First Morning with a New Sister!!

HA!

I've just realized something... it took Amelia's arrival to make me realize this certain something. I admit it to it readily and take full responsibility for my actions:

I've been a Maddie Hog. :)

I just love her so much and want to do things with her... I love brushing her hair. I love the routine we have in brushing her teeth. I love the song I sing when I wake her up in the morning. Fortunately for Maddie, Amelia's arrival is going to let her experience these things with dad more often. Dad will probably get too wake her up and brush her hair and brush her teeth more often now... this always means that dad gets to negotiate how to brush her hair and teeth now too!! HA!

Today Maddie woke up and asked to have Amelia sleep her in bed with her for a few minutes. We snapped the above pic as Amelia just cooed while listening to Maddie's soft morning voice. It really hit us today: OMG - There are TWO of them!!!!!!

Had to attached this pics as well - as I said, dad gets to brush Maddie's hair sometimes now too. Guess who won this negotiation???

And then there were FOUR!!!!

Maddie's world became very flat today indeed. She woke up as the sole little girl in our household and is going to sleep with a sister in hands and heart for the rest of her days!

Maddie's sister, Amelia Mabel was born today in Shanghai, China only one block from Xintiandi which was the site of the First People's National Communist Congress. Our friends Daneah and Jeff brought Maddie in with Carol and Ms. Zhou for a first time visit.





I'll never forget Maddie peeking into the room for the first time. The amount of energy that took over her body was amazing. She had apparently wanted to change her clothes for the big occasion and was wearing her favorite Laura Ashley dress with her ballet slippers. She immediately ran to Amelia and begged us to hold her.... so she hopped up on the bed. I held onto Maddie and Maddie held onto Amelia.



My favorite part of the evening was when Maddie started to sing her class song to Amelia... she literally looked like she could just eat Amelia all up... she discovered her tiny little toes, fingers, fingernails.....

This is the beginning of something special.....

Swimming, Snacks, Santa, Snow

Maddie has been studying the letter S in school. SSSSSSSSSSSSSS... on this Saturday we've been through a lot of S events! Maddie woke up talking about how it's not really hot outside (it's 80 degrees) and she tried to convince us that it's Snowing and that Santa will be coming soon so we had to prepare. She put on her Summer dress but then followed up with a pair of pants, her winter coat from last year, socks, and shoes. Ain't she cute??!!!!

After convincing her that it wasn't Christmas time yet, we hopped in the car and went over to Puxi because daddy was the Official Ceremony Starter for the swim meet. Just think, he's had tons of education and has recently been promoted to Deputy Superintendent.... just to say, "Swimmers - on your mark!" Maddie and I were so proud of him!
After hitting a few antique stores we came home to hang out inside while it pours outside. I think there is more rain today than there was with Typhoon Wipha earlier this week! The last S for the day would be the Snack though... I know I've written about this before, but I'm still just gobsmacked.

Snack:
Pimento Stuffed Olives
Seasoned Seaweed
Apple Pears
Multi-Grain Ritz Crackers
Cheese

Her favorite?? The seaweed of course!!!!

Still Three and Loving Life...

I dropped Maddie off at school this morning fully expecting that the next time I saw here would be with sister in hand. Ends up that sister is just as stubborn as Maddie and will do things her own way in her own time. She's moved to an "unfavorable" position so we'll just a little bit longer...

Today was an important day at school for Maddie though. It was the annual Shanghai American School Spirit Walk. Every time we get Maddie's House Shirt out, she just starts giggling. This year, she wrote us invitation to participate with her - which we couldn't do, but I was able to snap this pic beforehand. Maddie is a PUMA, Ms. Preeti is a PUMA, Malin is a PUMA.... Maddie couldn't be happier! I amazed that she knows and recognizes all of the House names. Falcons, Bears, Dolphins... she knows them all and says, "look mommy, that boy is dolphin!"

I love this school for her - it's such a positive and uplifting environment. As a parent, my favorite things is how the grades mix together. Middle school kids go into Maddie's class to read, older elementary kids acknowledge her in the hall... it's a genuine community. Maddie is one lucky young lady and loving life all the way...

Last Night of Three - Maybe....

Maddie has been a very healthy child. There - I said it. JINX!

Amazingly, I could probably count on one hand the number of times Maddie has had a fever. When she does get them though, they always seem to hang out for a long time. Now I'm staring tho think she may actually have some type of control over the timing of these fevers... wouldn't that be amazing?

Amelia is "scheduled" to arrive sometime tomorrow so it's our last night of three at home - not including Lester and the fish. We've had a great day and a great night. Because yesterday was a Typhoon Day (not like the snow days I experienced growing up), Maddie and I accomplished quite a lot. We made brownies for Treat Day at school, we finally got our family photo framed to take to her classroom and most importantly, we finished her About Me book. Ms. Preeti had us make on last year so I should've been a bit more prepared this time, but we had no color printer, yada, yada, yada. The combination of being a stay-at-home mom AND having a Typhoon Day let us take the three hours required to make the book this year. She helped me choose pics out of i-photo and we sent them to dad at school so he could print them on the color printer. We then cut out all 40 pics with decorative scissors and glued them strategically into the book. She then told me about each picture and I wrote a caption to go along with it. She then took colored smiley face stickers and color coordinated the sticker with the colored pencil I had used to write the captions. Did I mention that this took three hours?! :) It really was a great day and great night of three plus Lester plus the fish.

