bono beware

Mia received some early birthday presents from kind friends in California. Among their showering of gifts were these rockstar shades.

some girls were just born for shades...

Mia's Goes Home From the Hospital

2 exhausted parents, one brave girl.

we're home (again)!

Some of you may have heard that we had to admit Mia into Children's Mercy on Monday due to a staff infection in her ear. Originally they feared that she may have developed mastoiditis - which would've been an even bigger deal. Fortunately, a C.T. Scan showed no such thing. They did have to perform a small surgery to drain the ear canal, keep her on an I.V., and coup her up in room #329 for 3 days. But we are now home and have one happy little girl back!

more to come.

all is well at 5801...

After one full week of being back on the job...we're feelin' pretty good. Elise, being that she was once a systems architect and solution provider, has been making some mighty fine adjustments around here. Case in point: the L.L. Bean thermos. Since Mia needs her bottles SCALDING hot and she wants them, like, yesterday (this is one difference between the sisters. Bri lets you know by way of request. And Mia, by way of protest), it has been a challenge to have that bottle ready RIGHT when she wakes up. There's always been a good, solid 7 minute delay to prepare the bottle, warm the water, etc. Until, that is, Elise figured out the L.L. Bean thermos method. Yes, indeed. This thing can hold its heat. It's unbelievable. So, get this: we boil the water when we go to bed and then when Mia wakes up in the morning, we just add water and stir baby! It's a beautiful thing and makes you want to cry.

As for my contributions as of late, I hired some housecleaners called Partners in Grime, the man of action that I am.

Lastly, Mia is simply doing incredible. It is absolutely amazing to watch her make up for lost time, lost touch, lost food, and lost love. All of her medical tests (which are too numerous to count) have come back negative and, developmentally, she is doing remarkably well. We just saw a physical therapist today to get a general assesment and the gal was really impressed with her physical strength and coordination. I don't want to say it's ALL because of our little daily strength and conditioning exercises we're doing together out in the garage, but they certainly aren't hurting.

Mia's throwing back her carrots and oatmeal like Kobayashi and she now poops with the best of them (in a diaper, thankfully). She also crawls for speed and distance. My favorite moment to date was when I came home from work yesterday: she let out a high pitched squeal from the living room, dashed through the hall, peeled around the fridge and headed right for me. I bellyflopped onto the kitchen floor and she hugged me for dear life.

dude.

Updates...

Well the girls are certainly having fun together. Too much fun, really. Naps are a mere nuisance when they could be wreaking more havoc about our little home. In the bottom picture, Brianna shouts a tip to Mia about us, "Hey, with the dogs we outnumber them!" In the top picture, Mia is simply working her Brown Steel.

Tomorrow is my first day back to work. I genuinely am worried about how Elise will manage. She doesn't feel all that great physically and the "twins" are not exactly BabyWise. If anyone can do it, though, it's Elise. She's strong. She's smart. She endured Mizzou.

Being in China with Mia and staying home these past two weeks has birthed in me a deep compassion for mothers who work at home. Yesterday, for example, Elise got to go to the doctor and so I had the unique task of watching both girls - which I've done before. But this timespan involved two feedings and two naps. I've logged the timeline below:

2:00 pm - bri goes down for a nap (not without a fight)

2:10 pm - begin prepping mia's food (chicken purree, carrots, pees - all natural - then bottle)

2:30 pm - finish feeding mia

2:35 pm - put mia down for a nap

2:39 pm - bri wakes up

2:39 - 2:55 pm - daddy stalls and lets her squak so that, in part, he can finally use the restroom

2:55 - get bri up

3:15 - begin prepping bri's food (oatmeal, organic banana, and store bought pees)

3:25 - mia wakes up while feeding bri

3:25 - daddy holds bri in one lap and feeds mia in the high chair

3:40 - "play time" on the living room floor

Compassion. It means, literally, to "suffer alongside."

So, yes, I invite your prayers for Elise and, yes, I - ahem - am quite ready to return to work. But I will miss those girls and all the little things, new things that they do each and every day. I am also extremely grateful for the abundant amounts of time that I did have away. What an incredible church I get to serve in - that they, again and again, bless our need to put family first.

About Mia:

* She has more flexibility than gumby. If she doesn't end up running the free world, then it's possible that she could star in Cirque du Soleil...or become the first female blue man. I'm not sure, but either would be cool.

* Mia also has major rhythm. Her favorite is the ABC song. Whenever it kicks on, she gets this smile and starts to rock back and forth. We've also written a little song together called "Diggin' to China" which she likes to sing in my lap and do her rocking jig. Don't get me wrong, she's into it for all of 10 seconds before she's off to steal whatever toy Brianna has.

* We pray for the day that she wakes up no longer afraid that no one will come for her.

* We took a family outing to the Oak Park Mall today. Holy Cow strollerville. It was mom rollerderby out there. Very few Dads were there, though - the bums. The few I did see were toting hot pink shopping bags. It was Valentine's Day. Anyhow...I guess this is what Moms do. They go to the mall, push their kids around in an attempt to keep them quiet, and then windowshop. All the while, signs hang overhead that read, "Treat Yourself - Indulge in a little Retail Therapy." Another one says, "Have a little more 'me' time." Which are both code for, "We know you can't possibly buy anything right now. So go home and unload the kids into Dad's arms with a look that says, 'whatever happened to you today couldn't possibly be worse than what happened to me' and come back ready to buy all that you deserve!"

So it was fun - kinda like I stumbled into a whole new underground subculture. And we fit right in - except for the fact that we were the Mac Truck, 18-Wheeler version in our double-long. Mia is so far out there in the front seat that I wish we had an in-stroller innercom: "Paging Mia Deeble....Paging Mia Deeble...You're wanted at the back of the stroller..."

* I went to the dentist on Monday. It was beautiful. I now love the dentist. You arrive and they let you wait. So you get to read. Then a pleasant person calls you in and invites you to lie down in a leather chair. It even has a neckrest. There's music - bad music, albeit, but thankfully it's not the Beijing Angelic Choir. And all you have to do, for the next hour, is open your mouth. You don't even have to talk much. In fact, it's preferred that you don't. Man, it's heaven. Third tier, really.

ANNNND, to top it off, they bring you a hot wash cloth to wipe your face clean. You know, they did this on my international flights too (and, yes, i was on a coach ticket). But, I gotta tell you...a warm towel goes a long way. I think it's the airline's way of saying, "You're finally here. You've worked hard just to get in this seat. So wipe your stress away." I think we should do this at heartland. At the end of the service, we could send the ushers down the aisle with carts, metal tongs and a smile. It would be our way of saying, "We're finally done."

In any event, i think it would be nice.

Presenting Mia at CHI's Meeting...

On Monday night, we had the privilege of presenting Mia to the expecting adoptive parents at the monthly CHI meeting. For over two years now, we have attended the meeting and our favorite part has always been seeing the new babies that were introduced. It was always the light at the end of the tunnel and would give us hope in the midst of our wait.

And just about every parent would conclude their time by saying, "It was well worth the wait." Which was, on the one hand, encouraging and...on the other deflating - just because the wait was so cruel for us all.

So when it was our turn, we presented Mia Pu (as the picture will show her and her sister sporting their only matching and far over-used outfit to date), told a few stories, answered a couple of questions and then concluded sheepishly with, "It was well worth the wait."

Simply because she is.

New Pix!

Butde sent over some pictures of our trip on her camera. Here are some of my favorites: