LOOK AT THE TIME!

Life flies by at a rapid pace! the girls are amazing. We are renovating our house and have been moved out since september. It seems like a lifetime ago that we had our life, our house, our routine. we are homesick, but we can see progress and know we are almost there. We have almost been out of our house for as long as Caitlyn lived in it! She won't know where she is when we go back.
The girls are doing great and growing like weeds. They play together now, hide and seek, playing pretend under the blankets, little pet shops, puzzles, colouring. it is really neat to see them interact. Caitlyn is talking up a storm. We lost count of her words after 75 and you can pretty much talk directly to her now as long as you use simple sentences and form them in a way in which she can respond, yes/no. she says "yup peas" for yes please and it sounds as cute as you may think.

Caitlyn's referral arrived a year ago today!

It seems amazing to me that a year has gone by since I first saw the face of our little Caitlyn. It was a year ago today that Barry, Ginger & Grace, Colin, Jeanie & Anjeleigh and Ryan, Emma and I met at our adoption agency and shared the excitement of the moment together. We went to Boston Pizza after to celebrate and our girls did so well in the restaurant and danced around so excited that they were all going to become big sisters all at the same time. They were 3.... fast forward a year and I can’t remember Emma being an only one, I never worry about her in a restaurant, she is riding a bike, riding a horse and started to learn to surf this summer! She has become more adventurous in the face of having an outgoing little sister. She is protective, and responsible and so much more patient than I am!

What a year. Caitlyn is starting to talk! She has the sweetest little voice. Although her first semi sentence was "Emma, no don't" ahhh the love! She is a little monkey!She loves to climb and thinks she is big girl.
She eats with a spoon and fork, drinks from a cup, and sleeps in a big girl bed. although I must say that despite these feats, her emotions are charged... all the time. if she is happy, you know about it, she glows, if she is upset / tired, watch out, you know about that too. We still have our challenges with sleeping. but we are more of the thought that this is something to cope with rather than "fix." Every time we tried to change things, she became even more anxious and was up all throughout the night rather than once... we can live with once... well, on most days anyway. Life with 2 is a challenge. With one you can adapt your life to their needs, with two you just do the best you can going back and forth between them. I started the year feeling guilty that Caitlyn didn’t get more one on one time but have finished this year realizing that this is the life of the second child.


I return to work on October 15th... and it is looming ever closer. I feel ready to start this next stage. We aren’t doing this a third time, so I feel that real life has to be figured out at some point. The girls have started back at day care/ preschool and are doing pretty good. surprise surprise, Caitlyn doesn't always nap! Emma runs to the car on her school days and doesnt want to come home enjoying playing with her friends that she has missed over the summer. The girls are going 2 days a week right now and will go 4 days when I go back to work.

tune in next time and we'll see how we are getting on....

The sisters are having fun!

Emma & Caitlyn are having lots of fun together these days. Emma takes good care of her little sister. Caitlyn loves being with the big girls and will follow along no matter what is going on. Most days Emma enjoys this..... Caitlyn is now sitting in a booster chair at the table and is starting to feed herself with a spoon.


We continue to have playdates with Ginger and the girls. Caitlyn is always thrilled to see Lily. This month we had a very special playdate as we had a small reunion with Caitlyn's Guiping sisters as Gabby (NaNa) was visiting from Kamloops. We had such a special day. Caitlyn greeted her sisters with squeals of delight and blew kisses to them as they left at the end of the day.



We spent the weekend in Vancouver and took the girls to the Children's Festival. A good time was had by everyone. Emma received CDs for her birthday from Grace. Marnie has now become Emma and Caitlyn's favourite music singer. She was giving a concert at the festival and the girls danced and danced, Caitlyn included.... she can now jump too. Emma and Grace stood in line to get autographs and Emma needed to buy a Mumbu t shirt to match Grace. She has worn this t shirt so much and spilled blueberry gelato all down it and the pressure was on as she said she didnt want to wear it if it had germs on it.... WOW Spray N Wash really is that good.



