Learning a Little More

For a while I’ve wanted to do a DNA test with Hannah to see if I could find out any new information for her.  I ordered a kit for her and she was excited! 

I had been concerned about what I would say to her but I need not have been concerned.  She saw the box and exclaimed, ‘I’ve wanted to do this!’  LOL – and we were off!

Part 1 was filling the tube with spit.  LOL – my girl did great!  She was on a mission.

Afterwards we mixed it up; sealed it up;

And mailed it off.

Her results were ready in about 2 weeks and I remember my heart beating quickly as I prepared to open them.  I said a quick prayer as I knew what I read there could change things as we knew them.

In the end the results were wonderful and I learned so much!  Not a huge surprise but I found out that she is 100% Chinese.  What was interesting was to see what parts of Chinese ancestors make up my sweet girl.

The health portion was great as it was a way to find out more about Hannah.  I laughed when it said things like she likely had a Photic Sneeze Reflex.   This means she is likely to sneeze in the sun and she does – just like me – and her Grandma!  LOL!  God gave us all similar traits!

Something new that was recently added (they are constantly updating their website and things tested) and it say she is more likely to be bitten by mosquitoes.  Sadly that’s true. 

Some results were also off by a bit like the one that says she probably has light skin pigmentation.  Umm, nope.  I wouldn’t consider her to be light.

All in all I am so very thankful that we did this!!  As of right now there are 514 other DNA relatives related to Hannah that have also completed the testing.  To date the closest DNA relative to her is a third or fourth cousin but this can change as more people participate. 

For those considering doing this I would highly recommend it!  If you are interested in ordering a kit, please let me know and I’m happy to send a link to you.

It’s Safe to Say…

Hannah and mosquitos do not get along!

My poor little love!  We were up north for the weekend and we didn’t see any mosquitos until about an hour before we left to come home and then suddenly they were out in droves.  Yuck!  One little guy thought Hannah would make a tasty lunch and even though I swatted him away mid-bite the damage had been done.  Even with Benadryl lotion on within minutes and liquid Benadryl today, my little cutie still looks like this.

She reacts so severely to mosquito bites and normally they blister.  From the looks of it that’s probably the next step for this one.   I’ve enquired about it and what’s been explained is that Hannah was born with immunities to Chinese bugs but not those here in Canada.  Hopefully in time as she (unfortunately) grows more accustomed to Canadian mosquitos she will stop reacting like this.

Thankfully it doesn’t seem itchy and isn’t bothering her at all.  For that I’m thankful!

