Home Five months...

Well, the summer breezed by and here we are in September...Gus had his first day of grade 2 this morning and was delighted to see all his little buddies... Big smiles all around. Hildy is growing! SHe has gained 6 pounds since we brought her home and grown almost 10 cm! She has hair now and is full of smiles, is trying desperately to walk and loves her big brother. Here are a few updated pictures...

Please donate to cancer research....

This year my family suffered an agonizing loss to cancer: my cousin. He was an amazing dad, husband, brother, cousin, nephew, firefighter, friend... I could go on. It has ripped a huge hole in our family and we need to raise money for research to stop this from happening again, again and again. Please consider donating to his brave daughter, who just graduated from grade 12. She is participating in a Reach for the Cure campaign in honour of her dad. Check out her website at http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR/Thirdpartyevent/IFE_AB_General_?px=3627804&pg=personal&fr_id=6750
It would mean a lot to my family... Thank you for your support. Please pass this website on to anyone you think would be interested in helping her on her journey.

Summer Has Arrived!

Ok, gorgeous day. Had dinner on the deck with Nana and Papa. Here are some pictures of the kids from the past couple of weeks....

Just hangin' around

Not much to report this week. Gus went to Tristan's birthday party last weekend and got to check out a real firetruck...very cool. Hildy has the sniffles so likes to be held all the time..seems like she is bonding well. She has mastered crawling and is now pulling herself up...has yet to take any steps... She is now 18 pounds... not sure how long she is but has grown out of her really small sleepers. Gus is winding things up in grade one... only a few more weeks until summer vacation and then on to grade 2. How did that happen?? Here are some pictures of the past two weeks...

Cuties at Home

If there were ever two pictures that capture the personalities of my kids, here they are...

First trip to Pender!

We went to Pender for the May Day celebrations this weekend. Hildy's first trip! She didn't seem to mind the ferry but was a little freaked out at not being in her own crib etc. She did ok but is a litle unsettled now that we are home... just going to hang out at home this week. It was great to see everyone!! Introduced Hildy to the "Thursday Girls"... Lisa, thank you so muich for the beautiful cake. Thank you all for the picnic and showering Hildy with goodies...You guys are the best and I miss you all so much. It was so great to all be together again. Gus went fishing with Papa and caught 17 fish!! A new record. A great weekend ...

Update from the weekend

We had a riviting movie night (see photo) on Friday night, had a fun day Saturday just hanging around and went to Kerri's for a baby welcoming on Sunday... Hildy got to hang out with Norah and meet lots of anuts and uncles and cousins! Lots of fun.

Happy Girl!!!

Well Hildy has definately figured out this eating thing. She squeals and laughs when she eats and is putting it away! She likes black cherry yogurt and banana rice cereal. She does not like potato and cheese casserole... We'll try to expand the reptoire soon.... ps: she has grown 4 cm since we met!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Mumsy,
Thank you for always being there, for showing us what love looks like, for the care packages when I lived in Bella Bella, for celebrating my children and for all of your unconditional love. How lucky are all of us to have you in our lives... Much love to you today and always.

She eats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, we had our pediatrician's appointment on Friday. She did an in-depth assessment and examination of little miss and decided maybe she has a silent reflux problem. She gave us a prescription to minimize acid in her tummy. Her thought was myabe she doesn't eat as it hurts her and burns the esophagus etc. I got the prescription filled, squirted it into a very unhappy Hildy (it smells so bad, I'd cry if I had to take it too) and two doses later, less than 24 hours after the appointment, guess who opened her mouth like a little bird and ate as much yoghurt and rice cereal as I was willing to give her?! A very happy and full Hildy then promptly went for a two hour nap. Poor thing...fianlly someone figured it out! Thank you Dr. Kalaher!!!!!

Papa's Birthday Bash

Well, we had a the fam here for dad's birthday. Lots of fun and lots of cuddles for Hildy. Gus and Lili played, Doug, Heather and Sarah came, great day. So good to see dad surrounded by his grandkids... a perfect place to spend his birthday!

Home for Three Weeks now...

