Maelyn's 2nd Annual Travel Group Reunion



What a fabulous weekend for our travel group reunion. The weather, the company, and our hosts were fabulous!

 

We all gathered at Leanne and Joad's new house and spent a wonderful afternoon and evening socializing in their backyard.

 

There is a unique bond between families that travel together to expand their family through adoption. I suppose it is the shared experience that brings us all together.

 

This year was notably different because the kids were so much better at entertaining themselves -- which left us plenty of time to catch up and relax. It was great!! We all loved seeing how well they all got along and are looking forward to many reunions to come!

 



 

Niagara Falls Fun

In July, while travelling between activities, we stayed at a hotel for one night. When we woke up in the morning, Maelyn was very upset and panicky. She kept asking about our house -- why we didn't have a home anymore and where did her home go. It was heartbreaking to listen to and we knew right away that we had better spend a few more weekends 'practising' being at a hotel before we head to China and stay in a hotel for more than two weeks!

 

Our wonderful friends agreed to head to Niagara Falls for a weekend of fun and hotel training. :) We love spending time with them, so it was a perfect excuse!

 

Eating breakfast in the hotel room on our first morning.



Preparing to walk to the Falls...

 

 

 

The girls' first glance of the Falls...



Maelyn did not want her picture taken...can you tell??

Maelyn loved her new umbrella. Good friends spending time together!



Our cute little Canadians!



The girls thought that it was hilarious when the Dads took a turn...



The view from the SkyWheel...



The girls loved it!

After some sightseeing, we headed back to the hotel where the girls had a fantastic time playing together. I love seeing their relationship grow -- they are so much fun to watch! After dinner, we went swimming in the hotel pool and the girls had a blast jumping in, over and over again.



Yummy chocolate treats!

Watching Dora at the end of a long day.

The next day we headed to Niagara-on-the-Lake for the peach festival. We ate some yummy food and the girls loved the balloons the clown made for them.

 

Overall, it was a very successful weekend. Maelyn now has a better understanding about trips, hotels, and trusts that we will be going home at the end of our adventures. We also got to build memories with our friends and we are looking forward to many more adventures together.

God-Sister Fun

At the beginning of July we had two of Maelyn's God-Sister's over for a two day sleepover event. Maelyn was beyond excited and couldn't wait to spend time with 'the big girls.' The girls spent hours playing with one another and kept Maelyn very busy.

Showing off their pipes...



Playing hide-and-seek...

Someone is a little spoiled, don't you think?? :)

Girly time...

Playing the iPad

Never too big to play dress-up...

On Friday, we were thrilled that the girls could come and stay over again. This time, it was to babysit Maelyn while Paul and I went on a much-needed night out on our own!

I used to babysit Brya and Cass and now here they were babysitting for my little girl! Made me a little nostalgic and it made me feel a little old. :) I have to say, though, it was a fantastic experience! The girls are so responsible and amazing -- Maelyn had the time of her life. Paul and I loved it even more, I think. :) The ability to get out of the house and to have a break was exactly what we needed.

Love being able to spend time with my kids. As Cass said, we are like family and we love each other. Warms my heart. :)

Conversing at dinner...

Our dinner conversation tonight went a little something like this...

"Mommy, we are going to my China to get Aiwee (Ailee). She lives in my China."

"You're right, Maelyn, we are going to China and you are coming with us."

"My China Mommy live in China. I love her so much."

"We love your China Mommy, too."

"Mama, Aiwee is so cute. But so am I. The two of us are cute. Oh, and you too, Mama. Not Daddy. He a boy."

Out of the mouth of babes...

New Pictures of Ailee!!

On Friday, as we were heading to Niagara Falls for a family-filled weekend of fun, I got an email that contained a very precious gift. A gift that I did not think we would get for some time now -- more pictures of our Ailee! And the best part is that the pictures are clear and I could truly see our little girl for the very first time.

It was the moment I fell in love. It was a moment I will never forget. The moment I saw her -- our Ailee.

Our little girl...

Isn't she absolutely beautiful?!

Yuppers -- this fiery little girl will fit right into our family...



I am a happy Mama who cannot stop looking at our little monkey's face. Now the wait to be able to hold our little one in our arms begins.

