MERRY CHRISTMAS (ALMOST)!!!

6 weeks has passed since my last post... not due to any situations or problems, pure laziness is really all I have to blame it on.  In fairness, I did tell you that our lives are not very exciting so really haven't had much to write about. I am so much more productive when I am working - I actually think that I can blame it on the fact that I really haven't dressed in anything other than jeans or yoga pants (oh - and flannel pajama bottoms) in more than 4 months.  I am a sloth.

Enough about me!  Nicole's palate surgery went as expected and all is well.  She was in arm restraints for 3 weeks and has been on a soft diet for the last 5 weeks with approximately one week to go.  All I can say is that she is a trooper through and through.  She recovered very quickly all things considered and was very good natured throughout.  Due to the surgery, we had to take away her "poor mans soother" aka the dishcloth she liked to suck on at night.  Last night was the first night since the surgery that she has slept entirely through the night in her own bed.  All in all though, we have nothing to complain about.  Her speech is starting to come - she says "mama" (not necessarily to me), "meow" (to the cat), "hi" (to everybody), and "more".  Basically all the important words... in the spirit of Christmas she has added "ho, ho, ho" to her repetoire.  We meet with the speech pathologist in early January to find out next steps.

All other development continues to be excellent - physically she is BUSY!  Her hearing was tested 3 weeks after the surgery and all is normal.  She understands everything and seems to love music and art - which is hopefully not a sign that she will be living in our basement until she's 35!!

Alex is loving Grade 2 and is busy with her skating, Brownies and running - indoor soccer and skiing start after Christmas.  She turned 7 last week and is looking VERY forward to Christmas.  She still loves being a big sister although has informed us that since the surgeries "there is nothing interesting about Nicole anymore"!

Here are some pics of the "new Nicole" -

  Nicole was thrilled to meet Santa for the first time!

Palate Day!!

Today is the day Nicole had her palate fixed! Essentially the procedure is to cut the tissue and muscle in her mouth, stretch it across the cleft and sew it back up. She also had ear tubes put in at the same time which is pretty standard with cleft babies. The surgery lasted 4.5 hours and she is currently sleeping it off in Recovery. She is in a humidified tent to keep her mouth moist... We have seen her. She is a little gruesome right now as they are letting the blood drain from her mouth. The only glitch was that they had to take some tissue from her cheek and move it to the top of her mouth, so she has stitches in her cheek as well.

She is in ICU tonight so I will be staying with her. Hopefully we will both get a little sleep!



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Home early with our Thanksgiving Turkey!!

First and foremost - thanks to everyone for their kind messages/ emails/ phone calls etc!  We are so touched that so many people are concerned about Nicole!

Nicole came through the surgery really well.  Tuesday night was a little rough, she was on morphine and in pain and just did not understand what was happening.  Did I mention the arm restraints???  That pretty much added insult to injury!  She came out of the anesthetic about 6 pm and only wanted me to hold her until around 10 pm - not a happy camper... can't say I blame her.  She has well over 100 stitches on the inside and outside of her mouth holding it together.  She is somewhat akin to a Turkey sewn up for Thanksgiving (without the stuffing of course)!

Wednesday morning was a lot better, she drank quite a bit and ate (which she loves to do) so the nurses decided that we were better off out of their hair!  I wasn't about to argue... I still haven't had that glass of wine....

Overall last night went well.  Unfortunately Nicole developed a low grade fever and a cold so we are keeping her comfortable and as quiet as possible with Tylenol and Elmo videos - I know, I know - drugging and throwing a kid in front of the TV probably isn't the answer but I am not very creative.  While she is still not happy with the arm restraints, even less happy with the liquid diet (especially while watching her sister eat yummy solid foods) and still swollen and sore, she is still fairly good natured.  I don't know if I could say that I would be as pleasant given the situation.

Here are some pics of the "new and improved" Nicole - quite a drastic change and we are thrilled with the results.  Keep in mind, most of these were taken shortly after surgery and we are still less than 48 hours out so there is still quite a bit of swelling.  WE ARE GLAD TO BE HOME!!!

