Hunting for Gas

Living in the southeast, my town has been hit hard by gasoline shortages due to Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. This is when I have been very greatful to have a car with decent gas mileage. I had filled up right before the hurricanes hit and have been able to avoid the panic until yesterday when I finally was at 1/4 of a tank and had to drive close to 15 miles one way to get the girls to gymnastics. So I spent the day debating whether or not to make the trip or just tell the girls we couldn't go. Officials were promising that tankers were going to arrive late Friday and gas would once again appear at the gas stations that had been empty for days. The girls gave me sad looking puppy eyes and I agreed to make the trip despite the fact that I could feel the panic that had hit many in this area creeping into my mind. The news has been full of stories of people sleeping in their cars overnight at a station hoping to get gas only to find out the next day that there would still be none available. On the way home from work I went by 3 gas stations - none with gas for sale. This felt like the stories I heard about the 1970s gas shortage.

So, on the way to gymnastics the traffic began to slow down, it was raining and I was thinking how glad I was we headed out early since there must be an accident up ahead. About 10 minutes later I started realizing that the left lane was starting to move faster and the right lane was slowing further. Hold on a second! Could this be a gas line???!! I decided to hang out in the right lane just in case. I had passed 6 gas stations on my way and none had gas so I thought I might as well wait just in case. About 50 minutes later and I saw the gas station ahead and yes! it appeared to have gas. Of course when I was about 10 cars away Ellie told me she had to go to the bathroom. Luckily, I had my handy potty which I set up on the seat beside me and let her hop out of her car seat and go (the cars were at a standstill and I deemed this an emergency). Once done, I popped her back in the carseat and we sat some more. When I actually was in the station with two cars ahead of me at the pump is when I began to stress. What if they ran out of gas?? We were late for gymnastics and the girls were grumpy and bored to tears and they didn't understand why in the world mommy was waiting in this line for gas. But it was worth it for my sanity - tank is filled back up and I know I'm good for another 2 weeks. Hopefully this will all be over by then and I won't have to be on the gas hunt again.

And if she ended up as a teenage goth...

Jordan might look a little like this ..... minus the smile of course. Jordan loves a little carbon (ie., cooked to ashes) on some of her food. Marshmallows are no exception - so yes, those are marshmallow ashes on her mouth. This pic was from our weekend at Camp China. I know I need to put some new ones on - just haven't had the chance yet.

We begin activities in full throttle this week. Jordan has started gymnastics at a new program. It is a special class put together by a member of our FCC for our members. Ellie is also joining as they've broken the girls up into a younger group (2.5-4) and older group (4.5-7). She is so excited to be doing "nastics" like her sister. This week we'll add choir and acting classes to her schedule. Thank goodness she has gotten into the habit of doing her written homework while waiting for her bus in the afternoon or while at her after school program. I know it'll make it easier to add on these 2 new extracurriculars. I only wanted Jordan doing one thing at a time but she really wanted to do all of these so we're going to try for now.

Catch Up Again

Work continues to be crazy. That is the only pitiful excuse I can make to not updating this. Wow - not a single post in August. That is just downright inexcusable - even if I was gone half the weekends.

So...let me catch up. I'll begin with Camp China. We loved it! Jordan has already asked to go back next year (July 31 - August 3, 2009 if anyone wants to block it on their calendar). Ellie did stay home with her grandparents so it was just a weekend for Jordan and I. One of her friends from Charlotte also came and the two of them were thick as thieves the whole weekend. I got to watch a fantastic documentary about preparing for the Olympics called Dreamweavers 2008. Jordan got to eat s'mores made at a campfire, try out martial arts, learn about brush painting and just goof off.

The following weekend we met up with one of the families we traveled with when I adopted Jordan back in 2003. The girls had an enjoyable 2 days catching up and even let their little sisters join in the fun.

It turned out to be a fantastic weekend from a weather perspective. We met up in Richmond, VA and spent time at the Children's Museum (home of the real Santa Claus) and the Botanical Gardens (which I loved).

I hope we can continue getting the girls together every 1-2 years.

