The Magic Touch!

So ... after a couple of restless nights ... I take my mother out for a leisurely dinner and leave Sean in charge of bath, bottle and bed. Not only does he get her down ... she sleeps without a peep from 7:30 to 7:30! WTF???? Obviously he is doing something I am not! Well, that's a good thing because starting next week, I will be teaching a night class once a week in the city and Sean will have FULL responsibilities! I think we're both nervous!
Now, I'd like to know, how many of you out there fail to capture almost EVERY cute, adorable, little behaviour your children exhibit! It never fails ... I will grap the camera or video to get a perfect shot of her doing some sweet or hilarious little thing and .... she STOPS ... immediately, which is why there are NO photos today! Soon I will transfer some of the videos from the trip and try to post them ... but, be patient ... remember, I have a house to clean, a course to teach, oh and a busy little 10 and a half month old to entertain for her every waking moment!!!!

Astrid ... yes, Lisa was in our group ... I'm heading over to my mail to email her right now (unless Cadence's nap ends early!)
Dianna ... mother in chinese ... it looks cool!

A Little Regression ... perhaps! (Photos!)

Our wonderful little sleeper has regressed a bit! Normally, she would be down within 3 minutes of our quiet time ... last night took at least 30 minutes (and then there were about 3 'stirs' throughout the night that I had to tend to!). I'm wondering if it had to do with having a number of family at the house for dinner. Cadence had lots of attention from everyone, while I was busy preparing dinner ... who knows. What was interesting is that she wanted to go in her crib and she would just about be out, but then her head would pop up quick ... looking to make sure I was there! Even tonight she has already stirred ... twice! Oh, I will be a tired girl tomorrow ... my own fault ... gotta watch the bachelor!
The little monkey has also started to shake her head 'no' during meal times ... if she doesn't like what's going in ... she makes no bones about telling me and fights me all the way! This girl has a strong will alright!!!
Today, I took her to the park and we tried out the swing ... it was a big hit ... oh the giggles would just melt your heart! We also enjoyed the pool on this record breaking day! Cadence is going to be a fish in water!!! She is already kicking her feet to propel herself around ... hope she's as cooperative next week when we start our classes!
I am also starting to realize that Cadence is not very happy when I leave the room for a short spurt (30 seconds to pour a glass of water for instance) ... there is a small wall between the great room and the kitchen and even though I talk her through it the whole time ... she will cry! I think I may need to try out some short term babysitting, just to introduce her to the fact that unlike others in her past ... I will be back for her soon!
In other small news, I got my tattoo last week ... it's actually pretty cool, if I do say so myself (don't expect to see any photos of it here either!). And, my cell phone that I rescued from the toilet ... it still works!
I do have some great photos I will upload ... in the morning ... I'm too tired to keep multitasking ... something's gotta give and it's not the Bachelor!

Here are the photos from our day ...

Finally ... An Update!

As much as I hoped I would be able to keep the blog going on a regular basis, I feel I am failing ... for the time being! It has taken the whole week to finally get everything unpacked and organized. We have also had visitors and social engagements to attend over the week but, I feel confident that once we fall into a normal routine, I'll be able to resume SOME of my past activities...blogging included!
Cadence seems to be getting into a nice routine ... she sleeps through the night, has a nap or two during the day and enjoys her meals! She HATES getting her diaper changed, getting dressed, being strapped in the car seat and especially having her face wiped! Her best time of the day is definitely first thing in the morning! She gets to come and spend about 10 minutes hanging in bed with us before breakfast and is just a riot! Sean is the light of her life ... she gets so excited when he walks through the door after work ... it's just amazing!
We try to get out at least once a day, whether it's a walk or a short errand ... it helps break up the day ... I mean, one can only play lego and ball for so long!!!
Cadence received a clean bill of health from our family doctor ... who was ready to start her shots ... that day ... I don't think so!!!! I need time to prepare for such events ... we are making an appointment for next week!
I know there is a lot to share with you, but morning comes early so ... I best just get a few pictures uploaded and call it a night!

Cadence enjoying the pool ....

Enjoying the stroller?

She does love her cookies!

All the girls (at the house today) ...

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly!

First, the good ... Cadence slept through the night 7:45pm to 7:00am without stirring at all! (Wish I could say the same about today's nap! ... Winston is NOT cooperating here!). As for the bad, my BABY climbed the stairs yesterday while my back was turned for 5 seconds! We are definitely in BIG trouble here! As for the ugly, when I exchanged my unused $1000 US funds, I got back a whopping $1001.13 ... now that, my friends is truly ugly!
Here are a couple of pics of my monkey (formerly known as the angel! ...

