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:

Our Second to Last Post

Yes as the title reads this will be our second to last post.....bahumbug I know but Madi will be celebrating her 1st birthday on February 11th and we think it's time to allow her to grow up in privacy, like any normal child growing up in Canada. I never thought that I would enjoy writing as much as I did. I really thought it was going to be Tracy that would end up doing all this but it was me Daddy White. I mean yes I did have my editor read before posting and Tracy's input was of course always welcomed but I gotta say I really enjoyed doing this. Sharing with all of you the trip details, the emotions, pictures, and videos. It was alot of fun, but enough about me how about an update on Miss Madi....

Ok so here she is with friends of the family Frank and Val...geez guys hope you don't mind but you never know when the papparazi will be poking around....lol


...and here she is right at home with our fur baby Ben, I think Ben thought that Mom was putting down a nice quilt for him to lay down on.....sorry Ben it was for you AND Madi.

and how cute is she in her blue dress from China....ya I know I'm a little biased.....

sorry Ange but Madi just loves that Bear rug....and see how big of a girl she's becoming feeding herself!!!!

I'm not going to say she is this content all the time but pretty close.......


always loves to share a good laugh with Papa Cameron


heh Donna, looks good on your Mom, Madi with her Nanna's best friend Georgie....


Anyway I can't spoil you with too many pics so I'll save some room on the blogger site for some of her birthday. Speaking of which and not that this little girl isn't spoiled or anything but I have a funny suspicion that she might get a birthday present or two or three........Madi, Mommy and Daddy have waited years for something so precious as you to come along so we have a lot of birthday's to make up for!!!!

Chris, Tracy, Madi and Ben

About Time for a New Post!

Hello everyone!!!!

Well, another week has quickly passed us by. We're pretty much into the rhythm of things and yes that includes Miss Madi. She cut two more teeth last week and only had a couple of restless nights and was then back to normal. Madi is progressing along and before you know it she'll be running around the house....ughhh, Madi please slow down and let Mommy and Daddy enjoy these precious years we'll have you as a baby......It's hard to believe that on Friday we will have been back in Canada for 5 weeks. We still pinch ourselves once in awhile to make sure we didn't fall into some deep sleep, dreaming such a magnificent dream of a little girl with jet black hair from a distant land far, far away.....but its real. We are definitely parents as I was reminded of that last week when sleep deprivation kicked in around Wednesday, and what a coincidence it occured at the same time that teeth did???

Anyway, Madi has had lots of visitors and is certainly making her way around. Last week also has had a few milestones which included receiveing both her Social Insurance Number and Medicare, along with her Permament Residence Card, next will be Canadian Citizenship! As well she had her first visit to Princess Auto with her Dad!!!! Now that's one for the books! Sorry gents no pics of that great event....but perhaps there is a Canadian Tire visit real soon or maybe even a trip out to Atlantic Motoplex to visit all the poor Yamaha's without homes......we'll keep you posted on this one.
We were told that time flys by when you become a parent and whoever said it were true to their word. My days without seeing my daughter until I get home from work at night even seem to be zipping by...one thing for sure we definitely need to be taking more pics so if you are about to become a parent heed the advice take lots of phots and keep a journal.

Madi and Daddy playing a little guitar! She loves to sing!

Anyhow all for now.

Chris, Tracy and Madi oh and fur baby Ben(our dog)

January 11th Update

Hello everyone, and thanks for still following along! First, Tracy, Madi and I want to extend a big congratulations to the Mahoney's in Saint John as they received their referral this past week - Meaghan http://ourjourneytobabym.blogspot.com/. As well we want to wish Lorraine and Rowan all the best as they prepare to leave to be united with Adia http://www.irvine-roberts.com/ , how many more sleeps Lorraine? Anyway their blogspots have both been added to our site so please take the time to drop by their blogspots and have a look at their beautiful daughters. All the best you guys 2008 is going to be an awesome year! That goes for you too Bryan and Angela....Ella is patiently waiting in China! Hang in there guys.

For us, well how about a few pics for starters.

I know what a ham!


...and Oh what a smile!


Well where do I start this week....hmmm how about some quick advice for new parents to be like Lorraine and Rowan out west and most recently the Mahoney's in SJ.

