Lessons Learned... from a four year old

"Maddie, Amelia is four weeks old today!"
"Mommy, we're the SAME! I'm four too!"
"You're right Maddie, shall we go wake her up together?"
"I can do it Mommy..."

So she walked into Amelia's room and stood on stool so she could see in and then I heard it.

"Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning... I love you... Good morning to you... hey... Good Morning." Just then, Amelia opened her eyes, turned to her sister and gave the BIGGEST smile I have seen so far.

This is the simple song I sang to Maddie when she was little. It has definitely been awhile since I've woken Maddie up with that song, but she pulled it from her memory bank and has started to sing it to Amelia. My four year old daughter has taught me yet another lesson and I've embraced this one. You see, I've struggled with keeping Maddie's identity Maddie's. Do I create another blog for Amelia? Do I write in Maddie's blog? I've been thinking about this for weeks and I feel like all of the clouds of doubt have disappeared now thanks to the peanut.

Maddie and Amelia are not the same, but....
they have the same parents that love them both very much and they will share similar memories their entire lives. They are both sisters to each other and they are connected. Rather than fiercely hold onto their individual identities, I'll go with the flow, take my daughter's lead, and celebrate their identity as sisters and our identity as a family.

Thank you Maddie Anna... we love you!

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.....

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!