Sing it to me, baby!

Last week I took Carter to his six month checkup with the orthopedic surgery.  The fabulous news is that the bone is reacting well to the plate and we can delay removing it for at least a year.  WAHOO!!!! 

On the way there, I was treated to the following from the back seat, "B-I-N-G-O and Bingo was his name is!!!"  We sang that one a number of times as well as a few other children's favorites. 

We got a new (to us) van last week and have been using our iPod transponder to listen to kids' songs on the way to school every morning.  This afternoon I have been listening to several rousing choruses of "Polly put the Kettle On".  However, it would be purely boring to sing it the way it's been sung for decades - maybe even a century.  No, not here.  Here was jazz stuff up.  So what we sing here is "Polly put the cattle on.  Polly put the cattle on.  Polly put the cattle on, we'll all have tea. (or maybe we sing 'Polly put the cattle on' about thirty seven more times before we have tea - Polly is apparently about as good a listener as my kids are.)  Susie (Sookie's on vacation?) put the cattle off.  Susie put the cattle off.  Susie put the cattle off, we'll all run away!"  My best assessment is that having cows to tea seemed like a good idea, but turned out otherwise.  Then, in a last ditch effort to avoid a stampede of cows anxious for their tea, Polly has turned to Susie to fall on her sword and put the cattle off while everyone else (maybe Polly is too fond of Sookie to make her the martyr) runs away!  Wish I could figure out how it comes out!

He was there

Sunday we baptized Molly Kate.  She, like the other kids, wore red.  Red?  Yep, red.  Red is the color of celebration and happiness in China - and also in the church.  We wear red every year on Reformation Sunday.  We choose red for our children's Baptismal outfits to honor their heritage.  In Molly Kate's case, it is also a striking color on her. 

We sang "I was There to Hear Your Borning Cry" - a song near and dear to my heart.  It's special to me because it was sung at my Confirmation, but also because it was my Dad's favorite, and we sang it at his funeral.  Its meaning has grown deeper to me as we grew our family through adoption - "I was there to hear your borning cry....I'll be there when you are old..."  takes on new meaning when I myself wasn't there to hear my children's borning cries.  It gives me strength to remember that God WAS there with each of them when I was not and he is with each of us always.  

The baptism went off beautifully, although she was a little wary when my sister tipped her back toward the font.  Luckily some sneaky looks from Daddy and some gentle and reassuring words from my sister did the trick.  I think it helped, too, that she quickly realized that we weren't washing her hair, and in fact very little water was going on her head.  She was smiling by the third time the water hit her head and was more than happy to be introduced to her new Church family afterwards. 

We didn't take many pictures at church - I think the volume was a little too much for our newly "hearing the world at a much greater volume" girl and she was kind of fussy by the end of the service.  I couldn't make this up if I tried, but between the time we left for church at 7:15 and the time we got home and got everyone into the house and the brunch in the oven at 10, it had sleeted, rained, hailed, and snowed.  I don't need to say why we didn't get any outside pictures that day.  I do wish I'd taken some with her sponsors individually, and with my mom and Steve's.  I just didn't think of it, to be honest.  I did get her out for some pictures on Tuesday, though, and I'm so glad I did.  What a beauty she is - inside and out. 

I'm excited for Molly Kate's faith journey to begin and truly excited to see where it takes her in life.  My own journey has been full of twists and turns, but I'm so thankful for the promise of life everlasting and for a God who loves and guides me through all of my days. 

best gift EVER

Today is my birthday and I got the best gift EVER. 

Molly Kate had her adenoids out and ear vents (tubes) put in.  Her hearing test last month showed that she had 35-40% hearing loss in both ears.  She never seemed like she had a hard time hearing.  We didn't need to speak louder than normal and we didn't need to turn up music or movies for her.  The bone conductivity test showed that her auditory nerves were functioning fine, so it was determined that putting the vents in should resolve much of her hearing loss and thankfully there was no sign of chronic infection, so there shouldn't be any permanent damage. 

We got to the hospital at 6:30am for her 8:00 surgery.  I made sure to check and double check that the entire medical staff knew that Molly Kate is a Little Person and that she has a different airway.  I don't even care if they thought I was a neurotic mother!  Actually, they were all really supportive and seemed very knowledgeable.  Molly Kate was in great, albeit reserved, spirits.  We got her all checked in and she put on her gown.  They gave us two sizes - both of which were laughably large on her.  Oh well.  Hospital gowns have never been known for their fashion forward appearance, right?  We settled in to watch some early morning cartoons while we waited.  "Zoomi Zoomi" anyone? 

Our favorite ENT was running behind, so we watched some more shows and then the time was nigh.  The nurse offered to let me walk to the end of the hall with them so I did.  Molly Kate marched on down the hall all on her own, belly out, confident as always, smile on her face.  It was when the nurse bent down and picked her up and she realized in that instant that I was coming no further that she crumbled and dissolved into tears.  Oh my heart.  My heart, first and foremost, ached knowing that she couldn't bring herself to believe unequivocally that she'd ever see me again.  And a tiny part of it was glad because she needs me.  I know that she does in my head, but sometimes you need a little proof and that girl is so laid back and outgoing that sometimes I wonder. 

Surgery went really well and our doc assured me that we'd made the right choice both on the vents and the adenoids.  They brought her to me silently sobbing, and it took all the ache out of my heart when she lolled her eyes open and saw me and I said "It's okay, baby, mama's right here." and she stopped crying, relaxed her body, and went right to sleep.  Sleep she did.  FOUR AND A HALF HOURS!!  My tailbone was screaming but it was such a small price to pay for my baby, safe and sound, sleeping in my arms.

I figured we'd see a little difference, but WOW.  Today, she truly heard the world for the first time.  There were so many sounds she'd apparently never heard.  The first time our guinea pig wheeked this morning she came running from the living room screaming "Gie pig!!  Gie pig!!!" asking to be picked up to pet her.  Then she launched into "who da??" and I thought "what?  There's nothing going on..." but actually the washing machine was emptying into the sink in the laundry room.  I had no idea she couldn't hear that.  There was a chorus of "who da?" throughout the day marking all the new sounds she was hearing.  It was lovely and truly the best birthday gift a mom could ever ask for. 

Easter

This was our first Easter as a (complete) family of six.  And what a lovely Easter it was! 

We dyed eggs with cousins a week ago, and celebrated Easter with another set this week. 

Molly Kate really had fun looking for eggs and enjoying liberal quantities of chocolate.  I really had fun watching my kids together and with their cousins.  It's almost more fun to watch them the older they get - their relationships with each other and with their cousins have blossomed so much - they're so much more real now.  It's a lot less about breaking up fights (most of the time) and more about listening to them joyfully play together. 

I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures here, because really, they tell the story better than I could have, anyway.

**I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I've HAD IT with Blogger and attempting to do anything with photos.  I've spent far too much time trying to make them go two across or look jaunty....Blogger is NOT my photo friend!!**