Tet Celebration

Happy Year of the Cat! (cat in Vietnam, rabbit in China)


This post is incredibly late I know, but I wanted to post about Mary's fabulous Tet party and post some pictures from the evening before it got too late to do so. We attended this year's Tet party on Saturday February 12th and it was such a great party! The planning and preparations for this celebration must take weeks and we are so thankful to those that put in the effort to host it every year. The Tet celebration is one of our favourite traditions and we enjoy celebrating with many other families similar to ours! We are so blessed to have met so many great friends through the adoption community :)

Owen and Noah are checking out some of the decorations


Owen's Buddy Ben















Owen wanted to be in the parade this year!

Noah's 2nd Birthday Party

We started Noah's Birthday party at Build-A-Bear and we had the best time! I highly recommend hosting a birthday party there, they were fantastic with the kids and everything ran smoothly! Both Noah and Owen chose the same dark brown bear so we decided to let them purchase outfits for their bear so we could tell them apart. Owen chose a soccer uniform for his bear and we helped Noah choose a birthday T-shirt for his. The kids were so well behaved and everyone had fun choosing, stuffing and washing their own teddy bear. Even the youngest of kids had a great time and participated as much as was expected :)

Here's Noah with his teddy waiting for it to be stuffed. Noah was quiet and shy for most of the time at build-a-bear, he preferred to hide behind mommy's legs and watch things from there.


Here's a videos of Noah getting his bear


Hannah with her bear




Owen stuffing his bear


Here's a video of Owen stuffing his bear :)


Almost everyone waiting patiently for their turn


Owen giving his bear a bath before he went home




All done and ready to take his loot home!


Kian on his way home with his bear

We were there for about an hour which was the perfect amount of time for the little ones. Afterwards, we headed back to our house for some pizza, cake and gifts.

Noah had mostly cheezies and chips for lunch, every time I looked for him he had his hand in the chip bowl, he even managed to score a juice box for lunch instead of water - apparently he was taking advantage of his special day :)


I'm not sure how the gift craziness started, all I know is that next year I'm handing the gifts to Noah one by one. Seriously in two minutes flat he and Owen had torn through every gift, it was total chaos before I even knew what was happening. In any case Noah really liked his gifts after we had the chance to check everything out once the party settled down. He even wore his new rain boots that Aunt Maegan and Uncle Bill bought from the time cake was served until he went to bed. The boy loves his boots!


Noah loves his new Rex - he can't get enough of anything Toy Story


Noah's Birthday Cake. I baked the cake thursday with the help of the daycare kids and then decorated it after my kids went to bed in the evening. I think the cake took about 3 hours to make including baking, making icing and decorating.


I think Noah enjoyed the ice cream more than his cake.


Thanks to everyone that helped us celebrate Noah's 2nd birthday! We had such a great time and I know that Noah enjoyed his day.

14 Week Belly Pic

14 week belly pics




14 weeks already! I'm still feeling great and I'm looking forward to an expanding belly - one that people notice! this in between stage of looking chubbier isn't really that fun. I'm still wearing my regular clothes except for some jeans that are a little snug so I've moved into my mat jeans just recently for comfort more than needing too. So far I think I've gained 4 pounds - another pound the past couple of weeks. I definitely have an increased appetite and have found that more than once I've had to get up and have a snack in the middle of the night or there is no way I'm going back to sleep! I'm hoping that wears off soon or things might be a little scary by the end!

Happy 2nd Birthday Noah

updated with stats



Noah turned 2 years old today so I guess that means he's no longer my little baby and is officially a toddler! He woke up this morning fairly cheerful but after a few rounds of "happy birthday" from all of us he said " No Burfday! No Two!" haha that's my grumpy boy :) Gavin joked that he wouldn't have a party but I'm not so sure the kids found that amusing.

I can hardly believe how much older Noah is acting lately. He still idolizes his big brother and acts like Owen's shadow following him everywhere, repeating everything Owen says and doing everything Owen does. Seriously we hear an echo all day long as he repeats everything these day!

I'm not sure how much Noah weighs, but I'll update once he's had his two year wellness check up next week. I'm thinking he's about 24lbs. There are times I look at him and am amazed at the things he can do, he still seems so small to me.

updated :stats: 25lbs (14th percentile), height 35 inches (63rd percentile), head circumference 18 inches (less than 3rd percentile) still my little boy! I thought he was on the lower end for weight but I'm surprised by how small his head is still!

I'll post more about Noah's birthday after his party on Saturday!

Happy Birthday Noah!

Baby #3

After an early pregnancy loss in October we are thrilled to be announcing that we are expecting our third baby August 17th/2011! this little baby seems to be doing well and for that we are very thankful. On December 18th we learned of this pregnancy and while we were a little surprised we were also very happy.


check out how strong the test line is! much different than the previous pregnancy we lost - that one was very faint.


Morning sickness kicked in early on at about 5 weeks and while I was feeling queasy most of the time, things seemed worse if I didn't eat often throughout the day. The one difference I've noticed this pregnancy compared to being pregnant with Noah is just how hungry I can get! every two hours or so I have to snack on something or the queasy feeling comes on full force. I didn't gain any weight first trimester first pregnancy but with this one I've already put on three pounds. Luckily my morning sickness has been better since 11 weeks and I've noticed an increase in energy this past week as well. I still go to bed really early usually by 9:30, but I'm not dragging myself through the afternoons anymore :)

At 10 weeks I had my first prenatal appointment with my doctor, she didn't try to listen for a heartbeat as she felt it would be too soon to hear anything. My next prenatal visits will be with the same OB I had before. At just under 11 weeks we had a dating ultrasound and were able to see our little baby bouncing around and kicking his/her legs etc. The dates were right on and I was glad to have the due date confirmed. The ultrasound tech gave us two pictures to take home but they are basically duplicates. The picture doesn't show much but it proves there really is a baby in there!


that "bulge" you see clearly at the bottom of the picture is my bladder about to burst. I didn't even drink nearly the recommended amount of fluid prior to the ultrasound because I learned before that there is no way I can hold that much! the ultrasound tech was like "wow your bladder is full!" seriously how do they expect people to drink that much liquid?

Below are a few pregnancy belly pics. I'm going to try to take them more often this time.

9 weeks



12 weeks


I've noticed that my belly is growing faster this time around or at least the bloating is more :) other than that I haven't noticed too many things different with this pregnancy and I'm hoping that things progress just as smoothly as they did with Noah. We are really excited that our family is growing and we are looking forward to the day we get to meet this little one!

Junior Sports

Owen recently joined a junior sports program at our local community centre and although he fusses about going he has a great time once he's there. The program offers a different sport/activity each week, so far he's had a soccer class, floor hockey class and a gymnastics class. He really enjoyed the gymnastics class last week and the balance beam and trampoline were by far his favourite!

What I really like about the program is that it is non-parented and gives him the opportunity to gain independence and not have his mommy and daddy there all the time, he knows that we are waiting for him just outside of the gym. One thing I've noticed is that in the circle activities he is always sitting beside the instructor. I don't think it's something anyone else would notice as the program is only once a week, but I notice it. Hopefully that neediness eases up a bit and he feels more comfortable soon. I did notice that in the last class he didn't seem as clingy so hopefully that improves each week, but it certainly has me question what he'll be like in school. Hopefully he gains confidence and isn't clingy with his teacher! that's something I'll have to watch for. I am very proud that he doesn't seem the least bit shy and is always ready to answer questions that the instructor has even when most of the kids are just sitting there not saying anything!

Hopefully we can enroll him in a few more non-parented type programs prior to starting junior kindergarten in the fall, I think both him and I need that time to prepare ourselves for that day! Kindergarten feels like it's just around the corner even though I know it's still months away, I think it's because I registered Owen for JK on January 17th that it just seems too real now.

I won't be able to get many pictures of Owen in his junior sports class because we aren't allowed to stay inside the gym for very long during the class, but here are a few from the first day when he played floor hockey.