Heaven on Earth...

Today was a pretty relaxing and uneventful Sunday, other than the meltdown I already mentioned! After a liesurely morning, Daddy decided to take a nap. Mommy & Mia took the opportunity to join a few other Mom's and visit the Jade & Pearl Market. Mommy bought a beautiful strand of pink pearls and matching earrings for Mia's 16th birthday. Good thing for Mommy, she always seems to be thinking ahead like that...
For dinner we got some take out pasta and went to Kenny, Cathy & Molly's room for dinner. Afterward's, Mommy took Mia up to our room to go to bed while I stayed with kenny to watch a Discovery channel special on the construction of the 3 Gorge dam being built just east of here in China.
Interestingly, this dam will be 1.5 miles wide, which is the width of the Golden Gate Bridge. This will be the largest dam in the world when completed! This one dam will provide enough electricity to accomodate 10% of China's electrical needs. However, as always, with innovation comes sacrifice. Over 1,350 ancient chinese villages will be destroyed as the river waters rise to meet the new dams design. Over 1.3 million villagers will be displaced. Imagine having your city relocated after several thousands years of inhabiting the same land?! It's absolute devastation for many, and a vital link to the future for many more. That single project is so representative of the dillema much of China is facing. With such amazing historical depth, no path to the future can be built without seriously damaging many more links to the past...
Sorry for my digression. Let's get back to what's important here.
Specifically, the two beautiful women in the attached photo. While watching the Discovery channel special with Kenny, I realized I had forgotten my Cheez-It's in the room! When I ran back to our room to grab them, I came across the most beautiful sight I have ever experienced. Lying on the bed, face to face, were Mommy & Mia, fast asleep... They looked like absolute angels and I'm quite sure I've never experienced such a beautiful and touching sight in my entire life. I must have snapped about 25 photos in my excitement! It made me realize how lucky I am to have these two girls in my life. They are everything to me...

First Melt Down!

Today we got to experience our first official Mia melt down!! We noticed over the past few days that Mia has been getting more teeth in, and is definitely teething. What started as an annoyance to her has now become quite irritating! Nap time usually comes with very little drama. However, today Mia seemed very restless as nap time approached. After she gets her late morning bottle, she usually falls asleep with the cutest little smile on her face. Not today... The crying came fast and furious, and lasted for probably 20 minutes. Our quiet little baby showed us that she can be quite the screamer! Full on tears and shrieks were pretty startling as we've enjoyed nothing but sunshine during our first week together. At first it was almost relieving to see that she could get so upset. That lasted about 30 seconds before we both became very frustrrated. Not at her crying, but at our lack of ability to provide her with what she needed. She finally fell asleep in my arms mid cry!
It wasn't until she had fallen asleep that it dawned on us that it was her teething that caused the crying. When her nap was cut short with another bout of crying, we soothed her with a little Tylenol and lot of love! The rest of the day went beautifully once we figured out what was causing the problem. Wow, it sure can be tough to figure these little ones out... But well worth the effort.