Thursday, February 19, 2009

She Wanted a Ponytail...

Mary Joyce has been asking for a couple of weeks now to have her hair in a ponytail. I wear mine that way a lot, so I'm sure that is where the idea is coming from. Problem is, Mary Joyce doesn't have that much hair. I've been telling her that she is going to have to wait until her hair grows more, etc. Finally, this morning, I gave in and decided to try it. It isn't a very big ponytail, but it is a ponytail, and it stayed up all the way until lunch time. She spent all morning telling me, "Mama, I've got ponytail!" I think she was pleased. :-)



Baby Jeans

Are these not the tiniest little blue jeans you have ever seen? I actually found some in newborn size. :-) Malcom's pair is on the left. The pair on the right are some of Mary Joyce's 24 month jeans, just for comparison. (Sorry for another baby clothes post--they are just fun.)

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Ultrasound Results

I just wanted to post quickly to share that we got the results from Mary Joyce's ultrasound and all is normal. It looks like she has no adverse effects from melamine exposure. God is good! :-)

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Mary Joyce's Big Girl Bed

This weekend, the major project around here was getting Mary Joyce's "big girl" bed set up. Chet and I purchased the bed last week, and then this Thursday we had to pick it up from the furniture store in Daytona Beach during Race Week--we must be crazy! (Did I mention the furniture store is in a shopping center right across from the Speedway? Did I mention crazy?) Anyway, we got home with it, and yesterday's project was getting it set up.

The bed is actually part of a bunk bed set, but it can be split into two twin beds. Right now, since Katherine is still in a crib, we have set up one of the twins for Mary Joyce and have the other half in storage for Katherine when she gets a little older. Then, we changed Mary Joyce's former toddler bed back into a crib and moved Katherine into it, so that she can have the toddler bed when the time is right. Katherine's former crib is now in storage for Malcom whenever the house addition is completed. Clear as mud?

Of course, setting up the new bed and making room for it involved rearranging pretty much every piece of furniture in the girls' room, with the exception of the changing table. And, on top of that, when the addition is done, they will be moving into a bigger bedroom anyway. So, this arrangement has to get us through until that point. (That also explains why there are tab-top valances on curtain rods that really aren't very pretty--the valances were bought for the new room, but I went on and switched them out because the ones that were there were part of Mary Joyce's crib set that we are no longer using.)

Anyway, Mary Joyce slept in her bed just fine last night, except that at first she was WAY too excited to fall asleep. And, with it being Sunday morning, we had to wake her up this morning, which meant she was a bit grouchy from lack of sleep. Other than that, all was well.

I had a couple of people on Facebook asking me how we got her to sleep in her new bed. I don't really have a lot of helpful hints in that area. Mary Joyce, unlike many children adopted from China, has always slept in her own crib. From the information we got about her foster home, she was sleeping in a crib there instead of with her foster family, as is common in China. She took right away to sleeping in her own room. One thing I think that helped when we transitioned her from the crib is that it is a convertible crib, so even when we took the side off, her first "big girl" bed had the same mattress and bedding she was used to. She slept in that toddler bed for well over a year and would probably still be in it now if we didn't have another baby on the way. On this new bed, we've been talking it up to her for quite awhile, getting her used to the idea. By the time the bed was actually set up, she had grown accustomed to the whole concept. The girl likes her sleep, so these kinds of transitions just aren't too terribly difficult for her.

I've included a slideshow of pictures in the next post. :-)

The New "Big Girl" Bed!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from our Little Sweethearts!!!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Melamine, Ultrasounds, and Baby Malcom

I'm sure most of you heard the news reports a few months back about melamine being found in baby formula in China. Because of this, adoptive parents are being advised to talk to their pediatricians about having their children tested in case they were exposed to this. After doing our research and talking with our pediatrician, we decided to move forward and have the testing done. So far, all has been clear, except for one small glitch in the urinalysis, which our doctor thinks is due to her just getting over a virus at the time the test was done. Mary Joyce had a renal ultrasound done yesterday where they looked at her kidneys and bladder, and she was SUCH a big girl about the whole thing! Now, we are just waiting on the results, which we should have by the end of the week.

The funny moment...

The tech started the ultrasound, and when Mary Joyce saw the picture of her kidney on the screen, she said, "It's Baby Malcom!" Uh--not exactly, but we got a good laugh out of it!

If you want to find out more about the melamine issue, check out this website:

Melamine Info

Monday, February 9, 2009

I Passed!!!

The 3 hour glucose test ordeal is over, and I passed! That is another good thing about the way they did the test this time--instant results. I woke up with a horrible headache this morning, which made the whole thing an even more miserable experience, but it is over and done with now, and I am so glad!

Friday, February 6, 2009

A Package for Malcom

Malcom got his first package in the mail the other day, and he hasn't even made his appearance yet. His Lao Lao (grandmother) and Nanny (great-grandmother) went on a shopping trip the other day and came back with all kinds of goodies for our baby boy. There were even a couple of summer outfits for the big sisters included, which somehow I forgot to make pictures of...oops...



Of course, the girls' favorite part of the whole thing was the box...

Elefun!

Mary Joyce got this Elefun game for her birthday, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to get batteries in it. That said, the girls, especially Mary Joyce, have had a ball with it lately. Their playing style is unique, though. The object of the game is to catch butterflies in your net as they come out of the elephant's trunk. Mary Joyce stands in one spot, and if one happens to fall into her net, she is thrilled. :-) Then, there is her "pick all the butterflies up off the floor" technique of filling her net. Not exactly the way the game was meant to be played, but she has a lot of fun, all the same.