One Year Ago Today....

Sept. 2nd, 2007 will forever be engraved in my mind as one of the most important and fulfilling days of my life. We became parents for a second time and Cara-Li finally became a Jie Jie, a role she had been waiting to fill for such a long time. Our sweet Guang Yun Xia was placed in our arms at 4:30PM and life has not been the same since! Xia Xia, as we call her, has blossomed into a bright, vivacious and strong-willed little girl. Our lives would not have been complete without her.

On Sept. 2nd, 2007, I went to sleep a very proud and happy mother to two beautiful and wonderful daughters. I don't know.... can life get any better? Yup. On Sept. 2nd, 2008, I am going to sleep an even prouder and happier mother. That's how it gets better!

THEN

NOW

Happy Reunions

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of attending BB's (Mortimer's Mom's daughter) 3rd birthday party. A great time was had by all! The kiddos were having a good time but so were the adults. Too bad we had to leave early to get the kids to bed :(

I spent most of this evening packing for our next weekend jaunt. We are off to Lake Bell (near Three Rivers) to meet up with Alexia's travel group for our First Annual Reunion. We are so excited to see the babies again after almost one year! The great thing is is that everyone will be there! I will post pics of the girls once we get home.

Happy Days!

An extremely busy weekend it was!

Saturday was Fun Day at the lake and the theme this year was Super Heroes. We basically dress up and then parade around the lake in whatever water vehicle of choice. Cara-Li was Batgirl, Alexia was Supergirl, Gordie was SuperDad and I was, of course, SuperMom. Lots of fun was had by all!



Next on the agenda, was a family party over at our friends’ cottage across the lake. This included a wonderful dinner, late night swimming in the lake, ‘Smores and a campfire (indoors due to inclement weather). Once again, lots of fun was had by all!



Sunday, July 27th, was the most specialist of all days. It was our 5th anniversary of the day Cara-Li joined our family. 5 years! Where has all the time gone? We have had the pleasure to watch Cara-Li blossom into a bright and wonderful little girl from a very frightened little baby. These past 5 years have been the very best years of my life! In order to celebrate this very special day, we invited 2 other families that we travelled with to spend the day with us. They came up for some fun around the lake followed by dinner and lots reminiscing about our trip. The girls had a great time despite the language barrier (the French, English thing). By the end of the evening, Cara-Li even stated that they had lots of fun even though they couldn’t understand each other sometimes. And since Alexia was born on the 27th, she turned 21 months today. Happy Birthday, Baby!



On Monday evening, we took the girls out for our traditional Gotcha Day dinner, this time at our favourite Chinese restaurant in St. Sauveur followed by some very tasty homemade ice cream at a local ice cream parlour.



Gordie is on vacation up North with the girls while I am at work. I am commuting back and forth so I do get to spend time with the girls. And my dinner is always waiting for me!

I am looking forward to a quiet weekend at the cottage… you know, the kind where you just sit around on the dock sipping coffee (morning) or beer (afternoon) while watching the loons swim by. Perhaps I will have one of these this coming weekend. No activities are planned and no visitors are expected. At last… Peace and Quiet!

Emotions Gone Wild!

Today was an interesting day. We had an appointment with a social worker as we are experiencing some minor issues with Cara-Li. We thought that seeing someone would help us guide her through these rough patches and after listening to us for close to 2 hours, she concluded that she definitely could help us. Good. We left there feeling really good about everything.


Fast forward to this evening. After supper, I went grocery shopping in preparation for the cottage. All is well. I am alone and I am taking my sweet time going through the aisles, looking at all the products and thinking of what we would eat this weekend. As I am picking through the green beans, I realize that there is this cute little Chinese girl in the cart to my left and her father (who is Chinese) is to my right. I smile at the little girl and then I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I was mesmorized by her eyes, her smile, her hair, her skin... and then the WAVE hit me (see 3D's post about her wave). Here is a little girl who is with her father, her Chinese father. She is where she should be. My daughters didn't have that chance, the chance to be with their birthparents. They were ripped away from it all to be placed in an unknown place, all alone. Yes, they are finally in a loving home and we couldn't love them more and they couldn't be any happier. But I can't help thinking about what if they had stayed with their birth family like this little girl did. Everything would have been so different, for them and for us. My head was just spinning with these crazy thoughts that I didn't realize that I was standing over the green beans with huge tears pouring out of my eyes and sobbing. I could see the look of confusion in the poor little girl's face and the father's too.

Anyway, I came home and I feel better. I realize that I am truly the luckiest mom in the whole wide world and that I couldn't have been blessed any more than I have with these two wonderful daughters. And they are exactly where the belong... in our home, in our lives and most importantly, in our hearts.

I Must be Living in a Bubble...