We had Caitlyn Christened at the beginning of the month. She had a busy couple of months as she seems to have been sick quite a bit... did I mention she had the chicken pox..... well... since the pox she has become quite a little joy. she has settled in amazingly well. It is as if she thought, well you were there when I screamed all night with the pox, so maybe you are here for good. Since then she is napping well over an hour, sometimes close to 2. this was totally unheard of before, max 45 minutes prior to this. she goes down easy, you can tell her no, and wipe her face. She is still a sensitive child, but she is trusting us and you can tell. it is a beautiful thing. It makes my heart ache to think of the children left behind in her orphanage.... they all deserve this feeling, it should be a right, not a priveledge. Myself and a few other adoptive couples have started a society called ASC Adoption Steps to China, to assist and encourage others and we are also wanting to support the orphanages in china to somehow give back. It is so hard to think of the children left behind. When you see how far Caitlyn has come and only now do I feel as though she is letting us see who she really is. She is a little ham, she loves being the centre of attention. and will play up and act silly to please her sister, who erupts into giggles at her sisters antics. It is great. When I think of all that had to happen to make these two sisters, it really humbles you and renews your faith.

Caitlyn learns to walk

So, after seeing Lily walking at our most recent playdate, Caitlyn figured she was up to the task and has been able to accomplish a little more ability each day. (if anyone knows how to make this video play in the blog please let me know.)

it is amazing to watch her confidence increase with each step. She is soooo sweet. I may be biased, but.... wow ... these girls are pretty special.

Caitlyn is now 20 pounds and is now forward facing in the car seat!! It has taken a few days fo rher to settle into the forward seat, but i think she likes it more. it takes her longer to fall asleep though, there is so much more to see. today i noticed that she was more settled in her seat. She loves the pool, loves the slide, the swing, and today we discovered that she also loves the bouncy castle. She is a good sport as she was bounced all over the castle by her big sister and her friends. she didnt mind at all. I am loving being home. it will certainly be a shock when i go back to work.... oh my gosh, i cant believe this will come to an end.

loving every minute.....

February brings a happy little girl

Well it appears as though Caitlyn has decided we are ok.

Her personality shines more and more everyday. She is a happy little girl. She only really cries when hungry or tired now. She has had a cold lately and someone asked if she was out of sorts. and i had to be honest, if we had not been through the last few months, i might have said she was, but compared to her anxiety surrounding her settling into our family, she was totally fine. It appears we are through the main issues in regards to trust. the look of panic in her eyes is gone. she used to be extremely sensitive to any seperation. She was miserable when Ryan went to work and Emma to pre school.. but now she is thriving in having some one on one time. She is starting to try to talk, saying "up", "duck" and "Emma" (*her first word other than mama and dada, much to the thrill of her big sister) She is also standing up and took her first unassisted step from me to the sofa the other day. We are able to put her in her crib and walk out.... WOW is that nice! oh and another major event. Caitlyn had her first Canadian medical a few weeks ago and we were informed that we could consider Caitlyn to have no further developmental delays!!! 2 months to catch up... we couldnt believe it. she weighed in at 18 pounds at that time. we have meaning to weigh her again as we think she may have hit the 20 pound mark... we are hopeful as we would be able to have her forward facing in the car seat... we will keep you updated.

Well, all you all want is pictures, so i will load the blog up with as many as i can. thanks to all for your thoughtful inquiries about the adjustment of our little treasure.

the litttle girl sitting with Caitlyn is Lily. and Emma's best friend Grace, is standing next to Emma. Lily and Caitlyn were together in Guiping. We get together with Ginger and the girls most wednesdays.... and for those of you who may think these girls wouldn't remember each other, think again, we went to Ginger and Barry's last week, Caitlyn took one look at Lily and said "Kai Kai" Lily's chinese name.... WOW

First Birthday

Caitlyn's First Birthday was a small affair.


















She is certainly a different child than Emma.... She LOVES CAKE! She dove into a piece of chocolate cake with more gusto than I ever expected!
What a good eater she is. She eats more than Emma on most occassions, but wont touch fruit... (Emma's only main food group)

Caitlyn is drinking water from a sippy cup! Emma still doesn't drink straight water, we need to sweaten the pot with Lemon water, raspberry water.















