I heart flowers

I love flowers and love to photograph flowers. So you can imagine my delight when I found a hydrangea in my backyard yesterday. I feel a little silly for not having noticed it before seeing as we've lived in this flat for a year now. The tree (bush?) sits fairly low and is behind a larger and bushier bush. I saw a little pink peeking over the bushier bush and low and behold I found a gorgeous pink hydrangea. I decided to make a little arrangement for the table and cut from some other flowery stalky bush that I have noticed before but didn't think was particularly nice. However, I think the 2 flowers look really pretty together. I do love our backyard. It's uncommonly large for London, it's been nicely landscaped, AND we have a gardener who comes and takes care of everything. Granted, I believe this cost is built into our rent. Nonetheless, it's really nice to enjoy the space without having to do any work. Call me lazy. As I was putting together my arrangement I found this little hitchiker.

Snails are everywhere here - big, small and tiny. This little guy was pretty cute. This is his new home.

the hydrangea peeks over the bushy bush

While eating dinner I was admiring my arrangement and found another little snail. Kaneu is amazed and likes to touch them. After we set the second snail free Kaneu started pretending his peas were snails, holding them in his hand and petting them. At breakfast today he thought it would be funny to say "mama, look a snail on your coffee". The game went on and on and on. There were snails on our eggs, our chairs, etc. I love his sense of humor and his creativity. Three years old and already playing jokes on mom! Here he is at the park on Wednesday, looking cute as ever.

Moving on ... while I was in the backyard I paid a little bit of attention to my neglected plants and herbs. I am a bit frustrated with my green thumb these days. Would you eat from this tomato plant? It has seen better days but I have to tell you that them 'maters are deliciously sweet! The peppers are pretty scary looking. I have not been adventurous enough to actually eat one. Perhaps I'll try again next year and actually transplant them from their containers (rather than taking the lazy way and planting containers).

What is wrong with my cilantro? Help!

I thought I'd post a pic of our first babe, Rosie. She is very food obsessed and eats just about everything, and I mean everything. I think she loves having Kaneu around because it's a sure thing she'll get at least a nibble and a few crumbs as the result of one of his meals or snacks. She lurks over and sidles up to the table and waits, and will not make eye contact. Maybe she thinks we can't see her if she refuses to look at us? Ahh, but we love her. Who wouldn't love this face?

Is this edible? No? Well fugeddaboutit then.

Ok, well that's it for today. Time to clean. As you can see, very exciting stuff!
:)dana

Waiting... anticipating the adjudicating

Adoption News ... I received an update from the CIS/US Embassy in London today -

Brian's fingerprints were rejected on 7/16/2007 as unclassifiable; however, the second set of prints were submitted and those were cleared ok on 7/17/2007. I-600A should be adjudicated within the week.

I must confess that I had to look up the meaning of "adjudicate". For those of you who are scratching your head it means 'to hear and settle by judicial procedure.' Basically they are reviewing our request for advance processing to bring an alien orphan into the country. We submit our I-600A along with our homestudy and fingerprints. This is great news! I feel better knowing that our homestudy was received by a real person and not into a blackhole. This whole adoption process is quite an exercise in patience. We have very little to no control over the way things happen. We've had many ups and downs and feelings of hopelessness in this process. It's an emotional journey for sure. I do try to stay positive and am relieved we are getting closer to being able to submit our paperwork to Vietnam. Yeah!!

There he blows

Kaneu has this new habit (since sleeping in his big boy bed) of sitting in his windowsill and reading a book after we tuck him in and say "night night". We realized this just the other night when we were in our sunroom - from the sunroom window you can look out and see Kaneu's window (see below).

It was the cutest thing to see - our little guy sitting in his window looking at his book by the moonlight.

