Liebster award

One of my blogging friend Elizabeth at http://www.myadoptionjourney2011.blogspot.ca/ has nominated me for a Liebster award. I am going to copy and paste her description of this award. It was so nice of her to think of me and our little blog. I also follow her blog and fully recommend checking her out. A very strong and introspective woman. I hope she is united with a child very soon as that little one will have a wonderful mother indeed!




The Liebster Award
This award is given to new or up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The award is then passed along to other bloggers in the same category to help spread the word and support one another. If you receive the award, there are a few rules to follow.

Each blogger nominated must post 11 things about themselves.
Then you have to answer the 11 questions the tagger has asked.
The blogger must then create 11 questions of their own to ask the bloggers they decide to nominate.
They must choose 11 ( or less if you can't do 11) bloggers with less than 200 followers to nominate and link them on their blog post.
Bloggers must be notified of their award.
No tag backs!

11 things about me:

1. I was born in London, UK and moved to Canada when I was 5.

2. My mom is London Irish and my grandparents were from Dublin. My dad is half Scottish and half Canadian (Newfoundland). I spent a good chunk of my childhood summers in Ireland and Scotland visiting family.

3. I am a lawyer and practice mostly family law (although my first love is immigration/refugee).

4. I lived for 2 years in London in my early 20's and Japan for 2 years right after law school.

5. I have done a lot of traveling and it is a passion. I've been through much of Europe, a chunk of Asia and Kenya (will go back to Africa one day to see more).

6. Plan on taking a year off of work when the kids are older so that we can live in Korea and Vietnam then travel a bit.

7. I am a voracious reader and also enjoy writing fiction (I have been writing since I was a child) and non-fiction (articles).

8. My favourite TV show is Sherlock. I am also an avid watcher of CBC and love our Canadian programming.

9. I LOVE hockey. Love love love. I watch as much as I can and I am a die hard Leafs fan. I also play and I am a goalie.

10. I love horses and have worked with horses at various points in my life. I have taught lessons in the past and have ridden on and off for years. I got my love from my Irish grandmother.

11. I am a left winger and am proud of it (politically and sometimes hockey lol). I wish Jack Layton was still with us.

That's a bit about me. Here are the answers to Elizabeth's questions:

1) What is your favourite book/author?

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

2) Do you have any pets? If yes, info (type and name) and pictures if you are willing. If no, would you like one and what kind.

Two cats and a dog. Huxley cat is a 16 year old ginger male, Pepper cat is a 7 year old black and white short hair and Chibi is 7.5 year old Boston Terrier.

3) Name one place you would like to visit.

India, hands down!

4) Do you have a favourite app (phone, ipad, or if you don't have anything "i", an edible appitizer)?

Facebook, Twitter, CBC, Hockey Night in Canada.

5) Tell about a surprise in your life.

Our 2 referrals.

6) What was your favourite childhood activity?

Reading.

7) Tell about something you have learned, anything from anytime.

People are pretty much the same everywhere in the world. Culture shock is a state of mind.

8) What stresses you out?

My kids lol. Seriously, practically the only thing.

9) What are three words would your family and friend use to describe you?

Passionate (maybe too much lol), intelligent (these are from Pat), worldly.

10) White wine or red wine?

Red. Not a white drinker at all.

11) A wish you have

I want my boys to grow up happy, healthy and well adjusted (a wish most parents have I suspect)

Thanks Elizabeth! I promise to pay this forward as soon as I get a chance!

The holidays

Well again I have let too much time pass in between posts. Having two children definitely makes a difference with regards to keeping up with the blog. It is just really hard to get the pictures sorted out lol.

Our holidays were good. Van is finally at an age where he can appreciate the whole Santa thing. Gerad had no idea what was going on but he has certainly enjoyed his presents (and Van's too lol). All in all it was a success.

Gerad is doing better and better and I feel like he is beginning to fully attach to us. He no longer cries when he's put to bed and he is able to accept behavioural correction without having a full tantrum (which we believe was related to his insecurity. Now he's realizing that just because we say no it does not mean we don't love him or will be leaving him). I think being able to understand our langauge now has also made a huge difference. I think he is basically fluent in his understanding and can follow directions. It's incredible how quickly he has adjusted. He and Van are getting along as brothers should. Hugs, fights, etc.

Here are some pictures from the past month:

Santa's cookies and milk:



Xmas day:








Visiting day:








First haricut in Canada:




Enjoying the snow:








Experimental farm:


Gerad's room finally fully decorated:

Holiday preparations and festivities

Well it's a busy time of year so the post will be all about the pics.

So without further ado:

Playtime:



Decorating the tree:






Xmas cookie party:










The "traditional" World Junior Hockey Championship family photo op:

6 weeks

Well obviously my intention to blog more often is not coming to fruition. I blame the photographer (Pat) as he's not been as diligent with regards to the picture taking. Anyway, I have finally got a batch of pictures so am able to do a post, yay!

