Is she yours or adopted?

The yellow chair photos





"You look funny mommy!"

It is funny how 8 months seems an eternity and yet somehow like yesterday. I honestly cannot remember a day when Maya wasn't our daughter and I'm a bit sad that time is passing so quickly as she changes on a daily basis. I can remember long before Maya had a face that there was a little glimmer of questioning whether or not I would love Maya with the intensity of a birth child. Would it matter that this child didn't look like us? I knew I would love this child there was no doubt but I thought it would take longer to grow to love her. I just had no idea how much capacity for love I had. I think for both of us it was pretty much love at first sight. Our families have expressed the same sentiments and they couldn't love her any more then they already do.


"What do you have in here Papa?"


"How many zero's are in a million?"


"I'd like to make a wire transfer to China please."


"I'll share my millions with you Nanny!"

It never really dawns on me that she doesn't look like me or that she is adopted. It is only when the outside world mentions it do I have to sit back and take note of how she became a part of our family. I was at the park last week and a woman asked "is she yours or adopted?" The only answer I could say was "both". I found the question a little funny. Of course I know most people are just curious and have no ill intentions when they ask. But it did make me realize that our life will be filled with strange little comments that will undoubtedly be more annoying as Maya grows and becomes aware of what people are asking. Even the other day I was chasing Maya through the butterfly pavillion and this woman looked down and said "oh dear, where is your mommy?" Now being that I was only 6 inches away from her with the frantic look on my face you would have thought it would be obvious who her mommy is! I must admit it did irritiate me slightly but the reality is that my daughter has a Chinese face and I don't. The outside world doesn't see how much alike we are. Like the way Maya licks her fingers before turning the pages of her books, or makes a funny face when she smiles (John swears she got this from me) or that she has some incredibly bad dance moves which she thinks are fabulous (yeah ok she did get that from me). They don't see that her hairline, and ears are exactly like her daddy or that she shares in his incredibly warped sense of humor. By the way, they are eachothers best audience. And she is stubborn to a fault which is something that is part of both John and I. My point is that Maya could not be more ours then had she been cloned from our DNA. YES SHE IS OURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


"I'm a lover not a fighter."

And nothing makes you more of a parent then when you have a sick child. Maya battled rotovirus a few weeks ago and it was not pretty. For those of you who don't know what rotovirus is if you have a weak stomach you might want to skip this paragraph. Maya started with 5 days of puking along with explosive diarrhea. I'm talking gallons of green liquid. Diaper changes were continual. We would just get one mess cleaned and another explosion. Lets just say the diaper levy was breached almost every time. Here is the conversation as it went at the doctor.

Dr: "Your daughter has rotovirus."
Me: "How do you get it?"
Dr: "It is transmitted oral-fecally." At this point my mind is processing what he is saying.
Me: "Your saying my child eats poo?" I'm thinking back to a few weeks ago when I caught Maya running down the hall with the plunger that I thought was secretly tucked away." Did she perhaps enjoy a plunger lollipop before I found her? Of course I'm crushed and feel like such a failure. We wash after diaper changes etc....how could I allow this to happen?

Sensing my defeat and feeling like I failed Maya the doctor told me that kids her age often explore their bodies and that daycare kids also have a higher incident too. The incubation period is a couple of days which would have made it a daycare day so I just quit beating myself up about it. Anyway rotovirus can last up to 10 days and hers did. Lets just get something straight. No diaper on the market can contain the poop explosion of rotovirus! Trust me we tried them all. What I want to know is how it is possible for a twenty pound toddler who has not eaten in days to completely dowse her self in poo from head to toe? Where is it all coming from? This is one of the mysteries of life. John has become quite the expert in poop detail and has perfected the art of baby clean up. I am proud to say that I have officially learned the art of becoming a vomit shield. You see it is much easier to shower me then to be scrubbing floors and chairs in the middle of the night. Yes this is true love people!


