Happy Holidays!

Wow I am just not very good at keeping the blog updated! It was so much easier when I wasn't working but now I just can't seem to find a good time to do it. I know that a lot of overseas friends and family check to keep tabs on our little family. I am so sorry I am not better at keeping things more current. Anyhoo, lets move on with this blog entry and hope 2012 will be a bit more fruitful in the blog category.

A few little updates to pass on. After having our name change application sent back to us twice for corrections it finally went through. Van now officially has our last names. The final piece of the puzzle so to speak. The other update is that our dossier will be sent to South Korea in late January. That means we will likely be referral ready in March or April. Wow! It hasn't really sunk in yet. There have been a few changes to the program. We have been asked to change our homestudy to indicate that we will be open to a child up to 2 years old with possible minor, correctable special needs. As much as every waiting adoptive parent/parents hope for a child as young as possible (for attachment and bonding reasons) we are just happy to be given a second opportunity to adopt. No adoption program is without its challenges these days and we know we are very lucky to be a short wait away from welcoming our second child. Many prospective adoptive parents have been waiting years for their first!

So Christmas was...um...interesting. Van was pretty excited in the weeks leading up to the main event. But the 4 days of holiday? Not so much. They were challenging days let me tell you! He was not a happy camper with the change to his schedule and had no interest in his toys for much of the time. Add to that a challenging phase he is going through (fighting us on everything) and sufficed to say I was happy to get back to work. Maybe next year ;)

Here are some pictures of the happier moments lol:

A family pic for our Korea dossier:


Decorating the tree:






Our second annual xmas World Junior Hockey Championships family photo, Go Canada! bring home the gold!:


Posing:


Putting cookies and milk out for Santa:


looking at the empty stocking soon to be filled:


Waiting to be ravaged:


Opening presents:




The big present:


Is it over yet??:


Pat and I inadvertently got each other Leafs' jerseys after being together for years. We are both rabid Leafs fans. What are the chances we would get each other sweaters the same year? lol:

November...ack!

Wow! It seems like blogging once a month is going to be the norm around here. I never realized how time consuming it was until I started working fill time. I guess when I was home every day I had plenty of time to keep things updated. Now I have to choose between Van's afternoon nap or some other time when I am usually very tired.

Things are going pretty well around here. I've been working at my new job for about 6 weeks now and am feeling pretty good about practicing again. I already have quite a growing client base and have been in court a few times. I am hopeful it won't take me too long to hit my stride. Van is great as usual. His words are coming on more and more everyday and his personality is really blossoming. He is a real little boy now! He knows what he likes and doesn't like but he's relatively low on the drama king scale so when it's something he doesn't like he'll just tell you rather than kicking off in a meltdown or tantrum. He really is a pretty easy going little guy. He likes to play with his cars and trucks and especially LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine. Anything Thomas makes Van a happy dude. He also loves books. I think forcing him to look at books when he was younger has paid off lol. Another little milestone (which makes mommy particularly happy) is that he has finally started developing an interest in and attachment to stuffed toys. He now has 3 that he likes to sleep with. Again, we diligently put these 3 toys in his crib every night only to find them on the floor every morning. Then about a month ago he started asking for them (Tigger, teddy and bunny) and they were no longer ending up on the floor. Another indoctrination success story :)

An update on our second adoption? Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork!! I forgot how much paperwork was involved in adoption. We have gotten it all together for our SW so she can complete our homestudy. Then she will pass the HS to our agency to look over before it's gets sent to the Ontario ministry for approval. Once approved it will be sent to Korea! That will likely be in December or January. Then we will be referral ready by March in all likelihood. Wow it's crazy to think this time next year we could already be home with Van's little brother or sister!!

Here are a few pics of the little man.

It's fall:




Halloween

Chibi the super devil dog:


The frog prince:



Handing out candy:


End of the night:

It's already October!!

