Christmas with family...

Our first Christmas with Ailee and our nephew, Ian, didn't happen as planned -- illness delayed our celebrations. However, once we were able to get together, it was wonderful to see how our family has grown and even more wonderful to spend time together!

 

Martine was able to join us, but unfortunately, Paul had to be at the hospital with him Mom, who hasn't been well. He was eventually able to join us for dinner, which was great!!

 

 

 

Uncle Cam, with the three monkeys!

 

 

 

 

The girls got the coolest sleeping bags ever from Auntie Kara and Uncle Cam --
and they snuggled right in!

Ailee loved the sleeping bad and spent quite a lot of time playing in there, all
cozy and warm!

I absolutely love this picture -- she is such a cutie!!

Ailee - continued...

There are a few things that I wish I had put in yesterday's post and I don't want to forget them, so here goes...

-Ailee is obsessed with combs; if you brush her hair (or anyone else's), you have to do it as quickly as possible in order to get it into her hands and then she brushes her own hair

-when we first met Yang Yang, she was constantly rocking back and forth (self-soothing, I believe); she continues to do this when she is really tired

-you know she is ready for either a nap or for bed when she starts sucking her thumbs; and then she shakes her head back and forth on the pillow to help herself fall asleep

-Ailee's other favourite toy is the phone; when we met Ailee's nanny, she told us that she loved to play with her cell phone; we have to hide our phones all the time and keep giving her toy phones

-car rides aren't very much fun; just like her sister, Ailee is not a fan of the car, which means a lot of snacks and well-planned, fast trips

-Yang Yang loves her Grandpa; she giggles and claps every time she sees him and is so happy to spend time with him

-she loves giving kisses and high-fives

I caught Ailee trying to eat the cat food again...

And this is the reaction I got when I told her no....

And this....jeesh -- who knew my cooking was so bad??!

Another favourite activity -- taking everything out of the drawers...

All About Ailee

This post has been a long time coming. I wanted to be able to capture everything about Ailee in the first month of getting to know our little monkey. But with how sick we have been around here and the chaos that has been our lives since coming home, getting to the computer just hasn't been easy!

Our Ailee was such a quiet little thing when we first met her. Our first week together was spent almost entirely on either her Baba or Mama's lap and she barely made a sound. She very slowly came out of her shell and started reaching for the 'magic' stacking cups. Eventually, near the end of the week, she would dare to get off my lap and walk a foot or two to retrieve a toy.

By the time we reached Beijing, Ailee started to want to walk more often -- but she absolutely had to be holding onto my hand. If we were anywhere outside of the hotel room (except for the Jade factory), she had to be held. My arms have never been in so much pain before -- she is heavier than Maelyn was at her age and holding her all day long was very tiring. But -- it was a wonderful time to bond. :) At this point, Ailee was still sitting in my lap for all meals and sleeping in our bed. The week in Beijing was also the first time that we got a glimpse of Ailee's funny side. She does this cute little act when you say no to her -- a word she does not like at all! She will stick out her bottom lip, lower her eyes and chin to her chest and then flop herself down on the floor. We could tell that she was very practised at this little act and obviously used it often to get her way. I would burst out laughing every time she did this and eventually, she would glance up at me to see if I was falling for any of it -- which I wasn't. She continues to do this when we say no to her and I just love it!

Our first week home with Ailee was our best yet. She began to open up again to Paul, freely playing with him and even seeking comfort from him at times. It was a wonderful break for this Mama! Ailee began to play with the toys in the house and seemed to love all of the new treasures. Her favourite thing by far, though, were the cats. Instead of being afraid of them, she would seek them out and coo at them for hours. Ailee continued to need a lot of time with Mama, which was totally expected. She would spend hours in my arms and wouldn't sit in her chair to eat.

By the second week, Ailee wasn't well and we spent our time together in the hospital. She spent hours in my arms and couldn't sleep unless she was touching me. We spent hours and hours cuddling. I can only imagine how confused our poor little monkey must have been, with yet another change in living arrangements. At the hospital, once she was feeling better, she started opening up more to others. She started waving goodbye to the nurses every time they left the room and she even started using a few signs that we have been teaching her, to help her communicate her needs.

