Ella's Intro to Canada

Sorry for falling off the blogosphere while we were away. For some reason when I take a long break from blogging I find it extra difficult to get going again - just like exercise. Maybe if I get a post up I'll suddenly feel like exercising... or get going on all the other things I'm behind on. We've already been home a week and we are sleeping normal hours again. Here's to getting things flowing again.

Our trip west was fantastic. Ella did impressively well (again) on the long flights both ways. The short 1-2 hour flights within Canada felt like our routine trips to the grocery store. We are to the point now where flights any less than 5 hours seem super short and easy. The 9 to 11 hour flights between Seoul and the west coast of North America are long but manageable, but the 12 and 14 hour flights between Seoul and the east coast of North America like we do each Spring are what feel very long to us. It's only 4-5 hours from Cebu to Seoul. Only two flights to get all the way to Vancouver? That is a great thing. We love being able to fly out of Cebu and avoid Manila all together. Thank God for Korean Airlines giving the best prices. By the way, Ella loves flying so much that when we reach our destination she asks to go back to the airport so she can go on another airplane.

Being in Canada was such a treat. The trip as a whole was very full, a little tiring, but very fun. I mean, who doesn't love getting to see close friends and family whom you miss dearly and getting to socialize socialize socialize? Well, my extreme extrovert of a husband loves every minute of it but I'm quite happy to have a little down time in between. I am certainly more of an extrovert than an introvert but much closer to the middle of the spectrum than my husband. A three week trip was just enough to keep me engaging in as much as I could because of the novelty of it all but just about tapped me out by the end. Ella did amazing with the crazy travel routine (or lack there of) but we could see that the late bedtimes, the opportunistic/only-as-convenient car napping, the plethora of unfamiliar food, and the steady abundance of new faces began to wear on her by the last week. We both came home with colds. The fact that we kept it up as long as we did without any serious melt downs or an essential need to get her in bed by 8pm is just evidence of how easy-going this girl is. We just kept saying, well as long as Ella is handling it okay, we'll keep doing what we're doing. And she did. She is so amazing! We didn't expect this much out of her and she surprised us. Again.

We are so thankful we got to make this trip. It sort of makes up for missing our furlough to Canada last year around this time. I remember we booked our flights and then a week later got that call that we had a daughter. The trip was missed for the best reason possible. Now a year later, getting to bring our girl to meet so many people we love and cherish and who have prayed with/for us for so many years for a child was a privilege and a real gift. We are so glad she enjoyed it as much as we did.

Our time was spent in/near British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. I say near because the first week we actually stayed in the US, a few minutes south of the Canadian border in Andrey's parents' timeshare. It was ideal to be an hour and a half away from Seattle where we used to live and 20 minutes from our friends in BC, where Andrey once lived and went to university. We both love that part of the continent so much.

To recap, I'll just share some of our highlights and then end with some of our favorite photos. Unfortunately the hubby is out of town so I'll have to share his highlights from the trip later. 

Jen's highlights:

• Quality time with close friends. You know the kind of friends that you can just pick up where you left off even though you haven't seen each other in years (keeping in touch over skype, blogs and facebook help)? Friends you know well and who know you well and have history with? Friends you can be totally relaxed with and just be yourself? Friends who traveled quite a ways to see us and who hosted big gatherings in their homes and cooked delicious meals for us. Friends like these are a gift we don't take for granted.

• Reconnecting with family. We have many family members that are our good friends and would be even better friends if we lived closer.  Such fantastic people. They are family who cleared busy personal schedules to spend time with us, cook for us, host us - and did it again and again during our stay. Thank you dear family! We are so privileged to be related to you all!

• Staying in the same place and traveling with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and niece, who came all the way from Nova Scotia to hang out. Huge highlight!

• Having grandparents around. I realized for the first time that Ella has not only become comfortable with Grandma and Grandpa but has clearly bonded with them. Ella ran off with Grandma to the park within an hour of our reunion. I watched Ella lean into Grandpa and cuddle with him and reach for him or Grandma to be carried on the first days of this visit and throughout our time together. Aside from the practical benefits of this, it brought me much joy to see how Michella has risked to love and be loved by more than just her Mommy and Daddy. Did I mention she's amazing?

• Seeing Ella and her 2-year-old cousin Annika build on their friendship (they only first met in person eight months ago); watching them play and have fun together; hearing Annika ask repeatedly, "Where Ella go?" as soon as she was out of sight. 