Holy crap it's October! Where does the time go?? Seriously?? Well, since my last post (well the post before last) I have worked the Ottawa International Animation Festival, which was great fun, and started my new job. Ah but not the job I was going to be starting. I was wooed away to work at another firm. I was certainly not expecting another offer to come my way but it is a much better situation for me. It's a downtown firm with some work at their satellite office in Renfrew. I will be practicing mostly family and hopefully some immigration/refugee work as well. They are very busy and therefore I will also be busy. Which is great. I also have my own office (with a window!).

On the Van front, he is trucking along doing the types of things two year old's like to get up to. He is generally happy interspersed with full drama filled moments that seem to come out of nowhere. He is getting his second year molars which can cause some pretty challenging behaviour....such as a full on screaming tantrum after being removed from Chapters for purposely knocking the Thomas the Tank Engine trains on the floor. Yet on the flip side he is really becoming a little boy. He is inquisitive and has a great sense of humour. He loves to entertain. Who can resist a little body running up and down the hall screeching and laughing in delight while clutching a handful of cloth diapers. He instinctively knows this is funny. In fact he'll stop periodically, look at us and say "punny" (funny in Van speak). He is a ham that's for sure! As always, here are some pictures:

Fun at the park:


Swing face (I'm going to do a compilation my next post, seriously lol):


Tet Trung Thu with Max, Vanh and some other friends:

"Thomas!!"


Time for cake:






Heading out on the lantern walk to the Chinatown arch:








Rest time:




"We're here....umm where is here?!"




A walk on a nice fall morning:




"Digga!"


"Dumb uck!" (I know how it sounds lol. So if a certain word gets dropped by accident we can always pretend he is saying truck!):


Another hockey season moment. He knows the Leafs' and Sens' logos and says "Ockey!!" quite emphatically. Our brainwashing is working hehe:


"Cheese". I love his face. He looks like he's about to go postal haha!:

It's hockey season!!

Just a picture so everyone knows we are still here! I will do a proper big post this weekend! Until then....GO LEAFS!!!

Long time!

Hey readers I hope you are still checking in. I'm very sorry for not updating in over a month. Its been busy busy! I have been working (yay) at the Ottawa International Animation Festival as the guest services coordinator. Booking hotels and flight for filmmakers and industry execs. Its been great to finally be out of the house doing something I enjoy. Once I am finished with the festival I am going to be joining a small law firm and will be practicing again! The firm is in the west end so we bought another car this weekend (used). Big changes lol. The final piece of big news is that we have started the adoption process again! We will likely be receiving a referral for Van's little brother or sister next year! Our second adoption will be from South Korea. We would have loved to have stayed with Vietnam but the wait would just be so long and we had an opportunity to be part of what could very well be the last year for Korean adoptions. The program has been around for over 50 years and is very organized. We are very excited about learning all about a new culture. I lived in Japan for two years a few years ago and the cultures are similar so I already feel like I have a bit of a connection. It will be so neat to have Van and his brother or sister experience and learn about each others cultures. And hey, who doesn't want to celebrate three New Year's!!! I will write about the second adoption on this blog for now. I may start a second one eventually or start a family blog. Not sure. I have some thinking to do :)

Now back to the star of this blog. Van is enjoying his summer. He is also enjoying being 2 I think. Some days he seems like such a big boy but other days he's still my little baby :) He had his second year doctor's visits and everything looks great although his family doc thinks it would be worth us taking Van to a speech therapist as he does have some delay. So we are going to pay to take him for an appointment in September. Even if it's just to get some ideas on how we can work with him.

Anyway, enough blather. Here are some pics of the summer.

Yearly summer party in Greely for adoptive families:









Max and Vanh's third year birthday party:



Enjoying his big birthday present (not quite able to push the pedals fully yet):



Science and Technology Museum:




Parliament Hill:





A boy and his dog:



A mom and her son:


Summer playdate fun with Max and Vanh: