April 16

Ah . . . it's good to be home!

We departed Beijing on Thursday after a flurry of last minute shopping that morning. My dad and I headed out to the Wholesale Clothing Market in the wee hours of the morning in search of shoes. What a plethora we found, but only a few vendors with children's shoes. Nevertheless I bought 10 pairs for 200 yuan ($30 bucks Canadian) and found the prices to be about half what I had been paying in the department stores. Being a diehard bargain shopper, I was on quite a high! We arrived back to the hotel, and with two hours to go Joel, Naomi and I headed back to Yashow to get rid of our remaining Yuan. Picked up a knapsack (to hold me new purchases) and also a unique item on the way out. A goosedown vest -- MADE IN CANADA -- for about $20. What a unique shopping experience! Shopping complete we returned to our hotel to finish packing.

Our flights home were relatively uneventful aside from three barfing incidents, no change of clothing for any of us due to having to check a piece of luggage we had originally planned to carry on (cranky attendant at the checkin counter), neither daughter sleeping much and landing in Vancouver 30 minutes early (whew). We breezed through customs and immigration in less than an hour and had time to visit with my friend Mandy and her new baby boy Nathan. At 2 months old, Nathan weighs more than Lilah. He's a cute little guy and we welcomed the opportunity to meet him!

Our marathon ended in Toronto at 10:30pm, with many many friends and family were there to greet us! Lilah was a bit overwhelmed and overtired but we were so happy to share that moment with everyone. We were also grateful to our friends Janet, Sara and Linda who took care of getting us and our stuff home - since neither of us was in any condition to drive.


Now that we're home, Lilah seems to have put herself on a fatten up program. She practically eats anything in sight and almost all the time! Loves her bottles, cheerios, squash and Nestle Rice Cereal. We call her lizard girl because the minute she realizes she's being fed she starts sticking out her tongue and grunting in anticipation. When I find my camera I'll post a photo of it.

All of us are feeling pretty tired from jetlag. The girls seem to be tag teaming on naps and sleeping. It seems like as soon as one goes down the other gets up. Sort of frustrating for us, but we are tremendously grateful to our good friends who keep sending meals and offering to help with Naomi. Speaking of the Princess #1, she's so happy to see her friends. It was a blast watching her chase Frances around at the airport. Yesterday we took advantage of the warm weather in the afternoon and she played for a couple of hours with Gavin. I think all her boyfriends really missed her. Today she was up at 3am and still not remotely tired at 8:30 am despite the fact that Joel and I were paralyzed by sleep deprivation. Sara came and picked Naomi up so she could play with Gavin this morning. Naomi decided she wanted to have a sleep over in Gavin's bed (ok now, but in 10 years, hmmm) and she slept from 1 - 3pm there today. I picked her up at 4 and she was quite mellow. She fell asleep at 5:30 and we're praying that we all get some sleep tonight.

So one journey has ended and another is just beginning. As we get to know our new little peanut, we realize we have so many things to be grateful for.