Well, Hildy and I have been home for three weeks today. Some things are going great. Some things..not so much. Hildy is developing physically quite well. She is sitting up on her own very strongly now. She took her first two crawls yesterday, is pulling herself up to standing (while using my hair as a handle) and got her first tooth last night. She is still having some issues at night with crying in her sleep, a little screaming here and there but perhaps that is teething, hunger? It seems to me she is dreaming and scared but not sure. We aer going to the doctor today to get some updates and help with our major issue: eating. She will not take a spoon/food of any kind. She is drinking lots of bottles and gaining weight but I think we need a little help with the food part. Gus is doing well. He started baseball and is doing well at school. He still loves his little sister lots..too much some days as the swatds from her let him know. Here is a quick summary of the past few weeks:
Things Gus has learned:
1. Hildy is not a doll... she will swat and grab ears if they are left too close.
2. Lizards cannot (should not) eat granola bars.
3. Fish cannot be left on the counter top whilst cleaning out their tank.
3. The best job in the world would be Lego tester/inventor... Gus' new goal in life.

Things Hildy has learned:
1. Gus can make some awesome noises with his mouth that are hilarious (mostly bathroom noises with the odd machine gun fire in there as well)
2. Mommy's hair is not a handle.
3. Grass exists. It feels neat.
4. Dogs exist. They are ok but not really sure about that yet.
5. Shoes and jewelry make Hildy happy. Really. She spends lots of time looking and grabbing at both.
6. Putting her hand in ketchup from Gus' plate was not fun. For anyone.

Things Mommy has learned:
1. Having two children is not twice the work..it goes up exponentially.
2. Sleep is awesome... I remember it well.
3. Building trust and teaching someone what a family is takes a long time.

Settling in...sort of

Well, we are home and getting used to being a family of four...sort of. Gus is in love with Hildy...He adores her and is an amazing big brother. His favourite thing is to sing to her and she dances...well jumps up and down in a jerky kind of way as I hold her up...He cuddled in with her in our bed on her first night home to read her stories... He picked the Todd Parr "Family Book" which talks about all the different kinds of familes. When he got to the adoption page, he turned to her and said, "See, Hildy...that panda is adopted just like you...and me!!". Yes, I cried.
On Monday, Gus asked if I would bring Hildy for show and tell at school. He proudly marched in there introducing her to everyone we passed, then got up to the front of the classroom and said, "Good morning boys and girls. This is my new baby sister all the way from China!!!". He had the biggest grin on his face. Then he asked all his classmates to quietly sing their ABCs to her so she would dance. So there I am at the front of his class holding up my new baby with approximately 6 minutes of sleep in 4 days, my body feels like it is midnight and there are 24 grade one kidlets singing ABCs in hushed voices to us... A moment to cherish. I looked up and all the moms were at the back of the room crying. Then, his teacher, the wonderful Mrs. Cowley announces the class has made Hildy a book. Each student in the class wrote and colored one page that they have laminated into a book. They each picked their favourite thing to do in Canada and wrote about it to introduce her to Canada. Ok, I SO would have been crying if 24 little pairs of eyes had not been glued to me. What a lucky family we are to have so much support and love around us.
As for Hildy, she is sleeping ok. She is stuggling with the time change but is coming around. She still freaks out at night...up for three hours crying lasat night but went to bed better tonight so we'll see how the night goes. She is up to 4 - 5 six ounce bottles per day but won't let me put a spoon anywhere near her mouth. If I do manage to get some rice cereal in she either gags, vomits or cries and the liquid just oozes out. She has no idea that it is food ans she should swallow it. It is very obvious that she has never been fed anything but a bottle before. I am going to contact the Child Development Centre and my pediatrician to see what we should do in terms of her eating and stage of develpoment...we'll see what they say. I had to buy her some clothes today as nothing i had fits... I ended up buying her 3 - 6 month clothes... she is so tiny..Otherwise, I am so glad to be home. Thank you to each and every one of you for your love and support. When I was 5 thousand miles from home and feeling lost, your words of encouragement and love went a long way. I appreciate every comment and every email. This kind of a journey is not possible without support from family and friends and for that, I thank you.

WE'RE HOME!!!