Our Fifth Week

This is our fifth week since we've become a family!!! I can't believe it, it seems like we've been together so much longer than that! Maelin has made remarkable strides in five weeks. She is a very cheery little girl!!!

Some Pictures of Maelins' arrival to Saint John

Worth the Wait

Did that two weeks ever go by fast! We got back into Saint John around 12:30 AM on Sept 5th, after about 30 hours of travel. Maelin was absolutely perfect on both flights, and through all of the security checks - note to anyone traveling with a baby - you can bring just about anything through security if you can convince the security agents that its for the baby (except for a bottle of gin...right Tony?).

We were greeted at the Saint John airport by a group of friends and family, with lots of balloons and flowers. Maelin enjoyed all the attention (who could blame her?), and Grace Marie finally got to meet "Cousin May-in". I've attached a short video clip that Uncle Ryan shot of us coming into the terminal.

All-in-all, it was the experience of a lifetime. A trip to China is no small beans, but to go there to meet this little person who you've been dreaming of for ages and who's going to change your entire life....there aren't words to describe it.

Everything went relatively smoothly in China. Our facilitators here in Canada and the guides in China have all been there and done it, so there weren't many surprises (thanks Linda, Bonnie, Jack and Jennifer). In hindsight, we were quite well prepared, and certainly the advice from our friends who've gone through this same journey was irreplaceable.

We're all still on "China Time"...so add 11 hours to the current time (AST) and that's were our bodies are. Maelin slept all day yesterday, and we let her sleep, as Friday was a long day for everyone. She's been up since 2 AM, and laid down at 10 AM. We're going to start easing into our time zone. She's been so good with everything, like her new family that she's had to train from scratch, we're hopeful that this transition will go smoothly.

She's a wonderful little girl with a very curious and calm personality. She's surprised us by crawling, standing up in her crib and walking around it. Also she can pull herself up on just about anything, and she hasn't been scared by our two doggies, which I'm sure are a first for her.