Christmas

It was a very busy Christmas season this year but I was determined to make it special as it was our first year as a family of four!

We did lots as lead up to the big day.  Thianna seemed familiar with Christmas and definitely knew about Santa!

Festival of Lights at Stanley Park

Our Christmas Tree!

We visited the Vancouver Christmas Market with friends.  The kids got to ride the carousel,  drink (or spill, however you want to look at it!) hot chocolate, and decorate gingerbread cookies.  But I think the best part for them was riding the skytrain to downtown Vancouver.

We also visited the aquarium and saw Scuba Claus!

We had some penguin jammy fun!

This shot explains why we call Thianna Little Miss Laughy Pants - she's always laughing!!

We also visited the North Pole!

Thianna LOVES Santa!  She kept following him, holding his hand and truly believed he was her special friend!

Nathanh being his usual crazy self and Thianna about two hours overdue for a nap.

On Christmas Eve day the sun was shining and temperatures were really mild so we headed out to a park so I could tire both kiddos out before nap time.

As per tradition we went out for Chinese food with my family on Christmas Eve.  Then we went back to my sister's place for coffee and dessert.  Nathanh and Thianna have eight cousins on my side of the family.  But they are the youngest by far, which can really come in handy for babysitting!  And for them to be able to con someone out of a phone!

Thianna and Taylor.

Nathanh and Connor - let's just be clear - that is not Nathanh's beverage!

Little Miss Laughy Pants and Auntie Jennifer...and another phone!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

...and Santa really was there!

First look at the tree!

Nana and Grandpa came over to enjoy present opening and breakfast!  

It truly was a magical holiday for all of us. For me it felt complete.  Last year, I had fully expected to have a child home by Christmas but things in the adoption world just kept dragging and dragging.  So even though I loved enjoying the holidays with Erwin and Nathanh a little part of me was in Vietnam wondering and waiting.  This year it just felt right:)

Merry Christmas to all.  I hope you are blessed with a truly magnificent holiday season!

Moving Forward

We finally received Thianna's medical card in the mail today!  Yeah!  We have been waiting so long for this.  A month longer than it should have as my work did not file the paperwork properly.  But we got it .  

Now we can proceed with a long to do list that our Pediatrician gave us when we took Thianna in for her first appointment. We do not have any record of vaccinations for her.  Although, we know she has had something because she has a mark on her arm.  But since we don't know, we just have to start from scratch. So I have made her first appointment.  She'll have to go every two monthes for awhile but I'll feel better knowing she is vaccinated.  

We also have a slew of blood work we can proceed with now.  All of it is routine and we don't expect anything to be abnormal but once again good to get it all done and know for sure.  We can also move forward with tuberculosis testing, hearing tests, eye examination and dental  appointment.  We might be busy for awhile!

This week I have been a bit under the weather so we have taken it more slowly and stayed home more than usual.  Luckily, the kids have not lcaught my cold / flu other than a few sniffles.  We did manage to start some Christmas decorating.  They were absolutely delighted to decoate a gingerbread house together and took turns the whole way through.  

Thianna did really well.  I think she thought we were crazy having all of that candy around and not eating it, but she managed!

We may have stayed in our jammies all day!

Nathanh and Thianna watching tv together in Mommy and Daddy's bed!

Thianna is picking up more and more language everyday.  It is not uncommon to hear simple three word sentences from her now such as "mommy eat banana" or "Thianna's turn please."  She is beginning to be more curious about phrases.  I said "in a minute"  (something I say a lot with two kids) and she repeated it with a puzzled look and said "what" - meaning that she didn't understand and wanted it explained to her.   So I explained it more simply, using her least favourite word - wait.  

I really do not have any trouble understanding what Thianna wants or needs now.  She is very vocal and really her launguage is just that of a two year old.  The only thing is her pronunciation is  not very clear.  But for someone who has only been speaking English for three months, it is pretty good.  I will have to admit though that it is Nathanh who understands her best.  If ever Erwin or myself don't know what she is saying we can usually just ask Nathanh and he knows.  Or else Nathanh will just get frustrated with us after she has repeated herself several times and tell us what she's saying.  I have read that it takes about four monthes for a child in Thianna's situation to catch up to where they should be with language.  So I can't wait to see where she is in another month!

First Snow!

I have been telling Thianna (and Nathanh) that it might start snowing soon.  I've also been showing Thianna pictures of snow so she would understand.  Anyways, on Friday night Erwin and I took the kids to see Disney on Ice and the forecast was for snow.  I was secretly hoping that it would be snowing when we walked out of the Coliseum but it wasn't.

However, on the way home it started snowing and by the time we got to our house it was a winter wonderland!  Thianna had fallen asleep on the way home so when I got her out of the car seat I kept telling her it was snowing.  At first all she wanted to do was go back to sleep but once some fell on her face (which she didn't really like) she started to wake up and take it all in.  At first she just kept staring in confusion and wonder but then she started just smiling at the beauty of snow falling.  We went in and Nathanh really wanted to play in the snow so even though it was late I said I'd take him for a short walk in the snow if he put his boots on.  Well, Thianna was having no part of letting Nathanh go out with mommy alone so as tired as she was, she put on her boots and came with us.  We walked around the block and then played with some other kids in our cul-de-sac who'd also come out.

In the morning, it had stopped snowing but the temperature had dropped to -6 Celsius so the snow was beautiful!  The kids went outside with Daddy first.

And then with me later on.

Nathanh was trying to teach her how to make a snow angel but she hasn't really caught on yet!

Sliding is fun in the snow too!

Swinging is fun too!

Thianna is being very daring here by trying to throw snow at Nathanh!  He was so caught up in constructing a penguin house that I don't think he even noticed!  

I think it is safe to say that Thianna likes the snow!