I'm Still Here!

Wow. So much time has flown by since my last post. In fact, I was quite busy wining and dining for my birthday, that I simply did not have any time to write :) This is true, you know. I didn't have one particular shindig. It was more like lots of several little ones. Some at restaurants and some at friends and family. With an inpromptu adoption group dinner with 2 other families in between. And since I got a lovely new purse camera for my BD from Hubs, I was unclear on how to download my pics. All is solved and I am including some of them here.

Cara-Li and E playing a duet

In the last 2 weeks, the girls and I have been to the Shriners Circus with J. It is a cheesy circus but my goodness, is it ever fun! We go every year but this year's show was much improved. They had new acts and new talent but some things just never change. You HAVE to ride the elephant when you go to the Shriners Circus. It certainly is THE highlight of the evening!

Cara-Li and I also went to Cirque Eloize at PDA. This circus is more like Cirque du Soleil. In fact, many of the performers are ex-Cirque. This too was an excellent show.

It was the end of the soccer for Cara-Li this past weekend. Not a moment too soon for her. I just don't understand her. She complains about it until she gets to the field. And then off she goes playing like she enjoys it. And she's pretty darn good too!

Also this past weekend, Alexia moved into her toddler bed. I know some of you are thinking, what? She was in a crib until now. What can I say? She loved her crib! But more importantly, she now adores her new big little girl bed.

And on rainy Sunday, we went apple picking. I helped organize this trip with my Italian association and it was quite fun. We picked apples in the morning and then had a huge méchoui lunch with a band and entertainment. Needless to say there was no dinner that evening!

And finally, here is a picture of Alexia wearing her school uniform for the very first time. Check out the shoes... there's apples on them just like her uniform. Got these 3 years ago even before we knew who Alexia was!

First Day of School, Take 2

This morning, I made the journey once again, down Ballantyne Street. This morning's destination... pre-school. That's right... it was Alexia's first day of pre-school at the same school that Cara-Li attended for 4 years. It was a walk that I had not made in one year and I had to choke back the tears when I looked down and saw my little baby holding by hand so thrilled to be going to the BIG school. With her backpack and all... so cute!

Since it was the first day, parents had to stay. Alexia is such an independant little girl that she was easily whisked away by one of the teachers to play with the other kids. On the occasion she would look up to see if we were still there. And smile. Alexia will be going every day this week as it is initiation week but as of next week, she will be going 2 mornings a week. Knowing her, she'd probably want to go every day!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I keep hearing that Staples jingle when I think that all the kids are finally back in school! Cara-Li started 2nd grade today and from what I heard, all went well. She likes her new teacher and there are many new faces in her class. And she had spaghetti and chocolate ice cream for lunch. It doesn't get better than that! The bus ride was not an issue since she is no longer the youngest on the bus.

My baby is growing up!

Hi There!

It has been so long since my last post. Summer sort of got in the way!

Let's see... what have we been up to this month of August.

Well, Cara-Li finished her day camp the first week of August although she did continue on with her swimming lessons (which end today). What a difference 9 weeks of daily lessons will make! She can really swim now and is super confident in the water, not like her dear old Mom that can't float if her life depended on it :)

Alexia also finished her day camp (one morning a week) last week. She, too, spent almost everyday at the pool though not in actual lessons. Alexia we must worry about. She has no qualms about jumping into the pool ...

We took the 2nd week of August off for our yearly summer vacay at the cottage. But with the weather we were having, we were less than thrilled. Turns out we had the best weather ever and we accomplished nothing as we were too busy lying on the dock or swimming in the lake. Best summer cottage vacation in many, many years!

Gord and I did split up for the first weekend of our vacation. Our niece, K, was getting married in Guelph, Ontario so Gord attended the wedding. We, the girls, were unable to make it as it also fell on Alexia's Chinese group reunion and since I was the organiser, felt that I should have been there. K's wedding was held in the evening and since we could not have the girls babysat, I would have ended up spending the evening in a hotel room. Too bad... would have loved to see our oldest niece get married. Congrats K and A and to their boys C and C!