And then it was time for school to start back. Jordan is now in first grade. Once again she has a teacher who expects well-behaved students that are ready to learn. Luckily, Jordan loves to learn and it appears to be a good match. Jordan has enjoyed her first week of school and being able to get back together with all of her school friends. She is going to ride the bus in the morning this year (yikes). This is great for me - no road rage moments as I wait and wait and wait for the cars in front of me to try and turn left out of the school (why can't they just turn right and go around the block like I do???). Plus, less gas used as I get to drive straight to work now. The first day of school began with all the elementary students coming to the courtyard to watch the first graders receive their 'schultueten' (cones filled with candy and school supplies) from the fifth graders as they were welcomed into the academic community (apparently kindergarten is just a warm up and first grade is when they really start learning). I think the kids are just getting back into the swing of things. Jordan did tell me that her teacher is speaking to them in Mandarin but they really are just reviewing what they learned last year.

Ellie has moved up to the 'Older Twos' room. She's so happy that she got to move up with her friends to the other hallway where the big kids are. She is either the youngest or the second youngest in the room (for now) but since all the kids are only 6 months apart max in age - it really doesn't make a difference.

That's all for now. I'll post more sooner rather than later!

Did I say good? I meant GREAT!!!!

Warning: More potty talk (literally).

I haven't wanted to jinx it. So I posted my last post Friday morning. Well, since Friday - my wonderful, strong-willed, adorable daughter has only had one accident. Only 1!!!! She was dry all day Friday, Saturday (minus the 1 accident at the park), Sunday and today at school. She is now identifying herself when she needs to use the potty. She has done both #1 and #2 now on the potty (and those of you who have gone through this before know that it is often a big deal to get our kids over the fear of pooping on the potty). I am just totally amazed at the turnaround. She has made me so very, very proud.

This coming weekend we are heading to Camp China in Asheville, NC. At least Jordan and I are going. Ellie is signed up for the preschool part but I'm going to make my decision on whether to take her or leave her with her grandparents on Friday. Right now I'm thinking of leaving her with her grandparents as the best option - it will give Jordan and I a weekend on our own and keep Ellie on track with her potty training. Plus, Jordan will be with her grandparents next week and Ellie and I will have some 1-on-1 time.

On another front... my manager may be moving on to greener pastures in the next 3 months. Not sure what that means for me yet.

Life is Good

No - Ellie has not figured out how to consistently use the potty- although I "think" she might be slowly improving. But I've resigned myself to nightly laundry for awhile so that is okay.

So why is life good? Because I have amazing kids and parents. Jordan is in a half day (3 hour) camp this week being hosted by the new 2nd grade Mandarin teacher and Jordan's Kindergarten TA. My mom is a amazing for being willing to come down here this week to drive J. to and from camp. Jordan is amazing because she is learning so much so fast. Because there are only 4 children with 2 teachers - they get an incredible amount of time 1-on-1. Jordan is learning 12 new words / characters a day! And she is remembering them. She has homework every night - practice writing all the new characters she knows. I found out from her yesterday that some of the characters that I assumed the teacher had written (because they looked so good) were actually written by her. At the end of this week she'll know 60 more characters. I love that she loves to learn!

Potty Training

I have a very stubborn daughter. Let's just put that out there now. Jordan was so easy to potty train after the first day. Ellie is the opposite. She could do it if she wanted to - she just doesn't want to. In fact, that is common phrase out of her lips now, "I don't want to!" - said with whiny voice and arms folded over her chest. At school yesterday she refused to use the potty all day. At one point while outside she lifted up her dress and just went (should I feel good that she took the time to ensure her dress stayed dry????) She likes her panties but likes her diapers too. She hates taking off her diaper in the morning (I keep her in one overnight) but once she has panties on she likes those.


I just bought a travel potty that looks really cool - Ellie sat on it tonight and told me it was fine (but didn't actually use it -- she did use her Dora potty). Here's a pic of the travel potty -
It basically is a seat and small legs that fold for travel and a disposable baggy that goes overtop and has a absorbent pad to make it less messy. I got mine at BabiesRUs but they are available on Amazon too.

So... wish me luck on the potty training. I am NOT going back to diapers. Jordan was down to a rare accident in about a week. Ellie will be lucky to be going 50% of the time after 2 weeks.

