Our Little Sponge

She looks very grown up here!



Giving kisses to her favorite toy, Tad



"Can I please have an extra large with pepperoni and mushrooms?"



Blowing kisses



"Hmmmm...can I please have U.S. Presidents for $800, Alex?"



Winking



Please note: most of her pants fit better than this!


Isn't it amazing how much a baby can absorb in such a short time? I'm sure Bryn has learned more in the past seven weeks than we've learned in the past seven years.

She's almost crawling. I think if we didn't have hardwood floors she would be. She took her first assisted steps the other day and she was almost as excited as we were.

She's learned how to wink which is hilarious because, like all kids I'm sure, she winks with both eyes. And she gets her mouth going too.

She waves hi and bye and blows kisses. She kisses everything...her toys, her books, our dog Jessie and even us.

She gets very excited when I start singing Rubber Duckie because she knows it's her bathtime. (Or maybe it's just my singing.)

She's very curious and wants to know what everything is. She points at everything and says "ah? ah?" and won't stop until you tell her what it is. She loves to tour around the house with her dad looking at new things.

We're amazed at how many words she understands. And she's starting to talk a bit. She can say mom (yay!), bottle, book, eyes, hi , button, banana. For some reason she always yells when she says banana...ANANA, ANANA! Girard is working on getting her to say "dad" but she's holding out on that one for now.

She's learning some baby signing and is especially good at "hungry", "more" and "bedtime".

She can point to all the parts of her face and loves to look for eyes in pictures everywhere. The other day she saw a picture of an ATV in a magazine, pointed at the headlights and said "eyes". I know that technically she's wrong but you must admit that's quite brilliant!

Bryn's Travel Ramblings Vol. 1

Here's me, when I'm still not sure if I like these big people yet.

I'm tired of mom and dad revealing personal, embarrassing details about me when people come to visit. They talk about things like my sleeping, eating, even pooping. I don't do that to them (and the stories I could tell too), and I can't understand why they would do that to me, with me sitting there, like don't they even know I'm listening? So I thought I'd figure out how to work these letters attached to this wire and little TV screen and set the record straight.

I remember when I first saw mom and dad. Back then I called them big man and thin woman. I was OK with the arrangement, but not overly thrilled, as I was wishing they would have been younger and had more energy. Now I'm worried that they will be an embarrassment to me when I get older, but we'll see. In the first few days it became obvious to me that big man and thin woman didn't have any kids, as they would just not leave me alone for a second. I couldn't move a muscle, or even blink, and they would be in my face. They would ask if something was wrong, as if they could understand my response, or they would make silly faces and talk in very strange high-pitched voices, almost what I imagine gibberish to sound like.


Thin woman holds me as if she's known me all my life.


Big man looks tired on my first night with him, but just imagine how I felt?

When we were in China, every day right at my morning nap time big man and thin woman would rush like mad to get me ready to go down the drop shaft, where the sliding thing would open and there would be all my friends, with their big people. We were always close to the last to arrive, and my friends would tease me about how slow and old my big people were. But my mind started to change about thin woman and big man when I found out that all my friends had equally strange big people who did weird things, so it wasn't as if there was a different, better pair out there, so after a few days I started to smile, and you wouldn't believe the effect that had on big man and especially thin woman. Big man talks in a very monotonous voice, and it's next to impossible to get him to raise an eyebrow to show emotion, but thin woman would laugh and cry and I could see it in her eyes that she loved me very much, so one day I thought a simple smile couldn't hurt, and it didn't, as they lightened up considerably after that. How was I to know it would be that easy?


Here's me laughing, which improved the mood of everyone.


Me and my friends Caia and Kennedy compare stories about the strange things our big people do

As I was saying, every day they'd bundle me up, and off we would go to some building for the big people to sign papers, or we would go on a tour of spots I had only heard and read about, and never thought I'd get to see. Or the best part was we would go for lunch, where I would get all the rice noodles and steamed egg I could eat. Big man and thin woman often said how good their food was, but it couldn't have been near as good as mine. So I quickly got used to the fact that when thin woman and big man bundled me all up, that there would be a reward in the end.


Here big man and thin woman sign papers after they told this person they wouldn't mind it if I lived with them. I wasn't asked my opinion though.


We're at the Tengwang Pavillion in Nanchang on one of our many tours.