We are 6 weeks in and it's hard to believe that much time has already passed. On the one hand it seems like yesterday when Pat got home on the other hand it seems like Gerad has been with us forever! He is doing really well. Much better than expected considering all the upheavals he's been through. He is a remarkably easy going and happy little guy. I think that is likely why this transition for him has been quite smooth. We really could not ask for a smoother transition frankly and consider ourselves really lucky. The smooth transition is really appreciated by these battle worn parents as Van's transition was so long and so rough. Now we feel very lucky to have 2 wonderful kids.

A little about how they are doing in general.

Van:
He will be 3 1/2 at the end of January! He is doing really well right now. Many of the early signs of ASD have faded so we are hopeful he may lose the diagnosis when we go back in February. He still has his struggles believe me, however he's made such huge strides in the last year. I really believe the move to the early learning centre has been a huge help. He is really thriving there and they are so knowledgeable and helpful. He made a lot of improvement in the areas of focus, repetitive behaviours, stimming and hyperactivity. As well the early signs of aggression that he was showing have all but faded. Yay! This was the one that worried us the most with Gerad coming but he has been AMAZING with Gerad. He is loving and gentle and really engages with him. Even if Gerad is rough with him he does not retaliate. We will often catch him stroking Gerad's face or hands. He is such a great big brother and I truly feel that bringing Gerad into our home was the best thing for our family! Van's language skills have also improved dramatically. You can really have little conversations with him now. He comes up with some funny stuff too and often has us laughing. I love his "Well that's kind of silly" comments whenever something...well...silly is/or has happening/happened. He is also quite firm on things he likes and doesn't like. For instance:

Likes:
Music (big music fan, especially of The Boss and Mumford and Sons)
Macaroni and Cheese ("It's my favourite")
Cosmic Adventures indoor playground
Mighty Machines (a kids t.v show here in Canada that profiles all the mighty machines in day to day life. Every episode is about a different machine. He particularly likes the "building a truck" and "at the airport" episodes. He will watch these bad boys over and over again)
His stuffies (he likes to sleep with different ones every night)
Curious George (never gets tired of these stories)
His brother

Dislikes:
Smiling when having his picture taken (just plain refuses. Shakes his head no when asked)
Dancing (still can't get him to dance. If you catch him dancing he'll deny it)
Things that are scary (most costumes, pumpkins for awhile before he actually became somewhat obsessed with them)
Pooping on the big toilet (although has made the transition and seems to be sticking with it. Maybe it's the promise of not 1 but 2 smarties)


On to Gerad:
As mentioned above he's a very happy and easy going little guy. Doesn't really kick up much of a fuss about anything (except going to bed but even those protestations are dying down). He's very loud about his happiness though which is a joy to watch. He has a very deep from his belly giggle and laugh when he finds stuff funny. Which is much of the time. He really gets a kick out of Van and often laughs at his antics. He follows Van everywhere and wants to be with him always. Pat tells me he is easy during the week and is pretty much a go along to get along kind of kid. He enjoys playdates and especially likes being out and about. Any kind of attention is good attention as far as he's concerned. He is a pretty good eater although you have to sometimes give him one thing at a time because he will spit out what's in his mouth if he decides he wants to move on to the next item. Yes he is still doing that lol. He'll pretty much try anything although we have had to work on him with his refusal of things we know he likes because he's waiting for the next course (yoghurt for instance). He's learning though that this strategy doesn't work. He's picked up another couple of words. He says cheese when his picture is being taken. He has also started saying mama although not sure if he knows it's me or not. He basically started copying Van when Van would say mama. He is a quirky little guy and loves making faces and strange noises. He especially gets a kick out of imitating strange faces and noises made by us. He had his doctor's check-up last week and he's gained 2 pounds since joining us! Maybe that's why my back hurts so much lol. We suspect part of that is because he was only eating once a day with his foster mom (still mostly on formula) and now he is eating like a 19 month old (today!) should. He weaned himself off the bottle within the first 2 weeks. He is above the 50th percentile in weight and at the 50th for height. He is definitely bigger than Van was at the same age and is already in size 2 clothing.

Here are some pictures.

1st Santa visit with both boys (this santa is great. He loves his job and has so much patience and love for the kids):


Pat took the boys to the Korean adoption xmas party last Saturday (I didn't go as I was...ahem...hung over...). This picture makes me laugh as this is the first real smile Van has flashed in a photo in awhile and he looks seriously crazy haha:


Fun in the bath. I love Van's expression as obviously Gerad is being too loud:


Fun at Cosmic Adventures:

Brothers...in pictures