To the woman who took our pictures yesterday...

Dear woman who took our picture yesterday at the CNY festival... no, the little caucasian child who was with me and my daughter was not my daughter. So, it might have seemed like I was playing favorites with the little Asian child who IS mine... and thank for taking pics of them together. :) But we didn't need a "family" pic of the 3 of us. LOL.

Ok, so she did finally realize that Tiff wasn't mine... but it took actually saying, no she's not my daughter and not just 'Tiff, why don't you wait until your Mommy comes over" for her to get it!! I did find it kind of funny, actually. She didn't know... but, I just kept thinking... this Poor woman must think I'm the EVIL mother who doesn't want a picture with BOTH kids!!! That somehow I was favoring Lil M. Well... I was. ;-) but not in that kind of bad way!



Which brings me to the topic of the overall weekend. Saturday we went with our friends D&T to a Chinese symphony and dance performance. That was fun. Though, the girls (both 4 yo) didn't really like the symphony part after intermission... by then, they were getting kind of antsy. But we had a very nice time!

Before the concert T and the baby and her BF's nephew (K) came over to see us for awhile. That was a huge surprise. We all have pizza before I took them home and us going to the concert. It was a big, but very enjoyable day. Baby G is adorable and he was a whole week old on Sat!! T did fess up to the fact that she now realizes how much formula is and how many diapers she's already gone through... I hope she calls again sometime to come visit.

Yesterday, we went with D&T to the CNY festival. The girls got to walk in a Dragon Parade and color and watch dancers... play games... get pics taken ... and EAT. The food was plentiful and yummy. The girls wore Chinese dresses and were just adorable, of course. :D "D" is Japanese-American, but her daughter looks Caucasian (from her hubbies side)... and people tend to put D and Lil M together and me and Tiff together... it's ok. We understand. :) But Lil M is MINE. Not giving her up for anything! LOL.

Happy Chinese New Year (week... CNY is Feb 3, goes from Feb 2-17 total)

Peace.

Gymnastics

Lil M got to start taking gymnastics last night. I think she liked it and think it'll be good for her physical development. She seemed very comfortable out there with her class. I didn't get any pics, but am sure I will soon! :) We're signed up for the next 10 weeks. After that, as usual, I'll re-evaluate to see if this is something she'd like to continue. I looked into soccer, and the winter classes are way too early in the day for us. Dance has been going for awhile and she can't restart that until summer. Well, unless we go somewhere besides where we were... I'm waiting to see if I can get her started on some type of music training.

I checked in on the school I'm hoping to get Lil M in for Kindergarten... for this coming year we'll have to pay tuition, unless I can figure out somehow to get us moved there. Two problems for this, one, the university wants to buy our properties in my neighborhood, but I'm like 30 or 35 on the list... and they are estimating currently that it'll be 4-5 years before they buy!! 2nd, the market hasn't fully come back yet. I might try to list my house this spring and see if I can get it sold. If so, we'll move. If not, I guess we'll wait.

Regardless, I'm praying she can get into the school I want. If not, then I'm going to look into Montessori and private.

Peace.

baby baby

Here are a couple of pics from my phone the other night. Lil M was SO VERY proud to get to hold the baby.


T said something a bit disturbing today about how she "let" me come to the hospital while he was being born... you'd have to read her texts to get it, I think... but I'm not so sure now that she wanted me there... it's either that, or her hormones... I just don't know. (she wanted her medical card... for WIC and said was i going to pay for the baby's formula... blah blah... 'cause she was mad... as usual lately.) Anyway, I tried... and that's all I can do. I will continue to try too... if I can. Plus, send up prayers.

Lil M went to gymnastics tonight for the first time. It looked like she was having a blast!!! I've been wanting to get her into it, and after MK2's bday party success this weekend, and then talking to my friend Devi who has her daughter in gymnastics... she suggested we come out to where they go! And we got super lucky and got a spot in this Mon night class!! I'd say that's much more fun than going to my class this semester (which I dropped before even getting her in to this one). I'm glad it worked out. :) I'm SO excited for her! I think this might be the one thing we stick with for awhile... we'll see.

