Little Prince's Last Few Months

Little Prince has adjusted to being a big brother wonderfully. He is kind, gentle, loving and playful with Princess Lollipop 99% of the time! And usually we can catch that 1% of not so very nice before he hurts her!! Princess Lollipop ADORES her big brother and I can see her following him into all sorts of mischief in the future, oh boy!! She squeaks and squeals when we pick him up from school, and spends the time waiting for him shouting "Brud Brud" (her way of saying brother lol) and he greets her with a hug and kiss (even when his school friends are watching - I can only have kisses if they aren't looking lol).

Although Little Prince seems to completely adore his new sister, he does seem affected by her arrival in other ways. He complains that no one ever plays with him (we do!!) and is quite jealous of the attention Princess Lollipop gets. At Christmas he wanted to open all of his own presents and hers too! He is very possessive of the things he has grown out of, and we have only been able to give Princess Lollipop his old toys that we had stored away in the attic. The ones (like board books) that have stayed on his bookshelves are still adamantly his! He also gets very upset at any perceived unfairness, if Daddy brings home something for me or one of the girls he will have a tantrum or cry as though his heart is breaking, even if he got something (and no one else did) the day before!

Little Prince's behavioural issues seem a lot more obvious and harder to deal with at the moment too. I'm not sure if he has got noticeably worse, or if I am so much more exhausted and don't deal with him as well?!? And this could all be exacerbated by the fact that he finds December hard to cope with - all the routines at school are out of whack, he gets worked up about the School Christmas Concert (he hates lots of people looking at him, he had a speaking part and coped very very well, I'm very proud of him) and he is completely over excited about Christmas on top of all of that! Then his birthday is in January and we send Letterbox contact letters to his birth family in February (and it will be Princess Lollipop's birthday) which always brings out a lot of questions and worries for him. Thinking about it, its such a lot for him to cope with its no wonder he has his "moments"!! Poor lad! His "moments" have included breaking the pull light switches in both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms in one day!! The upstairs one was fairly simple to fix, but the downstairs one needs a whole new switch fitting, which means turning all the power off and with working long hours Mr Messy hasn't had chance to do it yet - so we are showering by candlelight!!! Before Christmas he found the tins of Roses and Quality Street chocolates I had stored on top of the wall cupboards and ate most of them! He poured loads of the expensive conditioner I have to use on Princess Lollipop's hair down the plughole! And has lost both his DS and his mini iPod, they must be in the house somewhere but I have NO CLUE where!!! Its not all negative, honest, he is still the loving, funny energetic little boy we adore, he's just harder work at the moment lol. He decided last term that he no longer needs to take his comfort blankie to school, and in the last few weeks has taken to leaving it in his bedroom throughout the day too :-) My little man is growing up :-)

Due to the intensification in Little Prince's behaviour I chased up his appointment with the ADHD/Externalising Behaviour Specialist just after Christmas. Unfortunately it seems that his original referral, sent in early October 2009 had not been received!! I then had to negotiate between the two specialist's secretaries to try and rectify the situation. It wasn't made any easier by the fact that one of them seemed more interested in making sure it wasn't her fault than trying to sort it out!! They eventually confirmed that Little Prince was now correctly logged into the system, but can give me no idea whatsoever of when he will be seen :-( We had been told by his referring paediatrician that he would probably be seen in Jan/Feb 2010, and the thought of getting help after Christmas is all that got me through the difficult month of December :-(

After taking the advice of the school nurse (like a health visitor but for school children) and GP on Little Prince's nocturnal enuerisis we started Little Prince on Desmopressin (a medication that mimics the hormone vasopressin that supresses urine production during the night). The medication worked for the first two nights and then didn't work again, despite switching from one form of the medication (desmomelts) to another (desmopressin tablets) and despite doubling the dosage to the highest dose. Little Prince is so motivated to be dry, but his body just isn't co-operating :-( He was so pleased and proud of his dry nights, and then so very very upset when he was wet again :-( The school nurse was upset for him too, she said he had so much going on for him that she was so hoping that this would solve one issue, and give him such a boost in self confidence too! After talking with her and the GP again, we agreed to give the medication a break and try again after Little Prince's 7th birthday. Little Prince took this to heart and on his 7th birthday insisted that he wasn't wearing the "Dry Nites pants" and would be dry - and he was :-) I've bought a couple of waterproof duvet covers and let him go for it! He has had more wet nights than dry and has started to wear the "Dry Nites pants" again, but this is REAL progress :-) And its showing him that his body is getting "growed up" enough to learn to be dry and he is thrilled :-) We are seeing the GP again next week to see if another course of desmopressin would help.

