Wordless Wednesday

What I Did on My Christmas Vacation

Well, it wasn't blogging, was it?? :-)  We spent Christmas and New Year's in FL with my family. All 4 generations were together at some point during Christmas and Christmas Week: my grandparents, my parents, aunt and uncle, my sister and her family and us.  My folks have a big house and we filled it up.  Truly the best part of it all was after the hustle of traveling and Christmas Eve/Day had passed and the family all just hung out together and played with the 3 girls.  Having our daughter at home with us at long last was really the best present I could ask for, and Christmas was even more meaningful as I held my daughter throughout the candlelight service.  (Not that I had a lot of time to reflect, what with trying to keep her from crawling up to the pulpit to see Pop-pop as he preached or from chewing on the candles.)  

Since then, we stopped on our way back to NC for a nice overnight visit with another family we traveled with to China.  Their daughter is so adorable and it was great to see how well she has handled the many adjustments she's faced in the past few months.  We really enjoyed the time to chat and catch up with L. and S. -- we appreciated their hospitality and are looking forward to hopefully making a stop at their house a tradition when we go see my folks!  

Anna Kathryn definitely enjoyed her first Christmas with us.  I have no idea how, or if, Christmas was even celebrated at the Poyang SWI, but in any case, she was less than 2 months old last Christmas and wouldn't have had a clue.  She liked Alie's gift from Santa more than her own, but we figured she would need to grow into it.   She did chew on the baby Jesus several times and was intrigued by the angel, which lit up when you pressed down on it, and the song "Away in a Manger" played.  AK does love the musical toys!  Emily had great fun later on making up lots of stories about the Bible characters.  

She cooed and squirmed through Christmas Eve service and got to meet a sweet girl in my dad's church who is also Chinese.  She was interested in our birthday party for Jesus for the first few minutes and actually listened to my dad read the Nativity story from the Bible, then proceeded to empty our stockings systematically.  Hee hee.

Anna Kathryn took a little while to get used to everybody (velcro baby at first), but eventually was toddling between people and blowing kisses and getting hugs.  She absolutely loved playing with her cousins:  Emily was so patient with her and willingly shared lots of her new toys.  Alie, at 4 months, didn't do much but look at AK.  She did cringe a bit every time AK came too close, since a lack of fine motor skills  and an abundance of curiosity meant that Alie got bopped in the head a number of times by AK.   AK's favorite word is "mama" and she kept looking at my sister (we do resemble each other, and sound a lot alike) and saying, "Mama?" with this quizzical look on her face.  Too cute!  She played a lot of peek-a-boo with Nana and is now a fan of riding on Nana's scooter with her.  She loved romping with Pop-pop, and totally charmed my grandparents and aunt and uncle.

Big news:  she took her first steps on December 29th, to much applause and cheering from the entire family!

She rolled with the changes in routine and household pretty well, especially considering we had just completely changed her routine when she started daycare.  The last few days of the trip she was somewhat cranky more often, but mostly was her usual good-natured self.  She just didn't sleep as well away from her crib.  We tried to keep her routine as semi-normal as possible, but it really wasn't possible.  But, I think she loved being with mama and daddy and the family all day -- I know I loved it!!  Eventually, she did run out of steam.  

So, pictures.  I have LOTS, thanks to my sister giving me copies of her files to add to my own.  That was part of my mental block about even getting around to posting about Christmas. I'm definitely going to have to post in installments.  

Added at 10:30:   Today is Mark's birthday!  Unfortunately, the Panthers lost last night and he has a bad cold, so the celebration was rather subdued.  I feel so blessed to celebrate another year with him!  Happy Birthday, honey!

Dedication Day

Yesterday, we dedicated Anna Kathryn to the Lord formally in front of our church family and friends.  This was the outward ceremony to confirm in public what we did in our hearts many years ago, when Mark and I first started praying for a child.  Our close friends Allison, David, and Maggie came with us and I am so glad they were able to share in this special day.  