Paging Dr. Maya


"I don't feel like I have a temperature!"


Checking mommy's heart beat



Enjoying the last of winter......we hope!



Maya amazes us on a daily basis. She has become very verbal and has added a lot of new words to her vocabulary (hat, book, bye, no, yeah, whoa, cheese, baby, boom, keys, hot, shoe, sock, stuck, duck, peepee, milk, snack, side which can mean outside or slide). It can be most frustrating when she is asking for something and we aren't quite sure what it is. Luckily she won't hesitate to lead us around and point to what she means. Then the word she is saying becomes so obvious. We are also working on manners. Please is "peez "and thank you is "dee do" Her tone is right on when she says it so it is sweet to hear her say it. By the way when Maya has an explosion she looks at the diaper and says "I'm sick" Unfortunately instead of the (s)she uses a (d). You figure it out. She also shrugs her shoulders when you ask her where something is. Very cute!




"I dunno know!"

Her favorite toys are her leggos, and blocks. So far her record for block stacking is 10. Number 8 while she was gracefully standing on her tip toes and number 9 and 10 required daddy to hold her up. She loves books although she still lacks patience to wait until we are finsished reading before tunring the pages. She loves music and to get her groove on. She has started twirling and asks to put a hat and dress or tutu(compliments of Aunt Linda)on in order to get the full dramatic affect. She has dress up and pretend day at daycare so I think that must be where that has come from. She has a great imagination and can pour an imaginary drink like a pro with the sound effects and everything.


"If only I were taller!"

"Thanks daddy!"

Maya is into everything!!!!! If it can be climbed, she is scaling it. If her body will fit in it, she crawls in. We have nicknamed her hurricane Maya because she can destroy a room in a matter of minutes. Luckily she has gotten pretty good at picking up too. She loves being outside so we are savoring the nicer weather and the lack of mess in the house. The snow has finally all melted and we have had serveral great park outings and walks. Exhausting as much energy as possible is an important part of the day.


Sitting in the kitchen drawer


Say Cheeeeeeez......literally!


"This could be fun!"

"YES, it is fun!"


Hiding under the bathroom sink


Helping mommy.....sort of.

Everything has taken on a whole new dimension now that Maya is mobile. For instance grocery shopping which used to be pretty uneventful is now a major pain with a toddler. I feel like I'm trapped in some bad grocery game show of the 70's as I'm frantically trying to get my items into my cart and avoid Maya destroying it before we reach the check out stand. The straps on the cart are too big and Maya can climb out of them so I decided on one trip to try the obnoxious kid cart. At this particular store I was steering about 8 feet of car and cart. I could barely maneuver the isles it was soooooooo long. I can remember laughing at moms who would put their kids in such things and here I was barely taking out the end cap displays with the thing. It worked great except the design of this particular car did not allow me to see that Maya could still reach all the items in the basket. When I got to the check out stand she had opened and unloaded 3 boxes of Kleenex. I just smiled at the clerk at had him bag up my confetti of tissue. The next store visit after that I went to put Maya in a normal cart and she looked at me with the big brown eyes and pointed to the fun cart. It was a different store and the cart was a lot smaller so I gave it a try. The car part of it sits close to the ground away from the basket so it was a much better experience. Maya had a blast and had everyone laughing because she was steering and yelling "whoa!!!! whoa!!!!! the whole way. Apparently she thinks mom is a crazy driver.


Driving 101


"YEEHAW!"


Checking out the pinecones she collected


Getting reacquainted with chopsticks

She is also absolutely obsessed with her potty chair. I've had it stored in her closet and decided that I should move it to the bathroom since she was constantly sitting on it beneath her hanging clothes. She hasn't quite grasped the concept of it all but now tells us when she has peed and leads us by the finger to sit on her potty. Of course the pee is already in her diaper but we go through the motions anyway. She pretends to wipe and then says goodbye as we close the lid. It has been nice knowing when her diaper needs to be changed. Unfortunately she doesn't understand that the pee bowl is not a hat as we often catch her wearing it on her head. Hopefully she will curb this habit once she actually starts peeing in the bowl. She also thinks the bowl is great to put her feet into to get onto her potty. We still have many things to obviously work on before we are in full potty training mode but we are happy that she is showing interest on her own. The following pictures are a bit blurry but totally unscripted and without coaxing by us. Taking clear pictures is a bit of a challenge these days with and active girl.





