My servant?!

Cadence gets to hang out with me in the bathroom while I shower. She generally entertains herself with her box of toys that I drag in there or sometimes manages to get into the Q-tips! Regardless of what she is doing, as soon as I turn the water off, I hear her drop everything and the pitter patter of little feet. When I open the door, this is what I find....

Happy Chinese New Year!

Sierra dons the dragon head

Cadence & Zac, both from IM



Cadence & Laurel

Pretty in pink!

It's the Year of the Rabbit (my year!) and we had a few celebrations! We started off the morning by eating fortune cookies. Ironically mine said "Your ability to love will help a child in need". To continue the festivities we met up with some friends at a yummy Chinese restaurant - Ni Hao - for dinner. I coordinated with two different families to meet there and, such a small world, they ended up knowing each other! The food was yummy, company was good, but the kids (ok, my kid!) slightly out of control. Hence, no pictures of the event since I spent most of it juggling Cadence!

The next weekend we met up with Families of the China Moon, based in Richmond, for a celebration. I've emailed and followed blogs of some of these families and watched a few of journey through their adoption on a similar timeline as ours. It was great to meet a few new families, even if I feel like I already know them (oh, the world of blogging!). There was one little boy whose blog I found through the Inner Mongolia yahoo group and a couple months later realized they were only an hour away. There aren't too many adoptions from Inner Mongolia so it's pretty cool to have one so close. Once again, not a whole lot of cooperative for the photo ops, but we managed one or two.

Sierra, Laurel, and Cadence all received books about the holiday and money in a red envelope. Sierra's book is about all of the Chinese holidays, so we are excited to have many new things to learn about & celebrate!

Wild ride!

Ok, not that wild, but to Cadence it probably feels like it! She got a little "help" from Laurel!
P.S. If anyone knows the magic trick to turning it, please let me know!

Great Wolf Lodge

For Christmas we gave ourselves the gift of an overnight trip to Great Wolf Lodge. It was a two-fold gift... I've been DYING to go there & we got the kids fewer individual items which equates to less stuff piling up in our house! If you haven't ever been you absolutely must go!! They are all around the US. For those who don't know it's an indoor water park & lodge. The park is "free" with your purchase of an overnight stay and because you can go both the day you arrive AND the whole day that you are checking out, it's actually a pretty good deal. There are themed rooms, so Sierra & Laurel had their own little bunk nook with a TV & all (not that they ever watched it!). Cadence actually slept well in her pack-n-play and we were thankful for that. Brad and I took turns hangin' with Cadence and going on the slides with the big girls. Now that I think about it, I don't think he and I ever swam in the same pool at the same time! But everyone had a blast! Cadence loves the water, waterslide, and all of the fountains. It bodes well for a summer filled with pool time! Of course, Sierra & Laurel always have been waterbabies!

Cadence ventures down the slide - with a little help from Laurel!

Bunk beds

Cool picture of the girls under a waterfall at night



The fam... is Sierra already reaching that age where she's going to looked pained everytime we bust the camera out?!

She said it!

Mama! What a beautiful, amazing, humbling word. From the day that she had her lip repaired, actually had the "hardware" to make a "m" sound, she's been murmuring the letters. Mamamamamamama. Maaaamaaaa. Mama. But she never looked at me or called out to me with it, just buzzed around the house with lots of m's and a's following her. Since we came home in September we always look at pictures and say "Where is Mama? Where is Cece?..." Sometimes she points to the right person, sometimes not. We know that she knows us. But boy, wouldn't it be nice for a just a little direct recognition? Mama's hold their babies when they cry (I've done this!), stay up all night with the restless one in their arms (yep, many nights!), and spend countless hours making sure their kiddos are clean, fed, and happy (um, right here!). This is the moment all Mama's wait for... their baby to say their name.

After working all night I went to my parents to pick Cadence up today. As I walked in the door she came around the corner, squealing with delight and ran into my arms! I picked her up and smothered her with kisses as she giggled. My mom came into the room and said to Cadence "Whose got you?". I swear that Cadence tucked her chin, looked up coyly at me and said "Mama". Ahhhh.... My heart is full!

Two weeks post-op

Cadence has got her groove back! Two weeks post-op for her cleft lip repair and she is her usual ornery, happy, silly little self! Albeit with a much smaller smile, but it's beautiful and we are happy to be done with surgeries for a few years. Honestly, I had a really difficult time with the whole transition. She just didn't look like herself. Everyone kept saying how great her lip looked and what a good job the surgeon had done... logically I knew this to be true. But where was the little girl that I met in China just 4 months ago? Understandably her personality was a little "off" too. She was uncomfortable, her lip hurt, and I'm sure she was wondering "What happened to my mouth and why does it feel funny?". I think this, along with the physical change, just shook me up a little and made it feel like we were meeting all over again. In the midst of my feelings of guilt about the way I was processing it all I talked to another mom whose son had surgery for his cleft lip after he got home from China. I was so relieved to know that I wasn't alone or a terrible mom for having to adjust to the newness. I am so happy to have Cadence back to her usual self and smiling her "new" beautiful smile!

To Thine Own Self Be True.

From the moment I heard the words "It's a girl" I have had a slightly gut wrenching angst about the fact that... it's a girl. Three to be exact. They are children now, but they are growing fast and soon there will be all of the drama that comes with being a girl. Yes, boys have it hard too - but I've been a girl my whole life ;-) and I know just how hard it can be. I also know that as my girls grow up I will tell them that "I know how hard it is to ... be this age ... like a boy ... fight with your friend ... have a monstorous zit." And I know that to them, I will sound like Charlie Brown's teacher "Wah, wa, wah, wa..." So I hope that maybe they will come upon something, a book, a poem, a blog, that is as inspirational as the following one and take something, anything, to heart from it. From the moment I heard those words I pray for my girls that they will grow to be healthy, happy, strong women. I pray that they will have all of the right influences in their lives to succeed in all the right ways.

To Thine Own Self Be True.