Beach

There is so much to catch up on but I'm trying to stay off of the computer while on vacation. I promise to write more later. Work has been incredibly hectic since mid-April. I mean REALLY hectic - the kind where I leave at 5:15pm to pick up the girls and get home and then as soon as I've fed them and put them to bed (sometimes before bed) I'm back logged on again. I hate when it gets this bad but I've known it was coming for awhile.

I've been scheduled for an unprecedented 2 weeks of vacation since last summer when I came down here to Edisto for a week and fell in love with the house and the location and swore I'd come back. So despite work being a windstorm - I'm here and loving it. I've had to check in at work briefly but not as much as I should and more than I've wanted to.

I have been taking tons of pics of the girls - I love taking pictures of them and since I don't have time to get professional photos taken - it is up to me and my Canon. Here are two quick pictures of Jordan and Ellie. Since I last posted Jordan has turned 6, lost a second tooth, finished Kindergarten and headed to first grade. Ellie has become quite the conversationalist and is still headstrong, funny, and full of life....so much to talk about - and I promise to catch back up soon!

The Big Event of the weekend

Mother's Day? Hah! That was just the warm up. The BIG EVENT in our household this weekend was the first lost tooth!

Mother's Day was nice. Ellie made me a lovely bracelet from beads and a pipe cleaner. Jordan gave me a great card in which she traced her hand, cut it out and then had it holding a paper flower. Both go into my treasure box.

We got up early (I would have loved to have slept in but I also wanted to see my sister) and had breakfast at the Original Pancake House (home to the best pancakes around!). We didn't really have lunch (well - the girls had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - I didn't have lunch). And we took a nice nap (yay!). We headed down to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and got there around 4:25pm. The place doesn't open until 4:30pm and there was already a big crowd forming. Had a great meal and then as Jordan was eating a doughnut I hear her shout "it fell out!". I asked if she had swallowed it and she told me no. She had been chewing her doughnut and had felt something hard and realized it must be her tooth and spit it out and it fell on the floor. So the patrons of the restaurant must have thought we were very odd to be all crowded around looking at the white tile floor for a small white tooth. But success!!! So the Tooth Fairy now has a new tooth and Jordan is one tooth short.

Ellie

I took this picture of Ellie over the weekend. We were at an outdoor arts festival and she was sitting and watching the dancers at one of the stages. I think I love this picture because it is not posed. I feel that it shows the old soul in her - which I know she has.

I also see in her the same girl as in my referral picture. And I guess I feel that if her nannies could see her now - they may still recognize her.

Fun, fun, fun

Blame Ellie for no new post. She has asked every night that I pull up the blog and play the ABC video. She loves watching herself. But - I felt I really should update the site -- so sorry, Ellie.

The weather in April has definitely brought the rainshowers. And we are greatful - because we have been suffering through a major drought. Unfortunately, the rain tends to come on weekends. But, when the weather behaves we definitely have been taking advantage of it. Above was a picture I took from my front door of my girls having popsicles on the front porch. They are not allowed to eat popsicles inside the house - but on warm evenings, you can find them outside slurping away.

Jordan's class had a field trip last week and I got to chaperone. They went to a large animal safari-type place and got to feed llamas, water buffalo, giraffes, etc. I think she was feeding an alpaca above. The place allows you to drive through in your car if you want or they have wagons pulled by horse. Her class went by wagon - so they had very easy access to all of the animals. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I was able to spend the day with her class. She has just learned how to say the pledge of alliegance in Mandarin. I will take a video of her saying it soon and post it - I think it is pretty cool. She recited it for some friends of ours who are Chinese and they were impressed (I think they were most impressed with her accent - the fact she is saying the tones). Since I can't judge that - I was really happy to hear that.

At the end of May, Jordan's gymnastics class is going to perform their routines on some of the equiptment. I snuck a few pics of Jordan on the beam. I would kill for calf muscles like my daughter's. Her body was built for gymnastics. She likes it but not enough for us to do anything beyond recreational. But right now it rates higher than any of the proposed alternatives I've given her (horseback riding, ballet, art classes).

ABCs

Ellie loves to sing her ABCs. So I finally grabbed my camera to document it.

The giggles in the background are her sister.

