Girls and Gates

 When Dassah says, "Let's sit on this bench and take a picture of me hugging Ellie" you really can't resist, right? :)

But we did have to cut it short because Ellie had the "Help - I'm being strangled!" face pretty quickly. At the heights they're at, it's really hard for Dassah to hug Ellie without strangling her, because her arms are right at her neck... The love is genuine, but we're working on the execution of it! ;)

If the weather is good enough (ie, not raining!) we often find ourselves at our "Secret Garden" after afternoon naps. It's a beautiful botanical garden, just 15 minutes away by bike. There I can let Hadassah wander without fear of cars or bikes coming up suddenly, and even let her practice her tree climbing skills. :)

Or gates, as the case may be. ;)

 Their recent favorite spot has been this big, always locked gate. They love hanging on it, holding on to it and jumping, and clanging a few metal pieces.

I couldn't help but take some pictures, because this is the way I pray for them to be... Side by side, sisters and friends, playing and talking and sharing life. I love seeing glimpses of this more and more as they're continuing to grow.

Sweet Sister Sewing

While Danielle and Alex were here, I made a short list of projects I wanted to do since I had help with chores and children. It was only about one per week (because somehow most of my time stayed filled!) but some of them were fun sewing projects. :)

Like these adorable matching skirts! Our good friends that live in our building had a baby girl the end of June, so I just had to make something for her and her big sister (who is Hadassah's age). I so enjoyed working with this fabric. Polka dots may become my new favorite for girls! And matching skirts took way less time to make than dresses with zippers and sleeves...

 Though towards the end I thought of adding snap on straps for the baby, since I made the skirt a little big so she could fit it as she grows. Little straps make a perfect newborn dress!

 With extra polka dots and trim found on Taobao, I finally finished the aprons I've been wanting to make for the girls and I! They were super simple. I used aprons we already had to cut them out, then did bias tape around the edges. The only stuff I could find here online is some kind of stretchy synthetic, so it took time to get used to sewing with, and I accidentally melted some when I tried to iron. Oops! But aprons don't have to be perfect, and I learned how to work with it by the end. Bias tape is a new favorite, as it saves having to hem!

 It's fun matching my girls. :) Dassah loves wearing hers, and it won't be long before Ellie will be clamoring to help too!

 And remember those dresses my friend and sis-in-law helped me make before Ellie was born? I literally finished them the night I went into labor. ;) Well, they fit them now and turned out so cute! Pink, lace, and ruffles... Doesn't get much better!

We are so blessed! And sewing just does something for my soul... What a blessing to be able to do it even in China thanks to my IKEA sewing machine!

A week of recovery...

It's basically what you need when you are fighting jet lag with two small children. I officially hate jet lag with kids.

We found it funny when we posted on Facebook that we'd made it home safely, but had been up since 1 AM with Hadassah who couldn't sleep past then. Most of the responses were "praise God, you made it home safely!" while the few friends who lived in China or had experience with jet lag responded more along the lines of "praying for you!" Jet lag with kids is just hard to imagine until you've lived it...

It's:
- A baby who wants to play at midnight instead of going back to sleep
- A 2 year old, who after crackers and milk and playing for an hour still can't sleep in her nice, dark room but instead sings and talks to herself for 2 hours happily
- But it's sporadic enough that you, exhausted from almost no sleep on the 24 hours of travel, can feel yourself almost sinking into the sweet sleep abyss only to be jerked out by another sweet voice.

It's:
- Counting it a triumph when your children sleep until 5 AM
- Because at least one has woken around 4 AM for the day all week

It's:
- Desperately trying to wake up children who feel like it's the middle of the night from their naps
- Holding the toddler for twenty minutes, singing through her favorite book, only to have her absolutely fall apart and cry for ten minutes because her popsicle was too cold.

It's finally over. I think. Hadassah made it to 5:30 AM this morning, and Ellie has slept until 6 AM the past two! And I am so ready to have my children back. Because not only were they dealing with no longer having grandparents to play with them every waking hour, their bodies were just so messed up with a massive sleep debt, they couldn't respond logically to basic life at times. Not that an almost 3 year old is entirely logical, but still - it's way worse on jet lag!

But, still, it was worth it. Even though I question it at times, and every time 5 hours into a 10+ hour flight I wonder why on earth we are willingly submitting ourselves and our girls to such a grueling ordeal... It's worth it. Their little hearts were so loved on by grandparents, and they grew in many ways through it. Hard as it is to be gone from home and routines for 3 weeks with littles, it was a blessing to spend so much quality time with family. I just try not to think about the week at a time spent just trying to recover every trip. If we go there and back twice a year, it's a total of a month out of 12 just trying to get the kids used to sleeping at the right times again!

But I digress... Picture memories are worth sharing. :)

 Sister snuggles on the floor... Ellie's never too sure about these, as sometimes Dassah uses her weight to her advantage and they turn antagonistic. But I am glad that Hadassah is having more and more sweet and gentle times with Ellie!

 Having a back yard for three weeks was in every way awesome.

 This one captured Grandpa's heart :)

 I'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual :)

 Ellie tried really hard to crawl while we were there, but only now has she finally moved forward a time or two!

 I liked being able to swing my girl and make her a flower crown while the baby napped...

 We even got to escape to one of our favorite Louisville restaurants for a date. We were tired, the food took forever to come, and the baby woke up early from her nap, then road construction prevented us from getting back as quickly as we wanted to. Dates don't always work perfectly, but being together is what counts!

 The girls had an outside tea party with Grammy :)

 And that last evening Hadassah relished just playing and playing on a perfect evening... With it light outside so late, we ended up pushing her bed time until 8:30 PM as it was taking her forever to fall asleep at night. I think her body is just tied so closely to light. Try as we might to darken her room, it's like she knows. So when the sun gets up at 4:30 AM here, it makes it hard to get her to sleep too much longer!

 Bubbles were so much fun with Grammy, as she found so many different ways of doing them!

 And you know they love her when they'll dance in the pool and get their own clothes wet just because she asked them to. ;)

 Early morning goodbyes at the airport...

 Waiting for our plane... And that sky!! It was our day of such amazing blue. I've only seen it slightly here in the last whole week. The sky outside of our window is always white/gray these days. So one day soon after returning, Dassah was helping me hang laundry and said "It's night time." I was confused until I realized she was looking at the sky, and seeing no visible sun or blue, she assumed it was the evening. But oh, how I enjoyed three weeks straight of blue sky!

 Jet lag with littles makes for cute moments. This was after 20 minutes of trying to get her to wake up from her nap while I held her. I had to put her on the floor when the doorbell rang with a grocery delivery...

 And this cutie's sleep has been all over the place as we try to figure out when naps should be all over again and she at times seems to desperately resist sleep, trying instead to crawl, sit or stand... But her cute baby belly and little lamb loving definitely make up for it. :)

Though it's been a crazy week of jet lag, there is nothing like home. Never thought China would feel so much like home, but this IS where our home is for now, and we are thankful. It was a wonderful vacation. But we look forward to the rest of the summer at home!

Life with Littles at Home

Life with two continues to mean usually not as much blogging time! I often take pictures and think "I want to share that!" and even think of a cute caption to go along with it, but usually I don't want to pull away from playing with the cuties to get on the computer in the moment, and then there's always a million other things to be done... 

Plus, I've gotten bitten by the photobook bug again, so am using any extra time I can to work on our 2015 family picture book. I'm learning sometimes to just take 10-15 minutes even if I don't "have" it during the time both girls are asleep in the afternoon. There are always so many many chores, but Ryan's helped me see that sometimes, I just have to give myself permission to breathe. I don't know why being creative in terms of photos or sewing helps so so much, but it really does. I so often don't, because I see the to-do list so full, but when I do, there's often a happier wife and mom around, which is better for everyone even if the laundry has yet to be put away.

Hadassah is full of energy and enthusiasm and ideas, and her favorite thing is "I want to help you, Mommy!" Though sometimes that seems like a nuisance, I have to remember that I trained her to be with me, and this help is going to be so useful in the long run! Already it's nice to have someone who can return the laundry hamper to the room or rinse the dishes, though often dishes just doubles as play-with-water time for her, and makes us both happy!

But, often I can just work, work work and get to nap time and realize I never sat down and just played with her. And while I don't want to be her sole source of entertainment, I don't want to miss these times of play and creativity and imagination. So, though it doesn't always happen, I've made it my goal to stop chores and do "Mommy-Dassah play" around 9 AM. Though Ellie's naps aren't always predictable, she is usually asleep at that time. :) We aim for 10 minutes of free play (it's always fun to see what Hadassah thinks up to do with me, or we play dolls or something), 10 minutes of reading time (I read a book to her then read my own book while she looks at a stack of hers), and some art/activity. Usually followed by 15 minutes of room time and then a morning snack. Hardly ever goes perfectly according to plan, but I've been aiming for this for the last month, and it really does help. She's always happier to play alone after some time with me, and has gotten used to me running around doing chores (with her helping where she can!) around 8:30-9 AM. :) 

And when I get buried in feeling like there's always so much work to do (yesterday was a prime example!), I want to take time off and just focus on mommying. People won't usually notice if the floor is mopped, but these childhood moments are what I'll remember. Often writing "play with Hadassah" and the activities I want to do that day on my to-do list helps me make sure they do. Partly because I love checking things off, but also just to give myself "permission" to ignore visible things and get down and play with little hearts.

So, what follows are a conglomeration of photos from the past month. Some are art project ideas (many of which came from Pinterest or blogs!), and others are just too-cute-not-to-share moments from our daily life.

 Making these butterflies are quick and children always have fun decorating them! We've done our share of babysitting two other kids at a time to trade date nights or for doctor's appointments (both of our American friends here are expecting their third baby!) and I've done these multiple times with great joy on the part of the kids. They're usually the ones to ask to do them again!

 Dassah still loves to sing and dance. I love seeing her praise the Lord. :) She often wakes up singing, and though I'd prefer quiet at 5:45 - 6 AM, hearing "Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, oh sing hallelujah!" coming from the room of a toddler is a pretty sweet way to start the day.

 We used the leotard my niece passed along to have her first "ballet lesson" for a mommy-dassah play time a few weeks ago. Pretty fun for this former dance teacher mom. And while when it's my own child I'm amazed at how much she can do if she wants to, with attention spans and physical ability, I'm glad I held firm to not having group ballet classes until the girls were 4 years old! ;)

 But still, dancing at home? So much fun. :)

 Ellie loves her exersaucer and smiles even more if she has a big sister visiting and playing along too! Hadassah gets big smiles whenever she comes near Ellie, and Ellie will follow her with her eyes whenever she can. Makes my heart so happy! And though there are still moments of aggression towards Ellie (usually when Hadassah wants attention), they are getting less as the ability to play together more goes up.

 Last week we used sweetend condensed milk and food coloring to make easy fingerpaint! Hadassah enjoyed helping scoop the stuff into an ice cube tray and squeeze colored drops and mix them around. Then we did some finger painting together...

 It doesn't really dry well, so we had to eventually throw the stuff away (after brushing against the sticky stuff one too many times!) but it made some pretty pictures! After tiring of fingers, Hadassah painted with sticks...

 Then a paint brush...

 Then a roller...

 The enjoyment lasted for quite a while, so of course when Ellie woke and I decided to nurse while Hadassah was occupied, she decided to start painting herself. Thankfully I noticed and called out "hands in the air!" before she got to her clothes! ;)

 I've seen ideas for kids sticking things to contact paper everywhere, but couldn't find any here. But I found a roll of wallpaper for just the equivalent of $2 on Taobao, and it serves the same purpose. :)

 Laundry still does have to be done, and taking down two loads and hanging one up can take 30 minutes at a time... So I have to include the girls in it when I can, and now that the weather is nicer it's easy for them to hang out on the balcony with me. Ellie can sit up safely in one of the empty boxes I had stored out there, so when Hadassah saw that, she wanted a box for herself, and one for her Ni-night too of course!

And laundry is so much more fun to do when you have cuties looking up at you! :)

 Pinterest is full of heart-shaped animals these days, and so we made one the other day. Hadassah was concerned that this fox didn't have any legs, though, so we added two. You've got to love how imaginative toddlers are and how it doesn't have to look totally realistic in order to please! :)

 Occasionally Hadassah will mimic what I'm doing with Ellie with a doll or other little friend. The other day she took Ni-night, laid her down on the rug and said, "I'm changing her poopy diaper." Then she took her to the rocking chair and pretended to nurse her, burp her, and then "she has a potty diaper now!" Then she took her to Ellie's high chair and fed her some "rice cereal" and "a little bit of ice cream" (I promise - I've never fed ice cream to Ellie!!). Then it was playtime. Ni-night got to be in the exersaucer some, and then she sat next to me on the couch (as I was letting Ellie jump on my lap) and had Ni-night jump too. Then, it was bed time. She went through the whole bedtime song and what we say "I love you ni-night, but Jesus loves you even more. Have a good sleep, I'll see you after your nap!" and put her in Ellie's crib. The first time didn't go well. She had to go back in because "ni-night is crying!" and do the routine again. Then she told me, "Now she's not waking up. She's having a good sleep." I tell her she's learning to be a good mommy. :)

She told me at lunch today, "I'm so glad God gave you a baby!" We talk a lot about how someday she will grow up and that maybe she'll get married and then God might give her a baby. :)

I call this one, "Baby, meet baby." Ellie had a fun time playing with Hadassah's doll this afternoon while big sister was sleeping. She kept reaching for it, squealing and talking to it. And of course, trying to eat it. 

And last but not least, with all the spring rain, these rain boots for Hadassah were definitely one of our best buys. It scandalizes the grandmas and grandpas outside often, and we usually end up having to change wet socks and pants too, but it gives her so so much joy and satisfaction to splash in puddles. Childhood is just too short to deny her that joy... 

Easter Dresses for my Girls

My girls. It still hits me how wonderful it is to be able to say it. :) While I have nothing against boys and really hope God gives us some one day, I am so enjoying our girls.

On a side note, here in China, it's interesting how everyone - EVERYONE - who sees me out with my girls assumes that Ellie is a boy. "Xiao Didi" they say - "small younger brother." Even though she's almost always dressed completely in pink with a pink blanket, they assume she's a boy, because they see that I already have a girl. They also aren't as picky about what they dress babies in, often using hand-me-downs regardless of color, so I understand that they could be confused there. But I happily reply "Je shi Meme" (this is younger sister) and they smile. But I know what they're thinking. Boys are often valued and desired more here. Especially because they were only allowed one child (or two, as the current policy has changed). But I am so happy to have two girls! I was telling a taxi driver that I had two girls one day, and he could tell... He said (in Chinese) "you really like girls." Yes, I do. :) Childhood dreams are being fulfilled...

Like sewing Easter dresses. I knew I wanted to this since before I was married. But the first year we had a daughter, we were packing to move to China. I had no time to sew. The second year we were in China, and I had no sewing machine. But dreams of making something with white eyelet still persisted.

 But how practical is white eyelet for little girls that always spill? So while out shopping for fabric with friends before Ellie was born, the idea for white eyelet pinafores was born. Then I can put them on for brief cute times and take them off in times of eating. Or if spills do happen, they'll be easier to bleach because they're all white!

And besides, what is cuter than a tiny baby pinafore??

 And with them being for little girls, I get to put cute touches just because... Because you can never be too cute or girly when they're small!

 When we knew for sure we'd be staying here more than a year, and especially when we found out we'd be having a second girl, I made the investment for a sewing machine to have here. And I'm so glad I did. There's just something about working with fabric on a quiet afternoon.

 The machine doesn't come out often, and I'm learning I have to just take it out sometimes even if all I have is 30 minutes at a time. Because those few minutes do make progress that turns into dresses. But God was really good today. Despite Ellie's current pattern of short naps being the norm, today BOTH girls had naps that overlapped for 2 hours!! I was able to enjoy blessed silence except for the whirr of the machine, and create.

And I'm pretty excited about the end result. :) I showed Hadassah the dresses and she immediately wanted to put them on. :) It will be fun to see them all dressed up to celebrate our Lord's resurrection on Sunday!