Sorry sorry sorry

I know you guys are dying for photos, and finally I can post again! Since it's the middle of the night in the U.S., I'm going to write here about what's been going on then put photos in another post so it will be on top and you can see the photos right away and then can read my explanation if you care -- and I know you don't!

We've had several issues. First of all, little Ting Ting is completely enamoured of her Daddy and for the first couple of days would shriek any time he put her down (or I tried to pick her up). You might think that would upset me, and I guess it did a litle bit, truth be told. But the fact is that I was expecting it, a little. The poor little thing had a rough few days, and she's not interested in a new Mama. This big guy, though, is lots of fun. He lets her play with the remote and lets her crawl all over him and even sleep on top of him. The good news, though, is that it's getting better each day. We're not pushing her, or forcing her to spend time with me (much as it kills me!). Instead, we decided that I should always feed her (she LOVES to eat) because she'll soon associate me with great food, and that Lance should do some of the unpleasant things like give her medicine or wipe her nose or put clothes on her (you have never heard a child shriek as loudly as she does when you try to dress her, turst me!) It seems to be working! At first I would dangle a bottle in front of her and she would whimper a little bit but let me hold her just long enough to give it to her. After that, she would scream with the full fury of hell until I gave her to Lance, then she would immediately stop, as if someone had turned off a faucet. After a day or so she got to where she would willingly come to my lap. Yesterday we took a bus trip to the orphanage (more on that later), and I gave her a bottle on the bus. Her eyes grew droopy and she fell asleep in my arms. I held her the entire time she napped, then when she woke up, she just looked at me curiously. She stayed in my lap probably 45 minutes before she reached for Daddy. This morning I was able to keep her quiet after her bottle long enough for Lance to actually get dressed. When she was staying with me only while I had the bottle, he could only manage a quick shower before he had to rescue her. This afternoon I took her out in the hallway and found some more babies and we sat down and played, and she was quite content (until he stepped out of our room and I was chopped liver once again).

This is actually quite a common phenomenon, and it's happening to about half the babies in our group! Everybody is having an easier time with each passing day, though. I know that in a few weeks I'll long for the days when I could blog while Lance tried to entertain a baby 24/7.

Anyway, when Lance couldn't set her down, he also couldn't get the photos ready for me. And adding to that trouble was the fact that she did not nap at all the first few days she was here. When she would finally fall asleep at night, she was on top of him and he couldn't do anything. He called out instructions the other night for me to download those photos I posted, but I was so exhausted after I finished that I went straight to bed.

Then she got sick! We finally decided she had an ear infection, so we started her on the antibiotics that we had gotten before we left. Fortunately, one of the moms in our group is a pediatrician, so she examined Ting Ting and advised us on what to do. The little one is MUCH happier today.

So today she's feeling better, she's allowing me to hold her so Lance gets a break, and she even took a short nap in her crib -- issues resolved, correct? Nope -- we we had technical issues. I couldn't get the computer to boot up. Those of you who know Lance know that he had a ton of cords, wires, battery supplies, converters, etc., but it wasn't enough. He called down to the front desk and they gave him some special power supply that at last appears to be doing the trick, so here I am!

Anyway, I just wanted to explain what's been going on and promise that, starting today, you will see a LOT Of photos. And they are cute, too -- she's absolutely beautiful and we are just delighting in her.