Gracelynn Turned Four!

We are way overdue in posting this, but wanted to close out our adoption blog with Grace's first birthday celebrated here in the US.

On December 7, 2008, our little girl turned four!!! She probably now thinks that birthdays last a few weeks, since we celebrated with my family at Thanksgiving, Mike's family before Thanksgiving, at Chuck-E-Cheese's with a few friends the day before her birthday, and with us ON her birthday. :-) She had a great time blowing out candles and eating cake. She also loved opening all of her presents!

Here she is at Chuck E Cheese's:

Playing on the phone (a favorite thing to do) with Chuck E Cheese.

Popping in the window to say hi, while crawling through the tunnel. Ryan, a neighbor, is peeking from behind.

Mommy and Grace with the birthday cake!

Gracelynn, all dressed in her new cooking outfit.

Gracelynn at home (ponytails off), blowing out a birthday candle before opening gifts from Mommy and Daddy.

Now that Grace has been home with us for over 7 months and is adjusting quite well, we are officially ending our posts on this blog. She is now speaking as well as Tommy on most occasions and usually in complete sentences, understands most of what is spoken to her, enjoys school, loves to sing and talk on her phones, plays with Barbies and blocks and markers and dolls, misses Mommy and Daddy when a sitter steps in, loves to show off her school crafts and projects to everyone, can tell you that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, can tell you she's from China, loves to play with the neighborhood children and her friends at school, hugs her teachers and family members, is getting along well with her siblings (and sometimes too well with her partner-in-crime Tommy), and has much fewer and shorter tantrums than just two months ago. She eats almost anything and still sneaks food daily (... we just found a dozen GoGurt wrappers under the sofa cushions last week!). Hopefully the sneakiness will end soon, since it's obvious that she is getting plenty of food. At her four-year-old check-up, she did great! Not only did the tears quickly end after FOUR shots, but she was healthy and doing well. She's in the 75th percentile for both height AND weight!!! After raising children on the small side, this was a surprise. We had her examined by the county Child Find, and they were amazed at her achievements thus far. So, assuming all goes as planned, she'll be on target for kindergarten in the Fall of 2010.

We have been so blessed by having Gracelynn in our family, and we thank God for the opportunity to raise her as our own daughter.

To follow her progress and to catch up on the family happenings, continue checking in on our family blog: www.spaghettiontheceiling.blogspot.com

Thank you so much for all of the well-wishes throughout our adoption and for following our journey to four children!

Love, Christy and Mike

Dedication

On Sunday, we had child dedications at our church. It went very well. Our family had been videotaped last week and that video was shown in the service (as well as those of three other families). Then we walked onto the stage for the dedication. Pastor Janney prayed over each family, despite Gracelynn's constant movement on stage. Another adoptive family celebrated with their two new daughters, both from Ethiopia. I wish I had a photo to share, but alas... I forgot! Afterwards, we celebrated with Mike's parents at Red Lobster. Grace proved that she was meant to be my daughter by scarfing down all of her shrimp... and a few of mine! She is the only child we have that will eat shrimp. ;-) We came home and watched the Redskins win... so all in all, we had a wonderful time! It's hard to believe we've been home 5.5 months now! WOW! On one hand, it seems like Gracelynn has been with us for years. On the other, it seems like we were just in China.

Preschool

Four months ago, Gracelynn lived in a country on the other side of the world and didn't even know what a Mommy and a Daddy really were. Now she is speaking a lot of English, has her own bedroom, loves having her hair up in ponytails with big bows and is going to preschool! She loves her school... though she calls it "church day", since she is literally in the same room as when she attends Sunday School for church. Poor thing... we really confuse her. Despite a few cries the first day, she had it all figured out by day two. I'm sure the confusion of Tommy and Mommy both being "at school", yet not seeing them, worried her. Plus she was put in pull-ups and didn't figure out how to ask to go potty on Tuesday. By Thursday, she was a pro. According to her teachers, she played well with the other kids, participated in the group, asked to go potty several times and had no tears! YAY, Gracelynn!

Here is a photo of Mommy and Grace today after Grace's bath and before the babysitter arrived.

So Why Do They Make a Peace Sign?

As you may have seen in many of the photos of Gracelynn, she usually accompanies her "cheese" smile with her "peace sign" fingers. I think EVERY photo we have of Gracelynn "Chun" from the SWI has her with the V sign (and usually no smiles.) We've been told it means "yes" in China. I've also heard it means "Victory". There had to be a good reason WHY they always hold up their fingers, right? My sorority sister Amy W. was curious too, so she and her husband looked it up on Wikipedia (why didn't I think of that?) They were at our picnic two weeks ago and saw our slideshow of China... in which there were many V-sign photos of Gracelynn.

Here's what Wikipedia says... apparently it must originate from Japan.

Japan and the V sign in Photographs

During the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, figure skater Janet Lynn stumbled into Japanese pop culture when she fell during a free-skate period—but continued to smile even as she sat on the ice. Though she placed only third in the actual competition, her cheerful diligence and indefatigability resonated with many Japanese viewers, making her an overnight celebrity in Japan. Afterwards, Lynn (a peace activist) was repeatedly seen flashing the V sign in the Japanese media. Though the V sign was known of in Japan prior to Lynn's use of it there (from the post-WWII Allied occupation of Japan), she is credited by some Japanese for having popularized its use in amateur photographs.^[23] According to the other theory (actually present in the Japanese version of this entry), the V sign was popularized by the actor and singer Jun Inoue, who showed it in the Conica photo camera commercial in 1972.

Through the 1970s and 1980s in Japan, the V sign was often accompanied by a vocalization: "piisu!" This gairaigo exclamation, which stood for "peace", has since fallen into disuse, though the V sign itself remains steadfastly popular. It is especially popular in photography, as it is a favorite pose of both teens and adults - in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.^{[citation needed]}

Another possible explanation for the popularity (and perhaps emergence) of the sign in Japan is that people (usually children) are asked to answer the question Ichi tasu ichi wa?ni ("two"). Being a Japanese equivalent of saying Cheese, the ee sound makes the photographed ones appear as smiling on the photos. Thus, besides saying "two", they are also giving the answer using two fingers. (meaning "One plus one equals?") whose answer is

The V sign is also commonly used in anime and Japanese live-action shows.^{[citation needed]}/vɯi/ or /bɯi/), an approximation of the English pronunciation "vee" which differentiates it from "bii", the Japanese name of the letter B (as many Japanese speakers hear the voiced labiodental fricative as being the same as the voiced bilabial plosive, see Engrish). A more common phrase is "kachi" which means victory (V for Victory) or luck. Several anime characters incorporate the V sign into their poses, including Ash Ketchum of Pokémon fame, both Sailor Moon and Sailor V, as well as video game characters such as Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Chun-Li, and Ling Xiaoyu from the Tekken series.^{[citation needed]} When characters show this sign, it is often accompanied by an exclamation of "Vui!" (pronounced

Due to Japanese cultural influences in the region^{[citation needed]}, the V sign in photographs has become popular with young people throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia.^{[citation needed]}

In the Philippines, the popularity of the use of the "V" sign in photographs is mostly done as a mockery of its popularity and usage by their Asian neighbors (in particular, of characters in soap operas having their pictures taken). The "V" sign usually stands for "peace" in the Filipino context and is thus a cause for bewilderment and amusement when seen on Asian commercials, soap operas, and other media. When a person uses the "V" sign in the same manner as it is used in photographs by other Asian countries, it is mostly an attempt to be cute or funny in the photograph. When putting the "V" sign on top a person's head, it usually is done to comically "demonize" that person rather than just give that person Bunny ears.^{[citation needed]}

So... I'm not sure that REALLY answers the question, seeing as though there are multiple reasons. I guess it's as customary as saying "Cheese" is here.

Visiting Mamaw

Well, Gracelynn moved into her twin size bed on Monday. Today we hung up her quilt. I searched for a way to hang it on the wall. But, I wanted it CHEAP (or free) and not overly countryish. So, as I was bumming around the Ben Franklin store, I found large clothespins for $1 each. I bought five. I screwed them into anchors in the wall and simply clipped up the folded quilt.

Her room is by far the smallest in the house. It's like 8'x8' with a corner chopped off to fit the door, two doors for the closet and two 36" windows in the corner. So, wall space is limited!!! Now that we've squeezed in the bed, I am so happy with her room. It's so cozy. I told Mike I want to chop all the other kids' rooms into 8 foot rooms, too. Well, the boys' room in particular. It's so big (15'x16') that there is just too much space (it's bigger than our room!) They keep filling it with junk. Let's split the room in two (making our house a 5 bedroom) and separate the two brothers before they kill each other. It would make things so cozy and with no room for tons of junk. :-) Mike's not for it. Bummer. He just doesn't think like me... I think in terms of... how can I make my life easier with four kids. Splitting the room: One... less bickering and shouting ("Mom, Tommy's touching my stuff") and two... less space for big toys! Ben would be allowed to use the lock on his door again (to prevent 3 and 4 year olds from invading his space). What do you think?


Last weekend, we visited Mamaw (Mike's maternal grandmother). She's about 1.5 hours from here, so we don't see her as often as we'd like. We brought the whole gang to see her non-childproofed apartment. :-) Although Mommy and Daddy and Gran and Granddad did a lot of "don't touch that", we all enjoyed our visit with Mamaw. Unfortunately this was the best photo I had of Mamaw... I was at the wrong angle. When we entered the apartment, Gracelynn flew in the door and ran to Mamaw and gave her a BIG hug. Wow! She had only met her once before at the reunion... and even then only saw her for brief moments of time. I think Mamaw was tickled pink (as were the rest of us!) Grace asked me today when we get to go see Mamaw next. Mamaw is now 92 years old! How sweet that Gracelynn loved to be with her... does that have something to do with her exposure to seniors at her Social Welfare Institute in China? (Her SWI was for children and seniors both.)

In addition to seeing her only great-grandmother, Grace enjoyed exploring the apartment. The walker was way-cool... she thought it was a step-ladder at first. So was the flashlight... hopefully she didn't run down the batteries. But the best part of the whole place was Mamaw's remote control chair! We had to hide the remote because Grace would start moving Mamaw up and down!

A BIG Thank you!

The quilt is done!!! I want to thank EVERYONE who helped out. The ladies from Roanoke volunteered their time, and in some cases their fabric, to pull this whole quilt together. We had so many wonderful people donate a square to the quilt. It's so amazing to look at the quilt and see the stories behind each square. It's absolutely beautiful. I apologize for the photo above being sideways. No matter what I did, Blogspot wouldn't put it in the correct direction! The ladies trimmed the squares with a pink/white polka dot print and a dark pink swirl. The back is completely covered with pink/white daisies (if you blow up the second-to-last photo below, you can see the corner that was bent over to show the daisies). It matches her room beautifully. And... is just perfect for a little girl!


Here are a few more close-ups if you want to look for your contribution. Gracelynn has seen the quilt, but we haven't set it out yet. I'm trying to find a way to hang it on her wall. Let's just say I'm not quite sure that she wouldn't try to color with markers on it or something like that. So, until she's a little older, I plan to keep it up. This will make a fantastic family heirloom for her. I can't wait to help explain to her where every piece/every wish came from. Thanks so much to all who contributed to this beautiful quilt! I know now that there is NO WAY I could've done this on my own... even if I actually had free time. Can you see your square? (If it isn't in there, it probably didn't make the cut-off date and will be included someday in a future baby doll quilt.)

More Firsts....

This last weekend, we went up to visit Nana and PapPap Brogley. Grace got to see their home, yard, riding mower, and Harley... and new bunkbeds, new furniture and new bathroom (Didn't look like the same house to me!) :-) On Saturday, my parents hosted a picnic at their home in celebration of Gracelynn arriving. My uncle, aunt, cousins, and lots of friends from PA and from college (go D'Phis!) came to meet Gracelynn. The kids got to play with other Pennsylvania kids. Mommy and Daddy got to sit back and relax and enjoy the gorgeous weather. PapPap took the kids on tractor-wagon rides. Then later in the evening, Aunt Tracy and Uncle Tim pulled out the big guns... okay, water guns! I stepped inside for that one, though I did have clean-up duty pulling wet clothing off of 4 kids.

On Sunday, the kids went for a walk in the "forest" (or woods to most of us) and then to a local park with PapPap, Aunt Tracy and Uncle Tim. (Daddy had gone home; Mommy went shopping.) On Monday, after some school shoe shopping and spending some Target gift card money, we went to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum with Nana and PapPap. What a cool place! I really wish I had one of these within a quick trip from our house. I'd join the annual membership and hang out there for the summer. Just the joy of watching the kids paint without the paint being in MY HOME was worth it. The kids made watercolor paintings, silk-screened paintings, recycled-stuff-sculptures, and play-doh sculptures. Then we visited Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and saw the puppets. The kids played in the birdseed bins, tinkered with a real Mini Cooper, slid down an incredibly tight corkscrew slide (ask Mommy... it was TIGHT!), played with a roomsize instrument that was guided by your foot movements, played with a pebble rain-drum, made designs on a huge Lite-Brite, and played in the water room. They wore yellow raincoats and Crocs, but when you stick your arms in a pool and then scoop them out... guess where the water goes! Down inside the sleeves, dribbling down the shirt and pants and onto your feet. So... no one stayed dry. Not even the adults who had to help cleanup. Fortunately there was a whole wall full of automatic driers (how cool!) After the museum, we headed to Buca di Beppo to eat way too much food. We were planning on doing the Duquesne Incline, but Mommy had to go and get sick from the heat. So, we went home to pack up instead. On Tuesday, Mommy made the brave drive home with all four kids and a fully packed minivan! Yay me! :-) Lemme tell you... those restroom breaks were the faster, most organized trips I've ever managed with four kids.

Here are some photos of Gracelynn firsts:

Sitting on PapPap's Harley!

Painting at the museum.

Driving the riding mower. (Yes, she really did at one point, while PapPap held on, of course.)
Playing at Moon Park with Reagan, Tommy and Ben. (Brings back memories for Mommy... sigh.)

Puppies and Tractors

Last weekend, we took the Hollar crew up to the next town to visit some friends. Steve was in our wedding as the best man; Susan is his wife. They breed Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Since the litter is nearly 8 weeks old and ready to move out, we decided to take the kids to check out the puppies. Mommy and Daddy had never seen a litter of RR puppies before either, so we were excited. We knew a few of their older dogs... and beautiful, well-behaved dogs they are. We all had a blast. Ben is not a big dog-fan, so he usually stayed clear of the dogs especially when they were jumping up a lot. Grace liked them until they began to jump on her too... then she watched them from afar. Tommy loved to run around to encourage the puppies to chase him... then he panicked when they got too close. Reagan was the most adventurous, allowing the puppies to play with her and sit on her lap.Grace, watching from afar, as two puppies play before heading into the crate to sleep.

Caught a good photo of one puppy as he was playing on the doggie step.


Ok, we didn't cage our children... they just loved to play in the puppy pen!

I LOVE Aidan's (the dog) eyes in this photo!

Here, Reagan plays with a puppy.

Mealtime for the pups! See the ridges on the backs?

After some time with the puppies, we went outside to see Steve's cool tractor. Talk about a tractor! Wow! Each kid got to ride around a bit and scoop up mulch and move it. They had a blast. Now Mommy wants to move to 11 acres and get a tractor, too. :-)Grace and Steve on the Tractor.

Ben and Steve on the Tractor.

Reagan and Steve on the Tractor.

Tommy and Steve on the Tractor.

Gang's all Here

Just a photo of all six, in case anyone is interested. I sent to some friends, and my college roommate Moe commented on how nice it was to see the WHOLE family, parents included. So, I thought I'd post it. Most are looking in different directions, which is what happens when 8 people are snapping photos at once... but at least we're all there. This was at the Family Reunion a few weeks back.

Twins again

Didn't think it could happen again, but it did. One day last week I took all four kids to the mall by myself. (Crazy? Maybe.) I'd heard about a mega sale on summer stuff at Children's Place. Despite placing three online orders in the last month (for super great sales!), I still wanted to see what could be found in person. We found a handful of good deals... I was pleased. Reagan and Gracelynn will be set next summer. We also found a neat lunchbox for Gracelynn. I had already ordered her a pink and leopard spots nap mat from eBay... this lunchbox matched it. OCD me loved the fact that they matched. So, as we walked around the store, Grace carried it with her. We checked out. The lady behind the counter (who obviously couldn't see the kids) saw the double stroller and said, "Oh, are they twins?" What, do people just assume twins with a double stroller? How many moms of two or more have used double strollers? Again, I said no and probably embarrassed the poor lady when she saw who the kids were.

After paying, we started walking to the other side of the mall to Old Navy (and more sales) when Tommy asked for his new hat. As I was rifling through the bag, it dawned on me that we never checked out with the new lunchbox. I figured Gracelynn had dropped it in the store so I was about to just not worry about it and go back another time. But as I was looking in the bag, I mentioned that we never got the lunchbox. Reagan said, "Oh... it's in here..." and then proceeded to pull it out of the back of the stroller, where Grace hid it. Ok... teachable moment... moral lesson time.

We all marched back down the mall aisle and down the elevator and back into Children's Place to pay for the lunchbox. The lady was sweet and thanked me for returning. (How could I NOT return with four kids watching?)

Surprisingly, I remained calm and never lost my patience, even after shopping at a few more stores (and finding $5 sweaters at Old Navy!!) Four kids and me at the mall. Wow. I can really do this "mom of four kids" thing!!!

Quilt Book... almost done

Well, one of my summer things-to-do is nearly complete. The quilt book. I decided not to be perfect and cutesy... I never would've finished it if I had tried too hard. Instead, I just made sure everything made it in the book. I used an Asian-silk look scrapbook pack. Here are a few photos. If you do not see your fabric and/or writing, I'm not quite finished....

I'm hoping to include some photos and names of the ladies that took on this project. We are forever grateful to them!

Gracelynn, meet your family!!!

The Fourth of July this year was more than just a parade and fireworks. We missed the parade this year (hope to catch it next year!!), but we went to Mike's grandmother's family's reunion. So Grace didn't only meet her Great-grandmother, but she met Mamaw's nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, sister-in-law, and great-great-nieces-and-nephews. :-) She did remarkably well... as she always astounds us... and within 2 hours, she was playing as if she were one of the gang. She'd run around the house and backyard without us, even climbing the fence to try to get into a neighbor's playground! We all had a great time seeing people we usually only see once a year. We bought her a special tee shirt to surprise all those Southern family members. Don't you just love it! Here are a few photos of her with "new" relatives...

Gracelynn and Miss Anita (Gran's first cousin).Gracelynn and Uncle Bob (Gran's brother).

We got home with about an hour to spare before fireworks. We must be some of the luckiest people around. We walk up the street about 3 houses to the corner. From that location, we can view the town's fireworks set off from the park. We can also see about 5 or 6 individual displays from neighbors putting them off around us. How awesome! Gracelynn did great. She loved the views... the noises were another story. We figure she has issues with sounds due to her limited exposure in her first three years of life. Even telephone ringing makes her cringe and plug her ears with her fingers. The fireworks were no exception. No tears, no screaming... just plugged ears.

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid

Well, today we had a busy day full of "firsts" for Gracelynn. This morning I surprised the kids half-an-hour before the local pool opened to say we were going. We haven't been to the outdoor pool in a year, so they were excited. Gracelynn even enjoyed herself. It was her first pool experience (to our knowledge). She was hesitant at first (cold water), but then she got used to it and loved it. She stuck to the baby pool area most of the time, but eventually got brave. In fact, a little too brave as she turned around and jumped into 2.5' deep water (while I was about 10 feet away in the shallower end of the pool). She panicked and floundered a bit, but I got to her in time for her to not have really swallowed any water. In fact, she got over it quickly and motioned for me to put her down so that she could run back into the water. So... guess we need to get her into lessons soon!After the pool, we came home and showered and napped (Grace and Tommy). Then after awhile (and lots of asking "When are we going?"), we headed to Chuck E Cheese's to meet Daddy and some friends. It was Grace's first visit to Chuck E Cheese's, and I think it's a new favorite place. She loved bopping from ride to ride... forget the tickets thing. Her favorite was the ice-cream truck ride (see below). She must have ridden it a dozen times and didn't want to give it up even when the tokens ran out and another child wanted on.

Somehow we even managed to get a group shot of all six kids at the end of the visit. Not everyone is looking, but what do you expect?