We had a visit from the twins future nursery school teacher this morning (they start in two weeks). The kids took turns crawling into the cupboard under our window seat. At one point Jacob got stuck and I said "you're too big to fit in there" and Molly, without missing a beat, said "Mei-mei not too big". So, I think she's on top of this whole baby sister thing.
Best mispronounced word in their vocabulary right now: umbrella = rainbrella
And it's a bit sad, but the kids are finally mastering the pronunciation of their own names. For a long time, they've been Jickbee (which sounds a lot like chickpea) and Maya.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Triathlon Weekend - "Better Than Christmas"
When Kate gets obsessed with something, she doesn't believe in half measures. She has read all four of those ridiculous vampire novels over the course of the past two weeks. Prior to that, her obsession was triathlon training. Which culminated in triathlon weekend last weekend. Even before her race, Kate declared it "better than Christmas".
- People around here take their triathlons seriously. Kate (middle of the photo) and my sister Beth were practically the only ones in the race without a wetsuit.
- Best babysitting service ever - big cousin twins Sean and Erin kept the little twins happy all day
- Yes Kate did have a goofy perma-grin on her face throughout the whole race. She had an awesome bike and run to beat her goal time by almost 5 minutes. She finished 8th out of 55 women in her age group. She's already plotting her winter training to improve for next summer (at some point I'm going to break it to her that a 3rd child might make things tricky).
- Here's Beth finishing hard
- I didn't want to miss out on the festivities, so I did the try-a-tri (much shorter distances). Considering that I can't really swim (the joke was that I was doing head-up breast stroke in order to keep my hair looking pretty), I was quite proud of my finish. I was 133rd out of the water (out of 321 competitors) and moved up to 17th after the bike and run. I missed an agegroup medal by 30 seconds. So next year I'm going to try to move up to the real triathlon. If I can just learn to swim before then.
- In the Kids of Steel race the previous day, Erin dominated the 6-7 year old girls' field, winning by 30 seconds. She is my inspiration! And Sean was in the lead after the swim but had a nasty fall on the bike. He picked himself up and finished the race like a champion. We resisted entering Jacob & Molly in the 4-5 year old race, although Jacob could have ripped up the field on his Skuut bike.
- People around here take their triathlons seriously. Kate (middle of the photo) and my sister Beth were practically the only ones in the race without a wetsuit.
- Best babysitting service ever - big cousin twins Sean and Erin kept the little twins happy all day
- Yes Kate did have a goofy perma-grin on her face throughout the whole race. She had an awesome bike and run to beat her goal time by almost 5 minutes. She finished 8th out of 55 women in her age group. She's already plotting her winter training to improve for next summer (at some point I'm going to break it to her that a 3rd child might make things tricky).
- Here's Beth finishing hard
- I didn't want to miss out on the festivities, so I did the try-a-tri (much shorter distances). Considering that I can't really swim (the joke was that I was doing head-up breast stroke in order to keep my hair looking pretty), I was quite proud of my finish. I was 133rd out of the water (out of 321 competitors) and moved up to 17th after the bike and run. I missed an agegroup medal by 30 seconds. So next year I'm going to try to move up to the real triathlon. If I can just learn to swim before then.
- In the Kids of Steel race the previous day, Erin dominated the 6-7 year old girls' field, winning by 30 seconds. She is my inspiration! And Sean was in the lead after the swim but had a nasty fall on the bike. He picked himself up and finished the race like a champion. We resisted entering Jacob & Molly in the 4-5 year old race, although Jacob could have ripped up the field on his Skuut bike.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Even Bigger News
After a four year wait, the adoption process seems to have shifted into hyperdrive. Yesterday, while we were visiting Dan & Alison in their new place in Toronto, I got a call from our adoption agency announcing that we have received a proposal. We have a daughter!!!
She was born on February 2, 2009 in the small city of Fengxin, west of Nanchang, in Jiangxi Province. We should be receiving more information about her in about 10 days, once the documents have been translated.
We do have 3 photos, but since they're a pdf file I can't post them directly here. I have linked to them though, so if you click on "Hazelblog stories" on the upper right-hand side of my blog page, then click on "Baby photos" you can see the photos. The photos were probably taken a few months ago. Yes, she already has more hair than Molly or Jacob. And we kind of think that her stoic stare in the top picture makes her look a little bit like her big sister.
With this early proposal, our travel should also be shifted up, so we now expect to head to China around the middle of October. Wow!! She'll be just under 9 months of age when we meet her for the first time. We haven't finalized a name yet, but her nickname continues to be Mei-Mei, as it has been for the past 4 or 5 years!
She was born on February 2, 2009 in the small city of Fengxin, west of Nanchang, in Jiangxi Province. We should be receiving more information about her in about 10 days, once the documents have been translated.
We do have 3 photos, but since they're a pdf file I can't post them directly here. I have linked to them though, so if you click on "Hazelblog stories" on the upper right-hand side of my blog page, then click on "Baby photos" you can see the photos. The photos were probably taken a few months ago. Yes, she already has more hair than Molly or Jacob. And we kind of think that her stoic stare in the top picture makes her look a little bit like her big sister.
With this early proposal, our travel should also be shifted up, so we now expect to head to China around the middle of October. Wow!! She'll be just under 9 months of age when we meet her for the first time. We haven't finalized a name yet, but her nickname continues to be Mei-Mei, as it has been for the past 4 or 5 years!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Big, Big News!!
