One month with our little princess!

It was exactly one month ago today that we arrived at Shepherd's Field Children's Village in China and met our precious baby girl for the first time.  Glen and I were looking back at the pictures and videos from that first day with her, and we are truly amazed at all of the changes we see in Thea in such a short amount of time.  She looked so tiny in those first pictures...she has grown so much already!...well, mostly in her belly and face that is! :) lol

I am regretting that I haven't been posting more often to document all of her 'accomplishments' and the changes in her...but life is definitely super busy, yet wonderful...and we have simply been enjoying spending time with our beautiful kiddies.  I find myself often marveling at how perfectly Thea fits into our life...it truly feels like she has been with us so much longer than a month, and we have to remind ourselves that everything is still pretty new to her.  Sometimes I look at her when she is playing or when I'm cuddling her before bed and it suddenly hits me...WOW...our baby girl is really here...with us...she's ours...finally!... how lucky we are to have such a beautiful daughter!!!  God is so good!

A few days ago she melted my heart when she started saying 'mama'...it's really just a continuous 'mamamama', and i'm not sure if she's just babbling or actually understands that she is saying 'my name'...but I absolutely love it regardless.

Thea had her first doctor's appointment last week.  Our doctor feels that her gross/fine motor skills are within age range, but that her speech is definitely delayed... not surprising given that she had rarely heard english before meeting us.  Our doctor has made referrals for Thea to see the plastic surgeon (for her cleft palate surgery), opthomologist (he is concerned about her eyes), pediatrician (eating issues etc), and child development center (speech therapy among other things).  Whew...seems like a lot and it's a bit overwhelming...but I really can't wait to get things going... especially so that her cleft palate surgery can be done as soon as possible.

She has been spoiled rotten with lots of beautiful and thoughtful gifts from family and friends...she loves the tissue and even understands now that there are going to be 'things' inside the bag for her! 

Love how she peeked in to see what was inside! :)

Other new things about our sweet baby girl...

- she can wave goodbye and blow kisses (she loves to wave at her daddy and does it so cute with her hand up high and just the fingers bending up and down)
- she sticks out her tongue when she is concentrating and trying to do something new (standing up, figuring out a new toy, etc)

- she got 2 new teeth this past week... molars at that... what a little trooper!
- she is still loving her sleep (Amen!)
- she tries to mimic almost everything... especially whatever the boys are doing

All 3 munchkins doing the new 'family trick' :)

- can do sign language for 'please', 'more', and 'all done'... still gets a bit confused and would really just rather 'yell' for more food! :)
- loves food...anything will do, and she often gets a very large 'uncomfortable looking' belly after meals...we are looking forward to talking to the pediatrician about this 

Yikes!

- has two big brothers that adore her and have not lost their interest in playing with her...they still anxiously await when I tell them it's okay to go and wake her up so they can play

Mind the after dinner spaghetti faces... :)

- she is pulling herself up to standing all the time with the couches, tables, fridge, chairs, me...pretty much everything... and loves to practice standing on her own for a couple seconds at a time (with me holding her hand and then letting go)
- she does not like the feel of grass touching her... she lifts her feet, legs and hands trying to get off of it
- is VERY chatty and loud... except when we leave the house and then she definitley gets more quiet and carefully takes it all in

and finally...

- she has a daddy with a sense of humour :)

It truly is amazing how God creates each child so unique... Glen and I love that each of our children bring us joy in their own special and unique way... how blessed we are!

Home For One Week...

We have been home with Thea for exactly one week today... and tomorrow we will be celebrating 3 weeks since we first met our little princess!  In so many ways it feels like she has been with us so much longer than that, she just 'fits' with our family!

