Milestone {Walking}

Look who is completely mobile on her little legs!  For the past couple of weeks, Nora has been gaining her momentum on her feet.  She is now fully and primarily walking.  When she does crawl she is super quick and loud, when she walks she is light on her feet and quiet.  There have been many times where I have turned around and been startled to see Little Miss just standing there with her little grin (and yes, her tongue hanging out - her tongue now always seems to be out!).

She is quite proud of herself and so are we!

A Weekend Away

Since Nora's surgery at the beginning of the year we have spent a lot of time at home, really only going out as a family to church.  While we have had commitments, we have found ourselves splitting up to go to basketball games, etc.  We all had been going a little stir crazy so when we got an invite to go spend part of the weekend in northern Wisconsin with sweet friends, I would be exaggerating if I didn't say that we were all a little giddy!  

My sweet friend had a "significant" birthday this weekend (Girl, you handled the weekend and being the center of attention with such grace!) so her husband coordinated getting a few families together at a hotel.  It was definitely a little winter retreat for us and our first getaway as family of 6!  So fun!  Lots of pool time for the kids and lots of reminiscing and laughs for all of us!  So thankful for these friendships and how God so purposefully brought our families together.  Who knew years ago how many commonalities we would all have?  It was just such a treat to be away and just "be" with our sweet friends (they now live about 6 hours away so we only hang out a few times a year ... despite the distance as soon as we are together it feels like we haven't been apart).

Happy Birthday, Sweet Friend!  Thank you for the privilege of being able to celebrate with you!  Love you guys!

And, because I cannot post without photos ... wish I would have gotten more pictures, but here are just a few of pool time.  Apparently I was too busy chatting, indulging, disciplining, chasing, laughing, etc. to get more photos. A sign of a wonderful weekend!

Nice smile, Lydia!

And, back to the silly faces!

 Thanks for standing still long enough for me to get a photo, Boys!

Awe, aren't you so sweet in your swim suit!  First time ever!

Lydia, do you never tire of jumping into Daddy's arms?

We are blessed!

Sisters

(Warning, this post is full of lots of photos of two sweet little girls ...)

It has been fun to watch the relationship between these two little girls change over the past three plus months.  

There are definitely good days, days where Lydia adores her little sister.  

And, there are challenging days, days where Lydia tests her little sister (and us!).  I suspect (and pray) that this is pretty typical for two little girls who are precisely 18 months and 20 days apart in age (and likely pretty typical of many sibling relationships).  

We have never had two children this close in age so there are some dynamics of this relationship which are new for us (it is definitely worth noting here that Lydia and Owen would have been 18 months and 18 days apart ... coincidence?  Nah, just a God-thing and a reminder of His sweet love for us).  

Nora is truly intrigued by her big sister and watches her so intently.  

Often, Lydia will refer to Nora as "Sister" rather than by name.  Warms my heart!  S

 So thankful for the bond that is growing between these two.

Often when I ask to take their photo together Lydia will embrace Nora or hold her hand.  Pure sweetness.  

So fun to look back at these last few months and think about how these sisters will continue to grow up together.  Every day I pray that they have a special bond and friendship that strengthens daily.  

Preserving Her Culture

It is important to us that to we preserve Nora's culture as we raise her here as a Chinese-American.  One of the most festive and rich cultural holidays is the Chinese (or Lunar) New Year, a fifteen day celebration in China.  Today begins the year of the snake so this weekend we tried to do a few things to celebrate the holiday.  As Nora gets older, we will try to incorporate more tradition into this holiday.

2013 - Year of the Snake

Jack is a Snake!!!

The children all wore red today for "good luck".

We gave chocolate coins to friends and family in red envelopes.  It is traditional for parents and grandparents to give children money in red envelopes on the eve of the New Year.  The boys will also be taking candy filled "firecrackers" to their friends at school tomorrow.

Okay, I had really good intentions of putting together a traditional Chinese meal, but that didn't happen.  What did happen was dipping fortune cookies (totally American culture and not traditional Chinese) in sparkly red sprinkles (added a little orange extract as there is a small orange-type citrus fruit tree that is very customary decoration during the New Year).

We made Chinese lanterns (and will try to actually release a lantern sometime this week or next weekend).

We have been reading some fun books about the New Year.

And, the reason we celebrate - our little Chinese firecracker!

Sleigh Ride

Yes, that's our 80+ pound dog pulling Nora in the sled!

And, yes, she did this without any prompting ... Jason was trying to clean up the driveway and had Nora "safely" sitting in the sled when Lydia started yelling at Maizey to stop.  

Jason turned and this is what he saw!

"Um, why are you taking my picture?"

Someone is not happy that the ride is over ...

Or, maybe that her sister is showing a little too much sisterly love!

Milestone {The Sippy Cup}

Nothing much to say 'cept hallelujah,

the girl has conquered the sippy cup!

Five Years {Remembering}

How can it possibly be five years ago today that our lives were forever changed?  I so distinctly remember sitting in that little ultrasound room.  I remember what I was wearing, I remember the look on the ultrasound tech's face, the look on our dear doctor's face as he took a look and then gently explained that our baby had a condition that was "incompatible with life" ... the way he gently expressed his promise to take good care of me and the baby through the pregnancy and delivery.  Then, I just remember feeling numb.

