the final round (julianna's children's day)

Final Children's Day performance of the year. 

The older classes really do some neat stuff.

 

Guan Si Ting (middle) is Julianna's best bud at school.

Matt is the superstar parent who did the most performance-watching this year.  (thank goodness it was a week when his schedule had some flexibility - he gave his final physics exam today!  woohoo, the semester is almost over!)

And Children's Day?  Well, both of us are willing to wait another 360 days before we go to another performance :)

Lydia's turn (on stage)

One very excited little girl headed off to school this morning - it was her turn in the spotlight :)

Matt was the parent to attend this afternoon and he said she was a superstar, dancing away with the rest of her class!

Love seeing her smiles and excitement, and watching her come bursting in the door ready to tell the rest of the family all about it (only one person per family can attend - really limited space and seating). 

Two down, one more to go! 

Children's Day times three

Children's Day (June 1st) is a big deal here.  Our kids have school performances - that's three different performances on three different afternoons.  Now you know what I'll be doing this week :)  We'll all be ready for a vacation by the time Children's Day rolls around on Friday! 


Today was Isaac's big day and he had a good time making silly faces for the camera.  And seemed to enjoy himself plenty. 

The teachers asked that he wear white shirt and blue pants.  I had nothing to do with the other "costume decorations" they added :) 

This is the entire first year class (preschool lasts three years).  They are divided into two different classrooms with two different sets of teachers.  But it's still a LOT of children, maybe about 60-70 total?   (See my blond boy in the back row?)

Yay for you Isaac!  We're pretty proud of the way you've charged right into the classroom after a few  years of watching your big sisters from the sidelines. 

the well stimulated child :)

I remember shortly after Lydia was born.... I watched the two girls interacting and marveled at how much energy and entertainment and excitement (and occasional pain) Julianna brought into Lydia's life.

Julianna's infancy looked just plain boring in comparison with Lydia's.  Sure, it wasn't all cake-walking for my second born.  Along with all the entertainment and energy Julianna brought a nice mix of early toddler risk and confusion to baby Lydia's life.  But in the end, I decided the second - born spot was pretty enviable. 

Then Isaac arrived.  And his infancy made Lydia's early months look like a white walled room with no visual or auditory stimuli.  He adored Julianna.  He regarded Lydia with equal parts fear and fun.  And he was captivated by them both.  Life as the third born?   Pretty great.   

Well, you can probably see where this is going :)

Cue Luke's entrance into the family.  This fourth born baby is one well stimulated little man :) 

Sure, there are moments that the big kids totally ignore him.  Like today when Lydia glanced at his empty blue playmat and said "Mom, where did he go?"

Luke had been in his bed sleeping for at least a half hour.  Thanks for noticing he was gone Lyds. 

Luke often gets stuck in middle of a "how many needs can Mommy simultaneously meet" contest.  And there was that time that Isaac tripped and fell onto me and Luke, clonking him on the head with a plastic police car. 

But Luke is also the recipient of some pretty sweet, full-on, focused big sibling attention. 

And if I was choosing my spot in the birth order of a family?  Well, fourth born isn't looking too bad.  Nope, not bad at all :) 

May 24th

is my birthday :)

We celebrated Friday.  Honestly, it was a really long tough day book-ended with a fun present-opening and skype (with my parents, brother, sister in law and  new nephew) in the morning and Happy Birthday song singing that evening. 

The gifts, primarily handmade loot :)  love this about our kids, our family. 

Here we are getting ready to dig in to the key lime pie that Matt and the kids made for me.  The big pillar candles were already on the table (power outage during dinner on Wednesday night and I hadn't put them away yet).... perfect! 

While Matt rigged up the camera and timer I would lift Luke and put him face first towards the pie like he was going to take a huge bite.  It was hilarious and we were all busy laughing.  Well, Luke didn't technically laugh, but he was enjoying himself :) 

Because it's embarrassing how few photos we have of just Matt and me.  Years from now I want to remember what I looked like :) 

That's me on my 35th birthday.  I don't feel that old.  But then again, some days I do. 

on two wheels

I'm learning, more and more, to just look straight at my children and celebrate THEM.  All too often I am tempted to compare (and let's be honest, compare not just my children, but myself, my home as well).  And then, based on these comparisons, I assess value.

My home is smaller (not good), cleaner (good).  I work harder (good), I get less sleep (not good).  I have more _____ (good), I have less _____ (not good).  My kids do this (good), my kids do that (not good). 

It's so ridiculous and so sin-filled.  Such a faulty, self-driven way of assessing value.  What I really want to do is assess value like Jesus does.  I want to look at the heart - mine, my children's.  I want to know, as my wise father-in-law would say "where does the energy for that come from?"  What drives my heart to see the world through these "comparison" eyes? 

