The last month in photos

Ok, This picture is not in Canada, but it is something that Jada enjoys doing. She has seen us use the keys to open doors, so she tries to copy. She still does it, and it is funny to watch.
She is not the same baby that we left Beijing with and it has only been about a month and a half. She has learned so much in that time period. She has picked up at least a dozen words and her understanding is amazing. Her favourite word right now is hi, when people come in the door or walk in the room where she is she greets them. We can now ask her to go put her diaper in the garbage and she does it. We have a binky in bed only rule and now instead of just doing it for her we can ask her to leave her binky in her bed and she pulls it out and drops it in her bed. When it is time for dinner we tell her to go get in her booster seat and she climbs up, sit down and trys her best to do up the buckle. If she is climbing on something we don't want her to for safety reasons or she is after something she is not suppose to touch we can tell her "Jada, down please!" and she gets down, most of the time, she definetly understands. Today when I went to get her from her nap she start talking and talking a way, very animated, in baby talk and pointing to her bed like she was telling me something that had happened there and at the end of her long speel she says a word that I understood 'binky'. I didn't even know she knew how to say that word. She has a facsination with shoes, I'm sure every baby does, but she especially likes boots. Some times she trys on ones that are up to her hip and then has a hard time getting out of them. She tries on the shoes of just about every visitor.

Jada sure likes her water! She knew that there was water in there before, and it looked like a bottle, so why not try to drink it? Up until now Jada has been a really good water drinker and a good eater and eats just about anything we feed her. With being back and forth between grandparents homes we have been in vacation mood and some of our parenting methods started to slide a little. We started allowing chocolates and candy and everyone loves to feed babies so she was being given little snacks and treats through out the day by several different people so there wasn't any one person monitoring her diet. Because she was snacking so much we noticed that she started not eating her meals well and developing a sweet taste preference. We were creating a picky eater. As soon as we noticed we realized that we have to get on track so everyone agreed to not give her snacks and we cut out sweets and by the next day she was eating her meals again and not being picky. phew! It was'nt too late. She will have taste preferences, that is for sure because everyone does but at least this way I know what she has eaten in a day and can make sure she is getting the nutrients she needs.


Big Smile showing off her teeth! When we left Beijing she would smile and giggle but just little giggle, never real laughing. Now she has turned into a very smiley, laughing baby. About a week after we got here she discovered the high pitched squeel. Grandpa Innes has hearing aids and her squeel creats feed back, does not sound pleasant, so we have been trying to discourage it, probably a good idea anyways. Yesterday and today she only did it once so we are hoping that means it is dying out. She likes to scrunch up her nose when she giggles. Randomly she will just delve into this big elaborate stories, just jabbering away and every few seconds she just starts laughing and throws her arms up in the air. She was only doing the clapping part of patty cake when we left Beijing but now she claps, rolls her hands in her own way, draws with her finger on her hand and throws her hands up in her hair. I say thank you to her using the sign and she picked that up really quick because it looks like blowing kisses which her Nana taught her how to do. Something she loves to do with Nana (we call Grandma Innes Nana and Grandma Parks Grandma) is ride around on her walker. When ever Nana get up to goes somewhere Jada is right there asking for a ride or just climbing up on the seat without asking.


Up Up! Pick me UP! We are working on teaching her to say "please to ask for things". We started it meaning to teach her to sign it but in just one day she said it. We hope that teaching her early to ask for what she wants rather that demand will help out with the fast approaching toddler years. We believe that it will help to teach and reinforce habits of self-control and obedience. Christmas day we noticed her starting to assert her independence and through a fit. That is when we decided we needed to talk to come to an agreement together of how we were going to parent this new stage. It kind of crept up on us. Time goes fast when you are in a transitionary stage with moving from china and constantly back and forth between the in-laws trying to get set up here in Canada. Teaching her 'please' came out of our discussions. We have almost immediatly seen a change in her attitude. It amazes me so much everytime I see just how fast she can learn. She is a very smart little girl and we are very proud parents.

On Christmas eve Father in Law Vic was playing with the laser pointer, and Jada was really intereseted in it, and was trying to grab the light

Opening her stocking on Christmas day.

She got a hold of a black felt sharpie, and drew on her tounge

Looking in to one of her gifts from Grandpa and Gradma Parks

Whats this? She had fun playing with the packages. It took her a while to get into opening it, but with a little help she figured it out

She even help dad open a present up

Opening a present with grandma. Grandmas is her second mom, whenever we are there she follows her around and asks her to pick her up and loves to sit on her lap and cuddle with her.

These fun pop up animal things. She still remembers the word bird - she said it when the bird popped up. She often sticks her tongue out when she is concentrating.

Of course, she found a box, and had lots of fun in it. Who needs toys when you can have a box!

Just barely fits.... How would you like this to be your gift?

helping Daddy stretch

The other thing she has been trying to do lately is sit on her toy cars for a ride. She has learned that you can ride things with wheels just has not learned yet that size matters.

We had a lot of snow fall today, so we went out and played in it a little bit. She found it quite intresting.

Memories of China

We were missing China before we left so I guess it is no surprise that we miss it so soon after returning to Canada. It was a very memorable year and a half. Especially all the memories we have interacting with the Chinese people and their culture. We went for the 20 week ultra-sound of our second baby and sitting their in the waiting room felt really weird because no one talked to us or even to each other, it was so quiet, people are really friendly here just more reserved. I spent alot of time in waiting rooms at clinics or hospitals in China, mostly for Jada's check ups and shots, and everyone interacted and talked with each other and everyone was very curious about us and had a million questions. Usually all along the same lines; where are you from? who old is your baby? Is it a boy or a girl? (everyone guessed boy which is kind of funny because she was usually wearing pink or girly looking clothing but that really dosen't mean much in China.) And everyone always had an opinion about what i should or should not do in regards to taking care of Jada. Everyone just loved Jada. The last few weeks there, when we were doing alot of shopping to pick up gifts for family and other thing, we went to the silk market a lot. So many of the workers their got really familiar with us and just loved Jada. We couldn't walk down this one asile without having to stop to let them play with Jada. This one day they told us "You are going to have another baby soon, let us have Jada. How much money do you want?" Mike jokingly told them that they would have to pay 10 000 rmb per month. And right after that they told us "You guys go and do your shopping and leave Jada here with us?" We of course said "no way!" and they pouted and begged. It was pretty funny. Mike told them "There are alot of people here, what if you were not looking and someone carried her off then what would we do?" Every where we went was like trick or treating for Jada because people were always offering her pieces of fruit and other snacks. Chinese people have a everyone pitches in and helps out like a big family mentality and people were always trying to help out with Jada or other things they saw us in need of. Riding the bus if I just started to sway a little or loose my balance everyone grabed me to steady me. Looking different didn't exclude us from the big family. They are always trying to take care of you. Everyone around became Jada's playmate. She had stranger anxiety around 3-4 months because all the actions and attention was just overwhelming but by a year old she would let anyone hold her, touch her, talk to her, play with her and just loved all the attention. People were pretty funny with their comments some times (to me at least because I can understand both cultures and the contrast are sometimes funny to me). The chinese, at least the last few generations with the new nanny culture that has immerged, are extremely protective of their children. So seeing how I take care of Jada according to my own culture got ALOT of comments and opinons and do this don't do that. I didn't worry to much if Jada got dirty, I figured it was all part of letting her experience things so she could learn. And I told them, it's no big deal, she gets dirty and then I clean her up, no harm done. It always started up a conversations. Some were very traditional and could not except that way of thinking and yet many were very intriged and interested and thought that it was good. Many westerners got offended by how opinionated the chinese are. They felt they were being judged but a chinese friend of mine explained it to me and said chinese tell you what you should do because they are concerned for you and just think that you don't know. Some of the cultural clashes are quite funny though. One of our friends was making Jello and his landlord saw him putting the pan of boiling water in the fridge and freaked out. The whole yin yan thing. Some chinese people stopped by and saw my friends baby in here high chair with only a diaper on and were totally tooken back and thought it was horrible. When Jada was a new born I carried her around in a sling wrap thing and the chinese had never seen that before. They were so worried that she was uncomfortable. I would show them her face so they could see she was quite comfortable.
It feels so weird to think that all those people we saw day in and day out and the streets we walked countless times are on the other side of the world now going on without us. We hope to be back there as soon as possible but we have things to do here to prepare for our future. And with baby number two (sex still unknown) we are glad to be close to family.

One week in Canada

Well, we made it back to Canada.
The last few weeks that we were living in Beijing were VERY busy! We probably went out most days, and went shopping for various gifts and stuff that we needed. We found some good deals on a lot of things. For me we got a suit, some jeans, and a really nice leather jacket. Chelsey got some shirts, some jeans, some jewelry. We also got a lot of gifts and such for our families. It was a lot of fun, but we ended up spending a lot of money. We usually don't spend a lot, so it was different, but it we had fun doing so. We decided that one day (if we are able) we would love to have more disposable income - after tithing, taxes, living costs, and savings - to have to use to buy more things that we don't often buy, or do other fun things. But, all those other things come first.

Our flights went really well. However our flight from Beijing to Vancouver was delayed a hour, which also bumped our flight to Calgary by one hour. We wanted to send my father an email telling him that, but I could not get on the Beijing Airport WiFi to do so. It was being stupid or something. We were able to call in Vancouver quickly and let him know. Because our flight was delayed, when we got to Vancouver we had just enough time to get through customs, immigration and security, use the bathroom and walk to our next gate. In fact, by the time that we got to that gate, they were boarding so there was no waiting at all! Jada did really well on the flights. She slept 8 or 9 hours of the Beijing to Vancouver leg (10 hour plus flight) and about a hour of the Vancouver to Calgary leg (not quite 2 hour flight). That made it very nice for us! Chelsey and I did not sleep very well, so we were tired when we got to my parents house. We are now just getting over the jet lag. Jada is already adjusted and is sleeping well. She is also very happy exploring the new places. She loves her Grandparents.

Now I'm looking for a job. I have a application with the federal government. I took three tests in regards to that this past Saturday. It is something that I would really like to do, but it takes a long time. If I am shortlisted, I'll get a call in January or Febuary, and then a few more months after that. I can't afford to wait around without working, so we are thinking that I'll try to find a job in Lethbridge area. That way we can stay near family, and we won't have to move to much. It could also be that #2 bean could be born in this area, which would be nice for family, considering Jada was born in China.

We are happy to be back in Canada, and we will see where life takes us