Maelyn's Mei Mei

Once we were off the phone with our agency, we opened our email to see our daugther's face for the first time. When I first saw Maelyn's pictures, I found myself to be almost stunned -- like I couldn't believe that this was really her. I found that I had the same experience when looking at our little monkey's picture. It is strange in some ways to see your child as the already-existing person that they are -- and it always takes me a day or two to soak it in.

I was really disappointed at how small and unclear the photos of our little monkey were -- especially since I was used to getting such clear and up close pictures of Maelyn. I am dying to see her features in detail. What does she really look like? I can't wait to get to know her better.

We then made phone calls to our family members to tell them about our fantastic news. They were, of course, very excited for us and coudn't wait to hear more about her. At this point, we weren't positive about our name choice for her, so we decided to sleep on it.

The next morning I couldn't say anything to Maelyn about her sister. Paul leaves for work very early and of course, he wanted to be there to share the news with Maelyn. Paul and I chatted off and on throughout the day about how we would tell Maelyn and about her sister's name.

Once he was home, we set up the video tape and sat Maelyn down on the couch. We asked her again if she wanted a brother of a sister and of course, she wanted a girl. We were so happy to tell her that she was going to be a big sister and then we gave her a picture of our little Ailee (Eye-lee).

Maelyn ran around the family room yelling and screaming, she was so happy! If I had to choose one moment of the referral as 'the best part,' it would be when we told Maelyn about Ailee. It brought tears to my eyes to think about the relationship Maelyn and Ailee are going to develop as sisters and made it feel very real that we will soon become a family of four!

Maelyn completely embraced the big sister role and took Ailee's picture upstairs to 'show' her her room. She was saying, "Here my room, Aiwee. Dis my room." She spent the rest of the evening doing everything with Ailee. Maelyn had a snack with Ailee who, of course, had to have her own bowl and snack.

Maelyn slept with Ailee's picture that night and she was the first thing Maelyn asked about when she woke up.

At Kindergarten that morning, she ran around showing every parent and child the pictures of her sister. She is so proud to be a big sister and cannot wait to get on an airplane, get to China, and get her little sister, Ailee.

I couldn't agree more.

It's A Girl!!!

On July 24th we received a surprise phone call from our adoption agency letting us know that they had great news for us -- they had received our referral!
It was around 7:30 in the evening and after a long day we were putting Maelyn to bed, when the phone rang. It is difficult to hear the phone from Maelyn's room, but I heard someone leaving a message and my heart started racing. I KNEW that it was our agency calling -- although Paul didn't really believe me. We ignored the call because we really wanted to get Maelyn to bed -- but then our cell phones started ringing. Paul answered the call and our agency told us that they were happy to share with us that they had received our referral!
I, of course, was completely calm started to freak out and wanted to take the call immediately. Paul, of course, was the calm one who said that we would get Maelyn to bed first, then call them back. He had to tell me to calm down a few times so that Maelyn wouldn't catch on, but we finally managed to get her to sleep.

Paul and I quickly got ourselves camera-ready and set up the paperwork, video camera, and phone that we would need to take the call. After our long day, we took a few minutes to collect ourselves -- then phoned our agency.
Our agency congratulated us on the referral of.....our daughter!! It's a girl!!

Chen (last name) Zhang Yang

Born April 10th, 2011

Guangdong, China

We were floored! Although we were completely open to either gender, we were told to expect a boy. Maelyn, however, knew what she wanted. A few weeks before getting our referral, Maelyn told everyone at Kindergarten and daycare that she only wanted a girl, like her. She was adamant that she didn't want a boy. We are thrilled that Maelyn will have the sister that she always wanted and that we will have another daughter to love and enjoy as she grows up.

This Week??!! & Catching Up

I have had so many good intentions this summer -- and catching up on blogging was most definitely one of them! Almost two weeks ago, I started this post, but never finished it...

"It feels completely surreal that this will most likely be the week that we will receive our referral for our little monkey. After months and months of waiting, we will finally 'meet' our little one through pictures and get to know his or her gorgeous little face!"

Little did we know that it would be the week we would receive our referral!!

Please check back often over the next month as I update the blog about our referral and all the goings-on in our family!