So proud of herself

Helaina now can print her entire name using the proper upper case and lower case letters. Ever since she started writing she has always spelled out her name using all upper case letters. She's been practicing hard at school and at home and is very proud of this accomplishment. She still prints all over the place (slanted and crooked even with lines to guide her!), but she knows how to form the letters and that's what counts. Look at that beaming proud smile! If you're wondering what she's wearing, she has on her ladybug Halloween costume from a few years ago. Helaina is really into dressing up lately.

We pulled out the Easy Bake Oven the other night and made pretzels - yah, pretzels. Eeewwww, don't EVER buy the pretzel mix. We mixed the dough powder with water and it smelled like yeast - in a bad way. The glaze that she's painting on the pretzel was brown and gross looking. The salt that came with it to sprinkle on looked ok.

Voila, it looks good, but taste? Not so much.

The yellow "cheese sauce" powder that we mixed with water was seriously like spackle. There was nothing saucy - or cheesy - about it. Helaina was very happy with her creations though and against my better judgment, I let her eat 2 of the 3 pretzels. She thought they were good. I took a little bite and spit it into the trash then I had Jim try a bite dunked in the cheese sauce. "Mmmmmm, good!" Ha! We'll stick to the cookie mix. So far it's the best mix yet, if you can call any of the overpriced concoctions the best.

Helaina is just loving gymnastics. She can't wait for Saturday mornings when she can put on her leotard and go to class. "When we going to learn back flips?" she's always asking. Yah, right, not just yet. If anyone has the strong legs for gymnastics it's Helaina. Look at the thighs on this child. I've said it before and I continue to say it, she's the only 5-year old that I've ever seen in my life that has the bottom-half of an hourglass figure! Seriously, she's got hips, thighs and a butt. "Muscular" is what Jim calls her. Our little linebacker is what I call her. It's true - she can easily take out anything in her path!

The cutest Dorothy ever

It was dress-up day at school today, with the theme being nursery rhymes or fairy tales. "Mom, Mom, is Wizard of Oz a fairy tale?" Well, it's make believe, has good guys, a villain and a happy ending so yah, it qualifies. "I be Dorothy then!! Yippee, skippy!!", and that was the conversation earlier this week. I know I'm biased, but isn't this child the cutest Dorothy ever?

By looking at how sweet, pure and innocent she appears, it's hard to tell that she can go from angel to sassy wildcat in zero to three seconds!


NEVER, I mean never, tell Helaina a secret because she just can't keep them. We've known that fact for a long time now. So when Helaina started a craft project as a surprise gift for her Daddy, I knew she'd be bursting at the seams to tell him about it. She finished it yesterday morning and had only given Jim hints like "Daddy, I got a 'prize for you but I can't say it."

If you can't tell (!), it's a bunny pencil holder for Jim's desk at work - painted, pom pom ears, sequin eyes and a button nose.

After Helaina finished the painting and glueing yesterday morning she had to call Jim at work to tell him his surprise was ready. Here's part of the conversation on the phone:

Helaina: Daddy, your 'prize is done. It has to dry. I painted it.

Me: Helaina! You're not supposed to tell Daddy anything about it.

Helaina: Oopsey. I mean I just got done painting on my easel. Ok. Daddy, it for your pencils.

Me: Helaina! You just told him what it's for, now stop describing it.

Helaina: Sorry, Momma. Daddy, for the pencils on you desk.

Me: HELAINA!!!!!

Oy, I give up.

The tradition continues

Saturday morning I made meatballs and sauce for the weekend. When the meatballs were cooling I thought about what my Mom would always do with me when I was a little girl. Right after she made sauce she would get me a slice of white bread (Millbrook bread - now I'm dating myself!) and I'd get to dunk the bread into the sauce and eat it. It always tasted so good and I remember doing that a lot - Italian family, lots of sauce, macaroni and meatballs!

So I called Helaina into the kitchen and had her pull the stepstool over to the counter, then I got her a slice of bread and told her about what I would do when I was little. She listened intently and then I asked her if she wanted to dunk her bread. "Yah, yeaaaahhhh!" was the response. Big hit with Helaina. She polished off one piece of bread by breaking it into smaller pieces and dunking each one into the sauce. As soon as she finished the first piece of bread she quickly asked for another. Her Nana would be so proud!!!

Sponge Bob, yikes, can't stand that ridiculous cartoon - and neither can Helaina but when she saw the shirt in Walmart she just had to have it. It was on sale really cheap but I explained to her that it would be too big. "That ok, Mommy. I wear it like a dress. Can we get it?" The sleeves are rolled up 3 times, it's big around the shoulders & neck, and it's way too long but she absolutely loves it and wore it to school that same day. Gotta love that Walmart clearance aisle!

Funny Helaina:

Tonight while I was getting dinner ready Helaina and Jim were in the family room. I see her jump on his lap, lay across him and hug him tightly around the neck. Then she says to him "Daddy, you my best buddy." I yelled in "Geez, if Daddy's you're best buddy what does that make me?" Her response: "You my sidekick!" This kid, oh my gosh, she cracks us up daily.