• A playground in every neighborhood and open space to walk and enjoy nature, for FREE.

• Meeting at the waterslide hotel in Regina with friends from Winnipeg who drove 6 hours each way with three kids to hang out for two nights. We drove 2.5 hours with 1 kid. You guys rock! That waterslide time was EPIC!

• The fall weather (or at least until it snowed and felt more like winter to me). The yellow/orange/red leaves. The trees. The cool, crisp, clean air.  LOVED IT!

Ella's highlights:

• Seeing snow for the first time
• Daily trips to the playground 
• Having Daddy around all the time
• Having Grandpa and Grandma around
• Staying in the same place as Annika, getting to travel with Annika, playing with Annika, dressing up for Halloween with Annika, bath time with Annika... 
• Being read to by Uncle Mike
• Visiting the Firehall
• Tucker the cat
• Pete the dog
• Gunner the horse
• Baby Amarys
• Baby Isaac
• All the toys at Addie's house
• Froggy costume (not just worn on Halloween)
• Waterslide 
• Halloween candy

Now for a slew of photos. I didn't even come close to getting (including) photos of all the people we saw. These are just a few...

Good times at Addie and Bennett's house. (Ella's fake smile has emerged.)

 

The coolest playground we ever did see is in Lynden, Washington.

Me & my girl

Mel and baby Amarys

Sam, Torie and Addie

 

Ella and Emily

 

baby Isaac at only 6 weeks old

 

My girls! Missin' you something fierce!

Ella's swing time endurance tripled while in Canada

 

Grandpa with his grandgirls

 

Yay for reunited cousins! They were so happy to see each other.

Firehall visit

 

There were lots of cuddle times with Grandpa

And some fun reading times with Auntie Lise (and the sheep costume that was too small)

 

Playing with the Autumn leaves

 

Post-trick-or-treating

 

Enjoying the playground across the street from Auntie Kit and Uncle Al's house

 

Chief Whitecap Park

 

South Saskatchewan River at Chief Whitecap Park (Me, Ella and Pete the dog)

With Uncle Al and Pete

 

Ella LOVED her time riding Gunner

 

 

 

Ella's climbing skills flourished

 

And then there was real snow... (Credit to Uncle Al for this photo)

... and snow angels

Then froggy had to say goodbye to her good buddy at the airport :-(

And we went for another walk at Whitecap before it was our turn

I couldn't help but include a few more. Here are some great shots from Mom S...

 

With Grandma Gigi

 

 

Ella's Countdown to Canada Chart

We had to stop talking about our trip to Canada weeks ago because Ella was having trouble understanding that the trip was still a long way off. It was challenging because as we got closer to the travel date and we starting planning our trip in more detail, Andrey and I naturally started getting excited. 

But once we got back from the retreat and our trip was only a week away I thought of doing some kind of visual and tactile project to help Ella prepare and understand how much longer she had to wait. I came up with this chart to show how many times Ella will sleep in her bed at night before we go to Canada. (As soon as I finished it I realized I should have reversed the order of the numbers.)

 

Each morning, Ella and I run to the chart together and cover another photo of her sleeping in her bed. 

So as of today, it looks like this. Only three more sleeps!

Every day, Ella talks about riding on a big airplane and seeing friends and wearing warm clothes but thankfully she is not crying to go today and we are not having conflict over her not being allowed to wear all her warm clothes here and now in this heat. I think she clung to those clothes so strongly weeks ago when I had her try them on because she thought if she was wearing them it meant we were leaving soon. This chart is definitely helping her endure this last week of waiting. 

Our girl LOVES to travel and that makes me happy. I'm having so much fun packing her pink carry-on backpack. Last time I prepared too many toys and not enough snacks. This time I'm correcting that problem. Ella and I went shopping for snacks yesterday. I let her pick out several things that we only eat on special trips or days at the beach. Her favorites? Cheetos, BBQ Chippy (local chips kind of like Fritos), chocolate wafer cookies and M&M's. Our only problem now is that she can't stop talking about when she gets to eat the Chippy. :-)

Retreat Weekend

Last weekend the organization my husband works for hosted a SE Asia regional directors retreat. Lucky for me and Ella we too were included. We stayed in a GORGEOUS resort only two hours from the city where we live. The highlight? Besides getting some time for quiet reflection and some amazing meals, I got to go scuba diving for the first time! Andrey has done it before so he sent me along for the group scuba session.

