This is just a reminder that I have stopped updatign this website and I am now posting on

http://www.sophieandmargaux.blogspot.com/

It's very hard to believe, but our little one is 18 months old!!!

Margaux is doing very well.  Her langage is developing very quickly and she is picking up a lot of words.  She recently started saying "Bye" and "Night-night".

I've been in training for the last two weeks at U of M, and Margaux caught Hand Foot and Mouth.  For those who don't know, it's has nothing to do with the version that animals catch.  It's a high fever, sores in the mouth and the throat, as well as blisters on the hands and feet.  It lasts 3 to 7 days, and it's just horrible.  It went around daycare and it's very contagious.  She is now in the toddler room at daycare and loves it.  She does not seem to be aggressive anymore now that she's with the older kids.

Sophie is doing great.  She just turned 6 and is enjoying first grade.  We just had her meeting with her teacher and she is right on track on all her skills.  She is starting to act more like a big sister.  Both girls enjoyed various trick or treating/fall/Halloween parties.  Sophie was a black cat and Margaux was a ladybug.  Both looked aboslutely adorable!

Two new words!  Margaux is fascinated with our dog Maya and she can now clearly say her name.  I have noticed that she really is into animals and isn’t scared at all.  She just laughs and giggles anytime she sees a cat or Sophie’s hamster Furry.

Another new word is “Bye bye”.  She said it to me for the first time when I left her at daycare today.

Today, she is going in for the check-up on her ears.  So far, so good, we have not had any issues since the surgery on Sept. 10.

We’re getting ready for Sophie’s birthday.  It’s so hard to believe that she’ll be 6 years old!  It seems just like yesterday that we brought this tiny 5 pounder home on a very very rainy day.

A sneak preview in my mornings:

Yesterday (Monday) started of this way.  I see Margaux squatting, so I decide to sit her up on the little potty.  Margaux was potty trained while in China(split pants and no diapers).  She knows what the potty is for, but she won’t sit very long in it since she started walking.  While I went back to the kitchen, she got up and pooped on the floor and on her blankie!  I cleaned her up and put a new diaper on her.  While I am cleaning the floor, she ripped off the diaper and peed all over the floor…

Fast forward to this morning.  I see Margaux squatting, remembering yesterday, I decide to let her go in her diaper.  As soon as she is done, she rips it off and poop gets all over the floor again… Sigh… I clean up the kid and the floor (again!) look for a clean diaper and, of course, have to deal with 2 new puddles.  I take care of that and in the meantime, she takes her sister’s danimals out of her hands and spills it all over the couch.

So, these were my last two mornings and some wonder why I look frazzled when I get to work!

Margaux had her ear tube surgery on Sept. 10 and everything went great although she was very angry at mommy and daddy went the anesthetic wore off.  We went to Le Bonheur downtown and our friend Matt was actually the surgeon that performed the surgery.

Margaux got to attend her first Harvest Moon festival with FCC.  She enjoyed herself, especially all the yummy treats she got to taste!  She gives a thumbs up to the angel hair and chicken dish!  She loves looking at the horses and the bonfire.  Too bad it was so hot, we could not stay near it.

Our baby is growing up!  On Oct. 22, Margaux moves to the toddler room at daycare.  She will officially not be a baby anymore.  She really does not look like one anymore either.  Her walking is very stable now, and evidently, she has no problem shoving kids that get in her way!  We are still working on not scratching or pinching Sissy.

We are looking forward to Sissy’s 6^th birthday and all the Halloween parties as well as our trip to East Tennessee.  Mommy and daddy are scared of the 7 hour drive though.  Margaux hates riding in the car and reminds them loudly whenever she’s in there longer than 15 minutes.

Six months ago!

We got to hold Margaux for the first time.  We had waited for her for so long, but she knew nothing about us.  Sophie was the first one to run to her.  Poor Margaux was just screaming and her little round face was so red.

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been six months, but at the same time, it’s hard to believe she has not been with us all her life.  She has adjusted so well to her new life and has completely caught up with her little peers at daycare.  She is a very happy girl and extremely attached to her family.  She is just a joy and we can’t imagine our life without her.  We are so thankful that we were finally able to complete our family after a long, bumpy, and painful 8 year infertility journey.

Margaux is almost walking!  She is starting to take a few steps on her own and loves pushing around her walker.  This will mean more opportunities to get into big Sissy's stuff! :)

Sophie is getting ready for school.  This week is her last week of camp and she starts first grade on the 15th.  She is tired of camp and ready to go back to class. She complains that they spend too much time outside at the YMCA.  I can understand to some extend as it's been so hot in Memphis.  We're actually under a heat advisory all week.

We have not had new mosquito bites lately, the Sawyer lotion seems to be working pretty well.  Unfortunately we did have an ant attack yesterday.  I guess the lotion does not protect against them.  Margaux has bumps today but nothing like the reaction she gets with mosquitoes.

The newest referrals arrived late last week.  They went to November 21, 2005 LIDs.  It's hard to believe that the CCAA has only given out two months worth of LIDs since our referral early January.  I am so sad for all the familie stuck in this wait.  I looked at some of the blogs for the new babies.  They all seem very young, many in the 7-9 month range.  There was one referral that I saw that was from Fengcheng.  You just cannot miss the picture in the Hello Kitty Chair!  You immediately know that's a Fengcheng baby!

