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!

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day!! This day holds special meaning in our family. Two years ago today, Maelyn arrived in Canada and became a part of our extended family.

Canada Day was also a special time of celebration in my family when I was younger. Every year my cousins came to visit for the week and we would all head down to watch the parade and then the fireworks at night. Those times were some of the happiest of my childhood.

Today, for the first time, we went to the parade with our own kids. I can't believe how much it affected me, but it acutally made me tear up to see both Maelyn and Ian at the parade together and to think about all of the Canada Day celebrations to come as a family.

Ian, taking in the sights and sounds of his first parade...

Waiting for the parade to start...

Then it was home for lunch and fun times at home.

Isn't he such a handsome little man??

Water fun after spending a hot afternoon outdoors...

Another Canada Day tradition in our family was to take a picture on the front porch with all of the kids, holding a sign with the year written on it. With a three year old who doesn't like to have her picture taken, it was not an easy feat to begin this tradition with our own kids -- but we did it!