I was going to try to get her into dance again, but we have to wait til summer. I am also scoping out music teachers to see if I can get her into beginner toddler lessons for piano or violin. Which is proving somewhat difficult because most don't want to teach unless they are 6 or older. bah. But I think it would be great for Lil M. :) We love music!!

Peace.

Oh Baby

Baby Gabriel was born on January 22, 2011, at 12:56 AM. I was there. I am glad I got to be there... He is perfect... 8lbs 4.8 oz and 21" long. T did great. The BF kept telling me not to come, but then he was fine when I got there.

It was a very long weekend. I got the call at 9pm Friday night from her grandmother (Mary). She wanted me to take her and Penny to see T, which I did end up doing Saturday. Well, Mary, anyway. So, after I dropped Lil M off to stay at MK's house for awhile... I went to the hospital. T was getting her epidural about that time. She was fully dilated about 10:30pm but needed to get him to turn over... about midnight they got her setup and let her start pushing. I guess she pushed for maybe 45 minutes. She did amazingly well. Scrunch, myself and T's sister helped her through it.

After they got the baby cleaned up and everyone held him for a few minutes, T's Sis went home and Scrunch went to get cleaned up and to get T some food. He was gone for about 2 hours, during which I stayed and helped T... and sat with her and Gabe. I stayed at the hospital until 5am or so, I guess.

After getting about 3 hours of sleep, I went to get Lil M... and MK had made sweet rolls. We watched MK2 open her birthday presents (Jan 21) and then went home... that afternoon, we went to MK2's birthday party, which was BIG FUN!!! After that, I went to get Mary and we went back to the hospital until about 11pm... including Lil M. I got some cute pics on my phone, and will upload them as soon as I can. Lil M had wanted to hold the baby for like 3 months now, so I was VERY glad she got to do that. Scrunch's Mom helped her. :) That was very sweet.

Anyway, T said they were doing the circumcision yesterday and after a couple of hours they should have been released. Then they were going back to Scrunch's. I haven't heard anything since then, but tried to check on them this morning.

I hope that I can still be a part of T's life... but right now, I'm just happy I stuck to my guns and went to help at the hospital. At least she knows that I was there and I hope she realizes how much I do care.

Peace.

This week has been kind of long. I could have finished the Daniel Fast as of the 11th, but decided to do it the 12th in remembrance of the Haiti earthquake last year. And, then, I decided to keep on for now. My cousin is doing this for 21 days and I might do that, as well. I've only had one slip up and made one minor modification.

The slip-up... yesterday was a stressful day and I had some chocolate soy milk and chocolate covered almonds... instead of regular.

The modification... I made some decaf coffee yesterday and had it with soy milk. No sugar. But coffee and tea aren't technically on the list.. but I'm drinking them with no sugar, and if I want cream I use the soy milk.

The thing I've missed most, and not even all the time is cheese. Ok, and my coffee. But I went until last night from having coffee since the 1st!! That was HUGE for me. I still haven't had cheese. I have made tofu several times, and that has been pretty good. I've also been drinking just regular Silk Soymilk, not plain... because when I checked the labels they both had the same amount of sugar in them, which is very minimal (6 grams, way less than regular milk at 12 or 13grams). Try finding spaghetti sauce that is less than 4 grams of sugar in it, even. Since there is sugar in fruits, I think (personally) that this trace amt of sugar in these two items is worth it. Especially, since some people think that eating Peanut butter on this fast is acceptable. Look at the sugar in that.

Ok, so that's my update. I do feel better in some ways. I do still have some cravings, like yesterday when I broke down and had chocolate. But overall, I feel very good about this time. Looking at my life and eating habits with an eye toward God is always good.