The reunion... well, that went well. Auntie Loula joined us for this trip seeing that she did travel with us to China. It is the second time that we go to this little place near Trois-Rivières. Each family has their own little condo facing a beautiful lake. It is really a pleasant family-run place that are there to please. We decided to leave right after lunch on Friday seeing that t was a nice day and although check-in was at 4PM, we lounged around on the property. Families began to arrive and we soon began our usual 'Wine and Cheese' fest which carried on until the wee hours of the night. Much wine was consumed (and cheese too!). A couple of families were unable to attend but hey, everyone makes a huge effort to be there. It is so great to see all the little ones again! Each condo is equipped with a complete kitchen (though tiny!) but we opted for the meal plan which included Saturday night dinner and Sunday brunch. As usual, the weekend always comes to an end far too quickly but these wonderful moments spent together watching our little ones interact will keep us till we meet again next year!

Once our weekends were over, we all met back at the house to unload and reload the cars for our week at the cottage. I had strategically packed separate suitcases for each part of our vacation (Gord was on his own) but it was such a fabulous week (did I mention this yet?) that we never cracked open the second, larger suitcase. Which means we managed with the clothes that I had packed for the weekend. Which means we must have worn bathsuits the entire time :) Poor us! Here are some pics from our vacation though there aren't many as I didn't pick up the camera much. Signs of a good holiday...

So here we are on the eve of back-to-school. Cara-Li begins 2nd grade tomorrow while Alexia still has a couple of weeks to go before she begins 2 mornings a week at nursery school. All school supplies are purchased, books have been covered, uniforms and shoes checked. All that needs to be done now... Mom needs to come to terms that her baby will be in 2nd grade in less than 12 hours!

Proud Moments

Tonight, I am the proudest Mom ever! Since the beginning of time, Cara-Li has been a very reserved, very quiet, very pensive little girl. Very often afraid of things or scared of trying something new. Now I was exactly like her as a child if not worse as I was incredibly shy. I know what's its like to be a prisoner within your own body. It took my until my adult life to shake my shyness and fears away. So of course, I do not want Cara-Li to be like that. Things changed somewhat when she became a big sister. The role of big sister made her feel more secure of herself. And when she started first grade at this new school that is no-nonsense, she gained yet more confidence.

A couple of weeks ago, there was talk of doing a gymnastics show for the end of year. Now, when Cara-Li is concerned, you must never use the word 'show' as it scares her to no end. When she was younger, we would talk about her Christmas show and she would not sleep for nights on end as she worried so much about it. And then on show day, she simply would not perform. So today, needless to say, I was pretty stressed due to our past experiences. And we were in the big gym with lots of people watching. OMG! Gord actually bet that she wouldn't do it. As you can see in this photo, she is not particularily thrilled.

But then it was time for her part of the show. They warmed up a bit while showing us some of their talents. And then it was the big moment. Their skit was to one of the songs from CATS and you guessed it, Cara-Li was one of the cats. They were all too cute! She was absolutely fabulous! I didn't even know she could do such perfect cartwheels until tonight. And for the grand finale, Cara-Li was pushed up to the top by some girls, you know, à la cheerleader style. Amazing! My little girl did it, did a 'show' and survived to talk about it. And she was so proud of herself. And so was her Mom!

!#*#?&((%()?%$

Since Gord was out of town for my birthday, I decided to spend the evening with 2 of my oldest and dearest girlfriends. Let' s just say, one too many lychees martinis might have been had! I didn't hear my 6:30AM alarm and Alexia didn't wake up either. So much to our dismay, we woke up at 7:30AM! Cara-Li's bus comes by at 7:50AM! She barely made it but all is now good. Oh... and I think I short-changed the babysitter last night. Simple math skills were not a high priority apparently last night! I'll get you on Saturday, K.

It's Friday....

It's Friday and we can all start with our weekends! Cara-Li finished her first week of school and I guess, like many do, she wanted to celebrate. So, as we adults head off to the local pub or bar for a quick drink at Happy Hour, my daughter decided that she was in for an after-school muffin. And because she didn't want to eat alone and is polite, she bought a muffin for herself and her 4 little friends.

A round of muffins for everyone! Yahooo!

Too cute!

Proud Mama

That's right... I am the Proud Mama of a first grader! We have overcome the 2nd hurdle in this back-to-school business. Cara-Li went willingly to school today, her first full day. I had the honors of doing the drop-off and once at school with her little friend, she waved bye-bye to Mom and was off. Just like that. Did I mention that I have worried about this day for almost a year and that my hair has gone quite gray? Honestly... it has. I just had it coloured yesterday and my hairdresser was shocked as to how much gray there was! Let's see if tomorrow's drop-off will be as easy. And next week, we start the bus service. That's yet another hurdle to overcome!

A Memorable Day!

I have personally been dreading this day , August 27th, for a long, long time. It was Cara-Li's first day of 1st grade in the Big, French school. Cara-Li has attended the local pre-k and kindergarten for the last 4 years and has not had any trouble due to its small scale. She does not fair well on larger scales however. Which is why I was worried. But, much to my surprise, all went well! They called her name (lucky for her her last name begins with F rather than A like mine!) and she lined up with all her classmates and marched off to her class. Mom was surprised and so was Dad. We really did not expect it to go this way. We were so giddy that we invited two other Mo-West families to our house for pizza and beer to celebrate!

Today, August 27th, is also my Alexia's birthday, 22 months old. Already! I better start planning that birthday party of hers. It just seems to me that I just sent out the Thank You cards for her last birthday. Time flies!

And today, August 27th, also marks the one year anniversary of the start of our journey towards Alexia. We flew to Toronto with a connecting flight to Shanghai in the morning. Already a year ago!

Here are some pictures from our weekend at the cottage where C, P, and G joined us for some fun in the sun!

Bullets

Due to the this super busy time in my life, I must reduce myself to using bullets for this post.

• We are in the process of renovating our master bathroom. Things are moving so slowly!! And everything is soooo dusty!


• On July 27th, Alexia turned 20 months old. Happy Birthday sweetiepie! She is such an active baby and keeps us all on our toes. She now is able to answer to 'What is your name?' with a 'Sha-Shaaaaa'. We often call her by her Chinese nickname which is Xia Xia (pronounced Shia Shia). She whispers it and says it with a grin from ear to ear. She is too cute!

• We spent the long weekend at the cottage with more setting up and preparing for the summer months. We also bought some new shoe racks at Ikea which we combined 2 together to form a cute window bench with storage. No shoes in these shoe racks... only toys!

• It rained most of Saturday and Sunday which is when we did most of our work but Monday was a glorious day! I spent it with my girls and Auntie L. and her niece on the dock and kayaking around the lake. A blast was had by all!

• Gord ran for 'HBC Run for Canada' on Canada Day. They help raise money for our Cnadaina athletes in the Olympics. Nevermind... Gord just wants to win the trip to Beijing!


• Our dear friends C. and P. hosted a wonderful Canada Day BBQ which was a great way to start the festivities.


• Cara-Li was asked to join the Montreal-West Canada Day parade with her school. So we marched down the streets of our little town with her in the blistering heat which ended in the neighborhood park where lots of activities were planned for the entire day and ended with fireworks (which we did not see!)



• Wednesday, July 2nd... it is 10 months ago today that our sweet Alexia became a part of our family. What a wonderful day that was!


• Wednesday, July 2nd... instead of spending my entire day with my 2 beautiful daughters, I went to work. Today was my first day back :( It was tough. Tough being back at work, tough being away from my girls, tough, Tough, TOUGH!!!

THE END.

Bittersweet

Yes... today was a bittersweet day. It was my big girl Cara-Li's last day of school. Not just any last day of school. But her last day of kindergarten and her last day at the school she has been going to for the last four years. Hmmm... I remember that very first day when we walked hand-in-hand down the street, how we talked about her going to school like a big girl (she only went 2 mornings a week at that time), how she went in the class not realizing that I would be leaving and the look of despair as she saw me go. Since I have been home with Alexia as of last September, I have been able to drop off and pick up Cara-Li every single day for the entire year. How I will miss that little walk to and fro! How I will miss the wonderful teachers and how I will miss all the other mothers I had befriended over the year. A very sad day indeed. Cara-Li, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be too, too bothered. Kids! We did have a nice lunch just the three of us, Mommy, Daddy and Cara-Li in honour of her graduation. Alexia missed out... she was home with the nanny having a nap!

PS: I would like to thank Cara-Li's teachers, Mme. R. and Mme. S. for all they have done for my Cara-Li!

2004: First Day of School Party

2004: First Day of School in her uniform

Present: Last Day of School in her uniform

Present: Last Day of School Party

I leave you with some more white/cream photographs. Don't worry... the week is almost over. There will be a new colour on Monday!