But looking on the bright side - he IS now in the Specialist's system and will be seen in due course :-) He CAN now manage a whole day at school without blankie and without melting down about it :-) He IS a fantastic big brother :-) He HAS spontaeneously started to be dry some nights :-) He HAS received two "Head Teacher's Awards" at school for wonderful behaviour and trying so hard with his work :-) He HAS achieved his 20m swimming certificate :-) And he is and always will be my special little man :-)

Drama Teen's Last Few Months

Well they've been "interesting" to say the least!! I can't say too much as she values her privacy, but we are working through the issues and seem to be coming out the other side happier :-)

A different issue has been Drama Teen's weight loss since we returned from Ethiopia. She was very slim to start with, not a spare ounce on her anywhere, but she got the same bug as her Dad (although a less virulent version that she recovered from much quicker than he did) and lost about half a stone or more. Which made her look almost skeletal!! Due to the other problems we've been having she has been upset and has only managed to gain a few pounds back. We've talked to one of LMS's friends who is training to be a personal trainer and nutritionist and she gave us some very helpful advice (THANK YOU SO MUCH E xxx). The bathroom scales are broken at the moment so we aren't sure if the new ideas are working, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

DRama Teen's Cleft Care Team have got a new member - a conservation dentist. And as her orthodontist felt she would benefit from his expertise she was referred to him. She had an initial consultation with him, and he outlined how he could improve the look of her teeth and the appointments to do the work were duly booked. I arranged for LMS and American Boyfriend to pick Little Prince up from school, as the appointment was mid afternoon and there was no way we would be back in time to pick him up. Me, Drama Teen and Princess Lollipop drove for over 2 hours to the appointment (her Cleft Care Team is based on the other side of the country) and then found that I had mixed up the times and we were an hour late!!! The dentist couldn't fit us in, and we had to come straight back home again. I was so upset and cross with myself. We have been attending appointments with this Team since Drama Teen was born, and driving 2 hours for all the appointments since we moved away from there 11 years ago! And I have NEVER done this before! I was mortified!! Drama Teen thought it was funny!!! Especially as I muttered and swore at myself for quite a lot of the drive home!!! The appointments have now been rebooked for next month and I will double, triple, quadruple check the times before we set off next time!!!!

We received Drama Teens Year 11 school report last week and she is doing FANTASTICALLY well :-) Me and her Dad are SO PROUD of her :-) Many of her teachers did point out that she could do even better if she included more detail in her answers (coursework and exams) and we hope that she heeds their advice and gets GCSE results that reflect her outstanding abilities :-) Well done Drama Teen xxxx

LMS's last few months

LMS has had a very eventful time recently!! We spent a week together as a family of six, after returning from Ethiopia, and then LMS went to work in Walt Disney World for the Summer as a Custodial Cast Member (Disney speak for cleaner!). She has wanted to work at Disney since we visited when she was 10 years old and chatted to an English girl working there - and now her dream was coming true :-) She would spend about three months working in Disney and then visit her American for 3 1/2 weeks before returning home. It was so hard to see her go after only seeing her for one week and it seems like it will be forever before I see her again :-(

LMS found the Custodial work very hard, especially in the Summer Florida heat! She fainted a couple of times when working outside, and after that was assigned solely to the indoor cleaning (the toilets!). One of LMS's aims in becoming a Cast Member was to give guests some of the magic we have always experienced when visiting Disney. She was able to do this for at quite a few families - one was a Mum trying to dry her toddler's wet shorts with hand towels in the toilets, LMS went to a nearby shop and purchased a new pair of shorts for the little girl, making her mother's day; another time she helped a lost teenager, staying with her and chatting to her until her family was found; another time when a young guest collapsed LMS ran to the front of the park to get a wheelchair for the youngster (she had tried radioing for one to be brought but it was taking too long). I am so proud of LMS for helping guests when she could :-)

After her stint at Disney LMS made her way to her American boyfriend's state to spend some time with him and his family. She was so looking forward to seeing him again and their relationship seems to be getting more and more serious. My baby is growing up!!!

