So proud...and so much fun!

Emily is so proud of herself when she takes a few steps that she almost gets distracted and ends up loosing her balance. She has made it to 5+ steps, but stills prefers to hold our hands - it goes much faster that way, you know!

She absolutely LOVES walking, and wants to do so every chance she gets now (still while holding our hands for support.) Her favorite things is to go up and down stairs. We spent about 15 minutes doing that at MEC the our day while papa was shopping for his birthday gift.

It's so much fun watching her develop new skills. She now consistently says: "UP!" when she wants out of her car seat, her highchair, or her bed. She also says "WOW!" spontaneously - for ANY reason. Her cutest sign has to be the one she uses for alcohol (yes, she was thought a sign for this by her father!!! and will perform on command! I don't want to miss a moment with this little one - everyday there's something new!

We took her out (with this nice weather) in her new wagon - the one she got for her birthday from her Nana and Neni (German names for her grandparents.) It was so nice out that day that Sean decided the bunny could join us for a little while. They both had a great time!

14 months!

Emily is already 14 months old today! I can hardly believe that ONLY 6 months ago, we became a family. It just seems like she has been with up forever! How time flies...

Also, a big HAPPY ST-PADDY's day to all! Don't drink too much green beer...LOL!

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY !!!!!

Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year!


We celebrated quietly as Emily and I were still getting over our stomach flu/gastro. We had some good home made won ton soup and watched the Olympics!


Today it's Sean's turn to be sick (not from the food, but probably the same stomach flu/gastro that Emily and I had.)


Year of the TIGER... Let's see what's in store for us this year!?!?!?!?!

From COLD to WARM

We decided to go to the pool on a busy Sunday. We know Emily LOVES the water, but even in China the pool was a slight challenge and we want her to be ready for the pool in the summer, so we thought we'd give it a try.

I was a little worried at first, as she kept a DEATH GRIP on my neck (or that of Sean) and simply seemed overwhelmed by all the people and the noise (I have to say it was loud!) I didn't want this experience to be a bad one for her, so we took our time and sat in the baby pool section for a while.

After some time, that DEATH GRIP loosened and we could see that she was starting to relax.

Later, she was even willing to go to the slide - you gotta let go there, and tried to climb the stairs - with some help - rather than being lifted up! 

After watching PAPA dive into the water a few times, producing a few giggles, she was loving the pool... and of course THEN it was time to go!

WHAT a FUN afternoon!

Emily LOVES the snow!

Our little winter grape!!

Posing for Vogue!

Ok, what's up with this white stuff anyway?? It's fun but it's COLD!!!

Our little princess turned 1 last week-end, and what a party it was!

She is just growing up too fast!

Where has the time gone....????

Ok, I do have to start with an apology... 2 weeks turned into 4+ months, but I am back and hope to post more regularly for family and friends to stay in contact with us and Emily's AMAZING development!

I don't know where to start, but my plan is to post some pictures of our little angle and update what has been going on in our lives. The little girl that we met in China has already changed so much in ONLY 4 months, that it's hard to believe she hasn't been with us longer. For a child that did not know how to crawl and could barely sit by herself without tipping over, to the toddler she is today - getting into EVERYTHING, crawling and walking with help (and soon running, I'm sure!)
She is such a social butterfly and LOVES it when people come to visit or when we go ANYWHERE where she can see people. She smiles at them and makes silly noises to get their attention! TOO CUTE!
With 6 teeth now (she had NONE in China - jsut 4 months ago!) she is trying to eat most foods, and seems to be enjoying everything that is being presented to her. Of course, daddy's gourmet cuisine is the BEST, but most any food is very welcome! Her most recent favorite snack is rice cakes, which end up all over the place, but it's just cute to listen to her grunts of utter elation as she eats them!
So...
1) Pictures - to come
2) Consitent updates - my plan
3) More comments - my hope

See you all soon again!

We're leaving on a jet plane...

So, it's the last minute rush to get everything packed and done before we leave. I'm tired and I just want to go to bed.

While in China, we won't be able to post here, so PLEASE come and see what we are up to by going here:

www.myadoptionwebsite.com/bringinghomeemily

See you all in 2 weeks!!!

Packing FUN!

Very few days left before we head off to China, and packing has begun. This almost seems too easy, and I'm starting to worry that we are forgetting something important. To reduce my stress, my Darling Husband (a NONE-list-making person) actually suggested that we make 2 (Yes 2) lists, one of things we can't forget to pack, and one for things we still need to buy (think he's getting nervous? No, me neither!! LOL!!)

Emily's stuff is pretty much ready, and we are watching the weight, but so far we're doing ok. I never thought that we could manage with ONLY 1-20kg bag each, although DH has not yet selected his clothes, so we'll see.

Alrighty then, off to do some more cleaning and organizing!! FUN!!!

TA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or in terms that are easier to understand, WE ARE GOING TO CHINA !!!!!

So, once again I got called while in the car, TOTALLY caught off guard (that's OK though, it's ALL GOOD!) We booked and paid for our flights to Beijing today, and we will get the rest of the information on Friday.

What we know so far:

We leave on Friday Sept. 11 (I know, not the day I would have chosen to fly, but we will create our own new "lucky" memory for this date - not to belittle anyone else's tragic memories, but it's time to start new HAPPY ones.)
We arrive home on Friday Sept. 25th - late at night, I believe (haven't got the tickets in hand yet so I can't remember exact time.)

We will apparently be signing for our adoption on the 15th, meaning we will meet our daughter no later than the 14th (hopefully the 13th??)as we arrive in China on the 12th in the late afternoon/evening.

For now, panic has started to set in, looking at the MANY MANY little things we have yet to do before we leave... AAAGGGGHHH !!!!

Besides that, life is good!

Stay tuned for more details as they are made available to us... And join us on the roller coater ride that is our ADOPTION !

No news is... NO news!

That old saying really doesn't apply here, NO NEWS really is NO NEWS (not good news:( !!

We still have no TA (travel approval) and are hoping to maybe hear something on Monday. Other families in the US and Europe have received theirs, so I can only hope that our wait is almost over and that we will soon be on a plane.
But for now... No news means we still get to sit here and WAIT!

I really am done waiting...done done! I hope this week-end goes by quickly, but it likely won't. "A watched pot never boils!" Why does that 'saying' get to work and not the first one? NO fair!!!

Care Package across the world

Technology is so wonderful (at times!)
We were able to contact a lady in China (Ann at redthreadchina@yahoo.com) who, for a small fee, put together a cute litte care package for Emily and tranlated a letter we wrote into Chinese for the Director of the orphanage. I wish I could see Emily in that cute little PJ - I hope I will very SOON. I pray the pictures that they take turn out OK. I know not to keep my hopes too high, but a small souvernir from her first 8 months of life will be nice for her to have.


Every day is a day closer to you Emily... We're coming...

Introducing...

So, there we were, July 21st ... just about finished our 16 hour drive back from Nova Scotia, after having only about 3 hours sleep - in otherwords COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED...
We had just dropped off my parents at their home (as they had joined us on our trip), and we were ready to drive the last 30 minutes to get to ours, when... SEAN'S PHONE RANG!!!!

IT'S A GIRL !!!!!

Barely conscience, we wrote down the information and drove home (not exactly how I was expecting things to happen... to say the least.)

It took a little while for things to sink in, after all we had not seen her picture yet.

Finally, on July 24th, we were able to go to our agency and pick up our daughter's file (as it first needed to be translated Chinese > English).

And this is what we learned:

Chinese given name: FU, JuiYi
Born: Jan.17th 2009 (only 6 months old!!!)
Currently in an orphanage in Jiangxi

Medical was done at age 4 months:
She was 60cm tall and weighed about 14 lbs

Other information they gave us:

• She can stand for a moment while being supported on armpits (obviously NOT walking yet, meaning WE get to see her first steps... YEAH!!!)



• She can hold her head up while lying on the stomach (I love pictures of babies on their stomach, I can just imagine her now...)
  


• She can giggle (that's necessary in our household!)



• She's energetic, little bit afraid of strangers (Great... our baby is afraid of starngers and the "boogey man" is going to China to pick her up!)
  


• She likes listening to music (ok that's good), wahtching TV (that's NOT good) and being hugged (we can definitely handle that!)
  


• Apparently "she has good appetite!"



• She likes colorful toys (so apparently they have SOME toys to play with, that's good to know!)

And finally, attached to all the documents were 4 pictures of our cutie.

FIRST, her mug shot (or as Sean said: inmate number 071905-011709)

And then, some cuter pictures that show off her good looks!

SO... INTRODUCING...

Emily JiuYi Rose MacIsaac

And now... we wait for permission to travel to China, a.k.a TA, which we should get in about 4 to 6 weeks. Then, 2 weeks after that, we should be on a plane to CHINA !!!!

In the meantime, we need to keep busy. Thankfully there are tones of things to do to get ready for our trip...otherwise I think I'd go crazy.

Just imagine, in about 8 weeks she will be in our arms... We can't wait!!!! We're coming baby...

The calm before the storm...

So this is where we are at...