Ok......finally!!!

This feels so good to finally post again with pictures. I went almost a month without my own camera. Channing being Channing was taking pictures out at the lake one day when she dropped my camera......needless to say the lens got bent and the camera store told me it would'nt be worth sending it away to get it fixed. I tried to research and find the right camera (I have no clue about all the bells and whistles) so hopefully I bought the right one.....so far so good!! I was using my parents camera in the meantime, but I wasnt able to download them on my computer.....so sorry no pictures of the last month to share.

Yesterday marked 2 months that we have been home. Its sooo hard to believe that it has been that long. It seems like only lastweek we were in China. Tonight when I opened my blog to do this post I realized my "ticker" said 72 days since Channing in my arms........72 days.....WOW!!! It feels like I have had her FOREVER.....she is everything I dreamed of and more!!! She is doing AMAZING, and there is no issues at all with attachment or anything. She seems to be doing great. I think I will be lazy since I have so much to share, I will try these bullets out that others are using.

• Channing is loving school. She knows all the kids names and will tell me who was bad and who was good on the way home. She knows her months, days of the week, ABC's, colors, shapes and can almost recite all the letters by sight. She also knows the weather (cloudy, sunny, rainy) and the seasons. She cant wait for the SNOW to come....she has no idea what our winter will be like and that SNOW is COLD!!!
  

• She seems to be a follower right now. She will do whatever someone else does. Hunter is still her "hero" so if he doesnt listen then she tends to follow. The only real issue is if he is not listening to the swimming instructor then she wont either. We had a few weeks were both kids would be sitting on the edge of the pool having timeouts. But the good news is we now have gone 2 weeks without them.
  

• Channing amazes me daily......its so amazing what can come out of her mouth. Today we seen a airplane in the sky and she told me that babies were coming from China!!!
  

• She still has a great appetite and eats pretty much anything I put infront of her. Her fav foods are still rice. noddles, chicken, Mc D's, pizza, fruit and she really likes salad. She loves milk and water. I try and give her juice once in awhile, but she only has a few sips.

• She isnt a real fan of breakfast. Most days she will only have a few oatmeal cookies.....but this past week she has had peanut butter toast. Hopefully she will continue, but I'm not breakfast person either.
  

• She has a really good memory. We can meet someone and then see them a few weeks later and she can remember there names. Even our travel group she can look at our group picture and say most of their names and who each child belongs too. Every once in awhile she will ask me about someone who she hasnt seen for awhile. All I can think about is how she can remember them!!

• It seems the honeymoon phase is over in Hunter's eyes. He has been so great with Channing but the last few weeks I can really see him getting jelouse. He is starting to be rough with her and not sharing. Channing just sits back and takes it all in.......he is still her bestest bud. When they are at school the teacher tells me that Hunter acts and protects Channing like a big brother.......so cute!!!

• Bedtime is a breeze. I just tell Channing that its bedtime and she climbs in and goes to sleep. She will sleep straight through the night and is out for 10-12 hours. In the morning she wakes up happy and always comes and crawls into bed with me for some tickles on the back. My favourite time of the day!!!

• Shopping: Up until a few weeks ago I dreaded going shopping with her. It all started when Grandma took her shopping one day and let her run loose in the mall. Since that day I couldnt keep her in a cart or stroller. But now it has gotten better and I can usually bribe her with a piece of bubble gum. We can now go shopping again!!!

• Gum: my kid is addicted to gum. She obviously had gum in China. She loves it and want gum all the time. I dont have a big issue with her having it since she doesnt swallow it and always will put it in the garbage.

• My kid is really Canadianized now. When we were in China she would take her clothes off and fold them up nice and neat, she would fold her blankets in the morning, she would pick her toys up, she would put garbage in the garbage......now its all the complete opposite. I'm constantly bending down picking up after her. But if I tell her to help clean the house she gets right in there and helps. The other day we spend 3 hours in the yard raking leaves and tiding up. She was right in there helping the whole time.

• My girl who loved pink, sparkles and frills is slowly disappearing (YES!!!). She loves her jeans, t-shirts and baseball hat. Now she could care less what I put on her or what color it is. The odd time she will tell me YUCK, but very rarely. She had a hard time wearing tights for the first time, but now is fine with them.

