazed at how much laundry the babies can generate. Having 13 babies and no power or water for so long was really hard on all of us as you can well imagine. We cheered long and hard when the power came back on again.

Sean.
Nina surprised the heck out of me on Saturday. I was having chocolate milk and all the babies wanted some so I gave the box to them, knowing that they will not be able to drink it. Well, I underestimated Nina. She put the straw in her mouth and sucked the milk up and then she wouldn't give it back. She drank about half the box. The cutest thing was, Amanda tried the straw in her mouth and Nina puckered her mouth up trying to teach Amanda what to do.

Benjamin is crawling all over the living room. He goes further and further and is exploring everything. His fifth tooth just pushed through. Angel has been pushing her bum in the air and yesterday I saw that she was on her hands and knees so I am sure it will not be long before she crawls too. She has been really fussy so I am expecting some teeth to pop out soon.

Sarah belly laughed hard on Sunday for Elise. She is becoming really social and smiles at everyone. Her neck is strong now and she is picking up weight well every week. I am hoping to take Gabriel, Micheal and Sarah to Hefei in October to have their lips repaired and hopefully there is will be another medical mission in Xian next March to repair the palettes.

Sean, well he has certainly been easy to fatten up. If I compare him to the three cleft babies, he has been a walk in the park. All the does is sleep, eat, eat sleep eat and poop. I am sending recent shot. You will notice how round his face is and he even has a double chin. You can not believe he has been here for three and a half weeks and look at him now. He picked up 0.6kg last week that is fifth of his body weight a week ago. He is still in the 5 percentile for his age. Dr Hicks wants him at 5kg in a month when he is three months old. We will give it a good try.

Laura is going to climb Mount Everest. The girl climbed out of her crib last night and DID NOT FALL. She was calmly playing on the floor. I had given them all a bottle and I just waiting for the time when the prisoners would start demanding to be let out of their cages. Laura climbed out without making a sound. I did not hear a thud, nor did she cry. She has been running and that makes us laugh. She grabs things and then makes a run for it. The other babies are too slow and so she gets away with it. She has also skipped get eye teeth and went straight for her molars. They are poking out like little icebergs.

Last Saturday I had to go and buy some more shoes. The people thought I was nuts. I guess it must have looked strange in a country where the norm is just one child and here I was buying for the five that are walking. The weather has been so wonderful and the babies are going outside for long periods of time. As a matter of fact they like it so much they do not want to come home, especially Antoinette. She has become the leg hugger and boy can she hold on. She does not let go even when you want to walk.

About the dryer. I got so many emails from my Chinese friends about this, most of them gave me Chinese lessons and I know am able to say dryer in Chinese as opposed to dry cleaner. I am still trying to track a dryer down. It would seem that the whole of Xian ( a city of more than 7 million people) has no dryer. So we call Siemens and they ask us to call a number. They have 30 kg dryers. Keep in mind I have 5 kg washing machine. They want 110 000 RMB (US$13 750) for said dryer. I just burst into laughter. I have to go back to Siemens and ask for something besides an industrial dryer.

I am grateful to have some light and water. I guess you have to loose something and be reminded how much we take for granted.

Love and laughter,
Amanda and the en"light"ened 13 Buddha bellies