A quick update

Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you know we are heading to NB tomorrow morning, for Christmas holidays, so I'm not sure if we'll have time to update the blog over the next week or so. (Although it's not like DoT has been updating it anyhow!) Maybe. DoT's mom has a computer so I may try to sit down at it sometime and give you an update. We'll see.

DoT seems to be managing being a stay-at-home dad. The first week that I was back to work I would come home and supper would be waiting for me. It was great. But, like many people predicted, that didn't really last. But who knows, maybe it will be a New Years resolution. :-)

DoT is doing great with the girls, though. I don't think they miss me at all. :-( At least they don't let on like it.

DoT took them swimming for the first time this week. A friend of ours has a pool in his apartment building, so he and DoT each took a twin and hit the water. Apparently, A took to it quite well. She was laughing and playing in the water. E was a bit more hesitant (as she is with all things), but by the end was smiling and splashing a bit. We've packed our bathing suits for our trip and may try to get to the pool in the hotel we're staying in tonight. We'll see. We have a fairly early flight tomorrow morning, so we might be turning in early and won't have time for a swim. Wish I could have been there to see the first pool experience, but it just didn't work out to do it in an evening. Oh well, I'm sure it's the first of many "firsts" I'll be missing. How's that for Christmas cheer. :-)

Well, gotta run. I'm updating this blog during my break at work, and I really need to get back to work. Lots to do before I get out of here today.

Merry Christmas all!

K...

A couple more videos

Here we are.. my last day at home before going back to work. I can't believe I go back tomorrow. :-(

Well, since I won't be home from now on, I'm not sure how much time I'll have to update the blog. DoT may update it from time to time, and I'll try to update it too, so we'll see how it goes. In any case, I thought for my last work-free* blog entry I'd put up two videos. This first one I just find hilarious because I can't get enough of the two of them laughing. You'll have to turn your head to the side if you want to see it, but trust me the audio really is the best part.



On the weekend we went to southern Ontario for my mom's side of the family's Christmas dinner. It was great to see the whole clan. We don't see nearly enough of them. Anyhow, on Sunday morning my folks, DoT and I were all sitting around applauding E's walking attempts, and A decided she wanted in on the action. So she stood up and took her first steps. Of course, we didn't catch them on video, but tonight I took a couple videos of her walking. So, here's one of them...



* -- I had to put a note on the "work-free" comment, because as I'm sure most of you realize, my 4.5 months at home were anything but work free.

Steps 3, 4 and 5

Okay, as promised, I'm putting up a video of E taking her first steps. She caught me by surprise with her first steps, so I didn't get them on video. But here are steps 3, 4 and 5. (Note: this happens at the beginning of the video. I kept recording thinking she might take more, but she doesn't. So, feel free to hit stop after the steps.)

Progress report

So, here we are nearing the end of the week and I thought I'd give you an update on how I'm doing on my list (see previous post). So far the number of tasks I've finished are .... none, zero, nil, nadda, zip, zilch,... you get the idea.

I have purchased a couple more Christmas gifts, but I'm certainly not done my shopping. And I've got the tree up, but only partially decorated. Today was going to be the day -- the day I got so much stuff done -- since I didn't have any playdates or anything else I had to do. But, the girls have had other ideas. First E pulled one of the needles out of the sock I'm knitting (she's done this before). Then, as I carefully tried to pick the stitches back up without losing any of them, she tipped over a plant stand that held a giant african violet. And of course this particular plant was in a self-watering pot. Which means that unlike the other plants in our house which are typically bone dry, this one had nice wet soil... which ended up all over my beige carpet which, incidentally, I just had cleaned about a month ago. Great.

Then, in what I can only assume was E's attempt to redeem herself from her early behaviour, she took a couple of steps today. Yup, that's right. Just when I'm ready to pull my hair out, she throws me a bone. She's trying to walk. So, of course, I spent most of the rest of the morning trying to capture this on video. I have got a video, but it's not great -- too much light and I wasn't at a good angle. If I can, I'll try to get a better one this afternoon (if she decides to try it again) and will put it on the blog.

Well, the girls have just now, finally, gone down for their naps, so I figure I have about 90 minutes to accomplish about 8 things. So I've gotta go. Blog ya later.

K...

A million things to do...

and one week to do them in.

When I started my parental leave there were a bunch of things I thought I could get done before going back to work. And since I've been off there are a bunch of other things that have come up that need doing, and I thought, "yeah, sure, before I go back to work". So, now here I am, one week away from returning to work. And the things on my "To Do" list for this week are:

1. finish Christmas shopping
2. wrap all gifts
3. put up Christmas tree and all other decorations
4. empty out the garage so we can fit two cars into it (this means moving a bed, strollers, tires, etc. to the basement)
5. clean up and organize the office
6. move one of the cribs into the guest bedroom
7. finally put the buttons on a sweater I knit about 9 months ago
8. visit the refugee family we used to 'help out' with (poor kids - as far as they know, we just disappeared off the face of the earth sometime around a year ago)
9. write out Christmas cards (NOTE to anyone who will be receiving one of these cards... don't expect any witty or polite banter in the cards... count yourself lucky that our names are on the inside of the card.)
10. all the other weekly to-do stuff like groceries, laundry, dishes, etc.

And this list doesn't include all the things that I know I should be doing, but realistically there is just no way it's going to happen... like cutting down perennials, raking leaves, etc.

So, who thinks I'm going to get all the things on this list done this week? Yeah, probably not.

I am trying to catch, on video, the girls trying to stand on their own. But so far I haven't got any good clips. If I do get a good shot, I'll put it on the blog this week. But for now, I'll just leave you with a couple of pictures...

The first is of E having a bit of a 'bad hair day'.
And this one is of A.













That's it for today.

Time flies...

In just one weeks time I will be enjoying my last day of parental leave before returning to work. DoT will then start his leave and will be off work until the end of April. I can't believe it's been 5 months since we got the girls in China (exactly five months tomorrow). The time has flown by. I remember how, when I first started my leave, December 11th seemed so far away. And now I'm thinking I was an idiot to agree to let DoT take the second half of the leave. What was I thinking?!! I could be off work until May! Aargh.

While the weeks have flown by, I must say that some days just don't. By the time DoT walks through the door at the end of the day, I'm exhausted. Mostly from hauling around 40 pounds of kid for what feels like hours. I know that I don't have to hold them or carry them nearly as much as I did when we first got back to Canada, but now that they're crawling they seem to get up the stairs in record speed, and then need me to carry them back down. Could be worse I guess -- it could be the other direction. Up until now I've been carrying the two of them at the same time, but now that they're pushing (or past) 20 lbs each, I'm thinking that may soon have to change. It seems so inefficient though... making two trips for everything. DoT's brother's wife (how's that for a mouthful) has the same philosophy, if I remember correctly. DoT's brother once told me their nickname for her was "one-trip Tam".

Aside from all the hauling, I'm also spending what seems like a huge portion of my days picking stuff up. The girls have not yet grasped the idea of putting away one toy before taking out another. So several times a day I pick everything up, if for no other reason than self-preservation. With all the toys spread out everywhere I'm at a real risk of tripping. And if that happened while I was carrying the previously mentioned 40 lbs of kid, that would be bad. I also pick up utensils off the kitchen floor at least 40 gazillion times a day. Both E and A feel the need to have their own spoons or forks when we're eating, even though we feed them using ours. And both of them like to hurl them onto the floor and exclaim "uh oh". Telling them that they can only say "uh oh" when it's an accident doesn't seem to make any impression with them. And then once the utensil is on the floor they become quite agitated if you don't immediately pick it up and hand it back to them. It's quite the fun game. For them.

Wednesday nights I have my piano lesson. So at some point during the day on Wednesdays I clue into that fact and realize that I haven't really practiced much, if at all, during the past week. And I make a last-ditch attempt to do some practicing that day. Well, this past Wednesday I sat down at the piano and about 10 minutes later I heard the girls laughing. That should have been a warning to me. And it kind of was, but the piano non-practicing guilt outweighed it, and I ignored the laughter. Well, five minutes later when I checked on them, they had emptied an entire Kleenex box all over the family room. There were Kleenexes everywhere. When I picked them all up, I also found a box of cheerios that they had figured out how to open and they'd both had their fill.

The latest accomplishment for both of them (aside from emptying the Kleenex box, which they seemed to think was quite an accomplishment and something to be proud of)is standing on their own. They will now both stand up from a squatting position and remain balanced for a little while before sitting back down. They both get a big grin on their faces when they do this, particularly if they last for more than a couple of seconds. If they are distracted by something, they seem to do better. E averages 10 seconds or so, I'd guess, and A is probably about 5 seconds.

Well, I think I better end here. The girls are napping and I have a lot to accomplish during nap time. Have a great weekend, y'all.

Medical update

This morning we took A & E to the pediatrician to get more shots (will they ever end?!). They were scheduled for one shot, but we decided to get them flu shots as well. (The pediatrician recommends it, especially for anyone under 2 years old.) Well, A has a fever today, and possibly a bit of a red throat, so the doctor decided that it would be best to not give her any shots today. So she lucked out. E got the two needles though, and handled it like a real trooper. A will go back in two weeks to get hers.

Updated medical info is as follows:

A -- weighs 21 lbs, 5 oz; and is 74 cm long.
E -- weighs 19 lbs; and is 72.5 cm long.

E did not gain as much weight as A this time around, but she's still following a normal curve so that's fine.

No new pics today. Sorry.

Have a great week.

A couple of pics and a video

To begin, here's a shot of A & E at what was supposed to be naptime. After listening to what I thought was one of them babbling for about 15 minutes, I decided to peek in to see which one was still awake...



As you can see they are still in the same room. We're hoping to find time today or tomorrow to move one of the cribs. (Although they have slept better for the last couple of nights, so somehow it doesn't seem as important now.)

And now, DoT and I proudly present their first piano duet...



Finally, I'll leave you with a couple of photos DoT took yesterday...

















Bye for now.

That's it. We're moving!

Okay, so "we" are not really moving. But one of the girls is. After many months of trying to solve our sleep problems, DoT and I have decided to move the girls into separate rooms. They are still not sleeping well -- waking several times a night, unless we give in, in desperation, and let them sleep with us. And it now seems that their crying is waking the other one up. So, over the course of the next few days we will move one of the cribs into our guest bedroom. (Unfortunately we can't just roll it down the hall, since the cribs are too big to fit through the doorways.) Hopefully we can cut down the nighttime wakings to only one or two -- and maybe even none (dare I dream). :-)

My mom and dad were visiting this weekend, and it was once again great to have others eager to entertain the girls. Yesterday, my folks looked after the girls for much of the day, and DoT and I were able to have some peace, go out to our favourite eatery for lunch (The Lone Star... mmmm, fajitas), and get some Christmas shopping done. It was great. I still feel like I'm really far behind, but at least now we've made a start. And in three weeks I go back to work and DoT starts his parental leave. So, whatever still needs to be done then will be his problem. :-)

The other "big" news around here is that the girls have started tackling the stairs. E started first, and we taught her how to come back down on her own. Then A started following E up the stairs, but she sometimes seems to think she can do it on her feet, rather than crawling. So we have to be careful and make sure one of us is around if she's heading up too. We're working on teaching her to climb up and down crawling, so pretty soon there will probably be no stopping them. Here's a picture of the two of them heading upstairs, both still in their pajamas ...















And here's one of E, having made it to the landing halfway up (taken a few days ago)...




















Well, that's it for today. Hope you all have a great week.

Another little video

DoT took this video this morning. Nothing too exciting about it, but now that it's so easy for me to upload videos, I'm kinda into it. :-)




I'm also showing the long-promised picture of the sweaters that have been knit for A and E. Friends from my monthly craft group knit these.







And, finally, here's a shot of E wearing one of the sweaters. So far, it's the only one of the sweaters that fits either twin. The rest are still a bit big, but will probably fit sometime this winter. This one is even a bit big on E -- I probably should have put A in it, she might fill it out a bit better.

Not a race but...

So a couple of posts ago, I think, I promised to try to get a video uploaded of the girls racing. Well, tonight I have a video for you. Unfortunately, the novelty of the race has worn off somewhat with the girls, so it's harder to get them on camera racing each other. But I do have a video of them both walking. (DoT reminded me that our digital camera will also take short video clips, and luckily I don't have any trouble uploading these.) A is walking with the help of DoT, and E is behind the toy walker.

So here it is....


Unfortunately, A seems to only be interested in watching E, so she's not really looking at the camera. But you get a pretty good shot of E. The colouring is pretty bad (I guess I should have waited to take the video until the daylight), but it's better than nothing.

I also have a picture for you. This is taken from our steps down to the basement, looking up at A & E through the baby gate. When A and E first started holding on to the gate and rattling it, DoT would start chanting "Attica, Attica"... it was pretty funny. (If this doesn't mean much to you, and you care, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica_Prison_riots.)



Well, that's it for tonight. Blog ya later. :-)

Girls on the move...

So, A is now crawling without too much fanfare. It took her awhile to realize that she was going to have to do it, but now she willingly crawls to whatever toy she wants at the moment -- which usually is whatever toy is in E's hand. Boy, or boy, can I see some epic battles coming over toys when they both get a bit stronger. Both of them will readily snatch a toy away from the other. For now, they're too young to understand about sharing, but it's not a huge problem because we can typically distract one of them with something else. But, as their attention spans get longer, it's gonna be a problem. Oh yes, I see it coming. If only they had dispositions like their mother... kind, considerate, always giving. :-)

So, I do have a video of "the great race" -- A is walking with the help of DoT, and E is racing along beside crawling. The problem is that I seem to be technically incompetent when it comes to video recording or putting video on the web. For some reason when I finalize the CD in the video camera (to make it able to play on other things -- like a computer), all of the various videos on the CD are merged into one video. And it's too big to put on the blog. My computer does have a video editing software on it, but of course it doesn't seem to recognize the file type that the video camera has saved the file as. So, unless someone out there can provide some technical help on Sony Camcorders I'm afraid you're not going to get to see the video. Unless I decide to sacrifice a 30 minute CD, and tape the 10 second race again on a blank CD and then finalize it, even though there is still another 29 minutes of blank space on the CD. Oh who am I kidding... you know I'll do it. I'm just such a giver. (See above.) Expect the video next week, maybe.

Naptime and bedtime are becoming battlegrounds as well. Both E and A now like to stand up in their cribs, and it's almost impossible to get them both to lay down long enough to go to sleep. And if I can get one of them to lay down and almost drop off to sleep, that seems to be the time when the other decides it's time to start bouncing up and down in her crib and making lots of noise -- what with the crib creaking and her celebratory shrieking and laughing. Aargh. It's not too bad when both DoT and I are home at night and one of us can take each of the girls and get her to sleep. But when it's naptime, or when only one of us is home at bedtime, it's a bit of a challenge.

Well, I think I better end here. I hear noises coming from the nursery, so I think naptime is about to end. Have a good week all. And do feel free to add a comment with your suggestions on how to overcome my video problems or how to get two 16 month-olds to lay down like little angels, close their eyes, and go to sleep on command. :-)

Another Monday update

So, I just noticed that this is the third Monday in a row that I've updated the blog. Maybe I'll try to make it a regular thing. (Okay, so I've just jinxed it.)

The exciting news of this week is that A is now crawling too. A little bit. She knows how to crawl (we've seen her do it), but she doesn't much care for it. She'd much prefer to sit on her butt and cry and hold out her arms to DoT or I, until we either pick her up or bring her whatever it is that she wants. We try not to give in, to make her crawl, but so far it seems she has more perseverance than we do. It might be the really, really annoying whine that goes along with the cry. :-) Hopefully she'll get better at crawling soon, and will be getting around like E is.

Now, that both girls are crawling, their new preferred way of getting around is walking. They like to take hold of our hands and, with our help, walk around the house. Problem is that neither of them is tall enough to allow this to happen without us having to bend over. So it makes for sore backs. A woman at my Chinese playgroup suggested looping a towel or scarf under their armpits and holding on to that. The only problem is that they then lean forward onto the scarf -- so it's not much good for working on improved balance. But it does save our backs, so we do it every now and again.

E's crawling has really improved. She moves pretty quickly now, and when DoT takes hold of A's hands to help her walk, E likes to race them. It's pretty funny, and usually ends up with E and A both laughing. I may try to get that on video and if I do, I'll post it.

Both girls are teething, and I'm hoping that's the cause of their sleep problems. They are back to waking up a couple of times a night (at least) and, unlike before, when one wakes up and starts crying, it wakes the other one up. We may have to put them into separate rooms.

This week we booked our flights to New Brunswick for Christmas, and have reserved a mini-van for our time there. When I was in university I had a roommate who always said she'd make two trips before ever owning a mini-van, and I whole-heartedly agreed. Now here I am booking mini-vans and car seats for vacations. Times have changed.

Well, that's it for today. Have a great week.

Another trip to the doctor

So we were in to the pediatrician again this morning (A was there last week, because she was sick), for another set of shots. Two more needles, and the girls handled them pretty well. A few tears, but they stopped pretty quickly. And so far they don't seem to be having any reactions to the needles.

Of course, I forgot to write down the height and weight of them, but they may be the same height now. The reason I say "may" is because it's pretty hard to get an accurate measurement on squirming babies. But the nurse said they were the same height. I just don't know what it is. :-) They are now two pounds apart in the weight. A is about 20 lbs, 8 oz (I say about because we tried to weigh her three times and she fought it so much that we got three different weights) and E is 18 lbs, 7 oz. A has lost weight since she was there a month ago, but that's what happens when you stop eating for five days. Or so I'm told. I've never done it myself. A's left her fever and sore throat behind though, and is now eating again like the little sumo wrestler we know she is.

I didn't think I had any new pictures for you today, but then I downloaded the photos off of our camera, and I do have a couple...

This is a picture of two beautiful "scarfghans" which we were given when the girls were dedicated at our church. They are called "scarfghans" because they are five scarves which were knit by a wonderful lady at our church who is over 90 years old and then crocheted together into afghans by another woman in the church. They came with a lovely note about them being provided in an effort to unite the different generations within the church. Anyhow, I think they're just great. The photo doesn't really do them justice.

And these two, I think, show how enthusiastically the girls are embracing their new Mennonite heritage...



Well, that's it for today. Have a great week, everyone!

Okay, now I see the resemblance...

My brother sent me some photos today that he took when we were all in southern Ontario. Good thing other people keep taking pictures of our girls. If you had to rely on us -- their parents -- you'd be seriously deprived. I blame it on the fact that we have two kids now. Don't all parents take less photos once they get to the second kid? When looking through the photo albums at my parents place, you'll notice a whole lot of pictures of my older brother (the first child), and a lot less of me (the second child). So, since we're now at the second child stage, we naturally are taking less pictures. Yeah, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. (I also have a younger sister. Don't even get me started on my middle-child tales of woe.)

Anyhow, my brother sent me some great photos today, and I particularly liked this one...

Although most people that we know have trouble telling the girls apart, I've never thought E and A look that much alike. E's always been smaller, but even aside from that I thought they looked different. Well, in this photo, E is a bit closer to the camera than A is, so the photo makes her head look, relatively, a bit bigger and A's a bit smaller. And, boy, now I can see what everyone else sees. These two do look a lot alike.

A hasn't been eating much the last couple of days (she's not feeling too well) so maybe E's going to catch up to her in weight and then we're going to have to give them tattoos to tell them apart.

Two posts in one day!

Wow, who'd have thought it possible. :-)

Anyhow, just wanted to ask for any suggestions anyone might have on keeping shoes and socks on kids' feet. I must put socks back on the girls (especially A) at least 20 times a day. And we've come really close to losing shoes a whole bunch of times. (I'm just about to head out to the mall where one of our shoes has turned up in the lost and found. Kudos to Bayshore for contacting me so quickly. We just lost it yesterday.) I'm thinking maybe a variation on the mittens on a string approach, but haven't quite ironed out the details. Any suggestions are welcome.

A rainy day update...

Hi, all. It's pouring buckets here today and A, E and I got quite wet in our brief jaunt out this morning. (I try to get out with them at least once a day... today we ran errands.) I need to find a couple of raincoats for them. And I could use one too!

So, as you'll have noticed, I'm not updating the blog as often as I used to. Believe it or not, I do feel guilty about not updating more often. Just not guilty enough to get me to sit down in front of the computer and update the blog. Especially now that DoT is back to work full time. During the week I don't seem to have a minute of time to do anything. I guess I could update the blog when they nap, but generally then I'm busy cleaning up, trying to get something started for supper, or checking my emails. And often it is all three.

Sleeping has improved for all of us. There have now been a handful of times when both girls have slept through the night (including last night, yeah!). And when they don't sleep right through the night, usually only one of them is up once and often only for a few minutes. They are now down to only one nap. I find that they go to sleep better with only one nap, which happens around mid-day. The crying in their cribs at naptime and bedtime has improved too. Generally it is only 5 to 10 minutes of crying, max. So that's good. And it is bothering me less, and that's a good thing too. The problem I'm encountering now is that E has learned how to pull herself up. So, after about 5 minutes of crying I go into the room and usually find her standing up in her crib. Kind of hard to sleep when you're standing up. :-) If I stand next to her, though, she'll stay laying down and is usually asleep within about 5 minutes.

So when I went to the play group with the other Children's Bridge families a few weeks ago, I forgot my camera. But lucky for you, the other moms in the group have better memories than I do, and they graciously sent me photos. Here's a shot of the three other babies that were at our get-together.

Aren't they cuties! Notice the full, thick heads of hair. A and E are still working on that. :-)


We've also started attending a Chinese Mother Goose playgroup. It's pretty good. I'm mostly going to it so that the girls continue to hear mandarin occasionally. It's a lot of work for one person with two children. So far, one of the leaders has taken one of the girls each week, which has helped. I think I'm going to try to get someone to come with me though, so I will always have a one-to-one baby-to-adult ratio. A friend of mine has already said she may be willing, so hopefully that will work out.

Finally, I'm joining two other playgroups, too. One is a playgroup in Ottawa of parents with Chinese adopted babies. My first get-together with this group will be next week. My two girls will be the youngest of the group, but I think it will still be good for them. I'll let you know how that goes. The other playgroup is at our church, so I already know the moms and tots. That should be fun.

So, I guess you're all now thinking that all I do is play. Well, you go ahead and believe that. It makes you more likely to want to babysit.

This weekend we headed down to southern Ontario for our first real trip away from home since we got the girls. We drove there and back at times when we thought the girls would just sleep the whole way. We should have known better. They did sleep most of the time, but they woke up a lot more than I would have expected. I guess not being able to move in the carseats makes it a bit uncomfortable after awhile. Anyhow, it was a great weekend, and we had a chance to see family and friends, and we ate like kings (and queens). Big turkey dinners two days in a row. Saturday was the Gerber family Christmas dinner with all my dad's extended family. And then Sunday, mom did up a big Thanksgiving dinner and my whole family was there. Once again the nephews did a marvelous job of entertaining the girls, and E's dad and I appreciated having a bit of a break.

Well, gotta go. The girls just woke up from their naps and they are not going to be patient too much longer.

She's mobile!

Okay, so E has learned to crawl. I've been trying all morning to put a video on this blog, as proof. Not sure if this is going to work, but hopefully it will. Oh, and that's raisins she's eating. Had to give her a reason to crawl, and right now raisins are a good motivation for just about anything. :-)

Oh, happy day!

Okay, folks. This is a day of days. Yes, it has finally happened. Last night both E and A slept through the night! Yeehaw. I'm not naive enough to think that this will now occur every night, but it does give me hope that in the not to distant future it might be a regular occurrence. It was quite a shock this morning to wake up and realize that it was morning and I hadn't gotten up at all during the night. A and E are waking up at around 6:00 a.m. these days, which is still way too early for me, but if they sleep through the night I've decided I will be happy with that.

Now, to balance off that good sleep news, DoT and I are going through a bit of a hard time these days because, as of last Thursday, we have been putting the girls in their cribs awake in the hopes that they will learn to go to sleep on their own. Everyone says that it takes about 5 days and that the crying gets progressively shorter each night, but so far I'm not seeing a pattern. The first night, they screamed for about 20 minutes. And when I say "scream", I mean scream. If it was just crying it would be one thing, but I find the screaming really upsetting. It's hard to listen to that and not respond. But if we do go into their bedroom to try to calm them down it just seems to make it worse -- I guess they see that they're having an effect and it gives them a second wind.

Basically the screaming goes on for anywhere between 2 or 3 minutes to 45 minutes. Last night, DoT's brother J was visiting. He was amazed when we put A to bed and she went from screaming to sleeping from one breath to the next. (E fell asleep in my arms last night and I decided that there was no way I was waking her up just to put her into her crib.) And the screaming isn't reserved for bedtime -- they'll also scream like that when we're not feeding them fast enough, when they want out of the stroller, or when we don't respond to them quickly enough when they want us. So I don't think the screaming necessarily indicates that they're in real emotional turmoil. At least I hope not.

They are both napping right now. They went into their cribs at 3:05 p.m., and the screaming stopped at 3:15 p.m., so that's not too bad.

They were to the pediatrician again this morning for a check-up and their next set of needles. They got two needles today - one in each arm. There were a few tears, but they got over it really quickly and were all smiles since then -- until they were put in their cribs. :-) For those of you who are interested, they weighed in today at 17 lbs, 11 oz (E) and 20 lbs, 11 oz (A). So A is gaining weight a bit quicker than E. Not surprising - she's not nearly as picky an eater.

This week marked the start of my piano lessons and choir practices again. The piano lessons are late enough at night that the girls are asleep before I leave home, but on choir night DoT gets them to bed. As much as I love being off work with these two girls, I must admit I've really enjoyed the start-up again of some of my 'adult' activities. It's nice to occasionally have something to focus on that is not related to the kids.

Later this week, we will be going to two "play dates". On Thursday we're getting together with the other Ottawa families who traveled together to China when we adopted. This will be the first time the little girls (and their parents) will see each other since China, so it will be nice to catch up. Then on Friday, I've registered the girls for a Chinese play group. I want the girls to learn Mandarin when they are a bit older, and I think it will be helpful for them to continue to hear it occasionally now so that they don't lose their ear for it. So, Friday morning I and the girls will go to a Mother Goose Chinese play group. Apparently we'll all be learning some Mandarin games and songs. I can just imagine how well I'll do at that. :-) Of course, these two play dates are going to interfere with the routine I'm trying to establish. After waffling back and forth for quite awhile, I've decided that these girls need both their morning and afternoon naps. I was toying with dropping the morning nap, but it makes them really cranky and not too willing to eat much at lunch. So, they're getting a nap in the morning and afternoon now. Except Thursday and Friday. Oh, yeah, and Sunday. There's just way too much going on in church for them to shut their eyes. *Sigh* So much for my "routine".

Well, that's it. No new pictures for you this week. I'll try to remember the camera when we go to the play groups, so I may have something for you next week.

Top Five List

After checking out the latest issue of Parenting magazine (which, in case anyone is wondering I wouldn't recommend)...








E & A have decided it's time to hit the road...












Apparently DoT and I are not the ideal parents this magazine presents. (Like I said, I wouldn't recommend the magazine. :-) )

Anyhow, we are learning as we go, and thought we would pass along all our newfound wisdom, since if we've learned one thing with this adoption it's that everyone (almost) has an opinion on how best to parent. So, in that vein, here is our top five list of parenting wisdom ...

1. Always make sure the lid is closed when setting baby powder within reach of a baby.
















2. Babies can kiss each other too! It's not just about biting.
















3. If you want a hat to stay on a baby's head, make sure it ties under the chin. (Although they may be less than thrilled about it.)

4. Kids will lay down anywhere (unless you're trying to get them to sleep in which case laying down becomes the absolute worst thing in the world).

5. Utensils are optional when eating spaghetti. And whether you use them or not, the end result is much the same...















That's it. All our words of wisdom for today. Feel free to ask us for more though. Because I'm sure we have them, and if not we can certainly relay lots of tips from others. :-)

K...

Visitors

So, there was lots of excitement at our house this week. My sister and mom, and my two nephews (J and M) came to Ottawa for a short visit. Kids are always a big attraction for A & E -- and J & M in particular, since they are so good at entertaining them.

The picture at the right was taken this morning, just before everyone left. We're going to miss J and M (and mom and P, too), especially when the girls get bored again with just me and DoT around. Although it's almost September now (wow, time flies) and October and Thanksgiving won't be long after that. We are planning a trip to southern Ontario that weekend. My brother will be visiting from China, and it's a great opportunity to see the whole family again. (Too bad my sister-in-law won't be making the trip too.)

This week we also had a visit from friends -- L and Auntie 'Em. It was great to see them again. We got caught up a bit, but will need to have another longer visit since there's still lots of stuff we didn't get a chance to talk about. Auntie 'Em brought each of the girls "Taggies" which are basically a small, soft toy with a bunch of tags sewn on them. They both love them. I don't know what it is with kids and tags, but they just go for them. L brought two handmade sweaters. They are really beautiful, and look great on them. A couple of other friends have also knit sweaters for the girls and I'm going to take a picture of all of them, and put it on the blog.

Next week, DoT's mom and aunt are coming for a visit, so that will be someone new again for the girls to look at. :-)

Part of the excitement during the visit came from the fact that last night at about 8:30 p.m. our smoke detectors went off. They are hard-wired into the wiring of our house, so we weren't able to just take out the battery. DoT ended up going down to the basement and flipping the circuit. The amazing thing was that the girls had been asleep in their cribs for about 20 minutes before that and neither one of them woke up when the alarm sounded. And the alarm is really, really loud. It's this high piercing sound that I was sure could be heard all around the neighbourhood. But the girls slept right though it. And then, E woke up, for no reason, 20 minutes later. Huh.

The girls were also back to the International Clinic at CHEO this week for their second visit. The results were all in for the blood work and urine and stool samples they'd had done. And everything is good. No problems for either girl -- so that was good news. They did a TB skin test this visit and we will go in to have the results read tomorrow, so hopefully they will pass that with flying colours too.

And on this visit, I wrote down their height and weights, since people always ask me and I can never remember. Anyhow, as of Tuesday, E weighed 17.5 lbs and was 27.25 inches tall. A weighed 19.5 lbs and was 27.5 inches tall. They are still a bit small for their ages, but both are following a normal curve and that's the important thing.

The doctor at the clinic told us what to do to try to encourage them to start crawling. Basically, when they are on their tummies we are to position them so their knees are directly under their hips (ie. get them in the crawl position). We've tried it a couple of times since then, and both girls hate it. So there's lots of yelling involved, and we don't last long until we let them lie down or sit again. Either we're going to have to get used to the yelling, or we're just going to have to accept the fact that they won't be crawling for awhile.

That's it for today. Have a great weekend everyone!

Same old, same old

So, nothing new to report here today. Neither girl is crawling or walking yet, although A is scooting backwards (not on purpose though). If she's on her tummy she can move across the room in a few minutes. But unfortunately she hasn't realized this yet, and so isn't doing it to get to the things she wants. She's still crying for either DoT or I, for that.

Sleep patterns haven't changed much either. Both girls are getting up a couple of times a night, at least. And last night they were both up, in the middle of the night, wide-awake for over an hour (at seperate times, of course). They weren't screaming or anything, like they sometimes do, but they weren't interested in sleeping either. When this happened our first week back we blamed jet-lag. I'm not sure what to blame now. Teething, maybe? Their sleep may be a bit better when we take them into bed with us. Normally DoT takes A into the guest room and I take E into our bed. The girls sleep better, but we don't. Both of them like to flop around a lot in their sleep. :-)

Well, I've got a few more pictures for you....

We've introduced the girls to a few of our favourite things...

Not to worry, it's decaf.

And here are a couple of pictures of them sporting their shades. (So far we've been unsuccessful at getting them to wear either the glasses or hats when out in the sun.)







Well, that's it for today. Have a great weekend!

A week full of doctors

So this week we have been spending a lot of time in doctors' offices. DoT and I both had our 'annual' (okay so we're not actually that regular) physicals this week. Although I still have blood work to get done. My appointment was for 8 a.m., and usually I just go straight to the blood lab after the appointment (it's in the same building). But I made the mistake of having breakfast that morning. I wasn't really hungry, and didn't really want to eat, but every other time I've given blood they've asked me if I've eaten anything and don't want to take blood if I haven't. So, I ate. Well, this year my doctor's decided to include a cholesterol test in the blood work, which means I need to fast for 12 hours before giving the blood sample. So I was thwarted. I'll probably go in first thing tomorrow morning. [By the way, mom, my blood pressure is "perfect" - and that's a quote. Pretty amazing given the recent stress in our lives, eh? Apparently it is only your blood pressure machine that stresses me out. :-) ]

E and A have a "meet and greet" appointment at a pediatrician on Friday (yes, we've been lucky enough to find one who is taking patients). However, I had E in to the pediatrician yesterday. She's had a fever for a couple of days, and it seemed to be getting worse (don't worry, it's nothing serious, and is practically gone today). So I gave the pediatrician's office a call around noon and they got her in later in the day. Dr. Chan (the pediatrician) is very nice, and I'm really thankful he's agreed to add the girls to his client list.

Next week we go back to CHEO for our second visit to the International Adoption Clinic.

Who knows, after all this visiting of doctors, maybe the girls will reach a point when they don't automatically scream when they're in a doctor's office. :-)

A few new pics

Since I have nothing new to tell you, I thought I'd just give you a couple of new pics today. These were taken yesterday, by DoT...


Have you got it straight yet, which twin is which?

These are a few of my favourite things...

Well, it's getting harder and harder to update this blog, mainly because I feel like I'm running out of things to say. I never meant this blog to be only about our adoption, and the antics of A and E, but that's what it's turned into. Maybe at some point I'll be hit with a really insightful topic or thought, and the blog will branch out to include (in the vein of Saturday Night Live of long ago) 'K's Deep Thoughts'. But for now, I have no deep thoughts. And I know most of the people reading this blog are more interested in A and E than in what I have to say, anyhow.

Here are the photos I tried to put on the last blog update. Just a couple of shots of the girls. The first one is DoT and A, and the second is DoT and E.




















Quite awhile ago a friend (Auntie Em) asked us to talk a bit about what the girls do like. (I guess I've been spending most of my blog time talking about what they don't like.) So, here's a short list...

E's favourite things:

• Baby Mum Mums
• fruit (of any kind) and yogurt
• a stuffed doll of a Teletubby (a hand-me-down from my nephews)
• a toy Pooh radio that plays a few different selections
• standing -- it's hard to keep this kid down. She just doesn't like to sit.
• toys that make noise
• and a little multi-coloured ball that was originally Abby's (our cats)

A's favourite things:

• Baby Mum Mums
• music -- favourite song seems to be B-I-N-G-O
• fruit (of any kind) and yogurt
• boucing in her exer-saucer (sometimes)
• toys -- especially musical toys
• bath time
• rolling around
• and the same little multi-coloured ball that was originally Abby's (luckily we have two)

As for other favourites -- well, I'm pretty sure their favourite colours are red and blue -- definitely not pink. :-) They are both also pretty excited about Canada's universal health care system, as evidenced by this picture to the left. (Yes, they received their health cards in the mail late last week. Their Permanent Resident cards and SIN cards should be coming any time now.)

That's it for now. Stay cool everyone, K.

Blood and barbeques...

Catchy title, huh? Okay, so the blood and the barbeque themes are seperate. It's not that we had a bloody incident at a barbeque or anything. Although at the barbeque tonight there was a story relayed to me about one of the women sleepwalking and having her mother wake up to see her standing beside her bed with a butter knife. That would kind of freak you out wouldn't it?

Anyhow, yesterday we took the girls to the International Adoption Clinic at CHEO (the Childrens' Hospital of Eastern Ontario). The clinic will see internationally adopted children four times over the course of a year, if the parents so chose. Yesterday was our first appointment. Let me start off by saying, CHEO is an amazing place. I had heard many times about how great the place is, but it was usually in association with some fundraising event or effort, so I figured 'yeah, yeah, sure'. Well, it truly is a great place. From the moment we walked in it was clear this was a hospital dedicated to kids. Everything is designed for the kids ... from the decorations, to the people working there. I guess it makes sense that anyone chosing to work in a childrens' hospital would be into kids, but I just couldn't believe it. It's really nice to see twenty-something men blowing bubbles and bouncing around trying to get a smile from a kid who's being poked by a needle.

We met with Dr. Hui and two others -- one resident, and one medical student. They spent quite a bit of time talking to us about the girls and our experiences. Dr. Hui also outlined what will take place at the next three visits. They will be checking for all sorts of possible illnesses (from HIV to Hepititus to TB, etc., etc.), and also monitoring their attachment, bonding and development. It is really nice to have a place dedicated specifically to international adoptions. And Dr. Hui is great. He answered our questions and gave us a real comfort level.

After we left Dr. Hui's office, though, we headed off to the blood work lab. Unfortunately, in order to do the tests for the gamit of illnesses, they needed to take lots of blood. E and A did NOT enjoy that part of the visit... and therefore neither did DoT or I. As entertaining as the bubbles were, they could not divert our attention from our screaming children. :-) On the plus side, we needed to get a urine sample from E (A had already provided hers) and the trauma of the blood donation did cause her to empty her bladder, so we were able to take care of it all with one visit. :-)

Tonight we went to a friend's house for a barbeque. It was our first opportunity to go out for a meal with the kids. It went pretty well. Aside from not having as much opportunity to socialize as we may have liked, it was good to see friends again and have a bit of a visit. Our friend has a three-year old daughter (M) who A and E spent a lot of time watching. E and A both seem to like kids a lot. Although M is really cute, so maybe that was it.

Well, that's it for tonight. I was going to leave you with a couple more pictures, since I know how much you like that (that's right, it's all about you...), but for some reason blogger doesn't want to let me. I'll try logging on through my work computer and adding them, but if you don't see pictures you'll know it didn't work.

Time Flies

Wow, as of yesterday it is one month since DoT and I left to go to China. And on Sunday, it will be four weeks since we've had A and E. In some ways I can't believe it has been that long, and in other ways it feels like it's been a lot longer.

Our sleep issues continue, and I wish I could see an end in sight, but right now I don't. Oh, sure, I believe that sooner or later they will sleep through the night. It just seems like a long way away right now. Last night was probably the worst night we've had in a long time. They were up approximately every hour until about 3 a.m., and then they slept until about 7 a.m. So, on the good side, we are getting a few hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. And neither DoT nor I are feeling too bad during the day, surprisingly. The girls seem generally quite happy and content during the days. And neither seems inclined to nap, so I'm thinking they are not too affected by their nighttime wakings.

Yesterday we took them for a walk, but instead of using the double stroller (which E hates after about 10 minutes), we took along the snugglies -- and we put them in them facing forwards. After only a couple of seconds of thinking about it, E started to laugh. Really hard. I haven't heard her laugh like that since the first time my nephew demonstrated armpit farts. She just laughed and laughed and flailed her arms and legs around. Poor DoT had to walk and protect the "family jewels" at the same time. :-) A didn't mind it either -- she wasn't as excited as E, but she put her head back and fell asleep. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the girls. Within about 10 minutes, my back was killing me. Looks like I'm going to have to work up to a walk of any distance.


I think I promised more pictures. DoT and I have tried to get pictures of the two of them together, with both of them smiling and both looking at the camera. That's easier said than done. This is about as close as we get. And E has her eyes shut.







Here are a couple of individual shots though, that aren't too bad... (The one on the left is A.)















And finally, here is one of the two of them playing ball together. Okay, so I know they're not really playing together - they're too young for that. But it sure seemed that way since the only thing they did with the ball was whap it, and every time they did it would go to their sibling.

Well, that's it for today. Uncle Preston is coming over for supper, so I better go pick up all the toys strewn throughout the house. Have a great weekend, all.

Freaky Friday

So have you ever seen that movie with Jamie Lee Curtis where she is a mom and somehow she and her daughter get "zapped" and switch bodies? I think it was called Freaky Friday. I've never seen it, but I've seen commercials. Anyhow, I'm beginning to think we have had our very own "Freaky Friday" here. You may recall that at the beginning of our time with the girls E seemed like so much work and good, old A was such an easy baby. Well, they've done a role-reversal. E has really turned into a grinning, good-natured baby - even with not a lot of sleep last night -- and A has reverted to previous E-behaviour. It's a lot of work to get her to smile, and she seems to cry for no reason quite often. I'm sure there is a reason, but we can't seem to figure it out. She doesn't need a diaper change, she's not hungry, she cries when picked up, cries when put down, cries no matter what toy we put before her. I think she is just stressed and tired, and I'm starting to relate. :-) DoT has her out for a car ride right now in an effort to get her to sleep. (She did go down for a nap this afternoon, but it was only about 40 minutes.)

Last night was not a great night for either girl. They both went to sleep at about 8 p.m., but A woke up screaming at about 9:30 and then again at 10:45, and both times was very hard to calm down. They both slept between midnight and 3 a.m., but then E woke up screaming and I never got her back down. Oh, she slept some more, but whenever I tried to put her down the screaming would start again. I finally took her downstairs (figured one of us should get some sleep, and DoT won that one) and I watched the movie 'Ghost' while I held her.

And then today, they've been tag-teaming us again. E went to sleep for her afternoon nap just fine, but A absolutely refused. Just as I put A down in her crib after finally getting her to sleep, E woke up and started to cry. *Sigh* Oh well, hopefully tonight they will both be tired out and we'll have a better night.

Today I made an appointment for the girls at the International Adoption Clinic at the Children's Hospital. They specialize in international adoptions, and so are the perfect place to take the girls to get them checked out. Hopefully they can also answer some of our questions. I also had a call from a pediatrician who we had put our name in with (thanks to C & W for the heads-up on that one!) and he is willing to take on the girls. So it is all falling into place. And this after I've heard for years about how impossible it is to get a pediatrician in Ottawa. We've lucked out. The appointment with the International Adoption Clinic means that we need to get OHIP cards for E and A pronto. We plan to take a trip into the Ministry's offices on Thursday morning.

