Double Happiness

Twenty Months!

I bought this dress for Gwen many months before her referral. I'd been eyeing it for several months at my favorite store: TJ Max. It was wicked expensive originally. I think it was around $75. But TJ Max always has good deals on quality name-brand stuff. Even so, it was $20 and that's still more than I'm usually willing to pay for something that'll get Juicy-Juice spilled on it or get worn just once before it's outgrown. The dress, as you can see, is beautiful. The only reason why it was still available for me to oogle week after week was because it had a stain on the collar. And that's another reason why the $20 price tag was too steep.

Eventually, I talked myself into it. I got a 10% discount because of the stain and took the dress home not knowing if it would ever wash out. I used bleach and a tooth brush and got most of it out. Then I washed the whole dress and spent at least 45 minutes ironing it. Today, it fits her perfectly! This is one dress that I'll keep and let her pass down to her children. It's made so well and it's so elegant! Don't you agree?

My baby's so far away!

Madeline (Maddy) feels very far away to me. Maybe because we know we can't get her before September. It's pretty hard to look at her picture or look at Gwen (who is nearly the same age as Maddy) and not think about her and wonder what she's doing and if she's happy. I feel like we're missing so much of her babyhood!

But it does feel good to know that she's in foster care. At least she's got a mom. I hope her foster mother is warm and loving and our little girl is getting lots of attention.

Valentine's Day at the park

What better way to spend a beautiful California day in February than with your Valentine in the park! Unless, of course, it's on a swing!
	....or a slide! Look at that crazy hair from the static electricity!
	Our big girl can climb up on the play equipment all by herself now! This leaves mommy's hands free for other things -- like holding a camera! Mostly, we had the whole park to ourselves. But a nice Grandpa showed up with is baby granddaughter and their cute little dog.
	Gwen was pretty excited about sharing the park with the doggy until she heard him bark! This is her face as she beheld (perhaps for the first time?) that such a noise could come from such a cute little furry critter!
	And here's the furry critter!
	After the doggy left, we were alone again and Gwen went on a pine cone hunting expedition. She sure does like pine cones. Afterwards, we sat and talked about her treasures. Here she is telling me about her pine cone (in her right hand) and her little piece of bark (in her left hand). This expression is cute because it's so similar to a picture I have of her brother, Michael. Check out the picture, below, to see what I mean!
	This is an old picture of Michael. He was five years old. But it's so similar to the picture above. I have the cutest kids! :)

Her first bike!

We got this Schwinn trike from Costco long before we even got our referral for Gwen. It looks like as great a match for her as she was for us!

Help me rename this blog?

Now that we're expecting our 2nd daughter, Madeline, I can't call this blog "Gwen of Shenzhen" anymore. I liked that name because it rhymed and was very unique. I'm less enthusiastic about "Gwen and Maddy's blog" ............ boring!

But I'm drawing a blank. I want something short and sweet. Not more than three words, clever or catchy would be great! It doesn't have to include their names. It can reflect that they're sisters (twin-esque, twin-like, un-twins, two snopeas in a pod?) or that they're adopted from China. It can even include Pinyin, if that helps. Or it can just be anything even remotely related to this journey.

Both girls have the same Chinese first name: Xiao (pronounced shau). It can mean different things depending on how the Chinese character is written but our girls have the same meaning: Knowledge or knowing. It's pretty amazing that they have the same Chinese first name so I've thought about playing with it and working it into a clever title but, again, my clever meter isn't even registering lately! Maybe it's mommy-brain?

I'd love some help. Any ideas? If you can't post a comment, feel free to email me. Just click on my profile to get my email address. :)