THURSDAY TIDBITS...HAIR ACCESSORIES AND ANOTHER PAIR OF SHOES

As I mentioned in Wednesday's post, Halainah receives many compliments while out and about. Yesterday I talked about her beautiful squeaky shoes from China.

Today I want to share a few secrets about Halainah's hair accessories. Alright so I have to admit that I totally got addicted to eBay. Once we completed our Dossier (complete package of paperwork) and it was sent to China, the only thing left to do was wait. Well, every little girl needs to have beautiful hair bows so I jumped on eBay and bought one. And than I bought another and than I bought....well...why don't you just see for yourself.


Yes that is her hair bow collection. I know I had a little problem...at least I can admit it. Most of the bows pictured above were not bought in a store...nope eBay. But the little secret is...you have to find a seller that is just starting off with their business. Most of the headbands and beautiful flower hats I bought for $1...maybe I went up to $5. After a while I would go back and try to buy from the same seller and I would find that their prices jumped 3 to 4 times the price I paid. The sellers sell low to establish themselves and get good feedback and than they start charging more.

There is one seller that I still purchase from. Go to eBay and do a search by seller and type the ID: hetianlu or just click on the ID and it should bring you to eBay. This woman is super nice and she sells her hair accessories in lots. The best part is you can choose the style you want and chose the colors you want as well. So your order is custom made to your liking. This seller lives in China so it may take a little while for you to receive your order but you won't be disappointed when you receive it. She always has a bunch of the same auctions going on at once. So if I notice that the price has gone too high, I wait for the next auction. I always win it for the starting price. Sometimes it takes days, but sometimes you have to work for a bargain.

Alright, so now that I have a bazillion hair bows for my China doll I need a place to store them. Well I have been keeping them in a plastic container but I just read an awesome idea in a parenting magazine. The French Memo board which is usually used to hold photos is an excellent idea to hold all of the hair bows. So I went to Kohl's this afternoon, but they only had one that I liked, and as you can see....I need a few more to hold Halainah's collection. Since Halainah has a walk-in closet. I plan to hang the French Memo boards on the back wall so they will be sort of hidden in her room, but easily accessible. I love this fabulous idea! If you look close in the picture above you will see the French Memo Board full of hair bows. Below you will see it before the bows. So those are a few of my tidbits that I thought I would share with you today.

Well, Halainah and I had a full day today. She had her 15th month checkup. All went well. She is 30 inches long and weighs 22 pounds. She had 3 vaccines today...yuck! But the doctor is amazed on how well she is doing and how quickly she caught up since she was behind in her motor skills when we first brought her home. We shopped at Kohl's, I bought Lainey her very first baby doll (not a hit) see pic. below. And we tried on her new bathing suits for daddy when he got home.

Oh yeah, also, you will notice that our blog looks different. When I awoke this morning and logged on, it was totally different. Tony did an awesome job...I love the fact that he likes to mess around on here and find ways to make the appearance of our blog more aesthetically pleasing. Thanks babe...the blog looks awesome like always. He also added butterflies special for me. Ever since the horrible passing of my best friend, my mom, butterflies have had significant meaning. Whenever I see one, I stop what I'm doing and say, "Hi mom...I miss you and love you." Guess I may look weird to outsiders when they hear me say that. Did you ever see the movie Patch Adams? I think that's where I got the butterfly thing from. But if you look it up on the web you will find tons of discussions about butterflies and death. It is believed that the butterfly has symbolized the resurrection and life after death. The caterpillar signifies life here on earth. The cocoon signifies death. And the butterfly signifies the emergence of the dead into a new, beautiful and freer existence. I bet you will never look at a butterfly the same way again.

Well enjoy the pics from today!

Halainah in one of her new bathing suits!
She is such a happy baby!
She smiles 99.9% of the time!
She loves looking at her reflection in the stove! She cracks up laughing at herself! Good thing the outside of my stove doesn't get hot.
Jiu Jiu...these are for you. In China, Jiu Jiu looked everywhere for a pair of Converse for his favorite niece. I couldn't pass them up at Kohl's...$18.99 and I also had a 30% coupon on top of that.
How cute are they?
And Halainah likes them too...oh and this is her 2nd new bathing suit!
Okay, so I bought Halainah her very first dolly...can you see it on the floor? Yeah that's where it stayed...she didn't like it at all. In fact, she was scared of it!
Look at that face! Why on earth would she be scared of a plastic dolly?
Notice that the dolly is gone...yup now she's happy!
Halainah got compliments at the doctors today...they want to know where I bought her shoes! China of course...$3.00. No one ever believes me about the price!
This is Halainah's new way to get around the house. She uses her toy tub and pushes it around the entire house. I love walking into it in the middle of the kitchen. Notice the lion in the background...that is supposed to be her walker...but no...the toy tub is better!
I had a bag of fruit on the floor next to the refrigerator. I was getting ready to put it away and I stepped away for a few seconds. Halainah helped herself...she LOVES to eat.
One wasn't good enough...she had to double fist. She always needs food in both hands to make her happy!
I think she enjoyed it for a few seconds before I took it away from her!