It was a bit scary at first but once I was down, I was able to stay relaxed and enjoy. Our guides told us we'd only go to about 6 meters but we ended up going to 10 or 11. Pretty good for a first dive, I guess. We started at the shore and swam out to a beautiful reef wall. What fun to get to try something new with a fun and wonderful group of people in such a beautiful setting.

Andrey took Ella on a kayak while we dove. She loved it so much she fell asleep.

 

 I think this photo is hilarious. And I wasn't even trying to look so dorky!

Ella didn't want to leave when it was time to go. She kept saying, "No home. Stay here." She got several hours of pool time every day, so I don't blame her.

 

We live in a beautiful place and I don't take it for granted. What a gift to enjoy so much of it so often. I couldn't help but feel a bit guilty when we first arrived, thinking of all my friends who work so hard and either rarely or never get to go to a place like this. While I was thinking about this I realized how I can often feel sorry for myself and find it very hard to understand why there are so many impoverished women I meet that become pregnant so easily when they don't desire to have any more children and why at the same time, it is so difficult for some of us who desire so badly to become pregnant and carry a child to do so. If I allow myself to think about that too much I can become very upset and jealous and cry about how unfair it is but I know better not to dwell on those things too much.

It occurred to me that the fact that I get to go to a place like this when the majority of the world never leaves their neighborhood or gets a vacation makes very little sense and is also very unfair (not to mention all the other privileges we enjoy that the poor don't, like having enough money for food, access to toilets, clean water, health care, etc) and if they chose to, they could legitimately complain about how unfair life is for them (and way worse off than my small infertility problem). It causes me to ask, "Why me? Why do I get to do fun things like this?"

It didn't take me long to just be thankful and enjoy the retreat. I can say that Andrey works very hard and it's really nice that his org finds such value in rest and reflection in places that are very conducive to those things. We are thankful.

"Canada! Cold!"

Somebody is very excited about going to Canada in just a few weeks.

My sweaty little girl refused to take this hoody off after trying it on for the first time a few days ago. At her request, we got it out again today and she's worn it (and sweat in it) all morning. She is currently taking a nap in it. Oh and these new jeans, too. Gotta have the jeans Mom! 

 

Something tells me she really likes getting new clothes.

I made the mistake of getting these items out to try them on too soon because all she talks about now is going to Canada and how we must not forget to pack her hat, scarf ('neck..warm!' she says), jacket, socks and shoes. She wants them in her pink backpack and also wants us to pack another "big bag" full of stuff. Oh dear.

We've printed photos of the many family and friends she will meet so she can familiarize herself with all the new people. We did this before we went to the US earlier this year and it really helped. 

We're excited about this trip, too. Looking forward to the fall weather and getting to see some family and friends we haven't seen in several years. The main purpose of the trip is to introduce Ella to the her Canadian side of the family including her great-grandmother. If only I can get Ella to forget about this trip for now, or else the next two weeks until we go will go by very slowly.

Ella's Play Kitchen

It's finally done! I finished it tonight. I've never built anything like this before. It took longer than I expected but I had so much fun with it. The feeling of satisfaction I have right now makes me want to build more stuff!

Props to the mom at this blog for the inspiration and design. I adapted the design to make it deeper. The only power tool I used was a borrowed drill. The rest was done by hand, although I did have the big pieces cut to size for me at a lumber place in our neighborhood. Several of the smaller pre-cut pieces (ref door and shelf, oven door and base) weren't cut straight so I did a LOT of sanding and hand sawing to get them just right (or as right as I could). I am most proud of the sink and oven window holes I cut. I really did not expect to get those right so I was delighted when they both turned out great.

Overall it was a fun project and I learned a lot. I can't wait to watch Ella play with it tomorrow!

One Year Ago...

I picked her up and didn't put her down for months.

As a friend wrote to us after hearing the news that our long wait for a child had come to an end, 


All those years of waiting and hoping and disappointment were so that you would get her.  God takes all that loss and sorrow and redeems it and glorifies it.  In a little girl named Michella.

We celebrate one year together. We celebrate God's faithfulness and love in giving us Michella and for filling our desires with good things.

Truly those who hope in the Lord will not be disappointed.