Other tidbits:
Lil M can spell "mommy" by herself. She can also almost remember our whole phone number. she can spell STOP (and pots - stop backwards) and Dog. I got her a great little game that works on phonetic sounds of letters and building 2 or 3 letter words. Last weekend we removed the toddler potty from the bathroom and Lil M is now using the regular toilet all the time. She helped me take down the Christmas tree this week. She does clean up her room before bed each night and oh, has been really interested in the book I Love You Like Crazy Cakes. It's about an adoption situation just like ours. She thinks it's us. She has asked me why couldn't her China Mom keep her... that's a toughy. She's so observant when we talk about this kind of stuff.

I don't have an update on T. She's due on the 17th... when I heard from her earlier in the week, she hadn't delivered yet, but am not sure now.

I've started 3 classes for this semester, but might end up with 2 of them for the term. If I can manage it, I'll only have 7 left for my degree. I like that. Regardless, I'll deal with it. It's not like this is a requirement for my career or anything, but it would be nice to have.

Peace.

Daniel Fast

On Jan 1, I started what is called the Daniel Fast. I mentioned it earlier in the week, but basically, it is a fast he did when he was working for a new King. This King didn't observe the rules of keeping kosher, and so in protest, Daniel said he would eat only vegetables and water for 10 days. Some people observe this type of fast at the beginning of the year as a way of cleansing and renewing. It is like going Vegan and not having sweets.

I'm a huge coffee lover (decaf), and haven't had any all week. Everything I've eaten has been plant based... so, veggies, legumes (beans), nuts, rice, etc. I've had tea, but unsweetened. Soy milk, too. It's not been too hard for me to change to this way of eating, except I do like my chicken and fish and coffee. I'm not missing the sweets as much as I thought I would.

I'll give you some examples of my daily eating.

Breakfast - plain oatmeal with chopped hazelnuts and raisins. or bran cereal with soy milk.
Snack - nuts/raisins (if needed)
Lunch - Curried chickpeas and mushrooms with basmati rice (tomato based curry)
Snack - nuts/raisins
Dinner - frozen meal that was Vegan (corn torilla wraps with black beans, tofu, veggies and red sauce- mexican dish); glass of soy milk.

Again, I have been drinking hot tea every day because I get cold easily at work and such. I'm actually not overly hungry or anything. This fast isn't about denying yourself food as much as it is denying yourself "rich" foods. I have felt 'wanting' sometimes, though, and when that happens I do pray and talk to God.

What I've been finding is that I feel as good or better throughout the morning after eating my oatmeal. Surprisingly, it tastes good with the added banana or raisins and nuts. :)

So, it's not all about the food, right? :) But in scripture, Daniel did note that he and his comrades that did this 'fast' felt better after the 10 days than they did before. I'm finding the same thing, and it's been 5 days for me, so far. My cousin is doing this for 21 days (the amount of time Daniel did this same fast during a mourning period - I was wrong earlier when I said he extended his 10 day one). I'm considering doing the same, or for the entire month, however... I might want to add my coffee back, with my cream (which happens to be non-dairy). I am not sure I can do it without sugar, though, so we'll see.

I like that this God oriented fast is healthy. It isn't taking all food away (which can be rough on your system). It is very much still about focusing on God and allowing Him to fill the cravings, and to eat to live (healthily) not live to eat. There are times to do intesive fasts, but I like that this is something you can do for days or weeks at a time.

Peace.

14 days and counting

T is due Jan 17. I hadn't heard from her in over a week and have been quite worried. I texted her again today and she finally responded. She's 2 cm dilated and 159lbs. She said the baby is head down. Guess he's about ready... she said she'd like me to be there when she has him. Which made me feel a lot better. But I wonder if Scrunch will allow that, though. :( (yes, i have to defer to an 19 year old. ugh) I offered to take her to her appt tomorrow and she said she'd see if he was going to be mad ... apparently, he wants to take her. Oh well. At least I asked.

Anyway, I'm just sending up a whole lot of prayers today.

Peace.