Down Time

Well, we had a bit of down time forced upon us today. The Boss had a "chicken club sandwich" for dinner last night and brought a nasty case of food poisoning back to the room with him. He spent the majority of the over-night hours in the restroom, which is certainly bad enough. BUT.... and please excuse the pun, buuuuut, it was terribly complicated by the fact that the water in the entire hotel was shut off for maintenance and upgrade during the same exact hours he was running between the couch, the bed and the toilet. NOT a fun night for any of us, for sure.

And just when he thought he was as empty as he could be, he began throwing up in the morning.

Yeah, fun times.

So we texted our guide, Dion, to cancel our little shopping excursion for the late morning and hunkered down to rest and recuperate. For The Boss, that meant sleeping off and on for the rest of the morning. For me, that meant creatively finding ways to entertain and FEED Mei Mei. Man, this girl likes to eat. And since she's been with us, she's really enjoyed finger feeding interspersed with some Momma-directed feeding. Today, however, I had very little at my disposal for finger feeding and she had to be content with being fed. Which she was not. Content, that is. Heh. she's got an independent streak a mile wide, which I understand given yesterday's insights from the director. I am grateful that she was one of the obviously capable ones who COULD take care of herself to some degree. But little tete-a-tetes such as we had this morning and early afternoon just highlight for me again how wrong it is for a 21-month old to be SO fiercely independent - to the point of anger and desperation to care for herself. She has a will of steel, for certain. I can only pray that our time over the table today began laying groundwork for a more healthy way of depending upon us as her parents.

Dion showed up shortly after 12:30 with a complimentary bag of groceries, things to help us weather the storm of stomach upset. Spr!te, crackers, some noodles for me, and some sweet treats for when recuperation is underway. He stayed to visit a bit and sweet little Mei Mei offered to share her crackers with him.  Me, not so much. But his presence was a wonderful distraction so I didn't mind at all.

I'm thrilled to say that nap-time routine went much more smoothly today - with only a short crying jag before settling in to suck her little fingers and hug her baby. She fell asleep in my arms and took a great nap with Baba while I relaxed with my worship music at low volumes.

Here's some pics of the last 24 hours.... really guys, if the endless parade of cuteness is too much for you and you'd rather I take a few shots of the beautiful 5-star accommodations, I'm happy to do so.

Snort. As if!  :)

She got her first bath last night. She was NOT

happy about being all nekked but I'm guessing

a few months at home with The Gang

cheering for those cute little buns will change that!

Some of you who followed our trip to Li'l Empress

in '08 will remember our love for shampoo mohawks.

She has perfect hair for it, nice and thick!

This is coloring time while Mommy dressed and cleaned

up the room a bit. I know it's a king-sized bed and all but

I feel like this pic really highlights just how very tiny

this girl is. Barely 19 lbs. and soo. sooo. petite!

She doesn't totally get the concept of coloring

just yet but she really has fun putting the crayons

in and out of the bag.

Because of the iv's she had running during

her bout with pnuemonia, she has several

scabs and tape marks on her arms and even

a few on her legs. It is hard to look at for sure.

To help them heal, I've been lotioning her up

several times a day. She's such a girly-girl!

She just LOVES it and is so dainty in how she

rubs it in. Today Baba got several turns

to love on her and massage her hands and arms. 

While I worked on making up some noodles for her dinner,

I let her share some crackers in bed with Baba.

I'm sure her messy eating habits will come back to haunt me

in a few hours when I settle in for the night.

But seriously? With a face that sweet and cute,

does it really matter if I'm itching all night from

crumbs in my bed?