... where everything in my world is just beautiful and harmonious and wonderful! Here we are booking a wonderful trip to Chicago with the family for our long weekend in May. Gord needs to be there for work and us girls would go to hang out... well, shop, shop, SHOP!!! But, just as we were about to hit the BUY NOW button for our airline tickets, I remembered that Alexia does not have a Canadian passport as she is not a citizen yet and we do not have a visa for her either. Stop... let's re-think this. OK, we probably could still get her a visa in the next 4 weeks (it can sometimes take long). Oh yeah... we need her permanent resident card to get a visa which of course we do not have in our possession as we mailed it back to Citizenship Canada last week in order to get her actual citizenship. END OF STORY... we cannot go to Chicago, for sure. Goodbye American Girl, goodbye Crate and Barrel, goodbye Nordstrom, goodbye Pottery Barn, goodbye Magnificent Mile! GOODBYE!

Visits, Sleeps and Swaps

I forgot to mention yesterday that we had a lovely visitor in the morning. Alexia had a playdate with NL, who was part of our adoption group. I just found out that NL and her family moved to Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue a couple of months ago from far, far away :) The girls had a grand old time playing for a while until it was time to pick-up Cara-Li from school. Then it was off to the Patisserie for a quick lunch before it was time for us to part ways and make some well-deserved dodos.

Speaking of dodos, it was Mom's night out last night for my monthly play at the Centaur Theatre and as usual, I can never sleep afterwards. My mind always races and I need lots of time to wind down. Needless to say, I was very tired this AM after only a fews hours of sleep. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to have a picnic out on the deck (which was lovingly shovelled and pressure washed on the weekend by my darling). Once Alexia was put down for her nap shorly thereafter, I decided to return to the deck and lie down for a while. A while which turned out to be over 2 1/2 hours! Cara-Li was right beside me playing with her 'stuff'' the whole time. There is something to be said about the first Spring nap outdoors. I just love it!

I've done a crazy thing. OK, it's not so crazy but I may have bitten off more than I could chew. I have joined a Doll Quilt Swap. What this means... I make a quilt for a doll and send it to the person who was assigned to me by May 31st. And I, in turn, will receive a doll quilt from my mystery quilter. Sounds fun, right? Problem is... I have never made a quilt, ever! I am taking this very seriously! Last week, I went to Fabricville to pick out some fabrics. Lucky for me, I met an older woman who is a quilter and gladly helped me select the fabrics and gave me a quick overview on how to go about making a quilt. I have consulted with many web sites and many books from our local library that I think I am ready to attack this. My fabrics have been washed and ironed as per instructions. My tools are prepared. Get ready, set, GO!

Busy, busy weekend!

We decided to head off to the cottage on Thursday morning this week seeing that Cara-Li is on Spring Break. It is always so fantastic to have a couple of extra days there as 4 days seem to feel like 8. We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner out. With what started with a casual dinner at the local restaurant, we kind of ended up in Saint Sauveur at Gibby's! Not exactly the same thing! But remember, Alexia loved filet mignon last week. But this week, after I ordered the $50 piece of beef, she refused to even taste it! Go figure!

On Friday, it was skiing for CL and Gord will I laid low with Alexia back at the ranch. We played, we read, Alexia napped, I watched a movie. Life is grand! I did prepare some things as we were expecting friends to arrive for the weekend at around suppertime. But, I didn't have to cook as they brought it. What fabulous guests! And their dinner was fab too! Thanks C & P.

CL and G in their little homemade beds as they watched a movie. Too cute!

Saturday, we all headed to the ski hill with some of us skiing and some of us not. CL had her last ski lesson for the year and ended it with a bang! She just loves to ski! And that makes me happy.

Daddy and Cara-Li discussing which chairlift to take.

And finally on Sunday, we went to the Sugar Shack with the Adoptive Families of Quebec. I had so much maple syrup and derivitives of it that I am still bouncing of the walls. When will this sugar rush end? Cara-Li hates maple syrup whereas Alexia absolutely loved the entire experience. She is a true Quebecer at heart!

Mommy, Cara-Li, Alexia and some guy! (Gord, you really should take some photo composition tips from me! If you had zoomed in a little, that 'guy' whom we do not know would not have appeared like he belongs to our family!)

Alexia, who does not appear to be affected by all the sugar she consumed just moments earlier!

The Many Changes in Alexia

It is amazing how much this little girl has changed since we've been home. I thought I'd jot down some of the things that she says and does for posterity purposes.