Mom and me go for a walk in Beijing. She thought it was a very busy place but it seemed normal to me.


Here's me and dad at the Great Big Wall.

This daily cycle went on and on, and it was getting very tiring, for as much as I like my steamed eggs, I like routine better. I was so out of whack for a while there that I couldn't sleep. Big man and thin woman talked to themselves about what I did during the night, things like crying, which I couldn't remember doing, so sometimes I thought they made stuff up. But again, my friends all did the same thing, according to their big people, so slowly I was able to trust that what big man and thin woman were saying wasn't just a bunch of bunk.


Dad had to be a pack mule sometimes, especially when mom was shopping.


Here I'm leaning my head back on a bus trip. Why? I don't know, just felt like doing it.


Dad held on to the handle of the bus seat in front of us, so I did too, which mom found so funny she had to take a picture. Sheesh.

One of the most stressful things for mom and dad — after a while that's what I started to call them because like they were in my face saying "mom, mom, mom" and "dad, dad, dad" over and over again it was driving me nuts — so a stressful thing for them was when when we had to sit on the big, long, noisy, tube-with-seats. We sat and sat, and nothing was happening, and I could tell dad was getting very anxious because he was starting to emote, so I decided to be a good girl. I didn't say much, and just played with my toys until finally there was this noise like I've never heard and my ears started to feel funny. It wasn't all that bad though, in fact it got very boring, so I decided to shut my eyes for a while, and it turned out I slept for like eight hours.


Dad is starting to look stressed while we sit in a big long tube-like thing with lots of seats.

Imagine my shock when we got out of that tube thing and all I saw were a bunch of big people who looked and talked like mom and dad, and even walked in that same slow shuffle they have. There was a lot of space at this new place to do things without bumping into other people. No one was yelling or pushing us, and I didn't see anyone spit on the floor. Even the air didn't smell right, in fact it didn't smell, which I thought was strange. Mom and dad said I was in Vancouver and was almost home. I thought Vancouver would suit me just fine, but then the next day we went on another big shiny tube, and again it was so boring, and dad tried to look calm but I could tell he was tense, he seems to get that way when he travels, so I decided to be good. I should have raised a fuss, because when we finally got to what mom and dad called home, all I could see was the coldest, bleakest, whitest place I had even seen in my life. So this I guess is home...better run now before mom and dad catch me. I'll write again when I have time about my life at home.

Bryn

Family Time

Bryn has had loads of visitors since we've been home. We're grateful to everyone who has come to see her! Unfortunately most of the cousins, aunts and uncles who came were here the day and day after we got home. We were so overwhelmed with the welcome we received (not to mention the jetlag) we didn't think to take photos of everyone with her. I guess they'll just all have to come visit again so we can get pictures (hint, hint).

You'll see either Girard or myself in all of these because Bryn has only let one other person (her Auntie Nonie) hold her so far. At least now she's letting other people near her and is particularly drawn to anyone wearing jewellery.

Bryn and her Great-Grandma Holth

Bryn and her Nana Lynne (Raelene's aunt)

Bryn with her Pubba and Nana (Hengen)

Bryn loved her Nana's necklace

Bryn and her Papa (Holth)

Reunion!

Bryn and Caia...together again!


After being back from China for a month we finally had a chance to get Bryn and Caia together for their first playdate at home. Bryn and I ventured out today for our first road trip without Girard (which went much better than I thought) to meet with Shea and Caia at "Grandma Darlene's" (Shea's mom). And what fun it was!

For those of you who don't know, Caia and her mom, Shea, were in our travel group. We're so very lucky to have been able to share this amazing experience with someone from Saskatoon and it will be fun to watch Bryn and Caia grow up together.

Caia is such a happy girl and so funny! She loves to squeal and is full of energy...now I know why Shea calls her "Crazy Caia". The girls had a great time sharing Cheerios and toys and Shea and I had fun catching up and swapping baby stories.



Bryn and Caia share a snack. Shea's niece, Ayven, is in the background on her Auntie Shea's lap.

