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

You're Back Baby!

Maliana ~

Hi sweetie. This week, I am happy to report, you have returned to your normal self. However, the week started out very difficult, which completely broke my heart. The first few days at school this week (and also your speech therapy session) were so hard for you, having behavior problems that were polar opposite from the Mali that we all know. Putting two and two together, it wasn’t hard to figure out that it was related to the extra stress at home with way too many people in one space, and the inevitable personality collisions and ensuing tension. I actually began crying one day when I picked you up at school, walking in to see you sitting with Ms Brandi in time out, and then having her tell me how difficult you had been all day (and the day before). Seeing that, along with what happened later that night at a cookout at our cousin Rebecca’s, had been the final straw. It was obvious you were simply feeling out of sorts and while playing with your Aunt Lindsey at the cookout, she told us you had wanted to stay in the playroom (instead of going where the rest of the family was). You told her, “too many people in there”…then on the way home, you told us you didn’t want to go home. That crushed me. All of the past weeks’ events, and then the obvious toll it was taking on you, culminated in our decision to let our house guests know that something needed to change. There was no way I could let you continue to suffer like that. Originally, I was going to take you and stay somewhere else until they could move out. However, when the mother heard this, she graciously said that she completely understood where I was coming from as a fellow mother herself, and that you and I needed to stay. There was no way she could let us leave since this was our house, and that they would just have to find another place as soon as possible. I was very grateful that she was so understanding. Ironically, they found a new place within less than 24 hours. Almost immediately after our house guests left, you returned to your normal self. You began talking, laughing, giggling, playing, being silly, and getting completely back to your usual Mali self. I talked to Ms Phyllis briefly who describes the usual Mali as being a positive leader (not falling for the bad examples set by some of the other kids at school) and Ms Brandi had shining reports for you the rest of the week. It was amazing to see the transformation, a huge relief, and a wonderful confirmation that we had made the right decision for our family.

So, now that that episode is behind us, we have all learned a lot about how to give to others when in need, but also the need for healthy boundaries in doing so. I hope that next time; we’ll do better a little earlier to avoid any more hardships. It’s all about learning and growing, and we all did some of that.

So onto more good stuff. We attended Daddy’s annual appointment with his endocrinologist this week, and afterwards we all got to go out to dinner with Memaw and Papaw. You kept us all in stitches, particularly with your photography session after dinner, asking us to pose together while holding rocks you found in the restaurant landscaping. Seeing you, this 34” tall 3 year old directing us around was hysterical…and remarkably, you took a really good picture.

amazingly centered and not blurry (which you made sure of, retaking it once for us...you are very picky, exclaiming "it's blurry!" and instantly retaking it)

Another day after school I took you out to Friendly’s and you were so talkative and animated, telling me all sorts of made up stories the whole time. It was very cute.

It has been exceptionally hot this week (high 90’s!), so one afternoon you and I headed over to the fountains at Easton after school, with me getting more wet than you as I tried to coax you into them. Another afternoon, we attempted to stay cool at the movies, taking you to see Cars 2. After buying our tickets, you insisted on carrying my purse and our tickets across Easton and handing them to the “ticket tearer”, then hopping on the escalator all by yourself…my little Miss Big Shot.

When we left, you wanted to call Daddy and when he didn’t answer his phone, you said, “That sucks he no answer his phone!” What? Looks like Daddy and I need to rephrase our disappointment at home. We can’t have you walking around saying, “that sucks!” all the time. Even though it did make me chuckle at first.

Later in the week, you and I picked up some toy bins that we had bought on Craig’s List and used them to reorganize your art supplies at home. Your art supplies corner looks ten times better now, and you had a ball creating various crafts as I organized everything.

busy at work

presenting Daddy with the finished product(s)

We went over to Mark and Jenny’s for dinner one night, and we had such a nice time. We had missed them and it was so relaxing and nice to hang out with them again. Later in the week, you went over to their house on your own to play, and had a blast. Nothing beats great neighbors.

Lali, you, and Romey

Daddy said your mornings the rest of the week have been fabulous too, which was awesome news to hear each day.

I had been wondering when you would start asking about Audrey, and the same day I wondered this, you asked to call her that night. When I explained that she was in Germany (and likely asleep at that time), we decided to Facebook her instead. You were very excited to type her a message yourself, and wanted me to tell her all about the tattoo (stamp) I had placed on your hand that read “MALI” and also some random message about Egypt (huh?) Anyway, the ear-to-ear grin below shows how excited you were to “talk” to Audrey again…hopefully we can Skype with her soon. Two months is going to be longer than I thought.

how many 3 year olds Facebook?

On Saturday, we went to Uncle “Happy” Joe and Aunt Tina’s wedding. It was outside in a beautiful park and was a wonderful celebration. Being the awesome quirky people they are, they decided to have us all wear mustaches at the ceremony…very hysterical touch, and I’m almost positive the only wedding that you will ever attend wearing a mustache (just a hunch).

notice how hot and sweaty you look too!

With the 90+ degree heat wave and crazy humidity lately, we were all almost melting at the ceremony and so quickly headed back to their air-conditioned house for the reception. You had an absolute ball playing with all the kids. I love being able to go to something like this and you just head off, doing your “important kid business” all on your own. I snuck in a few times to check on you, at one point watching (and filming) you do a Wii dancing game to the song “Firework” by Katy Perry, with Erin helping you along. Then other times I came in to see you playing Guitar Hero with Sam. The kids were all very nice and I love to see you taken in by their little club. You are growing up little one, growing up.

The grown-ups sat around at various places and chatted throughout the night. Just before leaving, we came upstairs from the patio and found that you had evidently been up there with a group of adults (and of course, the candy bowl), trying to con them into giving you some candy. As we gathered you up to go home, the other adults shared how big they noticed you have gotten since last time they saw you, and also how chatty you were and how expressive you had been all night. You definitely are expressive, using your hands to gesture as you speak, driving a point home when needed. I joked later that perhaps you are Chinese-Italian? You just never know. Ha.

On Sunday, we went over to Fred and Michelle’s for a cookout and you got to spend time with your buddy Mia, and check out her new little brother Baby Freddy too. You were so curious about Freddy, climbing up and investigating him. You weren’t so sure about holding him yet, but were very intrigued by him nonetheless.

you were very interested in Freddy; kept touching him, trying to tickle him, and talking silly to him...it was very sweet and more then I expected

it was ok when I was sitting down holding Freddy, but when I got up, you insisted on me holding you instead

You had an awesome time with Mia, swimming in the kiddie pool outside after lunch. Mia is just learning how to get used to the water, so you were terrific as her little swim instructor. You are a natural fish, so seeing you play so comfortably in the water really helped. Before we knew it, you were both splashing around like old pros.

look at those grins!

hey, hey! don't splash the camera lady!

PTL for ice cream sandwiches! ha ha

chillin'

perhaps some kind of synchronized swimming dance?

what great buddies!

It is fantastic to watch you girls together. Each time you see each other you hit it off so spectacularly. I love that you have formed such a good little friendship with Mia. And you are equally as comfortable with Fred and Michelle too. You even willingly hugged all of them upon leaving (no easy feat since you are typically not big on goodbyes to anyone). I made the comment that kids are good judges of character; they know good people when they meet them. You even let Mia give you a flower and hung onto it, in true appreciation of the gift. Again, no easy feat since you usually toss flowers away two seconds after being given them. Daddy and I joke that your future suitors are going to have a tough time impressing you.

All in all, in spite of the bumpy start, this week turned out to be a phenomenal addition to our ever-growing adventure with you. I have learned to appreciate Daddy more lately, and better cherish every moment we can spend with family and friends. I’ve learned to be more thankful for what we have, and more patient when things are not exactly as they should be. I realize how important it is to recognize and ask for what you need, that difficulties can be worked out, and adjustments and corrections can be made no matter how out of control things may feel at times.

And finally, I am so glad we have our lives, and our Mali, back.

Love,

Mama