Bedtime And Runaway Bunnies

Here was bedtime at our house last night.

This was snapped (sorry, these are all iPhone pics so the quality is not so good) right after I told Lily it was time to go "nigh nigh." She did not take the news well.


Nathan showing his bedtime reading material. Pokemon Black and White.


Matthew is already reading in bed.


And Dada reading to Aaron. Dave and Aaron have really bonded since Lily came home. I am often busy at bedtime trying to put Lily down first, so Aaron has been requesting (and even preferring) to have Dave read to him instead of Mama. It's all good :-).


Speaking of bedtime reading, this is one of our favorite board books.


I've been meaning to write about this for awhile. It is by Margaret Wise Brown, the same author who wrote Goodnight Moon (another favorite). All of my kids love this book (but perhaps not as much as their mom does). They can practically recite it from memory, I think. Basically the book is about this little bunny who tells his mother he is going to run away. She says that if he runs away she will run after him because he is her little bunny. When he says he will turn into a fish and swim away. . .

She says she will become a fisherman and fish for him. . . (love how the bait at the end of the fishing line is a carrot!)


Then he says that he will turn into a bird and fly away. She says she will become a tree that he comes home to :-).


When he says that then he will become a sailboat and sail away, she says she will become the wind and blow him where she wants him to go. . . (love the bunny ears that are sails - see why I love this book so much?)


I have not included the entire plot, but at the end he gives up and says that he should just stay with Mama and be her little bunny.



And when Nathan was a wee thing, when I would get to this illustration at the end of the book, he would add the line, "And have nummies." Nummies is his word for nursing. It kind of looks like the mother bunny is nursing her baby in the rocking chair, no? And I love the bunny's stripey pajamas!

At the very end of the Runaway Bunny, when the baby bunny knows he will never be able to elude his mother, he says, "Shucks! I might just as well stay here and be your little bunny." And he does.

I remember when I introduced this book to a fellow mom, she asked, "Why does he keep wanting to run away?"

Good question. Seems like he has a good life. A mother who adores him and relentlessly pursues him (even in his imagined fantastical plans of running away) and will become whatever is needed to bring him back home. "For you are MY little bunny," she says. Even the first time I read this book, it made me think of the LORD.

It made me think of how many names He has. There is a whole list here. Jehovah Jireh (the Lord will provide), The Chief Shepherd, Prince of Peace, Wonderful, Counselor, Advocate, El-Roi (the strong one who sees). The list goes on (and I don't even know if this particular list is complete). It is amazing to read through them and think about all of these things that the LORD is, and how we can know these aspects of His character.

It makes me think of how He is just obsessed with us - and wants us to be *His." How He can become whatever we need to bring us to Him. And of course, why do we keep running away? But the Lord is always doing more, waiting longer for us to really be His and not be restless.

I bet I could write "The Runaway Chenning" with not as cute illustrations, telling the on going story of how the Lord keeps showing me how wonderful and able He is, and how He keeps pursuing me and bringing me back to Him.

Isn't She Lovely

Sing it with me!

Hissssssss!

Dave's residents organized an outing for everyone to go to a Stanford football game. I almost feel ashamed to blog about this!

Yes, our first family photo! Just wish that we were at Memorial Stadium at Berkeley instead :-). Lily is wearing the Stanford tee shirt that the residents bought for her.

This was all the kids' first football game ever. It was very exciting - the yelling and screaming, the canon going off every time there was a touchdown, and the spirit band doing their thing. Lots to see and hear and experience. All the kids had a hard time settling down for the night.

I think also the cotton candy may have had something to do with that as well!



Oh yes, the boys love them some cotton candy. I had to stop them from eating the whole bag (3 colors!). Matthew even said as we were walking to the car, "I think I ate too much cotton candy. My stomach hurts."

It's Been A Month!

Lily at Matthew and Nathan's martial arts class. I think my girl is ready for karate! She keeps wanting to go on the mat when we are supposed to be sitting quietly on the sidelines.