We've been staying close to home this past week...trying to focus on just being a family and allowing Thea to see what that means.  We've finally recovered from the jet-lag (Amen!)... and both Thea and Nathaniel are sleeping through the night again (now if only we could get Mataeus to do the same!).  We are getting into the groove of caring for 3 kiddies... the craziness of having the two youngest ones still in cribs and diapers is getting much easier! :) 

We've gone for a couple short walks, and only one little car ride to take Mataeus to school... whenever we leave the house, she gets a lot more serious and quiet... and she is definitely unsure of the whole carseat idea. :)  Until we met Thea, she had only been on a train once to get to Shepherd's Field from her original birth province orphanage (at 2 1/2 months old), and then in a vehicle to go to Beijing for her cleft lip surgery last November (6 1/2 months).  Being outside and in vehicles is something very new to her, so we are taking it slow and trying not to overwhelm her, as if all the running around and tours in China hadn't done that! :)

Our little princess Thea (as she is known around our house) seems to be adjusting really well.  She is a happy little girl with lots of smiles and kisses for all of us... I must admit that it is great skipping the newborn stage and jumping right into the 'good stuff' :)  Mataeus and Nathaniel both ADORE her... they anxiously wait for her to wake up in the mornings and from her naptime... and when I finally give in and let them go in to check on her, she wakes up happy to see them and ready to play.  She does like her space though... and lets the boys know when she is done with their 'mauling'... she really enjoys exploring the house and all the new toys by herself, and is happy to do this for long stretches at a time.

Not many 'girlie' toys in our house yet...but she doesn't mind!

It is so sweet to see how much the boys love her... they both call her princess which is just too cute, especially hearing Nathaniel say it.  They are as excited as we are when she does something silly or learns something new... and i'm sure they are going to do a great job of keeping all the boys away from her when she gets older... whew! :)   

Mataeus built a 'box train' to pull his little brother and sister around with... it even has a 'toy' section for them! :)

The biggest adjustment has been for Nathaniel... he was the baby until his little sister arrived!  He wakes up earlier than the other two which has been great in giving us lots of one on one special time together.  He is getting better at sharing his toys and loves to help feed and change his baby sister.

We have had a few special visitors which has been really nice... we truly appreciate everyone respecting and understanding her need to adjust and spend time attaching to us.  She is starting to discriminate between strangers and family, which is wonderful to see... as much as our friends and family love the idea of her warming up to them immediately... when she doesn't do that and instead leans back or reaches for us, we are ever so happy... as it means that she is beginning to understand that there is a difference between 'family' and 'others'... and that we are her 'safe constant' that she can always rely on to be there for her.

She loved trying to drink water from a 'real' cup! :)

Thea definitely pays attention to everything we do (especially her big brothers), and loves to try to imitate us.  She claps her hands, dances (by wiggling her cute little body), and is starting to wave goodbye, blow kisses, and is learning sign language (starting with please and more).  Today she signed 'please' without any prompting from us!!! (well...except that i was holding food...which is a BIG deal to her)  It is so exciting for us to see her learning new things and show that she is understanding us so quickly!  

Thea definitely has a silly side...she makes us laugh and smile often.  Last night after dinner she kept patting her belly and laughing to herself... it was too funny!  The picture below is of her laughing at herself, and i've tried to attach a video of her as well... hopefully it works!

If only you could have heard the squeel that

went along with this picture!

Have we mentioned how much we love this girl??  God has truly blessed us beyond measure!

We Are HOME!!

We made it!  It was so exciting to land in Kelowna and finally be HOME with our little girl!!!  Thank you so much for the warm welcome home from our friends & family!

We couldn't wait to see Nathaniel...and when we did, we couldn't believe how much he seems to have changed over just 2 weeks!  He looks taller and is talking so grown up...oh how we missed our little man!  He was thrilled to finally meet his 'Fleea', and almost immediately she was more than willing to lean in and give him kisses.  Then at dinner (or breakfast for us since we are still on china time)...he said, "I will feed 'him' okay"...so sweet to watch him feeding his little sister, and of course Thea was more than willing to let him since food was involved! :)  I am definitely feeling a bit overwhelmed with the 'mama of 3' thing...but maybe once i recover from this insane jet-lag it will be a bit easier (I'm hoping anyways...lol).  Nathaniel has been trying to carry Thea around...only doesn't realize that doing so by her neck isn't such a great idea...yikes!  Won't be leaving them alone for a bit...and we'll definitely be working on the 'gentle' thing for the next little while for sure.