The only advice I'll ever give is this and 'this' is something that I don't care what anyone says it's applicable straight across the board.....advice: Don't BLINK you might miss something!!! We've been home for 3 weeks and our 1 month anniverary with Madi was yesterday and we cannot believe the progress that she is making and has already made. The seemingly small things we take for granted are little milestones all along the way. Take for instance our little Madi on Dec 10th if you had given her a cheerio she cried as she didn't know what to do with it. Today on the other hand you cannot keep enough on her plate and not only that she picks them up herself! What day she start doing this? Exactly I cannot even remember. This is what I'm talking about, grab yourself a book and start writing stuff down that you consider to be milestones. As time moves along as you enter parenthood write down when your little one has reached these milestones, otherwise you'll forget the first time she waved, the very first kiss she blew, or that first step. They're all little things but when you add them all up collectively they become your child growing up. Take notice of them 'cause if you blink you might miss something.

Ok so on another note this week was my first week back to work and although I did not work the entire week it was a hard one to get through. I'm as proud as any new daddy but I gotta tell you this little girl has bitten off a huge piece of my heart and it's some hard leaving her each morning. But, and yes there's always that infamous 'but', when I get home and I've had a stressful day and that little girl smiles at me when I come through the door everything just vanishes away. All the worries of the world could be upon my shoulders but Madi takes them all away....sniffle sniffle.....I know know I'm awfully mushy......I'm so happy that Tracy has this opportunity to stay at home with Madi for the next 7 months. She is really enjoying herself as a Mom at home with her daughter and I would not see it any other way. What a great opportunity for her and it makes me feel so good each day when I leave that Madi's Mommy is right there to look after her while her Daddy is away at work.

To end how about a few more pics....

Madi and my Mom enjoying some time together


In the next couple of pics they of our nieces Julie and Nikki feeding Madi(we like to call these babysitters in training!)

Julie

Nikki


Anyway I don`t want to spoil everyone with too many pics right Ange? Oh and to the "girls" you know who you are Tracy's partners in crime I'll try to behave myself when you come over Tuesday night...lol or maybe I should just get out of your hair all together, Bryan what are you doing?

Have a great weekend and we'll see you all next week!

Chris

Time for Our Weekly Update

Always happy and clapping her hands!



Well, another week has gone by and again this little girl just simply amazes us. It's hard to imagine that just 4 weeks ago she could barely even eat a cheerio and now you can't keep enough on her plate! It reminds us to the resiliency that children have and how quick they learn and pick up new skills and retain them.

Madi is fitting in so well, she has familiarized herself with most of our close relatives and friends and has no issue of attachement. This is very fortunate as many adoptive children do encounter attachment issues. Madi was in foster care since day one and it is very easily seen that she was well looked after and loved by her foster family.

I return to work tomorrow as I have been off since the last week of November. Kind of hard to believe that 5 weeks has already gone by. This will be a hard day for me. Madi has become the twinkle of our eyes and has placed such a happiness in our hearts that to miss even the slightest progression that she makes saddens us. The truth and fact of the matter is that the opportunities that she will have will be through her Mom and Dad's hard work to financially support her in what ever endeavor she decides to undertake. A friend from work best describes this situation as this little girl winning the lottery. How true as Tracy and I watched a documentary called Mardis Gras - Made in China. This documentary captures the essence of hard work in China as a factory produces the beads that are thrown away each year at the Mardis Gras celebrations in New Orleans. Some of the girls working in the factory started as early as 11 years old and work for as little as 10 cents an hour 6 days a week with no vacation. This struck close to home for obviuos reasons any of these girls could have easily been Madi, without a home and parents to care for her this is where orphaned girls end up, but we came along and ave now given her opportunity abound.

On another note when we arrived back from China we were suprised to have been contacted by a local news station that wanted to do a story on our journey to international adoption. We put the interview off as we were sick and still settling in to a routine. I hope the individual does proceed to contact us as we now feel comfortable to particpate. Tracy and I talked about this and thought it to be a great opportunity to share our good news story in expanding our family and to educate more people on what adoption from a foreign country is all about. You know who you are please give us a shout!

Anyway here a few more photos of Madi taken around Christmas time, if any of you are in the process of adoption from China and have any questions or concerns please drop us an email and we will do our best to answer your questions - trouting@rogers.com. We aren't experts but we would do our best to either give you the answer or help you find the answer.

Madi and her Aunty Tina



Madi and her cousins Julie and Nikki



Again always so happy even in her car seat!



Have a great week all and we`ll see you as the week progresses and keep you all up to date!

Chris