Lastnight I was sitting at my desk/sewing table (in the sunroom) and I could see him in his window. Only he wasn't reading he was playing with the curtains, which I've told him is a "no". So, I waved and he ducked down into his bed and that was that. Fast forward about an hour - Kaneu is calling for "daddy" and he's crying. He's also saying something else that we don't understand but it sounds like "tissue". So, we immediately jump up fearing that he's had a nosebleed, which he frequently does. False alarm. There is no nosebleed but he really wants a tissue, so I get him a tissue and we wipe his nose and say "night night". Fast forward 10 seconds. He's screaming "daddy, help me, I need a tissue!!!". So, I go in and he's crying and again, really wants a tissue. So, I still have the tissue in hand and ask him if he has a booger up there that he wants out. He says "yes". I ask him to look up at the ceiling and try my hardest to find this thing in my child's nose that is causing him to be awake at 10pm! I see nothing but stick the tissue up his nose anyways to clean out any nosecrumbs that may be causing him discomfort. I then realize he has a very tiny little itty bitty nosebleed. I show him the tinge of pink on the tissue and that seemed to make him feel better. He then pulled back his curtains and showed me one of his snowglobes that he had smuggled off of his bookshelf and into bed. I see it is leaking a little water and realize the plug has been pulled out. I ask Kaneu if he pulled it out and he says "yes". I explain that if all the water leaks out it will no longer be a snowglobe and he's mumbling something about he doesn't want the snowglobe anymore. While he's mumbling I am looking for the plug. I ask him where it it and he says again that he doesn't want it anymore. He then pointed to a little pink blood spot on his pillowcase. I tell him we'll wash it tomorrow and tuck him in. At this point he's pathetically whining "I'm not happy". And he looks quite unhappy and pathetic. I remind him of our fun day we had in the boat and singing "row row row your boat". I even sing "row row row your boat". He's still "not happy". I tell him that he'll be happy when he falls asleep. As I get up to turn off the light he is saying something about the "plug". Note: Kaneu had a pacifier up until July of this year and we called it "the plug". So, in my head I'm thinking "oh no, we've come so far with getting rid of the plug and now he's asking for it? What am I going to do?" I was not prepared for the request of the plug. But as I listen to what he is saying I realize he's not asking for his plug, he's telling me there is a plug in hisnose. Then it all became clear - he put the plug up his nose! I calmly stood up and walked to the family room and told Brian the situation. Note: last winter we had an "up the nose" incident with a (raw) pea. Thankfully my brilliant Aunt Pam, who is also a nurse, suggested simply putting pepper under his nose and it worked like a charm. The pea shot out of his nose like a cannon. Ok, so back to the plug. I walk back into his room and am trying to look up his nose but I can't see anything and I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. Brian thinks he sees something but all I see is a dark hole. So, I tell Kaneu to start blowing and he blows and blows and blows, and finally after many blows the plug falls out (see photo). We were ecstatic! I was so relieved. Brian was so relieved. Kaneu was so relieved. We then praised him for telling us what he did and for being a big boy. We then removed all of the snowglobes from his room. We tucked him in and at another time we will have the talk about not putting things up the nose.

When does this stuff end? I've always heard these stories of kids putting erasers up their nose and such, but I honestly didn't think my kid would come up with this kind of stuff on his own. And how did he get the plug out of the snowglobe? It's tiny and it seems that one would need some tweezers or something. I do not have the answers to these questions and something tells me it's just beginning of a new stage ... mischief.

the plug, which looks like someone took a bit out of it ... hmmm

dana

I heart London

Today was another gorgeous day here in London. My love for the city has been renewed. I was having serious thoughts and dreams of packing up and moving back to the US last week after all of the miserable weather we were having. But after this weekend I am full of love for this city.

Sunday ... we ran to and through Hyde Park, which is 5 miles from our house. We grabbed sandwiches at Whole Foods, found a spot on the grass and ate in the park. It was, as the Brits say, lovely. Something else that is lovely is the new Whole Foods. We had our first trip there on Sat night. It has 3 levels with the top level being a large market/cafe with a DJ. It's almost like a mini Harrod's food court ... almost. Ok, enough about Whole Foods. Sat evening we were invited over for dinner by a colleague of Brian's. We had a fun time and a delicious meal - a traditional Indian feast. Here are pics of our day. Enjoy!

for me?

ring around the rosie ...

the Italian gardens in Hyde Park

Monday ... today is a bank holiday and we spent the day in Richmond, a pretty little place on the River Thames, and only a 30 minute train-ride away. While we were walking along the river I had the brilliant idea of renting a boat and having a leisurely row down the Thames. I thought it would be fun and it was ... at first. Brian started off rowing us down river. He was doing great and we were having a lot of fun. We soon realized we were getting far and remembered that going up river was going to be more challenging. So, Brian decided it was a good time to turn us around to start heading back up river. Only it wasn't that easy - between the tide, the larger boats making waves and the wind we were basically going nowhere. It was a tad frustrating for Brian and I was trying to be the positive and supportive sweetie that I can be (sometimes) and kept telling him how great he was doing. I offered to give him a break and he obliged. The wind seemed to really pick up during my shift and the oars kept slipping and I was totally flailing. It was utterly frustrating. I did catch a few strides and managed to get us moving (after going in a few circles). We were singing "row, row, row your boat..." and it was all good. One of the boat rental guys came by on a motorboat to see if we'd like a lift back - I declined. He then came back 2 more times over the next 20 minutes and I declined again and again. I guess you could say I'm stubborn. I was determined to get us back. I am not sure what happened next but as I was trying to steer into the dock I was getting, ahem, "directions" from Brian. However, the rental guy was telling us otherwise. I couldn't hear what he was saying or read his hand gestures b/c he was behind me. So, I was depending on Brian to be my guide, to help me out only he couldn't understand what the guy was saying. Ugh, so I started drifting out into the middle of the river again, which is not where you want to be because of the big boats, the tide, wind, etc. So, I finally did make it back but I was close to tears, my arms and shoulders were aching, blisters on my hand and couldn't even look at Brian I was so mad. Thankfully we don't stay angry at one another for long and we were laughing about it minutes later ... over cold drinks. Here are some pics to recap the day:

