Better late than never...

Okay, so it's taken a while, but for all you Maiya fans, here's an update! It seems like the days just get by us and we don't get anything posted here!

Maiya enjoyed her first Chesley Lake experience at the beginning of July. My family has been going every year for over 40 years now I think. Lots of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 2nd once removed, etc. cousins, and aunts & uncles of various generations were there - some meeting Maiya for the first time. The weather was a bit cold for the last half of the week, but we made it to Sauble a couple times at least. Maiya definitely loves being in the water and at the beach! She especially liked grabbing handfuls of Uncle Craig's chest hair when he took her in the water!

Poppa & Grandma Heise were in the area for holidays last week & enjoyed an overnight visit. Maiya kept Poppa entertained at the mall while Grandma & Mommy shopped! It worked out great! We're off to the "Back Bay" on the long weekend for Grandma & Grandpa Clarkson's traditional camping weekend with their "old" university friends - another tradition that spans at least 3 decades! I'm sure they're looking forward to introducing her!

Maiya hit the 8 month mark on the 28th. It's hard to believe it's been 2 1/2 months since we first met her. It seems like yesterday & forever at the same time. She's talking up a storm these days - saying "dadada" lots - but it applies to everything, not just Brett, so he can't claim it as her first word just yet! Her first tooth came through on the bottom when we were at the cottage. Another one looks like it's arriving any day now too. Her hair is filling in - now it pretty much sticks straight up! She's sitting up without support & is almost crawling. She has the back end working, but hasn't quite coordinated the hand movements at the same time. She loves to walk around while holding onto your hands & loves dancing whenever she hears music. She's imitating sounds, and has almost mastered the "bye-bye" wave. We think she's brilliant and of course, we're not biased at all!

Will post some pics of the long weekend next week...

7 months & growing!

Hard to believe, but Maiya has now passed her 7 month birthday. She just came back from her 2nd pediatrician's appointment and now weighs 14 lbs 4 oz, and is 25 inches long. She's still in the 10th percentile for weight & 50th for height, so is moving up the growth charts just fine, even though she's on the small size for weight (although if you carry her around long enough, she doesn't feel very small!). As you can see, her latest look is a very big pout - except that she uses it when she's checking something out, not when she's actually pouting!

We were back home for the long weekend - had a visit to Poppa's & Grandma's farm. She loves the swing, and of course had to have a ride on Poppa's John Deere "tractor".

Celebrated her first Canada Day with a bunch of the Brussels crew, thanks to Jimmy & Sarah for hosting a "meet & greet" for her. Also had her first visit to Great Grandma Myra's cottage on June 30th - and you can see in the picture that one visit from Maiya brings both her Grandma Trish & Great Grandma Myra to their knees!

Maiya finally got to meet her Uncle Scott, and met Uncle Matt last week too. She decided they were quite okay, and will make good playmates in the future.

She's rolling around lots now, and ends up in different places than where we left her - the other night she had rolled herself up to the suede glider we have and was trying to chew on the bottom edge of it. She loves to stand up while you hold her hands, and is starting to stand while holding onto the edge of the couch.

Off to Chesley Lake for a week at the cottage next week, so we're looking forward to seeing lots of aunts, uncles and cousins up there!

Time flies...

Our apologies to all of Maiya's fans who have patiently been waiting for updated pics & info! It's been a busy few weeks - hard to believe we've been back for 3 1/2 weeks already!

Maiya is sleeping through the night, and has been giving us up to 10-11 hours of sleeping through the night, which has been amazing! After a big event she tends to have some restless nights, but generally has been having no trouble at all. I think all the extra stimulation wears her out after the general quiet of the orphanage!

We have added green peas to her food roster, in addition to rice, oatmeal & barley, and she is doing not too badly with it -as long as the bottle is right there to follow the mouthful of food! We'll see how the green beans go later this week - and for all of you who think you are funny, no, Maiya has not tried to put her vegetables down the register to get out of eating them like her mother used to do.

She's met 3 out of 4 of her great grandmothers and loved them all. She's getting very attached to both sets of grandparents as well and other than her 2 uncles & Great-Grandma Clarkson, she's met most of our immediate family & lots of cousins & great-aunts & great-uncles too. On Monday she got to meet my old Westmount family in Kitchener (where I used to teach) and we'll see some other friends over the next few weeks too.

The strike that was delaying our condo is now over, and we have an earlier than expected (given the strike) occupancy date of August 10! So Maiya will hopefully have a room without the computer desk in it in a couple of months. We will definitely be happy to have a few more square feet of space for her to play in, especially once she starts to crawl!

As you can see from the pics, she has quite the personality! Still has lots of smiles - although trying to get 3 great-grandmas & a baby to all smile & look at the camera at one time was a challenge! She also loved her first visit to the farm, and although she got her first pair of pink rubber boots, she hasn't tried them out yet!

Maiya's health has been good - attachment continues to go well, gaining weight like crazy, and next pediatrician's appointment will likely be the beginning of getting immunizations on schedule. We have a pediatric dermatologist appointment on Friday which will hopefully answer some of our questions with recurring skin issues, but other than that she is doing great!

And Daddy celebrated his first Father's Day with a new pair of boxers to replace the ones he had to "sacrifice" while in Vietnam (see the unfortunate bathroom incident posted by Brett if you aren't familiar with this reference!)

Week One in Canada...

Well, we survived our first week back in Canada fairly well, thanks to visits from both Grandmas to help out - especially since I was sick for most of it! Maiya is settling in well, and continues to amaze us with just how many smiles she can dole out in one day!

She has had some big firsts this week:

1. First taste of rice cereal - has decided that it's okay, but it's more fun to squeeze it back out through her toothless gums as soon as we tell her what a good girl she is and take the spoon away...

2. First visit to Tim Horton's - of course had to be with Poppa Heise - you can see from the pic she isn't quite sure if she likes Tim Horton's as much as Starbucks...

3. First workout with Grandma Trish - who is determined to have her up to her gross motor milestones in record time! Looks like they were having fun!

4. First sleeping through the night...9:30 pm until 6:30 am - good for us, unfortunate for Grandma who was up with her while on her Vietnam time all last week!

Even though it doesn't seem possible, we seem to fall even more in love with her every day. Every day we are seeing her trust in us grow as she continues to learn that we are here to stay. We look forward to beginning to introduce her to everyone as she gets more secure in being with us - we guarantee she'll win you over pretty quick!

Smiles, smiles, smiles

Well, just over 3 weeks since we first met Maiya in person, and it's hard to believe how much she's changed in such a short time! The improvements in her muscle development and coordination have been incredible and she seems to be catching up to her 6 month milestones very quickly. We have a pediatrician's appointment tomorrow here in Toronto - thanks to Auntie Shannon's great connections we got one who's affiliated with Sick Kids so she will be great and should be able to help us get immunizations on schedule, skin issues looked at, etc.

I have been sick this week with ear & sinus infection (but fortunately it seems I've missed the pneumonia!) so it's been great to have my mom staying with us as Brett was back to work. In our little condo it means she's the first one up when Maiya decides it's play time in Vietnam (usually around 2:30 a.m.) so it's been great for Brett & I!

Grandma and Maiya modeled their rice hats for the blog today, as well as a shot of her obviously enjoying the change from the stainless steel & bamboo mat crib to the nice, comfy one she has now!

The final picture is a big thank you from Maiya to everyone at TLS for their support to Daddy while he's been off taking it easy in Vietnam, and for the Bumbo and other gifts she received at her welcome party at Daddy's work today. She discovered the chair is great for easy access to her toes & enjoys it immensely!

We'll keep the postings coming for a while, as our family & friends are spread out & it seems to be a good way to keep everyone posted on Maiya's progress. So if you're interested, keep checking in!

A few more pics to tide you over...

Presenting....Maiya Thanhlyn Clarkson

Here you go Poppa! Show her off!