Not long after returning from America again, it was time for LMS to return to University. I feel I haven't seen her very much at all :-( She had arranged to change her accomodation, and get a flat on her own instead of continuing to share with the group she has lived with for the past few years. This was so that American Boyfriend could come over and live with her for six months (the maximum he can visit the UK using the Visa Waiver programme) while they decide if they can make it as a couple!! However, due to Mr Messy not being able to find a viable new contract in time, we were unable to continue helping LMS with her University costs and she made the decision to suspend her year and come home. This was also due to the final year module she was studying (depression in the end stages of life!) that she hated and was depressing her, she has always wanted to be involved with working with children rather than senior citizens and found the course too hard going emotionally. It was fabulous to have her home with us, especially after not seeing her much at all in the previous months, however, it was upsetting that she had had to put off completing her degree.

After much discussion between LMS and American Boyfriend it was decided that LMS would visit him in the States for 6 months instead of him coming here. This meant that they could live in his house, his sister would move back in with their parents for the duration of LMS's visit and that he could carry on working at his job. LMS duly got all the documentation from American Boyfriend that she needed to apply for a Visa (UK visitors to the US can only stay for 3 months without a Visa) paid her fees and went to London to the American Embassy. Unfortunately, she was turned down!! Apparently Embassy officials are trained to assume that anyone young (with no financial/family ties to their home country) wanting to visit for that long is wanting to either work in the States illegally or is intending to stay and not return home. We found this out by researching after LMS was turned down! Although LMS has admitted even if we had found out beforehand she would have been too optimistic and excited about seeing American Boyfriend again to have done anything differently. She immediately applied for an ESTA Visa Waiver (the online version of that form you used to fill in on the plane) but was turned down for that too, obviously her name now has a black mark against it in the US Visa computer programme :-( This means that everytime she wishes to visit the United States she must visit the American Embassy (paying their fee of course) to apply for a Visa :-( As we regularly holiday in America, and she has a serious relationship with an American this was GUTTING for her :-(

LMS and American Boyfriend picked themselves up from this disappointment and tried to work out a solution. They were both still determined to spend 6 months together in one country or the other and their only option now seemed to be for American Boyfriend to come here to the UK. This was all arranged and he arrived just after Christmas, so that they could spend New Year together. They spent a few days staying over in the city near the airport, where they went to the Panto, visited family and spent time together.

LMS had taken out a lease on a small flat in the next village to us for them to live in together, and the lease started on 1st January. Unfortunately due to the unexpectedly bad snow and the fact that I broke two bones in my foot and damaged my back (falling down stairs - while stone cold sober!!), and continuing tight funds we were unable to arrange for the flat to be furnished until well into January. But careful shopping at second hand places, borrowing from very kind friends and hitting the sales we eventually got them moved into their first place together. Its very sweet and they seem very proud of it :-) They do seem to be having "teething troubles" getting used to living together and overcoming both cultural misunderstandings on both sides, and American Boyfriend's missing home comforts and feeling useless because he isn't allowed to work. But they are being very grown up (mostly!!) and working through their problems and seem to be getting on much better as the weeks go by.

LMS has had to get herself a job, and in our rural area she hasn't got much choice and has ended up as a casual worker for a firm of cleaners. She's in a catch 22 situation - to get a better job (even in a supermarket!) she needs a car, but to afford a car she needs a better job! Hopefully once Mr Messy gets established in his contrat we will be able to help them out more and maybe buy them a small runaround!

Their long term plan, currently, is for American Boyfriend to stay here until May, then return home and apply to come back to the UK on a Fiance Visa (which means they have 6 months to get married)! That is assuming that they get along well enough and don't kill each other before then lol. LMS isn't sure that she wants to finish her degree, but seems to be coming round to mine and her Dad's point of view - that she'd be daft to abandon it now when she is so close! Her new boss made a remark that seems to have persuaded her the most - that the boss wouldn't employ someone who had given up their degree after 2 years, as it would seem to show lack of commitment. She isn't totally convinced that she should go back, and the difficulties she is facing finding accomodation for if she does return isn't helping!! But me and her Dad feel it would be for the best and that the top class degree she is predicted to get would be a great help in getting future employment! She has also changed her mind about her career goals, initially she wanted to be a Child Psychologist, then she changed her mind and wanted to be an Early Years Teacher and now she has changed her mind again and wants to run a small hotel! Watch this space....

Anyway back to the long term plans - after getting married and finishing (fingers crossed!) her degree they would spend two years here so that American Boyfriend can gain British Citizenship. Then they would move to the States for the three years it would take LMS to gain American Citizenship. LMS is excited at the prospect of seeing more of America and it will help both of them decide where they would like to settle down.

