Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!

Mollie

 

This Christmas we sponsored this beautiful girl from the New Day Foster Home in Beijing.  Miah had so much fun picking out a Christmas gift for Mollie. She bought her a stuffed Unicorn, a My Little Pony and a little bunny blankie. Her biggest concern was whether or not the nannies at the orphange would be able to read the english writing on our card...if you would like to sponsor a child or nanny this Christmas, head on over to their blog!

Kindergarten!

This week was very exciting and eventful at our house. Mackenzie started middle school, Madison grade 3 and.... are you ready for it??? Miah started full time Kindergarten! She's all grown up now that she is five.

 She was so excited to go one her first day...but once we got there...in the classroom...things changed. Reality sunk in. She was staying...Mommy was not.

This was when the uncertainly set in...see it in her eyes??? She has had a few tearful moments this week, but hopefully this transition is settling in and next week the excitement will be back!

We have been blessed this year with Miah's Kindergarten teacher.  She herself, is an adoptive mom to two kids from China.  What a gift this is! Having someone else to talk with Miah if she has questions about China and her adoption is huge to us! Not to mention, the addition of some Asian decor in the classroom.  Did I mention that there are 4 Asian kids in the class? Awesome!

Side note...when did these two grow up????

Happy 5th Birthday Miah!

 

This weekend we celebrated Miah's 5th birthday wonderland style. Miah wanted an Alice in Wonderland party, which turned out to be such a fun theme.

 

I found this cute Alice dress on Etsy. We might have to make another trip to Disneyland so she can wear it there...sounds like a good excuse doesn't it?

 

Setting the table was super fun. Everything was labelled either "drink me" or "eat me."

A fun game of croquet...Wonderland style of course....

 

Making Princess crowns

 

Alice in Wonderland themed duckies for the water table....

 

A tea pot pinata filed with candy and sparkly jewelry....

 

Love this girl!  She had waited for this day to come all summer!

 

Three Years!

Last week we celebrated Miah's third Gotcha Day by going out to dinner at Earls and getting ice cream downtown for dessert. She was so excited about her special day and even asked us to sing for her in the restaurant...when we asked what we should sing, she replied "Happy Gotcha Day," apparently to be sung to the tune of Happy Birthday. She pointed to each of us saying "You...Sing!" Of course we couldn't say no...which thrilled her!

 Daddy had flowers for her when he arrived home from work.  She was feeling pretty special!

 Happy third Gotcha Day Miss Miah. We love and cherish you so much!

The Next Stage

Today we had an appointment with the oral surgeon who will be doing Miah's bone grafting.  He said thing are looking great and we booked the first step in this process which is to remove 1 or 2 baby teeth that are erupting in her cleft line.  This is booked for October 12th.  It is an early morning procedure in his office done under a bit of sedation. He said she would not remember a thing.  Poor girl does have to get an IV though.  After that we wait for her mouth to heal up nicely and then he will schedule her grafting for early Spring 2013. He stated that this usually involves a 2-3 night hospital stay, mostly for pain management of the hip where they remove the bone.  How I will miss seeing that cleft of hers. I wish she could just keep her beautiful smile and that none of this would be necessary. 

Dance Recital-Wiggle

This past weekend the girls participated in their year end dance recital. The show was called Wiggle and was based on a children's book "Wenda the Wacky Wiggler."  It was a busy week full of late night blocking and a dress rehearsal.  They were tired but had so much fun!

Mackenzie played one of the characters (the Artist) in the show.  She also danced in 4 dance pieces so she had to master the art of the "quick change."  She did great despite having a high fever all weekend.  it wasn't until Monday when some suspicious spots surfaced....yup-chicken pox!  At least we know what was causing those fevers!

 Both sets of grandparents travelled to town to watch the big show!  the girls were spoiled with three bouquets of flowers and some stuffies after the show!

Happy Mothers Day

This morning at Preschool Miah's class sang a few songs to the moms in honor of Mother's Day. Miah was so excited about this day to show me the songs they have been practicing. After their mini performance we decorated cookies together and Miah gave me a special necklace she has made for me. All the moms wore their necklaces with pride!  I am still in awe that I have been chosen to be this girl's momma. She is a pretty special (and often crazy) little girl.