Here is the link to the Hello Kitty club.  See if you can find Margaux!

http://www.geocities.com/FengChengHelloKittyClub/

That's all for now!

Hi everyone!

We enjoyed a beatuiful weekend in Memphis!  For once it was not too hot and we were able to spend sometime outside.

We ate dinner on the patio on Saturday and spent a good part of yesterday at Judy's pool.  I think I finally found a mosquito lotion that works on Margaux.  It's called Sawyer's Family.  It's got 20% deet and it's thick wite lotion with no perfume.  It also claims a low DEET aborption.  If anyone is interested, here's a website where you can see what it looks like.

http://www.sawyerproducts.com/sawyer_products/pages/insect_repellent/family.htm

With all this time outside she only got one bite on her back and it did not swell up.  Now we are just waiting for the old ones to finish healing so poor Margaux does not look like she has chickenpox anymore.

We are dealing with yet another ear infection and it looks like we're heading towards ear tube surgery.  I will be scheduling an appoitnment with an ENT shortly.

Margaux is still not walking but making great strides.  She did manage to climb into the red wagon all by herself on Saturday and she has a different crawling style (legs extended) when she is outside.  I think we are getting close.

She is doing extremely well with her fine motor skills.  She can actually eat one grain of rice at a time!  I've also seen her bottle feed her baby pony and brush her sister's Barbie doll's hair.  I think that's pretty amazing for that age.

It's hard to believe there's only 3 weeks left before school starts again.  Sophie is ready to go back, or so she says.  She has not enjoyed camp at the YMCA as much as I expected.  They spend too much time outside and not enough doing crafts and such.  So, I guess we will have to try  something else next year.

That's all for now!

Rachel & Co

    Hi everyone!

Everything is going great and Margaux is growing like a weed.  The sisters are getting used to each other but Sophie still has a hard time sharing her parents'attention.
Margaux is cruising around furniture and she can crawl very fast, but she is not walking yet.  She is not a risk taker at all and she freaks out when she stands up and realizes she is not holding on to anything.  She then sits down quickly.  She still loves daycare.  She will remain in Infant II room until she is a good walker, so a probably a few more weeks.

Sophie is at the YMCA.  She complains that I don't stay home with her.  I keep on telling her that it's just not an option for our family.  I think she is a little jealous that several of her little friends have stay at home moms.  She told me she is ready to go back to school!

I am adjusting well to my new job environment.  It's a big change of pace.  I feel so much better there.

That's about it.  Margaux goes for a well baby visit on Friday.  I'll let you know!

Bonjour a tous!

Tout va tres bien pour notre petite famille.  Margaux grandit (et grossit) tres vite.  Les soeurs s'habituent l'une a l'autre mais Sophie a encore du mal a partager l'attention de ses parents.  Margaux se deplace debout en s'accrochant aux meubles mais ne marche pas encore.  Ca n'est pas une casse-cou comme ca soeurs.  Des qu'elle s'apercoit qu'elle est debout sans support elle se remet assise.  Elle aime toujours la creche.  Elle va rester avec les bebes jusqu'a ce qu'elle soit un bonne marcheuse, donc au moins quelques semaines de plus.

Sophie est en centre aeree.  Elle se plaint que je ne reste pas a la maison avec elle.  Plusieurs de ses petites amies ont des mamans qui sont meres au foyer, et elle est un peu jalouse.  Elle m'a aussi dit qu'elle est prete a retourner a l'ecole.

Je m'habitue a mon nouveau boulot.  J'apprecie le changement d'atmosphere.

Margaux a une visite medicale vendredi.  Je vous tiendrai au courant.

Summer is here!  Sophie is out of school and at the YMCA for summer camp.  She does not seem too thrilled so far.  She is complaining about having to play outside.  Go figure...  She does like the pool though, and gets to go swimming every day.

Margaux is saying two words: Dada and "hu ho".  "Mama" has only been heard a couple of times so far.  Another milestone is that is standing up in her crib.  I am just thankful that she is not juming out like her sister did at this age.  She does not seem interested in walking so far.  Daycare did report that she took two steps last week.

We have moved on to toddler foods and given up the baby food.  It's hard to get her to eat healthy foods though.  She is much more interested in crackers and cookies!

L'ete est arrive! Sophie a fini l'ecole et est maintenant en centre aeree.  Elle n'a pas l'air de trop aimer pout le moment.  Elle se plaint de devoir jouer dehors.  Va comprendre... En revanche, elle aime jouer dans la piscine et en profite tous les jours.

Margaux dit deux mots: dada (papa) et oh oh, non elle ne dit pas encore maman ou mama.  Elle sait maintenant se lever et se tenir debout dans son lit.  Heureusement elle n'en saute pas comme le faisait Sophie au meme age.  Elle n'a pas l'air interesse par la marche.  On m'a quand meme dit a la creche qu'elle avait fait deux pas la semaine derniere.

Nous avons abondonne la nourriture pour bebe pour manque d'interet.  Malheureusement il est difficile de lui faire manger des fruits et legumes.  Elle prefere les cookies et les gateaux secs.