Catching up

What a crazy busy time of year.  I think we should be cozy at home doing puzzles by the fire and drinking hot chocolate.  Instead we're ON THE GO. 

We went to a light up parade last week and Jia thought that was pretty interesting, she didn't react much to the loud sirens.  On Saturday Eric and the girls took Isabel to an SPCA Santa and the SPCA ladies were thrilled to see her again all grown up.  She was enjoying her outing and then a pit bull jerked his leash tight and lunged at her and bit her!!  Right on the nose, she was bleeding, poor puppy.  You can all be proud of Eric who just dealt with Isabel and the girls.  When they told me I had visions of him just freaking on the other fellow with the horrible dog but he ignored that guy.  Such a shame.  Apparently after that they moved forward and got their picture taken anyway.  I haven't seen the photo yet, it will be mailed to us.  Then we went our for a family dinner with all of my family, which was nice.  Then onto the girls piano recital.  The girls were thrilled that all of my family came.  Sunday we went to a friends house for their annual Christmas gingerbread house decorating party.  We got to meet their new son!  He's 3 and just a doll.  Congratulations Shannon, Ken, Deanna and Kalum, we're just soooo happy for all of you.  After we left that party we tried to get Jia to nap in her stroller at a mall.  No go.  That girl loves the activity and sat up straight the moment her bottle was done and started saying 'Ha' to everyone.  We went to see Santa that afternoon too.  We got an awesome photo of all three girls with him.  Again, waiting for it to be mailed to us.  Jia took a long hard look at the big guy and then settled right in with him.  Lili told Santa that she didn't want anything and that he should surprise her, Fei concurred with that.  When I went to take Jia back, Santa said 'gee, she's a good baby', ya'  we think so too!

Next week is the girls school concerts, so I'm sure our life will be all about that for three days.  Eric is going riding this weekend for the first time since we've been back so he's thrilled about that.  We had plans for tomorrow but they fell through so he's free  both Sat. and Sun. to ride.  The girls are dancing at a long term care place tomorrow and a friend gave us a wee plaid dress for Jia. 

I managed to get our Christmas cards and thank you cards done and mailed, so you should all be seeing those in the mail soon.   Now I've moved onto trying to make a plan for Jia's 1st Birthday.  What to do?  What to do? 

The really big news of the day though is that ... Jia is walking!!  She is soooooo proud of herself.  Such fun.  Upwardly mobile, it's all good.

Mmmm Countdown Chocolate!

Have I mentioned before how determined Jia can be?

To Lili

Happy Gotcha' Day Lili.  The day you were placed in my arms was the happiest day of my life.  I can't believe it's been eight years since we met.  It's going by way too fast and I wish I could keep you little for a bit longer.  I love you little girl.

Mystery Gift

A gift was dropped off for Jia with no card.  An Anne of Green Gables doll, Carters sleeper (which fit perfectly by the way!) and some hair pretties.  I'd love to thank you, if only I knew who it was from?

Piano recital

Recital link on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClfKFLLaseo

Sooooo Proud of my girls!!  They were fabulous.  Jia had fun tonight too.  She was a bit noisier than we would have preferred but no fussing or crying and she did a lot of clapping!  There is a link above to the girls recital on You Tube. 

Dec. 1

All the best intentions, I bought the girls advent calendars and told Lili and Fei that they could alternate eating Jia's chocolate.  This morning there was excitement about opening the first windows and Jia got in on the joy and ate her own chocolate.  She LOVED it.  What are the odds of her forgetting there is chocolate in those calendars?! 

I'm not the biggest fan of the Christmas hustle and bustle.  There is just too much crammed into one month.  Too much excitement for the kids all at once.  There are parts that I enjoy but it's a constant battle to try and downplay all the festivities.  So, right now we're all about the piano recital and the school play.  There is a dance recital/party too but I haven't told the girls yet.  The recital is way too much stress for Fei and we're seeing the decline in behaviour already.  She flat our refuses to even discuss the idea of her introducing herself so Lili will be doing it for her this year.  They are also playing two duets so that Fei will have Lili with her on the stage.  I wish there was a way to make this easier for her.  There is the option of letting her stop performing but their teacher is really against that idea and we hesitate to start letting her off the hook.  She doesn't seem as concerned about the school play yet.  Likely because the whole class will be together and she is fairly comfortable at the school and it's not for another two weeks.    Needless to say, we're all anxious for the performances to be over with. 

Keeping Jia busy while the girls are in dance and piano lessons is quite the chore.  Jia had fun making a big mess all by herself during the last piano lesson!  Then she stood at the door, hitting the glass, clearly wanting to go, GO NOW. 

Jia went on her first play date last Saturday with May who just came home from Vietnam.  The babies were so sweet together.  They were quite aware of each other and actually played a bit.  At one point May skooched to Jia and put her head in her lap.  Baby cuteness.  I didn't get that picture.  Turned out our friends back yard backs onto our social workers back yard.  We only know two families that live in their city and their yards are connected.  How strange is that?! 

We managed a short shopping trip to the mall before the play date and Jia still loves to shop.  I'm not sure what she loves about it but she is so happy to sit in a cart.  She says 'Ha' (hi) to everyone and waves goodbye when we leave.  With her legs kicking the whole time.  Go figure.

On Sat. night we dropped the girls at Penny's house and they had their first sleepover away from Mom that wasn't at Gramma's.  They had a great time with Haley and Hanna.  The beginning of a whole new phase.  On Sunday Penny met us at the pool with all of them and we swam for three hours.  Yes, that's right, Jia swam for three hours!  She didn't turn blue and she didn't fuss for even a moment.  Our baby clearly loves the water.  I had warned Lili and Fei that she likely wouldn't swim for long and we had an extra token for our locker in case I needed to take her out ahead of everyone else.  In the end, she would have happily stayed in the water longer!  Again, go figure.  After our swim Penny and I took the big girls to see Tangled.  Good Disney movie.  Funny.  Eric took Jia home, she guzzled her bottle and passed out, too tired for lunch.

Isabel is 9mo. already!  Jia is 11mo. already!!  It's time to start planning Jia's 1st Birthday party.  No clue what we'll do yet.  I'm thinking now that a swimming party would be something she would enjoy :)  We're busy all weekend but the girls and I were plotting this morning about when to take Jia to meet Santa.  Both Lili and Fei hated the big guy when they were babies but we're guessing Jia will take meeting Santa in stride too.

A cure for the car screaming!

We've got snow and Eric has driven me to work for the last couple days, and the drive was peaceful.  How was it peaceful with a screaming baby you ask?  Well...the cure is a DVD of the Teletubbies!!  Yup, she loves them.  Just as Lili and Fei did.  Eric put it in and she cooed and babbled.  Wiggled her toes, tapped her hands and when they said 'goodbye' she waved at them!  Love it.  Now, we really need more than one DVD.  We have tons of VHS but they won't play in the car.  Too funny.  I'm sooooo grateful to Meiling for passing us her Tubby DVD.