Cough, cough, gag, gag... it started earlier today but she seemed to be ignoring the symptoms. By evening though, the peanut looked a little gray around the edges. We'll see what the night holds and then we'll see what the morning holds. And then we'll see if Maddie is up to Amelia's arrival tomorrow! :)

Maddie Became a Baby

There will be four years between Maddie and Amelia. I like the age difference because Maddie is her own person with her own life with her own memories. She's old enough to remember Amelia coming home for the very first time. As "the day" approaches, Maddie is becoming a bit more.... baby-like. At the beginning of the pregnancy, Maddie was convinced that SHE was never a baby. Pics we would show her from her first year of life were of "somebody else" and the the ultrasound picture we have framed of her was NOT of Maddie.

Every once in awhile though.... she wants to be the baby. It started with her sliding out of bed in the mornings and actually crawling into our room. When we set the crib up, she had to show us that she really did fit and that she could sleep in the crib. She told me that the diapers we bought were too small for her and that she needed some bigger ones - we just had to go shopping. All of this while she's telling me everything she is going to teach Amelia. (Number 1: Don't splash the bathroom wall with water when you're taking a bath. Funny that she doesn't take her own advice though!!)

Something happened today though! Maddie's Grandma Barbara bought a new computer and was transferring all of her files over when she came across this very special movie. Maddie's first steps actually occurred on Barbara's birthday when we were in Saudi Arabia... for some reason we had the video camera on Andy was able to make this movie. Maddie has now watched this movie 10 times in 10 minutes and is now convinced that she was, indeed, a baby at one time. In her words, "Maddie became a baby."

We love you so much Madeline Anna! Your first steps continue and it's a pleasure to be a part of all the firsts you experience!!

Dad Took the Keys...

We had the car. We were ready for school. Recognizing we would get drenched just walked in the car in the driveway, Maddie was prepared.

Rain boots - check
Rain coat - check
Umbrella - check

Keys to the car - no check!!!

Oops! Dad took them with him so we though we would try to walk to school. HELLO?? We live on the Links!!!! The Links is on White Dragon Bag and when it rains hard, it rains sideways. We made it one house down and turned around. After changing clothes, we called dad and enjoyed (just a little bit) the moment he realized the keys were in his pocket!




We waited the rain out and just had a leisurely hour at home. There is this great website for her that Ms. Preeti has on her blog page. So we just sat there and played on the computer(s). This isn't the actual shot of that moment, but it just goes to show ya... the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!!

Think of Solutions!

The Wang Dang Dingers that I've written about still happen and actually they are happening a little bit more now that Amelia is close to arriving. BUT, Maddie does sometime choose to listen to reason at times. Today she came home with a heart balloon from school and within five minutes she had let it go in our entryway. Our entryway goes all the way up to the second floor so from her point of view it was a lost cause and the balloon was lost forever.


Enter: Wang Dang Dinger

WAIT!!!!

Me: "Now Maddie, I need you to think. Do you want the balloon down?"
Maddie: "Yes, but I can't reach it... I'm too small."
Me: "Now Maddie, think. Don't give up - let's use our mind. How can we get that balloon down?"
Maddie: "I don't know Mommy" she said with a hopeful look like I may have an idea.
Me: "Maddie, let's look for some broomsticks, rope, and tape."
Maddie: "Okay, Mommy. Can we get the balloon then?"
Me: "We can certainly try!"

Ms. Zhou was with us at the time and I'm pretty sure that she thought I was insane. It wasn't about getting the balloon down though; it was about trying to problem solving without resorting to crying as a first instinct. We found a mop. We found a long kite still in it's plastic wrap. We found a long white stick used to hold up one of her tents. We couldn't find rope, but we did find a long white cable TV cord. We found tape. We put all of this together and then Ms. Zhou decided to join the party because Maddie and I were laughing so hard! Ms. Zhou stood up on those stairs and reached way up high so that she was able to get the balloon with the tape I had put at the end of the long pole. Success!

So we laughed and Maddie has now decided that it's a good thing to let balloons go in the entryway....

Stay at Home Mom

As of Friday, September 7 I officially went on maternity leave. I am now a stay at home mom for the next 10 weeks. Me... stay at home mom. I never thought those two would appear in the same sentence! I will enjoy the benefits though and especially enjoy these last few weeks of Maddie and Me time. I know that we'll still still have Maddie and Me time after Amelia arrives just like I'll have Amelia and Me time, but I'm sensing that my girl needs some reassurance.

Every morning we have the same ritual. Dad gives us kisses and heads to work. We eat breakfast together. Maddie feeds the fish and then we drive to school. Even though it's only three short blocks, who wants to walk when one is this pregnant? So, we drive! Maddie loves the wind in her hair and loves screaming "Ni Hao" out the window to the all of the guards we pass on the way to school.

The second year of school for Maddie is so familiar yet different. She's so much more "present" when we arrive at school. She knows to get the yellow folder out for Ms. Preeti and she knows to go to the chart of the wall where she puts a check next to her name and then puts a check in the box of chocolate milk or apple juice for lunch.

On Tuesday, I went into her class during Centers time. Ms. Preeti was helping the kids perfect their people drawing skills. No more stick figures for these little ones! They are noticing and drawing in the details now!! I was at the station where the kids pasted a head-shot photo onto paper and then drew in the rest of their body. Their first attempts were hilarious! Typically, the girls paid attention to the details like the colors of the flowers on their desk and the boys... well, they just wanted to finish it and get onto the next station. It was great fun witnessing all of this!

Stay at home mom? I don't know if I could just stay home, but I sure love going into Maddie's class!