More QiuQiu

You might be able to tell from all the frou-frou that I am infatuated to the point of distraction with this little girl. In fact, I am so infatuated that even my distaste for pink has started to crumble, only just a little. Maybe it's all the pink in her crib, I don't know. Or maybe I've just departed my senses a bit in the face of all this beauty. I will illustrate this statement later.
(Since many people have asked, her name is pronounced "ChooChoo". She will still be Flynn, with QiuQiu as a middle name, but we love the name QiuQiu and I think it will be used as one of her nicknames, of which I'm sure she'll have many!)

An elephant for Yoli

M's new video camera in action!

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo....(episode 1)

So, the other day we went to the zoo with our friends the Yoos. Or, at least, portion of the Yoo clan. Our ulterior motives, of course, being to watch Mooga's daughter Esme, who has recently graduated from infancy to the joys of toddlerhood.
It was a good day at the zoo - much animal activity and very few people (a rare thing), and I took so many photos that I'm going to have to separate them into a few different posts.

For those of you who have been concerned over what M. will get for father's day...worry no more! Since we were going to the zoo with a toddler, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to jump the gun and fork over his main father's day gift a couple of weeks early. After all, what better opportunity than a toddler at the zoo for him to get the hang of his new Flip video camera?
(He loved it, by the way. It was the perfect gift for a new dad-to-be, and he's been madly video-ing and posting on YouTube. I'd link them for you, but I have yet to figure out how to access his account from my computer. Details, details. I'll work the kinks out in time for China.

Beautiful Jena with her new lens, photographing giraffes. We are all of us obsessive photographers, so in these zoo pictures there will be a lot of photographs of other people taking photographs.

And...the giraffes...

Look at that lumpy neck! What bizarre and beautiful creatures they are!


If you shoot upward toward the treetops, no fences or cages showing, it's almost as if they're not in a zoo. Sigh.

QiuQiu's LaoLao

My mum sent me this picture that her sister (who's visiting from Yellowknife, AK) took of my mum working her dog, Emma, on an agility course. Look how attentive Emma is! The last time I saw her in person, she was a wild and woolly one-and-a-half-year-old, tripping over things and running into trees! Those aussies make agility dogs, cutters and herders that they are!

In case you were wondering...

...whether the update pictures of QiuQiu have sent us into a renewed frenzy of nesting...
THE ANSWER IS YES!!!!
Mike spent his "weekend" sanding and re-shingling her playstructure (which was in need of shingles when we moved in, and is now in need of a good sanding followed by a new coat of stain). It's a wonderful thing to watch a new father working on things for his daughter. Working day....

...and night, just to make her world a more beautiful place. Sigh.

Even our gardens seem to be working overtime to welcome Flynn QiuQiu. These funny things (don't know what they're called) had about four blooms per plant when I planted them last summer. This year, they came back in spades! You can also see the edge of my beloved thyme in this picture, which also has come back in spades. Colorado is a good climate for thyme.

And as for me, I was very excited today when my series of sign language flashcards came in.
I've got my work cut out for me! I will spend the next few months practicing my signs and burning through the reading material that is still left on my nightstand. I got through a great deal of material on China, its culture, religions, philosophy and history, during the first year of the wait. Last week, I read through most of The Happiest Baby on the Block (recommended highly by Hayley, among others). And a few days ago our neighbor Deirdre (who brought home her beautiful son Sidamo this past year from Ethiopia), loaned me a few of her favorite books on toddler adoption and attachment. So, don't you worry about me, folks! I've got plenty to keep me busy between now and Travel Approval!
(And, I can see from this picture that my other resolution - weightlifting to prepare for the rigors of toting a 12-month-old - is starting to pay off! My puny arms are beginning to show some muscle. OK, it's scrawny, weakling-muscle, but muscle nonetheless! Lucky for me, although my arms are naturally wiry, they do put on muscle without a great deal of sweat and pain. So even though I only make it to the gym about three times a week, I may actually be in shape for baby-wrangling by the time fall rolls around!)

Here I am signing one of the handful of words I retained from our one and only sign language class: "Mama"!
(In case you're wondering, the other words that I retained were "macaroni-and-cheese", "shark", "cookie", "rain", and the perhaps less than useful "octopus").

Wild weather and unexpected news!

What a crazy day it is! Hail was crackling on our deck this morning when I got an email from a friend (thanks for checking on us, Viv!) asking if we were OK...
In fact, we were in the kitchen, sipping coffee in our PJs, blissfully innocent.
About an hour north of us, meanwhile, a large tornado was wreaking havoc in a town near Fort Collins. Within an hour, M's work beeper was bleeping madly as the news station put out a general call to all reporters. On the local stations, reports of baseball-sized hail were whizzing across the wires.
As he dressed for work, M made me promise to take the dogs and the laptop and a phone into the basement if I heard any sirens.
The wind whipped around the house, and bouts of hail (none baseball-sized, thank goodness) soaked the gardens periodically, interpersed with patches of brilliant sunshine. Other than that, nothing.
And then I got another email...we had new pictures of QiuQiu!!

Here she is, our little tornado girl! Looking healthy and contented in her lovely crib. And with two tiny new teeth!!

Isn't she beautiful? I just can't believe how much she's grown - look at those long legs!! I have been sitting here just gazing at her pictures, completely entranced. I can hardly believe my eyes. I feel so incredibly blessed that this beautiful creature is our daughter...our daughter!!
It's simply amazing. Those are the only words I have. I am so pleased to see her looking so healthy and comfortable, and growing so quickly! This is really a day like no other!