Jada got her two month immunizations today, 4 in total. It is usually three but the fourth was because we plan on returning back to China soon. HB is more of a risk in countries with dense populations. It is given to babies at birth in China but because Jada was born premature and below the required weight to receive the HB shot it was post-poned. She was shocked at first and then started crying pretty hard. It was so hard to witness. We gave her lots of hugs and love afterwards for the rest of the day, she is now sleeping sound and happy. One of the girls that I visit taught in Lethbridge 2nd ward before we left for China was due the same week that I was due but Jada was 5 weeks early and her daughter Ambrosia was born 4 days late. It was interesting comparing these two babies. It really hit home how much Jada has grown and changed in the last two months. It really is amazing how fast babies learn and grow. She is smiling more and more every day and getting more alert as well. Her eyes follow us around the room and she is really interacting with her eyes. She weighed in at 8 lbs 4 ounces at the clinic on wensday but 9 lbs 6 ounces at the health center today. The health center said that the 9 lbs 6 ounces was more likely so that is what we are going to go with. that means she has been gaining about a one pound per month since birth.

So far in Canada

So we have been back in Canada for about two and a half weeks now. We hope to be back in China by the end of the month, but so far things are going well here.


We have spent a week (so far) with each family. The first weekend we got here, Amy Mike and their three girls came up. Taylor, Jane and Claire all loved Jada. In fact Claire (Amy's youngest, who is about 16 months) was possessive about Jada, shooing everyone else away, and babbling away to her. Everyone just loves Jada! Jada also really loves the attention that she gets. She is getting more and more smiley, as well as more alert every day. She has these huge big eyes that just get so interested in things before she gives this really big smile. I don't have any pictures of that yet, but don't worry, they will come.











We also blessed Jada that weekend (September 27). My mom (Nana to Jada) got her this really cute dress for it. It is a size 2xs, the smallest one that she could find, but it fit her perfectly.
We had a little family dinner after church, which was a lot of fun. Again (just as she should be) Jada was the star attraction, and people who see her can't help to comment on how cute Jada is.

Other then this, not much has been going on so far. We have been having fun, but are really looking to going back to China as soon as we can. However, due to what they told us right before we left, it might be a couple more weeks before we get all the visa stuff settled. The October 1st holiday added a week because the government all shut down. So for now we just sit and wait, but we are excited to go back home. I know, I just called China home... Not in the sense that we are going to live there our whole life, but it is where our home is right now - our own place and life. We are both comfortable there, and enjoy it. So it is this way that China is home.

We will put up some more pictures later and other updates a little later

Growing babies and stuff

So we took Jada to the doctor again.
She gained quite a bit of weight!!! She is now 3.3Kg (7.27Lbs), which is an increase of .8 Kg (1.76lbs) in two weeks. She is also now 53 cm (20.86 inches). This makes us quite happy. She is still in the low end of the percentiles, but that is putting her against full term month old babies. She is in a good range for if she was just born. Because she has good weight gain, the doctors are not too concerned. In every other way she is healthy as can be, and we are really glad to get this news.

We pick up her visa tomorrow, so it seems like we are all set to go home next week. We are planning to do Jada's blessing while we are there, that first Sunday we are home in Lethbridge.

China is gearing up for the big 60th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China on Oct 1. It is going to be HUGE! There have been a couple of times (one a few weeks ago, another tomorrow) where they are doing rehearsals for the parade (including tanks!) so have to shut down downtown Beijing. It would be really intresting to see, but home is more important right now.

See you next week!