I Know, I Know ...

Yes, it has been some time since I've been able to update ... and let me just say it is currently 4:10 ... and that's AM folks! Cadence stirred for a bit around 3:00 and I haven't been able to get myself back to sleep since so ... might as well make use of this time. We have all managed quite well with the time change ... still not quite on a proper schedule, but Cadence (and the rest of us) are typically sleeping until about 6ish. Poor little thing passed out around 6:15 in the high chair last night!

Overall, she is adjusting very well ... our second trip in the car seat was successful ... she has been on 2 excursions: the grocery store and Costco. She is crawling around like crazy and totally tries to run with the little push thing she has ... of course, every time I try to take some video of her walking, she sits down! She is eating well, napping and is busy, busy, busy!!! Me ... I'm in quite a state! I have not yet finished the unpacking and the house is a disaster ... AND ... today, I am on my own! I really just need a few hours to get my house in order so I can feel at peace ... that ain't gonna happen too soon I'm afraid!

I have a few pictures from the last bit of our trip to post and not a whole lot of new ones ... out of batteries again and didn't put that on the Costco list! Once I get some time to load up videos clips, I share a few of those. For now ... these will have to do:

Here are all four girls just before we departed the hotel ...

Cadence reading a magazine ...

Enjoying the inflight movie ...

Hangin' with cousin Olivia ...

Quick One ...

Just a quick post to say .... Yahoo!!!! .... we made it! The flight was bearable - Miss Cadence slept a whole ... oh, maybe 3 hours!
Let's hope that means she is down for the night! Had a little breakdown at the airport ... couldn't find my money belt ... But rest assured, it finally turned up in that special compartment in the backpack! Thank you Geoff and Lisa for your help ... you guys were saviours! THANK YOU, THANK YOU DONNA AND MARK!!! Not only did you take good care of our boy, you got us home and took care of the parking (that never materialized!). We WILL settle up with you!
The ride home was pretty traumatic ... Cadence cried ... a lot! She is currently afraid of Winston ... likes him from afar, but up close ... not so much! Anyway, heading to bed and planning to share some of the final China photos with you tomorrow!
Thanks EVERYONE for sharing in our journey ... it really has only just begun!

Final Post from China!!!!!!!

It is currently 9:30 in the evening and I am doing the typical things ... enjoying a glass of vino while checking emails and blogs.
Except: a) there is a baby, MY baby, sleeping in a crib right beside me, b) the wine is the leftover bottle from last night that I was able to take with me from the bar, c) I can't actually check blogs, I can only post, and d) I am in friggin CHINA baby!!! Tomorrow we fly home ... and we CANNOT wait!!! Unfortunately though, waiting is what we will have to do! This hotel insists we check out by one and seeing as out flight isn't until 5:20, makes for a long day hanging around an airport for hours on end with 4 babies ... yeah ... I can sense the envy out there! Anyway, I guess I should get my rest and so without further ado, here is a recap of the day:
The morning started as all others ... happy kid greeting us with a beautiful smile. Diaper and clothing change went really well too ... Dora was on ... yes, in Chinese! Here is a shot of the 'ham' ... she has been giving us this smile along with some interesting sound effects since about day 2 and she thinks she is pretty hilarious! Finally, I was able to capture it ...

The 'look' says it all about her thoughts on this outfit ... guess we'll be passing it on to our new cousing Alyssa, who was born yesterday!

Sean, Cadence and I took a rickshaw tour of parts of the HuTong (neighbourhood) and visited a local family in their home ... very interesting! I didn't end up with any pictures because our Cadence fell asleep part way through and there was NO way, I was waking her for anything.

Late in the day, we all, even Sean, went to the Silk Alley Market ... peking duck dinner was at 5:00, so he had to tag along for the hour of shopping preceeding dinner. It was not good ... he got down one row and was done! I managed to leave him hanging, literally by the elevators while I picked up a couple of things ... if I had been on top of my game, I think I could have done my Christmas shopping here!
Peking Duck Dinner was great! Here is a shot of all the new moms and daughters ...

And finally, here is a great shot of the girl who charmed her way out of bed at 8:00 ( we did get her down by 8:30!)

So, that's it ... for now! We will spend the morning packing stuff up, making sure we have plenty of supplies for the plane ride home, not to mention the car ride! It is sure to be a long, tiring flight ... but in the end, it will get us home and there is NO where I'd rather be right now!
Looking forward to seeing some of you at the airport ... the rest, we'll see you soon ... for sure! You need to meet this spicy sichuan peanut who is growing before our eyes already ... another tooth, since we've met her. Canada ... here we come!