Rachel's recollections

Ah, yes, Christmas of aught seven . . . I remember it well.


I didn't really understand about this Santa guy until Christmas morning when I saw he had left me some new clothes for Baby . . .


a cool red wagon . . .


and a feeding set for Baby.


On the way to church later that morning, I commented to my parents, "Sack Oz . . . Ting Ting . . . presents."

Ahh, yes. Now I understand.

Christmas treats

A few more shots from Christmas (and I have more to post!)

Lovely Christmas decorations














Babysitting Baby Jesus after the Christmas program














Apparently he needed a snack

Here she is at the controls












Daddy's little Geek In Training

Remember this photo, which many of you were kind enough to rave about? Well, I'll let you in on a secret: It wasn't shot in a studio. Lance took it in the church basement after the children's Christmas program. Just like this one:

Then he worked his magic in Photoshop, cropping out his sister (sorry, Aunt Gloria) and blacking out the background.

Isn't Ting Ting's daddy amazing?

I do so like Green Eggs and Ham

One of Ting Ting's favorite books right now is the well-loved "Green Eggs and Ham." Reading it to her reminds me of this classic bit from Saturday Night Live:



The quality of the video isn't the best -- it might be easier to just listen to the audio without the distractions of the unsynched video. Even so, it brings a smile to my face.

Hey! It worked!

Truth be told, I don't think Lance has read the latest post, but it doesn't matter because he gave me some photos anyway -- and they're nice! And they go all the way back to Thanksgiving!

Here's Ting Ting with "Baby."






Playing with Cousin Candace.





Wrestling with Uncle Keith.



Loving on Uncle Keith.



Cuddling with Papa.



Cuddling with Candace.



And cuddling with Cyrus.



Feasting with Cousin Brad.




Night night, Papa.




After Ting Ting went to bed, some of the boys started playing ball.




In the family room.



Isn't it nice to see a Vanderbilt alumnus and a Kentucky alumnus playing together so nicely?



Great action shots by Lance, don't you think? He really should share his talent with the world more often.

Meanwhile, in the dining room . . .




Aunt Vivian and Aunt Gloria were posing for family pictures with Elmo.



Say goodbye, Kay.

Yes, these photos are from Christmas. So sue me.

I know you really come here because you want to see photos. Lance is the better photographer, so after his camera was broken in September, we haven't had as many good photos to share. However, he has taken some good stills with his video camera, and I figured posting these inferior shots I took, three months after the events, might just spur him on to get those downloaded and to me. It's worth a try, anyway.


I took Ting Ting to see Santa Claus at an event sponsored by our adoption agency. She was a little hesitant about approaching Santa until he held out her gift, then she went happily to him and climbed on his lap and smiled really big. I'm telling you this because I have it on video, but no still photos. Can you believe it? Her first time in Santa's lap and I don't have a photo . . . help me, Lance.

Ting Ting's gift was a Dora the Explorer book. At the event, she visited with our social worker, Uncle Bob and Santa, opened her present and stuffed her face full of cookies. So what do you think happened on the drive home?


Yep, out like a light.

Santa was so nice to share cookies with her that Ting Ting was happy to leave cookies and a refreshing beverage out for Santa on Christmas eve. Here's what was left of it the next morning.


Yes, in our house, Santa drinks Sprite. Sprite Zero, to be precise. What do you do in your house, leave a glass of milk out to spoil? EEEeuuuuwww.

Ting Ting had so many presents to open that we finally just stopped about halfway through. It was too much for one little girl! It made it more fun for her later as she continued opening presents and going through her stocking for several more days.

One of her favorite gifts was her Dora pajamas from Aunt Kay.

The other nice thing about Christmas was that Brandon and Lauren were here for a week. She enjoyed hanging out with them.

I realize it's spring already, but you wouldn't know it if you lived here. Snow today! Argh!

Coming soon (I hope): our visit to Brentwood, Ting Ting's birthday (in January) and the Chinese New Year celebration (also in January). And maybe Auntie Debi will send some photos of our visit to Washington.

I know, I'm pathetic. But don't you like the new banner? I did it myself!

Presto!

SCENE 1: Mama and Ting Ting putting together a Dora the Explorer jigsaw puzzle in the family room.

MAMA: Oh, no, a piece is missing! Where is it?
TING TING (tilting her head and looking at Mama out of the corner of her eye): Ting Ting's ear?

----------------------

SCENE 2: Daddy sitting on the bed with his laptop computer. Ting Ting climbs up beside him, and he reaches to turn on the TV.

DADDY: Susan, do you know where the remote is?
TING TING (cocking her head): Ting Ting's ear?

----------------------

SCENE 3: Brandon prepares to set up his weekend entertainment.