In case you hadn't noticed she also loves to be naked! after 7pm, you can pretty much count on her being naked, as she gets closer to bed time, the more she wants to be without clothes.




















Also a first, HAPPY IN GRANDAD's ARMS! WOW. isnt he happy. Caitlyn takes a long time to trust people. We certainly know that after the first five days of screaming. Now, she is far more certain of her new family.










To top of her day of firsts, Caitlyn and Emma played TOGETHER in Caitlyn's bedroom with some of the Christmas presents.... parents were visiting in the living room!




This is the first time that Caitlyn had been out of sight and happy.... WOW.






oh and another first. After a little while of letting them play, Ryan went in and Caitlyn crawled over him and signed the sign for bottle.... she was ready for bed, she had her bottle and went to sleep.

What a great day!

First Christmas

WOW, What a whirlwind. I should aplogise first thing because i have completely lost track of what people have bought for Caitlyn. When we got home we recieved some amazing welcome baby presents, and we tried to open those up right away, then we were also recieving christmas presents, those were hidden all over the house, and then we also were receiving frst birthday presents, those i tried to keep together at the top of my closet.... well, it sounded good, but here we are on the 29th and we are still finding presents, which seems to be just fine with Emma. we have opened gifts everyday for 4 days now.... Thanks to everyone who has reembered us at this time of year when things are so hectic with our families. we feel tuly treasured by you all.
For those who bought Emma dress up. you should know that we haven't been able to get her dressed into proper clothes for 4 days, when i ask her if she wants to get dressed she responded, "Mommy, why are you even asking me that" dumb question, we just spend the days rotating the dresses.

Christmas was amazing. in more ways than I will ever be able to describe. Caitlyn is truly remarkable. She is able to do things each day that she honestly was not able to do the day prior. She is almost walking, she can climb the stairs. she can put into her crib awake for her nap and bed time, she doesnt scream or have night terrors anymore, she doesnt cry when she wakes up, just starts to talk to herself. She is starting to use sign language for her bottle, and down from her high chair, i tried to teach her the sign for more, she instead decided to try to speak the word, 'mah' she refuses baby food, only wanting what we are eating throughout the day, some days she will refuse her bottle during the day as well. she is happy to be on the floor!!! up until 3 days ago, i could not put her down, i would caryy her around and when i needed to do something with two hands, i would put her down and listen to crying and whing and pulling at my leg until i could pick her up again, now, she is content and will look at me from across the room and give me big smiles. what a feeling. The first day this was happening, Emma told me that she needed to go to the bathroom and i decided to leave Caitlyn where she was (before this i was carrying Caitlyn into the bathroom with us and placing her on teh floor in front of the toilet and she would cry until Emma was finished and i was able to pick her up again) This day i left and Emma cried out, you forgot Caitlyn, she's goona cry, you need to pick her up. i told emma we were trying somenew things because Caitlyn is happy tolday. well, she did squak a little bit and Emma cried out "Spike... Spikey we are in here." it seems Caitlyn has been renamed. it has stuck. Everyone is now calling her spkie, (but to end the story, she started to crawl towards the bathroom, got distracted by a toy and never made it all the way and when Emma and I left the bathroom, she let out this giggle which she was so proud of herself., I cant beleive the changes in this little girl. she is amazing. I dont think that we know her true personality yet, she is letting us all in a little at a time, but let me tell you, she can melt your heart in an instant. I hope you all get the opportunity to come under her spell.

China has truly given us its greatest gifts, Love and Treasure.


How happy are we.

we are home one week and counting

hi all,
thought i'd do an update and let you know how we are feeling. Jet lag is pretty much gone for all of us, except Caitlyn.... she is a happy little thing during the day, but watch out in the twilight hours... dont let her cute looks deceive you! she really likes the human contact with all of us, which makes it impossible to place her in her crib while awake. she can even tell you are putting her down when she is asleep, she needs to be completely out before you even dare to put her down. for the most part we are starting to figure her out, and therefore things are going a little easier. she is growing very quickly, her cheeks are puffing up and she has rosy cheeks now. She is crawling all over the house and is approaching Jericho to pet her.... huge progress from her initial looks of horror and terrifying cry at the sight of the dog! Our house looks like a bomb went off, and we are starting to get ready for Christmas. We still need a tree.... who knows when that will happen. It feels amazing to be home with our 2 precious girls and know that our dreams of our family is complete. I feel completely fullfilled and content. This feeling seems to last until 2 am when I am cold and my arms are about to fall off from rocking Caitlyn to sleep. the feeling comes back again when she wakes up (sleeps in) and gives you a fantastic smile..... all is good, life is great.

