Random photos.....

Just some random photos that I finally downloaded from my new camera I got at Christmas time....



Last week Jenna decided that she really didn't need an afternoon nap so after fighting sleep for so long, the poor little thing crashed just as I was giving her after nap snack. She's never done this before but I'm sure it won't be the last time either! Too cute!








Jenna and her Daddy just before going to the Oilers game against the.. ummm, whoever. We went to the game and lasted a whole period and ended up going home. Let's just say we won't be going to a game with Jenna until she's a little older to sit in her own seat and keep herself amused by shoveling piles of junk food into her mouth. You can dress her up, but you can't necessarily take her out.....to a hockey game that is!
















This was at New Year's at Auntie Terri's and Uncle Brad's fondue. This was the first ever article of clothing I ever bought Jenna. It was at Macy's in California and although I knew that referral was a long ways away, I couldn't resist this pretty little party dress. I remember putting it on her that night and thinking how badly my heart ached for her back then....and now here she was wearing her dress. Who would have ever thought beautiful could look this beautiful!



















Jenna's first hair cut at a cute little shop called Beaners. She picked the princess care to ride in (of course) and she was such a good little client. Better than I thought she'd be.














Amazing how cutting a few little hairs can change my baby's face soooo much. It brought tears to my eyes!




Jenna and her cousins' place in California. How cute do my three little girls' look!!

Happy 1 and 1/2 years baby!!!

I just can't believe that, yesterday, our Jenna was a 1 1/2 years old. I was looking back at old blog posts tonight and reminisced about our time in China. It feels like so long ago. Some days, my heart aches to go back to relive all those memories all over again. I know that going back for a sibling for Jenna is becoming more and more out of our reach with all the new rules that the CCAA has implemented. I am just so thankful everyday that our journey happened when it did, otherwise, who knows where we would be right now.

I wanted to post to this video again because as I was reading my archives tonight, this post in particular made me weep. Jenna has grown so much over the past 6 months that I am filled with awe at how far we've come.

Mommy and Daddy love you so very much baby girl!

Jenna's new Choo-Choo Train

Happy New Year!

It’s now the New Year and I look back at the last 6 months in complete and utter amazement that:

• We (or I should say I) actually survived the wait until referral
• I got to experience the truest feeling of love at first sight when I saw my baby’s sweet face for the first time
• We actually went to China (dude, I was in China man!!!)
• I survived the first 2 weeks home with Jenna when the husband went back to work
• The husband survived all the huge parties and rather large gatherings of people in the last 6 months (birthday, baptism, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years) because if you knew the husband, you’d understand his need for personal space
• Christmas with our little family of 3 couldn’t have been more perfect
• And last but definitely not least, Jenna completes our family in a way I never thought possible and I cherish everyday with her.
  

The husband was home for quite a few days over Christmas which was really nice. I think Jenna is a real Daddy’s girl, which warms my heart to no end, so having Daddy home for a few extra days was just up her alley.

We just had our 6 month post placement adoption visit with our social worker the other day and it went really well. There were no white gloves, which is a good thing because my house needs a good clean, and there were no harsh or negative words to be had on her part regarding our parenting. Phew. Not that I had any reason to believe that there would be a negative word to be said but I guess it’s a bit of confirmation that we’re really on the right track with her as far as her bonding and attachment goes. Jenna is a very easy going, happy, social baby and pretty much has been since we first met her. Once she gets a little comfortable around people, she has no problem going to them and saying “up, up”. This did have me a little worried but our social worker said that if she was doing that with strangers right off the bat after first meeting them, then we should have cause for concern, but she does play shy with some people, more so now that she did before, so I guess that’s a good sign. I think the bonding has gone quite well but the attachment issue always had me a little worried because of Jenna’s personality and I wondered if we were overlooking that whole process. She’s happy and friendly therefore she must be attaching to us. Not necessarily the case. Anyway, as it turns out, we’re apparently on the right track in that respect so all is good in the world.

Jenna is embarking on yet another plane ride, this time with both her Mommy and her Daddy. We’re going to California again for my little nieces’ 3rd birthday. We’ll be flying there with the husband but Jenna and I will stay a few extra days to do what the husband hates most in this world and that is TO SHOP!!!!

I'll part with a few photos from last month.

Jenna and her cousin Elijah at his 2nd birthday















At Auntie Terri's house opening her presents















Christmas Eve morning with her shopping cart from Nina
















Grandma and the Lola's dressed her up in what seemd like ALL her dress up clothes from Grandma and Grandpa all at once. She was a princess/party girl/ballerina/pocahontas all in one!

















Late Christmas Eve the husband put out all our presents for us to open and this is what Jenna got from Mommy and Daddy, her very own Leap Frog train set! She loved it! (Video to follow)

Merry Christmas!!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with love and happiness!

Pictures...

Jenna's 1 year pictures























Jenna displaying her "not so happy" face" with Santa





















All dressed up for her Christmas photos. What a cutie!!!

Is it really December already???!!!

Wow, it’s been almost a month since I posted last and quite honestly, it feels like just yesterday. My days slip passed me so quickly I’m afraid to blink in fear of opening my eyes and seeing Jenna coming home from school!!!! How do you stop it from going so fast!!!!

Anyway, we just got back from Thanksgiving trip to see my sister and her family in California. It was apparently a good time to be away as the temperatures here in Edmonton dipped into the -30 range….eeek! There were days at my sisters where we were playing with the kids in the front yard in the sun, how is that fair? Our trip was fantastic and, as always, went by too quick. Jenna had so much fun with her cousins but not so much with their little dog CoCo. Her and that dog just didn’t click, but it was so cute to see how she interacted with her. My sister taught her to waive her finger back and forth and say “No, no, no” and now she does it all the time, even when you tell her no….too cute.

As always, she’s growing like a weed. I think a haircut is in order sometime soon. My mom bought her a Halloween outfit in a size 2T for next year and we couldn’t even get it buttoned without her belly popping out! I think it might have been sized wrong because she's still wearing size 12-18 months. My little girl is growing way too fast. She still doesn’t have a lot of words that we can understand, although she seems to have her own language and we’ve become accustomed to actually understanding it. A lot of it is pointing and grunting which, sometimes, hammers on my nerves but I have to remember that it’s the only way she knows how to communicate so I have to learn to be more patient and take more time to try to teach her more words.

Her sleeping is good for the most part but there are still those days where she wakes up in the middle of night and we end up having her in our bed. And to be quite honest, I quite like cuddling with her in our bed so it really doesn’t bother me all that much.

We did the Santa picture thing when we were in Sacramento and at first, we had Jenna sit on her cousins’ lap when the 3 of them took the picture. Then she took one with Santa by herself, which would have been fine had she not turned around to see who was behind her. That was when things turned ugly…really, really ugly. My poor Jenna cried so hard there was hardly a sound coming out of her mouth. Who can blame her though, she’s never seen anything like this Santa Claus man and then her mommy leaves her on his lap and walks away. I guess I’d be pretty upset too. Needless to say, the $30 I spent on the package of pictures has her with a big crocodile tear running down her face. Oh well, it’s her first Christmas with us and it had to be done! I’ll have a good story to tell when she looks back at those pictures one day.

This week, I’ll be working on doing a legal name change for her so that we can get the ball rolling on her Citizenship, passport and social insurance number. We’ve been home with her now for almost 5 months and our 6 month post placement report will be due shortly. This is where we meet with our social worker again so that she can write up a report to send to China basically stating how Jenna is adjusting to her new life. And I can personally say that Jenna’s life is filled with more love than she can handle but more so, our home has been filled with more love, more laughter and more happiness than I could have ever dreamed of. I still catch myself sometimes staring at her in complete and utter amazement that she is in our lives. This little girl has changed my life in so many wonderful ways and I just love her to bits. She is definitely my dream come true! Today she got her Christmas photos done and she did such a good job. I was especially proud of her because this silly mama booked the photos right when she usually naps in the afternoon but she definitely exceeded my expectations.

I’ll leave you all with a few new photos….

(Okay, maybe I won't as Blogger is once again not liking me very much tonight and I'm wayyyy too tired to keep trying. I'll try again tomorrow!!!)

Where does the time go?????

I've been meaning to blog for quite a while now but when I went on the blog tonight, I didn't realize that it's been since October 19th that I've blogged last! Time is just going by way too fast. Anyway, I haven't got anything brilliant to say so I will just post the many pictures I've taken over the past few weeks...


Jenna & Allie (her Chinese "Cousin") having a play date at Chucky Cheese















"Hold on Allie, dont' be scared....I got it all under control!"
















My ladybug hotdog wraps for my halloween party. It was a hit!!
















Playing freeze dance with all the witches and princesses.















Jenna and her friends















Sporting her first ever set of pigtails....mommy was soooo happy!















Outside sledding with Daddy














"Look at me, I'm sitting on my new sled!! And I only did a face plant twice!"















Helping Daddy shovel the snow

Pictures....

Finally, blogger let me post some pictures on here.

I can't believe we've now been home with Jenna for 3 months (on the 14th). 3 months doesn't seem like a long time when you think of it, yet it feels like we've been a little happy family for much longer than that.

There are so many 'firsts' that we get to spend with Jenna and it excites me to no end. Halloween is coming up and I can't wait for her to finally be a part of my crazy Halloween kiddie party and don't get me started on Christmas.....I. CAN'T. WAIT! I was at Costco the other day and saw the most beautiful 12ft pre-lit Christmas tree that would look absolutely gorgeous in my living room but I'm having a bit of a problem convincing the husband that we NEED TO HAVE THIS TREE!!!! He's all about practicality, which I love about him, whereas I am all about wanting a beautiful Christmas tree for my beautiful daughter to climb up on! I'll work on him this weekend and see if he'll cave. Oh, and if we get a new tree........we need new ornaments! He doesn't need to know that part!! Oh the fun the Jenna and I could have shopping for Christmas tree stuff. Okay, I'm starting to hyperventilate, must calm down.

Last year, I remember just wanting to crawl into a hole a week before Christmas and not wanting to come out until after New Year's. What a difference a year makes....especially when you have a new little daughter to love. Now I look forward to all the holidays and special occasions that we get to spend with my family and friends. Even children's birthday parties get me excited and I remember dreading those the most. I would watch everyone have a little someone to dote on while I sat on the couch in the corner just feeling useless and hoping I could just disappear. All that has changed now though. Jenna has taught me to play, laugh and love like I thought I never could and I thank God for her every second of every day!


Can you see the pony tail????? Victory AT LAST!















My little cutie.
















My little dancing Sumo















Jenna looks bigger than her cousin who is a year and half older!















My nephew Elijah and his bevy of ladies















The "Godparents"

This, that and the other....

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone for all of us Canadians and now, like many others, I am left with heaps of leftovers with not a lot of ideas of what to do with it. By the time I decide to make something out of it, it will need to be thrown in the garbage because it’s too old. Oh well, I’m not the greatest fan of leftovers anyway. And now with Gary being out of town all week, it’s just the babe and I around here. This will be the first time Daddy will be away from us for so long. Last night I heard Jenna rustling in her crib a bit so I took it as an opportunity to take her out and come and sleep with me. I’m such a little scardy cat, but it sure was nice having her in my bed to keep me company. I will really try to let her have a good nights sleep in her own bed tonight though.

Jenna has recently decided that she’s not really interested in her long naps during the day. She use to have 2 naps that were about 2 hours long and now I’m lucky if I get her to nap for an hour each time. She has now learnt how to stand up in her crib, which, when I witnessed it the first time on her monitor (we have a video monitor and I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone!!), it freaked me right out. I was talking on the phone with my sister and heard that she had stopped whimpering after I put her down. I looked at the monitor and there she was, grabbing the camera off the wall. I think I scared her when I came running into the room. And now, if I don’t sit in the rocking chair beside her crib until she’s totally asleep, she’ll take the opportunity to stand up as soon as I leave the room. I usually come back when she’s gotten up and she just stares at me wondering “how does she know I’m standing the minute I stand up???” Little does she know that even when she’s older, I’ll know everything!! Even if I have to hide that camera up in the ceiling where she’ll never suspect it….I’ll KNOW EVERYTHING!!!