Obviously I'm sad that they will be spending so long away from here, but I also acknowledge that this is their life and they have to walk their own path. I wish them all the very best and hope that spending the next few months together can help them decide if they want to spend the rest of their lives together. Its such a HUGE decision they have to make, in such a comparitively short time! And not only that, becoming a couple will mean that one or the other of them has to leave behind their country and family, unless of course they settle somewhere else completely! They seem so young too (although I was married and expecting LMS at her current age!!). I hope they make the decisions that make them both happy.

Mr Messy's last few months

Mr Messy caught a bug while we were in Ethiopia, that hit him hard and lasted for about 6-8 weeks! He completely lost his appetite, and had constant diarrhea during this time! He lost over a stone in weight (over 14lbs for my non UK readers) and had no energy whatsoever. It was a few weeks after we had returned to the UK before I persuaded him to visit the GP (you know what men are like a simple cold is Man Flu, but anything remotely serious and they won't go near the doctor!!) who ordered stool tests. The tests came back negative, but the doctor said as he had had the bug for so long and was improving slightly, it was likely it would work itself out and just to make sure he ate and drank regularly and get through it!

Due to feeling so ill for so long, all the night feeds fell to me (Princess Lollipop continued needing feeding during the night for 3 months ish after we came home). And once Mr Messy finally recovered, he seemed to be immune to Princess Lollipop's cries, so I've carried on doing the majority of the night shifts. It also meant that Mr Messy was too tired and ill to aggressively look for a new contract and coupled with the downturn in the economy it has meant it took a long time before he found a one. This lead to huge financial pressures on us, and it has been a hard and stressful time for us all. He did finally secure a new contract and started at the beginning of the year, and even managed to work through the snowy conditions, mostly by working remotely from home.

Once he had sufficiently recovered Mr Messy was able to devote a lot of time to his emerging photography business, although we didn't have the financial resources to really market the business as much as he would like. He and a local chocolatier/bespoke cake maker have formed a successful partnership and promote each other's businesses when they can. Mr Messy did the photography for the chocolatier's Santa's Grotto, and LMS and Drama Teen were roped in to be Santa's Elves!! Earlier in the year Mr Messy exhibited at a couple of Wedding Fair's ably assisted by either Baby Sis or LMS, although there haven't been that many new bookings resulting from the Fairs so I'm not sure if he will be repeating that again this year.

My Christmas present from Mr Messy this year was a frame with four seperate photographs - one of each of the children :-) It looks stunning and I really appreciate it :-)

The Impossibility of Catching Up!!

Its going to be impossible to catch up with the last lotta months when I haven't been blogging! So I'm going to try and post the major events (ie what I can remember lol) of what has happened in each family member's life during my blogging blackout! I've started Mr Messy's post, but it will take a while to write each one so it might take me a few days to get them published! See you all again real soon :-)

Introducing our NEW daughter :-)

I am going to break my no photos rule, this one time and let you all have a glimpse of the perfection that is our new daughter. She is the most perfect addition to our family I could ever have imagined. No I could never have imagined we would be lucky enough to be matched with this little girl, she is beyond my wildest dreams in every single way - she is fantastic, wonderful, smart, beautiful and OURS :-) She is full of life and giggles. She has grown from being at the lowest end of the growth charts to nearing the top. She has learnt to roll over, sit up, crawl and now walk (and she is working on running!!). She has gone from being placed in the arms of weird looking strangers, to recognising we are her family and looking to us for comfort. She can now say "Dada" "Mama" "Brud Brud" (brother) and approximates her sister's names. She can sign "all gone" "cat" and "hat." She likes to play "round and round the garden" "row row row the boat" "clap hands daddy comes" and "wind the bobbin up." She gives hugs and kisses spontaneously and when you ask and tries to blow kisses too. She now has four teeth and two more well on the way. And she is even in age appropriate clothes, when we first met her she was in clothes much smaller than her age. She has firm likes and dislikes in food, and lets you know in no uncertain terms when she is hungry or not hungry! Little Prince says "she is like a real person but mini" LOVE it :-)

When we first received her referral Litle Prince (for reasons known only to himself!!) decided he wanted her name to be Lollipop Obstacle Water!! So I have decided that on the blog she will be PRINCESS LOLLIPOP :-)

Going HOME :-) (Saturday 13th June 2009)

Yeah I know I haven't blogged for AGES!! But I've just been trying to do Little Prince's birth family contact letters and found it really, really difficult - in the past I've just checked back on my blog and had a really good idea of what we've been up to. This time because of my blogging "break" (and a memory like a sieve lol) its been much harder, so I thought I'd better try and get into the blogging habit again! I can't promise I'll blog every day, but I'll try and blog at least once a week!

