First trip to the ER

Well, we passed another milestone on Sunday....Hannah's first trip to the ER!

Early in the morning she tripped and banged her forehead against a heavy wooden chair in the living room. We saw a lot of blood but she didn't pass out or anything. She cried, but after I picked her up and hugged her for a little bit, she calmed down. We decided to take her to the ER just in case they wanted to take some stitches. We didn't really think they would because it just didn't look that deep. In fact, we were anticipating the staff sort of brushing us aside and thinking, "Hysterical parents!"

Once the nurse cleaned it out well, we could see that it was pretty deep - just a small deep hole above her left eye. I didn't know you had that much between the skull and the skin on your forehead. They wrapped her up in a sheet like a burrito and took 3 stitches. Hannah was not happy - she kept screaming and yelling, "Mama, Mama!" (The ER doctor told me kids NEVER yell, "Daddy, Daddy!") I felt pretty bad since I was holding her arms down and she was looking right in my face with this "Why aren't you helping me?" look in her eyes (well, at least it looked that way to me). I felt a little indignant when I put my head down for a minute and the Dr said, "Mom, if you need to sit down, let me know." I guess he thought I was going to faint. I wasn't going to faint, I just didn't really want to see him take that first stitch! Also, I am not his mom! Note to medical personnel reading this: Call people by their names!

Hannah didn't hold it against me though, and when they were done she held on to me for dear life! Hannah fell asleep in the car, and when we got home she took a nice long nap. She's pretty much back to normal now. She's pretty happy with the Dora the Explorer band-aids we got her - keeps wanting to look in the mirror.

She gets the stitches out Thursday. Our big concern is minimizing the scar - since her skin is fairly dark, the scar could be pretty obvious - and right on her face. I hate to think her future career as a super model could be ruined - ha-ha!

Video of Gotcha Day (meeting Hannah for the first time...)

This is a video taken in Nanning on 11/7/05. This is "Gotcha Day", but I hate that term for the day we "got her". If anyone has any suggestions on a better name for the day we met Hannah, let me know (hit the "comments" button, below the video clip).

I'm not very objective about this clip, because I almost want to cry every time I see it. Let me know what you think.

I wasn't sure how much everyone wanted to see of this day, so this is very short - just the moment the orphanage employee handed Hannah to us. I'll add some more footage of that day later.


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I've been too busy to update this blog in a while. But I will try to add more photos and videos to satisfy Hannah's many loyal fans. Ha-Ha.

Last Saturday I went to Orientation for our second China adoption. CCAI requires both parents to go to Orientation only for the first adoption; for later adoptions only one parent needs to go. So Lindsey went in to the office to get some work done and Hannah spent most of the day with JoJo and Dint (we don't even call them Johanna and Clint any more!). On my way back from Denver, I realized that I really missed Hannah - I'm not used to being away from her for so long. CCAI said they had a record number of second and third timers at Orientation. Thirteen families - almost half of the attendees - were on their second or third adoption through CCAI.

I have a second part-time job now. But this one doesn't pay money. I told Lindsey that and he thought I was crazy. But the job is working in the "sibling room" at Gymboree for three hours on Fridays, and I get to sign up for all the Gymboree classes I want for FREE, and I get a 30% discount at the Gymboree stores. Hannah goes with me and she can play with the other kids while we're there. I worked for the first time yesterday. I had a ten week old baby boy who slept almost the whole time, and Hannah. It was pretty painless. Hannah and I spent most of the time playing.

Today we're going out to play with Hannah, so I'll add more photos and videos later.

Phonics with Hannah

Hannah knows several letters by sight (W, M, L, A, T), and knows the sounds that W and M make. She learned mostly by playing with her Leapfrog Fridge Phonics. I took a video and tried to get her to show off all the letters she knew. Of course, she didn't cooperate. Sometimes I feel like that guy on the Warner Brothers cartoon who found the singing frog and tried to make a million by putting him in vaudeville, but the frog would never sing on stage and eventually the guy went nuts.

However, in this video she does identify M and W and also the sound W makes! She pronounces it "Bubble-you"!


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The Wheels on the Bus

Hannah and I went to the mall where they have a fun play area for kids. We met another little girl from China with her brother and their nanny - Hannah had fun playing with all the kids and going on the slides.

Then she wanted to drive one of the cars where you pay 50 cents for it to make noise and move. But Hannah didn't know it did that - she was happy to play in it and make her own noise (good thing, as I didn't have 50 cents on me).


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Old MacDonald

This morning I heard Hannah singing along to her toy in her bedroom. When I got in there with the camera, of course, she had decided to stop singing along at the top of her voice! But I took a video of her anyway.

By the way, for Mom and anyone else who is worrying about her hair...I have an appointment to get it cut next week!