Travel Ramblings No. 2

Bryn with a rose she received at our farewell supper

We learned a lot about Peking duck from our guide, Fay, during a long bus trip in Beijing. She talked and talked about Peking duck, so much so that among our travel companions, the eyes were glistening (possibly from near exhaustion) and the mouths were watering (possibly from uncontrollable drool due to exhaustion) by the time we arrived at the restaurant for a Peking duck lunch. We should have taken notes, but as far as we can remember the duck selected at a young age to be a Peking duck is doomed. It enjoys life while it is still with us, as it is pampered, injected with fat and watched over as if it is guarding the family jewels. Then, of course, nature takes its course, it is carved into about 120 pieces, and set out on a platter. So after the obligatory glass of beer, I was ready for the Peking duck, and as duck goes it was very moist, and tasty and fatty, and did not contain any lead shot, which as a kid I would accidentally chomp on while eating duck — the bounty from my dad's hunting expeditions.

It has been four weeks since our return to Canada, and I find myself desperately missing our lunches in China. Who can top Peking duck, eaten on Bryn's first birthday (Feb. 10)? In fact, other than that whole business of getting our baby, some of the most memorable moments of our trip to China involve the people with whom we shared the experience, and the food we ate together.


James, Helena, Beth and Ava Hendricksen pose for a family photo on our last day in Beijing


Gary and Marvin (left) dig into a typical lunch feast

Buried in the travel notes supplied by our adoption agency was a line about how adoptive parents tend to lose weight during their two weeks in China. Such people weren't part of our group, as we enjoyed some fabulous feasts. But things didn't get off to a great start. Our first meal as a group occurred on the first night all of us were in Beijing, the Sunday night before we got our girls. It was a hot pot type supper, wherein one boiled in some kind of small vat all of our food, from cabbage to beef, chicken to veggies. Being North American, the thought of boiling our raw chicken in the same vat as our veggies made us squirm. After that meal, I thought the agency was right — I'd be shedding some pounds on this trip. (Word to the wise for future travels — go easy on the cabbage.)


We dive cautiously into our first meal

The next day we travelled to — for China — the little city of Nanchang (pop. four million) to get the kids. We arrived at our hotel in time for lunch, and to our delight, it was a North American-style hotel. Our Saskatoon travelling companions Shea and Darlene joined us for a buffet, so I filled my plate with recognizable foods — we were getting the babies that afternoon and I didn't particularly want any cabbage moments to spoil the day. Here we are in a relatively poorer region of China — I'm half-way around the globe and I should be partaking in the local flavour of the country, food and all — but I'm thrilled to find pizza by the slice.

The next week, in Beijing, there was much joy about the close proximity of a McDonald's to our hotel. Rae and I have been together for what seems like 34 years, give or take, and I can remember us going to McDonald's once in all that time, and that was because nieces and nephews wanted to use the play area. But we and our very good friends Carolyn and Marvin had a memorable meal at a Beijing McDonald's, if not for the food, then for the interest we generated among the crowd. We did have our adventurous moments, though. A side order of camel hump one day, fried eel on another occasion, a shot of 56-proof rice-based liquor to close another scrumptuous lunch.


Dads Girard and Marvin worship at a shrine called McDonald's

All in all, I really miss the eight course lunches at the big round tables. This was where we got know each other, talk about our ups and downs, watch the babies and chow down ourselves. I also miss the buffet breakfasts, the sausages and bacon, stir fried rice and potatoes, breads and buns, fruits and juices. What a start to the day. By contrast, now that I am home, one morning this week I was able to sneak in a Cheez Whiz on bread sandwich between looking after Bryn, taking the dog for a walk and running errands. My lips smack when I think about the breakfast buffets in China.


Bryn and Roshandra get acquainted during our farewell supper


Kennedy and Caia become friends during a supper in Nanchang

Mostly, though, I remember our last night out in Beijing, such a release of energy and emotion. The food was spicy, very hot for our tastes (travel tip — don't chew on red things), the group was loud, there were birthday cakes and gifts presented, songs sung, pictures taken and stories told. Amid the general mayhem we sensed that this was the last time all of us will be gathered in the same place, at the same time, and we better make the most of it. We told each other we would keep in contact, and through the magic of emails and blogs share our experiences as parents and watch our girls grow. But emails and blogs can't convey our emotions — we had grown in a short span of time very attached to our friends in our group. We have very fond memories of good food shared among great company, and these memories sustain us as we settle into the routine of daily life.


General mayhem during our final night out in Beijing, complete with cake for the kids


The proud mothers, and one dad, and daughters