Cleft Clinic Visit

Yesterday we spent the morning at the cleft clinic. During our four hour appointment we saw many specialists and then had the opportunity to sit down with all off the doctors together in order to coordinate a plan for Miah's upcoming surgeries.  I love the fact that they all get together in one room to talk about the best plan for her.  She had a hearing test while we were there and it appears that she does have some hearing loss in her left ear (the same side as her cleft.)  While not alarming, we were told that she may have difficulty hearing us if there is a lot of background noise.  I guess she wasn't just ignoring us in Disneyland :)

As for the next steps in her cleft repair, they are planing to remove an adult tooth that has decided to erupt into her cleft line.  This will be taken out sometime this fall and then they will proceed with her bone grafting/cleft repair in the Spring of 2013 at the age of five and a half.  This is much earlier than we thought, but they all agree that it is in her best interest.  Then, about 6 months after the bone graft (Fall 2013) the plastic surgeon will touch up her lip and nose again and anything on her palate that needs to be touched up.  Also during this time she will start her orthodontic journey by getting molds made of her teeth and inserting a palate expander.  This includes the use of headgear during the night to pull her upper jaw forward.  He says it will all move pretty quickly into the proper position because she is young, but warned that kids with clefts often have to repeat this as their palates tend to migrate back to where they were.  He also warned that the palate expansion could stretch the bone grafting and cause some problems in that area.  With all the possible complications, they still think it is best to start this earlier than later.  He explained that even up to five years ago, they used to perform the palate expansion first before the bone graft, but the problem was that the cleft becomes to wide and that the bone grafts don't take as easily.  I would love to hear from others that have had their bone grafts done around age five and how they have worked out.

Easter 2012

Day One Resurrection Day Series

Today we started Day One of the Sense of the Resurrection series.  In this series we will be making or doing things that will help us to remember an aspect of the Easter story. Over the next ten days the girls will explore the story of Easter through smell, touch, taste, sight and feel.

Today we focused on the beginning of the story, when Mary anoints Jesus for burial. Mack and Madi each read from both John 12 and Matthew 26.  Jesus is at Simon's house when Mary enters with an alabaster jar full of expensive perfume.  She breaks the bottle and pours it on Jesus's feet.  Judas and the other were angry that she would waste such expensive perfume when there were poor to be fed.  Jesus told them not to bother her and that she did this to prepare him for burial.

The girls made their own perfume jars.  They decorated the jars, poured some perfume into them and added reeds to diffuse the perfume.  John 12:3 says "And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." We talked about remembering Jesus' burial when we smell the frangrance of the perfume in our home....and might I just add....you might not want to come over if you have a perfume allergy...

Visiting A Friend

While we were in California we met up with Miah's friend Tian from China and spent the day at the Santa Monica Pier. The girls has fun playing in the sand, splashing in the waves and exploring the pier.  These two girls are just so cute together.  They pick up as if no time has passed, playing and laughing together.  I love how they hold hands as we walk along.

Miah's First Dance Recital & Unexpected Emotions

On Saturday Miah had her first dance recital. She was so looking forward to this day...but got a little first time jitters just before the show...her friends Mary and Sylvie were not able to make it and she was lacking that special friend to hang with. With a little pep talk and assigning her to one of the Jr helpers (Thanks Neve!) she regained some of that confidence and she did great! She was so proud of herself!

Mommy was so proud of her sweet Chinese ballerina.  I remember years ago while we were waiting for Miah's referral we were at a dance recital for our older girls.  There was one Chinese girl performing that day. I couldn't help dream of the day when I would be watching my our Chinese daughter dance on stage.  As I was watching Miah I was overwhelmed with emotion, trying so hard to not start crying right there amongst the crowd.  All I kept thinking about is the mother in China who will never see her sweet child dance and experience the beauty and love she has to offer.  Again I thank God for the blessing of Miah and the gift I have been given to be called her mother.