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The Adventures of Maggie and Ella

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Finally, photos!

On Saturday morning, Maggie and I made dragon heads for the dragon parade at the FCC - N. Calif. Between Two New Years party. I gave Maggie a bunch of scrap foam sticker material, and cut little triangles for her. She decided to use them to make eyelashes on the purple dragon! Very creative.



Here are some photos from the party:


Maggie on the way into the Mill Valley Community Center.



Maggie with a Cal-Berkley student in the craft room.



Jiana and Maggie making paper bag panda puppets.



Marin Chinese Cultural Association Lion Dance team.



Maggie in the purple dragon.



Kendra in the red dragon.


And here are some photos from the race on Sunday:


Crossing the bridge at sunrise.



In Golden Gate Park at about mile 6. I was feeling pretty good. Loved the shade and plenty of room on the road.



Along the Great Highway at about mile 11. I'm smiling in the photo because Baba and Maggie were cheering me on, but I was struggling at this point in the race. It was sunny, a little too warm, and much of the 4-5 mile segment along the Great Highway was crowded. (I'm sure if I could have run faster it wouldn't have been so crowded!)



Crossing the finish line.



After the race.



Finally (after realizing that Craig was waiting for us at a different Mel's location!) eating lunch with Uncle Craig.



The picture Maggie colored for Craig's birthday earlier in the week.



Kiefer and Sphinx snuggling on the couch.

Maggie was a dear and actually stayed quiet during quiet time so I could take a nap on Sunday afternoon. I was very thankful!

New measurements for Ella

We asked for updated height & weight information to make sure we bring appropriately-sized clothing when we travel. The orphanage wouldn't tell our China facilitator how much Ella weighs, but her height is reportedly 80cm (31.5"), which is on the 3rd percentile for Chinese girls. She was also in the 3rd percentile at 16 months of age, and consistency is a good thing (at least she's not decreasing in percentiles). I hope her weight has been consistent; it's a bit concerning that they wouldn't share that information. It's probably safe to say she doesn't weigh more than about 21 or 22 lbs.

sorry, no news yet!

Since the folks at the CCAA have just returned to work and have a backlog of papers to sign, we don't expect to receive our Travel Authorization until Friday at the earliest, and more likely early next week.

In other news, on Saturday Maggie and I went to FCC - N. California's 14th annual Between Two New Years party, which was lots of fun, and yesterday I ran my first half-marathon. It was unseasonably warm in San Francisco, and the course was pretty crowded, so it wasn't easy. I missed my goal time by 2 minutes, but I was just glad to have finished, because the last mile or two were really tough! I kept having to tell myself "Just keep running. Don't walk. The finish line is just up ahead. Don't walk!" I think I preferred the 32 degree weather in Stockton a few weeks back.

No photos to post - in my hurry to leave for UCD this morning, I forgot to bring my camera and the USB headphone/microphone, so now I am stuck in Davis (we had my "farewell" dinner this evening, so I'm staying at a hotel up here) and can't even do a Chinese lesson or upload the weekend's photos. I feel gross from eating so much at dinner so I don't want to just sit in bed and watch TV, either. Blech! Maybe I'll go play "who has the biggest brain?" on Facebook.

I almost forgot to write about last weekend!

Last Sunday I did my 2nd 10-mile run in an 8-day time period. Edward ran it pushing Maggie and still finished about a half-hour ahead of me! Maggie took some interesting photos from the stroller:





Baba took a couple of photos of me coming in for the finish.



I didn't enjoy this one as much as the Cal-10, but it was still a confidence-builder going into the half-marathon next weekend.

Edward ran in his 20-year-old Joy Division T-shirt (and now we're worried it will fall apart when we wash it!):



The weather was unseasonably warm, and after the race Maggie played on the beach with Hetti, Lena and TT.





Eventually we headed up to Ghirardelli Square and had lunch at Lori's Diner. Tyler lucked out in only having to push one kid up the hill: poor Peter got stuck with 3!



After lunch, the kids ran around the Square, eventually setting up camp in the doorway of a now-defunct restaurant.





Yesterday was the first Saturday in recent memory where we didn't have anywhere to be or anything scheduled to do. Other than running in the AM and swimming at the YMCA in the afternoon, I don't even remember what we did all day! Oh, except I do remember almost choking on some lettuce at lunch time, and after I was better and returned to the kitchen table, Maggie said "Maybe you should take smaller bites. Then the salad wouldn't get stuck in your throat, but would go all the way down to your stomach." She cracks me up.

This morning, Edward ran a 15K in the East Bay and Maggie and I lounged around in our PJs



before going for a run. It was pretty windy by about 10am, and my legs were tired! It's been a while since I had to push Maggie. We picked up a few pinecones along the way to make pinecone bird feeders later in the day.