"Who needs a potty when I can read right here!"

We enjoyed Easter with our China travel group. These families have literally become our extended families. I believe we had eleven of the 15 families there. It was great fun to see all the babies happy and full of life. Much different then the timid, shy and sad girls we saw in China. Tillie and her family came all the way from California which was a great treat for Maya. They stayed with us for a couple of days and Maya just loved having another baby here when she woke up in the morning. Maya has become extremely affectionate and loves to hug and kiss so she was smooching Tillie lots. When I picked her up at daycare the other day I was told that she is constantly kissing all the other kids. So I'm sure they all have rotovirus this week too! OOOOPS! We'll just call her the kissing bandit.


Patiently waiting


The kissing bandit strikes again!


Tubby mohawks with Tillie


Easter


Maya and Uncle Morgan


Attempting to take a group photo

Overall Maya is a very happy girl in the day. She still struggles with sleeping and it is hard to know for sure the cause. She has gotten 8 new teeth in the past few weeks and I think she is having some nightmares as well. The funny thing is the lengths a parent will go to in order to get their child some sleep. Driving Maya around for a couple of hours usually does the trick at nap time. Of course I have to avoid the red lights so she doesn't wake so a country drive is usually in order. One night after she had finally fallen asleep I was getting her clothes ready for daycare. She started to stir and I panicked. If she were to see me she would be up for another hour or so. I looked at the door which seemed way too far to chance it so I instinctively dove underneath the crib. Now at 41 I'm just not as agilie or as skinny as I used to be. I forgot that I had some things stored underneath her crib so I could barely get my hips underneath and my legs were sticking out from under the crib. I suddenly had a horrible thought. "What if she stands up and looks over the edge and sees legs sticking out from below?" That would for sure ruin her. So I did my best pretzel bend and remained there for over 30 minutes while she babbled and rolled around in bed. I think next time I'll chance it and go for the door.


Twirling


"Here I am!"

She continues to grow and her legs have finally gained an inch with her over all height gain of about 4 inches since we have been home. She is wearing 9-12 month clothes with 9 month clothes fitting perfect and 12 month clothes still a bit on the big side. She is 19lbs 5 oz per her doctor visit this last week. I think she lost a few pounds from being sick. She is still short for 18 months but overall has lots of baby pudge so she now looks nice and healthy. This is such a fun age and we look forward to more and more adventures in the months to come.


Sharing her favorite sitting spot with daddy


The Haugs

Happy New Year

Our sweet maya

Happy 2007. Maya just turned 15 months and has been with us now for 5 months. As of today she is now 18lbs and 10oz and she is wearing 6-9 month clothes size. Wow how fast time has gone. In many ways it seems like Maya has been with us since her birth, and of course we can't really remember life before Maya. It seems like we have always been her parents. Funny how that happens. Our conversations now revolve around the consistency of Maya's bowel movements, what she ate, what made her giggle etc... "Ah who says the romance is gone when you have kids?" Actually, we wouldn't change anything. She has brought a whole new dimension to our lives which is so exciting and fun......oh yeah exhausting too!

Maya is walking really well. We often get stared at when we are out and about and often stopped by people asking how old she is because it does look a little strange seeing someone her size cruising along. To me she looks so big now but then I see her around other kids her age and realize she is still tiny. Tiny in size but BIG in personality. She is very quick when she wants something. Her favorite thing lately is to be in the refrigerator. If she even sees us open it she pushes her way in and sits on the bottom edge of the fridge. She has even tried to scale some of the shelves. It is a constant battle of who can be faster. I have to know exactly what I'm going in for otherwise if I linger then I'm wrestling her out of it.