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Working on videos

I'm still working on perfecting the technique of video with my digital camera. I took this video while Hannah, the dogs and I were fooling around, doing nothing. Unfortunately, I didn't notice until afterward that the aperture was not opened all the way. I don't know why it does that, but I can just nudge it with my finger and it will open all the way.



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This morning we went to the park about a mile from the house. I was debating whether I should drive over, or put her in the stroller and walk over. Well, the car won that debate! It's pretty cloudy today, though, so my excuse is it could have started raining on the way over.

Anyway, I got a nice photo of Hannah on the swingset. A little boy got in the swing next to her and that really got her smiling and laughing. What a flirt!

MS Walk, Part II

This morning when we woke up at 6:00 am (Thanks, Hannah!), it was cold and foggy. Really foggy, with a slick drizzly rain. We decided to bag the MS Walk for today and just send in our money to them without walking. Johanna called and we cancelled the walk for the rest of our "team".

Then, at about 8 am, the sun suddenly came out and the fog lifted. We decided to cancel the cancellation, and go ahead and walk. The walk was scheduled to begin at 9:00, with registration starting at 8:00. By the time we got showered, dressed, packed up and down to the walk location at about 9:45, they were finishing up! It was only a three-mile walk, so it didn't take that long.

They had some food, goodies and freebies at the booths, so we walked around for a little bit and then did our own "MS Walk", just me, Lindsey and Hannah (in the stroller). It was just a little chilly and the sun actually did shine! We did the walk backwards - starting at the Finish Line - so we met a lot of people just finishing up as we were starting. Hannah loved seeing the dogs some people brought with them (you know, people whose dogs can walk on a leash without pulling their shoulders out of the socket, and whose dogs don't challenge every dog they see to a duel). It was a nice day for a walk.

After our abbreviated walk, we played on the playground equipment with Hannah for a while. Then Lindsey went to his office to work on an appellate brief, and Hannah and I came home.

Even though we didn't get to do the walk along with everyone else, I did surpass my goal. Thanks to everyone who sponsored me!

I was checking the video and pictures I took today. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the viewing screen on my digital camera, so none of the pictures on the swing turned out very well - you can't actually see Hannah's face in any of them. And as for the video I took of Hannah on the swing - well, I'll post it here so everyone can laugh at me. But remember, this is my first attempt! It makes me dizzy to look at it!


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Hannah and Beth

Hannah and I took my friend Beth out to lunch Tuesday for Beth's birthday. I took these pictures of Hannah and "Aunt Beth" at California Pizza Kitchen.

This time I wised up and got Hannah a small cheese pizza on wheat crust with NO SAUCE! It's amazing the difference it makes - especially since Hannah likes to turn her slice of pizza upside down before she puts it in her mouth. So without the sauce she just gets grease on her mouth and shirt, not grease AND pizza sauce!

MS Walk

This Saturday Lindsey, Hannah and I (along with Johanna, Clint, and Clint's brothers) will be walking in the MS Walk to raise money for the National MS Society. Since I am such a lousy fundraiser, I've only raised about $100 in pledges so far, so I decided to list the walk here, and invite all my faithful readers to pledge.

As most of you already know, I've been diagnosed with MS for about 14 years. MS affects the central nervous system, attacking the myelin sheath that covers the nerves in the brain and spinal column. The myelin acts like insulation on electrical wiring, and if the myelin is damaged or destroyed, nerve impulses have trouble going to and from the brain. This can cause symptoms such as weakness, numbness and fatigue. Well, that wasn't the best explanation, but if you go to the website, you can find a more accurate definition of MS.

The National MS Society funds research into the causes, treatment and (someday!) a cure for MS. They also provide education and assistance for people with MS. I'm lucky that so far I haven't been affected too badly by MS, but lots of people have far worse symptoms than me. MS can be very unpredictable; during an attack, some people have to use wheelchairs to get around. People with the progressive form of the disease don't get better between attacks; instead, their symptoms get worse and worse. With me, people have no idea I have MS unless I tell them. Sometimes people think I hurt my leg or something and that's why I limp a bit. (Maybe they think I just walk slow because I'm lazy - who knows!) Since you often can't tell a person with MS is affected, it's sort of an "invisible" disease. You probably know other people with MS, but don't know they have it because they haven't chosen to make it public.

So this Saturday, we're going to load up Hannah's stroller and walk as a family. Pledges can still be accepted even after the day of the walk for us slackers who just can't seem to get it together for a deadline. But it would be great if I could get enough pledges to make my goal BEFORE Saturday. (No pressure!)

You can go here to pledge: https://www.nationalmssociety.org/COC/personal/default.asp?pa=54501754&pd=COC3EWLK20060506COS

If you don't want to pledge on line, email me at maf127@aol.com, and I will tell you how to send a check.

I am also going to try to put this with my Links, on the right. Thanks to everyone who has already pledged, either on on line, or with a check. There is a lot of research going on right now, and I think they're getting closer to a cure.