You're the inspiration for our CeLeBrAtIoN!!!

Maliana ~

The Family Day party finally arrived this weekend and it was one for the books for sure! We decided to have it in Hocking Hills at a huge cabin that turned out to be more spectacular than we could have ever imagined. Lots and lots of the family could make it (in spite of the crazy winding drive), and the fun included tons of great food, a squirt gun surprise (thanks to Wai Gong who called us all out on the porch for a "special announcement" and then proceeded to blast everyone with a super soaker, regardless if you were age 3 or age 86) and then water fight (Grandpa Rick blasted Wai Gong with the hose to get him back from all of us), time in the hot tub, looking for fossils with Lao Lao, and lots and lots of fun with your cousins and the rest of your family. It was fabulous! There is so much to say that I barely know where to begin, so I'll let the pictures tell the story...

the cabin

even Abby got to come!

cousins

Memaw greeting Ggma with a kiss

Wai Gong made some super cool Browns corn hole boards

the locket from Lao Lao

the group picture of our family day last year on one side, and a picture of the three of us on the day we officially adopted you in Franklin County on the other side

showing off your locket to Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Ross...you are so proud of it!

you and I with Ggma and Aunt Nancy

hanging out with Ggma

Wai Gong teaching all of you about the fine art of water gun attacks

and the students turned on their teacher

a little badminton racket/guitar jam session

holding a yellow moth that cousin Alex found

Ggma, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Johnny, and Wai Gong

hot tubbin'!!

amazing little girl

relaxing with Wai Gong

what kind of look is that Wai Gong? ha ha!

Papaw Rick and Lao Lao

if I'm not mistaken, this was the shot that got Wai Gong right in the face ~ serves him right for pouring beer down my back!

Family Day 2011

the bat that hung out with us above the hot tub that night

nosey kisses!

awww...the three stooges

Lao Lao and Uncle Forge stayed overnight with us on Saturday, and it was fun to hang out and relax after such a crazy day. The next morning, you woke up in an awesome mood, upon opening your eyes to see the sun streaming through the windows, you rolled over to say, "The sunshine's here! Good morning!" You rode home with Lao Lao after asking her to take you on a "date", to which she immediately agreed. I couldn't help but be completely tickled by that, just how cool it is that you can spontaneously ask your grandma to go home with her and Boom! you're spending a fabulous fun filled afternoon with her and Uncle Forge.

this is the look you had when I told you it would be fine to go on a date with Lao Lao

cuddling

back to looking for fossils again the next morning

found one!

loading up the car

oh my! your finger nails match your tongue!

Uncle Forge, Daddy, Abby, Lao Lao, you and I before heading out

final family shot before hitting the road

As for your date; you, Lao Lao, and Uncle Forge went back to her house to see some of their animals, went to Easton where you gave Lao Lao a dance lesson in the middle of the mall, took more photo booth pictures, and then helped Uncle Forge do some shopping and just generally had a great time with them. Lao Lao was laughing when she dropped you off, retelling us of your antics while on your special date.

cow!

Forge, feeding you to a horse

I think Max the cat was interested in the daisy that you had picked for me

obligatory photo booth picture

This weekend was filled with grandparent time, since not only did you get to spend time with Memaw and Papaw at the party, but you also had a sleepover at Wai Gong and Memaw Lisa's on Friday night before the party, with them bringing you down to Hocking Hills on Saturday. You had a great time playing with them, getting your nails painted blue by Memaw Lisa, and then evidently having an amazing conversation with Wai Gong that night. He told us that he spent the best hour ever with you, sitting up after everyone else had gone to sleep. You talked with him about all sorts of things. He didn't tell us exactly what it was that you and he had conversed so deeply about that night, however in the middle of telling us about it, Wai Gong got choked up, trying to hold back his emotions. I could tell that spending this one on one time with you really touched him. I'm telling you kid, you're one in a million.

Aside from the fabulous weekend...we had some other big fun this week too. Towards the end of the week, you and I took it easy and actually curled up to watch E.T. together. It's such a great movie, even after almost 30 years and you were glued to the screen with me from beginning to end. You had another great week at school too. You are such a likable kid and one day you had a very hard time leaving all of your buddies to come home with "boring mom". They ever so sweetly ran over, arms outstretched in front of them, to give you great big hugs before you headed out the door. So neat to see.

We also got our family portraits back, the ones that we will get every year in July to celebrate Family Day. This year they turned out great! You cooperated amazingly well. And very politely said, "Thank you Mommy!" when I showed you the finished product. Very sweet. Below are just a few of the shots...

Upon packing for the weekend, you also came across the medal that you won for the Dash for Donation recently, and shared it with Abby.

the band-aids on your leg are your "cast" that you put on, just like Memaw's

And I forgot how much fun going to Lowes is...we headed there to create a "speech phone" out of PVC thread and elbows. Very easy tool to make to help accentuate our speech practice. You were hysterical, going through the plumbing aisle with all of these burly plumbers and contractors...trying to find just the right piece of piping. My little handy girl! I love that you love this kind of stuff.

I do have to mention as well that I love your comments lately, about anything really, but telling me (or whoever else), "I like your...(fill in the blank)." You come up with anything that you notice (hair, shoes, etc), commenting on it to that person, and it's the sweetest little compliment out of the clear blue. I love that you're turning into a considerate and thoughtful kid.