Thoughts from the waiting room

Today is the day!  John and I are sitting in the waiting room and little Nicole is in surgery.  She was in fabulous spirits, especially considering she had nothing to eat since last night!  She spent the morning watching Alex run in the area Cross Country meet - on a VERY positive note, Alex came 19th out of 235 Grade 2 girls!  Unfortunately Alex's success on the field was dampened by her having to say goodbye to her sister... She was quite choked up when we left.  Luckily, with the wonders of the modern world, we will be able to FaceTime through the week.

Back to Nicole, she was all smiles in the waiting area and even shook the hands of the doctors as they came to see her.  I figured that if she was ever going to suck up to anyone... These were definitely the guys to suck up to!  She was quite thrilled to be wheeled away to the OR in a little wagon.  I am also happy to report that neither John or I burst into tears as she was wheeled away.  Truth be told however, I could really use a glass of wine right now!  She is 2 hours into a 3 hour operation right now and we will see her in Recovery.  She will likely be out for the rest of the night, I will stay with her and John will go home to stay with Alex and come back in the a.m.

Not much else to report... We are both bored and trying to make time go faster.

Will update more as we know it!

A Video Montage of our Trip to China

Hello all,

Well - 3 days and counting to surgery!!  While we are looking forward to seeing the end result, there is nonetheless a little trepidation about the actual operation.  We thank everyone for their kind wishes and offers of help - it is so appreciated!!

As for us, life has pretty much gotten back to normal (whatever that is!).  Alex has settled into Grade 2 and has started up all of her fall activities and Nicole is turning into quite the little ham!  She is curious and very mischievous!  She continues to be extremely good natured and an excellent sleeper (whew!).

I will update the blog through the surgery this week - Nicole goes in on Tuesday, surgery is Tuesday afternoon and she will be in ICU Observation on Tuesday night.  Hopefully she will get moved to her own room on Wednesday and home on Thursday or Friday.  John and I will be with her the whole time  and alternating nights so one of us will be with Alex and one with Nicole.  Should make for a crazy week!

For those of you that are interested - I have included a link below to view our very homemade video of our trip to China which includes our introduction to Nicole.  It is about 25 minutes long - just to warn you!!  I am certainly not a videographer (there is a reason I work for the Bank), so please excuse any glaring problems (ie music transitions etc)!

Stay tuned!!




http://youtu.be/GtXRlhu4kIM

Surgery has been set!!

Hello again,


I have had really good intentions to update this blog more often, but we all know where good intentions lead!  Little Nicole has continued to transition really well to the North American way of doing things... some notable events and life lessons learned she has learned are listed below (but not limited too!)

1) Why eat 1 plate of pasta when you can eat 4?
2) When you eat too much watermelon, activities are limited the next day (I am too polite to get into details... lets just say it wasn't pretty).
3) Pools are fun
4) Sometimes there are gates in front of stairs that block where you want to go, if you can't climb over them, climb under them.
5) Stairs can be dangerous (refer note 4)
6) You can get into more mischief when Daddy "watches" you.

On the medical front, we have firm dates for the surgeries - her lip will be done on October 2, and the palate on November 14th.  While we are certainly anxious to have these done, there is also some worry attached.  She will be in the hospital for 2-4 days each time.  Nicole continues to wear the tape across her cheeks to relax her muscles and bring things together - it really doesn't seem to bother her which is a blessing.  It certainly does not slow her eating down AT ALL!

As for Alex, she continues to be a great big sister and has been very proud to show off her new toy (oops... I mean Nicole) to all her friends at camp, soccer & baseball.  As one of our friends aptly put it, "you got her a real live dolls" - it is true.  Nicole continues to follow her big sister around like she is a rock star.

I don't know that there will be too much to update you on for the next month or so until the surgery.  We have several appointments through the month to monitor her progress (ie. orthodontics etc) and to prepare her for the big day.

Stay tuned!

And so it begins...

Greetings!

In my last post, I indicated that our regular daily lives are not that exciting and indeed that has not changed.  However, I did promise to update as to Nicole's medical progress and so here is the most recent!

