Happy Leap Day!

I had to post again today, in honor of February 29. Pretty cool! The math teacher in me just has to ask, do you know how to tell if it's a leap year? Every 4 years, right? Well, almost. The year does need to be divisible by 4...BUT, if the year happens to be divisible by 100, it is only a leap year if it is also divisible by 400 (so the year 2000 was a leap year but the year 2100 won't be). Now you know!

Silliness!

Shouldn't we all walk around wearing goggles and a colander from time to time?

Ready To Go!

As we were getting ready to leave the house, M grabbed the toy doctor kit, attempted to put it over her arm, and toddled over to the front door as if to say "I'm ready to go!" I guess it only makes sense, considering that I always leave with a purse and Daddy and J often leave with backpacks. Too cute!

The "Grandkitties"

There are two other "babies" in my life, but I find that I don't spend nearly the time with them that I used to. Still, they are very sweet and I am crazy about them. The kids love them too, and the cats have grown quite comfortable with the kids. Here are my furry cuties!

The Incredible Hulk Comes to Visit

No need for words here...






And here's one of my little Rorschach's fingerpaint masterpieces:

Have You Ever Seen This?

I'm embarassed to say that my sweet potatos have sprouted, but I'm fascinated that they sprout in purple! I love sweet potatos and I had every intention of using the box we bought, but both kids gagged when they tried them. I even sweetened them up and everything. It's so odd. The kids almost never gag on anything, but this did it to both of them. I'm thinking it was a texture issue, but I don't know. I think I'm going to try making sweet potato pie and see how that goes over. Sorry to those of you who want to see pictures of my smiling sweet kids instead of my sprouting sweet potatos...more of those tomorrow!

My Two Princesses

Crowns by Daddy!


(Notice Melody's drooly shirt? I can't figure out how to help her keep her mouth closed, or at least to suck in the drool that is constantly pouring from her lips! We were at Julie's speech therapy yesterday and there is one of those plastic kid slides in their gym area. It was hilarious to see Melody's drool stream get pulled away from her face by the static from the slide! We've all seen it happen to hair, but drool? I wish I could have gotten a picture!)

Whatcha Lookin' At?

Larry took this picture through the baby gate.

I'm happy to report that we're all finally feeling better! Today is the first day my sinuses have felt okay in more than a week. Melody still has a cough and goopy nose, but she is in much better spirits today than even yesterday. We are so happy!

Beautiful Julie

Julie is in the midst of a language spurt right now and it's so much fun. At lunch, Melody knocked her plate onto the floor, to which Julie responded, "Meddy, don't do dat!" I've never heard her say that phrase before! Last week, Julie and I attended Family Fun Night at her school. There were games to play and prizes to pick. Needless to say, Julie loved it. In the car the other day she said to me "play Mommy at party at school" and then "more party" and "again party." I got the message! It's truly amazing to hear her putting more thoughts together and expressing herself. Here are some pictures of my beautiful girl.


She loooooves to paint. We should buy stock in Crayola!

Yes, that's a french fry in Melody's mouth. I chose this photo becuase I love Julie's beaming expression in the background.

Once again, Julie is wearing Melody's clothes. I got out the 18 month box the other day to see if any of it would fit Melody. Julie saw these pants and had to put them on. The funny thing is that they don't look half bad! This illustrates our challenge in finding clothes to fit Julie. They have to be as skinny as 12 or 18 months but as long as 3T or even 4T. Most things that are long enough could fit two of Julie in them width-wise! Anybody know any good skinny brands? This is not a problem I've ever dealt with in my lifetime, ha!

(Sorry if there are any misspellings in recent posts. The spell check button in Blogger doesn't seem to be working. I know, I could paste into Word and check there, but I could also just post and live with mistakes. I hope you don't mind!)

More Togetherness

They're just too sweet for words! In health news, Larry finally seems to be better. What a relief! Melody's cough has improved too, this time with no trips to the ER for breathing treatments. As for me, I feel like a truck drove up my nose and parked in my sinuses. Either my head is going to explode or my eyes are going to pop out, I'm not sure which. It's a pretty terrible feeling. Maybe a good night's sleep will help, maybe?

Job Interview Update

I'm sorry that I haven't followed up about the interview until now. We've had a rough week. Larry has been home sick since Tuesday. First he was diagnosed with bronchitis. After suffering for a few more days, he went back to the doctor and they did a test that showed he has influenza too. Everyone talks about "having the flu," but I've never seen anything like this. This is the sickest Larry has been in the nearly 5 years we've been married. He's slowly coming around, but he's still not really well. Melody seems to have croup again, but not as bad as last time. I have a cold of some sort, as does Julie. I am really looking forward to spring and the ability to get outside again. We're going crazy in the house! Anyway, about the inteview. Larry thinks it went fairly well, even though he was not feeling great at the time. It was pretty short and sweet. The commmitte told him they are on a "flexible schedule" in terms of filling the position, so it could be weeks or months(?) before we hear anything. However, we learned that they contacted one of Larry's references on Friday, which we took as good news. At least they hadn't ruled him out as of Friday. Thanks for your prayers and I'll let you know when we know more.

Sweet Girls

One of the biggest joys of parenthood thus far has been watching our girls grow close. When Melody wakes up, the first thing she does is sign "Julie." When Julie wants to watch a video, she pats the floor next to her and says "Meddy sit right there." Everything that Julie does, Melody insists on doing too (including sitting on the potty!). Yesterday morning, the two of them were in bed with me right after we woke up. Melody was on her back and Julie crawled up and put her head on Melody's tummy. Melody reached down, wraped her arm around Julie's head and began patting her so sweetly. I hope I'll remember these moments forever, because there's really nothing else like them. I think they're all the more special because I'm seeing them through the eyes of an only child. This is the first time I'm observing sisterhood up close. I pray that these two girls grow up to love each other as much as they do now.

Xin Nian Kuai Le! Gung Hay Fat Choy!

In English, Happy Chinese New Year! Today, as we welcome the Year of the Rat, I can't help but think of those suffering from the effects of terrible winter storms in southern China. Although the worst of the storms seems to have passed, the need for help is still great. The affected regions do not usually see snow, much less great quantities of it. Many places are without heat, power, warm clothes, medical care, food and other supplies. Orphanages across the region have faced particular challenges trying to take care of all the children, especially those who are sick. Melody's orphanage is among those in need. I feel like they are part of our extended family...they took care of my little girl for 9 months. A mere 7 months ago it was the place she knew as home. Here is an excerpt from the website for Half the Sky, one of the major organizations providing help to the orphanges:

Although it’s still extremely cold, the weather appears to be easing, at least for now. We hope the end is in sight. It will likely take us several days to fully assess the needs of all orphanages in trouble - during the holiday it is extremely difficult to make contact. When we know the full cost of emergency relief, we will immediately let you know. If there are funds left over when the weather clears and services are restored, we will use the balance to help welfare institutions establish a store of emergency provisions so that this never happens again.

If you feel led to make a donation, please consider Half the Sky's Little Mouse Emergency Fund. Either way, please remember the people of China in your prayers right now. God is a big God and He cares about each and every life affected by the storms. Thank you and Happy New Year!

Prayer Request

Please pray for a job interview that Larry has tomorrow. He is very interested in the job and it would be a promotion for him. However, there are a lot of complex issues involved, such as moving to a fairly remote area where medical care and other services (especiall for Julie) are not as easy to come by as they are here. Only God knows what is best at this point, and we'd greatly appreciate any and all prayers. Thank you!

Forgive Me

I do hope Melody will someday forgive me for posting this. It's just too funny to keep to myself! She just finished eating a chocolate chip cookie when she sneezed...



It's also been a little while since I gave an update on how Melody is doing. All I can say is that she is one amazing little girl. She constantly surprises me. Tonight, for example, I told her "no" when she bent a card from a game. She looked up at me, got up, walked toward the door and sat down on the carpet where we put Julie for time-out. Melody put herself in time-out! She sat there looking at us, waiting for us to come get her. When we did, she signed "sorry," just like we make Julie. I couldn't believe it! Melody just turned 16 months old. Is this typical? Her understanding of life and language astounds me. She follows basic directions without any problem. I can ask her to go get something in another room and she does it (wow!). She can follow a pointing finger to an object. The other day she picked up her wet diaper, toddled into the hall and dumped it in the trash! I had no idea she knew where old diapers went, and I never asked her to help. She just did! Whenever I say "it's time to clean up," Melody happily starts putting things away. When Julie wants to string little beads on shoelaces, Melody has to do it too. She sometimes needs a little help getting the bead on the lace, but she can do the rest (picking up the pieces, lining them up, pulling the bead down the string). She knows 40 signs in sign language and 25 spoken words (not all intelligible to anyone but me). She loves to laugh, especially at silly noises, and she loves to cuddle. Socially, she is my reserved child, sticking near my side whenever we go someplace new or where there are lots of people. I could really go on and on. Needless to say, we are having a blast living life with this little girl. She gets more precious to me every single day. I can't believe that 7 months ago we hadn't even met. For those of you still waiting for your referrals, hang in there. It's so worth it.

We're Too Cool

What is it about girls, glasses and cell phones??? (And how old is Melody in this picture? One going on thirteen? Ack!)