The moments when I am really able to celebrate and enjoy my children's accomplishments, just pure celebration and joy - you know, I'm sad to confess that they are fewer than you might think. 

But this new bike rider girl - this was (gladly) one of those moments!  She's a lot like me, my Julianna.  She hesitates to take big risks, she likes graduated risks :)  She so badly wanted to ride on two wheels, but it was too risky for her.  So she asked her Daddy to move her training wheels up one notch.  And then another notch.  And then another.  Until her training wheels were perched in the air, high on the sides of her rear wheel.  Then she perfected starting and stopping without relying on her training wheels. 

And then she was ready.  Off came the training wheels and off she went, Matt at her side (you know, graduated riskiness - just in case all her previous prep work had been inadequate.)

She surprised only herself when she biked the length of our central courtyard, on her own, on her first try. 

In the next half hour she worked on turning, and bumpy ground, and a few other anomalies. 

And now she rides on two wheels :)

And I am thrilled for her.  Not because she did it earlier, or later, or better, or faster, or easier.  But just because she did it! 

welcome to the weekend

Matt works late on Saturday nights so our 'weekend' starts on Sunday morning.... everyone still in pjs, piled on the couch with Daddy.

I love a good weekend :)

Oh, and another big morale booster?  I tried a paci with a fussy tired Luke yesterday and he took it!  Woohoo!!  And, he took a bottle!  So glad that now I'll be able to enjoy a few missed feedings :)

I was so excited about the paci I took a picture (self-portrait, so not the best, but this was worth documenting - I still think he will eventually be a thumb sucker, but he's working on perfecting his technique and I'm happy to have the paci in the meantime.)

He's still not a stellar night sleeper so I'm off to an early bed, tomorrow is another weekend day! yay!

holding Luke

I spend a lot of time holding Luke.  He's two months old, he needs a lot of holding.  And he needs a lot of feeding. 

All of it adds up to a lot of Luke snuggles.  So I'm glad to let others share the Luke-love. 

Isaac has about a three minute attention span when it comes to holding Luke.  I stick close by, because it usually goes down just like this.

Me: Ok buddy, here you go, here's Luke.

And he's done. 

That's why I stick close. 

when it rains....

it pours.

As if Grandma leaving wasn't enough!  It seems that we are quickly unraveling at the seams around here.  Yesterday we dealt with mold problems in Luke's little closet-bedroom, the power was out all day and my house helper broke her foot and can't work for a month. 

In other words, we've got some pretty challenging days ahead of us :)

We were a teary group at the airport this morning saying goodbye, and as I walked off with the kids I had a very distinct "here goes real life" feeling.  But the five of us made it to the car, and then endured a scream-filled ride home (sweet Luke royally hates his car seat), and the late part of the morning was smooth smooth smooth. 

I'm off to work on gathering some supper.  This whole "eating" thing is a good deal trickier with no marketing-trips from my house helper!  If it was just me I'd survive on crackers and peanut butter and lots of fruit.  But there are five other folks who depend on me to meet their nutritional needs to I better get cracking! 

Here are some GREAT photos of Grandma with each of the children!

We miss you so much already Grandma!

I'd choose this

These four made me a mother. 

This motherhood thing, it's without doubt the hardest job I have ever done. 

Wears me out, body and soul. 

Here where we live families with multiple children are incredibly uncommon.  The hateful one-child policy skews and distorts an entire populace and their subsequent understanding of parenthood, of motherhood, of family.  Over and over again I am questioned about our choice to have more than one child.  Over and over again I am assured that my choice was a poor one, that my children will take too much of my time, my energy, my money. 

Ultimately, what my children take from me is my selfish desire to live for myself.  What do they give?  Oh, immeasurable riches.  Unspeakable joy. 

They give trial and pain and heartache and sleepless nights and frustrating days.  They wear me out, body and soul.

But if I had to choose one thing worth spending my life on, spending myself on......  I'd chose this. 

starting the harvest

We got our garden planted the week before Luke was born.  And now both - Luke and our garden - are approaching the two month mark. 

And both are growing like crazy. 

That big green patch in the foreground is cilantro.  We staked our cherry tomatoes last weekend.  And our little cabbage is just about ready for eating! 

The children continue to enjoy the whole concept, especially the dirt-digging and the watering and the produce-picking.  Tonight I once again called from the kitchen, "can you bring me some 香菜?" and all three quickly responded with handfuls of cilantro. 

Today's cilantro went straight into the coleslaw I was mixing up.  I should have added some to the black bean salad we had with supper.  And we'll put a bit of garnish on the hummus I plan to make tomorrow.  It's definitely summer cooking season. 

