Getting Out of the House

Miyah at the zoo...have you ever seen a sweeter face?

It's hard to believe we've had Mei Lin for a month now and have been home for 3 weeks! It's so fun having the two girls together. It was a little iffy at first with Miyah being a little jealous, but they are both loving each other now. Miyah's like a little mother and dotes on her little sister....sometimes a little too much. If you've ever had two young children you probably know what I mean. A mom gave me some advice on getting Miyah over her jealousy...make her a part of the caretaking and help her feel "ownership" of her new sister instead of an outsider. Because Mei Lin was having troubles bonding to me, I wanted to be the one doing everything for her so she'd build the trust and bond we need. I realized that I needed some balance and her advice really worked....like instantly! Miyah's like a different kid now...and she's feeling well again. That makes a huge difference in her attitude.

With Pat off of work (he has 7 weeks of leave - less than 3 left) and everyone getting back to normal, we've been enjoying a few little outings. Megan and I went to see Swan Lake last week. That was nice to get out just the two of us...and her friend. We also went to the little festival our town has every year. Pat and I took the little girls one day and then I took Megan and her friend again the next. Miyah got her face painted like a puppy. You'd think I'd learn...I tried to talk her into the pretty butterflies or princess paint, but she wanted the dog...I hate it when I do that. The dog turned out cute and it's a good thing because we waited in line for 45 minutes and paid for the darn thing!

Ruff, Ruff! Miyah gets her face painted like a doggie at the festival downtown!

Pat and the girls (and the dog) at the festival downtown.

This week we took the little girls to the zoo. Miyah always LOVES the zoo and gets so excited to see the animals so it was fun to see Mei Lin get almost equally as excited. A love for animals is one thing they do have in common. Mei Lin's favorite word is "daw" (dog) and then a muffled "ruff ruff" with her mouth closed. In fact, she was up last night at midnight for some reason....barking in our bed and saying "daw"! That didn't last long. She never wakes up in the night and this night she cried for a long time, hence the bed-sharing thing we rarely do-it's always as a last resort. Anyway, let's hope she sleeps well tonight.

"Where's Matt been?" you ask. He's been working on his 40 hour project. This year he's making a replica of the Wright Bros. flying machine-thingy. We'll post a picture when he's finished.

Riding the carousel at the zoo

Sweet face

I forgot to mention that Mei Lin is doing really well with me (Cindy) now. It's almost a non-issue now. I can feed her a bottle and she will actually put her arms out for me to take her while Pat is holding her! She even fusses a little when I leave the house without her. I know I'm still not completely out of the woods because that bond can easily fluctuate and that foundation of trust is just the beginning. But everything is definitely looking up!