After our run, I made the mistake of letting Maggie watch TV while I showered - she had behaved so nicely all morning. But almost on cue, when TV time was over and I asked her to get her shoes and socks on to go to the store, she got whiny and fussy. Edward was home by then, so I ended up going to the store by myself. It turned out to be helpful that Maggie wasn't there, because at Michael's I found a bunch of little crafts and things to keep her occupied on the plane to China, all in the clearance rack for $1 or less. When I got back we ate some lunch and then went to buy birdseed and supplies to make Chinese New Year dragons. Maggie had regained her pre-TV personality, so we made two peanut-buttered pinecone bird feeders.





just like Tex and Indi in one of her Highlights magazines. She was so proud.



Well, it's late and if I want to stay in a good mood I'd better get some sleep.

I'm feeling much better now...

Every time I think of that phrase I picture the little girl ghost in "The Sixth Sense" who says that to Haley Joel Osment's character right after she throws up.

Anyway, I'm feeling better because a) last night I watched one of my favorite feel-good movies on TV - "That Thing You Do" (it's hard to be in a bad mood when you're singing bubblegum pop music); b) I got caught up on sleep - which makes a HUGE difference in my mood; and c) Maggie reminded me of something very important this morning by singing one of my favorite Sugarland songs:

But it's poor me, why me, oh me
More of the same old, worn out blah, blah story
There's no good explanation for it at all.
Ain't no rhyme or reason, no complicated meaning
Ain't no need to overthink it, let go laughing
When life don't go quite how you planned it
We try so hard to understand it
The irrefutable, indisputable fact is...
...it happens!

Ah, the wisdom of a 4.5-year-old. She may not know what "irrefutable" means, but she gets the gist of the song.

So much for a happy Chinese New Year

We got word from our China facilitator that "owing to the very busy schedule of meetings of directors at CCAA before the Chinese new year holiday, our TAs (Travel Authorizations) have not been signed off by the head directors. We have to wait until after the Chinese New Year holiday."

Which, in all likelihood, means we won't travel until late February and won't be home until March. I've already had to reschedule about two dozen patients, most of whom were not very happy about being moved. I can't go through the stress of rescheduling them again. Also, I've hired a doctor to fill in for me for the entire month of February, and she already has patients booked, so I can't just tell her not to come in. So now I get to sit around the house for two weeks moping and cursing. Not that I don't have a million things to do, but it's hard to focus when you're mind is on your child whose been waiting in an orphanage halfway around the world for 6 months when she could have been home before Christmas.

I am trying so hard to be calm and to not let things bother me, but I am so upset right now that I can't even sleep. It is 4:30 in the morning. I saw in one of the online forums yesterday that several LOAs were issued this week, all for families who submitted their Letters of Intent (LOI) just a few weeks ago (including one family who just submitted their LOI on January January 7!). I am very angry that the CCAA found time to issue LOAs to these families, when there are at least a dozen families who waited MONTHS for their LOA and now are going to wait 5-6 weeks for TA. I am just fed up with the apparent lack of common sense in the people running things.

But then again, what do I expect from the country who brought us lead paint in children's toys and toxic additives to pet food and infant formula?

Jane, stop this crazy thing!!!

January 10: FCC Waiting Families seminar in Berkeley, 1-5pm. I had spent a big chunk of time organizing the event, and it went really well. It was great having on-site child care, as Maggie got to play with Billy, a 7-year-old recently adopted by our agency's China facilitator (with whom we carpooled to the seminar), and several other kids. After the seminar ended, Maggie came into the meeting room and asked "Where's all the food??"

January 11: The "Cal 10" race in Stockton - my first 10-mile run. It was 32*F!!



Maggie and Edward braved the cold and fog to cheer me on.



The race itself was great. I'm no speed demon (think tortoise rather than hare!), but I had a good time and felt fabulous at the finish.



It was, however, a little difficult to sit through a 4 hour FCC Board meeting right afterwards in Emeryville, when all I wanted to do was sleep!

January 12-13: My monthly stint at UC Davis, and I lived up to my reputation as an Emergency Magnet. Among the patients in the Dental Operatory on Tuesday were a St. Bernard shot in the face with a .45, a hit-by-car stray cat with a proptosed eye and a subluxated jaw (I'll spare you the photos of those 2), and a hog-nosed snake named "Hawg" (who is too cute not to share) who needed skull x-rays:





January 14 - we had a meeting with our China facilitator, who gave us tentative travel dates! We are hoping to leave for Shanghai on or around February 11-12, meet Ella on February 16, and return home on the 26th. We still have to wait for Travel Authorization before we can book our flights, though.

It was a little bit of a rough week, as a still-grieving client posted signs all over town about the death of her dog this time last year, which she blames on me. (The dog had a major surgery for a jaw tumor, had post-op complications, which I thought - and still think - were treatable, but she gave up and had him euthanized by a different doctor. She blames me for doing the surgery in the first place. Despite the fact that she practically begged me to do the surgery as soon as possible, and both my nurses and myself arranged to come in on our day off to do the surgery. So much for trying to help someone.)

