one step closer

I got an email from the embassy today :)! They want me to come in for an interview next week, so this means that this job is progressing to closer to a possiblity. Chelsey thinks that there is a good chance that I will get the job, having made it this far. The interview is going to take about 40 minutes, so it is a LONG interview! But here is hoping!
As far as this changes our plans, we don't really know yet. If we get this job, then the next Innes baby will also probably be born in China. We have a friend who lives in our complex who is a Canadian Chinese, and has also had a baby here. So she will introduce a hospital to us, (A Chinese hospital, it fits in our price range) and she would also be able to help us know a little more about our options here.
Please keep us in your prayers, and your fingers crossed! we will let you know as we find out!

Jada makes another huge milestone

Our little girl walked today. Mike and I were both right there to see it. She took 4-5 steps with hands waving over her head. We made a big deal about it and I guess that and the invigoration of having just took her first steps got her super hyper. She kept walking short distances over and over again and going as fast as she could to start over again. She was just laughing and screeching with delight. We wish we had got it on video because it was so cute. I don't think I have ever seen her this thrilled about something.

Great News!

Jada is going to be a big sister in nine months. For her one year birthday we found out she is going to be a big sister. Mike and I are really excited. We are really looking forward to repeating all the wonderful experiences we have had with Jada up to now. We already have a name picked out if it is a boy, Caleb Micheal Innes. For a girl, we haven't thought about it yet, Caleb Michael is a name we have liked for a long while. But name are known to change at last minute so we will see. More great news is this pregnancy will be during the winter months. Due date is April 14th (our wedding anniversary) and we are currently in week 4. We still don't know all our plans yet but at the moment it is very likely that this baby will be born in China as well and within 2 years of being here we will have had 2 babies, one per year. We are very happy and excited to see how Jada adapts to being a big sister.
Other really great news is that the opportunity for the Embassy job that Mike had figured was no longer available because the closing date was a month ago and he hadn't heard anything, seems to be more possible now. He got an email last week saying that he has been invited to take a written test Wednesday morning. This is a great opportunity to spring into a Career. It gives him lots of exposure and contacts in possible job markets that he could get into and maybe even a better position at the embassy. That is our hope. One of our friends from church said that several of his friends started out in grunt embassy jobs and it always spring boarded into something else. We are really hoping this works out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JADA!!!!!

Our Little Jada-Bean is now a laughing, singing, dancing, climbing and crawling 1 year old baby!


Jada opening her present, with mom's help


A very Pretty Jade Rose for our Jada Rose

She found playing with it more fun

A close up of the necklace.

Jada's Cake. We couldn't find a birthday candle, so used this.


Dad Had to help blow out the candle

She decided to forgo hands at all and just bite!

Yummmy!

We can't believe that it has already been a year! Time sure goes by quickly, and a lot of different things have happened in this year that we are glad for. Most of all that we have had a very healthy baby. I know that some of you think that Jada now needs a little brother or sister, but that will come in due time.

Lately Jada has discovered opening and closing doors (as long as it is not latched), opening and closing drawers, and pulling everything out. She is not so good at putting things back in, poor mom spends half her day putting things back into drawers. She has also discovered that she is part monkey, so climbs anything and everything that is in reach. She has climbed up to the top of her stroller seat, climbs up in the basket underneath, climbs up onto the couches (our bed and her pack n' play are a little high yet), climbs up our coffee table and tries to sit on the computer, climbs up onto the TV stand and shakes the TV around (it's a large flat screen, we don't want it falling on her, so have a plant and chair to block it. Good thing we don't really watch TV!), she climbs up chairs, and has also gotten from the chair onto the table once, and climbs up step-stools. Once she figures out how to climb something, she keeps climbing it, and gets faster and faster at it.

She is also good at climbing up playgrounds. Yesterday (on her birthday) we went to a friends house for a small potluck dinner with them and another couple. After dinner we all went outside to the complex park and playground. Jada had a lot of fun climbing up on the playground, and also sliding down the slide. When she slide down, she starting getting this big big smile and her hair was sticking up all over the place due to the static on the slide. We wish we had a picture of that.

Jada is also getting into a lot of things. Chelsey has to be careful when putting groceries away, because if they are in Jada reach, Jada will grab things and start taking bites out of it, even if it is something that she does not care for, like tomatoes. Several times Chelsey has turned around for just a second and then found several small bites out of different items. Once we bought some peaches, and in the time that it took Chelsey to put something else away, Jada had taken one bite out of two or three different peaches!

