A Special Mother's Day

Sunday was a special mother's day for me and my mom. It was our first mother's day with Maya. She continues to be such a delight! Maya's gift to me was sleeping all night long again!

I also received the most heart-warming gift from Aidan, which I will cherish forever. It was a shadow box that he had decorated. Inside was a poem that he had written all by himself. The poem went like this...

Mom

You are the color of a summer garden.

You taste like the sweetest apple.

You smell like flowers.

You feel like a soft chinchilla.

You sound like a beautiful song.

Mom is a beautiful sunset.

Love Aidan

Motherhood... tough but worth it!

A Day in the Life

I was over at Catherine's blog again this afternoon and I am so grateful that she has described life in the baby's room at the Vung Tau 3 orphanage where Maya came from. It provides some insight into Maya's early life. It also explains why she loves water and showers so much. Check out Catherine's last post here. I wish we had spent more time at the orphanage.

All Night Long!

Yes, Maya slept in the crib all night long, without waking me - hooray!!!

This required some rather unconventional maneuvers that I hope I don't have to repeat every night.

Normally I wait for her to fall asleep in my bed before transferring her to the crib. However, I was feeling lucky last night because I had actually gotten her to nap in her crib yesterday afternoon (she usually has to be walked to sleep in the stroller and I am getting tired of two hour power walks every day - although I haven't been this slim for a decade :)).

So I waited until she had had her bottle and was good and drowsy and then I put her in the crib with all of her favourite things. Well... she protested... VEHEMENTLY. I tried to comfort her while standing outside the crib but she wouldn't stand for it. This is when I jumped in the crib too!! Yes - desperate times demand desperate measures.

She then calmed down and fell asleep. I wasn't sure if i was going to make it back OUT of the crib without waking her (or hurting myself!). But I did it. And she slept through the night!

YAHOO!

Hooray for Catherine and Molly!

I was just over on Catherine's blog and learned that her investigation is FINALLY complete and that she should have her adoption date soon. I am so happy to hear this news! Catherine received her referral at the same time as we did (August 2009!). She has been over in Vung Tau waiting, waiting, and waiting some more!

I hope there are no more delays for her. We will be thinking of her and Molly!

Clean Bill of Health

Today, we had a second doc appointment for Maya to receive the results of all her bloodwork and stool tests and to start her immunizations. The great news was that her bloodwork results were all normal- no anemia, no HepB or HIV, no elevated iron and no parasites of any kind in the poop. (Although she was very healthy at her referral medical, we wanted to be sure she hadn't contracted anything in the ensuing 8 months). We also seemed to have conquered any scabies.


Even though she has an immunization card from Vietnam, our pediatrician doesn't trust it. Turns out there is good reason for this as Maya had no antibodies to Hep B even though her immunization card said she was immunized. We are starting the immunization schedule from scratch.

I also brought Maya's abandonment photo and referral photos to have the doctor give her assessment again regarding age. This time we are in agreement - we think Maya is 6-8 weeks older than the birth certificate indicates (i.e., about 14-14.5 months). Even so, she is still above average height (on North American charts) and not delayed in any way. This is remarkable given the caregiver:baby ratio of 10:1 at the orphanage. I suspect the older children may have been providing a lot of additional stimulation.

In the Crib

for the whole night - what a coup!

Procedure was as follows - let Maya fall asleep in my bed. Wait 25 minutes for her to be in a deep sleep and then transfer to adjacent crib. Make sure sleep machine is on and one of my (dirty) T-shirts is in the bed. Then when she wakes in the middle of the night - let her cry for as long as I can stand it - that turned out to be only about 7 minutes (which seemed like an eternity). Rub her back and feet but do not remove from crib. Wait for her to fall back asleep.

I had to repeat the last step 2x but she stayed there until morning!

Let's see if we get a repeat performance tonight.

Addendum: Now 2 for 2!

Belated Birthday Photos

I am now only getting around to posting a few photos of Maya's first birthday "party" - it was just dinner with our family and my mother. But since there was cake, balloons, and presents, I guess it qualifies as a party. Here are a few snaps from the day (April 16).

Maya turns the big 1! Aidan's wheat-free (egg, dairy and nut free) cake recipe comes in handy.

Maya thinks it tastes pretty good!

Here she is in the cute dress that Julia gave her

Here's the cross-stitch my mom made for her. Each grandchild has received one on their first birthday. It takes close to a year for her to complete it.
Thanks Mom! It will look awesome in her room!

I can't forget Aidan's Mad Science Party that was delayed due to our trip. Here is the mad scientist himself - getting a dry ice and soap shower...

With his friends and cousins

With the cupcake tree - space themed (Jupiter and spaceships)- yellow cupcakes wheat, egg, dairy and nut-free, blue "regular"

One of his gifts was a paleontology kit to dig for dinosaurs. Here he is in our garage getting ready for the big dig!