Gift giving

One of the best parts of Daddy coming home was, of course, the gifts he brought! I am continually amazed at how "gifted" my husband is in purchasing just the right presents.

For me, a Starbucks coffee mug from Beijing with the Great Wall of China on it, stuffed with Chinese Nescafe packets. Former teammates will remember that you must stir it with a pen and enjoy with a package of donettes!

Here are some photos of Katie receiving her gifts:

What's in the bag?

She guessed right...a panda bear!

I think she likes it.

Caroline enjoyed staring at the panda so much though, I think she may co-opt it as soon as she can "take" Katie (which, given her size, may be in about a month).

Hm, what is next?A qipao (pronounced chee-pow)...what Chinese girls wear when they want to be fancy!Did I get the right size?How does it look?

He's home!

Yes, yes, yes! Adam is finally back in the good ol' U.S. of A! I am so happy to have him home.

The travelling buddies

They got the royal treatment when they visited the home of our good friend Lan:

The guys were supposed to stay on campus at our old school for their first few days in-country, but because of the swine flu, no one who had just come from America was allowed to go on campus! Thankfully, Adam got to swing by "Er Shi Yi Shi" on his way to the airport on Sunday. Sadly no one was there since they were all at church, but he still got to walk around and take some shots:

And now that he's back, our camera is back as well, so here are some long overdue photos of the girls:

Small things

I was recently encouraged when a friend of mine voiced annoyance over the many small parts of her children's toys. It was encouraging because even though I know that it's my Type A-ness that makes me irritated, at least I'm not the only one. You see, it's not just that the toys are small...it's that our children love to dump them all out, mix them all up, and put them in bags and boxes all jumbled together. And, of course, what kid wants to undo the mess he/she made and put it all back in order once done playing?

I knew I had to take a picture when Katie provided the case in point for me a few days after that conversation. Moms of infants....here's what you have to look forward to: ;)

A small section of the disaster that was Katie's room

A closer look

Update

So last night...um, yeah. No long stretches. Boo. BUT....this morning Caroline rolled over from her tummy to her back! Twice! She was totally stunned the first time it happened. Exciting times!

8 weeks tomorrow

One thing that continually amazes me is how Katie seems to be completely oblivious to Caroline's crying. I mean, she'll notice when CG wakes up from her nap and report the obvious, "The baby's crying!" But when CG is wailing and I am struggling to take care of her and Katie simultaneously, Katie seems unaware of my juggling act. For example, the other night Adam had something going on around bedtime, so I was attempting to read Katie her bedtime story with Caroline in my arms, screaming bloody murder. Katie didn't bat an eyelash. I didn't know whether to think this was hilarious or disturbing.

In other news, after a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day yesterday, my awesomely generous husband offered to take over the 2am feed last night. You see, I had started to become very discouraged about our Caribou (a new nickname) after talking with several friends who have babies around Caroline's age. I know, I know, I should never do the comparison thing. And yet why does every other baby sleep for long stretches at night when I am trying my darndest to do everything "right" and little Caroliner still loves to wake up every 3 hours?! Well, when Adam got up at 2:30 to give her a bottle, as soon as it touched her lips, she passed out and slept until 5:30am...without drinking a single drop! Why is this so exciting? Well, it meant that I got to sleep for more than 3 hours at one time...but it also means that she can go for longer stretches at night (like 7 whole hours)! So, tonight, if she wakes up at 2am, a pacifier is all she's going to get and *hopefully* that will be that. Lord-willing, she'll cease waking up at that time once she realizes that all she's going to be offered is a cold piece of plastic. ;) Pray it works! I'll let you know how tonight goes.

I can't wait until CG's next doctor's appointment to find out how much she weighs; she's gotta be at least 13 pounds. And she is so stinkin' cute. I'm hoping to figure out how to upload videos from our nice camera to prove it.

Katie has been saying a lot of funny things recently. I need to remember to write them down. My favorite one lately happened after she and a little friend watched (and danced) to a Riverdance DVD. Later that day, I asked her what her favorite part of the day was and she said, "Dancing to Riverdance." Then she paused and very thoughtfully said, "It's called Riverdance...but there were no fish!"

6 weeks

Caroline turned 6 weeks last Friday. Yes! Glad to be over that hump! She continues to be quite the chunkeroo and so has gained herself several new nicknames including Fatsy Patsy and Chubbsy Wubbsy (you can bet that Adam did not invent any of those). And don't worry, we will stop calling her that early enough in order not to give her a complex. (Tim M, did you appreciate how I avoided the split infinitive?)

Adam's dad and stepmom were here for the weekend...probably the only out-of-town visitors to Louisville who were NOT here for Derby. We did, however, watch 8 hours of Derby coverage on tv on Saturday...what else do you do on Derby Day in Louisville? Good times were had by all.

Katie's Derby picnic

(She picked out the outfit herself. I really don't know how she became so aware of Derby....)

Kisses from GrammyShucking the cornCheck out that neck strength! Between her size and her strength, she may have a future in female sumo wrestling! Do they give college scholarships for that?Katie helps Caroline with her tummy time.This is how Katie came out of her room one Saturday morning.

One month stats

Caroline turned one month old on Monday. Stunned? I am! To be honest, I'm thankful that these first few weeks are going faster than they did with Katie. (Am I a bad mom for saying that? Will I regret wishing these days away when she goes off to college? Probably, but for now I'm just keeping it real...)

We never doubted that Miss Caroline was starving (even though she often acts like she is). She weighed in at a whopping 11 pounds (90th percentile)! I guess that's what happens when you feed a child every two hours.....

She grew an inch and both her length and head circumference are in the 50th percentile. The doc said she was looking great!

Pics to come, but those are the stats for the grandfolks...