bathtime

I love the soft, buttery, clean feeling of my freshly-bathed Hannah:


And I love making shampoo hairstyles on the kids (especially putting horns on Eli when his hair is long enough). These kids are so excellent.

Our new house doesn't really have a bathtub, but we have small baby tubs that we use for the kids...probably saves us on water in the long run. It doesn't matter, bathtime is always fun no matter what.

Hannah likes solids!

Our little Hannah, at 6 months, started eating solids. I know you technically can start at 4 months, but why would you when breastfeeding is so easy, convenient and clean (not to mention that breastmilk is the most important food for babies up until one year of age)! Here she is with her first meal of rice cereal:

And the verdict:

That's a "thumbs up" for rice cereal smile for sure.

the visit: everyday 'round here

Of course we had down-time too. We wanted to show our folks our regular life so that included hanging out at home and showing them some of the local sights. The sights also included the latest greatest grandchild!

I love this picture that Boppa (Alan) took, aptly naming it "the two Cuties" How true. Hannah is not hurting for food, she almost eclipses Dana!

I love the grandparent shots with the newest grandchild, so I included one of each. Nana was excited and soon remembered her baby-burping skills without any coaching.

Hannah's favourite spit-up target was Boppa. It hardly ever failed, I would hand Hannah over to him to hold and 4 seconds later she would have a productive burp all over him. But her smiles made it all worthwhile right Alan?

And Babi too, took a shining to little Hannah. I love both of their expressions here, equally enamoured with one another.

This is the closest thing we have to a farm: one rabbit which Dana loves to feed our fruit and vegetable scraps too,

and two ducks that have miserable living quarters as far as I can tell.

When you don't have a backyard, this is what you learn to do in your house. We are looking into gymnastics for this little monkey, but may do a stint of diving in the meantime as it incorporates trampolines and swimming for a reasonable rate. If you remember how China did in the diving at the last summer Olympics, you'll know the coaching is decent.

Eli and Dana's bedroom. Eli was delighted to receive some Lego from Boppa, Nana and Babi.

On our date night, Scott and I got to go for an evening riverside walk with our folks, while Eli, Dana and Hannah were babysat.

One day we went for a horse-drawn carriage ride along five historical streets that featured (mainly) European architecture. We also saw the former residence of Eric Liddell. If you don't know who that is, watch Chariots of Fire or, better, read a biography about him. He was a remarkable man.

The sleeping slug. Hard to believe this little man could ever get into trouble isn't it? Hah!

Reading stories, and/or watching world cup soccer on the couch. We also played our share of games in the evenings with Scott's parents. My mom preferred to turn in early and get up early the next day to, buy fruit at the market, or play ping pong/go for runs with the locals.

We rode in the Tianjin Eye on a somewhat clear day. The whole rotation took about 20 minutes and there was lots to see from the 12 o' clock position especially. Eli opted to be at his friends house.

So, all said and done, it was a tremendous visit. I must admit I was a little worried about how it would go because I wanted to figure out things to do and see that would be interesting for our parents and fun for our kids too. Also, it was the first visit for my mom and so I viewed it as a "make or breaker" for any subsequent visits. I daresay that based on how it went, my mom might very well be back again, I know Scott's parents will. I felt very blessed to have them and the fact that they made the effort and incurred the cost to come means a lot to us. Thank you!

the visit: Great Wall

There's a good shot of Hannah, completely unaware that we were on our way to the Great Wall. She was also blissfully unaware of Eli getting carsick on the way there too. Lucky her...but lucky me too (I had an extra shirt).


Here we are setting out. Little do we know how tired we will be by the time this day is done...

We were ambitious and did decide to "try to the whole route" but at least we did not leave "evening into the scenic".

Gorgeous weather and even a breeze!

Dana and Eli walked a lot of the way on their own, I'm sure I sprouted more than a few gray hairs as they navigated the stairs (especially going down!).

And here's Speedy Brimacombe. He reminds me of Dash from the movie "The Incredibles".

This is the view at the end of the climb, just cross the bridge and go through a maze to get to the parking lot where we were picked up. My mom and I (with Hannah) decided to walk the rest of the wall that you could see beyond the bridge. There were three more towers to get to and where it ended there was still a trail which we did not reach the end of.

I was sore for at least 5 days afterwards, hobbling around like a lame sheep and wincing if the kids so much as touched my legs. My mom was just fine though, a regular mountain goat! I hope I can be like her when I grow up! She's 68 for goodness sake!

a closer look at Hannah

We had to take about a million pictures of Hannah in order to get just the right shot for her Canadian passport photo, so I thought I would post my favourite one of her here for your viewing pleasure. Plus, newborns, they change so fast!

Sooooo cuddly! And 2 out of 3 nights, I think I'm actually getting some decent sleep!

Hannah's here!

Yay! She's finally here! Hannah Joyce was born on May 6th (my due date!) at 0715, weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz. and measuring 50 cm. Scott and I are so pleased and thankful. I was especially thankful that Scott was able to make it to the delivery...even though the doctor initially thought I was in false labour. Hah! Sure showed her!

I love this proud daddy face on Scott. I must say he was a huge help to me during my labour, quoting verses to me, singing to me, encouraging me and getting me water...even handing me pieces of chocolate at some points.

Here's Hannah at less than one hour old. I was surprised at how alert she was. I think she looks a bit like Eli did when he was born...but of course it's too soon to really know who she'll look most like.

And can't forget the mandatory picture of the newborn feet, still blueish and wrinkly...

We stayed two nights in the hospital and now we are back at home. I'm wondering how life will change with 3 kids now, I'm just taking it a day at a time and trying to get as much rest as I possibly can.

Eli and Dana were really excited to meet their new sister, Dana especially just dotes on her. It's so good to be home all together again.