Kaneu loves to carry his lunchbag

it's all smiles going down river

our well earned beverages

baby sleeps ...

daddy drinks

As you can see, it was another sunny day in mommyland! I'm out. dana

Hello sunshine!

Well, the sun FINALLY decided to show itself today and I couldn't be happier. After what seemed like forever (8 days, but who's counting?) the rain has stopped and the glorious rays are shining down. There is not a cloud in the sky and I can feel my vitamin D being replenished. Hallelujah! It's miraculous really, considering it was freezing (in the 50s) and gray all week long here in London. But, enough about the weather. I have begun a blog, which is something I've thought about doing since we moved to London 18 months ago. How do you like the name Sunny in Mommyland? I had a tough time thinking of a name and was sitting here just admiring how beautiful it is outside and thinking about what a fun time we just had at the park earlier today, and also thinking about how that is pretty much how my days go, so the name was born. Hope you like it. I have really enjoyed following blogs for a while, mostly adoption, arts/crafts and goss blogs and decided what the heck, I'll try it. We have lots going on and hopefully this will be a great way to keep our friends and family up to date on all of the fun. I must note that I am not so good with punctuation, grammar or spelling, so please don't expect too much!

What's new?

I know I mentioned it was sunny today but did I tell you that it was warm too? I believe the high today was 78 degrees. We spent a few hours at our local park, which isn't a great park BUT the fountains were on and all the children were out running around. Kaneu had fun and befriended two French boys. We didn't realize they were French for a while as we were watching them play from our blanket. When Brian went to round up Kaneu for lunch he realized the boys were speaking French. To our knowledge Kaneu does not speak French(unless you count "bon jour" and "au revoir") though they seemed to be chatting it up. I suppose they were speaking the language of fun.

Get outa jail ... Kaneu has moved to a big boy bed! We decided now that he's 3 years old it's time for him to get out of crib (aka jail). He is so happy with his new bed and has slept well so far. He's had a couple of late-night parties in there with his "babies" but he's not made any attempts to get out of the room and we are happy about that. Here are some pictures.

Vacay ... We are gearing up for a trip to Croatia in Sept. This is a trip I have been wanting to do for about 4 or 5 years and we are doing it and we are thrilled. We are meeting our friends, Greg and Sarah, there and I'm sure we'll have a blast. While we are there we will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary! I can't believe we've been married for so long. I can say without a doubt it has been the best time of my life. Ok, before I get all mushy let's move on ...

Adoption ... We are also in the mid-beginning (though it seems like we should be near the end considering we started the process in Nov 2006!) of pursuing a Vietnam adoption. Living in London has significantly lengthened the paperchase for us. We are now awaiting our I-171H form from CIS (Citizenship & Immigration Services). Once we receive that we will officially be on the waiting list. Sigh. We are also going to be initiating a Korean adoption in January. This is such wonderful news for us as we have (up until recently) been told that we are not able to adopt from Korea while living outside of the US. Our son, Kaneu, is from South Korea and we are really happy that we will get to welcome another child from his birth country.

Sew what ... I have begun sewing and have to say I'm hooked. I bought a great beginner's guide by Amy Butler - check it out. I would love to form a little newbie sewing group where once a month we work on a project. Any takers? I am working on my first project - an apron - and it's going well so far, kinda. I guess it's going as well as can be expected. I have very little sewing experience and so some of my seams are crooked, and my pleats accidentally include one box-pleat. It's a work-in-progress you could say. My goal is to be able to make a quilt. I am collecting fabric squares for 2 quilts to make for Kaneu and for our future baby. More on quilt swaps later. Check out my handiwork:

a towel loop

pleats please!

if you look closely you'll see the seam (which is supposed to be hidden) is very crooked

Ok, well I think that's about it for my first post. I hope you enjoy. Time to get a few things done before Kaneu wakes up.

dana