Things are still pretty hectic around here,  I am trying REALLY hard to find our family groove,  I may have to reinvent a new normal, and I know I have to change my expectations and old ways of doing things. 

When you hold a sleeping baby, especially a baby with cheeks like this, it makes it easier to get your priorities together. 

Mina is starting to interact with Finn a little bit.  Giving her moments.  She mostly only wants to mother her, and tell her "no", not so much play with her.  She is having a rough go.  She will let her in, I know she will.

Mina was giving her the stare down version of the "stink-eye", while Finn was in Mango Love. Big brother Jack came in and broke the stare and got them laughing.  We did smore's tonight, such a mess. ridiculous really. "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Matthew 7:3  (Mina "helping" Finn clean off her messy face while she is oblivious to the chocolate & marshmallow all over her own) Finn received a welcome home gift from our wonderfully sweet neighbors, poor kid had no clue what to do with a wrapped package. 

Good thing she has helpers. 

 Things come easy for this boy. Have you ever known anyone like that, no matter what they try they are good at it?   He picked up riding a bike in one hour, and has been going strong for weeks. 

Poor girl inherited her Mama's coordination or lack there of and was only motivated by her baby brother being able to ride in the street with the big kids.   

I almost forgot about the bangs,  the self inflicted haircut.  I personally think this beautiful child could sport any 'do or bad style choices by her Mama and still be the cutest thing ever.  Hopefully we can keep the scissors out of reach though...

Mommy 101

When your 2 1/2 year old daughter is playing blissfully quiet and contently out of eyesight...don't for one second think "I have this all under control, all is right with the world and I am the best Mommy ever" instead, be afraid and RUN to check what she is up to.  

I made a Rookie mistake, you would think I would know better.  Mina has some funky bangs to prove it!

The simple things...

The kids started their Summer Swim Team yesterday and they were in desperate need for some decent goggles, so they got to pick some out today.  I walked into the playroom and this is how they were watching TV... I LOVE how they get excited and appreciate the simple things...I wish I could bottle it up and spread it around, Lord knows I need a dose once and a while.  of course once they saw the camera the moment was ruined and they took off the goggles and did the "Ahhh , MOM!"  but it was a moment that I couldn't resist.

Marc went back to work today and.....,

...he trusted me to be the Mommy of 5 kids left to my own devices....  It is amazing how adding one child can mess with a well established family "groove", it may be a little more difficult to find our new routine since the kids are all out for summertime, but we will, I know it, we have to... 

It's only noon, other than a small kitchen fire things are going quite well...

Funny thing about a grease fire from mass quantities of chicken nuggets.... when you open the door to the toaster oven to put out the fire, it fans the flame and it only gets worse... So I threw a whole box of baking soda on it and it did the trick.  Then the smoke alarm went off and freaked out the Mina and Finn.  Pandemonium, if only for a moment. (Don't worry baby, it is all under control now, we needed a new toaster oven anyway, didn't we?)

The STINK EYE (captured in photos)

So Mina still isn't digging being a big sister, if she is not tackling the toy or snack (or Mommy) Finn is enjoying, she is giving her the "stink eye".  I can tell she is really confused and having a really hard time,  I am trying to stay patient with her as I know it is what she needs most, but it is hard.  

This was the look Finn was getting because I was taking her photo while she was enjoying spaghetti like I have never seen anyone enjoy spaghetti. I panned the camera over to Mina and saw her little sad face because Finn was getting my attention for the moment.  It is so strange to feel guilty for showing a baby attention.. I know it will work itself out, I knew we would have an adjustment period I guess I just didn't think it would be with Mina. 

Yeah, she liked it that much,  she especially liked feeding herself.. 

We got these tears when Papa got up to get her a refill...  

Getting to the fields for the last soccer game of the season.  Kobi & Jack were on the same team which was so fun..  They are both really great players and more importantly have a great time.

Settling in and healing up

Finn is still healing up from her "boo boo head" it is pretty nasty, Marc made me promise I wouldn't blog photos of it, I wouldn't do that to you all, it is like a gaping head wound. It looks incredible painful- she's a trooper.  We are following her around more than usual in hopes that she doesn't fall or bump her head like most 1 1/2 year olds do.   She is still ridiculously adorable and seems to be adjusting and learning very quickly. 

Mina is having a really hard time, and still doesn't like the idea of being a big sister.  If she is near Finn, she is most likely giving her the "stink eye" and plotting to steal whatever toy or snack she is enjoying.   I would love to be posting cute baby girl duo photos but that is just not happening yet.. I know it will come. 

Slacker-Mom redo... Kobi's b-day fell during spring break, a few days before we left for China she asked me why I didn't bring cupcakes to her school to celebrate... I should have said "well, because your Mommy's brain is on complete overload and she is obsessing over things she should not bother obsessing over."  Instead, I promised to bring her cupcakes to school as soon as we got back from China... so today she got her obnoxiously floresent pink frosted Hello Kit*y cupcakes (albeit a month and a half after her actual b-day) and I won back a few of my Mommy points.  I don't deserve this child, I hope I can be more like her when I grow up. 

Boo Boo Baby, at home after a morning at the hospital. 
Jackson  had his preschool graduation this morning too. This is a tough Mommy milestone, but he is thrilled to be headed off to Kindergarten next year.  

Hey, what happened to your hair?

I may have a big bump on the back of my head, but it is nothing a little watermelon can't fix.  Finn had a minor "surgery" this morning and other than being a little wobbly on her feet from the anesthesia all day, and the fact that we were super freaked out that she would fall and bump the open wound on the back of her head, she is doing fantastic.  I am sure she will be all healed up and ready to go in the next few days.  Thanks for all the prayers and concern.   

Starting her early.  Such a multi-tasker

Poor Baby

So we took Finn to the doctor today and they want to take her into "surgery" tomorrow.  She has had a red bump on her head since the day we met and it has gotten progressively worse every day.  The pediatric surgeon said that it is an infected boil or abscess and he wants to "put her under" to alleviate it.  So an easy fix but it will be a tough morning for her I am sure.  Other than that Finn is doing really well and seems to have not missed a beat fitting into our family.  We are still trying to make it through the day without feeling completely exhausted and jet-lagged, but it is getting much better.  

This is my fashionista...or not.  Don't most teenagers want to buy expensive clothing so they can "fit in".  Well this is how my teenage son walked in the door after school today.  Seems his English teacher had this crochet sweater and he begged her to borrow it for the day and she gave in to his need to stand out.. Oh don't encourage him. 

Well our first days home. We are starting to feel human again, and loving getting to see how our family "works" now. I think Mina is really trying to figure out if she likes being a big sister. We are really going to have to work on our sharing. She does really like treating Finn like a baby, but she is not sure if she wants Finn to touch her, her toys, or to be held by us unless she is on our opposite hip. This should be interesting. Finn seems to be doing extremely well, she LOVES to have the freedom to explore the house, she LOVES her grandparents and Aunt Jenny, she LOVES our dog, Maggie. While we were in China she threw several tantrums a day but we really haven't seen any since we have been home, which is really nice. She has a doctor appointment in a few hours so we will see how she likes her car seat again. I would normally wait to take her to the Dr. as I know it will be quite traumatic (judging from the quick medical exam while in China) but she has quite a large bump on her head that we keep trying to figure out and we are still not sure what it is.. We need a Dr. to take a look at it, as it seems to be getting worse. We shall see. Thank you all for the well wishes, it is so great to be home! Thanks Mollie and Sarabeth for coordinating and putting up the adorable stork to Welcome Finn home!! I can't wait to give you your squeaky shoe collection!

Our first so-so attempt at a family photo.  Not the best for sure but there was no way I was going to pull out my crazy "I need the perfect family photo attitude". It wasn't in the cards, and I'm glad I let it go.  We are all here we all look awake, good enough for today. 

Open wide baby! Mina loves to "baby" Finn, and she does a great job playing the big sister.  I had figured this is how she would need to adjust to Finn, as her compliant underling.  Hopefully soon they can play better side by side. 

My two peas in a pod.  

We are home, we are blessed.

We are HOME!  Finally, and I am the luckiest Mommy in the whole world.  I hope that every Mommy feels as blessed as I do.  I am actually the most luckiest most tiredess Mommy in the whole world.  After flight delays and flight changes in Beijing and in Newark and an added 20 hours to our travel, we are home safe and sound.  Praise God.  Will post some family photos when I am coherent enough to form a correct sentence.  You ladies that met us at the airport...you are amazing, how lucky are we to have friends to follow our wacky flight delays and get up so early to great us. I love you all!  

Good night.  

DELAYED in Beijing!!

After all the hoop-la getting to the airport with our obscene amount of carry on luggage... Flight delayed, 8 HOURS!!! So we are still here in Beijing, the airline put all us frustrated folks on a shuttle bus and brought us to a nice hotel out in the middle of nowhere. Which also means we get into the US too late to catch a connecting flight so we have to wait out the night in the airport until we can get our connecting flight to home. Please keep us weary travelers in your prayers. I don't much like flying as it is, when you add a fussy baby, delays and over 36 hours of travel time..sheesh, poor Marc. So I am hoping and praying that all else goes smoothly from here, we already checked our luggage so we only have a few diapers and formula for the rest of our travels.  Oh please oh please let us get home safe and sound and with no other delays!  See you all at home soon.  Hugs and kisses to my babies,  one more sleep guys!  

We did do the Hutong tour this morning and it was amazing. 

They drove us around in the rickshaws.The driver must have some huge leg muscles, and must have cringed when he saw us coming.  We also visited a local family where Finn made a friend.

This gentleman lived in this Hutong,  he was telling us about his life there, how he was born here and still lives here with his 92 year old father and his sister.  Finn was being quite fussy, go figure, and the man started to entertain her and hugged on her for the rest of our visit.  She made a fast friend.  She really liked him, she seems to be very comfortable with men, which is so different from Mina.  Mina is still quite sketchy with most men.  We can see that Finn is getting more comfortable with us and less comfortable with strangers (not evident by these photos), which is a good thing. 

Next stop HOME, but for now, busy Beijing.

So as much as I want to be home right now, I LOVE this city.  There is no way you can regret a visit to Beijing. We have a Hutong tour in the morning and then we are headed HOME!!!!  I can't wait to squeeze all my babies.  I love you all like crazy and we will see you tomorrow night!!!  What a day, the pictures speak for themselves....



You can put a lock on the Great wall to symbolize your enduring love.. this one is ours. 
Finn fell asleep soon after we started our climb, this is riding in style...  What a good Papa to hike a sleeping baby to the top of the Great Wall. 

Next time I am wearing shoes like this! 

We then headed to the Summer Palace, stunning, beautiful, amazing, crowded, Finn didn't really appreciate the beauty, mostly because she couldn't run wild and needed to stay on our hip. 

A cruise across the lake at the summer palace. 

I know y'all know this site. 
So we realized tonight that poor Finn is going to be so confused once home and confined within walls.  We have been ON THE GO.  Here Marc and Finn this evening center city Beijing walking the streets.  It is actually cold an rainy here ( a huge change from the sauna like conditions of Guangzhou in the past week) 
A can't miss sight.. Food Street in Beijing, during the Olympics I saw the Today show here.  Now its our turn to marvel over the crazy food selection...  Beetles, Sea horses, scorpions. There was tons of things that looked really yummy, but we are to scared to try it for fear of our weak stomachs.