Asian Culture on the Web

I was on Rumor Queen the other day (my best friend is STILL waiting to adopt - so I keep up to date on what is going on). Anyway - someone mentioned a blog and I went to look at it. It is called Stuff Asian People Like. It is written by Asians for Asians. I love reading the posts. And even more, the comments. Since I'm not Asian (ummm...is my blue-white skin that obvious of a clue???), I'm just an outside observer and would never comment myself. The blog is part of a new community site: Asian Central. Check it out if you like.

Another good site is Asian-American Village - part of the IMDiversity website. You can catch up on the latest Secret Asian Man comics there. There are also some great articles from Francis Kai-Hwa Wang.

The Newest Family Member

Congratulations to my cousin Jamey and her husband Joel on the birth of their daughter Rachel! She looks adorable in the pics I've seen. I'm sure Riley is going to be a great big sister!

Going to the Movies

Yesterday was a holiday for both girls (surprise Mom!). That means - I had to stay home whether I wanted to or not. I have a great manager who told me that I was working from home and I didn't need to take a vacation day because I had my blackberry on. I did work in the morning and even did a conference call (with a lot of other parents who were working from home apparently). But the afternoon was more fun time. I took the girls to a movie - Horton Hears a Who.
I know some of you are thinking - who in the world takes a 2 year old to a movie??? Well, apparently me. Even though Jordan didn't get to see a movie until she was 4 at the theater - I decided to risk taking Ellie. I warned Jordan it may be a quick experiment because if Ellie started screaming - I was out of there.
So after stopping by the concession area and getting each child a kids pack of popcorn and gummy candy off we went inside the theater. Thank goodness it was not full - just a few families. I sat in the middle with a child on each side - the better to stick my hand in their popcorn and eat it, my dear. Equal opportunity.
Jordan enjoyed the movie. It helped that we had read the book last week - so she was not worried about all the Whos in Whoville perishing - she knew it would have a happy ending.
Ellie had fun. She started off very well behaved sitting in her chair with her food on her lap munching away. That got boring after about 1/4 of the way through the movie. So she decided to sit on the arm of the chair (to see better I'm sure). Also - why not kick the shoes off and relax? (Mom quickly scrambles to grab shoes and store them away). Then she gets one of her feet stuck in between the back and bottom of the seat and as she pulls free her sock comes off. Mom scrambles to floor to retrieve sock and place back on foot. Then Ellie decides it is time to walk around (thankfully just along our row). I take that back - she did make it to the end of the row and then decide to walk down the row below us but she came back quickly when she saw my stare. Normally, I would grab her and bring her back but since there was a movie going on - I was trying to balance ensuring her safety and the enjoyment of other patrons. She came back and stood on the chair beside me (luckily she's still little and her head reached the top of the back of the chair). Then she reaches over and grabs the chair in front of her and straddles between the chair in front and the one beside me. Ok - that's too much for me. She is either going to fall or she is going to flip over the chair in front of her. I finally grab her and hold onto her for the rest of the show. Thankfully, she does not protest too loudly and is pacified by my rubbing her back while she watches the movie. So - we survived. Will I do it again anytime soon - I don't think so. I think my original rule of being 4 to see a movie was a good one. But you never know. Poor Jordan also didn't get to eat popcorn until she was nearly 4 - Ellie loves popcorn at two.

Sisters

When you bring a second child into your family there are always worries. What if I'm making the biggest mistake in my life and ruining my perfectly good family? What if the girls don't get along? What if the age range between them is too close or too far apart? What am I doing?

I cried and cried on our last night in Hong Kong before heading to Hunan to adopt Ellie. I was scared to death. I was grieving the family of two that Jordan and I had become and scared that what we were about to do was going to be the worst decision ever.

It wasn't. Obviously. How could Ellie not be part of our family??!! I love the picture above (although it came out a little too dark). It is my two girls, jie jie and mei mei, in their own little world. Truly sisters in every sense that is important. Yes, they have their spats. But this picture shows the love between the two that I always hoped would be there. This is the family I had hoped for and that I ended up having.

Feeling Fine

Well, round 1 of the illnesses went to me in January. Round 2 went to Ellie. Just when she was feeling better we hit Round 3 with Jordan. I think we are all feeling better now.

Here is Ellie showing off her purple and pink hair. Isn't it beautiful??!!!