Yes, it has been a month since we first met Lily! In some ways, it has gone by so fast. . .in other ways it feels like we have had her forever. She has been growing in leaps and bounds, but there is still so much that we are learning about her, her personality, her likes and dislikes, every passing day! We all feel blessed and thankful that she is here with us now.

My brother-in-law, John and his family came to visit us over the weekend. It was their first time meeting Lily. My nephews, Jayden and Evan came, too, and readily accepted "Baby Lily." Jayden even drew this picture for Aaron to have. It is a picture of our family. The two taller stick figures are Dave and me. The shorter stick figures are Matthew, Nathan, and Aaron. The tiny little doodle next to me is Lily. Beautiful, no? I love it!


So we had a crew of boys here. Lots of fun!



Aarbear just loves it when Jay Jay comes to visit. They wake up and play right away, and continue until it is time for bed. We miss their whole family a lot.

In other news, Lily had her first craniosacral therapy appointment on Thursday. I am not totally dubious - but a little. It was very interesting. The CST was very gentle, and basically let Lily sit on my lap or followed her around the room while she played, and did the therapy that way. Lily was active and happy during the appointment. We shall see what we shall see. Don't worry - I will post before and after photos. You all can help me be the judge as to whether it works or not :-).

Our Weekend

The kids played in the yard at our house. They built forts out of the rock pile back there.


There are some rocks back there that are brick red in color and porous. I was telling the kids that they look like pumice stone. Then Aaron used the stone and smashed another rock with it. He said, "Wow, this hummus is really strong." I didn't have the heart or inclination to tell him it is pumice and not hummus :-). Some things are just too cute to correct.



At Sunday school, Matthew got to pick from the prize bin. Silly bands galore, which he promptly regifted to his baby brother.


And - Lilikins is learning how to play with toys!!! Banging on a xylophone. . .


Pretending to cook. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but role playing and pretending are developmental milestones :-). Do you like her boho outfit? I love it! It is a hand me down from a dear friend.


And on Saturday, Lily got to go swimming for the first time! We met some friends for a potluck picnic at the Stanford recreation center. She loved it! They have a 1 foot deep baby pool there. And holding onto Dada's hands - Lily enjoyed herself immensely.


One more cute Aaron story. On Saturday we also tried a new restaurant nearby. In that same plaza is Beard Papa's! They have the best best creampuffs there. Aaron got his to go, so when we got home he dug in. Yummy. The cutest thing is that he calls it his "papa" not a creampuff, as in, "Can I eat my papa now?" I know the remains look like a wadded up piece of paper towel - but the cream puffs are really really yummy!

So Far So Good

Sippin' between smooches.





Dr. Lloyd called me this evening with some results from Lily's labs. So far we have gotten results for 10 out of the 15 tests being run and so far so good! Everything was within normal limits except that she is a little bit anemic. Not enough to feel it, but I am going to try to give her more iron rich foods in her diet. We are still waiting on the Vitamin D and parasite labs to come back. I am so grateful, though, that so far things look good. It is reassuring!

The past few nights, when Lily whimpers or stirs in her sleep, I have been moving her out of her crib (which is right next to the bed) and wrapping my arms around her and sleeping like that together. I have been putting her in her crib for safety because after she falls asleep, I get up again to do housework, and she does not know yet how to get off the bed by herself. Also, because of her past, I think that she is used to sleeping in her own space. If I try to cuddle her to sleep on my bed, she often times will lie still just for a while and then start playing and babbling. It is almost like it is too stimulating for her. If she is tired, I can rock her to sleep in the sling or in the Ergo. Anyway, she definitely can fall back asleep by herself, but I have been feeling like I am missing something. It feels weird (to me) to wake up in the middle of the night and have that rush of panic and the, "Where is the baby?!?" feeling because she isn't right next to me. Also, as I have said so many times - this girl is A.C.T.I.V.E. The only time I can cuddle and hold her more is when she is asleep or drifting off to sleep. I know that we need to work more on attachment. I want her to know my body, my heartbeat, my voice and the way my skin feels (and vice versa). We have 18 months to make up for (or longer if you count in utero, which I think we should). She has been doing well with falling back asleep instantaneously when I lie her next to me and curl her up there. I actually feel closer to her and more able to handle her energy during the day if we get this snuggle time together.

