Finally!

Claire had a great sleep last night and needless to say, the rest of the household did too. This was her best yet!

She fell asleep around 8:30, which is pretty early for her. We fully anticipated that she'd be up for a couple of hours partying in the middle of the night. Surprise, surprise, she slept right through until 9 this morning (with the 5-minute exception of crying enough that we'd bring her to our bed). If she keeps this up, we'll all be happy campers!

Happy bathing

Claire has not enjoyed her baths ... until today. We started off using a baby tub but that freaked her out, so then I had to have a bath with her (holding her the whole time). Earlier this weekend, we reverted to using the baby tub again but Claire really hated it. Then I read Carolyn's blog (we travelled with Carolyn and Marvin) and saw that she had a lot of success giving Kennedy a bath in the kitchen sink. Eureka! The kitchen sink had totally slipped my mind as a possibility. Today, we tried it out and Claire had a pretty decent time, I think.

Here are some pictures from Claire's bath and lounging around afterwards.

I love Grandma and Grandpa!

On Friday, Paul's parents came to visit from Saskatoon. They just left a few minutes ago (around noon on Sunday) and they were so sad to say goodbye (zai jian!) to Claire.

Claire cried a bit at first when Grandma held her but Grandma was so much fun that Claire soon settled in for a good play. I know a lot of the adoption books say not to let others hold the baby at all for quite some time but Claire is so attached to me that I wasn't worried. I even let Grandma feed her but then I started to have second thoughts - or maybe I just missed her (I'm not used to having empty arms now).

We'll see Grandma and Grandpa again at Easter in Saskatoon, if they don't visit again before then. Next visitor: Grandma Kehrig from Saskatoon later this week. Can't wait!

Joanne, Wally, Claire and Paul

Proud grandparents

Grandma and Claire having a great old time.

Settling in

Last night we went to see our friends, Rod and Marianne, and Claire really charmed them. I think she misses being around other people, so we've got to keep up our visits. Today, Paul's parents are coming up from Saskatoon to see their first grandchild for the first time and I know they can't wait! We can't either.

Despite jet lag, adjusting to the time zone and our head colds, we managed to get Claire's health card and social insurance number issued this week, all in her Canadian name. Paul was the one out taking care of this and it sounds like it wasn't too much of a hassle. We also went shopping! Claire was far too big for all the 6 - 12 mos clothing we had in China for her, so equipped with my handy gift cards from friends at work, we got her several gorgeous new outfits that fit her perfectly. I've also rememied the lack of appropriately-sized footwear: she now has four pairs of shoes and I'm sure there will be more.

Marianne, me, Claire and Rod

Getting her daily exercise

Showing off one of her new outfits

And even more photos

I'm having difficulty posting more than three or four photos at a time, so that's why I'm doing multiple postings.


Paul with Claire at the People's Park in Nanchang

At the Tengwang Temple in Nanchang

Babies with moms (and one dad!) in our travel group at our Goodbye to China party. Thanks to Yulin for a wonderful party!

More photos from our trip

Home for a week!

Well, in true new-parent fashion, we've let a lot of things slide ... including updating our blog. I had intended to do a full re-cap of our incredible trip but with the demands on my time right now from little Claire, I think that would be far too ambitious. Suffice it to say (for now) that the trip was amazing, Claire is the best little girl ever, our travel group was wonderful and Paul and I are absolutely thrilled. Here are a few pics from our trip. I'll try to post more photos soon.

Above to the right: our first family photo, minutes after we first met Claire (the white blanket is the special receiving blanket from my Grandma Pauline)



Paul and Claire the first night together

At the People's Park in Nanchang














Family photo on the Great Wall (thanks to Beth for taking a great shot!)