Anyways...I am beyond tired...i can't even remember how many hours i've been awake...well over 24, I know that much (no sleep for me on the plane).  Thea didn't cry...but she and Mataeus both only slept for about 3 hours (at different times) on the long flight home!!

Glen has left already for his weekend in Montreal with his brother for Formula 1...i'm definitely missing him and wish he was here as we adjust...but so happy that he was still able to go and enjoy this 'dream' with his bro. 

Nathaniel woke up crying for me earlier already...I'm sure he is worried about me still being here when he wakes up.  I keep reassuring him, but he doesn't want me to leave his room at all.  I feel so bad for him that he is now having to re-adjust again...I'm praying for extra patience so that I can give him all the attention he needs in the coming days. 

Will update more once we are a bit more with it...just wanted to let you all know we are home and safe and happy.  Praise God for a truly amazing journey to bring our little princess home! 

Gayle :)

Last Day In China

This morning we managed to get a picture of the 4 babies and their siblings before heading to the Beijing Zoo to see the pandas.  Have to admit that the zoo wasn't really my thing, but Mataeus liked it.  After that we went to a very large tea house to do some tea tasting.  I wasn't all that excited about it, but it ended up being really neat.  We learned lots about the different types of teas (jasmine, pure, lychee, oolong), and what each are believed to be good for (digestion, eyesight, blood pressure and many other things).  Also learned how to properly make the tea with the proper temperature of water and length of steeping etc.  They used these really funny 'pee-pee boys' to check the water temperature...don't worry, we got some to bring home and share! haha  Mataeus really enjoyed trying the different teas too...and like me, his favourite was the jasmine tea. 

We then went for lunch at a Chinese restaurant across from the birdsnest olympic stadium.  The restaurant was really loud and way too overstimulating for me...loud from the number of people there, as well as from music and dancers entertaining while you ate.  Thea was cranky... I don't blame her...she was hungry, tired, and it was so very loud!  I was happy to get out of there and make our way back to the hotel.

This evening we shared our last dinner together with our travel group.  We went back to Pizza Hut, and it tasted just as good as it did last night! :)  And Thea enjoyed her crust yet again!  It is kind of sad that we will be saying goodbye to our 'new friends' so soon...but, we are so very excited to come home!  Upon returning to our hotel room tonight...Thea once again became absolutely silly.  She loves to be in just her diaper...and is such a ham, rolling around and laughing...giving gooey open mouthed kisses.  My mom keeps laughing at how busy and 'exhuberant' she is...without a doubt I am going to have my hands VERY full once Thea and Nathaniel are together! :)  

It is actually hard to believe that we are leaving for home tomorrow...this week in Beijing has really gone by fast.  We check out of the hotel at 1pm (right at naptime of course!) and first go to the Canadian Embassy to pick up the visa's etc...and then go to the airport from there.  We are praying that the flight goes by quickly for us, and that our kiddies will be able to sleep well on the journey home...extra prayer is definitely welcomed! :)  Surprisingly, I'm actually not too stressed about the flight...not much we can do about it...just going to bring lots of food, cheerios, mum mums, and formula for bottles...other than that, it is what it is. :)  Because we are traveling at night (leaving at 5pm China time), we are hoping Thea will sleep for a longer stretch as she usual sleeps straight through the night for 12 hours.  If not, we will be arriving home to Canada with a VERY tired and cranky baby girl.  Can't wait to see you all...but mostly we are SO looking forward to seeing our little boy...it will be absolutely wonderful to see Nathaniel again and introduce him to his mei mei!

xox 

SOS Medical Clinic

After a leisurely morning of indulging at the yummy breakfast buffet at our hotel, we then headed to the Beijing SOS Clinic for Thea’s medical examination.  She did so incredibly well…especially since the appointment was at lunch time plus close to her usual nap.  We were surprised when her weight and height measurements showed her being a lot lower in the percentiles than we thought…but overall the doctors thought she was quite healthy aside from her cough, and doing well development wise.  She was so funny during the exam as she was showing off for them, putting her hands up in the air and saying ‘ta da’ over and over again…too cute that these are her first real English words! J  I have posted one of the pictures of her in the waiting room with her hands up as she is saying her ta da’s...she is quite proud of herself when she does it! 