And something that has come up the last few days is that Lily will hit Aaron if she wants something that he has :-(. She will swipe at his head or his arm :-(. And my dear boy will say, "That's ok, Mama, I will move to the backseat so that Lily can't hit me." I am trying very hard to teach her NOT to do this. How to be gentle and soft, how to ask, "Please?" And also, having lots of conversations with Aaron that it isn't just that he isn't hurt (which of course I am glad he is not), but that we should not let Lily hit him, that we don't want her to learnt that this is all right because it isn't. Sigh. I know these things came up with my biological children, but for some reason with Lily it sets off more alarm in me. Maybe because I don't know how she was taught or if she was taught, the treatment she received from her caretakers and other children, etc. I will try not to overanalyze and focus on loving guidance and discipline!

Also, it might be too early to tell, but Dave may be getting his wish for a left handed child (don't ask why he has always wanted to have someone in his family be left handed). Lily seems to reach with her left hand many times, and also grabs crayons and pencils with her left hand. So we will see! Stay tuned.

She is Growing!!!

Remember Lily's high fat diet. Yes, it is working, praise the LORD!
Today we had a follow up appointment with Dr. Lloyd, Lily's pediatrician. She now weighs 20 pounds 9 ounces!!! That's 1 pound and 3 ounces up from last week. And 2 pounds up from when she was weighed in Guangzhou at the medical examination!!!

Grow, grow, grow, little one! She definitely looks like she is filling out a bit. She has more meat on her bones!

And poor lamb, we had to do her blood draw today and urinalysis and stool sample. I actually brought a stool sample from home this morning :-). But I had to alloquat it into 4 different vials in the bathroom while restraining my wiggle worm in the Ergo and trying to balance the vials on the lip of the sink while not touching any poop. Goodness, who knew this would be in the job description for mom?

Lily cried and cried when she was having her blood drawn. They had to get two phlebotomists to come - one to help hold her arm still (I was holding her on my lap) and the other to do the bloodwork. Thank the Lord for butterfly needles and they got the blood vessel on the first poke!

And since she cannot pee on command, we put something called a U-bag on her. It was very interesting. Basically it is like a shaped sandwich baggie that is sterile and has adhesive on the opening. You just wipe down the baby and stick it on that area. You can see it hanging out of her diaper in the photo below. Basically, when the baby pees, you will see it in the bag. Well, have you ever heard the saying a watched U bag never fills? That is what it felt like. I kept waiting for her to pee. She did not pee during the doctor's exam, or the blood draw, or when I was separating stool samples. In fact, I had to put a new bag on her (Dr. Lloyd said that if you wait too long, the bag will get contaminated and it won't be a clean catch). Finally, finally, she peed when we went outside to hang out and eat something from the kiosk cafe outside. I think that her cortisol levels were too high during the exam and the blood draw, and that is why she could not pee. Too much stress and fear. Afterwards when we were outside and hanging out and getting a snack, she could relax and pee :-).



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And just to keep it real. Some photos from around my house :-(. It is a mess! And I feel overwhelmed. There is no way I can do much housework at all when Lily is awake. And after all the kids are asleep - I have been rushing out to do about 45 minutes of housework before apologizing to Dave that I need to go to bed. I have been missing our late night conversations and movie time. I am just too exhausted and trying to catch up on sleep and conserve energy.

The cleaners are coming tomorrow. Yahoo! But that means I have to clean before they come :-(.