It appears that our four year wait in the China adoption queue is going to be followed by a very short "gestation" period. We reactivated our file last week (we had put our file on hold to ensure that we didn't end up with 3 kids the exact same age), and immediately heard that we will likely be receiving a proposal about a month from now. The proposal will include a photo, birthdate, medical info, etc.. And then we would travel to China 6-8 weeks later. Meaning that we could be meeting our new baby by November or early December.
We're very, very excited. Making to-do lists, checking our passports, giggling, looking at each other nervously, etc. We've been talking to the twins about it and it's never possible to tell what they're old enough to absorb or understand. But they know that "baby Mei-Mei" will be sleeping in the yellow room. Jacob was singing, "Mei-Mei, where are you, Mei-Mei where are you" yesterday. And Molly asked me at breakfast whether mama has a baby in her tummy. So, something is getting through to them anyway.
When we do receive the proposal, I'll post photos and share all our excitement.
We're very, very excited. Making to-do lists, checking our passports, giggling, looking at each other nervously, etc. We've been talking to the twins about it and it's never possible to tell what they're old enough to absorb or understand. But they know that "baby Mei-Mei" will be sleeping in the yellow room. Jacob was singing, "Mei-Mei, where are you, Mei-Mei where are you" yesterday. And Molly asked me at breakfast whether mama has a baby in her tummy. So, something is getting through to them anyway.
When we do receive the proposal, I'll post photos and share all our excitement.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Still More August Photos
Now that summer has finally arrived, the splash pad in the park behind our house receives daily visits.
Molly showing off her soccer skills
Jacob telling us how he really feels about raspberry pie
Ice cream in Bala
Throwing rocks in the water (or at one's brother)
A boy and his rock
The best part of swimming lessons: the lollipop and playing with your twin in the sand
Molly showing off her soccer skills
Jacob telling us how he really feels about raspberry pie
Ice cream in Bala
Throwing rocks in the water (or at one's brother)
A boy and his rock
The best part of swimming lessons: the lollipop and playing with your twin in the sand
More August photos
What's more fun than a summer fair with two 2-year-olds? Not much.
Molly soaking up the atmosphere:
Flying a helicopter
Concentrating on the merry-go-round
In the motorboat
Jacob crawling under the fence to get to a ride. The criminal intent comes from his mother's side of the family.
Molly soaking up the atmosphere:
Flying a helicopter
Concentrating on the merry-go-round
In the motorboat
Jacob crawling under the fence to get to a ride. The criminal intent comes from his mother's side of the family.
August Photos
We recently borrowed our friends Don & Sara's canoe, and took the kids for a short paddle around Cedar Island.
This shot sums up the twins' personalities right now. Jacob is enthusiastic about absolutely everything, while Molly is watching closely and being a bit more cautious.
Jacob on his Skuut. This wooden, pedal-less bike is the coolest ride in town. Nobody can past without commenting. And the boy makes it all the cooler with his attitude. As with anything dangerous, when he picks up enough speed, he likes to close his eyes to intensify the experience.
Both kids on their bikes. As with most things, Molly prefers the blue one.
This shot sums up the twins' personalities right now. Jacob is enthusiastic about absolutely everything, while Molly is watching closely and being a bit more cautious.
Jacob on his Skuut. This wooden, pedal-less bike is the coolest ride in town. Nobody can past without commenting. And the boy makes it all the cooler with his attitude. As with anything dangerous, when he picks up enough speed, he likes to close his eyes to intensify the experience.
Both kids on their bikes. As with most things, Molly prefers the blue one.
Weak Excuses for Lengthy Absence
Aaaah, I've been away too long. Here are my lame excuses:
1. The kids decided to quit napping about a month ago, depriving me of my reliable afternoon window of blogging time. They're as exhausted as ever after lunch but have set their minds against sleeping. A chorus of "no napping, no napping" goes up most days.
2. Two weeks of swimming lessons had us out at the beach on the other side of the lake every morning, and the kids kept falling asleep in the car enroute home so I was left with the choice to either drive around aimlessly for a nap-length period, or hope they would stay asleep in a parked car (with me checking on them every 5 minutes). Neither choice was ideal.
3. Triathlon training has taken over our lives. Kate is doing the triathlon here in town this weekend, so I started training to keep her company. We've been biking and/or running most days for the past couple of months. I've decided to do the Try-a-tri this weekend, which is a questionable decision given my inability to swim. My primary goal will be to avoid drowning.
4. My mom took my camera cord home by mistake after her recent visit. This excuse is particularly lame as my computer is full of recent photos to post.
5. I'm lazy. The truth at last.
1. The kids decided to quit napping about a month ago, depriving me of my reliable afternoon window of blogging time. They're as exhausted as ever after lunch but have set their minds against sleeping. A chorus of "no napping, no napping" goes up most days.
2. Two weeks of swimming lessons had us out at the beach on the other side of the lake every morning, and the kids kept falling asleep in the car enroute home so I was left with the choice to either drive around aimlessly for a nap-length period, or hope they would stay asleep in a parked car (with me checking on them every 5 minutes). Neither choice was ideal.
3. Triathlon training has taken over our lives. Kate is doing the triathlon here in town this weekend, so I started training to keep her company. We've been biking and/or running most days for the past couple of months. I've decided to do the Try-a-tri this weekend, which is a questionable decision given my inability to swim. My primary goal will be to avoid drowning.
4. My mom took my camera cord home by mistake after her recent visit. This excuse is particularly lame as my computer is full of recent photos to post.
5. I'm lazy. The truth at last.
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