Well, that's it for now.

Day 1 in Ottawa

The drive back to Ottawa went surprisingly well. Amazingly, both girls fell asleep about 10 minutes into the trip and slept for about 3 hours! So we were half way home by the time they woke up. We then stopped for lunch, and neither one of them made too much of a fuss about getting back into the car seats and driving some more. It wasn't until we were within one hour from home that the whining started. And the last 20 minutes or so were a real challenge with E. DoT was throwing toy after toy at her in an attempt to distract her from a melt-down, and succeeded until we were about 1 minute from home. So, not bad.

Our first day in Ottawa went pretty well. DoT and I both managed to shower! And we went for a walk with the double-stroller this morning, and for the first 20 minutes neither girl cried! Then, true to form, E started crying so we had to cut the walk short. This afternoon I mowed the lawn, and DoT went and picked up a few things at the grocery store. It was a really quick trip to the grocery store because our friends dropped off the essentials when we arrived back in Ottawa the night before. That was great. This morning when I decided to make eggs for the girls, I actually had eggs in the fridge to use. And bananas and watermelon -- both staples for the girls.

Did I mention the A is now eating real food (food other than formula I mean)? When we first got them, A would only take formula, but now is eating pretty much anything we serve.

I think both girls are a bit stressed with the changes in their lives. A has been grinding her teeth, and rolling her head a lot -- which I read are signs of anxiety. And tonight, E woke up about 1.5 hours after she went to bed, screaming. It took me about 45 minutes to calm her down and get her back to bed. And she did some teeth grinding in there too. Hopefully once we've been here for awhile (at least longer than a week which is a record so far with these two girls), they'll start to settle down.

That's it for now. I'll try to post again soon. And I'll try to include at least one picture. I know they've really fallen off since we've gotten back to Canada.

Heading home today

Today we make the trek back to Ottawa. On the one hand, I'm looking forward to settling into our house and having some stability for the girls. On the other hand, I'm going to miss everyone here, and especially miss all those extra hands so ready and willing to take on a cranky baby and make her smile.

This week at the cottage was fabulous in spite of a lack of sleep. E and A took really well to grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles and cousins. And my sisters kids, J and M were big hits with the girls. J & M were willing entertainers. It's amazing how much fun 'arm-pit farts' can be for one year-olds. In fact, that's how M was able to tell A and E apart. He would do the arm-pit noises and whichever one smiled was E. (She loved it.)

I'm not looking forward to the drive to Ottawa. So far the girls have been in the car for a total of 4 rides and E, in particular, screamed for most of them. So, what will probably be 8 hours (at least) of driving today, will not likely be a lot of fun. Hopefully they'll fall asleep for at least part of the way. We were thinking about driving at night, to ensure they sleep, but we don't really want them to arrive somewhere new when they're sleeping. Don't want them waking up in a new place. And, of course, since I want them to sleep some on the way, last night they had their best night of sleep ever. A woke up once, but went back to sleep in a matter of minutes. And E woke up only a couple of times and went right back to sleep too. They both slept for about 10 or 11 hours last night. Of course, both were sleeping on the floor, where DoT and I could lie down next to them until they went back to sleep. We still haven't mastered putting them in a crib. Everytime you set them down, they wake just enough to start crying. We'll try the cribs in Ottawa, and hopefully it will come better.

To all of you who are wondering about when it would be an appropriate time to come and see the girls, we don't mind if you want to stop in any time. Just be forewarned.... if they're sleeping when you arrive, we won't be waking them up. You're welcome to tip-toe into their bedrooms and take a look, though. And to those of you who have offered to bring food, yes please! (Q -- any night this week is fine, just come on over.) That's one thing we are finding hard -- finding time to cook. Oh, yeah, and finding time to shower -- but I don't think you can help there. :-)

We expect to leave Shakespeare at about 10:30 a.m. this morning, so hopefully we'll be in Ottawa by about 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. Then we'll be staying put for awhile. (My mom is coming down to help out again next weekend.)

On a completely seperate note -- I meant to mention this earlier in the week, but forgot. One morning this week, DoT and I had the girls in the double-stroller wheeling them around. It was about 6:30 a.m. (we'd been out since about 5:00 a.m.), and E was crying, as she usually does when she's in the stroller. We walked past a woman who actually said, and I quote, "Someone's not happy this morning", and then turning to E she said "Mommy got you up too early." And I didn't hit her. I think I demonstrated remarkable restraint, for someone running on about 3 hours of sleep. :-)

Well, gotta go. See you all soon.

Greetings from Southern Ontario

Hi again,

So, this will be a quick update since we're just back in Shakespeare to check up on the cat and make sure she still has food and water.

Things are going fairly well at the cottage. Thank Heavens for the help of family members. I don't think I'd be surviving if it weren't for them. E and A have reacted quite well to the new people, which is a relief since it makes it possible for someone else to hold one of them so that we can actually take a shower or eat ourselves!

The jet lag is brutal. Right now the days and nights of the girls are all messed up. They don't want to sleep at all during the night. Yesterday we made an effort to keep them awake most of the day (with an afternoon nap) so that they would hopefully sleep last night. By 6 p.m. we could hardly keep them awake. No matter what we did, they were nodding off. So, we gave them baths and they were in bed by 7:00 p.m. It was the first time I can remember them going to sleep without any trouble. They slept for about 3.5 hours. Then they were both up for about an hour and then slept for another 2.5 hours, bringing us to about 2:30 a.m. And then they were up for the "day". Believe it or not, I am somewhat happy with this. I guess it's in comparison to the two nights before that where they slept about 2 hours only. So, we are trying the same approach today. They didn't have a nap this morning, but slept about 45 minutes in the car on the way to Shakespeare from the cottage (after the "mandatory" 10 minutes of screaming after being put in their car seats). And I expect they will sleep another 45 minutes on the way back to the cottage. Then we'll try to keep them up to at least 7 p.m., and hopefully even a bit later.

So, the last three nights in a row one or both of them have had the privilege of a moonlit stroll in their own private chariot (i.e., stroller). We had hoped that the stroller ride would put them out, but no such luck. I guess it's not working its charm like it did those first days in China. They better start sleeping better soon, because we're running out of tricks.

That's it for this post. There might be another one this week -- not sure if we will be making another trip to Shakespeare. Cross your fingers, everyone, that we will soon be getting more sleep -- even 6 uninterrupted hours would be great. On the up side, we didn't have to wait in line at Tim Hortons when we were there this morning at 5 a.m. :-)

We made it.

Well, we made it to southern Ontario in one piece. When we arrived in Vancouver, we were fast-tracked through both Customs and Immigration. I guess they took one look at the six families with babies and decided they'd rather not have us all crying in the line-ups. So, they took us right through. It was a good thing, because even with C and M's help (collecting our luggage, scoping out where we were going, helping transport everything) we still arrived at the gate only just in time to board the flight to Toronto.

Both E and A were great travellers. They both slept a lot on both of our flights, which was great at the time. It meant that we weren't disturbing all the other passengers on the flight. But, it made it really uncomfortable for us, since we couldn't really move. Every time we moved slightly they woke up and started to cry. Also, that much sleeping meant that when we arrived here (last night at about 1 a.m.) both of them were wide awake. E stayed up until about 4 a.m., and A stayed up until about 5 a.m. (Even in spite of a 3 a.m. walk around the block in the strollers - and in the rain, that's how desperate we were.) Then E got me up at 6 a.m. DoT and A are still asleep (it's about 9:30 a.m. now). So, I'm running on about 1.5 hours of sleep during the last several days. When DoT gets up, I think I may need a nap.

I think adjusting to the time change is going to take the girls awhile. I've been told it takes 1 day per hour time change. Which would mean that we will be adjusting to the time change for 12 days. I'm hoping it doesn't take that long, but we shall see, I guess.

My mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law were at the airport to meet us last night. It was really great to see them. And if they hadn't come, there is no way we were going to get all our luggage home. It was never going to fit into the trunk of our car, and the back seat was taken up by the two car seats. Speaking of car seats -- E and A both hate them. I was hoping that they would be like normal kids and fall asleep when in a moving car. Not so much. E screamed a good 40 minutes of the trip home, and A joined her for some of that. Then this morning, E and I took a quick trip into Stratford to pick up diapers, and she screamed some more. Can't wait to drive 6+ hours back to Ottawa. (Although after surviving the 16+ hours of flying yesterday, the drive to Ottawa doesn't seem at all duanting.)

Well, I guess I better go (wake up DoT so I can go to sleep). :-) I doubt I will be updating this blog during the next week, since I won't have a computer at the cottage. Maybe if we come home to check on the cat sometime in there, I'll try to update. But I'm making no promises. (Abby -- the cat -- is fine, by the way.)

Caio, everyone.

Last post from China

Ni hao! This will be my last post from China since we are flying out tomorrow afternoon. Thanks you all for your well wishes for an uneventful trip home and smooth connections in Vancouver. And thanks, Q, for the info re: Vancouver Customs and Immigration. I'm sure it will be a help. And if we still don't make the connection, I think I've accepted the fact that we'll just find a hotel and spend a night in Vancouver. Who knows, it might help with the jetlag.

Mom -- If you want to meet us in Toronto, that's great. But you really don't need to. We are planning to send one of our suitcases with C and M from Vancouver to Ottawa, so we should be able to fit everything else in our car. But, as you said, if you want to help with the luggage in Toronto, and give us a lift to our car, that would be great. I'll call if we miss the flight in Vancouver, so you don't make a wasted trip.

Bonnie -- thanks for the comment. And wow, I'm not sure I've ever been called "feisty" before (at least not to my face). I like it!!

jag -- hmmm, hopelessly in love, eh? Well, I kind of feel that way when they're sleeping. And sometimes when they're laughing and smiling. But I'm not sure I'd say we're 'hopelessly in love' when they're cranky and screaming. So, I guess we fell kinda-sorta-hopelessly-in-love after about 3 or 4 days. For the first 3 or 4 days there was too much screaming, crying, and sleep deprivation to feel anything but shell-shock and fear. :-)

Marion -- ha! My shopping abilities will never compare to yours. If I can't haggle, it's just not worth it to me. :-) (Actually, I'm looking forward to getting back to shopping places where the price actually is the price, and I don't need to wonder afterwards if I've paid too much.)

SP -- fever is gone as of this afternoon. I think it was related to teething. We think A's popped out another tooth (making it 5 now), and E is drooling enough to make me think she's not far behind.

Auntie Em (love that name!) -- I'm glad so many people are lining up to get their hands on the girls. Babysitting will probably be limited for the first little bit (much as I'd like to have a break sometime soon, they do still tend to get quite upset if we are out of sight), but I look forward to the day(s) we can leave the girls with you.

PF -- yeah, I too hope nothing gets passed to A. They both have runny noses this evening, and are somewhat congested. But if that's the worst of it, I'm fine with it. Also, we're anxious to see J & M at the cottage too. (And you guys, too, of course.)

So, today we took a hutong tour. It was very interesting. We drove in rickshaws down very narrow alleyways, which we occasionally shared with a small car. I think the rickshaw drivers, in order to make it more interesting for themselves, like to race each other. It was kind of fun. And today was the first time in my life that we've had someone on a bicycle pedalling along beside us trying to sell us something. As part of the tour we visited in the home of one of the inhabitants in the hutong. This was a wealthier family, and it was amazing to me to enter what looked, from the outside, like a small, somewhat run-down one-room building, only to find a very nice living space inside with many rooms and a gorgeous courtyard in the middle with lots of greenery. And it turns out the couple who lives there (Mr. and Mrs. Jin) have a son who went to university and who is now living in Halifax and runs a bed and breakfast there. Heh.

Here are a couple of pictures from the hutong tour. Many of the photos I took are a bit blurry because there was a lot of bumping along in the rickshaw and I was trying to balance A and the camera at the same time. So, for most of the shots the camera was moving. (In fact, one of the clearest pictures I got was a great close up of the plain blue shirt DoT dad was wearing.)
















Also, as part of the hutong tour, we visited what is called "Opium street". This is a famous street where Cixi (one of the Emporer's concubines) used to come to smoke opium. Cixi is famous in China because she was basically the power behind the Emporer for three generations (through less than law-abiding practices, including poisonings, etc.) Lots has been written in China about Cixi, none of it with anything positive to say about her. Anyhow, we visited Opium street which had a lot of vendors on it selling all kinds of things. Well, as we were going through, two of the vendors got into a fight over something. There was a lot of yelling (and although my Mandarin is a bit rusty, I'm going to say it wasn't the most polite choices of words), and in the end other vendors, or related people, were holding the two vendors apart. It was hilarious -- like something you'd see on a sit-com. And of course, I had to snap some pictures. So, here's one...


(Bonnie -- now there's a feisty woman for you. If that guy hadn't held her back, I'm sure she would have clawed the other guy to within an inch of his life.)

As we passed, our guide told us the two angry vendors were from Tibet. I'm not sure if that was a racist comment - and he was suggesting that as an explanation for their behaviour -- but I was thinking about going up to them and reminding them of the Dali Lama, but then I decided I'd rather stay out of reach of the two of them.

Tonight the group of families went out to dinner for Beijing Duck. It was very good. We had a private room in the restaurant. It was quite hot in the room, though, and both our girls got a bit impatient mid-way through the meal. So, I did a bit of pacing around. After dinner, all the babies were put on a bench together for group shots. (Actually, the bench wasn't long enough for all the babies, so they were split into two groups -- the Wanzai babies and the Leping babies). The Wanzai babies went first and there was a whole lot of crying involved. Then the Leping babies were placed on the bench and none of them cried and people took lots of pictures. But, alas, one of the babies was missing. When her mom placed her in the middle of the group she started to bawl. She was seated next to E, who then got scared and started to bawl. So, turns out the Leping babies weren't all that much better afterall.

I better end here, since I still have a lot of packing to do tonight. (I need to figure out how to pack all our stuff into the suitcases we have, and make sure none of them weigh more than 32 kg.) I want to correct one thing I said earlier though -- I got a photocopy of the medical charts today, and it turns out E is not 5 cm taller than A. She is one centimeter taller. I'm not sure why I had the wrong info to begin with. So, all of you can now stop picturing A as this fat little dwarf child. :-)

Take care, all. See you soon, back in Canada!

A light day today

We did not make it to the silk factory. E developed a fever over night and it wasn't a great night for any of us. So, we just couldn't haul ourselves out of bed in time to catch the bus this morning. Plus, we thought it best not to drag E out with a fever. We've been giving her baby tylenol, which seemed to be working earlier in the day, but less so now. She still has a fever, but with the exception of being cranky when she's tired, she is still in pretty good spirits. And is still drinking lots of formula and apple juice. The baby of another couple in our group had a fever earlier in the week, which lasted 2 days. We're hoping this is the same thing and by tomorrow night all will be back to normal. We'll see.

This afternoon we went shopping (again). We went to the Washow market. It is very much like the Silk Market. Five floors with various articles, and lots of bartering. We bought another piece of luggage -- it says it's Sampsonite, but who knows for sure. Anyhow, it's a large suitcase and only cost us 100 yuan (or about $13 Canadian). Also, this afternoon on the street I bought a mans and ladies "Rolex" watch set. I know they aren't real Rolexes, but DoT had said he was going to buy one while he was here, and he didn't yet. So, I bought this set from a lady on the street. I paid 20 yuan (or about $2.50). She was really not happy about the deal, but I figure I didn't force her to take it. In the end when she finally agreed to 20 yuan, I handed over the bills and then she tried to only give me one of the watches. When I started to chase her down the street and snatch at the money I'd just given her, she then handed over the other watch.

Close to the Washow market was a store that sells jewelery with Chinese characters on it. I bought two pendants for the girls, which each have the Chinese symbol for "double happiness". I figured it was appropriate for them, since they are twins and their Chinese names, when put together, mean happiness.

I have no pictures of anything from today, since there really wasn't much worth taking photos of. So, I figured I'd give you a shot or two from the Forbidden City, which we visited yesterday...
















Tomorrow is our last full day in China -- we fly home on Friday. (Today we received the visas for the girls, and the Canadian immigration paperwork we need.) I'm looking forward to getting back to Canada, but not to the flight home. I have a feeling we're going to miss our connection in Vancouver. I think we only have a couple of hours in Vancouver between flights, and from what I understand about the time needed to clear customs and get through immigration, I'm not holding out a lot of hope. Oh well, what's one more night?

Tomorrow we are going on a hutong tour. We will travel via rickshaw through the small alleyways that tradionally the Chinese people have lived in (many are now, sadly, being torn down), and visit the home of someone living there. Then tomorrow night the whole group will go out for a final dinner together -- for Beijing Duck (previously known as Peking Duck). After that, all that's left is packing.

That's it for tonight. Keep your fingers crossed that we actually get some sleep tonight. Thanks, K.

Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City

Hi again. You probably thought that there wasn't going to be a post today. I'm later than normal because we had some trouble getting the girls to sleep (in fact A is still up). More on that later. I almost didn't bother tonight, but since we're so close to the end of this trip, and I've posted every day, I didn't want to break the streak.

Today was a very busy day. We headed out at about 9:30 a.m. to go to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was really hot today, and we spent about 2.5 hours walking around in the heat, with no shade anywhere. I think most of the group regretted going afterwards, but I'm glad we did. It was nice to see it, and to be able to say we were there. But probably, we didn't need to spend as much time there as we did. I think I would love to go there in January through April, but the summer is just too hot. And with all the school kids on break right now, it was packed with people. So you couldn't really see much except the pack of people you were following. Anyhow, here are a couple of pictures...


















And here is a picture of DoT and I in really goofy looking hats. It was so hot here today that we purchased these hats (for 5 yuan each, which is less than $1) to keep the sun off our heads. They actually helped quite a bit. They are the only straw hats I've ever seen that fold.

We also had a group picture taken in the Square with all the families from our group. It will be a nice keepsake, and something DoT and I can use when we're trying to remember the names of all the people we've travelled with.


I also have pictures from the Forbidden City, but it is taking too long to load them and I'm eating up yuan, so I'm not posting those.

This afternoon, M and I went to the Pearl Market. We left the girls back at the hotel with DoT. I was a bit worried, because I can't imagine how I'd handle it alone with two (quite possibly screaming) babies in a small hotel room for a few hours. Turns out DoT was fine because the two slept for 95 percent of the time I was gone. I guess the heat of the morning had worn them out. Which was fine, until we tried to put them to bed tonight. Neither one was much interested in settling down. It's turning into a bit of a battle at nights to get them to sleep. And last night was the worst yet for them waking up. It wasn't just E, which it typically is, but A also had her moments last night.

However, they both were in fairly good humour today, as evidenced by these pictures taken a various points in the day. Both were hamming it up for the camera, I think...


A close up of E, at Tiananmen Square.














A back at the hotel, playing with one of our hats.













Tomorrow is a free day, although there is some shopping planned. In the morning, it is a visit to a silk manufacturing place where we can see them create the silk. And I think they are also planning to drive by the site where the Beijing Olympics will be in 2008. I wouldn't mind going, but it will depend on what time we all wake up. Given the lateness at which the girls went to sleep, I'm kind of hoping for a late morning too. In the afternoon, there is a shopping trip to another Centre planned. I may go to that, or I may head back to the Silk Market. I need to buy another suitcase to get some of this stuff home.

Thanks again, all, for the comments. I really enjoy reading them. I wish I was able to comment on them from here, but I can't seem to. But I will reply to one of them here... D -- don't worry about the lady and young man in the driveway. It is quite possible that it was our cleaning lady. She sometimes brings her son with her. And it wouldn't surprise me if she did set off the alarm.

That's it for today. Have a great day!

Medical checks and more shopping

So today we headed off to a "western" medical clinic for the medical checks required by Canadian immigration. The check-ups required both kids to be undressed which, of course, started a round of crying. Neither one likes to have clothes (including diapers) put on or taken off. Not sure why. Although, as one woman in our group said... "who is comfortable sitting naked in the doctors office?"

Both girls checked out fine, although both are delayed somewhat developmentally. That was not unexpected. The doctor figures that A is at about a 9 month old stage, and E is maybe one month further ahead. But as we discussed with the doctor, they've made so much progress just in the week we've now had them. So we're all confident they'll catch up quickly. One week ago when we got the two girls, neither one seemed to be able to sit unassisted for more than a minute or two before they fell over. Now, they're both sitting no problem, and are working on standing. (Maybe we'll skip crawling?) E in particular can stand up with all her weight supported as long as you balance her. And A is pretty close behind.

The surprising discovery for me was that while A is definitely heavier than E (8.5 kg vs. 7.4 kg), E is taller by 5 centimetres! I'm not sure if their diets have affected their heights. The doctor told us to keep trying to get A on some solid foods, which we continue to do. But she's still spitting everything out. E on the other hand seems to eat whatever we put in front of her. :-0

This afternoon, a few of us went to the Wangfujing shopping centre. We had been directed there by a friend who has been here a couple of times. We were able to walk from our hotel room, but walking in China is always a bit of an experience. I honestly don't know how they can have such a high population. I would have thought half of them would have been taken out by traffic-pedestrian accidents sometime or another. Basically it seems that the rule for pedestrians is -- go ahead and walk when the walk signal lights up, but watch out for cars which always have the right of way. I don't think I've yet seen a traffic light change without seeing at least a dozen cars and 20 or so bikes come through on the red light. In fact, most people seem to just ride right on through red lights, whether they were recently green or not. Makes it a bit harrowing for us foreigners, but we've learned to just try to stick to the middle of a pack of natives and move when they do.

At the mall DoT and I bought two Chinese "Barbie" dolls for the girls. (I can't remember the names of the doll right now.) I can't believe the blond-haired, blue-eyed dolls for sale here - it was actually a bit of a challenge to find a Chinese doll for them. We also bought nine pairs of shoes! I would have bought more but I have no idea what size their feet will be, when. So, already I may have bought them sandals that will fit them in the middle of winter. Who knows. Also the sales people at this mall were really agressive, and it got to a point where I just had to get out of there.

We weren't exactly sure where we were going when we were trying to find the shop, and after asking a couple of people for directions a very nice young Chinese woman led us to the street. She told us that she wouldn't recommend shopping at the Wangfujing though. Apparently it is very popular with foreigners, but Chinese people don't shop there because it is over-priced. She told us of a better place to go, but it would have required getting on a bus, which was just not going to happen.

I didn't take too many pictures today. There was not a whole lot worth showing you, but I knew you'd want to see something, so here's a picture of the pedestrian mall where the shop was at. Interestingly it was almost all Chinese people there. :-)

Tomorrow we have an early start - so I better quit here and get to bed. (Hopefully E is asleep now - she wasn't when I came down to do this update.) We're going to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. So I should have pictures for you tomorrow.

The Great Wall

AARRRGGGHH, f#(!%ing Microsoft. I just typed out a great blog -- it was amazing, articulate, even enlightening. And then Internet Explorer exploded on me and I lost it all. I'll never be able to re-create it, so I'm not even going to try. You'll just get a short, to-the-point recounting of our day, instead.

So, today we went to the Great Wall. We stopped at a jade factory on the way. They had a lot of beautiful stuff, but we didn't buy too much. I'm not a huge fan of jade, and much of what I did really like was out of my price range. Like the carved, jade ship shown in the photo on the left.

We did buy a couple of bracelets though for the girls when they get a bit older.





After the jade factory we hit the Wall. DoT and I had brought along a snuggly and a hip carrier that was loaned to us by a friend (thanks MJ!). So we set off on the Wall. We didn't go too far though because the steps were a bit treacherous and in places there were no hand rails. The steps are really steep in places. And none of them are the same height. Some are around 8 inches high and then others are more like 18 inches high. Many of them have slopes to them, and with today's rain they were a bit slippery. I was afraid one of us was going to take a nose dive down the stairs, so we didn't go up the really steep sections.





Here's a picture of the four of us at the place where we basically stopped and turned around.
The rest of the photos I took didn't turn out all that well because it was really foggy. This next photo is about the only one that's worth posting. Too bad. The photo doesn't do it justice.



















On the way home from the Great Wall we stopped and had lunch at a restaurant where we could experience typical Chinese food. It was very good. At least what I got of it. It seems that at meal times I'm not really getting to eat all that much, since I'm too busy trying to get two one year-olds to eat. And then by the time they're finished we need to leave to catch the bus again.

There was a store at the same location as the restaurant and DoT and I bought a beautiful silk wall hanging.

Tomorrow is the day for the medical checks. Last night E and A did not have a good night (again). So we are very tired. Hopefully they will sleep well tonight. Otherwise when we see the doctor tomorrow I may be asking for some tranquilizers for the girls. Just kidding (sort of).

Well, that's it for tonight. Again, I wish you could have read my original post. Oh well, you'll just have to believe me when I say it was a thing of beauty.

No comments on the comments tonight. Too tired. Thanks for commenting, though. I'll try to respond tomorrow. Night, all.