My How You've Grown

I was taking some photos of El and Maeve this weekend and realized just how much El has changed in the 10 short months that she's been with us.

In November she was a meek little stick figure who weighed 20 pounds and was 29 inches tall. She could barely sit up on her own and could not support her own weight on her legs.

Now she is a hardy little girl who weighs 26 pounds and is 34 inches tall. Holy cow! Six pounds and 5 inches in 10 months!! She loves to run, jump, climb and dance AND she has a nice round Buddha belly. She is a healthy, happy, strong willed little girl.

And just for you Rae: Maeve is now 39 pounds and 41 inches.

Our first meal together in Nanchang.

El and Mama on Day 3.

At home last November - Day 16 with her new family.

El in her high chair Labour Day 2010. Her head is now above the back.

The girls @ Christmas. El didn't want to pose for photos.

The girls on Labour Day. El is still crying for photos...

That's a lot for a little one just turning 2!

It has been a busy week at the Forde house. Little El had her 2 year birthday party. Then the very next day, she had her extra toe removed.

She was so so happy at her birthday party on Sunday. All four of El's grandparents were here; along with aunts, uncles and cousins. We had lovely weather, my mom marinated the meats and my dad did the cooking, making her birthday barbeque pretty much perfect.





The next day, we had to be at the hospital for 6:30am. We scooped El out of bed and popped her into the car. She was still a bit sleepy, but in a good mood from the festivities the day before. She had no idea what was in store for her... poor thing!

By 8:00am she was changed into her hospital garb (which looks like a little pink prison uniform) and she and I were waiting outside the OR.




Unfortunately, I was not permitted into the OR, so the anesthesiologist had to peel her off me in the waiting area. She was wailing and reaching out for me as he walked down the hall with her. It was heartbreaking. I hope we never have to go through that again.

But half an hour later, I was called into the recovery area. She was already half awake and crying for me. She looked so relieved when she saw me! She snuggled into me for the next hour until we moved into the day surgery area. Daddy was allowed to join us there and she was much happier and more awake.




Another hour wait and we were able to head home.



She was pretty good, all things considered, for a couple of days. We rigged up a sandle four sizes too big to fit over her wrapped leg so that she could walk around more easily.



But then she had a few episodes of night terrors. She looks awake, but she is screaming, crying and trashing about and doesn't seem to recognize us. When we try to talk to her and tell her that it is daddy or mama, she put her fist up to our mouths (her variation of talk-to-the-hand I guess). We've found that her favourite scenes from Peter Rabbit or the Sound of Music are all the can pull her out of these episodes. She's been episode free for the last 48 hours, so here's hoping!

Otherwise, she is mostly herself, but doesn't like us to change her diaper nor her clothes. We obviously do anyways or else she'd be a real stinker by now. But it is not a pretty sight. Lots of tears from her and antics by us to try to distract her. She absolutely hates it when we have to rewrap her leg--which we are doing daily because the bandages come loose when she walks around on them.

She should be all healed up in a week, so hopefully we can put all of this behind us.

In the meantime, she had her actual birthday on Friday. We went out for lunch with Nana and Pappa and later in the afternoon took a little trip in the wagon to our local Starbucks for a treat. She was a tiny bit grumpy, but mostly she enjoyed it.





I can't believe she's only been with us for seven months. It feels as if she's always been part of our family. She has assimilated into our family beautifully. We all love her dearly and she appears to love us back. Sleeping was a challenge at first, but she had gotten over that until the trauma of the surgery threw her for a loop. I'm sure we'll be back to easier nights sometime soon.

The skinny, terrified little stick figure that we met in China in November is now a happy (mostly), beautifully plump toddler. How blessed are we?

We're a bit sad that we had to remove her lucky toe. For it is that toe which brought her to us. We went the special needs route for our second adoption because the non-special needs queue in China was much too long. We would have had to wait eight or nine years. We're old as it is--another six years of waiting would make us way too old for a new baby! So, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that El's special need was her extra toe, which was flesh only. In our minds, this was not a special need.

The toe was growing along with the rest of El, so finding footwear that didn't squish it was getting difficult--thus the decision to have it removed. Luckily it was a simple surgery that could be done locally by a plastic surgeon.

Happy 2nd Birthday beautiful girl! We love you madly!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

We've been celebrating the Chinese New Year the past two weekends. First, Maeve's Chinese teacher had a party for the families after her Sunday class. The kids went round their cul-de-sac a couple times doing the dragon dance. Maeve was second from the tail most of the time and she had a blast.









This weekend, we went to the CNY party for the local Asian adoptee group. The girls watched two dance groups, a Lion Dance, a martial arts demonstration and a nice meal. El was a bit tentative at first. She hasn't been to a big function like that with us yet. I think she was a bit nervous about what might happen. But as soon as the food came out, she settled right in. The girls had a lot of fun.








Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Reading Time

The girls enjoy reading to each other...ok so neither of them can really read... and El`s only English words are `daddy` and `bye bye`...

Note: I've been told that sometimes people get a message saying this video is currently unavailable. I think that might be a load problem with Blogspot. You might have to try it again later. Sorry about that.

Holiday Pics

I don't seem to have time to write posts anymore. But here are a few pics from our Christmas holidays.

Maeve and I managed to get out to church Christmas Eve, but Elspeth wasn't feeling up to it, so she stayed home with Daddy. We did get a few gifts open that evening though and put out a gingerbread cookie--decorated by Maeve--for Santa, along with a glass of milk and some carrots for the reindeer. Christmas Day was a wonderful, lazy day with just the four of us having fun with all the loot from Santa; topped off by a turkey dinner.

On the 27th, we gathered with the Forde clan, et al for another Christmas party and celebration of nephew C's graduation with distinction from LSE. A few more visits with other Fordes and it was off to Ottawa to see the Fongs. Both girls have been having a great time visiting with family and friends.

Elspeth is getting stronger and healthier. She's gone from barely being able to sit up and not being able to bear her own weight to walking with the help of furniture or other people. She'll be walking on her own pretty soon. Then we'll be in real trouble!

Happy New Year!