This is always a hard day, remembering the anniversary of the day we were told that Owen would not survive outside of me.  Five years already ... as I remember and reflect, I cannot help but thank God for his mercies which are new every day and have been so evident in the five years that have passed since Owen's diagnosis.  

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; 

his mercies never come to an end; 

they are new every morning ... 

Lamentations 3:22-23

Dates with the Kids

Simple math and it's evident that we are outnumbered!  One of the challenges of being outnumbered is finding one-on-one time with each of the kids, time to connect and just focus on each of them individually.  Thus, we try to find time to "date" each of the kids.  Knowing that my full-time return to work was impending (last week), I tried to get in a date with each of the kids in the weeks leading up to my return to work.

Jack's pick was to try the new frozen yogurt place in town.  This was also his "IOU" birthday one-on-one with me since we were in China on his birthday, and birthday tradition is that I take the kids to birthday breakfast before school.  We were going to do birthday breakfast, but with his earlier school start this year getting up even earlier is not something either of us were excited about.  So, he chose an afternoon date.  I would have liked to take a photo, but he likely would have been mortified seeing as this new place seemed to be where lots of teens hang out after school!  I thought I would spare him of being "that mom" ... at least this time (ha!).

Samuel's pick was to go to a movie over Christmas break, just Samuel and I.  I cannot even remember the last time we went to a movie so this was a real treat for Samuel.  Again, no photo.  Jeepers, the boys really seem to be appearing less and less in my little bloggy world here!  I'll need to work on that!

This past weekend, Lydia and I got to go to a baby shower together.  So sweet to get dressed up together and be with a sweet group of other moms and girls.  Once Lydia got past the fact that the baby had not yet made his entrance and was still in Ms. Jennie's belly, she had a fantastic time at her first baby shower (it helped that she was a bit doted on by the other girls there who are Jack's classmates).

And, Nora and I ... well, our "dates" often entail visiting a doctor or middle of the night snuggling!   She is definitely getting her fair share of dates!

No-no's No More!

Today was a big day for Miss Nora as we ventured down to Children's for her post-op.  The most exciting part of the visit - restrictions are lifted!  No more no-no's and no more taping her lip!

At the start of her appointment, no-no's are still on as is tape!  

And, yes, she's working it ~ giving us her sad eyes and face!

Photos on this post are from my phone so not the best, but you get the idea.  It is truly remarkable what our surgeon did for Nora (yes, I still miss her clefty smile, but I realize that this is what is necessary for her).  All looked well with Nora's healing.  Her palate was very wide before, and our surgeon did "warn" us before surgery that closing it completely in one surgery might not be possible.  After surgery he was fairly optimistic but did tell us that he really had to stretch everything tight.  He noticed today that she does have a very small hole in her palate, but we wait and see what that means over the course of the next year.

And, because I know that some of you like talking about nose leakage, we also wait and see on the nose leakage.  Another example of why I'm lovin' our surgeon, he is relaxed about all of this, but he understands the emotional side of it as well giving an example of how we will not have her going to Kindergarten with a leaky nose.  Yes, this is true!

We do have "homework" where we need to massage her scar a few times a day.  You may notice that her lip is pulled up slightly, her scar may temporarily pull it up more in the next few months.  We may also see her scar get more red.  It sounds like her scar will likely change in the next year, perhaps getting worse and then getting better.  Looking at it now though is quite amazing.

 One of her tricks - scrunching her nose on demand

Thank you to everyone who has been encouraging us and praying for us during this time of recovery!  Love you all!

Nora's 18-Month Stats

Little Miss had her 18-month wellness exam today (she was 18-months last week, on the 8th).  I know I've mentioned it before, but I just love and trust our pediatrician so much, and I love how well she knows our family and our children (all five of them).  Today not only did she give Nora her exam, but she also gave Jason and I a boost of confidence in how well Nora is adjusting.  This isn't always easy for us to see but to get an outsider's perspective is quite encouraging as our pediatrician was one of the first to meet Nora when we returned to the states nearly three months ago.

A few minutes of freedom from the no-no's

Now, onto Miss Nora.  Developmentally Nora "tests" at about 10-months with emerging 12-month skills.  BUT, she is growing developmentally by leaps and bounds every day.  Because of this, at this time, she isn't being recommended for occupational or physical therapy.  We will, however, keep working with an early childhood instructor in our community to set goals and continue to "encourage" Nora to grow.

On the speech side, Nora "tests" at about 6-months.  This will be one of our most challenging areas.  We have a lovely speech therapist who will be coming to our house to work with Nora (and us) a couple of times a month.  Not only will she help with speech, but she will help with eating as well as Nora continues to learn to use her new, rearranged lip and her palate.

Hey Girl, what's so funny?

Now, onto one of my favorite things - her stats!  Nora is 18 pounds, 6 ounces (not on the charts yet, but we expect that will change as she continues to recover).  And, she is 30 inches long (just barely on the charts - 8th percentile).  

Um, yes, we are watching you!

Four immunizations today as our pediatrician is getting her caught up, poor baby.

She is a mischievous little beauty, and we love her so!