Happy New Year

Chinese New Year started on Monday January 26th. It is the year of the ox, the year Patrick was born. We started the New Year off with a small party for Wren's (99er) birthday / CNY party. It was so great to finally celebrate CNY with Lily and the rest of the girls from the 99ers. January 26th also marked three years since our paperwork was logged in at the CCAA. It was nice not to have to celebrate 3 years of waiting and instead just celebrate each day I have with our daughter and how she has enriched our lives. It is amazing how perfect Lily is for our family and the love our whole family has for Lily just overflows. Lily now has 3 teeth with the fourth one begging to break through! We are now officially in teething mode and she is been extra fussy and it appears as though teething is worse from 1am-3am. Unfortunately, my camera has not worked properly since the ski trip so I am low on pictures. This weekend we are celebrating Lily's' first birthday and hopefully I'll have some cute pictures after the weekend. Happy New Year!

3 Month Together

It was 3 months ago today that we were in Jiangxi, China and Lily was placed in our arms. We were awake very early that morning because we were so excited and anxious for what was to happen at 10:00AM. I remember sitting in the lobby of the hotel and I was just talking and talking..I think Patrick, Kathy, Erik, Dave & Sandy had to tolerate my nervous chatter! We finally were able to get on the bus for the 10 minute bus drive to the Provincial office were we would meet our daughter for the first time. We walked into the building and took an elevator to the 26th floor and then we waited again. The babies were being brought to us by the orphanage staff and they were running a little late. We used that time to prepare bottles, cameras and to get the toys ready. We had no idea how Lily would react to us. The girls finally arrived and we were the 3rd family called. I remember seeing her and thinking she looks just like her picture but her cheeks were all red. Lily was placed into my arms and she snuggles right in, she was a perfect fit. I never want to forget those first moments..I had waited so long for that moment! I think back to those first few days and it is only now that I realize how shut down Lily was. In the three months we have been together her true personality has really expressed itself. Lily has brought so much joy to our family..and honestly I would wait all over again to have this precious child in our lives.

Hitting The Slopes

We took our first family vacation as a family of five. We went up to Sunday River for a few days of skiing and overall I think it was a success. Lily did great during the 4 hour car drive and sleeping in her Pack and Play, both of which I was nervous about. I was surprised at how well she slept the first night and then we had a tragedy. We lost Taggie! Taggie is her blanket that she has formed a strong attachment to and I did not realize how strong until it was lost. We got very little sleep the 2nd night and Lily was clearly looking for it. Luckily the next morning someone at the ski school found Taggie outside in the snow and we had a great 3rd night! What is interesting is that she has 2 Taggies but prefers the one that I had slept with for a few months before she came home. Next time we go away I will pack both Taggies just in case we have another disaster. The boys did great skiing. They both did 3 days of ski school and by the third day Brcye could go up the chair lift and ski down the mountain..very exciting!!I now have 2 skiers in the family. Unfortunately, Patrick did not get much skiing in because he decided to spend quality time with Lily. We decided not to put Lily in the daycare and thought we would just switch off. I ended up skiing all 3 days and it was wonderful! Thank you Patrick!!

We have been home for 2 days and Lily has taken her first steps!! She took a few steps independently tonight and we are so excited!! I am hoping to capture it on video tomorrow. Stay tuned..

Lily enjoying lunch at the Foggy Goggle with mom and dad; our favorite slopeside restaurant! Lily learned how to blow kisses..so sweet!

Shea coming down the mountain slow and steady. Shea is the taller one.

Bryce coming down the mountain fast and furious.

2009! Really??

Where does the time go? I can't believe we are 9 days into the New Year and I haven't posted! We've been busy here dealing with sick kids, Lily with a double ear infection and bronchiolitis and Bryce with cold induced asthma. We are on a few different meds and neb treatments. Luckily they are both recovering nicely and so far Shea has been spared the sickness. We started the New Year off with a reunion with 7 of the families we travled with. To have all the babies together was just great and they are all doing so well!


Lily turned 11 months on January 5th. She now has her first tooth and it's oh so cute. Her top tooth came in last Saturday and the 2nd one is not far behind. Teething has produced a new trick of spitting out her food, th eonly time Lily is not cute! Honestly, she gets cuter every day and I'll end the post with a few pics.