Our guide gave Thea a really cute ‘apple’ outfit today while we were at the medical clinic…so very kind of her.  She said that Thea is her ‘favourite girl’…so sweet.  She has been very interested in our family, asking us lots of questions about our adoption of Thea and the operations she will have once home in Canada etc…she says she has not ever met any children adopted through the waiting child program before, which we find interesting. 

After the medical exam, we headed to the Canadian Embassy to submit our paperwork for Thea’s Canadian Visa…hoping to get her official visa tomorrow sometime.

 We decided to go western for supper, and braved a thunder and lightning storm to go to the Pizza Hut just down the street from our hotel...i was happy that we finally got to use our spring jackets that we’ve been lugging around throughout our travels.  Pizza hut was delicious…a big hit for all 5 of us.  Mataeus ate 3 slices…which is huge for him!  Glen and mom tried a funky pizza that had shrimp embedded in the crust…they both loved it…Mataeus and I stuck with our Hawaiian…and Miss Thea ate whatever we passed her way. J  We actually gave her a full crust of the pizza, I was worried she would choke on it…but she was able to bite off little pieces and finish it off…that girl sure can eat!

When we got back to the hotel, Thea was a total riot…she was so full of beans, rolling around on the bed being so silly.  She crawls over, gives big open mouthed kisses, and then flops herself around laughing at herself.  So wonderful to see our little girl so happy. 

The days are going by quickly now…tomorrow we are heading to the Beijing Zoo to see the pandas, plus we will see the ‘birdsnest and watercube’ from the Olympics.  Then we leave for home on Thursday afternoon!!

 

Summer Palace

June 6^th

Another early start today…we really don’t like waking up our sleeping beauty when she is obviously so tired from all these ‘life changes’ this past week.  It will be so nice once home to be on a more consistent schedule for her. 

The Summer Palace was beautiful…in many ways it reminded us of Stanley Park.  It really isn’t a ‘palace’ as in just one building, but rather a man-made lake with a stone walkway bridge going over it, with different buildings for various uses.  As usual, the architecture was incredible to see.  There was an orchestra playing in one of the open buildings, so you could hear the wonderful music throughout.  There are boats to take to go across the water to the other areas of the ‘palace’, but we did not have enough time to explore much as the palace encompasses such a huge area.  Mataeus enjoyed pushing his little sister in the stroller…and is very protective of her when people stop to look and take pictures.  He is grossed out by the children he sees in the split pants everywhere, as he doesn’t understand why they allow their ‘private parts’ to be seen by all…we told him we could get him a pair, but he declined…haha!

Next we stopped at a pearl factory…we learned a lot about the differences between ocean versus fresh water pearls, and how to tell between fake and real ones.  It is incredible how many fresh water pearls are found in an oyster…easily over 30!   And it looked really neat to see how the pearls are embedded inside the oysters flesh. 

In the afternoon while Thea was napping, I went to the Silk Market with some of the other ladies from our travel group.  I was able to bargain good prices for some Chinese dresses (chee pows) for Thea, plus I bought my very first pair of skinny jeans (it’s about time I enter into the fashion of the times, right Heidi?..lol.

After the long day…and Mataeus showing off his new 'pringles trick'...I literally passed out when we put the kiddies to bed…J

 

The Great Wall

We were up and on the tour bus early this morning…a very long day, but definitely a great one.  The sun was out with a nice breeze…the perfect day for sight-seeing.

We started out by stopping at a jade factory.  It was fascinating to see how they carved the pieces so intricately.  We learned a lot about the meaning behind the different types of jade and the different things the jade is carved into.  There were so many beautiful jade pieces to look at in the gallery.  My mom and I both got beautiful bangles…and we also picked out something special for Thea to have for when she is older.

Our next stop was The Great Wall.  Wow!…so absolutely amazing to see this ‘wonder of the world’ in real life.  The stairs were so much steeper than they look in the pictures …it was quite the hike up.  Mataeus did so well, and loved being at the top of one of the lookout towers imagining himself protecting China.  Thea enjoyed being in the carrier watching everything from her cozy spot…although, by the time we got back to the bus, both her and I were drenched from the heat.  By this time it was already past her usual naptime …so we were doing our best to keep her occupied.

The group went straight to lunch at a great Chinese restaurant on the way back to the hotel.  The food was really good, and Thea did so well considering it was so late in the day.  While the other babies in our group seem to have many little cat naps throughout the day, our Thea is used to being in her crib for one long nap and has a hard time falling asleep when we are out and about.  After lunch the group looked around in the market by the restaurant…we were especially impressed by the intricate Chinese paper cutting that we saw.  Incredibly beautiful pictures created with just a tiny pair of scissors …a small picture taking a full day to create.  Finally our little princess drifted off while all cozy in her carrier…managed to get back on the bus and she napped on our way back to the hotel.

Mataeus was thrilled to discover that the tooth fairy does come to China…she left him 50 yuan!!  Guess she was feeling generous since he had traveled so far to lose his first tooth. J  He was excited to buy himself something, and treated himself to french fries and a vanilla milkshake…you should have seen the proud look on his face, and he refused to let us help him carry them. J

The kids were both asleep by 7 tonight…totally zonked.  We have another early start tomorrow with a half day tour to the Summer Palace and a pearl factory.  Us ‘big kids’ better get some rest now too!

         

First Day in Beijing

More on June 4th...

Enjoyed our quiet ‘free day’ today with nothing major on the agenda.  We went out for our walk and checked out some shops…Mataeus had his 57 Yuan ice cream (about $8 Canadian), but was well worth it as he enjoyed it immensely.  Went to the grocery store and were happy that we didn't see any chicken feet!!  lol  Although, truth be told, we did intentionally avoid  the ‘deli’ section. J  Everything is much more ‘westernized’ here in Beijing…more English writing on things etc…definitely catering to the tourists much more.  While Mom, Mataeus and Thea napped, Glen and I went for a bit of a walk outside.  The weather is so much nicer here…we can actually see some blue sky and it has warmed up quite a bit!  And yes…I got to enjoy my Starbucks…ahhhh, just like home!

We had an exciting event this evening…Mataeus lost his very first tooth!!!  So fun to have this happen in China…he was so happy, and is very anxious to see if the tooth fairy will leave him Yuan or Canadian money.  The picture of him and my  mom is when Mataeus was proudly showing his grandma his tooth. :)

We cannot believe how much our baby girl has changed in the past week.  Her referral papers lied to us!!  haha   Little miss Thea is definitely NOT a quiet, shy, passive little girl (as we originally thought based on her papers and how she was when we first met her)…in fact, she is now quite the opposite.  She is a very active, outgoing, loud, and happy little chatterbox girl…and did I mention busy??…and I mean busy!  lol  Nathaniel is about to meet his match!  Oh the trouble those two are going to get into together!  I can just see all of our friends and family smiling/laughing right now…and you thought I had my hands full with Nathaniel! Lol  If you don’t see me once I get back, it’s because I’m too afraid to leave the house with both of them…please come see us instead!  J  All kidding aside…Thea is a sweet little girl, definitely busy…but just like Nathaniel, a happy busy which is just fine with me…gotta keep life interesting right?!  There is no doubt in my mind that she is going to go straight from crawling to running once she meets her big bro Nathaniel and wants to keep up.  Now we just have to get through the 12 hour flight home with her and all will be good.

We are all looking forward to our tour of the Great Wall tomorrow…it will be an early start, and a long day…but will be well worth it I’m sure.