Milestones

For those of you who are interested, Sean officially doubled his arrival weight on last Tuesday's weigh in. He is now 4.7kg (10 1/2 pounds) If all babies could be so easy to help. He loves to sleep and eat at the same time. He also likes to be left alone rather than held when he is feeding. We have tried to change the bottles to pacifiers and that seems to be working otherwise I think his skin is going to burst. I went to see Dr.Hicks and he told me that this is what a normal healthy baby looks like. I guess I have been with the small birth weigh ones for too long because Sean looks huge to me.

Sarah slept through the night for the first time last Wednesday night and every night since then except for two nights ago. I was so proud of her. She graduated to the big kid room a few weeks ago and she has been sleeping longer and longer so I was not surprised. She is such a good baby compared to the little red rat that arrived in May, when she could only eat an ounce every hour and even then she threw it up. She is now consistently drinking 8 oz bottles. She also reached the minimum weight for the cleft palette surgeries and is on her way to the six kilo mark. She smiles at everyone that comes near her and it is so cute to see because her whole face opens up. I am going to miss their open mouth smiles when they get surgery. Michael is not far behind in the cute factor scale but Gabriel........he seems to be getting worse and is not sleeping well at night.

Our other gainer of the week is Nathaniel. He picked up an unheard of 0.25kg. When you are only 2.35 kg that is a huge improvement. That gripe water which I give Nathaniel and Hank twice a day has made so much difference I cannot even begin to tell you. The two of them are so much calmer and they eat so much better. (Thanks to British Laura's Mum) The cleft babies get so much air in the stomachs and they have been know to cry so much. I can attest to that. Most of the time they are like different babies from before.

The other interesting thing that has happened. All the babies are sleeping later since Laura left. She would wake up at 6 and wake everyone else up and now that she is not here they are all sleeping until 7 and even later than that. Jonas was still asleep at 7:30 this morning. Good for us, because that means we can focus on the small babies until the rest of the nannies arrive at 8 am and then they can change the diapers after their morning bottle. Amanda learned well from Laura. She climbed in Jade's crib and then climbed out of hers and came to have her diaper changed!!!

The Mahler's
I saw Laura on Thursday night. Evelyn called and asked me to come to the hotel. Laura was happy to see me and cuddled for a while, then she got off my lap and played around the hotel room. She seems to be adjusting well and has added some noises to let her parents know that she is hungry. It was really good to see her and to know that she is going to be okay. The Mahlers are leaving for Guangzhou on the 20th and they will be heading home on the 25th, I think, with Miss Laura Joan as an American citizen.

So the question is: Who is going to be the next one to go? Amanda (new name Katie) Nina (Flower Opal) or is it going to be a surprise Jonas. Did you notice there is no Antoinette. I just found out last night that she did not get matched. Her paperwork was at the CCAA for a maximum three months and I have to reapply and do all the medical work again and we are off to the hospital in a few hours. I cannot understand how this happened because she is perfectly healthy baby (NSN). Anyway we have to start from the beginning again. I might only have a few days to prepare when I hear any news about parents arriving........so I am sure you will know as soon as I know.

Susan's Colgate Smile
I have written to some agencies in an attempt to get them to request Susan's file and for them to try and get a family for her. She is the only one that has not been matched so far. I want her to have a mom and a dad too. Susan is so verbal. She has added the words "ayi" (nanny) and "gei" (give) to her vocab. The other night I hear her sing EIE with no OOOOO at 2:30 am. She really surprised me this past week. The Mahlers flew in late on Thursday night and on Friday morning I walk into the living room and Susan was sitting with Chris (with reddish hair and a beard) as happy as a clam. I have NEVER seen that before. She is so hard to hold and cries so hard if it is a stranger. So I live in hope that she will attach herself to a new family quickly.

The teeth are growing fast and furiously in my house. Michael and Olivia are adding their first ones. You can clearly see the bumps. Jade is adding four at the same time. She is going to be a vampire mouth for a while. There is a big gap in the middle with the next two coming out. Susan is also adding two very small teeth next her two huge ones. Benjamin is also growing two more. He has finally recovered from his operation and he is not so fussy anymore. He is actually smiling a lot at the moment.

I heard from Dr Li that Rachel's VSD might spontaneously close and that she should be monitored to check that this will happen. That means she might not need surgery at all which is great news. Olivia's condition is more serious and her pulmonary stenosis is sever and I am trying to find out how soon she is going to need surgery.

Laura's departure
Deborah from Melbourne, Australia is back. This is her third visit to us since the summer. We were all happy to see her. The one that surprised her the most was Sean. She was here for three days after we got him and she could hardly recognise him. She will be going with Kay and I to Hefei for the cleft lips surgeries.

So now you know what is up with all of us.

Love and laughter,
Amanda and the 16 wee mongrels