BRANDON: What did I do with my video game?
TING TING (turning her ear toward him): Ting Ting's ear?



Gee, do you think Daddy has performed that magic trick just a little too often?

If you saw a puddle on my kitchen floor this morning, it was me

At breakfast Ting Ting was telling me a story -- best she could -- when she mentioned a friend's mother.
"I like T___'s mama," I said. "Do you?"
"Yeah," she said.
"T___'s mama is nice," I said.
"Yeah," she said, looking a bit worriedly at my face. Then she held out her arms and spoke with all the passion she could muster.
"Ting Ting's mama, too!" she said.

Best buddies

If you've been reading awhile, you know that we have a cat, Cyrus. Before Ting Ting joined our family, I wondered if we would be able to handle a baby, given that we really couldn't handle the cat.


Cyrus does still seem to be under the impression he owns the joint.

But I have to say he deserves to sit in Ting Ting's chair from time to time -- what a great cat.


He lets Ting Ting give him rides in the wagon, even though it bores him.


He sits patiently at her kitchen table and waits for her to cook his meal.


He checked out the toys Santa left to make sure they were safe before Ting Ting woke up.

Sometimes Ting Ting and I play with her barrettes and hair ties. We fix the doll's hair and Ting Ting fixes my hair. Then she always looks for Cyrus.


And he's a good sport -- he proudly wears a barrette even though yellow really isn't his color.



And he patiently submits to hugs.


Lots and lots of hugs. Is it any wonder he was at the top of the list of the the things that made Ting Ting thankful in the last year?

More than 25,000 served

When I switched to a blog format in August 2006, I installed a meter to keep track of how many visits we had to the site, just for my own amusement. Sometime on Monday, it clicked over to 25,000 -- and that doesn't include the people who visited our old web page for 10 months before that.

I realize those numbers are inflated by several things, not the least of which was the way I left you all hitting *refresh*refresh*refresh* on Dec. 4, 2006, when I had promised photos and news of the long-awaited delivery of our daughter -- and then didn't deliver the photos for more than 24 hours. But even without that little circulation boost, the meter shows a pretty regular group of readers who are fairly loyal even though I admit with much embarrassment that I don't do that great of a job keeping things updated over here.

Originally I set up this site to keep family and friends informed while we were waiting, then to report on our trip to China and our first months at home. I picked up some new friends along the way, and some of them have hung around, too. And others are visiting to learn about adoption or China or One Hundred Good Wishes Quilts. (Imagine the surprise of the person who got to our site by googling "the Rachel haircut" and getting a listing that included several photos of Jennifer Anniston as well as this beauty).

I enjoy sharing photos and funny stories with you, and I'll keep doing it in this format as long as it appears we have a group of people who enjoy seeing them. So keep clicking, and I'll keep posting . . . umm, maybe I'll even get better about that part.

Our Valentine

Our Valentine's gift from Ting Ting -- a beautiful portrait in a handmade frame with a magnet on back to aid in its display in a prominent place in our home.

(Yes, I'm sure her teacher helped a little bit with the execution, but I just know the concept was all hers.)

"This Little Piggy Went to the Market"

As told by Ting Ting:

"Piggy home, Piggy home, Piggy home, Piggy home, Piggy weeeeeeeeeeeee! home."

Xin Nian Kuai Le, Kai-Lan!

Thursday is New Year's Day in China, but it's also the eagerly anticipated launch of "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan," a new children's show about a little Chinese girl. The show is supposed to teach kids about Chinese traditions, culture and beliefs as well as some basic Mandarin words.

We've seen some commercials for it on Noggin already, and Ting Ting always watches them intently. We're setting the DVR so we won't miss any episodes.

I haven't seen the show yet, but I'm hopeful that it will be good quality, interesting and that Ting Ting might like Kai-Lan even as much as Dora the Explorer. Already, she seems to be learning some Chinese from the commercials -- Lance and I each caught her saying what sounded like "Ni Hao." When we repeated it to her, she immediately said, "Hi!" which is the English translation. It could be coincidence, but she's done it at least twice.

Sunday we'll be back at Sunny Ridge's Chinese New Year celebration. It'll be our fourth year in a row, the second time we've had Ting Ting in tow. This will be the year of the rat, which makes it a good year. Both Lance and I were born in the year of the rat, which means that this year we'll turn . . . ummm . . . some multiple of 12 years old.

Our princess

January was a blur -- we had Ting Ting's birthday (celebrated in three states!) and a trip to Brentwood together, then Ting Ting and I visited my friend Debi in Washington and Lance went to Germany for a week. And we hosted a family party and a Super Bowl event. That followed December with Ting Ting's family day anniversary and Christmas, so we're about partied out.