Our REAL appointment on Friday to the US Consulate in Calgary went fine. It was a long, boring day, but Jenna now has a US Visa that expires in 2011. We obviously won’t need it for that long since she will be getting her Canadian Citizenship soon, but it’s comforting to know that I will never have to go through that awful process again!

Here are a few new pictures of our little wonton…..

(okay, blogger is not playing nice tonight so I will try again tomorrow as I am toooooo tired to keep trying tonight!)

A giggle to melt your heart.....

Gary and I love to play this new game with Jenna where we let her chase us around the island in the kitchen. She giggles like there's no tomorrow and maybe, one day, we'll let her catch us!

Long time no post....

So it’s been a while since I’ve been able to blog. Could it be that I now have a WALKING, yes, WALKING child to follow around all day! Yes, my baby girl decided, pretty much on her own that she was finally ready to walk, and walking has been the name of the game pretty much since then.

Let’s back up a bit shall we?

Her baptism a couple of weeks of ago was wonderful. It was a long day for her but she managed to keep a smile on her lovely little face all day. The actual ceremony was pretty quick. A total of about 9 families had their babies baptized and the ceremony from beginning to end only took about an hour. We were warned during our baptism classes that the priest who was performing it is always very generous with the holy water, and man oh man, did he ever soak those kiddies. I mean whole hand fulls of water 3 times over…those babies were soaked. And he was just as generous with the holy oil that went on their foreheads. I could spike Jenna’s hair with it!! All in all, it was great fun and Jenna didn’t mind it all that much. And I was so worried that her hair was going to get messed up…silly mamma. After the baptism, we hosted a dinner at our local Chinese restaurant for about 40 people and it turned out really good. My sister and my niece flew out for it and it was so nice to have the two cousins together again.

Right after we got home from the baptism, we sat Jenna on her play mat and that’s when she had made up her mind to just get up and start walking. She probably was tired of Izzy (who now corrects you and says “No, Isabelle”) running circles around her all the time and all her other little friends (Sadie and Vanessa), that she’d just had enough of being immobile. Now she walks, albeit slowly, likes Frankenstein with her hands stretched out above her head. Too. Cute.

She’s growing too fast. Where is there a pause button on babies so that they can stay little forever? Her appetite sure has slowed down and has now taken to waving her hand furiously across her highchair to avoid any more contact with food. Needless to say, this mommy is getting a taste in patience as there always seems to be a mess all over the place. But I figure she’ll go through spurts where she’ll eat a lot and then other times when food just doesn’t interest her at all. All I know is that she sure is growing and getting heavier and heavier everyday so I’m not all that concerned that she’s not getting enough to eat. Of course, show her a cookie or something sweet and that swinging arm gets tucked in gently by her side. I think my little wonton has got a sweet tooth (I call her my little wonton when I wrap her up in her towel after her bath!!!).

Other than that, our days our filled with playing, eating and sleeping and before you know it, it’s bedtime, only to start all over again the next day. Jenna and I are all by our lonesome next week while Gary is out of town so that will be a challenge. She loves playing with her Daddy every night before and after dinner and I’m sure she’ll miss him loads (as will I) but it’s only a week…right? Sometimes when he calls during the day, I put him on speaker phone to talk to her. At first she gets a little scared, probably wondering why Daddy is in the phone, but then as he talks to her she has the biggest smile on her face and it’s enough to melt a mother’s heart. He’s a wonderful father (and husband for that matter) and it’s so nice to see the excitement in her face when he walks into a room.

