pretty excited

We've been prepping Addie for weeks now about Christmas and Santa and the birth of baby Jesus so she completely "gets it" this year and is beyond excited. My favorite thing she does is perform made-up songs for us. Sometimes she'll make up songs for a good 45 minutes, she always insists that we applaud her. The lyrics are about everything from Santa Claus, Nemo, her sister Bella, you name it: she sings about it. Here she's singing her rendition of "O' Christmas tree". Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve

We had a very busy Christmas Eve. Our lovely friends invited us over for a potluck dinner. Addie, Stella, and Emma sang Christmas carols in front of the tree. Then the bouncing started and didn't stop until Addie passed out from excitement at bedtime. Before passing out she helped us get a plate of cookies ready for Santa as well as a bowl of water for the reindeer. We are all ready for Santa Claus to come! Justin made hot chocolate for Megan and I and now we are watching his favorite; "A Christmas Story".

Christmas at Sunny Brook

We left early this morning for Cavite, Cora's village and where we planned to give out gifts to the children. It took about an hour and a half to arrive. The air turned from smoggy to clean and crisp, the scenery went from concrete jungle to real jungle full of mango and papaya trees. Amazing that we live in the tropics but never see much other than the dirty streets and buildings of Manila. The children were already starting to arrive at Cora's humble abode when we pulled up. She had a list of 35-40 kids prepared ahead of time that would receive the special bags of gifts we had prepared. Any other kids that showed up would get a little toy from the box of toys we had as extras. Thank goodness we had that box. The word went out that "the Americans were here with toys" and every child in the village came running. It was so nice to meet Cora's good friends and their children. The children who received bags from us were so thankful and had big smiles of joy. Cora's God daughter received the special baby doll I had saved for a sweet little girl. Her name is Hazel May and she stole my heart with her beautiful smile. There were just SO many children that came. So many of them Cora didn't know and once the box of toys was gone we gave out peppermint candies. When that was gone, the kids still lingered waiting for something else. It was wonderful to give the children toys that they otherwise wouldn't receive on Christmas; but it also seemed to emphasize what these sweet children DIDN'T have. Some of them could have used a good pair of shoes, a tooth brush and tooth paste, or a bottle of chewable vitamins even more than the toys. But oh how grateful they were for the toys. It was hard to tell them we didn't have any more to give and watch them all wander back to their homes.Tears didn't seem right for the occasion, even though many times I pictured giving to the children and choked up thinking about it. When we were there in the moment, tears were the wrong emotion. These children and adults were bubbling with happiness, so happy to see us and just plain happy people. The experience made me recognize just how lucky and blessed we are for our beautiful healthy children, our warm safe house, a pantry full of food, and a steady income. The basic human needs we have are met without question. As a Mom I don't worry about my child's next meal. I can't help but dwell on just how simple some Filipinos are living. No frills, very few things, living day to day, making ends meet, praying for life to continue with their basic needs being met for themselves and their families. The experience ultimately confirmed something I have known theoretically: we are all human beings but we are all living immensely different existences on this earth. Unfathomable differences until you see it in person. When I got home that afternoon I gave my girls extra long hugs and extra kisses, thanking God that for some reason my girls have so much while the children we met to day have so little. The only difference between them comes down to chance. Tonight my prayers will include all the precious little ones we encountered today. Wishing them health and happiness for Christmas and always. Beautiful girlsThe little boy in blue melted our hearts too! Such a cutie.Yaya and I handing out bags. Just enjoying their new treatsCora's neighbors. The little girl is mentally handicapped and insisted on giving Meg and I kisses to say thank you.More beautiful childrenMy heart was mushy from these sweet faces.Cora, Megan, and IThese ladies are so beautiful with their children. They love our white skin and blonde hair but I'm not sure why. Just look at them!Little Hazel May. They call her May-May

19 pounds 14 ounces

Is exactly Arabella's weight right now. She's almost 8 months and is growing like crazy. Sadly, I had to take her to the pediatrician for a terrible case of diarrhea she's had for the past week. Thank goodness t's a virus and not something uglier but her poor little tummy just can't absorb her food since most of the good bacteria have been removed. Everything that goes in comes right back out. She's still her playful self for the most party. She's a bit more clingy to me but it makes sense if she's feeling yucky. We've switched her to rice cereal, starchy veggies, and bananas until her belly heals. I'm hoping soon for her case. Here she is posing with her Hokie onesie. I love how her thighs are so chubby she can't sit back on her heals all the way.

I can see it!

The start of a beautiful friendship is budding in my daughters. Bella reaches a new level of busy playfulness each day (a.k.a. she doesn't sit still and is only content playing with or next to her sister). Sometimes I catch Addie talking to her sister or handing her a stuffed animal and engaging her in the make believe world she's built. It sincerely warms my heart.

mission prep

Our Christmas mission 2009 started months ago when I mentioned to my Mom my desire to give a special Christmas to the children in Cora's village. Five big boxes later, full of toys, coloring books, Crayons, and personal items; my parents along with the help of other family members, had outfitted us with enough stuff the bring Christmas gifts to more than 40 needy and deserving kids of all ages. The boxes sat in Arabella's room until Megan arrived (Yes she is here!). I knew my organized motivated sister would whip us into shape and give order to getting the bags together for the kids. It idea of doing that alone while juggling the girls was too daunting a task for me to even consider tackling on my own. On Sunday while Bella napped, Megan, Addie, and I stuffed bags for babies, little girls and boys, as well as older kids and some deserving Moms. We stuffed the bags full and still have a box full of toys we will bring with us to hand out to other children who we happen upon. Addie was a huge help. She helped us by putting big handfuls of candy in each bag for the kids. She was in love with her job. Over night I had nightmares of the younger kids choking on hard butterscotch disks so the next morning Meg and Addie swapped the hard candies from the little kids bags with lolly pops. Only big kids will get the hard candy and I can sleep easier. You can see Addie took her job of being in charge of the lolly pops very seriously.Tomorrow Megan and I are heading with Cora and Garry (our driver) to deliver the goodies and play Santa for the day. Justin is taking the day off to stay with the girls. It should be a wonderful experience and I'm sure I am going to shed plenty of tears. Cora is certain that this will be a very special Christmas surprise for all the kids she has in mind for the gifts.

Christmas arrived early for me

Justin gave me a flip Mino HD for Christmas! It's the one and only thing I wanted this year for Christmas. I've been pining over this camcorder since before Bella was born. He knew I wanted to use it for Christmas so he had it waiting for me wrapped on my nightstand the other night! It's awesome and I love it. My husband is more than awesome and I love him way more than an electronic device. The feelings I have for this video camera are pretty sincere though. It's super user friendly and the picture is amazing HD quality, the best is the tiny sleek design (it's just a tad bigger and heavier than my cell phone) . I love that we can capture our girls on video so much easier now. I tried it out on Bella and captured one of her first crawls. She's crawling more and more every day. I have to explain the red rash on her chest (I know Grandma will ask). Since she's been sick I've been using a humidifier in her room and she got a little heat rash on her chest and under her chin from rubbing and the moisture. Not counting the drool that she is covered in all the time. Her chubby double chin doesn't make matters any better. I finally solved the problem with putting Desitin on the rash. After a night it's almost gone. Boo Yeah! I was really proud of that epiphany with the diaper rash cream. Totally worked.