The very beginning of a new adventure...

Families are formed in many different ways and are defined by love, not by shared DNA. For Paul and I this belief was confirmed when we first looked into the eyes of our little girl and fell totally and completely in love.

We have talked at length about expanding our family -- a possible sibling for Maelyn. Paul and I have decided that we are not going to pursue fertility treatments, but to proceed with a second adoption. Our adoption experience was so profoundly amazing that we just couldn't imagine not heading back to China to adopt our next little one.

So.....here we go! We are officially starting our next adoption journey to our little monkey!

We are adopting through the same agency and program that we did when we brought Maelyn home. Our little monkey will be up to two years old by the time we meet him or her and will also have a cleft clip and/or palate.

I have been asked many times if it will be easier to adopt the second time around and the answer is that no, it isn't really any faster or different from the first time we adopted. This month we have started the paper chase and our home study reapplication. Right now we are working on our getting our police checks, fingerprints, medicals and references.

Our timeline is most likely as follows:

February to May - home study reapplication paperwork and meetings
June - home study sent to the Ontario Ministry for approval
August - home study approved and work on gathering paperwork for China dossier
September - dossier sent to China
December - receive referral for our little monkey
April 2012 - travel to China

These timelines are just an approximation of how long it will take us to complete our second adoption. The timelines can vary and we have to remain very flexible and patient -- something this process has taught me. :)

We are excited to be starting out on our next adventure and our love for our little monkey is already starting to grow in our hearts.



February Pics

A little late, but here are some pics from the past month...

Singing along to the Glee soundtrack on the Wii...

Little Miss loves her 'lipstick!'

A cute, chocolate covered face!

Enjoying a Valentine's Day treat from Daddy in the morning...

A note on the following two photos...

Mama was on the phone making a speech therapy appointment for Maelyn. Maelyn was very, very quiet during this time. Mama became worried and searched for her little girl. Mama found Maelyn in Mama's shower, generously applying her cover stick as a lipstick...

I was laughing too hard to be upset with her... :)

Dressed up and ready to head to the Mandarin to celebrate Chinese New Year...

Dinner with friends we have made through Paul's work -- their niece, on the right, met up with us in China and helped us shop at the Pear Market. It was wonderful to see her again!

Play date with Grace, Lincoln, and Sidney....

Sydney playing dress-up -- too cute!

A week in review...

Well....I made it through my first work back at work! :) I have tried over and over again to come up with the words to help me describe my feelings and experiences, but the only word I can think of is this one -- weird. It was strange being away from my little miss for so many hours at a time. I found myself feeling the oddest mix of emotions throughout the entire week.

I am happy to be teaching again -- a job that I absolutely love and is so much a part of who I am. I love the feeling of independence and achievement that I get every day when I am with my students. I love the thrill of helping students learn new skills. I love interacting with my colleagues every day -- I missed it all!

What I found, however, was that I felt little pangs of guilt for enjoying my time at school, because it meant that I had to be way from Maelyn. Although I knew logically that I shouldn't be feeling guilty, the guilt still nagged at me here and there. I also felt sad that I was missing out on the cute and amazing things she would do throughout the day -- we spent so much of our time together laughing.

On the other hand, I am thrilled for Paul that he is getting the chance to spend so much time with his little girl. He is an amazing father and has proven over this past week that he is an extremely competent stay-at-home dad. I love being able to come home and hear about all of their daily adventures! (And on a side note, I totally don't miss doing the dishes, laundry, making dinners, etc. You are welcome to it, Paul!)

I find it weird to only spend a few hours at the end of the day with Maelyn. I wonder if I will ever get used to that??

I love that I seem to have more patience for Maelyn and love spending more time playing one-on-one with her in the evenings and on the weekends. What we have lost in quantity, we are making up for in quality.

It is weird to have Maelyn call me 'Daddy' by accident when she wants something, when it used to be 'Mama' for absolutely everything.

I learned that we can survive a change of pace in our family and that we are all going to be just fine....

In Daddy's shoes...

A change of pace...

Well, tomorrow is it -- I head back to work after being on leave for the past eight months with our little miss. I can hardly believe that eight months have passed so very quickly -- although, the first few months at home with Maelyn felt like they passed so very slowly. In the end, we found our groove and time simply flew by!

How do I feel about going back? I most definitely have mixed emotions, but in general, I feel excited about getting back into the working world. I absolutely love being a teacher -- it is a huge part of who I am and I have missed that part of me for the past eight months. I have spent many hours this month planning and preparing and it has felt wonderful to get back into the groove of things.

I also feel at ease about returning to teaching because over the past month or so, Maelyn has made huge progress when it comes to being okay with being separated from her Mama. We have worked really hard on 'proper goodbyes' -- telling her where I am going and that I will be back -- and she now feels very comfortable with and trusts that I will be back. Our little miss can now hug and kiss me goodbye and then trot off to play without showing any signs of distress. Sooooo much better than when she would scream and basically lose her mind if I left the house. I now know that she will feel more than comfortable with Paul all day long and that makes me feel relieved and able to move forward.

Paul will be staying home with Maelyn until the end of the school year. What a wonderful way to transition back into the working world -- I don't have to drop her off at daycare or start a new routine at home. I am excited for Paul -- he is a fantastic Daddy and he is really looking forward to the time they are going to get to spend together. They are going to have a blast! As a family, we are now going to be able to spend more time together. I get home so much earlier than Paul ever would, which means that we can do more as a family of three.

Have I convinced you yet?? I am ready to go back, right?!

I will miss seeing that laughing, smiling face all day long. I will miss being present for all of her 'firsts' and her new accomplishments.

A new chapter begins....wish me luck! :)

Playing with Mama's make-up...