Enjoying the Summer!

I know I haven't been the best blogger since we've been home from China...and it isn't because I haven't had time, it's just that when I usually think about it I'm in the middle of doing something else and say to myself I'll do it later....and unfortunately later never comes.

I thought I'd give a quick update on the happenings since my last post on Mother's Day. hmmm, where to start. Madi is doing exceptionally well. She has grown so much and is talking so much now. She's not a baby anymore :o( She's a little toddler running around...and I mean that literally! She's talking a lot more too. It seems like everyday she is learning and saying new words. She must be saying close to 50 words by now.

Chris had a wonderful Father's Day. It was so great to see him finally celebrate this much anticipated day. Here's a pic taken with them in full camo...Madi's shirt says "My Dad Rules!"..it's so cute, but I had to have the barret and gold bracelet on to reflect her feminine side too...hahaha!



We had our first official Family vacation in June. We went to Portland, Maine for 5 days. Madi did awesome! She is such a little traveller. We went from sunup to sundown and she enjoyed the whole time. Here are some pics:

pit stop on the road -

waking up in the hotel and wanting breakfast -
Daddy and Madi at Daddy's favorite store -


We had our 6 month review for our adoption last month that went really well. I didn't know what to expect but it was comfortable and easy. We also celebrated our first Canada day. Chris had to work so Madi and I enjoyed the day by going to my Parents camp and then we headed downtown for the fireworks. We weren't sure how she'd do with the loud noise but she absolutely loved it. She was fascinated with the fireworks and kept saying Wow.....Wow....it was so cute.
Chris just celebrated his Birthday on Saturday, unfortunately I was sick and wasn't able to celebrate with him and his family....I'll have to make it up to him. We had a celebration the week before with my family here at home with a pool party....did I mention we got a pool...We LOVE it!

That about sums up what we've been doing the last couple of months. And I'm sorry to say that this is the last post for our blog. Thank you so much for following our journey, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. We finally have our beautiful daughter home and we treasure everyday we have with her.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I can hardly believe I just celebrated my first Mother's Day! I've waited so many years to be able to share this special day and I spent several moments overcome with emotion and joy that tears streamed down my face. I had such a wonderful day and I will treasure this one forever. I have so much love for my beautiful baby girl that I can't even begin to explain how touched my heart and soul is that God brought her into our lives. She has been worth the very long wait.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there and for all those Mom's still waiting for their precious baby.

as promised...

here are some more pictures of Madi playing in her (partially finished) playroom tonight, enjoy!

Benny and Madi playing together

I love my Eeyore

and my giant stuffed puppy

How cute am I?

I love my music table

WOW, playing sure does tire me out - I'm ready for bed now 'night!

Yup, you are reading correctly....we've updated!

Ok everyone, take a breath....a deap calming breath.....we've FINALLY made an update to our blog!!!

Now that the shock has worn off, I'm very surprised with myself that my fingers still remember how to type! lol!

Things have been very busy in our household and at the other times I've just been too lazy to update our blog to keep you posted on how our beautiful Madi is doing.....SORRY!

Where do I start, here are 5 things since the last update:

1: Madi started walking by herself on April 19th by taking a few steps. She is still trying to do some more walking, she's up to about 5 steps now but she's got awesome balance. She doesn't want to be held much anymore, she just wants down so she can go....go....go....just like a normal 15 month old.

2. She has a mouthful of teeth, she has 10 right now and is cutting 2 more molars as we speak, hopefully they'll break through this week!

3. She has taken another growth spurt and is now growing out of yet more pj's....she's going into 12-18 month old pj's with feet.....without feet 12 month (and 6-12 month from the gap) still fit.

4. We had Madi dedicated at our church Sunday and it was the most beautiful ceremony!

5. Madi is anxiously waiting for her 'bff' Ella to come home. Her Mommy and Daddy are leaving on Thursday for China to bring her home. Check out Bryan and Angela's blog on my links.

Chris and I are doing great - Chris is feeling better from his accident - with help from Physiotherapy and Chiropractic treatments. Things are finally setttling down around our house with regards to the renovations. Our basement is done! well, except the doors aren't installed and the wall hangings aren't up.....but that is very manageable! It looks great, we love it!

Here are the pics that you really wanted to see, enjoy!

Benny, Mommy and Madi

Like my pig tails? This is the first time Mommy put them in my hair, they lasted but a few minutes and I pulled them out :0)

For some reason I can't find the more updated pictures so I'll post some more soon, and try to upload a video, check back!

Take care and enjoy the sunshine!

Happy Easter!

Is spring finally around the corner? Chris and I just saw our first robin in the backyard this morning...YEAH!!! That's a good sign spring will be here soon and we'll finally see an end to all this snow!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend spent with both our Families. The Easter bunny found Madi with a cute little stuffed bunny....I'm afraid of what next year will hold as she'll be old enough for all the chocolate and candy.... :o) She got some cute summer outfits from her grandparents that she'll look absolutely adorable in.