With temps in the low 90s we have lots of excuses to pick (our little patch of) produce and eat lots of cold meals!

timelines

We are still waiting to get official approval (LOA) from the Chinese government to adopt John Paul.  This is the wait with the most difficult-to-predict time frame.  Two to four months is what we first heard.  And now we are closing in on the three month mark with no end in sight. 

For the first months I was patient.  Or maybe I was distracted.... you know, labor, delivery, newborn Luke... that was pretty distracting :)  But now I am officially TIRED OF WAITING. 

The other day I was talking about it with Matt and said, "from my perspective the perfect timeline would be to get LOA by xxx and then pick him up by xxx" and I stopped myself and grinned.  Not a happy grin.  More like a "face reality Laura" kind of grin. 

You know, my first 'perfect timeline' had us adopting domestically in the fall of 2010.

Clearly, we are a bit off from my timeline.

And just as clearly, MY timeline is not really the issue here at all. 

I can make up timelines all I want.  But the reality is that God (who created time) is writing this story, and His timeline is the only one that matters.

And, ultimately, His is the only timeline I desire.  Because with my limited wisdom and love the timeline I created is just that.... Limited.  Imperfect.  Flawed. 

But God is perfectly wise, perfectly loving, perfectly sovereign.  And though it is a battle, I want to choose to trust His timeline.  But man oh man am I ready to get that little boy and bring him HOME!!!!

While we wait we're getting a little package ready to send to John Paul.  And in that package we're sending a "meet your family" photo book.  I need to snap a picture of Matt and me, and maybe redo Luke's (?), and would love to add a pic of the six of us holding a photo of him and the other package goodies.  [I got that idea from a friend and thought it was so clever.]

It's kinda fun to think through things he might enjoy.  But it's more fun to imagine him enjoying them here, with us. 

John Paul,

Your Big Sister loves you.
Your Second Sister loves you.
Your Big Brother loves you.
Your Little Brother loves you.
Your Mommy and Daddy love you.

We can't wait to bring you home!

sleeping (?) at Grandma's

Grandma is hosting the three big kids at the extra apartment for a sleepover.

Last time they tried this there wasn't a lot of sleep :)  And it was pretty much Lydia and Isaac's fault. 

So Friday night Julianna and Grandma had their own personal sleepover.  Lots of sleep for Julianna.  And Grandma.

Here at home Lydia and Isaac got their needed snoozes as well.

(no idea why she is in her winter pjs... )

And tonight Grandma and the children are trying again ;)  Round two.  Hoping for a little more rest! 

That leaves Matt and me and Luke here at home.  I, too, am hoping for a record breaking night of sleep - we'll see :) 

days like this

I've heard that some days are like this.  Even in Australia.  (if this makes sense to you then you - like me - read a lot of children's literature.)

My last two days have been tough.  Maybe I'm tired of being tired.  Maybe I'm tired of feeding a newborn.  Maybe I'm tired of not having "as much" of myself to give to my other kids.  Maybe I'm tired of my children whacking their siblings with sticks (on the head, nonetheless). 

Did you know that I like to be alone? (which is one reason I'm going to be a superstar mother of five young kids - ha!)

These first weeks; they are precious.  I love his soft head and his chubbing-up legs and his tremendously loud burps.  (Seriously, you've never heard a little guy produce this kind of noise.  I have a very clear vision of brother-burp-contests in our near future and sweet Isaac and John Paul have no idea what they'll be up against!)

But there's no denying that Luke has rocked our little family boat.  And while the waves are definitely subsiding, they still leave me a bit seasick and wobbly-kneed.

There will be days like this.  Many many days like this.

And I would not trade this privilege, this motherhood journey.  Even on these days. 

he keeps getting cuter

Our little Luke just keeps getting cuter.  Of course, I'm getting more sleep too, so maybe my eyes are focusing better - ha!

He's been giving out smiles for about a week and gradually becoming more generous with his grins.

But I haven't captured one on camera yet. 

He's a champion eater.  Hates his bath.  Loves to be kissed on the top of his head. 

Luke is a big boy.  His toes are already pushing at the toes of some of his sleepers.  I'm anxious to see his personality develop and know more of who he is, but I also want him to stay little forever :)  Guess I'll just take it a day at a time! 

polar ocean world

One fun thing about having a visitor... an 'excuse' to do tourist-y things in your own hometown.  Matt was off today (thanks to a national holiday earlier this week) and we all loaded up and headed to Polar Ocean World. 

And it was SOOOO cool.  The perfect size (scale) for our kids - not too huge but full of great exhibits. 

see Luke's little head - his first look at a seal ;)

Isaac captivated

all six of us watching polar bears

running alongside the walrus

the dolphin show - impressive!

sitting to rest at the sea turtles

watching the seals with Grandma

Definitely a 'worth the trip' kind of destination!  So glad to have Grandma here and do these trips together.