Ryan is back to work on Monday and i think he is looking forward to it. Someone said to us the other day that now we are real parents.... and now we know what they mean. complete exhaustion. the other day, i got Caitlyn in the snuggly, Emma into her winter gear. Caitlyn started to cry, more than the usual snuggly proceedure usually causes, I think, *hunger* give bottle. Emma wants to play inthe snow. so i give Caitlyn her bottle standing at the door, in the snuggly, with Emma running through the snow outside. I think, its okay, i can do this...then Emma says, "I need to go potty" .... come on, give me a break. so off the the bathroom, caitlyn hanging from the snuggly, Emma's winter gear hanging from everywhere... Welcome the world of 2 children... Emma sitting on the toilet says, "I knew she would start screaming"..... so did I Emma , So did I...

What a difference a day makes!

Well, you may have noticed that i havent been blogging very much. One reason is the lap top is the Davis' room and we only have time to blog after everyone is in bed... not really welcome at that time to go knocking at your neighbours door, but also because I have been so worried about Caitlyn. She had become increasingly upset and would cry for periods of hours at a time. Her cry was painful and it was so aweful. I couldn't stand it. i was questioning my ability to parent two children as Emma became increasingly neglected..... THEN yesterday we said, okay something needs to change here, we had reached our limit. We decided to put Caitlyn on antibiotics and changed her formula to soy. What a difference. We have gone from thinking that something may seriously be wrong with her and thinking we needed emergency medical care, to thinking she is the most wonderful child in the world. She is content, very communicative and a pleasure to be around.... never thought i'd saying that today! We went to the medical clinic today and was told she was mildly malnutritioned, gross motor a little delayed and surprise, she is a little under weight. she is a petite little thing. It makes me weep, i have a whole suitcase of beautiful clothes for her and a fraction fits. she is fitting a 6 month size. I went to the silk market last night and bought her a pair of pants and a top. we will limp home wearing a few things. She is such a snuggly little thing. Deb, if you are out there, put aside some cozy 6 month clothes for me please. It is apparent that we will need an excersaucer. Caitlyn has come so far in such a short time. It was pretty clear that she had never crawled. she pulled herself with with her arms, like a seal. but now, she is crawling with her legs and is getting pretty speedy. She is even trying to stand up! a week ago, she would pull herself up, but fall over as she couldn't support herself, now she can pull herself up and do a little jig. Tonight when I gave her bottle, she held her head up. a week ago, she could not support her head! She smiles, laughs, imitates you... amazing progression, and we are only at week one. It was hard to hear that she is only 14.7 pounds. not really a surprize, but hard to see it written down.

We have been to the Great Wall. Yesterday Emma's dreams came true, she wanted to climb all the way to the top, like mulan. She was a very good climber, and we had to pry her off from going higher! Now that Caitlyn is a happier baby, all of us are doing much better, thank goodness. We went to a wonderful tea house this morning and bought some amazing lycee, ulong and rose tea. WOW! who knew how many different kinds of tea there was. Tomorrow we are going to Tian na men Square and the Temple of Heaven. We are going to take Emma to the Kung Fu show wednesday night before coming home on thursday. We are ready to come home. Emma has had a great trip. We are thankful that Nai Nai is with us. she has been a real saviour. Emma has had some big girl time while we have been busy taking the babies to the clinic etc. Wednesday I am taking her to the Childrens market, over the top incredible, where she is allowed to pick anything she wants.

Well, if I dont get a chance to blog again, please dont forget our open house on Sunday 10- 3. it will be great to see everyone. till then, zai jian

Henderson Family