A Moment in Time: Sometimes I Forget…

…that Hannah doesn’t remember the day we became a family as I do. 
Now, that may seem like a funny thing to say as she was only 8 months at the time but a little background will help explain what I mean.  (Please bear with me…this post wanders a bit.)
Right now one of Hannah’s favourite games to play is ‘Baby.’  She will suddenly pretend to cry like a baby, want cuddles, to be picked up, snuggled and comforted with, ‘Shhh…it’s okay baby, Mommy’s here.’  She’ll do her pretend cry a little longer, all the while with a big smile on her face and stifling a giggle while I hold her close and rock her.  (Any opportunity to snuggle and cuddle my independent little sweetie is a good one!)
Something else Hannah loves to do is ‘Pway.’  We say her bedtime prayers each night and now she adds her own personal requests.  Often she’ll say, ‘Mommy, pway for me when I was a baby in China.’ and I’ll pray something like, ‘Lord, thank you so much that you knew before the beginning of time that Hannah and I would be a family.  Thank you for creating us to be a family and for brining us together in China to be together forever.’  I use this sweet time of prayer to reassure her that God designed our family and that we will always be together. 
Each nigh after our prayers we cuddle for a few minutes before I go downstairs.  She’ll normally grab hold of my arm and say, ‘I keep you!’ and try to hold me, all the while with her with a huge smile on her face!  We giggle together with our faces mere inches from one another and I say, ‘Yes sweetie, you can keep me forever!’  Eventually I wiggle away with the reassurance that I’ll be back very soon.  We end our little time of night-time fun with me placing a kiss on her forehead and her placing one on mine.  (Any attempt to kiss her sweet rosebud lips right now is met with that kiss being thrown away as she laughs!  I still do it and oh how she giggles and she announces, ‘I frow it away! )  
I’ve often heard and read on other people’s blogs that ‘big’ conversations often seem to happen in the car.  Sometimes planned by parents that way, other times it’s just spontaneous conversation.
Yesterday as we were driving home from one of her little friend’s birthday parties we were praying for safe travels for those at the party as the roads were snowy and some families had a distance to travel.  After that prayer she said, ‘Mommy, let’s pway for Baby Anna in China.’  I asked if she meant Baby Ellie and she said yes.  Baby Ellie is the sweet daughter of friends who are traveling to China this week to meet their daughter!!  Although Pam and I have never met in person and only met via our blogs, the friendship is a dear, precious one and we know that someday we will meet.  Cannot wait!!
And now, to get to the reason for the title of today’s post.  As we were driving down the road and ‘pwaying’ for a variety of things and people Hannah wanted to pray about she said,
‘Mommy, pway for me when I was a baby in your tummy in China.’
It suddenly struck me that even though I know we didn’t meet until she was 8 months, 6 days old and we’ve often talked about that day and looked at videos and pictures, she doesn’t understand (nor have the ability to understand that) quite yet.  
I was surprised by her innocent request and all at the same time my heart began to race and tears threatened my eyes while trying to sound as ‘normal’ and calm as I could as I responded to her sweet request. 
My response?  We prayed, ‘Lord, thank you so much that you knew before the beginning of time that Hannah and I would be a family. Thank you for creating us to be a family and for brining us together in China to be together forever.’  Someday I will want to delve further into this matter but for now, I responded in the way I believe her little 2yo mind could handle.
I know in time these questions and many, many more will come and I am already praying (oh boy if you could have heard the arrow prayers I shot up as we drove yesterday!!  Talk about multitasking!!) that when we have these discussions that Hannah will view her adoption as a positive thing.   That she would not be angry with her situation, God, her birth parents, China or I’ll be honest, me.  I’m not in denial that some/all of these feelings may come but if/when they do I pray they do not last.  I pray that Hannah will see and believe that God brought us together to be a family.  A family designed by Him.  The perfect family for us.
Together, forever.

A Moment in Time: Highchair Scaling

My dear friend Kayce has begun a series on her blog called ‘A Moment in Time’ and I love her idea!  Each week I want to capture moments that are precious, everyday things (or once in a lifetime opportunities) that capture where Hannah is at at the moment.  At the time I think I’ll remember these moments forever but I know that just isn’t the case.  So now I have a reminder to capture them and another reason to take hold of them and save them for the future.  Someday Hannah and I can look back at these moments and enjoy them together!

This week’s ‘A Moment In Time’ entry is one picture that accurately captures where Hannah’s at right now.  One of her favourite sayings is, ‘I do it all myself!’  This particular night she was ready for supper and I just wasn’t getting to the high chair fast enough so she scaled the back of it and dove in head first!  Oh how I laughed when I turned around and saw those cute little feet in the air!

I love the independence she is showing and yet I also love that she’s not afraid to ask for help either.  It makes for a win-win situation.  She tries (and often succeeds) in doing things herself and when she needs some extra help she’s not afraid to say, ‘Mommy!  Help!’  Perfect!!

Anatomy of Piggy Tails

This is one of those posts for Mommy’s book of things I want to record for memory’s sake. 

M3 taught me how to create pig tails in Ro and Ree’s hair and I believe it was Tiffany who originally taught her.  (LOL!  I remember the one day I offered to help M3 and do the girls hair for her when I was a newbie newbie.  M3 didn’t say anything but I noticed a little later in the morning that the girl’s hair had quietly been redone.  Heh!)   I knew as soon as Hannah had enough hair that I’d want to decorate it will pig tails, pony tails, ribbons, clips and bows!  She is super cooperative most times when I put in pig tails so that helps a lot.  Clips on the other hand are often removed ripped out in the millisecond it takes me to move my hands from her head and glance away.

When she was really little and I was just starting to put piggies in her hair I’d give her a snack while she sat in her high chair.  Now 18 months later she still sits in her high chair but now she likes to help mommy. 

Here you have my version of:  The Anatomy of Piggy Tails!

Important tools:  Fine toothed comb, squirt bottle, tiny elastics,

and one adorable model!

The first step is squirting Hannah’s hair with water and she is surprisingly ok with this and doesn’t even bat an eye even if she happens to be eating breakfast or playing with a toy.

The next step is creating a part in the centre of her hair and this is easily her least favourite part of the entire process!  She hates having any hair touching her eyes and the thing about this that is so cool is that I am totally the same way!  My hairdresser knows to cut my bangs shorter than she’s comfortable with as if they get long enough to where they’re touching my eyes I’ll be pulling out the scissors to trim them myself.  It’s one of those things were I see God’s fingerprints on our lives and see ways that He created Hannah and I for one another with traits of our personalities that Hannah could easily have inherited from me should she have been my biological child.  Since we are not related biologically, God placed similar things in our lives by His design.  (Another example of this is that my Grandpa on Mom’s side of the family sneezed a number of times each times he went into the sun.  Mom sneezes when she goes into the sun.  I sneeze when I walk into the sun and yes, you’ve guessed out that Hannah does too!  I love it when God does stuff like this!!)

As I begin to work on the pig tails I put one elastic between my front teeth.  It always makes me smile when I see Hannah take the extra elastic and put it between her teeth.  ‘Just like Mommy!’ she is heard to say often!  I truly believe that Hannah is the biggest mirror in the world and she keeps me on my toes!

And now we’re set to go and since I’ve now been putting pig tails in her hair for over a year, it only takes about 3 mins to get her piggies in from start to finish.

First one side

And then the other.  On a good day they’re placed symmetrically on her head.   On bad days one or both come out and we try a second time.

Pig tail cuteness on the love of my life!!  Couldn’t you just eat her up?  I do on a daily basis and I still find myself catching my breath knowing that we are a forever family and the is mine!!  Her little hand in mine still takes my breath away and the cry of ‘Mommy’ blesses me beyond measure!

There is so much to ‘No!’ when you are 2!!!

If I had a penny for every time I hear the word ‘No!’ each day I would be rich!  What is it that is so exciting about it?  I’m not sure but Hannah sure likes it!

The funny this is that knowing this stage would arrive I tried desperately not to use this word with her!  I’d say something like, ‘Let’s do this instead’ rather than ‘No.’  Or, ‘How about we do this?’ Yah, you can tell this got me nowhere!

I’ve quickly learned some ways to lessen the daily ‘no’s’ by offering options and this has been helpful.  Rather than asking if she wants yogurt for breakfast, which is sure to be met with a resounding ‘No!’ even when she does want it, I ask, ‘Do you want this one or this one’ to which she’ll say, ‘Dis one!’ as she points to her choice with a big grin.  Success for both of us!

Sometimes her ‘no’s’ mean we have to have a little heart to heart chat.  When it’s time to get in the car to go someplace and she runs away with a defiant ‘No!!’ I get down at her level, get eye contact (which isn’t always easy) and explain that saying ‘no’ isn’t an option right now and that we have to go.  I usually hear anywhere from 3-5 more no’s during my ‘talk’ but hopefully she’s still learning.

Lately when I’ve had about all I can take in a day I’ll begin to respond to her ‘no’s’ accordingly.  She’s none too impressed when I ask if she wants chocolate or vanilla ice cream for dessert only to hear ‘No!’  so I scoop myself a small bowl and leave her without any.   Before I can even sit down next to her a precious little. ‘Sowwy Mommy’ can be heard and yes, I cave.  But, hopefully something has been learned in the process.

Another one of her newest no’s makes me giggle if I’m not careful!  ‘No way Mommy!  No way’ can often be heard coming from Hannah.

One thing that does surprise me is that with all the ways she’s learning and trying to express herself, getting dressed in the morning is still a non issue.  Phew!!  For this I am thankful.  She lets me choose her clothes and wears what I choose.  At bedtime I let her choose what pj’s she wants to wear but in the morning it’s still Mommy’s call.  This makes life much easier so I’m hoping it stays this way at least for a while!!  (Watch her change it up now that I’ve put it in print!)

The other phrase I hear often is ‘I do Mommy.  I do!’  She’s growing and learning at an alarming rate and it’s wonderful (although time consuming) to let her attempt many new things each day.  What I love though is that when she tries, if she can’t quite do what she wants she’s also quick to say, ‘Mommy help pease.’   Oh yes sweetie, Mommy will help for sure!!

I’ll end this post with a fun conversation we had one night last week during our bedtime cuddle time after I’d turned out the lights:

Mommy:  Hannah, are you going to gymnastics tomorrow?

Hannah:  No!

Mommy:  Are you going to eat tomorrow?

Hannah:  No!

Mommy:  Are we going to read stories together tomorrow?

Hannah:  No!

Mommy:  Are you going to say ‘No’ tomorrow?

Hannah:  YES!!!

Heh….that’s my girl and I love every bit about her….even the ‘No’s!!’

Playing the Bobble Game

Speaking of favourite times of the day, I also enjoy our final cuddle time right before Hannah goes to bed for the night.  This is the only bottle of the day I get to give her so I cherish this precious time. 

Somewhere along the way we began to play this little game before her bottle and it’s now a nightly tradition.  I love how she throws herself back when offered the choice of a bottle.  Now Mama?  I would choose chocolate over a bottle every day!

As Hannah drinks her bottle we say our bedtime prayers normally while she holds my fingers in hers.  When she first came home she wouldn’t let anyone, including myself, touch her little hands.  Now, not only does she let me hold hers, she now reaches out to hold mine at various times during the day and night.  There is nothing sweeter than waking up to her precious little hand slipping itself into mine.  Oh yes, nothing better!

The Day Dawned Bright, Sunny and Warm So In No Way Was I Prepared For….

Hurricane Hannah!! 

Don’t let this innocent look smile fool you friends, my sweetie is able to wreak havoc in a matter of minutes!

Saturday morning I just had to laugh as I followed Hannah throughout the main level as she dumped and emptied every toy bin she could find.  They’re her toys so I really didn’t mind as it’s much easier tidying toys than keeping my climbing monkey off the counters and tables!

 

Even the floor mats were no match for HH!

After the toy room she made her way to the front hall first ripping apart the newspapers mommy had forgotten on the floor

and then ending her romp with the box of cardboard that was ready for recycling. 

I was hoping her phone call was to Molly Maid but alas, no.  She was just deciding which of her peeps to call and chat with while Mommy started the clean-up process.  So thankful that she thinks tidying is fun right now….even if she loses interest in a matter of seconds.

What a wonderful, fun age Hannah is at!  19 months rocks!!

Hannah’s Current Theme Song: The Climb

One of Hannah’s current favourite things to do is to climb. No longer is running around exploring her world at ground level good enough for my baby girl. It’s up, up, up for her and anything she can find to assist her to get higher is fair game.

One day I ran to the garage to turn on the sprinkler. When I returned she was on top of the kitchen counter!! Uh oh!

We’re working on not going on the counter but of course before doing that Mommy had to catch it on video. Check out the gleam in her adorable little eyes! She’s so proud of herself!!

Many of her toys are being used as stepping stools too.

Along with this new desire to climb up is the interest in standing up in her high chair and sitting on the tray too. She’s really steady up there so I’m not nearly as concerned now as I used to be when she does this. I try to use the belts whenever she’s in there but as you can see that’s not always the case.

Even climbing on top of her little friends is not out of bounds for my baby girl!

Guess we need to work on this climbing thing some more!

Busy, busy...B-U-S-Y!!!

I cannot tell you how many times a day I hear this with regards to Hannah and I grin! Sometimes it's me; or family and friends while other times it's complete strangers who watch her whiz by when we're out and she happens to be out of my arms so free to cruise around. She's a happy, happy girl with a smile and wave for many - if she slows down long enough to show you!

I decided to look up the word busy in the dictionary and this is what it says:

bus·y [biz-ee] –adjective
1. actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime: busy with her work.
2. not at leisure; otherwise engaged: He couldn't see any visitors because he was busy.
3. full of or characterized by activity: a busy life.

What they missed was
4. a 15 month old child!!

After tidying the main floor area for the umpteenth time Saturday I finally decided to snap a pic of some of the damage. This was all accomplished by my busy little girl in the length of time it took me to prepare dinner and with me moving her to a different area of the room no less than 4 times so that I didn't trip over her while cooking! I think by the look of her in this pic even she was bowled over by the amount of damage she was able to accomplish in just a short amount of time!

We're excited to be heading to California in a few weeks so Hannah decided to write a note to Auntie M3:

Dear Auntie M,
I can't wait to meet you as well as Uncle TD, Ro and Ree!!! It's probably a good thing the girls will be done Pre-K by the time I get there as it may take all 4 of you to help mommy corral me. I'm already excited to think of a house without door latches and baby gates! Oh the fun I will have!!

Cannot wait to meet you in 16 more sleeps (plus naps)!

Love, Hannah xoxoxoxo

Now, for mommy to figure out how to entertain my precious busy little girl for 9 hours of travel while we get there!!

Love You Berry Much!

Hannah tried blackberries for the first time on Saturday. At first she wasn't too sure what she thought but she quickly changed her mind! As quickly as I could get them on her tray she was signing 'more' and I could hear, 'moy, moy!'

Peanut butter and blackberries. A winning combination!


A meal best served wearing only a diaper and a trip to the tub was our next event of the day.

Bedhead!

As Hannah is wearing more piggies in her hair these days, this is a pretty common sight in the mornings. She looks so cute with her post piggie bed head!

Also, since she enjoys feeding herself she sometimes dines in just her diaper to ease with the clean-up afterwards and also lessen the stained clothes.

My Sweetness!

Here are just a few of the fun moments that I have the pleasure of enjoying each and every day!

Playing with her dolly


Falling asleep during lunch. Thankfully this is not an every day occurrence but sure was cute when it happened.


This day I had placed her hat on her lap to put on when we were outside. Hannah was so proud that she'd put it on herself!


Showing the latest and greatest upcoming fashion trend...wearing ham on your forehead


The shirt says it all!!!


Kissing the adorable baby in the picture


Sleeping soundly with her friends by her side.

Ch-ch-ch Changes

It's happening before my very eyes and I just can't stop it no matter how hard I try! My baby is growing up. Yes she's still a baby yet little things are changing that indicate she has started the move from baby to toddler.

Crawling has been left behind and replaced by walking...and running! I've even noticed her jumping in excitement with both feet leaving the ground at the same time but I'm not sure she realizes she can do this! Here she is this past Monday, taking advantage of all the room to walk around our doctor's waiting room.


Hannah still enjoys baby food (thankfully for ease when in a pinch) but is also adding more table foods each week. Last week we tried peanut butter and all went well. Yeah! This paranoid prepared mommy had Benadryl at the ready as well as the phone close by but she handled it just fine and as you can see by this pic from earlier tonight, she enjoys her peanut butter both as a meal, and as a hair treatment!
Tonight we also took another step forward when Hannah began to use a baby toothbrush. We will still use our little finger toothbrush when upstairs
but downstairs we have now have a cute little baby toothbrush. With 7 little teeth in her mouth and the fact that she finds it fun to nibble the brush above, I'm not as anxious to put my finger in her little mouth as I used to. :o) I brushed her teeth with the new toothbrush first and she had a huge grin on her face once she figured out what I was trying to do. Next I handed her the brush and you can see from these pics that she had a lot of fun with it!

Monday is my first dentist appointment since Hannah has been home and I have strict instructions from the girls there that Hannah has to come with me so that they can meet her. That I'll happily do and Grandma will come along to help entertain her during my appointment. If they want to count her teeth she's made it easy for them as all 7 (or 6 1/4) are right in the front and oh so cute!! Check out this adorable grin showing off all her teeth!! Love her!