Home with our daughter 3 years ago tonight

March 19, 2008 at about 7:10pm - we landed in our home town and could not have been happier. By the time we landed we had been up for 27 hours with practically no sleep, endured 3 flights that totaled 17 hours in the air (including the monster 14 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago), Jim and I were both sick with respiratory infections (thanks to the extremely polluted city of Xian), jetlagged and exhausted beyond belief - but none of it mattered. We were welcomed home by the familiar faces of family and friends who were as glad to see us as we were to see them.

And Helaina's helium balloon obsession began!

I post this picture every year because it's one of my favorites. Easter was early in 2008, just 4 days after we got home. Here Helaina was plopped on the kitchen table enjoying a sampling of everything there was to offer. She was eating crackers, some type of Easter bread and beefstick. Ah yes, beefstick. She loved it then and still gobbles it down today!

To our dearest Helaina: Cheers to you, our amazing, smart, quirky, enthusiastic, loving, considerate, caring, hysterically funny, precious and absolutely adorable daughter. You rocked our world as much as we rocked yours and it has prooved to be a match made in Heaven. We now know that everything happens for a reason and that everything we endured in trying to start our family ultimately led us to you. We wouldn't change a moment of that journey for all the riches in the world. There truly was a red thread from our hearts to yours. We love you like crazy cakes, and then some. Love, Mommy and Daddy

Going green

Helaina was ready for her St. Patrick's Day party at school from head to toe in green - green hair bow, shamrock earrings, shamrock shirt, crazy green pants and green shamrock socks. In school they talked about leprechauns and Ireland, made Irish-themed crafts, had cupcakes, Lucky Charms cereal and mint oreos that we brought in to share. She's our lucky little four leaf clover.

Our house is now like an infirmary. After my horrible night Wednesday which included a throat as raw as could be, a stabbing pain in my right ear and gunk coming out of my nose that was downright scarey, I reluctantly headed to the doctor's Thursday morning and left with a diagnosis of sinus infection with ear infection. Gotta love that magic Z-pack of pink pills because I miraculously feel a little better today. Jim, on the other hand, is down for the count. Coughing, sneezing, blowing his nose like crazy - not good. I'm following him around the house with antibacterial wipes swabbing down everything he touches in fear of re-infecting Helaina and starting the cycle all over again! I think he's asleep on the couch in the family room now waiting for the SU basketball game to start, which has been delayed and won't tip off until 10:20. I don't think he's going to make it.

A few random pics

Future gymnast.

Helaina's favorite thing to do at the mall.

The pursuit of curly hair.

Jumping into a ball pit at a bounce house.

Helaina had a cold and scratchy throat a few weeks ago that she passed on to me. She's healthy now and I've been sick for 9 days, with a throat that has been getting worse over the last few days. I think I may have to throw in the towel and head to the doctor's. Jim went to work this morning with a scratchy throat and came home with a full-blow cold. We need to get all the windows in the house open and let the germs out and the fresh air in.

Gotcha!

Wow, 3 years? It's hard to believe that 3 years ago today at 5:30pm in a small civil affairs office in Shaanxi province, Xian city, I took little Men Ying from the secure loving arms of her nanny and held her for the first time. It was all such a blurr that I'm thankful our guide recorded everything for us. It's actually painful for me to watch the video because I put myself in Helaina's place and realize how terrified she must have been. There were several families in the same room meeting their kids so it was very loud, very confusing and very scarey for a little girl who had just turned 2. We were very fortunate that Helaina was a roll-with-the-punches kind of kid in China. After the hysteria at the civil affairs office she settled down and actually seemed to enjoy the van ride back to the hotel. She was great during our first dinner together, played during her bath, walked all over the hotel lobby with us holding her hands, had an applesauce snack then zonked out for 9 hours straight that night. She was understandably guarded and cautious at first but by day 2 with us she became comfortable and showed us that amazing, funny, outgoing, zany personality that she still has today. Gotcha, baby girl, and we'll never let go.

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So very scared ...

... in Daddy's arms for the first time (holding the panda we sent her for her birthday) ...

... our first meal together at the hotel (watermelon, crackers, cheese and mystery meat) sitting in the "baby seat" ...

... loved playing with the stacking cups in the tub ...

... princess jammies for our exhausted little princess.

Just so you know that Helaina was ok later than night, here's an adorable clip of her in the hotel lobby. We were trying to get her to wave at us, and she half-heartedly did. She is obviously exhausted and has that "dazed and confused" look about her, but at one point when I give her a kiss you can almost see a faint smile on her face.

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Three years ago today ... somewhere over the rainbow

... or more likely, somewhere over the Arctic Circle, the Bering Sea or Siberia. Wherever we were, we were cruising over 500 miles per hour at about 34,000 feet on our way to Shaanxi province and Men Ying to rock her little world - and ours. Yup, 3 years ago today - March 7, 2008 - we left for China on our quest to bring home our fortune cookie Helaina. I remember this moment on our front porch with stomach-churning anticipation. Bags packed, passports and paperwork ready to be defended with our lives, bank accounts emptied and stuffed into money belts and neck sacks - oh yah, we were more than ready!

Waiting at the airport for our first of 3 flights that would keep us in the air for more than 17 hours over a 24-hour period. And me, a nervous flyer. Heaven help my hubby.

On time departure, watching the luggage being loaded onto the plane and praying ours would make it safely to the other side of the world, along with us.

It was a smooth flight to Chicago. A good "warm up" flight for me, even though my first glimpse of our pilot was a little un-nerving. I saw him while boarding the plane and I had my first mini panic attack, one of many to come over the next 13 days. He appeared to be a Doogie Howser type kid sitting in the cockpit behind the controls munching on an apple and a granola bar. I said to Jim "Oh my gosh. Look at the pilot. He's so young. He looks like Joshua. I hope it's not his first flight." And my reassuring husband responds with "Well, every pilot has to have his first flight some time." Thanks, dear - that comment will cost you.

At O'Hare I remember sitting in the gate area waiting for our plane to arrive. "Here it comes" says Jim. I turned to look and saw this HUGE jet making it's way slowly toward the glass. "Oh my gosh [jaw drop], look at the nose on that jet." (2nd mini panic attack).

Bye bye Chicago. No turning back now.

Really, 516 mph and 32000 feet into outer space? Put all the information into Chinese because I really don't want to know the statistics.

We really had a great flight and a wonderful flight crew. Some of the amazing views we saw from our window are forever etched into my memory. Flying over the Arctic Ocean was incredible.

I don't know how many hours we were into the flight when I took this picture, but is this a deer-in-the-headlights shot or what?!

A couple of my absolute favorite pictures taken from the plane - flying over a Siberian mountain range. I remember gasping when I looked out the window and saw this view.

It was so bright and sunny - and freaky. You're chasing the sun the entire time you're flying west so it was the middle of the night yet daylight outside. I remember Jim looking out the window and saying "Look, I see a polar bear!"

I remember feeling better when I realized that we flying were back over land. I don't know why because we still had a long way to go. At least we could see the Beijing triangle on the monitor and knew there was an end in sight.

We made it to Beijing and 2 of our 3 consecutive flights were behind us. One more 2-hour flight to Helaina's province before getting to our hotel for a night of rest (yah right) and preparing to meet our daughter on the 9th.

Church singing, dumplings & gymnastics

"Boy, did they ever need you! If there was ever a time to step up to the plate, you did!" - a quote from Helaina's pre-school teacher commenting on her singing performance at church this morning. Not that I'm bragging, but she was the most entertaining! When Helaina's pre-school put out an invitation to the children to sing at mass this morning we immediately signed her up. When the kids were brought up in front of everyone to sing, Helaina and the little girl next to her were the most enthusiastic. Some of the kids were shy and one girl ran around like crazy distracting the others (Helaina asked me later "Why did her Mommy let her do that?"). Helaina performed the only way she knows how - with gusto and enthusiasm, holding nothing back. Here's a clip of 2 of the songs they performed. Toward the end Helaina kept moving out of view, then we had a recording malfunction, but what we have is pure, priceless Helaina. We celebrated her performance by going out to brunch afterwards, where Helaina devoured about a pound of crispy bacon from the buffet table (well, not that much, but close). Guess singing your heart out gives you a hankering for bacon.

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I think the funniest part of the performance was when Helaina was doing the loud part to John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmitt and the little girl next to her was trying to tell her she was too loud, then gave up and covered her ears in anticipation! And when Helaina was blurting out the song names and Mrs. C said to her "why don't you sit here" - oh my gosh, too funny. Warmed my heart and brought a tear to my eye, this amazing little gal of ours.

Friday night we attended a FCC dumpling party which was a big hit with Helaina. She got to play with some of her buddies ...

... and lots of Chinese-style toys ...

... and then there was the chaotic (but fun) dumpling making. It held Helaina's interest briefly (she liked wearing the plastic gloves and pounding the dough with a rolling pin) then she was off to run around and play, which left Jim and I to finish the dumplings. My batch came out pretty good, with only a little bit of filling bursting out the seams. We had a meal of lo mein, veggies, the dumplings, orange slices and fortune cookies. Fun night.

Every family at the dumpling party received one of these Year of the Rabbit cut-outs that were unbelievably cut by hand by a woman at the event. What skill and precision.

Helaina had her 2nd gynmastics class Saturday morning and I tried to sneak in a few pictures but they didn't come out well at all. The parents sit quite a bit away from where the kids are practicing and taking pictures of a moving target like Helaina is tough. Bad photo quality but here she is at her favorite part of the class, the trampoline. Such form!

And here she is, taking her Sunday afternoon snooze after a jam-packed weekend of activity.

Three years ago this evening our living room was ground zero. We were going over travel and packing lists, checking documents, trying to stuff two weeks worth of items into 3 suitcases and 2 carry ons - still not believing that finally, after 18 months in the planning, the next day we would embark on an adventure that would change our lives forever. Hmmmm, where were we headed on March 7, 2008???!!!