Bottom's up!

Here's a picture of Daddy and Claire cuddling last night, both enjoying their bottles.

I've also enclosed a picture of my mom, Mary, with Claire this morning. They are showing off the Christmas stocking my mom cross-stitched for Claire. Yes, it's a little early for Christmas, but if you know my mom, her tendency to complete projects ahead of time isn't a surprise. Isn't it beautiful?

One month anniversary

Today, it has been one month since we received Claire. On one hand, it's hard to believe it's been a month already, and on the other hand, it seems like we've been with Claire for a much longer period of time.

It was Paul's first day back at work today, so Claire and I kept busy with my mom. We played a lot, practiced walking and went out to Toys R' Us to buy a Jolly Jumper, which Dad assembled tonight. Here are a couple of pics from today's events.

Grandma's here!

Last night, my mom arrived from Saskatoon with a few tricks up her sleeve. Her first was unveiled today as she taught Claire to finally move her legs allowing her to take her first assisted steps. We had been trying for so long, knowing that her legs were strong, but she just didn't seem to get the movement (she'd lock her knees like Frankenstein). Mom's trick was to lean her slightly forward so that Claire felt she needed to step forward to maintain her balance. All of a sudden she was taking one step after another, knees high in the air.

Mom hasn't disclosed her other tricks but we know they are there. Here are a few pictures of our visit so far. (ps. Claire is wearing the same dress as when she met the other Grandma - gotta treat the Grandma's the same)

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!)

5 sleeps to go!

Well, we leave for China tomorrow (February 1st) and will receive Claire in just a handful of days now. I think we're pretty much ready to go: we're all packed, the house has been baby-proofed, and my brother Stu is all set to housesit / catsit for us. Thanks Stu!

Thank you all for your support during our adoption journey. Your phone calls, emails and visits mean so much to us.

To all our travel-mates: we can't wait to meet you in Beijing. Have a safe trip and see you very soon!

Claire's room is ready!

I've organized all of Claire's wonderful gifts and have re-decorated her room slightly to accommodate all her great stuff. Check it out!

9 sleeps to go!

Today we received an update from our coordinator about Claire's measurements. She's the littlest button in the group!

She truly is petite at 25.2 inches tall and 14.3 lbs. For all our friends and family who gave us 6-12 month outfits and worried they'd be too small, worry no more. In fact, we're especially grateful because she'd probably swim in anything bigger than that right now.

I've officially begun packing now and I feel like I have everything under control. I'm sure I'll change my tune on Wednesday, though, when we're less than 24 hours from leaving!

Our itinerary

Last Friday, we received our itinerary from our coordinator. We're going to China a couple of days ahead of most families in our group, so I've made a note in the summary below to indicate when we meet up with everyone.

• Thursday, Feb. 1: depart Canada
• Friday, Feb. 2: arrive in Beijing and settle in to the State Guest Hotel (a.ka. Presidential Plaza)
• Saturday, Feb. 3: do whatever we please! (Will probably tour the Forbidden City)
• Sunday, Feb. 4: do whatever we please until our guide picks us up to meet the rest of our group at the Sino-Swiss hotel near the aiport. We'll spend the night there.
• Monday, Feb.5: depart for Nanchang, the capital of the Jiangxi Province of China. Receive Claire at 4 p.m.! We'll be staying at the Gloria Plaza Hotel in Nanchang.
• Tuesday, Feb.6: do a bunch of paperwork at the Provincial Government Office (adoption registration, apply for Claire's Chinese passport)
• Wednesday, Feb.7: visit the Tengwang Temple
• Thursday, Feb.8: receive Claire's adoption documents
• Friday, Feb.9: receive Claire's passport and depart for Beijing
• Saturday, Feb.10: children's photos for their Visas; tour the Beijing Zoo and the Summer Palace
• Sunday, Feb.11: tour the Great Wall of China
• Monday, Feb.12: medical exam for Claire; shopping in the afternoon
• Tuesday, Feb.13: shop at the Silk Store and indoor market
• Wednesday, Feb.14: kiss our little Valentine! And also tour Tiananmen Squre and the Forbidden City
• Thursday, Feb.15: depart for Canada. We arrive in Canada that same day, due to the time change.

12 more sleeps until we're with Claire!

16 sleeps to go!