We have essentially been getting back to our "new norm" over the last 2 weeks, Nicole has met most of her extended family (cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents) as well as some friends.  So far she has charmed most of them!!

Here are the girls with Grandma Helen and Grandpa Charles (my family)

and Grandma Sherry and Grandpa Ray (John's)

We also have been on our first bike ride, picnic, splash pad etc!

On the medical front,  Nicole also had a bunch of "firsts".  We started with the pediatrician appointment - uneventful outside of the fact that she has to have all of her vaccinations retaken and had 4-5 viles of blood taken to test for any diseases etc (this is standard for all international adoptions).  She had 2 vaccinations done and the rest will be done over the coming months.  Did I mention the stool sample?? That was my personal favourite....

We had our first round of appointments at Sick Kids this week - they have a whole cleft lip/ palate team  consisting of Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, Plastic Surgeons, dentist, orthodontists etc... we met ALL of them!!  Nicole was not a particular fan of the dentist or the orthodontist (who taped her lip to retrain the muscles, this will hopefully reduce some of the tension on the stitches when her lip gets fixed).  I think she bit the dentist's finger hard - the Dentist was very nice about it but I think that Nicole feigned innocence....  Surgery is being scheduled for 6-8 weeks, she will be in the hospital for 2-3 days depending on how well she tolerates everything.  She will have the tape on until the surgery - it is changed daily - needless to say, she is not the biggest fan!

Round 2 of appointments is in 10 days when we get to see our friendly Ears, Nose, Throat Specialist and she will be lucky enough to get a hearing test!  To top off the day, she will be lucky to see the orthodontist again to check out her lip.  Let the good times roll!

Home Sweet Home!

We made it!  The long plane ride was uneventful with both girls sleeping through most of it!  We arrived to the airport around 7 pm but by the time we got out, it was pretty close to 8:30 pm (customs... AAARGH!).  Nicole was happy to meet her Aunt Emma and Uncle Chris and 2 of her new cousins.  Her cousin Sydney (age 7) even got into the spirit and wore her special Chinese dress to the airport so Nicole would feel more at home!  Alex was thrilled to be home and in her own room again.  Both girls had a bath and went to bed with no issue.  The downside is, that it is now 5 am and we have all been up since 2 am!!  I am on my 3rd load of laundry, have had 2 cups of coffee and am about to head out to the grocery store.  John will get Nicole's OHIP # as soon as I'm back - our thought process is that it is going to be a LOOONG day so we might as well be productive!

We do want to thank everyone for following and supporting us on our journey.  We are so touched by the phone calls, emails, comments etc that you have sent.  As many of you are aware, John and I have often compared this journey to jumping off a cliff without a parachute!  We feel so supported by you all and look forward to introducing Nicole.  As we landed last night, I couldn't help but think that her life has now been forever changed (for better or worse, jury is still out...).  It is so strange to think that this little girl who lived on the other side of the world 2 weeks ago, is now sitting in our house!  Thank you all so much!!

Bye Bye Beijing!

Our last day in Beijing was busy, fun and a little sad as well. We started the day at Tiananmen Square. I always find it fascinating as there is so much history in that particular spot. The significance was lost on Alex but she did think that it was pretty neat to walk on bricks that were over 600 years old (hence the picture).





I am also pleased to announce that this historic square was also the spot where Alex totally mastered the art of the stand up toilet! I won't get into details but it was a monumental feat indeed! Nicole was completely bored by the whole thing and took the opportunity to take a snooze. We were able to get a family photo before she dozed off.



In the afternoon, our group had a goodbye party which consisted of a Chinese Meal and magic show. A good time was had by all... as with our last group, we have made some life long friends. Although we haven't been together that long, you somehow feel bonded.








Tonight we are packing up and getting prepared for the long trip home! While we are looking forward to getting home, we are a little sad to leave. This has been such an adventure... from Hong Kong to Nanchang to Beijing and of course getting our little Nicole!! Alex has learned so much about her birth country and has started to understand her own story. It is very strange to think that 5 years ago we were here having just got her and wondering how Alex would turn out and now are doing the same thing for Nicole. There is a saying that it very cliche in the adoption world but very fitting...

