Sunday, April 29, 2007

We're Back!



After days and days of coaxing Bryn will finally wear a hat.



Yay! Spring is here and it's warm enough for both of our girls to sit out in the back yard.



This one is for Carolyn.



As you can see, Bryn is in the driver's seat.



I wait and wait for posts from our travel mates, and am thrilled when I see news and pictures of the babies. Yet other than a couple of pictures-only posts, I haven't written about Bryn for almost a month and am weeks behind with news about her. I had hoped to do this more often but it's been a busy few weeks. We've been taking some video clips and hope to post some of these soon, too.

Our little girl is almost walking. She still holds on to our hands as she walks but she doesn't hold on as tight as she once did. She'll walk around the furniture and move from one thing to another now. She's still a bit wobbly but is getting pretty brave, a bit too brave for my liking. She wants to walk and stand ALL the time. Gone are the days she'd sit and play in her saucer or high chair for awhile so I could catch up on a few things. It's a good thing none of us is allergic to dust.

Much to Girard's relief she now says Dad. Some other new words are ball, toes, baby, watch, light, puppy, hat, shoe, moon, baa (for a lamb), eeoww (for a cat), and bowl. All food and drinks are "hot" even ice cubes (I guess she doesn't quite understand the meaning of that one). She babbles constantly when it's just us but gets rather quiet around other people so I'm sure everyone is skeptical when I tell them all of the words she can say!

Jessie likes Bryn more all the time. Once she realized Bryn would drop the occasional Cheerio when she was sitting in her high chair, Jessie started hanging out under it at meal time. Bryn will now deliberately throw food on the floor for Jessie (grinning from ear to ear at me as I'm telling her not to), so our once jealous dog has learned having this little girl around isn't such a bad thing after all. Bryn also likes to share her toys with Jessie which is great fun when the dog is sitting beside the tub and plastic cups full of water come flying out.

Some other tidbits:
- She loves books. And magazines and catalogues and flyers. She even has a book for the tub.
- We've discovered she hates underground parking, parkades and being stopped in an underpass. These aren't fun things to find out when she's sitting alone in the back seat of the van strapped in her car seat and we can't pull over to try to calm her down. She also decided quite suddenly (and loudly) that she no longer likes elevators. Thank goodness we were only going up one floor when this happened.
- She still doesn't like Alphagetti.
- Her new security blanket is a damp face cloth which she has to hold while having her bottle and sleeping in her crib. Go figure.
- She has very ticklish knees, just like me.
- She loves watches and clocks and flashlights and phones. She even has her own cellphone (it's a toy, with ringtones, so we're starting her young).
- She hates getting her hair washed but loves getting her teeth brushed.
- She can be very impatient at times and will lose her temper quickly, something I'm sure she's picked up from her dad.
- Despite the fact her hair is getting longer it's still a bit thin (sort of looks like male pattern baldness -- her dad's influence again) so she still has no piggies. Though soon I'll be able to give her a comb-over.
- She sleeps through the night once in awhile but we still don't.
- If you look closely at her little finger you can see us wrapped around it.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Just pics

We're busy, very busy, not much time for posting, but here are a few recent photos, in random order. Hope you enjoy.


Bryn receives her Easter treats, a baby doll and another stuffed thing. It appears the doll goes over big.


Jessie also receives an Easter treat, a rope bone, like she doesn't have enough of them, but Bryn takes an interest in it.


Not sure about the sunglasses yet, but she'll like them once she realizes they look cool on her.


We enjoyed bouncing the big ball around on a rare warm day.



Three amigos Caia, Claire and Bryn meet at Caia's house on Easter Monday. The adults were there too, but sadly there is no group photo of them.


Bryn and dad on dad's birthday. He's looking all of his advancing years.


Trying dad's dog-walking Canada hat on for size. Bryn will wear that on the day citizenship arrives.


Just hanging out. Bryn would stand around all day, if only her parents had enough stamina to hold her that long.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Still No Piggies

Today is the two month anniversary of the day we met Bryn. She's changed a lot since then, though she still doesn't have piggies like some of her China sisters.


This is Claire. She started the piggie craze known as "Claire Hair", the biggest hair fashion statement since Farrah and Jennifer Aniston.



This is Ava with her piggies.



And here's Kennedy.



Here's Bryn with her attempt at Claire Hair. You can't blame a girl for trying!

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Growing Like A Weed





Yesterday we took Bryn to our public health office for her second set of shots. She had four needles — one in each limb — poor baby. She was very brave and only cried for a couple of minutes (I wish I could say the same!). The nurse gave her a toothbrush as a treat when it was all over so that helped the tears disappear. I think chocolate might have helped me feel better but they didn't offer me any.

She now weighs 20 lbs., which is 4 lbs. heavier than she was at her doctor's appointment in China 7 weeks ago. She's also grown 1/2". Obviously she's eating much better than she was when she first got home!

She's also learned how to scoot around on her bum and over the weekend discovered if she lays on her tummy and pulls with her hands she can get around very well. I think it's time to get out the baby gates!