Today, we received parcels from Kelley and Paul, as well as Kelley's parents Elaine and Dennis who live in my hometown in Saskatchewan.

Kelley has already sent numerous gifts for Claire so I was very surprised to see yet another parcel from her! She and I are both scrapbookers, so she sent this notebook for me to jot down observations while we're in China so that I'm equipped with ideas when we return home. Check out that cute little photo of Claire on the cover!

We also buy each other rubber boot-themed gifts on a regular basis (it's a long story) so it was fitting that she sent these cute little boots for Claire.

When Kelley and I were young, I always admired the home-made care bears her mom, Elaine, crafted. When I mentioned this to Elaine a couple of years ago, she obviously made a mental note of this because about a month later, I received my very own bear! Much to my surprise, we received a parcel from Elaine and Dennis today that contained a bear for Claire, as well as a matching blanket. (Elaine must have been worried that I was too attached to my bear to share it with Claire!) Claire's bear is named Lacie Daisy and I know Claire will love her!

Thank you so much, Kelley, Paul, Elaine and Dennis!




Left: me with my own bear in October of 2005

Right: Lacie Daisy with matching blanket

A baby shower!

On my last day of work (January 17), my work friends / colleagues held a baby shower for me. It was amazing - they really thought of everything. The room was decorated with helium balloons and super-cute pink decorations on every available surface. They also had a panda bear cake!

The most amazing thing, though, was the obvious kindness and big-heartedness from everyone there. I work with incredible people. With a touching introduction from one of my first colleagues and friends at the office (a guy - how progressive is that at a baby shower?!) to all the people who came to wish us well, to my colleagues taking pictures for my scrapbooks, to another colleague taking detailed notes of presents for thank you notes, I was just overwhelmed. And that was before I even saw all the gifts! Everyone was insanely generous, as you can see from the picture I've posted. In addition to these gifts, we also received two very generous gift cards which I will immensely enjoy using.

To anyone at the office reading this post, thank you so much; I can't express how much I appreciate your thoughtfulness and friendship.

Claire's finding ad

Orphanages in China are required to run a provincial newspaper advertisement for children that are found and brought to their orphanage. They are called "Finding Ads." These ads contain information about where and when the children were found and which orphanage is caring for them. Originally these were text-only ads, but most provinces now include photographs in their ads.

I ordered Claire's finding ad through a company in the States and just received it today. This is very likely the first photo ever taken of her. The ad tells us that she was born on April 11, 2006 and found that same day. It also says "she has thick black hair, and wore a flowered shirt with Monk's collar". The ad ran in the Jiangxi Economic Daily on June 19, 2006.

21 sleeps to go (and I love baby shoes!)

The countdown is really on now. I have only two days left of work, there are only 17 sleeps until we leave for China and only 21 sleeps until Claire is in our arms!

I recently purchased three pairs of PediPeds and am fighting the temptation to buy more shoes of all brands, styles and colours. There's something about baby shoes that is is so cute!

27 sleeps to go!

Alberta Children's Services called today and said our Notice of Coming to China (issued by the Chinese government) is in, so I'll be picking that up tomorrow. We're another step closer to Claire!

I can't believe we'll be with her in less than a month. And I can't believe I have only six days of work left. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time.

33 sleeps to go!

Wow, time is flying fast. It's already been more than a month since we received our referral and it is now less than a month (February 1) until we leave for China. Plus, I only have 10 working days left!

Claire's loot

As usual, our families spoiled us but this time, they also spoiled Claire!

Everyone is so excited about meeting her, which made this Christmas especially wonderful. Thanks, everyone, for sharing in our excitement!

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day with Paul's mom, his dad, his brother Dorian, Dorian's wife Sylvie and Paul's Grandma Pauline.

It was absolutely beautiful outside so a few of us went for a long walk along the river.





Sylvie, Dorian and Paul's dad, Wally














Paul by the wier

39 sleeps to go!

Paul and I had a wonderful time in Saskatoon with our families. We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family, where Mom outdid herself with an incredible meal. This was our first Christmas without Dad, so Mom made a special effort to create new traditions, such as saying a prayer she composed herself before the meal.

My brother, Lawrence and his wife, Betty-Ann, with their kids, Nikki and Matt.





My sister, Stephanie, with her husband Gerald, and their kids, Sonia and Liam.


Here's Liam, kicking my butt in an arm-wrestling contest.












Stu, nonchalantly indicating that he thinks the scrapbook I made him is okay.

My mom with some of her granchildren: Matt, Liam, Sonia and Nikki.

46 sleeps to go!

Well, it's only 4 sleeps till Christmas but this year we have a different countdown: the countdown to Claire!

We had a really nice visit with Mom and Stu. It was sad to see them go but knowing we'll see them at Christmas gives us another visit to look forward to.

One of the exciting things Mom brought with her when she came to visit us was the receiving blanket that Grandma Pauline gave her before Mom had children. Mom brought all seven of us home from the hospital in the blanket and my sister used it for each of her children as well. Now it's my chance! I can't wait to "receive" Claire with the same pretty white blanket. Considering that it's over 40 years old, it's still in pretty decent shape! Here's the blanket on our rocking chair.










Mom and Stu also brought
gifts from my sister Steph,
her husband Gerald and their kids, Sonia and Liam: a whoozit, a teething ring/toy and a cool book with famous pieces of art.








Stu gave us a Kit Cat Klock (pic to the right) which has eyes and a tail that go back and forth. It's virtually the same design the company has used since the 1930's.

Hopefully Claire doesn't think it's spooky! This picture is maybe a bit spooky but in real life it's really cute.

China bound!

We've just booked our flights to China! We've decided to go a couple of days early so that we can get over our jet lag, etc. before we get Claire.

We'll be leaving on the morning of Thursday, February 1st, arriving in Beijing on February 2nd. We'll then be returning to Canada on February 15th.

My mom and my brother Stu are visiting us right now from Saskatoon and we're getting totally spoiled: my mom is doing lots of cooking, Stu has shovelled snow for us, and Mom is even finishing a craft I began five years ago! Paul and I have really enjoyed their company this week so we'll miss them a lot when they go back to Saskatoon on Tuesday.

Travel plans so far

Our travel arrangements are getting finalized right now. Here's the proposed itinerary so far, assuming we travel on the latest possible date:

Sat, Feb 3 Depart from Canada; Air Canada flight Vancouver to Beijing
Sun, Feb 4 Arrive in Beijing
Mon, Feb 5 Fly to Nanchang; receive the children in the afternoon
Fri, Feb 9 Fly to Beijing
Thu Feb 15 Depart for Canada
Thu Feb 15 Arrive in Canada, Thu evening Feb 15

Paul and I are trying to decide right now whether we'll go a day or two earlier - we're leaning towards doing so.

A wee bit "obstinate"?

Today we received the translation of Claire's referral and found out many wonderful things. For starters, she has been with a foster family from about a week after her birth, which explains how well she appears to be doing developmentally. We know that having been with a foster mother for several months, she'll really grieve her loss; however, it does bode well for attaching with us in due course.

We also learned that she is active and has a ready smile. She can stand straight with the support of her foster mother, and she enjoys listening to music. In two paragraphs, it was noted three times that she cries a lot. It also says she is "obstinate sometimes". Oh - and it lists her favourite activity as crawling. Yikes! Sounds like trouble with a capital "T" but we couldn't be happier!

A great holiday in Jasper

From December 1 - 3, Paul and I stayed at Jasper Park Lodge to celebrate his birthday. Coincidentally, that same weekend we also ended up receiving the adoption news we had been waiting two years for: we had been matched with a little girl!



Here we are, seconds before we saw Claire's face for the first time.

Proud papa

Out for a walk










Our little cabin, #338

Introducing Claire ...

We are thrilled to introduce our daughter, Claire Cai Wen Pauline. Her Chinese name is Yu Cai Wen, so we kept all but her surname as her middle names, and added Pauline as a middle name for our grandmothers (both Paulines!). We chose the name Claire before we even began the paperchase, and as it turns out, we think it suits her perfectly.

She was born on April 11, 2006 and is currently residing in the Xinyu Social Welfare Institute in Jiangxi Province.

We got the news about Claire over the phone on our way to Jasper Friday afternoon. We then had to wait a full two hours or so before we got to see her sweet face. It was Paul's birthday that day and he keeps saying it was the best birthday ever!

I'll post more details once the translation of her referral is done (probably on Monday).

We're so happy!