Alexia now (at age 16 months):

- has 8 teeth (4 at 11 months and 4 at 15 months)
- obviously walks (since 12 months)
- sleeps through the entire night without a peep (12 hours) and naps twice a day (1.5 - 2 hours each)
- understands simple instructions such as: sit down, put your toy away, drink your water, put your head down, give me your foot, where are your socks, wipe your mouth, blow your nose
- points to her nose and eyes when asked
- howls like a wolf and barks like a dog
- gives kisses freely and unexpectedly and blows kisses when she goes to bed
- hugs her baby and feeds her
- nods 'yes' when asked if her supper is good
- points at everything she wants to make her self understood
- gets extremely excited when she sees her coat as she knows that we are going outside
- once her snowsuit is placed on the floor, she jumps into it
- squeals when she sees her sister come out of school
- babbles constantly
- says a number of words such as:
doo-doo = blankie
do-do = sleep
ne-ne = Chinese for milk
ma-oum = mommy
da-doum = daddy
da-yi or ca-yi = Cara-Li
ca-ca = pretty obvious as to what this is!
hi (while waving)
bye (while waving)
wow!
- says a numer of words we are not sure about such as:
wa-wa = water?
ya-ya = Xia Xia (that's her)?
- can go up the stairs but down is still a no go
- can climb onto the bed or couch
- loves to put on everyone's shoes, mitts and hats
- squeals with delight at the sight of the tub filling with water

There you have it ... a little summary as to what Alexia has been up to since her arrival last September.

3 days and counting!

That's right... my little baby girl turns one this Saturday. Unbelievable! And, go ahead and ask me... did I work on her birthday festivities yet? Nope. We are have a little party for her on Sunday so that gives me 4 days to get my act in gear. Friday will be my big shopping day for decorations, loot bags, gifts etc. My darling husband suggested we order platters of food from a local restaurant / take-out place just around the corner. After much hesitation, I agreed and, let me tell you, what a load off my shoulders! First time that I do not have to dream up a menu... someone else has done it me. Great!

Oh... and I mention that Alexia has started to walk! Yup... for a few weeks now she was standing very sturdily and then last week, she started taking a couple of steps unassisted. Yesterday, she took a total of 12 steps before realizing what she was doing and, of course, threw herself down. It won't be long now before she starts to tear through the entire house! Too cute!

Craziness!

Let me tell you... life is very hectic with two kids! Between getting the older one to school every day, to her activities and to her playdates and then getting the younger one to all her activities between naps, it certainly does not leave a lot of free time for mama. Not to mention that mama tries to work for 2 - 4 hours per day. I have so much on the go these days work wise that needs to be done before the end of this month. In November, I will be much freer... yeah, right! It will then be time to start thinking about Christmas!

We spent the long Thanksgiving weekend in Guelph, Ontario where part of Gord's family resides. They finally got to meet Alexia and fun was had by all! We went apple picking at the famous Chudleigh's Farm and then went antique hunting at Aberfoyle's Antique Market. Wow! What a place! Must go back to this place with a plan. There is so much to see and fabulous finds to be had. I got another sewing box. Yes, because you always need more than one. Haha! Did I tell you I hate to sew?

We had two fabulous meals at Auntie Karen's (Thanks Karen!) which included turkey, of course! This is the one time a year that I have turkey (being Italian, we have lasagne at Christmas... yumyum) and boy, I overeat every single time. To the point that I must lie down on the couch for the rest of the night groaning in pain! Here's a funny shot of Karen's grandson and my great-nefew, Cayden. Too funny!

Gord then headed off to Atlanta for the week and he left me alone with two kids... for the entire week! Thus the other reason for not posting! Oh, and did I mention that all my girlfriends are getting together this weekend in Mont-Tremblant to celebrate all our 40th birthdays? Luckily, Gord is back early tomorrow afternoon and therefore I will be joining them for dinner after missing the spa day :( and spending the night. Gord still does not believe that I will be leaving him alone for one night with two kids. I guess he will start believing it when he sees by car pull out of the driveway the second he gets home. Heehee!

I leave you with a cute shot of my Southern Belles. I must go pack for my night away from home and write up an instruction manual for my husband on how to care for two children at the same time!

11 months old today

My little Alexia is 11 months old today. Happy Birthday sweetiepie! It is hard to believe that it has been already a month since we started our journey to China. Time flies when you are having fun! I better hurry up and start planning the 1st birthday party...

We are off to the cottage tomorrow for the weekend, Alexia's first. I do hope that she likes her room up there. Wait till she finds out she has to share with Cara-Li. Cara-Li is extremely excited to be sleeping in the same room as her as in town they have their own bedrooms. We'll see how that goes!

This past weekend, Cara-Li joined up with her soccer team for a final few games of the season. Most of her friends/team mates are off to other schools so she was very excited to see them again.

Alexia also got to meet her baby cousin Bianca who is 8 months old. They are basically the same size in every way. They were so cute together! My parents, brothers and sister-in-laws also got to spend some time with Alexia. They only got to see her upon our arrival for a little bit before we went into our cocoon for a week. We are now out and doing the rounds!