So yesterday, we had an appointment at the American Consulate office to get Jenna’s US Visa for our trip to California in November. Their offices are in Calgary and, for those who don’t know, it’s a very long, very boring 3 hour drive from Edmonton so we packed up the truck and woke Jenna up at 6:00 to start our journey. I thought we were going to be late as our appointment was at 10:00am. We finally got there at about 9:50 so Gary dropped us off at the door so he could find parking, and in downtown Calgary, that’s not for the faint of heart. I got in and waited for a guard to escort me upstairs and he was looking on his sheet and he couldn’t find our appointment. Then he asked me to bring out my sheets and there, clear as freaking day, the date on the top of the form says OCTOBER 6, 2006. He says he’s sorry but our appointment is not until Friday and that I’d have to come back then. The first words out of my mouth were “My husband is going to kill me”. Probably not the best words to say in front of a Consulate Guard. Well my heart sank. So I headed for the door wondering what the heck I was going to say to Gary to get me out of this predicament…should I lie and say it was their fault? As I was walking out, he was coming in and I broke the news to him. He just looked at me, shook his head and we headed back to the truck. I asked him if he was upset and he said “Sh*t happens” and that was the end of it. I was fully prepared for him to pack Jenna up and leave me standing at the side of the road, but no, he was very understanding. Did I already say what a great guy he was? This is a guy who runs a very demanding business and is busy 26 hours in a day and for him to even take a day off to drive me there was very generous on his part…..only to go back again on Friday. I may be on my own, but that’s okay. Serves me right I suppose. When does Mommy brain go away?

Anyway, I’ll try to post some pictures…hopefully blogger will let me tonight. If not, I’ll try again tomorrow.

Jenna before she started walking unassisted. She'll find anything to push around and it doesn't even have to be a toy with wheels. Chairs and stools are fair game.















Again with the chocolates....I'm such a sucker! But look how adorable these turned out!

A bug's life.....

So halloween is coming up and as some of you know, I'm a little crazy when it comes to halloween. This year I will be hosting my 3rd Annual Halloween kiddie party and I will be equipped with such things as eye ball cupcakes and smoking cauldrons (dry ice). The kids (and the parents) have always looked forward to this event but this year will be extra special for me because my Jenna will be here to witness the true kookiness of her mother....and I can't WAIT! I know that halloween is still over a month away but there is alot of preparation involved in pulling it all together. Plus, with the fact that I have a child to tend to all day, I have to start planning extra early.

So last week I thought I'd get over the Old Navy to get one of the cute costumes they have out for toddlers but as I was getting some things over at Zellers, I saw this cute little caterpillar suit. I LOVED IT!!! However, my dear daughter didn't have the same love for it......
















And being the good mother I am, I didn't even put the camera down when she was clearly not happy about being a bug. A bug only a mother could love!!!


In other news, Jenna's baptism is on the 24th of this month. The baptism gown I bought for her in China JUST fits. Length wise it's okay but it's a little tight around the Buddha belly. Oh well, she'll only have it on for a few hours. And I'm sure by then she will be walking up a storm. Right now she can pretty much take about 5-6 steps all on her own before falling into your arms. She's standing alot more, but still is struggling to get from a sit position to a standing position. All in due time I suppose.

And for those of you who keep asking about the sores on her head....the shampoo that the dermatologist prescribed to me last week as worked it's magic and it seems that there are no new sores forming and the old sores are pretty much drying up. Who knew after all these months that a simple shampoo would do the trick!!!

I will leave you all with this picture of my baby girl in her white silk baptism gown....my little angel is getting so big!!!!

Jenna on the swing....

Jenna loves going to the park down at the end of our cul-de-sac and being pushed on the baby swing. I could listen to that laugh all day.....

I'm a bad blogger....

I have such great intentions when it comes to my blog. Every little thing Jenna does that’s so cute or a new milestone that she’s conquered or even just some silly thing she did during the day, I think are all cause for a blog entry BUT I never seem to find the time to sit in front of my computer and compose something that I think would be interesting enough for all of you who follow my blog. I sometimes think I’ll sound like just another first time mommy who is absolutely head over heals in love with her little girl that how she ate her yogurt in the morning or how many poos she had in a day would be interesting to anyone other than me….and maybe her daddy.

A day in the life of little Miss Jenna is pretty much the same….busy! I try to make it so that there are a couple of days during the week where we have nothing planned or don’t have to go out and run errands but lately, there aren’t many down days in this household. My life before Jenna would have me out of the house pretty much all day doing…well….not a lot of things that were necessarily productive but a lot of fun for me. Things that I think about every now and again and think I may get to do again when Jenna is older and in school. Things like play a round of golf (badly) during those beautiful summer mornings and not care how long it takes, go for lunch and a movie once a week or just go out to eat at a nice restaurant and not have to tear food into tiny bite sized pieces or bring my famous diaper bag that literally has everything Jenna might need for a week away (I’m still learning that I don’t need 10 diapers for an afternoon out!). But all those thoughts sort of fade away when I think of how much I love having my little sidekick to hang out with all day. All that other stuff is nice to be able to do, but she is my best work in the making!

Tomorrow is her long awaited dermatology appointment and it can’t come soon enough. When we were in China, she would get these sores on her head that she would scratch like nobody’s business, and then they would start to puss and get all gross. It would come, stay a few days and then go away, only to come back a few days later. Well, it hasn’t stopped and in fact, it started to get worse. I’ve been to the pediatrician who thought it was scabies so we treated her for scabies….not scabies, then she tested them for parasites….not parasites. Over the weekend we went boating on the river and I thought she got a few insect bites on her arms. Then a few days ago, I thought she had bumped her head on something because there were a few marks on her forehead. Well it turns out that all of the sores weren’t what I thought, they turned out to be the same thing she’s got on her head, in all its pussy glory. So hopefully tomorrow I can find out exactly what it is and get rid of it once and for all. She never really complains much about it. She usually scratches them when she sleeping or when she actually looks at them and remembers they’re there. I did put 2 band aids on her arm and today, when she was getting up from her nap, I walked into her room and noticed she had something in her mouth. Well, she had picked both band aids off and was chewing on them. Thank goodness I walked in when I did or she would have choked and I don’t know baby CPR! I think I scared her when I freaked out because she started doing the ‘ugly cry’, you know the one where you can’t seem to catch your breath. Poor thing.

Today we met Jenna’s China cousin 'A' and her mom for lunch. They haven’t really seen each other since China and it was so nice to see her again. ‘A’ has been learning sign language and is the cutest little smarty pants, and then there’s my Jenna, babbling whatever to whoever, throwing food all over the floor and picking her nose (okay, so she wasn’t picking her nose but she may as well have, she was being naughty!). It was great fun anyway to have the girls together again.

Well that's it for tonight...the morning comes too fast. I haven't downloaded my pictures from my camera yet but I'll try to get pictures on here tomorrow.

Jenna's video debut...

Just a little something I've been working on.....enjoy!

(to watch on the blog, click the play button on the bottom left hand corner. Just a warning...it's 10 minutes long and you need sound!)

Time flies when you're having fun!!

Wow, I can't believe that it's almost September and we've been home for over a month and a half. The days seem to go by so fast lately it almost makes me sad that. Before I know it, my little Jenna is going to grow up! I would love for her to stay the age she is now because I just can't imagine how much more fun she can possibly be. I'm having so much fun being her mom, and I'm sure it helps that she is such a good, well natured baby. Whether it's running errands and being in a car during her waking hours, or going shopping at the mall, she's always so easy to please and is just happy when either her Daddy or I are around her. I love it when her daddy comes home from work and she starts to kick her legs and reaches for him even before he has a chance to put down his things. I also love it when you do that one silly thing that brings out the deep-down belly laughs. And I love it when you ask her for a kiss, she leans into you with her mouth open ready to give you a slobbery kiss. Now if all that doesn't warm a mother's heart, I don't know what does!

I keep saying that she's going to start walking any day now, but, other than 2 or 3 unassisted steps, she still hasn't 'officially' walked. She has, however, started to use furniture to get around and can stand for longer periods of time. She now knows that the distance between her butt and the floor isn't really that far so she would rather fall on her butt than stand sometimes. Oh well, it isn't like we're not trying!!!