"An invisible Red Thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break"

Our little family sure isn't your ordinary nuclear family, and the road to get here has been long and certainly not easy but in retrospect has been worth it. I only wish that flights to China in July were a little less expensive!!

I'll write in a couple of days to let you all know how much, ahem... fun we had on the long flight home and then will update the blog to give medical updates on Nicole because frankly our daily lives are quite dull!

So until then, goodnight from China!!

The Ups and Downs of Silk Worms

If you had asked me 24 hours ago about silk worms, I would have stated the obvious... they make silk. I know now that the average Joe worm makes a single strand of silk up to 1.3 km long AND that there are only 2 types of silk worms in China! I am filing this information in my "relatively useless but could be good for Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit" file. In re-reading this last sentence, I just realized that I am pretty sure that Jeopardy just got cancelled and I very rarely (OK never) play Trivial Pursuit.... Anyways, we visited the silk factory today and learned how to make silk. It was actually really interesting... Alex was particularly taken by the whole process and wanted us to buy her some silk worms so she could try and raise them! I made up a whole story that The Canadian Government wouldn't allow them in the country unless they were quarantined for 60 days, which is funny enough the lifespan of the average silk worm (another silkworm fact I learned). I am sure that there is a degree of truth in the story just maybe not all. Either way, she had fun learning to stretch it into a duvet. Maybe a career option down the road?? To avoid confusion, I am referring to Alex not me... I am not a huge fan of physical labor!





The rest of the day was spent wandering around the Pearl Market and yet more bargaining!


Nicole continues to adjust really well, it's hard to believe that we have only had her for 10 days. We are all getting used to people leaning in to see her in the stroller and staring. I am glad however, that she is too young to notice. A friend of mine told me over the last few months that once we met Nicole that we wouldn't even notice the cleft anymore... and she couldn't have been more right. Nicole has such an easy going, smiley personality that it is hard to believe that there is anyone who wouldn't be absolutely delighted by her.





Tomorrow is our last full day in China, hard to believe that 2.5 weeks has gone by so quickly. We are all looking forward to coming home and Alex is excited to show off her new sister. She did tell some new friends from our group tonight that we were going to come back in a few years to adopt another! I am pleased to report that John is recovering nicely after the Heimlich Maneuver was administered... Good Night!

Panda Bears and Acrobats

Today was incredibly busy! We had the morning to ourselves, so we hopped into a cab to the Silk Market... a wonderful market filled with knock offs, Chinese souvenirs etc. It is all bartering and is so much fun to see how low you can get them to go. John and I have a whole good cop/ bad cop routine down and this morning we added a 3rd actress to our system... Miss Alex. Of course, being the only Caucasian couple with 2 Asian children kind of makes us targets but what do you do. Alex now knows the terms "opening price and lowest offer" and the power of walking away! She even started waving her hands at people saying "too much"! She might be a good negotiator one day. Nicole did her part and had the good sense to stay quiet in her stroller so we didn't lose our focus!

We made the afternoon a little more kid friendly and joined our group on a tour to the Beijing Zoo. It is an awesome zoo and we got to see the Pandas that they brought in for the 2008 Olympics. It's hard to believe that 4 years has passed
since!






Alex was thrilled to see the Pandas. I made a personal decision that if there is an afterlife and we have any choice as to what we can be, I am going to come back as a Panda. Honestly, there is so much fuss over them and they barely move, eat all day and are still considered adorable! Who wouldn't want that???? Nicole had her 1st Popsicle (John's idea...). I guess either way, Nicole will be spending so much time in an orthodontists office in the coming years, what's a few cavities to fill? She did enjoy it though - as she does with most food.





Alex also wanted me to post a picture of her with live and growing bamboo...



