Tet Party

I was beyond excited to attend this years Tet party at our friend Mary's house. She really knows how to throw a great party and we were lucky enough to be invited. Thanks Mary! I was looking forward to spending time with friends, meeting new people, welcoming home new families, great food, and of course seeing all of the children dressed in their ao dai's. This year we celebrate the year of the tiger. Surprisingly there was only one person born in the year of the tiger at the party, and there were a ton of people there!. Gavin & I were both born in the year of the snake, Owen was born the year of the pig, (boar) specifically the golden pig a very lucky sign, and Noah was born the year of the water buffalo (ox).
There were many great decorations around Mary's house including these small tiger figurines. the children were able to take these home as their party favor, owen also scored a tiger balloon.


Before the party all dressed up in their ao dai's. The one Noah is wearing belonged to Owen, but I remember not being able to button the top button around Owen's neck. they looked so sweet, and this is the best photo of about twenty taken. I seriously love seeing the kids dressed in the traditional clothing.


Owen watching the dragon dance parade. The parade started just as we arrived and he was a little quiet at first. he got over that quickly though once he got a hold of some music makers! he was off to follow (at a safe distance behind) the dragon parade. I am really excited to see him in the parade one year. Maybe next year we'll be early enough & he will hopefully feel confident enough to participate.


Dragon Parade. The children were going to parade on the street as in Vietnam, but the weather was a little rainy and the ground was quite muddy.



Later the children enjoyed some sparklers outside. Gavin helped Owen with his, so there are no pictures of Owen with the sparkler. He would have needed six hands to get a photo of that :)


Happy Year of the Tiger! I'm already looking forward to next years new year celebrations and seeing even more new families!

Noah's First Birthday Party

Noah's Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousin came over to help celebrate his first birthday today. We missed Derek and Kaila but understand that it is a far drive and we look forward to seeing them in a few weeks!. We had lots of fun opening gifts, eating great food and of course watching Noah try his first piece of cake! He didn't make nearly the same mess as Owen did, but he enjoyed his first taste of sweets for sure. He picked the icing off of his cupcake savoring every bit of it!

Happy Birthday Noah!

Papa and Jeff picked up the balloons we ordered the other night for Noah's party.

Mommy and Daddy bought Noah a Xylophone/piano, he really likes it!

Checking the bags for more gifts :)

Kian and Owen helped Noah open his gifts. Noah and Kian were more interested in the wrapping paper and ribbons, Owen was in search of toys.

We ordered pizza and pasta for lunch. Noah loved the pasta!

Yesterday I spent the morning decorating Noah's birthday cupcakes. I realized then that it was the first time in over a year that I had the house to myself without the kids. Crazy. Here are the Cow and Chicken cupcakes.

Pig and Lamb cupcakes.

Noah's first taste of cake!

This is about as messy as he got, little clean up for mom and dad :)

1 Year Old!

Happy Birthday Noah! yesterday I spent time thinking about when Noah was born. At lunch I was remembering contractions getting worse and the first trip to the hospital, at dinner I was thinking about the incredibly strong contractions I was having just moments after being sent home, in the evening I was thinking about telling Gavin we had to go back to the hospital NOW!. I thought I'd be awake in the middle of the night to reflect on Noah's actual birth but the little guy slept through the night! It must have been his birthday present to us :). We've had a fun 1st year with Noah and are looking forward to fun things to come!

I need to work on getting a better picture of Noah standing. He will stand alone & has even taken a few steps on his own! The most steps he has taken so far has been six. As soon as he gains a bit of confidence he'll be off! I expect he'll be walking by 13 months for sure. Go Noah Go!

He is always missing one sock, usually the right one. The way he steps and cruises around furniture somehow causes his sock to fall off :)

He loves his bath! it is his favourite time of the day I think. You should hear him yell and fuss when we take him out of the bath! the little guy has a good set of lungs and will really tell you off.



My guess is Noah is about 22lbs, I will know how much he weighs next week when we go for his twelve month check-up. He's been eating tons of food at meals, and isn't a picky eater. His least favourite food is potatoes, it doesn't matter how they are cooked. He will still eat them, but makes a funny face while doing it.

updated: I was way off on my guess for Noah's weight. He is still only 19.2 lbs.(about 10th percentile) I think he has gotten so much taller I thought he'd gotten heavier too! he is 76cm tall ( a little above the 50th percentile) and his head is growing a little too, thank goodness :) 45cm (about the 25th percentile).

Our boy is a boy of few words (mama, dada, baba), few teeth (he has 4), an explorer, curious about everything. He finds trouble everywhere, he's a climber, a risk taker, a yeller & screamer, a fighter and yet a total mamas boy! We love him so much, happy 1st birthday Noah!

We are having a family birthday party on sunday & will have pictures and video to share then of his birthday party.

A look back at Noah's first year
January- 11 months old

December - 10 months old

November- 9 months old

October- 8 months old

September - 7 months old

August- 6 months

July - 5 months

June- 4 months

May- 3 months

April - 2 months

March - 1 month

February - 1 week

Chuc Mung Nam Moi & Happy Valentine's Day

crayon stained glass.


In the future if the Lunar New Year falls on the same day as Valentine's day I think we will celebrate them on two different days :)
It seemed a bit strange to make crafts for Valentine's day, exchange valentine's cards & treats & then turn around and wish the kids a happy lunar new year with Vietnamese food. Owen looked a bit confused to say the least, he gobbled down his red rice & ginger chicken, but was all about the valentine's candy afterwards. We are attending a Tet celebration with friends on the 27th, but wanted to make an attempt to celebrate it on the day. Gavin and I were able to enjoy a romantic dinner saturday after the kids went to bed. Having both kids in bed by 8pm is pure bliss, and we have been enjoying having some time in the evenings to ourselves. We have even been discussing plans to have a weekend away without the kids! it will be the first night away from them since Owen's been home, besides the night that Noah was born. I don't think that counts as a mini vacation does it?

Swim Lessons

Owen has been enjoying his swim lessons. He is in the sea turtle parented class, and the focus of the group is to gain confidence in the water & learn to trust the instructor. He does well with kicking & floating but doesn't really like to go under the water. He especially doesn't like jumping into the water with the instructor because she dunks the kids right under, where daddy or mommy let him keep his head above water if he wants. He is gaining confidence and is doing better with each class. I think we will hold off on the sea turtle non- parented until he is a bit older though, he needs to be able to trust the instructor, wait his turn & listen before he can move on in lessons. I don't think any of the kids in his class are at that point yet, all of the kids are quite young in his class, under 3 years for sure. We are considering doing another parented class with him, and then trying the non-parented class maybe next winter. We were able to take some photos this week during class.

Practicing his back float. They practice floating with the life jackets on.



floating train. transitioning from being with a parent to doing things with the instructor.


Blowing bubbles in the water to get use to getting his face wet.

Sweet Sleep

Just when I'd given up all hope of Noah going to sleep on his own before he turned one, the little guy surprised us! Since saturday he has gone to bed & naps without a fuss & is sleeping in his crib! He has been sleeping from 8pm until 4:30, wakes for a quick feed & back to sleep until 7:30am. He has been napping at 10am for half an hour & again at 1:30 for about 1.5 hours. Owen's nap overlaps for about half an hour so there is even a little break. Hopefully we can cut out the middle of the night feed, I know he shouldn't be hungry at that time anymore, he eats enough food. We have our fingers crossed that this new sleep routine is permanent!

and Noah seems much happier during the day with a better night's sleep.