Chris is doing a lot better. He started back to work last week and the first few days were very difficult as he wasn't use to sitting so long so he was very sore, but he is doing much better now. Things are finally getting back to normal. We bought a new vehichle and got a great deal - it was hard to pass up! Here's a pic:

Madi is doing so great. She is growing like a weed! She's already grown out of several pair of pants and some tops - she is getting longer...and so are her feet, we are almost into the next size up of shoes. When we got Madi her feet had lots of room in size 2 shoes, now we are at the ends and will soon have to move up to size 3's! I guess that means more shopping...lol!

She is such a happy little girl and so much fun. She is very proud of herself right now as she is standing on her own for short periods of time...I think the longest I counted was around 10 seconds before she'll reach for support. I'm thinking she'll be running around this house within the next couple of weeks.

Here are a few pics to enjoy,

Tracy

Here is me and Madi at her friend Lily's Birthday party on Saturday:

I LOVE this picture of Madi:

Playing peek-a-boo?

I think the caption on this picture should read from the perspective of our dog Ben: "Are we almost done?"

P.S. We want to say Congratulations to Dianne and Joe who arrived home on Friday from China with their beautiful Meaghan!

Congratulations Bryan and Angela on your referral!

Chris, Madi and I wanted to congratulate Bryan and Angela on the referral of their baby girl Ella. She is absolutely beautiful. We are so happy for them and can't wait to follow their journey to China and back home again. I know Madi and Ella will be the best of friends.

You can follow their journey and see a picture of Ella here.

Love you all,
Tracy

Bad things come in how many????....please say only 2.....

It's been over a month since we last posted an update and I'm sure all my regular viewers have stopped checking our blog by now but for those of you who haven't let me tell you why we haven't had time to update our blog in over a month.

Our intentions were to complete our blog after celebrating Madi's first Birthday but that took a few weeks before the celebrations were over. Madi turned 1 on Feb 11th and we celebrated that with Chris's family at his parents house. We had a great time. Madi wasn't too sure about what to do with the cake so with a little help from Mommy she had her fingers into the icing and into her mouth. Here's a pic of Mommy and Madi:

We were then suppose to celebrate with my Family later in the week but one of our nieces got the flu so it was postponed to the following week. But before I share with you pics of that the night of my Birthday (the 12th) our basement flooded! Yup, the WHOLE basement had a couple of inches of water. So let's just say that the following few days were crazy cleaning up the basement and seeing what was damaged and having workers in the house cutting up the walls and we had to live with loud giant fans running for 4 days. We are still waiting on our insurance adjuster to finalize everything so we can start working on the basement again....

So now we are at Feb 22nd and we are celebrating Madi and my Birthdays with my Family - it was a lot of fun! Here's a pic of Mommy and Madi:

Daddy and Madi having fun blowing a party horn:

4 sleeps later on Tuesday Feb 26th my Husband was in a terrible car accident where a drunk driver hit another car from behind and sent her into the ditch and then ended up in the oncoming lane towards Chris and his friend and had a head on collision - on a highway no less - going over 100 km/h. We know that the hand of God was protecting them that night because without his protection the accident could have been fatal. You just don't know how precious life is and how quickly it can be taken away from you. It was amazing that all 4 people involved in the accidents walked away. Unfortunately it wrote off our Saturn Vue (grrrr....I loved that SUV) or at least we believe it has - we are still waiting on that insurance adjuster to go look at it. You judge for yourself if you think it's a write off:

So now you all know why it's taken us so long to update our blog post. Chris is doing great considering - he had a few cuts where his hand hit the windshield and his shoulder is still sore from the seat belt, as well as the rest of his body from the impact- but he is getting better each day and we are just so thankful to God that he is still with us today.

Ok, now enough about the negative stuff. Let's talk about Madi! She is doing amazingly well. I can't believe how much she is progressing each day. She is now pulling herself up to stand up and she is so proud of herself. She will walk if you hold her hands so I'm afraid it won't be long now until she is running around the house - I better get some comfy shoes because I have a feeling I won't be sitting down much! lol! She has 8 teeth (4 top front and 4 bottom front) and is cutting a molar - part of it is in already and she will be cutting another front tooth very soon. She is a great eater and sleeper - although when she is cutting a tooth she wakes up about once through the night. She has bonded and attached to us so well - and our families too. We are just so blessed to have her in our life and we couldn`t imagine her not with us. She is the love of our lives.

I`m going to end this post with some more picts of Madi - as let`s face it, that`s all you want to see :0) We`ll update again to keep you posted on how Chris is doing, if we find a new vehicle and the progress on the basement.

Tracy

One happy baby playing in her exersaucer:

Daddy and Madi having a catnap on the couch:

Madi with a friend`s Mom at Chinese New Year:

Madi all bundled up for a ride in her sled: