Santa's Workshop

This week at school Maddie had Santa's Workshop at school. Neither Andy or I were able to attend with her so we gave her a set amount of money to spend and sent her on her way. Maddie bought presents for Ms. Zhou, mommy, daddy and Amelia. She decided that she wanted us to open the presents as soon as she got home - she must get that from me! She bought me a beautiful necklace, dad a great tie, Ms. Zhou a pretty necklace, and Amelia a cute little Santa Clause! Thanks for the Christmas presents Madeline Anna!!

So Hopeful....

The mood is set...

A hungry Amelia awaits her feeding, the boppy is in place, Maddie stands by adoringly looking at her sister....AND DAD WANTS TO STICK WHAT IN MY MOUTH?!

I get to head back to work on Monday so we're trying a few different things out and a bottle would be one of them. This time didn't work, but the absolute joy on daddy's and Maddie's face is enough to want to make me keep trying!!

Here's the thing with returning to work. My heart is really heavy and I've been thinking about the little things I'll miss during the day, but leave it to Maddie to put it all in perspective.

Maddie: "Mommy, will you be a teacher again?"
Me: "Yes, Maddie - next week... four sleeps from now."
Maddie: "Will you come see me again at school? I've missed you..."

So there you have it. Even though I've been a stay at home mom for 8 weeks and gone into Maddie's class a few times, I actually saw Maddie more during the day when I was working full time. I would see her at least once a day during her lunch time and sometimes during her recess which was my plan time. It was our "thing" and one of the reasons I love being a teacher in an international school. I get to keep my family close so that I don't miss those little moments that happen at every age.

I've missed you too Maddie!!

47 Shopping Days Until Christmas

Our little American now has her passport in hand so we are counting down the days until we can head back to Oregon to put our feet on homeland soil. It may be 47 shopping days until Christmas, but it's only 37 until we can shout "TIMBER" at the top of our lungs as we chop down the tree! Can't wait to see you all...

Moments that make you Smile!

And that's all I have to say about that...

Baby Day

Friday was Baby Day in Ms. Preeti's class at school. Maddie had been counting down the days until she could bring Amelia to school to show her off to her classmates. She had been showing pictures online and her friends may have seen me pass briefly in the hallway, but this was the big show!

We met all of the children first. Amelia was the smallest at two weeks, Bauer was six weeks old, Trinity was four months old and Eva was nine months old.


The children brainstormed questions beforehand and had most of them answered by the time we all left. Maddie's questions was, "why do babies cry?" which I thinks he asked because she knew the answer!!! The children wrapped up the day by singing a song to the babies. BUT Maddie wasn't done...

We had taken Amelia to the doctor the day before and had pictures. Andy had printed them off for Maddie to share and she sat right next to Ms. Preeti and acted as a teacher herself by holding the pictures in front of each child's eyes. She was soooooo proud and we were so proud of her!!!

Amelia's First Doctor Visit

We picked up Maddie from school early today because she wanted to go to the doctor with Amelia to show her how to be brave... hmmm. On the way to the doctor's office, I realized that this would be the first time that Maddie saw a male doctor. Maddie's doctor in the States is a girl... my doctor is a girl... so I thought I would mention that Amelia was going to have a male doctor. Andy and I then listened to Maddie's reasoning for why Amelia needed a girl doctor for the hour ride down to Xiantiandi. At least she knows that girls can be doctors - it's the norm in her life!

One reason we took Maddie with us was because tomorrow is baby day at school. The children are very interested in why babies go to the doctor. So we took pictures of Dr. Jenkins checking out her soft spot and over Amelia being weighed. Incidentally, we must be doing something right because she was 2.7 kg when we left the hospital and now she's 3.6!! Maddie was brave today and played the big sister role proudly! The doctor was wonderful and had Maddie hold onto instruments for him... she was an excellent assistant! Maybe a doctor someday? We'll see if this bravery thing holds!!!!!!!!!

Maddie Shares Her Life!

It's the October break in China no which means we have an entire week at home with the newly formed four. It's a good thing because we get to figure out how to bring Amelia into our daily lives. I am so cognizant of Maddie's feelings and emotions right now. She's like me though and as long as she is helping, then she is just fine. Andy and I can't be Amelia hogs in other words! Amelia "belongs" to Maddie just as much!!

Maddie always wants to hold Amelia - even when she's crying. She is a bit frustrated that she can't feed Amelia, but she helps out in soooooo many other ways. Maddie is in charge of getting everything ready for Amelia's bath. She has the list in her head knows exactly what to make available: tub, soap, PINK washcloth, Amelia's hooded towel, lotion, TWO diapers (just in case), new clothes. It was actually Maddie's idea to have two diapers - smart kid!!!

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.....

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! :)

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Maddie already has Amelia sleeping the garage. Is that bad?

A few weeks ago, we bought a crib for Amelia's arrival in September. We have not painted her room yet and still have a queen size bed in there so it's all set up in the garage just waiting to be moved upstairs. A few days ago, Angel and Tony's delivered the changing table and dresser that we had made for Amelia's room. Again, it's in the garage because her room is not ready for the furniture yet. So when I came home from work earlier this week and showed Maddie the painting that one of my students had made for Amelia, I suggested that we go up and put it in Amelia's room. Maddie quickly exclaimed, "I'll help mommy" and proceeded to take the painting out into the garage!

I asked Maddie if Amelia was sleeping in the garage and in her world, yes, Amelia is sleeping the garage because that's where all of her things are located! For the rest of the evening, Maddie went through her closet and got the dresses and shoes that no longer fit her, and then took them down to Amelia's "room." What a great kid! :)

I also put a picture of the Pottery Barn changing table on here that sells for $549. Notice how Amelia's changing table looks very similar - it was about $80. Gotta love China!

So why do kids say the darndest things? Not only is Amelia going to live in the garage, but Maddie informed me this morning that my eyes were broken. I had woken up and went to give her a morning hug. She kissed and hugged me all over before looking at my eyes. She pointed to my "crinkles" around my eyes and told me that my eyes were broken.

Don't worry honey, your eyes will be broken someday too, but just remember that you earned every single one of the breaks and they all have story! :)

Maddie's SISTER!!!!

Maddie found out today that she will have a baby sister in September!

When I was pregnant with Madeline, Andy and I chose to NOT find out what we were having. She kept us guessing up until the very last minute and I will never, ever forget Andy screaming, "WE HAVE A GIRL!" as I was in my daze. What a joy it was to be surprised! We wanted to be surprised like that again this time, but Maddie is convinced that she is going to have both a new brother and new sister! So we decided to find out and talk up the new peanut with Maddie. The most amazing thing happened when the Chinese ultrasound guy told us we were having a girl - we were so surprised and delighted - just as surprised and delighted as we were with Maddie.

Amelia Mabel is set to arrive in September and I'm sure she'll arrive strong and ready to try out for the Olympic team in gymnastics.! She's a very active little sister and Maddie will have fun with her... even now Maddie lays on our bed at night talking to my expanding belly while giving "zerberts" to her little sister. Amelia responds with a kick right in Maddie's nose as is an appropriate sibling response.

Ah..... this is going to be fun!