Of course, there was a bit of stress involved with the whole thing, as is typical with anything in my life that is ceremonial and/or overly planned.  I got up extra early to make sure we had lunch cooking before we left and that we were all clean, pressed and dressed up.  Unfortunately, Anna Kathryn decided to fill her diaper right about the time we needed to be getting her dressed.  (I had waited until the last minute so she wouldn't get anything on her pretty silk outfit.  Instead of the traditional white, embroidered christening gown I decided to dress Anna Kathryn in one of the silk outfits we bought for her in China.  She wore a two piece pants outfit of bright pink and gold, with her pink, appliqued tiger slippers to match.)   Since these things can't be rushed, we had to hang around a bit.  We finally were able to dress her, shove her coat on and get out the door.  We stopped by Allison's house to pick them up and we were on our way.

We managed to arrive 10 minutes early.  That gave Anna Kathryn time to wave at lots of people before the service started.  Church began and she did well through all of the singing.  We sang lots of carols, which is all I want to sing at Christmas.  We hadn't been able to check with the pastor before the service began to see when our part would happen but I figured it would be early on, for the sake of the squirmy baby.  

After the praise and worship time, we moved into prayer.  This was about 40 minutes into the service.  Anna Kathryn had "helped" Maggie eat a pack of dried fruit and by now was ready to get on with things.  I was, too.  Plus her precious, traditional-for-Chinese-babies tiger slippers were too big and kept falling off, which was driving me crazy.  She had already hung out in everyone's lap, and began to get noisy while folks were praying, so I took her into the narthex.  

While we were out there, our pastor, a great guy, came rushing in.  He hurriedly explained that all through the first part of the service he kept thinking that there was something he'd forgotten.  Then he remembered... the baby dedication!  He apologized and said we'd do it after the offertory.  Hee hee!  I was glad to go back into church after prayer time and tell Mark that we were next. 

The other funny part to this was the candle... our church gives the family a candle that is lit during the dedication.  Pink for girls, blue for boys.  The pastor explains that the candle is a keepsake to be lit on the child's birthday every year.  When they are old enough to ask about the candle, the parents tell them about how they were dedicated to God as an infant and it's another opportunity to tell our children about how much Jesus loves them.   Well, the pastor didn't have an extra candle available so he had to wing it.  Thank goodness Anna Kathryn is a girl, because he plucked the pink candle out of the Advent wreath, and now she has an extra special candle!

A few more pictures from the day (taken at a discreet distance, so a little dark):

Allison and David took some HILARIOUS snapshots later on, after lunch, of the girls in front of our tree.  The combination of a three-year old and a one-year-old makes for entertaining photos, if nothing else!  She posted them on her blog.  I'm still cracking up over these.  

Remembering...

Tonight at 7:00 pm, along with my sister and many others around the world who have lost a beloved child, I lit a candle in memory of my sweet niece, Natalie.  Her Uncle Mark and I miss her so very much, though we know she is rejoicing in heaven.  

Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.  

Lamentations 3:32

Anna Kathryn's First Art Project

On Friday, Anna Kathryn brought home her first art project from daycare. Her tiny little hands are the antlers. (!!) After I finished wiping away a little tear, I had to chuckle a little at the, um, creative placement of Rudolph's eyes. I'm so proud!

Juggling...

... work, baby, husband, house, life in general these days. It's all basically good but by the end of the evening, I'm toast. I now understand why all of my new mommy friends go to bed early. Too bad I am addicted to reading blogs and tend to be a night owl!

Anyway. We are all transitioning into the new routine well, and Anna Kathryn has pretty much settled into her new routine and going to day care (we call it "school"). She likes her new teachers and seems particularly fond of one of the afternoon teachers. She is super tired most nights -- dinner often ends with howls and spitting out rejected bites-- so bedtime is earlier these days. We try to make the most of the few short hours we have with her before bed. My one big wish these days is that dishes would magically load themselves in the dishwasher and that the sponge would magically wipe the counter. I don't mind cooking dinner at all, but after the bedtime routine I want to plop down on the couch and put my feet up, not do the dishes. I usually can't get it all done before bedtime, because that would cut into playtime with Little Miss Sunshine. Mark lends a hand many nights and I love it (and him, especially) when he does. I know I am blessed to be married to such a great guy.

Anna Kathryn's First Birthday!!

Anna Kathryn turned one on November 3, but I have finally gone through all of the pictures from her birthday party and picked my favorites. We had a wonderful day celebrating our special girl, surrounded by family and a few close friends (who are practically family anyway!).



P.S.-- I'm back to posting on this blog at last!! I also have a new-ish name and got a facelift. I may be slightly addicted to redecorating my blogs-- it's more fun than writing posts, honestly.