I Didn't Know...

- I would be her chocolate pusher.

- that she could eat that much fish in such a short amount of time.
 
- that she would be fearless in the water and teach herself to swim.

- that she would push off from the top of a tall slide just so she could go faster.

- that she would love long airplane rides and wearing socks and playing in the rain.

I didn't know

- that she would love singing at the top of her lungs and sing in tune.

- that she would pump her arms when she runs.

- that she'd be so ticklish.

- that she would make me laugh so much.

I also didn't know what loving her would feel like or how she would meld so perfectly into our family.

Our girl turned three on Friday. On her second birthday, we hadn't met yet and we knew very little about her. Nearly a year later, we have a healthy, thriving, happy, adventurous and lively three-year-old. She is so closely knit into our hearts and lives it is difficult to imagine what life was like before she was ours.

Happy Birthday, Michella!

Play kitchen and a Potty

It's time to play catch up again. Here is a slice of life the past few weeks. 

I had this great(?) idea to fill a basin with navy and mung beans and let Ella play. The thrill has already worn off but she did enjoy filling and scooping and stirring and getting them all over the floor and helping mommy sweep them up for at least several weeks. When the scooping fun began to wear off she got creative and started to pretend the beans were water to be bathed in. Here she is washing my hair. Notice me trying to extract the navy bean from my nostril before it was lost in my brain somewhere. I found the annoyingly tiny mung beans in my hair hours afterward, not to mention all over the house for weeks.

Sure, Dad... I'll help you wash the car!

We have been swimming like crazy these past weeks. I think we've gone six times in the past two weeks thanks to two long weekends in a row and some great weather. Never a bad time for some goofy family shots... 

 

Admiring our friend, the bear (towel, that is). Andrey chose to buy this towel AWA (against wife's advice) many years back and has a weird special affection for it. Now Ella loves it too.

Ella's kitchen is coming along slowly. I just put the fridge door on today. I was able to cut the sink and faucet holes and the oven window successfully with a drill and hand saw. I was feeling pretty awesome about myself after accomplishing those. I'm having a ton of fun doing it, despite me having to adjust my expectations of how much I can get done at a time. I am so task-oriented it's so hard to stop once I get going but Ella can only entertain herself for so long. I have to do little bits at a time and then leave it for days till another chance comes around. I learned early on that using her nap time to work on it is counterproductive since the sound of the drill is not compatible with sleep. Like duh! I'll post photos once it's done.

Ella tells us when she's feeling tired or scared. We think it's great that she is able to identify these feelings and share them with us. The tired word has come up a lot lately due to all the swimming! She has learned some other emotions as well...

Hey Ella, show me your surprised face!

Okay, how about your happy face?

Sad face? (she's trying not to laugh here)

And your mad face? (Still trying not to laugh.) She usually does mad by putting her hands in fists on her hips and growls... very cute.

Who knew motherhood would make me so crafty? I just finished Ella's birthday invitations and I think these came out kind of cute. For someone who typical does not enjoy such projects, I had fun planning and making these. I got some ideas off the internet, and then one trip to the bookstore and less than $5 later, I had lots of cutting and gluing to do. Ella's really into Curious George and all kinds of animals these days so I thought this paper was perfect (it's actually wrapping paper). It has pink elephants and giraffes on it, too, just not shown in this one.

And last, but not least... The Potty. Yes, folks, it is that special because it has been the missing piece in our potty training attempts over the past six months. I will spare you all the details but suffice to say it is going well. We are seeing success at home the majority of the time and last weekend even saw a bit of success while out and about. We still have days when I feel we're not getting anywhere and then there are days when I feel like we've arrived. We are trying to follow Ella's lead so it is a gradual process with many fits and starts but I'm feeling confident enough to say now that things are coming along. It has been a practice (for ME mainly) in going with the flow, so to speak. :-)

Our Little Fish

Last weekend was a four day weekend. The weather was fantastic. After a few weeks of almost daily storms, we decided to capitalize on the hot sun and took Ella swimming three days in a row. We had a blast. 

Ella's skills in the pool have continued to improve. She amazes us with her mostly self-discovered abilities. It's so fun swimming with her because it is her absolute most fun thing to do and she goes at it with such gusto. People often watch, ask us how old she is and then comment about how good of a swimmer she is. We happen to think she is quite remarkable!