• I still will put a pull-up on Channing at bedtime. She is doing very well and has only had 1 "wet" one in the last 2 weeks. She will get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom if she needs too. Sometimes she will call for me other times she will go by herself.......so all is good!!

• Her Chinese is disappearing fast. She will still watch her Chinese Dora DVD's daily, so she is still understanding it but is not speaking it very often. Every now and then I will hear her sing her Chinese songs, but is becoming less and less. Now I will ask her how to say a word in Chinese and she will tell me.......we had a episode where she was trying to teach me how to say "bubbles" in Chinese and she was laughing so hard at how I was saying it....nice hey??? I have tried to make contact with some Chinese people here, but Channing wont speak to them in Chinese. She says NO and will walk away. I'm beginning to think that she thinks if she speaks Chinese to them that she may have to go back to China.....thats my thoughts. I'm going to be taking her to another city a hour away for weekly Chinese classes here soon. So hopefully it will all come back to her. I really, really want her to keep it.

• Her English is amazing. She speaks everything and sentences now. There isnt anything that she doesnt understand. You can ask her a question or tell her to do something and she knows exactly what you are saying. She will get shy around people and wont talk as much, but at home.....my ears are ringing because she doesnt quit!! She is like her mother.....loves to chat!!!

• Lately she has become very clingy to me. She constantly wants me to carry her or hold her. Even on the couch she wants to sit on me. She says "sit with my mommy"....too cute!! I'm slowly getting her back to walking herself, but in the same breath I'm enjoying this stage. It really helps secure the bonding/trust issues.

• I'm no longer Mamma, I'm Mommy. Saige is not her puppy she is her Mei Mei (little sister)
  

• We look at our China pictures daily. Channing loves looking at them. She even looks at all her pictures of her friends in the orphanage and her foster family. Today she said "LiLi has a mommy"......so I wonder is she is wondering if LiLi (her best friend) has a mommy yet or is still at the orphanage. I really dont want Channing to forget China, so this makes me really happy that she wants to look at all her China treasures. Anything that we bought in China she is proud of. She will say "mommy this is special, its from China". She even likes to look at my China Travel Guide book.....good grief hey??
  

• Toys: My girl loves to play with cars and trains. She pays very little attention to her dolls. But I think this may be influenced by Hunter. But that is OK....I liked cars too!! She loves watching TV now and her favourite is Dora. She also likes Toppy & Binoo, Thomas the Train and Barney.
  

• She loves the lake, loves being outside, loves going in the car, loves riding her gator and bike, loves to run, loves to color & draw and loves to throw the ball and frisbee for Saige.
  

• My girl is going to be a gymnast. We will start gymnastics in January and I'm affraid she will want to start dancing too. She is really starting to bust a move around the house. I will have to get some videos of her. Today I caught her jumping on the basement couch, landing on her butt then doing a backwards flip. She did it over and over......very flexible girl too.

Well I think thats enough for this post. As you can see my girl is growing so fast and is my dream come true....she is my HERO!! I love her more and more eachday and everyday gets better and better. She is the bravest girl I know !!! Her smile never goes away!!!

My happy girl

Channing and her puppy

Eating her pizza and Saige waiting for something to drop

Channing and her cousin Brogan

Hunter and Brogan.......my boyzzz!!!

Riding her bike at the lake

Hunter and Channing

Channing and Hunter

Brushing her teeth......happens a number of times a day!!

Hunter and Channing at swimming lessons

Yesterday I was in Saskatoon and got a chance to finally meet up with Lorraine. Lorraine and I have been communicating for almost 2 years and we finally got to meet. Lorraine is also adopting from China and is using the same agency as I did. She and her husband will have their referral, hopefully this week!!!! She is wonderful and I cannot wait to meet up with her again!!!

Lorraine, me and Channing

I have now been keeping up with all your blogs. Sorry, havent mastered making the time to comment yet, but know that I'm following along. I really, really miss you all but I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to cheer all of you on that are still waiting.....and of course love to see the updates to those who are home.....HUGS to you all!!!!

Tomorrow we are heading to a "Welcome Home Shower" for Channing. A lady at the lake is having it for us.....so of course Channing is pumped for the PARTY!!! So pictures to follow tomorrow night.

Thanks to all of you who have stuck around and waited for a post!!!