So, while our week has ended on a high note…the beginning was a bit surreal. On Monday, I had been at Children’s Hospital for a planning meeting for a parent support group for kids born just like you, with cleft lip and/or palate. On my way in to the meeting, I happened to literally cross paths with some old friends who unfortunately were heading from the trauma department up to PICU with their little boy, just slightly younger than you, due to an accident in which he injured his spleen. As soon as my meeting was done, I rushed around and found their room. I ended up sitting with them until about 8pm that night. Sitting and talking with his mom, and looking at his tiny body in the bed, sent chills down my spine…his little body looked so much like yours. Every parents’ worst nightmare.

Interestingly enough, we had your annual craniofascial team evaluation appointment the next morning, so were back down at Children’s at 8am. This appointment went great (for the most part). The team is very happy with your progress and are deciding to give you 6 more months of speech therapy before doing any kind of scope on you (to check the leak they suspect is in your palate). The only really hard part was the ENT portion, where they had to clean the wax out of your ears and remove the one ear tube that was still hanging in there. Oh my goodness. This was rough for you. You kicked, screamed, cried, and writhed around so much, it completely wiped you out for the speech portion of the evaluation, where you ended up falling asleep in my arms as the therapist and I chatted. Poor kiddo.

Upon waking from your little nap, we headed downstairs to eat lunch in the cafeteria and then called up to check on our friends’ kid, Sam. He was doing ok, but definitely not out of the woods yet at that point. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go up to see him since kids aren’t allowed in the PICU. You were very upset about this, because the whole morning, you kept asking “Where’s Sammy? Is Sammy sick? Does Sammy have a boo boo? I want to see him.” You were so concerned about him. (As of the last update though, he is doing better and was to have gotten out of the hospital now…thank goodness). We did get to talk to Sam’s dad, who was coming downstairs to run to the cafeteria for some lunch while we were there. He looked so tired, reminding me of when we were there with you for your pneumonia. As much as I love the care and people at Children’s Hospital, I hope to never be there again under any kind of emergency circumstances.

As we made our way back to the parking garage, you put on your usual show of singing, hopping, and dancing down the hallway, making all kinds of people smile to themselves or even laugh out loud at your cuteness. And on the way home, I loved looking into the rear view mirror to see your silly faces and dramatic lip-syncing.

Given that the morning was pretty traumatic for you, I took the opportunity to take you to the newly remodeled Highlands Pool that afternoon since I had taken the whole day off. You were so excited, shouting “Let’s rock and roll!” after getting all geared up to go. And what gear it was ~ you insisted on wearing your cowboy boots with your bathing suit…marching into that pool like you owned the place. I love that I have “that kid”. Your quirkiness is awesome! We had a blast at the pool too. There was so much laughing, crazy smiles, silly dancing, and random big kisses for me all afternoon. I loved this time with you!


boots, yes boots, to the pool



still wearing the boots...getting many chuckles as we paid our admission

testing out the squirt gun on yourself

popsicles!

That night, Daddy came home and you were so sweet. We decided to go over to Safety Town to let you ride your bike around (this place is so cool!), and as we climbed into the car and you tried to convince Daddy to sit in the backseat with you, pleading, “I missed you all the day!” Now, how can you resist that? (He couldn’t, and ended up squeezing in next to you for the whole ride).

Safety Town is so fun!

uh oh, going the wrong way already...must have gotten that from Lao Lao

stopping to get some cash from the ATM

must have gotten too many tickets...someone needs bail!

After Safety Town, we stopped at Burger King for a late dinner with Daddy, where you insisted on keeping your bike helmet on the whole time. It was absolutely hysterical! You kept doing these silly little dances, while wearing the helmet…and had us nearly crying from laughing so hard.

On the way home from our crazy family weekend, I was talking to Daddy in the car and I actually started crying. I was overwhelmed with feeling thankful for times like this weekend. I was thinking about how fortunate we are to be able to come together and celebrate simply being a part of each others' lives. I thought of my own childhood. I thought of what I had dreamed of for your childhood, even before you were here. I had hoped it would be like this, with you growing up surrounded by so many people who love you. But never in a million years did I think it would come as close as it has. I never dreamed that you would be who you are...surpassing any hopes and expectations I had ever entertained in my wildest fantasies. So often, I have gone through life with expectations or hopes that are never completely fulfilled, been knocked on my butt by the detours or curve balls thrown my way. But with you, you are the first thing in my life (aside from Daddy of course) that is coming together just as I had hoped. I'm not saying that I haven't been surprised, that we haven't had our share of struggles, or that life is unfolding exactly as I had planned or imagined...it's actually unfolding even BETTER. One morning I woke up to my alarm and the song "Remember When" was playing (by Alan Jackson, I think?)...and I just stopped, listening to the lyrics. I was so moved, I rolled over and paused to kiss your big squishy cheeks and breathe in your sweet sleepy scent, and had the realization that these days, these moments, with you are probably the best of my life. I feel so blessed to be able to provide these memories and experiences for you (and for all of us), whether a huge family day party or a simple afternoon outing to the pool...I enjoy every second I can spend with you. While I know these moments won't literally last forever, I am determined to hang onto as many pieces of them as possible. I want to etch them into my brain, write them on my soul, and save them in my heart to hold tightly to my chest, forever. Hopefully, someday you will read these blog entries, and look back on these days as fondly as I do. At the very least, I simply hope you will know how much you are, and always have been, loved.

Love,
Mama