"This looks like a good place to sit!"




"If only I could get to the top shelf"

She loves to help out mommy like unloading the dishwasher.....when I'm loading it. She also enjoys helping put clothes from the washer into the dryer. I praise her for helping because I know some day she'll not want to be so helpful. However, sometimes I find interesting objects in the dryer such as dog bones or toys that have slipped passed the mommy inspection. Another favorite pastime is putting all of her blocks or little plastic balls down our shirts or even in her pajamas. I came home from work one night and she looked like she had popeye muscle legs from all the things she had hidden in her clothes. She was walking around like nothing ususual.It didn't look particularly comfortable. Maybe she was just trying to get us to take her clothes off. The girl loves to be naked! The minute we even remove a shoe she starts getting crazy wild with laughter and jumping up and down. Once she is naked it is a mad dash to try and get clothes on her again.



Ignoring that sticker on the container which showed a baby with a slash through it.

She has also started saying a lot of new words. So far her vocabulary includes "dog, meow, (she says that whenever our cat walks by), uh oh, mom, dada, apple, ice, up, and out (she sounds a bit Canadian when she says that one). And oh yes she also says "TAHDAH!" when she does somersaults courtesy of Aunt Linda. Her little voice sounds so sweet. It has been amazing to watch her blossom over the past 5 months. We had many rough days and nights in the beginning and it is so great to see her getting more and more comfortable in her surroundings. She still has the occassional night terror but they are less frequent now.



Hanging out

As many of you know we have been bombarded with snow since before Christmas. One blizzard right before the holiday and another a week later followed by smaller storms continually throughout the new year. We have all gone a little stir crazy not being able to go outside much. Maya seems a bit fascinated by the snow and like everything she is very observant and just takes things in stride.


First blizzard 12/06



New friends: Sadie Maya and Maelyn

Our first Christmas with Maya was incredible for us. We feel so lucky to have her here with us and she is the best gift we could ever have. Maya seemed pretty overwhelmed by the holiday and seemed to find solace in the paper and the boxes more than anything else. She would carefullly tear small bits of paper off each package and hand it to us. A long process of unwrapping but as with everything in parenting patience is the key.



Dressed up for Christmas


Who needs presents when you have a box!


I have all the necessities....ready to move in!


Trying out her new backpack from auntie Kristi and uncle Brad

We took our first plane ride since our trip home from China and ventured to Seattle to see John's mom, sister and niece. Now that Maya is walking she was not to keen on sitting still on the plane ride. Funny how a 2.5 hour flight seemed way longer than the long flight from China. Maya also got to experience her first ferry ride over to Vashon island where John's mom lives. She seemed to enjoy the boat ride and was very curious about her new surroundings. Maya loved meeting her Nana Marilyn, Auntie Lynn, and cousin Claire. She immediately took to Claire and followed her everywhere. Claire was great with her and kept her well entertained during our visit. After a few hours she warmed up to nana M. and aunt Lynn too. We also got to visit with John's Uncle Jack, Aunt Norma, and his cousins and their kids. Every one on our trip was so generous and Maya got some wonderful new toys, books and clothes. We are so glad that she finally got to meet all of them.


Waiting for the ferry to arrive


First ferry ride


Making friends with cousin Claire


"Nana Marilyn makes me giggle."


Snuggling with aunt Lynn


Taking a walk on the beach


Cousin Claire, daddy, Maya, aunt Lynn, and nana Marilyn



Thanks uncle Jack. 3-2-1 BLAST OFF!

We were lucky enough to have a friend of nana Marilyn's come take some photographs of Maya. Kathleen Webster is a photographer on Vashon island and she captured some wonderful shots of Maya and Claire. We are so grateful to her for taking them and we will treasure the photos for years to come. These next set of photos are taken by her.


