A Daughter, a Mama, and a Birthday

Last week we celebrated not only Mother’s Day, but also Natalie’s fourth birthday. We celebrated her birthday so much that we did it twice. On her birthday we had dinner with family, and over the weekend, at Natalie’s request, a playground party with some of her friends. We’re so grateful for everyone’s love, generosity, and time and are thankful for everyone who plays a part in her life. As Natalie’s mama, sometimes I can’t believe my good fortune to have the honor and privilege of calling her my daughter. We love you too much, Natalie.

PS (Baba here) Amy wrote the above before she was awoken about 6 times last night by our little doll.  We are all suffering from colds (thanks to said angel constantly touching things in public and not sanitizing) and we should have given her something last night before bed. I think Mama still loves her, but the comments might not have been quite so glowing if she wrote them this morning. ;)

A big girl and a little girl all in the same package.

Should we look into a modeling career?

We are currently surrounded by Hello Kitty.

She appreciates the cash.

BFFs hugging it out.

Soccer

Natalie is really enjoying soccer this season.  She is playing pretty well too.  Four goals in two games isn't too shabby.  I think it has more to do with her amazing coach than anything though.

Hope you like the shots.

We’re Still Around

As another major holiday has just passed and we've yet to document any in the past few months, we thought we might share a few thoughts and photos. First, some random shots from Easter…

The first egg of the year.

On the hunt.

That Baba is always saying something funny.  

Meet Cabinet, the solo cup with a head of grass. This little guy needed a haircut, and Natalie was more than happy to oblige.

The salon owner needed her own appointment.

Chinese New Year weekend ushered in a big change for Natalie—her big girl bed. Now, I knew this was coming and was needed since she kept bumping into her toddler bed at night and waking up, but this mama wasn’t ready. There’s no turning back now. And she loves it.

In a previous post, we listed some of Natalie's favorite things. We thought, as she races down the stretch toward four years old, we should update you all.  

Natalie’s current career choice is to become a pediatrician, but she’s keeping her options open: salon owner, plumbing inspector, auto mechanic, veterinarian, teacher… Trust me, we've pretended she’s been all of these things.

Book: Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Song: "Tongue Tied"  by Grouplove

          A few others include "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers, "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons,        

          and "Over the Rainbow" by Mama

Bands: Mumford and Sons (LOVE hearing her sing “I Will Wait” as she plays her air banjo) and 

fun. (I had to chuckle when I walked into the bedroom to find Natalie picking out a bedtime story and singing, “What do I stand for? What do I stand for? Most nights I don’t know anymore.”)

 Food:  Mashed sweet potatoes.

Restaurant: Moe's. Basically she likes that they yell at her when she comes in.  

Game:  She loves hide-and-seek. She especially loves the part where she is about to find Baba and

             he jumps out and scares her. Good times.

TV Show: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.

Sports: This girl loves soccer. She put on her cleats with pajamas the night before the first practice, wanting  to wear them to bed. She couldn't wait! More to come on this front, as the first game of the season is this weekend. Stay tuned!

Thanks for taking the time to check in on our family. We are sorry to have made you wait so long. We promise to try harder. I think we have said that before to no avail. We always mean it though.

                

Chillaxin'. Whatevs.

   

I am thankful for...infertility

I thought I should jump on the bandwagon and list what I am thankful for this holiday. Infertility might seem like a strange thing to list, but what am I if not different?  Many people struggle with this diagnosis on a daily basis.  They often do so in silence. At one point, you could count Amy and me among that number.  Not anymore.

*Hold your horses.  We are not pregnant.*

You can't count us among that number because we don't struggle with it anymore.  Without infertility we would likely not have this lovely young lady in our life.  

Many people long to hold a biological baby in their arms and I do not begrudge them for that.  Not at all.  What I can say is I cannot think of any greater blessing on this earth than to have Natalie Xue Er Hill in our life.  So, on this Thanksgiving, an American holiday that Natalie sees solely as yet another opportunity to run around like crazy with her cousins, I am thankful for failure.  In this National Adoption Month, I am thankful for CCAI, for China opening their borders to this process, for having enough money to pursue our dreams, for a birth mom who (for reasons we will never know) decided she couldn't do it and made a choice tougher than I ever want to know, and most of all, I am thankful for Natalie.

Transitions

Seriously? This is the best we can do? Apologies for the total neglect of the blog. At least those of you on that old social networking site have seen some updates. Here are some of the last few months’ highlights.

Natalie mastered a flip on her own this summer!

Family Day. Lets' start with the most important one. We celebrated two years with Natalie on August 2. The time is flying by, and I can’t believe that the little peanut we brought home wearing size 12 and 18 months wears mostly size 4 now! Check out what a difference two years makes and compare the photos of her on the swing. The recent one was taken on our Family Day. Lately she’s been telling us that she’s glad she has a family. Sweetheart, we’re so glad too.

swing 2010

swing 2012

Dexter. We weren’t looking for a new cat just yet (and I’m fairly certain our calico was just fine being an only cat), but we crossed paths with Dexter and couldn’t pass up giving this little guy a home. Having a nine-week-old kitten and a three-year-old was interesting for a while, but she’s learned to be gentle and he’s big enough now to know when to cut and run. She enjoys using her doctor kit to check his heart and blood pressure, even giving him shots when needed.

Dexter with Adeline making nice for a change

Soccer. Sometime between spring soccer and fall soccer season, it just clicked for Natalie and she began to understand the point of the game. She really enjoyed fall soccer (despite the fact that four out of their six games were at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday mornings—really?), scoring a record six goals during her second game (“I want to score six more!”). We are proud of her efforts and are especially glad there was no “Ring Around the Rosie” on the soccer field this time out. Well, maybe a little of that at practice, but not during games.

Huddle with Coach Baba

Halloween. Like most children, Natalie is enjoying Halloween a little more each year. We hit up our families for treats and then headed to a trunk or treat celebration. Natalie was über excited about the bounce house there, but she barely made it inside before we heard her cries. The other kids actually bounce in there. Yikes! She’s tried to enjoy bounce houses twice this year, with the same result. Our little bumblebee had a “vintage” pumpkin (the one I used as a kid) full of candy, along with a banana and an orange that her grandparents added along with goodies from their candy stash. Most kids like to gorge themselves on their sugar-laden treats, but what do you suppose Natalie chose? One sucker and an orange. This is the same child who, given the choice between broccoli and french fries at a restaurant, actually chose broccoli. Gotta love her.

More pictures for the road...

We get this look a lot.

The summer, so far, in pictures...and a few words.

It is has been a pretty busy summer to this point.  Natalie has gotten to go to Jamaica, the Smoky Mountains, and Mammoth Cave as well as enjoy several family grillings, her second 4th of July as an American, and record heat.  Some might think that last part a joke, but the heat didn't phase her much.  She would have been more than content to play outside if her parents could have tolerated it.

Amongst all those things, the most special part of the summer has been the visit of Marvin, Julia, and Suraiya.  For those who don't know, Marvin and Julia played a very important role in making Natalie who she is today and will be in the future.  They took care of our little girl in China and gave her what we couldn't at the time, love and constant affection.  We will be forever grateful.  It was wonderful to finally meet them in person and share our stories of Natalie with each other.  Some people will say that at age 14 months and younger there is no way Natalie could remember being with them.  They wouldn't say that if they saw how Natalie bonded to them almost immediately after seeing them again.

We love you and miss you already, Manalacs.

Now, loads of pictures.

Home run derby champ

Quick story.  Amy has the great idea of taking Natalie out to the hayfield to grab some photos.  As soon as N gets next to a bale, she starts singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." She is such her mother's daughter.

Tired of taking pictures yet, Natalie?

Happy Father's Day!

"Mama, I love the mountains."  Yeah, she did.

Loving her Uncle Jason too

BFFs hugging Julia

This is a slightly more appropriate location for  Ring Around the Rosie than the middle of a soccer field.

The dinosaur returns! You go, Suraiya.

  

Glendale misses you.

Family photo

Words cannot express how much I love this picture.