Cara!

Cara came home and whoa… she's TINY! But beautiful… amazing… mind blowing…

They say a picture is worth a thousand words… here are six-thousand…

Adrianne holding Cara at the hospital…

The proud father…

The excited uncle…

The tables have turned for Ellie!

Ellie giving her little sis a reassuring hand…

Wait, is this a Normal Rockwell? I didn't know he painted Asian families!

So sweet, so shy…

I took Ellie out for Japanese food last night and the waitress there thought she was so cute that when we were done eating she came out with a little hairpin for her and clipped it on. Ellie is so shy though, that she didn't even crack a smile until we left the restaurant, at which point she touched the hairpin and began to waddle-dance back to the car giggling. =)

For those of you who I haven't had the chance to tell… Adrianne had Cara (the new baby) at 9:30pm on Sunday, June 3. This was the same day that I was on a train up to Everett, so when I got in, I picked up Ellie and took back to their home where I have been learning how to care for a 2-yr-old in a sort of sink or swim manner. I now feel quite expert at changing poopy diapers!

I try to have music on all the time - and so I will bring Ellie over to the CD player, load in a CD, and we take a few steps away and both crouch down with our hands cupped at our ears, pointed towards the speakers… and when the music starts to play I gasp and stand up straight, as if startled - and she gets really excited, laughs, and runs around for a couple seconds before settling down. She's so good! Anyway - today I put on Sarah MacLachlan and she does her routine and then pauses and points to the speakers and asks, "Mommy?" Lol! I guess I know which CDs Adrianne sings along with! =)

Adrianne and Steve should be coming home on Thursday after dinner, so the next post should have some pics of Caralyn Yuriko Kwak! I, for one, cannot wait to meet her!

Ellie goes grocery shopping!

Ellie with her new hairpin.

Ellie at breakfast.

Ellie all clean!

Ellie

Here are a few pics (thanks, Dad - you took some really awesome ones). I really can't express how amazing Ellie is. I had a funny thought today, though…

So I have this thing with people I love, where, because I love them already, and I love little kids in general, I often think, "How cool would it be to know so-and-so as a kid (or sometimes just as a younger version)!" I used to always wonder what it would be like, for example, to go to high school with my mom and dad as my peers… or to play with kid-versions of my current friends as, say, an assistant camp-counselor (i.e. not a disciplinarian) for some summer program. Wouldn't that be the best?! I could tell them that one day they would grow up to be wonderful people, and know I was telling the truth. Plus - just think of all the cute stories I could tell them about themselves when I got back to reality!

In any case, Ellie looks so much like kid-pictures of Adrianne that sometimes I think, there but for fortune this could BE Adrianne as a kid! But knowing a little-Adrianne has extra significance for me because it would also be like a chance for me to reciprocate all the love, support, and care-taking that she gave me as the-most-wonderful-older-sister-in-the-world when I was young. It’s a weird thought, I know, but makes it that much more fun to play with Ellie. =)

Anyway - enjoy the pics! Isn't she adorable?!