It was wonderful to watch Ailee's reaction once we returned home from the hospital. She was so happy to be home with her Baba, sister, cats, and all of her toys! Our little monkey really started coming out of her shell. Maelyn and Ailee started interacting with one another and would play together for small amounts of time. Yang Yang also became more vocal. She is constantly chatting and babbling, pointing to things and carrying on full converstaions that only she can understand. :)

Here are a few fun tidbits about our little monkey:

-she is a picky eater; she loves rice, congee, cookies (thanks go Grandma), and absolutely adores soup
-Ailee's other favourite food at the moment is the dry cat food (I know....ewww)
-she always has a ready smile and will giggle, clap her hands and bounce up and down when Baba gets home
-Yang Yang has discovered the trampoline in our house and although a week ago she could do little more than bob up and down on it, she is now fully jumping on it and will do so for hours (but has to play the music on it while jumping, which gets on the nerves a little)
-Ailee loves to say, "Yay!" when she does something well and she will clap her hands (and she will stop her activitiy, such as the jumping, to ask you to clap for her, too)
-she still moves our hands to 'show' us what she wants from us; too cute!
-Yang Yang wakes up happy
-she is getting used to wearing winter gear and will now go and get what is needed; even handing Maelyn her stuff one piece at a time
-she still loves to sweep and tidy up
-bath time is a huge hit
-but she still yells and screams for every single diaper and clothing change :S
-she totally gets the present thing and loves opening packages
-Ailee loves to cuddle
-when Maelyn is misbehaving, she will wag a finger at her, pout out her lip, and shake her head no
-she loves to have her teeth brushed

Ailee has been a part of our family for about six weeks now and we couldn't imagine life without her. We love her so very much and she fits so well into our family. It 'feels right' having her home with us. Her smile and giggles brighten our day and although it hasn't been the easiest of transitions home, we can already tell that life with our two girls is going to be an amazing and wonderful adventure.

Learning to sit in her chair at dinner time...

Her first outdoor playtime in the snow...

Christmas Day in Pictures...

Our Christmas this year was very cozy and quiet. By Christmas morning, both of the girls were starting to feel better and were in a good mood for enjoying the gifts that Santa left for them. The adults, however, were still suffering and tired -- but we loved spending time together on our first Christmas as a family of four. We did miss, however, spending time with the rest of our family and we are already looking forward to Christmas day spent with everyone -- in good health -- next year. :)

 

All Ailee needed was her bowl of Cheerios -- she loves dumping them on the floor and then eating them... hehe!

 

 

Love the line-up of all our little miss' treasures...

The girls were practising their splits...

 

You don't fit in the doll carrier, silly Yang Yang!

 

 

 

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Happy 2013!!

I cannot believe that it is already New Year's Eve. It has been such a crazy last half of the year that the time has just flown by so quickly!

What a year it has been! I returned to work in January after a medical leave of absence and major surgery to help deal with my Crohn's disease. It was the first time we had to truly get used to be working parents with a child -- and it wasn't easy!

It was also the year we were waiting to find out about the newest member of our family -- and the intense joy of finding out that we would be parents to another beautiful little girl.

In the meantime, Paul and I became an Aunt and Uncle for the first time, with the birth of our nephew, Ian. What a happy time!

My job changed drastically in September -- back to teaching Kindergarten. It has been a ton of work to start all over again, but the challenge has been both fun and interesting. Maelyn had her first day of Kindergarten in September and turned four years old the next day.

It was during the second week of the back-to-school grind that we found out that we would be travelling to China much earlier than expected and from then on, it was a crazy, busy time in our lives. We prepared for Ailee's arrival, the Christmas season that we would come home to, and then for our trip to China.

Our China trip was amazing -- an experience that means so much to us on so many levels. We learned so much about Maelyn and her China life and family and then we became a family of four.

The past month, since coming home, has been the toughest. The first week back we suffered from intense jet-lag. By the second week, we were in the hospital with Ailee, who had pneumonia. Then, the rest of us got sick. Christmas was delayed and we are still recovering.

Last Thursday we got a phone call that Paul's mom, whose health has been declining over the past six months, had been admitted to the ICU at MSH. Paul has spent the past five days with his mom, trying to care for her and made some pretty tough decisions.

2012 was a tough year. It has been intense and very full. But -- we remain ever mindful of how lucky we truly are -- to have our friends, family, and our beautiful children in our lives. We are looking forward to a more restful 2013 and to spending quality time with those that we love -- especially together, as a family of four.

Home & Christmas

We are home from the hospital. Blissfully, happily, excited to be home. Our little monkey is finally feeling better and we couldn't be happier.

Ailee needs to be given inhalers every four hours (even throughout the night) and will be visiting the respiratory clinic on Thursday, but she is better. She can breath well on her own and her energy is starting to return.

I will update the blog shortly on all of our hospital adventures, but for now, I wanted to focus on the excitement and happiness of our first Christmas spent together as a family of four.

Our Christmas traditions and celebrations are being severely altered (being that poor Maelyn came down with the virus and the rest of us are still sick and germy), but the kids are well enough to open gifts from Santa tomorrow. We will celebrate with the rest of our family in about a week, fingers crossed.

Opening the tradition gifts - ornaments...

This girl only makes silly faces at the camera... :)

Putting out milk and cookies for Santa...

So, so grateful to be home as a family of four. We are truly blessed. Merry Christmas, everyone!