Maya, mommy and daddy



Beautiful face


Maya, cousin Claire, and nana Marilyn


Dimples


So serious


Maya and Claire reading



Maya started getting sick the last day of our stay in Seattle. Our apologies to any family members who may have caught the bug too. The flight seemed like an eternity with Maya unable to sleep and crying continually. Our flight attendants were less then compasionate which made me want to scream at them that we used to be flight attendants and that their lack of empathy was disgusting. Now that passengers can't carry on liquids we were unfortunately at their mercy. They basically refused to get any water for Maya's bottle until they were done with their beverage service. One flight attendant was ok and took the bottle but had to rely on the other to get it. When he tried to hand the bottle to him you would have thought that he was being handed a diaper filled with diarrhea and he refused. I seriously wanted to crawl over the seats and hurt him. There was nothing worse then seeing Maya sick and feeling helpless to do anything or being able to comfort her. By the time we got home to Denver she was doing terrible. She was completely lethargic and could barely even get a cry out. John had to dig our car out of the airport parking while Maya and I waited back at the terminal. About an hour and a half later we finally were on our way home. While waiting for John, Maya finally gave in to her exhaustion and fell asleep. Every once in a while she would open her eyes and just give me a little smile and a deliberate blink. I swear she could sense my worry and was just trying to make me feel better. She had a terrible cough and head cold which turned into a sinus infection. Her whole face was swollen and we could barely see her little eyes. She has gotten better but now seems to be heading into round two with a little bit of chest cold. With everyone trapped inside it seems inevitable that the cycle of colds just continues.



Germ Pit O' Fun!



Not feeling so well

I started back at work in January two days a week. I hated leaving Maya and felt like I was missing so much but my sister Linda was nice enough to watch her which made the transition without mommy a little easier for both of us. My sister adores Maya and the feeling is mutual from Maya and she has learned to turn on the charm for aunt Linda. Maya started daycare this past week which I was dreading. Before officially starting I had been taking Maya for a few hours each day off and she has slowly started to warm up to the other kids and teachers. We made about 9 visits all together and I think this was a good transition for her. I really noticed last week how her comfort level increased and she would finally leave my side and play with the other kids. I think she is finally feeling secure that we won't leave her and that she can venture out without fear. The first day was much harder for me than it was for her. I cried all the way to work and was choking back tears throughout the morning. But Maya got rave reviews on her first week. The teachers said that all the other little kids were following her around handing her toys. The other kids sort of tower over her and think she is their own little baby doll. I was most concerned about nap time since she would have to start sleeping on a floor mat. She still struggles with sleeping at home so I thought that there was no way she would ever just lay down and fall asleep. Once again she proved me wrong and she slept 3 hours both days. I think the peer pressure of seeing the other kids doing it was definitely a motivating factor. They said she only cried once when the kids were getting ready to go outside for play. It was just a little too frantic for her and maybe she thought she was getting left behind. Other then that she seems happy to play with the other kids and is adjusting well. I just feel fortunate that I have a job that doesn't require me to work 5 days a week so that I can spend as much time as possible with her.



Waiting for mommy



First day of school



At school a.k.a daycare with daddy


The Chinese New Year festivities are finally under way. We went to our AAC agency party last week and Maya was enamored with the Chinese dance troupe. Little girls from about 4-10 all beautifully dressed. During practice and the performance Maya and the other kids were up on stage having a blast. Maya loved being in the center of all the commotion and got upset when we tried to pull her off stage. I think I see dancing in her future. Actually she gets a pretty good groove on already and seems partial to reggae. Although Chinese New Year is not until February 18th this year, we have several related functions which has been a fun part of joining our two cultures together. We definitely want Maya to embrace her Chinese heritage as she grows. More than anything we look forward to the many new adventures Maya will have in the year to come.



Maya gets her goove on at the Chinese New Year celebration



Simple pleasures