Hello everyone! Just wanted to let you know that all is really a-ok with Annalee's sweet little heart! The Dr. could hear no detection of the small hole in her heart found at 7 mos of age. So, we have a healthy & very observant little girl! She weighs 23lbs (20th %) & is 33in tall (80th %) - the Dr. was thrilled she made our American growth chart. You may have noticed her head is almost triangular shaped from hours upon hours in a very hard crib on her back. Nothing we can do now but keep giving her vitamin rich foods to make that hair keep growing! We do have dress her in clothes that button or snap around the neckline or have a soft/stretchy collar or they won't go over her head. Thank goodness she is exactly 1yr behind Libby in clothing size so she can wear all her beautiful/fun clothes! She now also signs finished & help. She loves to say "bye bye" (loudly!) & ketchup (Brent taught her this!). She loves to help unload the dishwasher, push the laundry into the dryer & sort it (the other day she sorted her's, Walt's & Libby's into piles without really being shown). She also knows who's shoes belong to whom & will bring them to everyone when she sees we are getting ready to go somewhere. The other day after we came back from the Dr. visit, she came in the door & called "Bibbyyyyy!". She's letting Walt & Libby hug & kiss her now & likes playing with them in the tub. She doesn't mind having her teeth brushed & hair washed now that she's seen Walt & Libby doing it, too.
The other day in Church, our priest had Walt come up front to tell what was new at his house! He proudly & loudly announced Annalee's arrival from China & asked if she was going to China to get a baby, too?? Proud sibling with the typical thought of "all babies come from China!"! Libby has really been playing more & more with Annalee & even occasionally turns Walt down to play with him! She is also a little more interested in not wearing diapers (slowly but surely...). We'll see what happens with that over the next few weeks.
Enough for now. Lots of Love, all of us

Hello!,
Ok, here's why we're calling the new site "3 spicy kids!" : Annalee is from the province of Hunan. We were told that's the spiciest food in China! The Mother's supposedly still eat spicy food while expecting their child so the children all have "spicy" attitudes (meaning strong willed). We decided we already had 2 of those... uh oh! I don't eat spicy food but Brent does so guess it comes naturally... :-)
Walt & Libby are doing very well with Annalee - she even lets them kiss her now! Walt had the very good idea of kissing his hand & then gently placing it on her cheek - she likes having her cheek touched! Libby says that Annalee is her "best little sister". They do try to play with her occasionally.
Annalee still doesn't like naptime but does sleep thru the night - better than the other way around! She does just fine on cow's milk - we're glad we don't have to buy seperate types of calcium products. She continues to use the potty & lets us know when for the most part - just a little accident here & there. She still says potty in Chinese & possibly "look" but lots of babbling, too. She says in English: Mama, Dada, "Bibbby" for Libby, "wal" for Walt, light, bye bye, hi bebe (baby), hop hop for rabbit. She uses hand signs for please, more, light, drink. She makes the American animal sounds for dog, cat, horse , cow. Tonight we were looking at a book of babies showing all different emotions - she mimicked all of them! We're working on her upper body strength - she goes limp when you pick her up under the arms. We've been calling her "wet noodle" - our friends have been calling their 3 yr old (another one from the same orphanage) "gumby"! She is crawling a little bit when playing on the floor & bed so that will help. Also trying to teach her to crawl up the stairs & back down. She likes the sit & spin ok so that may help as well. We have her Dr. appt here next Wednesday - he told me to give her time before bringing her in unless she came home sick. Luckily at the Navy clinics, they don't wear white coats! The docs in China do & wear them into the orphanages when they come to give shots, etc. We have her immunization booklet & Brent was able to get it translated on base. She'll have a blood screen to see what all she really had.
Sorry if these get wordy - I'll print these off for Annalee's diary, too.
Love, all of us!