Sick Baby

Ellie is sick. And she's cutting molars. That is a recipe for disaster. Daycare called yesterday and had me pick her up close to lunchtime because she was running a fever of 101 (or 102 depending on who I spoke to at daycare). I was hoping it was because her 2 year old molars were starting to come. Silly me. I took her home, gave her some Tylenol, and she returned to her happy, go-lucky self. I had called the Dr. and talked to the front office at 11:55am. Their response: we're off half a day today. Sorry. You can call the on call dr. at 5pm today. So I had to wait half a day. And with Ellie rallying - I was all set to not go to the dr. And then, at 4:55pm I could tell that she was starting to fade. Last minute decision - call the on-call Dr. They told me if I could get there in 20 minutes, I could come in. Sure - no problem. Grab Ellie....speed my way over to pick up Jordan at her after-school program....make it to the Dr. with 10 seconds to spare (okay - we were probably a minute late). Both nurse and dr. look at me as if I'm crazy to think it could be teething. Poor deluded mom (to be fair to me - I knew it was something more or I wouldn't have taken her last night). Both strep and flu tests come back negative but the doctor told me that she definitely had a virus of some sort. We go grab dinner and head home (Ellie's temp is now 103 and I quickly get Motrin in her).
This morning she was still feverish and I gave her some more Motrin. But it didn't work quick enough and she was begging me for "mo' medsin mama". Poor thing. It finally kicked in and she's been happy and playful ever since (except for the occasional whine and pointing in her mouth to tell me it hurts - followed with orajel the first time and sympathy the other times.
She's napping now - when she wakes I'll dose her up on Tylenol.
I also found out that both girls were exposed to the flu on Wednesday when the were babysat at a friend's home. Ugggh. I'm hoping Ellie's virus keeps her immune. I'm praying Jordan doesn't get it. I can handle random viruses that last 3-4 days but the flu would be a nightmare.

Images from CNY

I know CNY isn't quite over - the big Lantern Festival is tomorrow - but I wanted to share some of the images from our celbration of New Year this year.

To your left - you'll see our favorite pig - cooked and decorated festively (check out those ear bows). This is part of the offering that a local restaurant had displayed. The big cup of water by the pig is in case of fire as they burned incense and paper money.



They also had a dragon dance - hooray! We love coming here when they have their celebration because it is as close to a celebration in a chinatown that we're going to get. Ellie really liked the dragon!

They also had a several lion dancers. The cloud of smoke behind the lion dancer is due to the firecrackers that were constantly going off. Luckily - Ellie and Jordan were not bothered by the noise.

While we were eating lunch some of the lion dancers came inside the restaurant. Jordan would pretend to be scared and hide under the table when they got close. We had a great dim sum lunch!

This is a picture of Jordan at our local FCC's Chinese New Year celebration. My blogger buddy Donna lamented on her page the impact of the slowdown in referrals at their CNY event. We had the same impact - with only 3 new families formed since last year. I also was also voted in as VP of our FCC at this time. I'm still trying to figure out how I got talked into that considering all the free time I have (ha ha!!!)

Here is a picture of Jordan's kindergarten class. They performed for the school in celebration of CNY. They spent most of the day celebrating. I know I'm biased but I think their class had one of the best performances of the day. Her teacher is absolutely wonderful and really worked hard with the children to let them shine!

And last but not least - a picture of Jordan just before the kids got into costume for their performance. The parents brought in food and the teacher made dumplings for lunch. The kids had a grand time. They even had a relay race where they were running back and forth trying to carry pieces of popcorn across the room with chopsticks. I was really glad I got to take time from work to celebrate with them.

Dancing Queen

Did I mention before that Ellie loves to dance? Too early to say if she's going to have rhythm or not - but she loves, loves, loves to dance. Here's a clip from our FCC party where she's having a great time (even if it is in her own little world).

Someone Is Two!!!!

Look who has turned two! Ellie has been so excited and has told everyone she is now two and that she has an Elmo cake (which is almost completely eaten). We are so proud of her and can't wait to enter the terrific twos (yes, I'm being optimistic despite the random crying / tantrum episodes). Mommy is praying that she'll only have to pay 1 more month of expensive daycare before getting a reduction in cost as she moves to the next room (5 to 1 ratio rather than 4 to 1).
Here are some more pics of Ellie at her party!