Jada for the most part is a well behaved baby. She is also very smiley. When I get home from work, or running some errands, and I walk in the door, Jada gets this ear to ear smile and starts making excited sounds. It is so cute!

Jada is interacting more and more with kids instead of watching them. About two weeks ago Chelsey had Jada outside, and Jada and another little kid her age were having crawling races and smiling at each other.

Perhaps it is just Chinese who can't tell, but about 90-95% of the time, people guess she is a boy and call her 'little brother'. Chinese people keep telling us to shave her head so her hair will grow faster. Chinese kids get their hair shaved at 1 and 2 months old. Perhaps they think that if her hair grows faster, it will be easier to tell that she is a 'little sister' not brother.

Jada, thank you for coming into our life. We have sure enjoyed this first year with you and you are a very special girl. We love you a lot, and wish you many many more years to learn and grow and have fun.

Stay fit, Be healthy

Everyone knows or has known that couple in their 50's plus that run a couple miles everyday and have more energy and stamina then many who are half their age. For us that couple is the Bensfields. We stayed at their house for a couple of days a few months back when a pipe in our bathroom was being fixed. I noticed that she would go out for a run everyday and after dinner her and her husband would go work out. Both of them are two of the happiest most energetic people that I know. The longer time we had to get to know them I started to add things up. Happy, energetic, healthy, physically fit, gray hair and all and they have made exercise a regular part of their life ever since they were young.

A couple of weeks ago Mike and I decided that we want to be that couple when we turn fifty and have grey hair. And so we have made some changes to our daily life as well as setting some goals.
Already we have started seeing changes. We laugh about it and rejoice in that fact that we are falling out of our clothes. All of Mike's pants that he brought with him from Canada he can now pull off with belt on and zipper up. Mike had some dress pants Tailor made a few months ago and he can feel a difference in the way they fit, he can put a few fingers in at his waist. Just yesterday I tried on an old pair of Capri's that I bought after my mission, which just months ago I could not do up the button let along the zipper, and they fit perfectly.

These are the changes that we have made and our goals to live a healthier life.

Improving our Diet and Nutrition: We have reduced sodium and unhealthy oils/fats in our diet. Increased healthy fats such as healthy oils, nuts and seeds (homemade granola bars, and granola yumm!)We have also enriched our diet with whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and beans. Decreased ice cream snacks significantly (But still enjoy it. If you cut everything out, life's no fun!). We are concentrating on not overeating but just eating until we are not hungry anymore. We cook at home more and try to eat meat only one meal a day instead of two to three, or reduce the amount of meat in a meal. There are tons of really tasty things you can do such as pastas, stir-fries, pizzas, curries, tacos and quesadillas, soups and stews ect. that can be super delicious vegetarian, especially with the addition of fresh herbs and spices. Not that meat is bad just that the more meat you eat the less other variety of other foods you eat. We are not going to become Vegetarians or anything, just eating less meat.

Exercise: We walk places as much of possible, and embrace stairs (except when we have to walk up 27 floors.... Mike had to do that 2.5 times last week). Mike walks part of the way (or home) to work everyday (about 2.5 Km) and we walk places together. I dance, skip rope or do aerobics for 30 to 40 mins everyday as well as doing a 20 minute body weight workout 3 times a week that is specifically designed for women that targets legs, butt, hips, thighs,and tummy. Every night before we go to bed we cheer each other on to see how many push-ups we can do. We are still making plans and goals in this area.

Little Habit Changes: We are each making small changes to become habits that increase our activity. Such as finding active hobbies, minimizing time spent on the computer, doing an extra chore around the house and staying active for at least 10-15 minutes right after we eat by cleaning up right away and/or going on a family walk, etc. Little changes make a big difference in the long run. We are basically just trying to slowly change our life style to be more active by forming new habits and new hobbies.

Motivation: We focus on things that motivate us such as health benefits, people we want to be like such as the Benesfields, just looking and feeling good, being a good example to our children of taking care of these gifts we have been given, our bodies and our life.

We really want to make this how we live for the rest of our lives. Check up on us, help us along. Once we get to the it is a way of life and habit for us it will be easier. We feel it is a million times over worth it. What a wonderful gift we can give to Jada to help her form healthy habits from childhood.