Before I start again, though, I want to finish writing about our Ethiopian trip. Unfortunately after all this time, and being Mummy to a baby who doesn't really like to sleep, I can't remember that much - but its only one day, so I'll give it a go!!

We spent the morning of our last Saturday in Addis packing, I collected everything together and Mr Messy packed it all in the suitcases. Mr Messy went out with the young manager of the Guest House to buy some music CDs, both traditional Ethiopian music and modern Ethiopian pop music. We had a quick shop in the local mall and supermarket, but didn't buy much as the higher than expected fees for Baby's British Settlement Visa and the much higher charges than expected for Mr Messy and Drama Teen's trip to where Baby came from had more or less cleaned us out!! In the afternoon Mr Messy took photos of Drama Teen, Little Prince and Baby with the Guest House staff, and we thanked them profusely for all the wonderful help and support they had given us during our long stay with them.

Too soon our driver arrived and it was time to leave. It was so hard to say goodbye to the staff and the place we had first become a family of six, there are a LOT of happy memories of the Guest House and we will always remember our stay there. It was quite difficult to fit all our luggage in the small car, but between Mr Messy, the driver and some string it got done. It wasn't a long drive to the airport, only about ten or fifteen minutes and I spent the whole time hugging Baby tightly and soaking up the last sights of Addis, we will be back but it might not be for a few years and I want to remember as much as I can of this vibrant city and its welcoming, friendly people, so that I can tell Baby all about it.

I burst into tears as soon as we parked at the airport, this was it, we were taking Baby from her country, her culture and the comfort of growing up looking like everyone else. For better or worse we were about to change her life completely forever. The driver kept saying "Don't cry madam" but I couldn't help it. We took some last photos of us with the driver and then loaded our luggage onto a trolley and made our way up the hill to the airport building. We were searched on entry to the airport and had to take off our shoes, belts etc and go through a security scanner and have our bags x-rayed, security is tight in the airport. Once through the security check we looked for our check in desk, but despite being told by the airline to arrive at that time the check in desk wasn't open yet. We found a row of seats big enough for us all to sit down and sat and waited for the desk to open. A few seats away a very stylish young Ethiopian man was sat listening to his mp3 player loud enough for us all to hear!

Eventually the check in desk opened and we all made our way to the queue. It was pretty difficult to manouver all our luggage and keep tabs on Little Prince as the queue wound round and round, but we eventually made it to the front. We were very disappointed to find that despite arriving as early as we could, that there were NO bulkhead seats left, so we would be unable to use the in flight sky cot for baby! Once we had checked in all our luggage we made our way to the Departures Lounge, which is HUGE and full of shops. Drama Teen and Little Prince decided they wanted fries, so we traipsed up and down trying to find them some, but couldn't find anywhere serving them. Or was it that the places serving them were full of people smoking so Mr Messy wouldn't eat there - I can't remember!! I found it very surprising that people were allowed to smoke in the airport as that is totally unheard of in all the airports I've been in before lol. I think we eventually did find them some biscuits or something to eat. We used up the last of our Birr buying little souveniers from the various shops, including a couple of traditional Ethiopian dresses and shawls for Baby and some mini painted drums for Little Prince to give to his school friends.

We sat on some benches near to the door to the Departure Gate and waited until the armed security guard said it was time for us to go through. We again had to remove our shoes, belts and jackets to go through a security scanner and our hand luggage was x-rayed again. We then queued to show our tickets and passports to the lady at another desk. There had been some sort of problem with printing our connecting flight tickets or boarding passes, so the lady kept our passports and tickets behind the desk and said she would sort it out. There was much less to do in this part of the airport, only some seats but luckily some space for Little Prince and the other younger children to run round. They were soon running round playing some sort of international game of catch, with lots of giggling and deliberate slidding up the floor lol. Inevitibly Little Prince soon wanted the toilet, so we had to collect our passports again, go back out to the main Departure area and find the toilets, then come back through security and hand our passports back in again!! Not easy but we managed it all in time :-) While we were waiting we got chatting to an American Dad who was there on his own (his wife had stayed home with their other children) adopting a girl of about 5 years and a boy of about 2 years. The girl would not sit anywhere near her new Dad and he was very worried about the flight!! The little boy on the other hand was quite happy to be with his Dad, or with us when he shared our biscuits. We gave the Dad the packet so that he could feed the little boy rather than us, as that would be better for the little boy to realise who was his family.

When the desk called that the flight was boarding everyone pushed to get in the queue and we lost sight of the Dad with the two kids, although we did see him later on actually on the plane with the children, we were glad to see he had made it safely :-) We didn't get chance to chat to him though as we were in a completely different part of the plane, I hope he managed the flight ok and that the little girl wasn't too distressed, poor little mite. When we reached the desk we were given all our paperwork back and our connecting flight paperwork too. When we actually boarded the plane we found that we had been split up and were sat in the middle two seats (in the centre of the plane) in two seperate rows. We talked to the flight attendant about this and she said that she would try to sort it out for us. After about half an hour or so we asked again and she did arrange for us to sit all in one row, but said that she couldn't guarentee that we would be able to stay seated in these seats as more people would be boarding in Khartoum. This was news to us as last time me and Baby Sis hadn't stopped in Khartoum on the way home, and it was pretty disappointing too as it would make the flight slightly longer - I just wanted to get home and see my other baby (LMS who I felt I hadn't seen for much longer than just three weeks!). Mr Messy was sat on the aisle seat, then me with Baby on my knee, then Little Prince and then Drama Teen on the opposite aisle seat. Before take off I took Baby to the toilet to change her into a fresh nappy and put her in a baby grow. I had taken the advice of someone on our UK yahoo group and packed a number of ziplock bags each with a baby grow, vest, nappy and nappy bag which was very helpful for the numerous times I had to go and change Baby! Almost at the moment the seat belt light came on, she decided to leak out of her nappy!! What timing!!!! Luckily I had the now empty ziplock bag from her first change to hand, and was able to sit her on that so she didn't leak everywhere!! It seemed a VERY long wait for the seat belt light to go off again!!!

The flight was pretty routine, the engine noise seemed to soothe Baby and she slept and only seemed to wake up to be fed and changed. Little Prince was a great international flier as usual, he played for a while, ate his meal and then slept. Drama Teen took a lot of persuading and swapping of items to get her to eat much on the plane, but she did eat some before she too fell asleep. Mr Messy, who was still feeling ill slept too. I was the only one awake, as I was too scared of dropping Baby to be able to sleep much. When we were eventually approaching Amsterdam one of the flight crew came to us and said she had been told we had the most beautiful baby on the flight and how good she had been, she presented us with a little pottery Dutch building for Baby :-) I remember when I flew to China with my friends R & J that their newly adopted baby got a similar present. I was really touched and the ornament is now proudly displayed in Baby's bedroom.

I don't remember much about our wait in Amsterdam airport (thankfully it was MUCH shorter than when me and Baby Sis had returned from Ethiopia!) until we were waiting by the Departure Gate and realised that Little Prince had lost his Ninetendo DS!! I found a staff member who gave me the number for Lost Property and said if it was found while cleaning the plane they would be able to let me know. However, me and Mr Messy worked out that Little Prince must have left it in Bole Int Airport in Addis, in the confusion and melee when we were called to board. Usually I do a "Mum look round" and check we haven't left anything behind, but I didn't this time!! Little Prince was very upset and blamed himself, but we reassured him that accidents happen and he wasn't to worry about it. And nothing could take away from the excitement of being almost home :-)

I took Baby and changed her into a set of pretty clothes I'd packed for her "coming home" outfit and she looked so beautiful :-) The flight to our local airport was short and sweet, and soon we were disembarking and queuing up to get through immigration. The airport is so small that there is only one queue (so no dithering about if we go in the UK or non-UK queue lol). We had predicted that Baby's situation would be so unusual at this airport, that they would either wave us right through or detain us for weeks!! Luckily we just had to fill in a non-UK/EU form and show them her Visa giving her indefinite leave to remain in her Ethiopian Passport, and they waved us straight through and wished us all good luck :-) We were back on British soil, and Baby got her first taste of a chilly morning!! I had a bit of a mix up ringing to check our taxi was here, and rang the taxi firm's owner (and got her out of bed early on a Sunday morning to boot!! Whoops - she was NOT happy!!). We found the taxi, got our suitcases and ourselves loaded and set off towards home. In my tired and befuddled state I wasn't able to get the provided car seat fastened in properly, it was more jammed between its seat and the one in front!! Luckily we got home with no mishaps.

And waiting at the door was LMS :-) It was sooooooooo good to see her :-) I'd missed her sooooooooo much. She did say it was odd seeing us get out of the taxi holding a baby, even though she was dying to see her new sister lol. It was fantastic to be home and it brought tears to my eyes to be in my own home with all my children together. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful :-)