Tonight we went to see the Chinese Acrobats, the girls were both mesmerized by them... It really was awesome to watch, although seeing the acrobats hold themselves up on ropes or poles with one hand and contorted their bodies into pretzel like positions really makes one think about the years of intense training it must take to become one of these performers. Of course, now I am tired just thinking about it and am going to go back to daydreaming about my next life as a Panda Bear!

Busy couple of days in Beijing!!,

Well, after a 24 hour hiatus... I'm back! We have internet but as we only have an ipad with us, only have access to WiFi in the lobby. QWe arrived in Beijing around noon yesterday. Nicole survived her first flight with no troubles, and even found the time to do a little light reading on the plane.







On our arrival in Beijing, we met up with around 15 other families, all Canadian who had adopted children of various ages (range from 13 Mths to 13.5 years old). It was very nice to see that the children all appeared to be quite well adjusted to their new families. We had a quick picture and than traveled by bus to the Summer Palace. Being Saturday afternoon in the summer, it was packed with people but beautiful nonetheless.









Today, we visited the Great Wall. This was a huge source of excitement for Alex who was absolutely blown away by the magnitude of it. It was very hot and of course we climbed it around noon because as everyone knows, it's way more fun to do strenuous climbs in the hottest part of the day! The girls were troopers, Alex was insistent that we climb as high as we could in the time we had... John carried Nicole who was really not impressed with the heat and crowds on the way up but emotionally turned herself off by falling asleep on the way down! Of course, I kept reminding John that carrying dead weight in extreme heat was a character building experience! I am not sure he agreed with me...












Tomorrow we visit the Beijing Zoo. There are Pandas there! In the evening we are going to see the Chinese Acrobats. My only hope is that it doesn't give Alex any ideas about twirling plates on sticks!!

A Bitter Sweet Day

Today we went to visit Nicole's Foster Mother. It was the strangest experience I think that we have ever had. What we didn't realize when we asked to meet her is that it isn't encouraged by the orphanage and if the family insists, they charge an astronomical fee. Our translator arranged a secret meeting through an orphanage worker (for a small fee of course, but only about a third of what the orphanage fee would have been). We picked up the woman in a van about a block away from her home and drove to a remote spot nearby. She was clearly thrilled to see Nicole, who went right to her. She refused to even look at John or I or even Alex. We had researched some questions to ask so we weren't caught off guard and had written them down...even our guide looked surprised! Clearly they didn't know us!

We learned essentially what we already knew, that Nicole had been a very healthy baby with no concerns other than the cleft. We thanked her numerous times for taking such good care of Nicole, which was really the primary purpose for the visit. We were able to take some quick pictures of her (which I am not going to post as I suspect that she could lose her job if any authority found out). I felt so sad for her as she got out of the van and said goodbye to Nicole for the last time. I looked back as we were driving away, and she was watching the van go... I can only I imagine what was going through her head as this funny little girl who she had raised as her own for the last 18 months was being taken by strangers to the other side of the world.

The pics below show where Nicole was abandoned (on the front steps of the centre for the physically challenged) and of the orphanage, the others are of the city where Nicole lived up until Sunday. A very bitter sweet day indeed!!

















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Large Ferris Wheels and Dancing Waters

Now that the excitement of getting Nicole has passed, I feel that I am boring you with details of our day to day activities. However, I am bound to family members to send pictures! All continues to go well, Nicole is proving to be a formidable opponent for Alex, and is no longer letting Alex drag her around... her little temper usually shows itself in the form of stamping feet or crying. In the next minute, she is smiling and happy, in my mind this could be a dangerous combination going forward! All kidding aside, it is good to see that she is a strong willed woman, she will join a long line of them as a member of our family!

Today we went on the worlds 2nd largest Ferris Wheel (it was the largest until Shanghai built one 5 meters taller). It was pretty neat! That was followed by a large dinner at a local Chinese restaurant, Alex ate the whole meal with chopsticks and used her first "stand up" toilet! We then went to see the Fountain Festival which is also called Dancing Waters, a whole water show put to music.

Tomorrow we are going to the town where Nicole was found and have arranged a visit with her foster mother. I find myself strangely indebted to this woman and am curious to see what the day brings! A demain!





demain!








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