I also had to let one of my assistants know that we will be changing our work schedule upon my return from China. Our new schedule (Monday-Wednesday-Friday) interferes with her other job, so it remains to be seen what will happen. We had a light surgery day, but spent the afternoon calling clients who are already booked for Tuesdays and Thursdays in March & April to reschedule their appointments.

Last night was date night, as Maggie was at her monthly preschool PJ party. Thai food & a Lemon Drop followed by dessert at The Cheesecake Factory...blissful. Today we had our local FCC playgroup, for which we had absolutely gorgeous weather,



followed by a "Moms' day" at Mani & Nanny, a new place in Pacific Heights where you get your nails done while your kids play, supervised, in a separate room. It was a fun day but I am exhausted! And I have another 10-mile race tomorrow morning! Edward's shin is feeling better, and he ran 8 miles in the city yesterday, so he is going to push Maggie in the 10-mile run tomorrow too. And even pushing 50 lbs, he'll still beat me by a half hour!!

It's been an eventful year thus far...

On Friday, January 2, Maggie had her first trip to the ER! She helped me make penne with broccoli, cherry tomatoes and provolone for dinner (saying with a hint of foreshadowing, "Baba doesn't let me use knives" as she cut up the broccoli), then helped me with the dishes afterwards. She said "I'll let you wash the knives, Mommy." and not 3 minutes later, as I turned around to dry my hands after finishing rinsing them, said "Mommy!" and showed me her right index finger, with a pretty deep laceration. Those of you who know me know that I do not panic easily, and tend to brush off minor injuries (remember when Maggie got her first bloody lip?). Well, I could tell this one might need stitches, so off we went to the ER, arriving just before 7pm.

Here she is in the car on the way:



Here's the knife she decided to give a feel - not the tiny paring knife she'd used on the broccoli, but this huge bread knife!



Crazy girl! Luckily we live only 5 minutes from Kaiser. However, the ER was hopping on this Friday night. A guy with what looked like a broken arm, a girl bleeding pretty badly from her right eye, and a man with a head injury were some of the folks we saw. After about an hour waiting, in walked a man who looked to be in his early 30s, with the same injury (from the same brand knife, even!!). There was a little 17-month-old girl there with a dislocated elbow, and she and Maggie entertained each other for a while. One of Edward's patients was also there, so we talked with her and the other Wusthof victim quite a bit. The kids did remarkably well. At about the 2 hour mark, having held his tongue from the "I told you so" I knew he was thinking, Edward went home. Finally, after a 3 hour wait, we saw the doctor. Maggie cried before he could even take off the gauze she had wrapped around her finger; just the anticipation was enough to start the tears. (It started bleeding again, of course, with her elevated blood pressure from her fear, plus she's squeezing the gauze super tight around the finger to prevent the doctor from looking at it. I had to pry her little left hand off of her right hand to let the doctor have a peek.) The verdict: may need sutures. But if the bleeding would stop again, may just be able to get by with tissue glue. The nurse put a glob of lidocaine jelly on it,



we sat for 20 minutes, and when the doctor returned, he pronounced it fit for glue. So, after numbing, scrubbing, air drying, gluing and bandaging, we were able to leave, and we got home a little after 10:30pm. When Baba came to pick us up, he brought her Cloud Kimochi, which made her smile:



So that was Day 2 of the New Year!

Yesterday, I received photos of the fire at my Dad's house in Alabama. It happened just before Christmas, and they'd called the day it happened, but seeing the photos was really shocking. It was so much worse than I'd imagined. Here's one example:



I am in awe of how well he and my step-mom are doing. Luckily all of the family (including the 3 dogs) is safe. The helpfulness of their State Farm agent and their wonderful neighbors has gone a long way, I think. Fingers crossed that the reconstruction goes well. I hope the professionals in northern Alabama are more competent than those we've run across here (between the contractor who remodeled our kitchen in the condo, the landscape architect who did our yard here, and the guys who just repaired our heating system, we don't have a lot of confidence in the home improvement field!). I wish I could go out there to help; I am cramming extra patients in left and right to try to accommodate as many pets as possible before we leave for China next month, and there's just no way for me to get away.

Today, Day 4 of the New Year, was eventful but in a good way: Maggie ran her first race!! I did the DSE Lake Merced 4.5-mile run, after which there was a 1-mile Kids' Run. Maggie finished! She took a few little walk breaks, but never complained about being too tired, etc., and she was so proud when she was done.





Her favorite part was the "prize", a box of Sno-Caps!



(Unfortunately, allowing her to eat an entire box of chocolate was not such a good idea; she was incredibly hyper the rest of the day! No nap, and her "quiet time" was anything but quiet. Edward and I are more exhausted than she is!)

Finally, she's fast asleep, which is where I'm headed now.