I've finally booked an appointment this week to get her 1 year photos done, so hopefully I'll be able to post a few on here when I get them. Until then, here are a few photos of my little Empress. I seem to be doing very badly on camera duty lately. I just keep forgetting to take the darn thing with me all the time. I'll try to be better!


Jenna's feet at the 'beach' where we take our boat out to.
















Jenna being all proud to be standing all by herself!

More pictures....

Jenna hanging out with her cousins and her cousins' cousins in the backyard















Jenna, Alex and Izzy by the World Waterpark at West Edmonton Mall















The "Empress" awaiting her cake















Alex giving Jenna her first taste of a Drumstick....mmmmmm















Jenna and Izzy at the beach on the North Saskatchewan River. Jenna didn't like that we covered her feet with sand...on the other hand, Izzy is delighted!!!

Family fun.....

So my family from California who have been staying with us for the past 3 weeks are now back home, safe and sound. It’s been a crazy few weeks full of family gatherings, road trips, family reunions, shopping and eating…..lots of eating. I feel like I was on vacation!! Jenna had such a good time with her cousins (and Nina and Nino) and was showered with love each and every day. The day after they left, I could tell she was looking for them at every turn. She was very sad to see them go (as was I). I was even too busy to blog…..sorry about that.

Over the last few weeks, many celebrations were had on Jenna’s behalf. First off, there was her birthday party which turned out fantastic. Jenna was a little overwhelmed at all the family at first but after her nap (she had 2 that day), she opened up and was completely adorable. I don’t know that she really knew what was going on or even what to do with the cake! Do one year olds really know it’s their birthday anyway??? Then a week after there was the family baby shower that my best friend Kelly threw for me. My mom and my aunties pretty much handled all the food and boy was there a lot of food. It was a great shower with a lot more toys to fill her play room and clothes to fill her closet. Then, the weekend after that (just this past Sunday), there was the friend shower that my other best friend Erica threw for me. It was much tamer than the shower before and was just the right size to be able to share food and conversation with close friends.

Jenna continues to flourish everyday. She still isn’t walking or crawling but she’s able to stand for a few seconds at a time, when she feels like it. I’m sure she will be walking in no time, although, I don’t know that I want to push her all that much. It’s nice to sit her down on the floor and know that she’ll pretty much be in the same spot when I come back!!! She’s now able to play by herself for longer periods of time without having me or Daddy by her side every second. This, in itself, is great as it allows me to get things done during the day!!! It was so great having my nieces around as they pretty much played with her non-stop, leaving me to get a lot done. I wanted to keep them both just for that very reason, and also because I love them so much!!! She also babbles a lot more and can play cute little games with you. Grandma taught her how to play Close-Open (a silly little Filipino song) where she opens and closes her hands. What’s really cute is when all of us (Grandma, my sister and I) sing and she’ll dance and dance….it’s the funniest thing to watch and we did it over and over again when we were out at my brother-in-law’s parents’ house for dinner one night. Too bad I didn’t whip out the camera!!!

Jenna has now been with us for a month and half and I still stare at her in amazement and wonder how in the world we got such a wonderful baby. I honestly can’t imagine my life without her. She seems to take everything in stride. She’s met so many new people since she’s been home and she’ll fuss with a few people but she’s pretty much happy with everyone she meets. I have a big family so when we have a family gathering, you know it’s going to be huge. I wanted to introduce her to this scene early as this is something she will grow up knowing and, I’m sure, loving as she gets older. I know I love it when my family gets together. It can be chaos sometimes, but just having all of them around warms my heart and I’m sure Jenna will feel the same way too.

Jenna's first trip to Galaxyland in West Edmonton Mall















Jenna and her adorable cousin Izzy in matching bikinis (see her bouda belly...)
















Jenna's 1st Birthday Party (she actually kept that clip in her hair for a couple of hours!!)















(blogger won't let me post any more pictures....I'll try again later!!)