We also seem to be camera-challenged at the moment: Lance's still camera was broken last fall, and we haven't replaced it. He takes stills with his video camera, but I'm still waiting for him to get me photos from Christmas and Ting Ting's birthday. I have a camera, but the last photos I took with it were dark and blurry. Plus, I keep forgetting to take the camera with me! Fortunately, we're getting by with a little help from our friends.



Ting Ting was invited to our friend Grace's fifth birthday in mid-January, and another friend was trying out her new camera and so kindly used our daughter as a model and then sent me her photos.











The party was a "princess" party. The guests all arrived at this little shop and picked out a princess dress to wear. They got to pick out all the accoutrements and practice granting wishes. They played games and did crafts, then had "tea" and cake before Grace opened her presents.





Most of the guests were about the same age as Grace, but after hanging back and observing a little bit, Ting Ting partied along with the big girls.











She decorated the lovely crown she's wearing here.










And she was a pro at drinking tea (I cropped the other girls out of the photo for blogging purposes, but it was a really cute shot of her table).


All in all, it was a beautiful party and a fun day.

Thanks for the photos, Karen! We hope you're back in Chicago soon.

And I'll post Christmas and birthday photos before . . . oh, Valentine's day. Really.

This time, it's all about me

I've been tagged by Beverly of Motherhood and Other Ramblings to reveal seven weird things about myself and then tag 7 more bloggers to play, too.

Well, since she asked . . .

1. I was born on my grandmother's birthday. She still refers to me as her best birthday gift because I was her first grandchild. A couple of years ago, I discovered it's my boss' birthday, too.

2. I'm a journalist who is good at math, which anyone in the business will tell you is weird enough, but I take it a step further -- I enjoy doing algebra. Last weekend Lauren needed help with her homework, and I had so much fun working through the problems with her that I insisted we do a few extra. I told her it was so I could be sure she understood the concepts, but, truthfully, I was having fun. I'd still be doing them if she hadn't taken the book home with her.

3. I enjoy working puzzles of all kinds, from jigsaws to acrostics to Sudoku (I consider algebra a type of puzzle, too). A couple of years ago, I entered a Sudoku contest at work and won the $50 top prize. (My version of trash talk was telling the guy running the contest -- in front of the other contestants -- that I didn't need a pencil because I usually worked them in pen).

4. All through college and throughout my 20s and 30s, I had a crush on Billy Joel. It finally ebbed in my 40s, but now I'm finding myself developing an even bigger crush on this guy:

That's Moose A. Moose to you.

If you had a 2-year-old at home, you'd love him, too. What a voice!

5. I met my husband online.

6. I have lived in eight states, six of them as an adult. Only one of those six was a repeat of a state that I lived in as a child. Since leaving home for college, I have never lived in the same state as my parents. (I said that's a weird thing, not a good thing).

7. A week and a half ago, I taught myself to draw a monkey. I did it so I didn't have to keep drawing the cat over and over. Now I hear, "Mama, color monkey" almost as often as I used to hear "Color Sigh-zhah (Cyrus)."

The hardest part of this exercise was figuring out who to tag . . . I read a lot of blogs, but I'm mostly a "lurker" -- someone who reads but doesn't comment. Tagging the bloggers means revealing myself! I guess it's time to come out of the closet, though, so I tag:

Dawn
Dusty
Kids Special Needs
Laura
Lauri
Michelle (even if you don't have time to check out her blog, you should look at this special slideshow)
and my friend Adrienne, who'll have to participate even though I'm not publishing a link because her blog is private. It's one of my favorites, though!

Rachel 2.0

We are proud to announce the arrival of Rachel 2.0.

More powerful than its predecessors, version 2.0 comes in a package that is larger, yet just as attractive and durable. No longer dependent on a particular formula of liquid fuel, Rachel 2.0 runs on a variety of products found in most home kitchens, making it more portable, despite its larger size. It is equipped with a longer-lasting battery that is more quickly recharged. Spent energy is disposed of in a more environmentally friendly manner than even version 1.8.

While earlier versions of Rachel required special transportation equipment, Rachel 2.0 is largely self-propelled. For car trips, version 2.0 can be quickly and easily strapped into a recharging station.

Rachel 1.0 communicated with hand signals, but version 2.0 uses a spoken vocabulary of more than 50 words and sentences of two to four words in length. Rachel 2.0 comes with 2 GB of free RAM and frequent updates.

Version 2.0 is capable of responding to spoken commands, although a soft launch last week before a focus group in Brentwood, Tenn., revealed some balkiness. Our top-notch reliability engineering team is working on a patch for this.