Official Canadian Citizen....and we can prove it!!!!

A quick bicycle run to the mailbox brought a very excellent envelope!!!! We received Clarissa's Canadian Citizen card, along with a letter from the Minister of CIC welcoming her as a Canadian!! Woo hoo!!!! As you can see from the picture she and her Mommy are very happy about the whole thing.

Today also brought fantastic news to Adrian and Roberta!!!! WOO HOO!!!!! We are so happy for you two!!!! Words of advice.....grab the log with the lemon chicken at the the cloisin factory and run!!!! It is awesome!!!! Ohhhh and go easy on the stuff in the bottles on the table. You will know what I mean. Also, Yulin knows all...so trust everything that she says. I can't wait to follow your journey.

You want me to sleep???????...more pictures from China...

Ok....last post I mentioned that Clarissa is sleeping well. This is true...however I should have clarified that she is sleeping well once we get her to sleep. This wonderful little girl hates going to sleep. We may get her to take a 30-45 minute nap during the day if we are lucky, but the last few days bedtime has not been happy time. She used to plop down after dinner and snoozing away in no time, but now she wants none of it. I have come up with some reasons:

Sleep??? But I have waaaaayyyy too much playin' left to do
Sleep??? But I have a few spots on the floor that still aren't covered with stuff yet
Sleep??? But I have all these toys that need my attention
Sleep??? But I have waaaaaayyy too much goobering all over Daddy left to do
Sleep??? But I have some Cheerios around here somewhere still don't I??
Sleep??? But I have to pet the bird's nose some more
Sleep??? But I have to check out the bunnies some more
Sleep??? But I have so much more to learn
Sleep??? But I have lots of trouble making left to do
Sleep??? But I have not stopped moving for 5 seconds all day why should I start now??
Sleep??? But I have a whole whack of diapers that I haven't peed in yet
Sleep??? But I have so much more love from my Mommy and Daddy to absorb
Sleep??? But I have a whole lot more cuteness to share with the world

On the move... I have my own room... and vocal chords

Things are changing very quickly around here. Clarissa is learning more and more each day. She's also showing more of her personality each day. Over the last couple of days she has been testing out standing without holding on to anything and pretty proud of herself for doing so. She is also learning how quick she can move around on her hands and knees, and that she can go all over the place....she is pretty proud of herself for that also. Another fun thing that she just realized that she can do is yell pretty loud last night was a yellfest...and she is pretty proud of herself for that as well.

This morning she pulled her pants up almost to her neck....she had the real old man look goin' on.

She loooooooves Sunny the bird. She gets a good laugh out of him and Daddy when they whistle back and forth to each other. I think that he was the one who inspired her to start crawling all over after seeing him fly around.

She is still sleeping quite well, and we have now moved her crib into her own room. Other than being upset if she can't find her favourite little doll when she rolls over, she has had no problem at all with the move.

Walks to the store are fun also.

Rainy day at home...Clarissa and Daddy causing trouble!!!

It's raining, it's pouring, Clarissa and Daddy are making a big mess!!!!





Since we can't go for a walk we have to find something else to do. What's the perfect solution?????? How about throwing newspapers all over the place!!!! Oh ya!!!

Yesterday was nice, we did a family road trip to our offices to show off our beautiful little girl to our colleagues. She was very well behaved and it was great to see everyone. She even did pretty well in her car seat. Still not liking it very much, and a bit of a fit here and there...but not too bad. Hopefully she will get used to it.

Another great thing to do on a rainy day is to (finally) make a huge pot of tomato sauce. I think that I'm going to do exactly that right now. More later.

Busy days, but more is coming....

Things are a bit busy, and I'm too tired to say much more today....but don't worry, more (and more pictures) is coming. I didn't even make my tomato sauce today...tomorrow. I will post more tomorrow also. One thing that I will say is that as I was answering Tesia today one thing that I wrote was how part of us Clarissa is after only 3 weeks. It is amazing how huge a part of our family she is already. It just proves that the long wait was necessary to bring "our girl" to us. I can't even imagine her not being with us. There is no doubt in our minds that she was meant for us. We feel very, very lucky and blessed. She is awesome!

Slept through the night, a trip to the Farmer's Market, ball caps, and some more China photos....

Well Clarissa went to bed at 7pm last night and aside from a couple of momentary wake-ups (followed by a roll-over and back to snoozin') she slept until 6am. Woo hoo!! Mommy and Daddy are thrilled. We were beginning to think that we would just have to get used to being creatures of the night.

Today we went to the Farmer's Market where there are dozens of stalls set up with people selling their veggies and fruits, or homemade breads and pies etc. It was a beautiful morning and Clarissa even made the trip in the car without a fit. More good news for Mommy and Daddy. We bought a huge basket of tomatoes so I can make a huge pot of pasta sauce. That will be tomorrow's task. We also bought some potatoes and leaks, with which there is a pot of soup cooking as I type.

While we were at the market a lady came up to us and said "When did you get back?"...sort of caught me off guard for a sec before I realized that she was talking about Clarissa. She then said "We've adopted also." and she called her husband over with daughter and son over. Both children were adopted from Vietnam. "Where is your daughter from?" "Where in China did you go?" "Did you enjoy it?" "How is she adapting?". A month ago I might have had a different reaction to a stranger asking us such questions, but there is a feeling of "family" with other members of the International Adoption community that is comforting.

More of China:

A smile in the car seat, visit the Grandma and Grandpa's, and jolly jumpin'...

We actually got a smile from Clarissa while in her car seat!!!!!!! I even have a picture to prove it!!!!! But don't let that fool you....that was short lived. Even goofy looking Daddy and a bottle will only distract the "car seat fit" for so long. We then rapidly returned to what is the norm so far. Hopefully she will get used to it. I guess that she's not up for driving to Myrtle Beach with Daddy and Grandpa!!! Ooooooooohhhhh boy I can see that now. A gleeful seventeen hour drive that would be.

What's funny is that in China she loved riding on the bus (where she was facing backwards as in the car seat), and she is totally cool with the stroller (where she is strapped in in a similar way to how she is in the car seat). That sort of strikes out the main possibilities of reasons why she hates it so much (being in a vehicle, and being constrained). I guess either she'll learn to like it, or if we can't walk there we ain't goin'!!! We tried both the car and the van. I mean we're talking a real fit here...and she really is a pretty happy camper, she doesn't cry much. Way more than the "hey I hungry, give me something to eat....NOW!!!" type crying. It's heartbreaking to see her cry like that. I may have to buy a plane to get her around because she's ok with that.



We went for an excellent dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's last night!!! Clarissa really enjoyed the visit, and she enjoyed meeting her Great Grandma! Not only was the company wonderful, and the dinner fantastic....but lunch today (courtesy of the care pack of leftovers) was awesome too!!!! Ohhhhh and then there was the spectacular breakfast this morning (courtesy of the care pack of leftover chocolate ice cream cake.....hmmmmmm I just got hungry....I think that there might be a bit left...and Carolyn is upstairs.....hmmmmmmmm..."What's that Honey???? What am I getting out of the freezer???? Nothing. No I am not eating the rest of the ice cream cake!!!! I would never do such a thing!!! Huh? What's in my mouth??? Nothing. I just bit my tongue so I can't talk properly. Huh??? What am I washing??? Nothing. It is not the plate and fork that I was eating the ice cream cake with! Huh??? You're coming down to check the freezer???? Honey, I'm hurt that you would think that I would do such a thing! Oh oh!!!! I'd better hide!!!


Before I take off I should mention that Clarissa had her first go at the Jolly Jumper today.....she absolutely looooooooooved it!!!!



I'm playing my first game of hockey of the season tomorrow (missed the first two weeks while in China...I know...where are my priorities????) I can't wait to see the guys on the Red Team!!!!